Bumps in the Road!

The poem was written by a MARINE CORPS Officer 

THE BATTLING BOYS OF BENGHAZI

We're the battling 
boys of Benghazi  
 
No fame, no glory, no 
paparazzi.
Just a fiery death in 
a blazing hell
Defending our country 
we loved so well.
 
It wasn't our job, but 
we answered the  
call,
fought to the 
Consulate and scaled the wall. 
We pulled
twenty 
Countrymen from the jaws of fate 
Led them to safety, 
and stood at the gate. 
 
Just the two of us,
and foes by the score, 
But we stood fast to 
bar the door.
Three calls for 
reinforcement, but all were denied, 
So we fought, and we 
fought, and we fought 'til we died.
 
We gave our all for 
our Uncle
Sam,
But Barack Obama 
didn't give a damn.
Just two dead seals 
who carried the load 
No thanks to 
us.........
we 
were just "Bumps In The 
Road."

Perspective My Friends!

God Bless the American Soldiers, Sailors, Marines & Airmen!

Capitalism, the engine that Makes all things Possible!

Spending Away the Civilization!

Great insight by Peter Morici (Twitter @pmorici1) a a widely published columnist and a professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland School.  Sign up to read more of his stuff if you like this!

"If growth continues at 1, 2 or even 3 percent, then the weight of the baby boom retiring on federal entitlements will push federal deficits through the ceiling in the next decade.

"Higher taxes won’t help much. If tax rates are too high, successful people work less and take their skills elsewhere. Technology companies and financial institutions--where the real fortunes are made these days--can park their patents and profits in Ireland or some other low-tax jurisdiction.

"Sooner or later, Washington won’t be able to continue borrowing. Just as unions and banks will now tussle over whether pensioners or bondholders should have first claim on Detroit’s remaining revenues, Washington can dicker with Beijing over whether the Social Security checks should go out or the Middle Kingdom gets all the interest due on its holdings of U.S. bonds.

"At that point, we can auction off the Grand Canyon and spend the Fourth of July remembering what a great civilization we spent away."
 

The Difference Between the Good Guys and the Bad Guy!

Is who acts as the human shield. God Bless the US Military! 01:28 PM - 23 Jun 13  Reply  Retweet  Favorite

The Price of Freedom

The freedom we have is not free.  It is paid for by the lives of those who unselfishly serve this great Country.

Memorial Day is the a day for honoring those who died in the service to our country and the best way I know to do this is to also honor and say thanks to our veterans and active duty military.  Always remember that that every service member, whether active duty or reservist, when they enlisted in essence signed a blank check, payable to the Citizens of the Untied States of America for an amount up to and including his or her life.

Memorial Day is a day for honoring those who died in the service to our country. One such young man that I had the honor of personally knowing, is Michael Weger, the son of Greg and Tricia Weger.   Michael gave all that he had to give for America on October 12, 2004 when he and several members of his platoon were killed in action in Iraq.  Greg and Tricia we can never heal your hurt but please know that Michael and you two are in our hearts and prayers and that we are thinking of you always, but especially today.

This tribute to the American soldier by Lt. Col. Oliver North was done on Veteran's Day, but it is the best expression of honor for our troops I have ever seen or heard.

God Bless the United States of America and the men and women who keep our country free!

World Leaders

Pin the fail on the donkey

The IRS, AP and Benghazi scandals were all about making Obama look better. Now they’ll drag down the Democrats for years to come

• By JOHN PODHORETZ
• Last Updated: 11:24 PM, May 18, 2013
• Posted: 10:25 PM, May 18, 2013

John Podhoretz

The Obama administration’s sudden plunge into scandal territory has two aspects — the actual and the political.

The first, and most important, has to do with what actually happened. Why did the administration promulgate a false account of the terror attack on Benghazi? Why did the Internal Revenue Service target conservative groups for special scrutiny? Why did the Justice Department act in an unprecedented fashion toward The Associated Press for publishing details of a foiled terror plot the White House was planning to discuss openly the next day?

Read more

Where are those Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction? Syria Maybe?

Bill Neinast


IN PERSPECTIVE
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.  Those words first appeared on a banner on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln where President George W. Bush was landing on May 1, 2003, to announce the “end of major combat operations” in Iraq.

What Bush said that day was completely accurate.  The assigned mission was to dethrone Saddam Hussein and destroy his army and weapons of mass destruction.  Without question, Hussein was gone and the old Iraqi military was in complete disarray. 

Unfortunately, in that operation, the U.S. ignored surprise, one of the fundamental principles of conducting successful warfare.  Saddam had been warned for six months that we were coming to destroy his weapons of mass destruction.  That was more than enough time for him to move the chemical weapons, of the type he had used against Iran and his own people, into neighboring Syria. 

Currently, chemical weapons constitute the “red line” that Obama has warned Assad not to use in Syria or allow them to be transferred to Iran or Hezbollah in Lebanon.  Oddly, no one has questioned Obama about the source of those weapons.

In the six years between Bush’s landing on the carrier and his leaving the presidency on January 20, 2009, journalists never let him forget “Mission Accomplished.”  Anytime an American soldier was killed in Iraq and just about anytime Bush gave a speech or held a press conference, he was ridiculed for misleading the public with his mission accomplished swagger.

Now jump ahead eight years plus one day to May 2, 2011.  On that day, President Obama smiling announced to the world that “he” had killed Osama bin Laden.  In his words, "And today, Al Qaeda is on the run and Osama bin Laden is dead."

Almost daily, however, evidence is mounting that Al Qaeda is alive and running, with much of the running being toward the U.S.  Two years after Obama announced that Al Qaeda “is on the run,” an intelligence estimate is that there are 30 groups world wide that embrace the al Qaeda ideology and methodology.

Unlike the harassment of Bush about mission accomplished, the great American press seems to have forgotten all about al Qaeda being on the run.  If Obama is ever asked why al Qaeda is still around, it never appears in any media other than Fox News.

Particularly galling is the Benghazi tragedy.  The murder of four Americans in this incident occurred during the heated presidential contest last year.  Acknowledging that al Qaeda was involved would not have been good for the Obama campaign.  So the official version perpetuated by the media was that the riots were spontaneous reactions to a perceived insult to Islam.

The CIA’s original talking points on Benghazi have just surfaced.  The statement in that paper that al Qaeda operatives were among the rioters was lined out by some Obama hireling before Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., made her rounds on the TV talks shows to blame those attacks on Islam for the “spontaneous” uprisings.

As most of the press seems to be in sync with Chris Matthews, who has cried over an Obama speech, compared him to Jesus, and “felt this thrill going up my leg,” the Rice assertion that we were dealing with a leaderless mob went unchallenged.

More recently, the press is docilely agreeing with Obama’s assertion that the Boston bombings were the acts of local individual radicalization.  The only ones with questions about the real motivators seem to be Republican members of Congress.

No member of the press, other than FOX News representatives, asks the President what Tamerlan Tsarnaev was doing back in the country from which he hadbeen granted political asylum for his own safety. 

Did he go home to learn bomb making from his radical mother?  Or is it possible that he went home for terrorist training in Chechnya? 

Following that train of thought would be too sensitive for Obama.  He has stated that al Qaeda is on the run, so any indication of an al Qaeda presence in a Russian Province is an anathema to both the President and the press.

So here’s the perspective.

Chris Matthews is not the only member of the press corps to put President Obama on a pedestal. Most of that group seems to hold him in adulation.

So long as they approach him as a virtual deity who hears no evil and sees no evil, the truth will be hard to find. 

The search for truth in this administration is made even harder by the President’s and press belief that the buck never got here, so how could it be stopped here?

Terrorism is not New to the World!

From Bill Neinast, a brilliant perspective on a tough issue facing the world!

IN PERSPECTIVE
On May 2, 1995, the late COL Jack Norton (originally Nussbaum) wrote this to his god-son, my son Bill Neinast, Jr.:

“I remember so well my experiences in my hometown, Bautzen near Dresden, on Krystallnackt, November 9, 1938.  After all sorts of indignities from mobs of ordinary burgers, my family, an aunt’s family and a third family were hiding out in a 5th floor apartment at the Post Platz.  Two of the fathers had escaped based on my warnings early in the morning.  The third father was already taken away by the Gestapo.

“When some of the more despicable German/Bautzner citizens learned of our location, hundreds streamed into the Post Platz.  They screamed death to the Jews and yelled for us to jump out of the window.  Finally, Nazis in uniform came storming up the stairs to do the job.  My mother threw the window open and showed at the window sill our group ready to jump.  Three women, one of whom had already become insane, and five children.  The people screaming for us to jump never stopped.  And yet, for some reason I still cannot phantom, the advance of the Nazis on the stairs stopped.  The rest of the story is too long.  We escaped during the night, hid in a cave, nearly starved, etc.”

Norton and one of his brothers managed to get out of Germany and to the U.S.  His mother, father, sister, and another brother died in Nazis concentration camps.

Near the end of WWII, Norton was in the U.S. Army unit that liberated the Nazis’ Hadamar Death Camp.  He captured one of the nurses in the camp who had administered many of the lethal injections to the mentally disabled and severely wounded or disabled German soldiers .  As an Infantry lieutenant Platoon Leader in Korea, he earned the Silver Star, which he would describe only as “Doing what I had to do to save my men.”

The Norton family comes to mind every time a rant against Muslims appears in the news.  The correlation is religion.

A safe assumption is that more than 90% of the mob gathered on the Post Platz in Bautzen and at many other localities throughout Germany on Krystallknact, the 9/11 for German Jews, were Christians.

Consider those Christian terrorists on the backdrop of the two centuries of the Crusades during the middle ages.  From 1095 to 1291 marauding bands of Christian knights murdered, pillaged, and burned through much of the Middle East that had become inhabited by Muslims.

Body counts of enemy casualties were not common in those days.  Records indicate, however, that several hundred thousand soldiers under the Papacy roamed Asia Minor all the way to Jerusalem. So it is not unreasonable to assume that at least an equal number of  innocent men, women, and children died at their  hands.

The Church, in fostering these Crusades, promised religious and secular benefits to those who took part in them. For example, a warrior of the Cross was to enjoy forgiveness of all his past sins.

Sound familiar?  Consider, in this regard, the six promises for Muslim jihadists who become “shahids” or martyrs. 

A shahid who dies fighting for the faith, is assured an immediate entrance to the joys of Paradise. He sees his place in Paradise where he will live in the highest Heaven and in the world of angels, eating, drinking, walking and enjoying himself. A crown of honor will be placed on his head and he will have 72 Dark-Eyed wives.

So here’s the perspective.

The only hope of a peaceful solution to the long, protracted war in which we are engaged requires a precise definition of the enemy. Contrary to the belief of some, Muslims are not the enemy.

This brief history of the Crusades, the Nazis genocide, and the Muslim Jihads must be remembered in defining the enemy.  By any measure of that history, there is as much blood on the hands of Christian terrorists as on the hands of Muslim jihadists or terrorists.

The key word is terrorist.

Today, 32% of the world population is Christian.  A minuscule portion of that population may be terrorists.  A similar portion of the 2.1 billion Muslims making up 23% of the population may be jihadists or terrorists.

Only a tiny fraction of Christians were the terrorists of the Crusades and Nazi genocide.  Similarly, only tiny cells of Muslims are jihadists interested in martyring themselves in order to enter Paradise.

Remember, those promises of immediate entrance to Paradise and 72 virgins are for jihadist martyrs only.  They do not apply to the more than two billion other Muslims among us who are as peace loving as the Christians among them.

Obviously, terrorists come in many forms.  Currently, however, there is a tendency to think of terrorists only as “Muslim terrorists.”  That dangerously and unnecessarily limits the search for terrorists to individuals with Arab appearance.

How is your blood pressure?

By Bill Neinast

Slacker is not heard so often today as it was 75 years ago.  During WWII, the word was frequently used as an epithet for a man who was avoiding military service.

That pejorative term came to mind recently while reading Dr. Stuart Yoffe’s comments on the prisoners in the Washington County jail who are drawing monthly SSI checks from the U.S. Treasury. 

Dr. Yoffe believes that many of the SSI prisoners he treated in jail were fully capable of productive work but had managed somehow to get on the federal disability dole.  While the county was providing them free room and board, they were getting monthly checks of federal money that average $600.

He calculates that, if there is only one such prisoner in each of the 254 county jails in Texas, “we are spending at minimum $64 million on non-disabled individuals just in Texas.”

As my blood pressure was returning to normal after reading those statistics, another Banner Press hit my doorstep.  “Taxpayers shell out nearly $3.7M for ex-presidents” was headlined on page 2 of that issue.

Those millions did not include the amounts spent to provide the very necessary security for our former leaders.  This was money for offices, secretarial help, postage, travel, etc.

Thinking about shelling out $64 million a year for dead beats in jail and another $3.7 million for individuals at the other end of the economic spectrum shot those blood pressure readings back into the stratosphere.

The largess for those poor presidents who have been sent back home is provided under the Former Presidents Act of 1958. Under that act, ex-presidents get a lifetime pension equal to the annual rate of basic pay for the heads of executive branch departments. 

This pension is “earned” after just four or eight years of service.  In 2011, that meant the federal treasury piled $199,700 on top of their personal income.

Congress, however, was looking out for the poor taxpayers.  The act provides that the pension is taxable.

Except for Truman, and possibly Ford, every president during the last 100 years has been a millionaire or in the highest echelon of the upper class. So providing rich people with such benevolence is as bad or worse than sending SSI checks to prisoners.

Another blood pressure enhancer was on page 3 of the same paper.  It reads, “USDA expanding program to fight poverty in rural areas.”  The gist of the article is that Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was in South Carolina to kick start new initiatives in the war on poverty.

Interestingly, the only activity in this program that is discussed in the article is the assistance being given to Larry Harris.

Harris has been operating a “small” farm for 15 years.  The USDA is now going to help him dig a new well so that he can expand his farm and grow vegetables.

That’s fighting poverty? 

In the 40 years that my father owned and operated a small retail business in Somerville, he expanded or improved the physical plant four times.  He got the money for each expansion or improvement from his own operating budget.

So why is government assistance needed for Harris to expand his business?

The budget foolishness discussed here is so minuscule in the overall scheme of the massive federal budget that it probably will not be noticed by sincere  reformers.  Thus the vexatious question is how, when, and why did these items get in the budget to begin with?

So here’s the perspective.

SSI payments for prisoners, pensions for well heeled presidents, and wells for farmers are the proverbial tips of the iceberg.  If the entire ice berg of foolish federal programs were melted, however, the problem would not be solved.

The problem is the mind set of most of our elected representatives in D.C.  As a group, they seem to lack any understanding of why budgets must be balanced, with income equalling or exceeding outgo.

If the long list of wasteful spending identified by Representative Paul Ryan were eliminated during this session of Congress and if the safety net entitlement programs were controlled, the fix would be only temporary. 

Until common sense individuals like Dr. Ben Carson, Senators Marcus Rubio and Ted Cruz, Governors Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindall, and others like them get into positions of decision making prominence the country may patch a few pot holes but will continue down the same old road.

Eliminating some of the pot holes, however, may be good for blood pressure.

I am an American!

A Question of ID's

Michelle Bachman reportedly asked in her speech at CPAC this week, why you need to show a photo ID to go on a White House tour but don't need to show a photo ID to vote for the person who occupies the White House!

Not everyone has access to a photo ID.  Elderly and illegal immigrants may not be able to obtain an ID, the sick and invalid are at risk at missing the tour because they don't have an ID!   Can America tolerate this kind of discrimination and visitor intimidation?  

The One and Only Bob Hope!

BOB HOPE IN HEAVEN For those of you too young to remember Bob Hope, ask your Grandparents.. And thanks for the memories. WHAT A WONDERFUL E-MAIL. I HOPE THIS WILL PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE AND IN YOUR HEART. Tribute to a man who DID make a difference. ON TURNING 70'I still chase women, but only downhill'. ON TURNING 80'That's the time of your life when even your birthday suit needs pressing.' ON TURNING 90'You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.' ON TURNING 100'I don't feel old. In fact, I don't feel anything until noon. Then it's time for my nap.' ON GIVING UP HIS EARLY CAREER, BOXING'I ruined my hands in the ring. The referee kept stepping on them.' ON NEVER WINNING AN OSCAR'Welcome to the Academy Awards or, as it's called at my home, 'Passover'.  ON GOLF'Golf is my profession. Show business is just to pay the green fees.' ON PRESIDENTS'I have performed for 12 presidents and entertained only six.' ON WHY HE CHOSE SHOWBIZ FOR HIS CAREER   'When I was born, the doctor said to my mother, Congratulations, you have an eight pound ham.   ON RECEIVING THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL'I feel very humble, but I think I have the strength of character to fight it.' ON HIS FAMILY'S EARLY POVERTY'Four of us slept in the one bed. When it got cold, mother threw on another brother.' ON HIS SIX BROTHERS'That's how I learned to dance. Waiting for the bathroom.' ON HIS EARLY FAILURES'I would not have had anything to eat if it wasn't for the stuff the audience threw at me.' ON GOING TO HEAVEN'I've done benefits for ALL religions. I'd hate to blow the hereafter on a technicality.'  Give me a sense of humour; Lord, give me the grace to see a joke, and to get some humour out of life.

The Greatest Play in Baseball - Ever!

Take a moment to watch this, even if you are not a baseball fan.  Can this play be duplicated today, absolutely!  Would this play be duplicated today, I hope so!

Is it any wonder baseball is consider America's sport!  On April 25, 1976, in Dodger Stadium  Rick Monday saved the American flag from a couple of wacko's in LA.  God bless Rick Monday!

Marc

God Made a Farmer - Texas Aggie Version

Giving new meaning to Farmers Fight!  God made a Farmer - Texas Aggie Version

Gig Em'

IN PERSPECTIVE - Two Steps Forward, One Back for the Department of Defense

Bill Neinst


IN PERSPECTIVE
Two steps forward, one back.  Those are the current dance steps of the Department of Defense.

The first hesitant step into the 21st Century was eliminating the restrictions on gays serving openly in the military services.  Every suggestion to do this earlier was met with much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The same shibboleths of the destruction of morale and unit cohesion were raised this time, but not as vociferously as before.  If any of the predictions of  disastrous results from allowing military gays to come out of the closet occurred, they have not received wide publicity.

The opponents of this policy have their heads in the sand.  Unknown thousands of gays have served in the military with distinction, particularly during the many years of the draft.  One of those is Brigadier General Virgil A. Richard, U. S. Army (Retired) of Austin.  General Richard is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College. 

He is a recipient of the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Bronze Star with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit with four Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Meritorious Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster.  His service must not have been too disruptive of morale and discipline.

While stationed in Germany in 1970, I was the legal counsel for a major facing an administrative discharge without honor because of a lieutenant’s claim that he was the object of a homosexual advance by the major.  I saved the major’s career with evidence and argument on the homosexual or gay panic defense.

I did not keep track of the major afterward.  He had an outstanding record before this accusation, and I assume that he continued to serve with honor and effectiveness.

Those opposed to gays serving in the military might benefit from a bit of study of the use of gays in the Ancient Greek armies.  According to Plato and other philosophers of that age, many Greek military units were formed around homosexual unions.  They fought with vigor and passion.

The next step in the Pentagon waltz was integrating females into combat units. Here comes the gnashing of teeth again.  According to the old timers, women just cannot handle the rigors of combat.

Those making that argument should have a talk with Tammy Duckworth.  This lieutenant colonel in the Army National Guard lost both of her legs while piloting a helicopter in combat in iraq.  She now serves illinois as one of its Representatives in the U.S. Congress.

Maybe they should discuss their views with the families of the 152 female service members who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan so far.  If that would be too difficult, maybe visits with Shoshana Johnson and Jessica Lynch, the two female soldiers captured by Iraqi Army units, would shed a little light on their views.

Females are already serving on the front lines of combat, because those front lines are every cross roads in the countries where we have troops.  The days of trench warfare and infantry division pitted against infantry division are long past and probably never will return.  So, any female who can shoulder the rigors of today’s combat paraphernalia should be given the chance to go for the Combat infantryman’s Badge and all the glory and promotions that come with it.

Now for the step back.  If the Senate confirms the nomination of Chuck Hegel to be Secretary of Defense, the nation’s defense posture will be slammed back to pre WWII days.  Only Congress will be able to avoid such a disaster.

Hegel’s performance before the Senate committee last week was so abysmal that either he or the President should withdraw his nomination.

The only person other than Obama and Hegel who may think this is the right man for the job is Robert McNamara.  The so called whiz kid of the Johnson administration is considered by many to be the worst Secretary of Defense ever.  Accordingly, McNamara must be rooting for Hegel to take his place so that he can move up a notch in the ratings.

Defense is facing substantial cuts in manpower and materiel.  Leon Panetta, who is leaving the defense post, says these cuts pose a serious threat to the country’s safety.  So this is not the time for a politician who does not even know his President’s position on Iran to take the defense reigns.

So here’s the perspective.

The military is finally catching up with reality in personnel matters.  What a shame that it may be pushed backward by an incompetent manager.

A lot more than fancy dance steps will be required to keep us out of this quick sand.    

Obama's Queeg Moment

Exceptional piece this morning from the American Spectator site by HAL G. P Colebatch!  Enjoy

Marc

His Queeg Moment

By HAL G.P. COLEBATCH on 1.29.13 @ 6:07AM

A perspective on our president from Down Under.

In Herman Wouk’s classic World War II novel, The Caine Mutiny, there is a moment when a group of the ship’s officers are getting away from the increasingly eccentric Captain Queeq by relaxing ashore.

Suddenly the malcontent Lieutenant Keefer asks the others: “Does it occur to you that Captain Queeg may be insane?

In fact Queeg is not insane, at least not at that time. He is simply grappling, more and more disastrously, with a job too big for him. Come the crisis of a typhoon, he becomes paralyzed and nearly sinks the ship by failing to give the obvious orders. At the subsequent court-martial he appears quite normal until he breaks down under the pressure of cross-examination. Before this, the officers have searched the regulations for guidance, but the regulations refer only to a captain who is clearly and unmistakably insane, not one who is merely guilty of eccentricity and bad judgment. At a lower level of responsibility, Queeg might have performed adequately, but with Keefer’s question, the remaining respect for Queeg’s office has gone.

Read more

In Perspective - The Value of an Instilled Work Ethic

Bill Neinast


IN PERSPECTIVEA friend and colleague from Army active duty days and I continue our political discussions via the internet.  Bob is way out there in the left field of Florida.  So there is little agreement between us.

The current topic is about poverty in Texas, which was discussed in this space last week.  The running debate now is about the causes of that property.

We agree on one aspect of this issue.  We both believe that government is responsible for so many living under the poverty level.  We disagree vehemently, however, on how the government is responsible.

Bob believes the poverty problem could be ameliorated if government got bigger and better at spreading producers’ wealth around.  I believe that government is a primary cause of the poverty problem.

In the last 50 years, governments at all levels have become growing “things.”  All growing things need continual sustenance.  So it is with government politicians and bureaucrats.  They need sustenance, i.e., more programs and more taxes to feed those programs.

This need for growth has resulted in a dependent society.  There has to be a continuously expanding population expecting support from the government.  So let’s create a housing program for the “poor” and not expect single parents to leave their children at home or with a care taker to go to work.

I remember in this regard my Aunt Waga Hueske.  Her husband died in the early days of the Great Depression and just two months before their third child was born.  She needed help and did get it from the government.  That help, however, came in a much different form than it does today.

She had to nurse her newborn son early in morning then leave him and his two sisters with a neighbor while she walked two miles to the WPA sewing room.  I do not recall what she and the other needy women sewed, but they were at the sewing machines for eight hours a day.

At noon, the neighbor carried her son to the sewing room for his noon meal. My aunt then trudged the two miles back home at 5:00 p.m. to resume caring for her three children.

That aunt could not read or write.  After WWII eliminated the need for programs like the WPA, she began working as a housekeeper or cook for other families.  When she died about  40 years ago, she was living the home that she had purchased.

Compare that with the government programs of today.  Have a child but no husband, just go to the post office and pick up a government check.  Have another child without a husband, just pick up a larger check.  We are such a compassionate society that we cannot expect a mother to leave her children with a baby sitter if she does not want to.

Bob would argue that a situation like this is due, in part, to a lack of education. That is reflected in proposals pending in the Texas legislature. At least one of the bills is based on the belief that a poor education or lack of education is the cause of poverty.

I remember in that regard the Vietnamese refugees who moved here several years ago.  They opened a restaurant in an old theater building.  The parents stayed in the kitchen, the oldest son was the head waiter, and the two younger children bussed the tables and cleaned the floor.  If there were no tables to clean,  the children sat in a booth and did homework.  Big brother helped with the studies when needed.

Can anyone believe that anyone in that family will ever expect or seek government aid?

At the same time, a war was occurring on the Texas coast.  The factions were American shrimpers and Vietnamese refugees.

Some Vietnamese refugees moved in, bought junk boats, fixed them up, and began hard competition with the locals.  They stayed on the water longer, processed their own catches, and sold their produce directly to the public without the need of middle men.  The locals thought these hard working family businesses were unfair competition with their old ways of operating.

Then there was my Dad.  He went bankrupt and lost his business, but recovered and started over.  He left an estate subject to the estate tax.  All this with only a grade school education.

These examples are strong arguments against the belief that if the government just spent more money on education, poverty would be ameliorated.  They are, instead, examples that a work ethic, not education, is the path to self sufficiency.

So here’s the perspective.

Bob is going to disagree vehemently with this argument.  As all liberals, he will argue that if someone does not want to work, the government should assure that he or she is supported with other worker’s money.

Various government programs have created a culture of dependency.  Why bother to work if Big Daddy Government will take care or you.

This is not an argument that education is unimportant.  It is an argument that an instilled work ethic can overcome any education deficiency.