Mom

It was 30 years ago that my Mom slipped the bonds of this earth for much greener pastures. By that time, however, she had given me 36 years of example, instruction, and love that live on to this day.

Well done, Mom. Thank you.

Really America? Really?

Just pondering a few questions, answers to which are possibly more important than we may realize:

• Are a professional basketball player's bedroom choices really worth a couple days' headlines and a personal, congratulatory phone call from the President of these United States to commend him for his courage? Really? Frankly, I don't give a damn.
• Why did the United States leave four citizens hanging in the wind in far away Libya, resulting in their deaths? Really, why?
• Must I accept the redefining of Marriage? If so...what's next on the agenda?
• What good are even more gun laws going to do in the prevention of murder? After all, check the trends from 1993 to 2011 as published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics here. 
• How rampant is human trafficking in the United States? Is one particular group responsible for most of it? 
• Is my Baby Boomer generation the last to experience "retirement" as it used to be known?
• Did the Cleveland PD totally drop the ball on fully investigating strange reports from that house-turned-prison in their city? 
• Where have all the Woodward- and Bernstein-like real investigative reporters gone? 
• Why do we give more of our time and effort considering the latest Lindsay Lohan drunken episode or Kim Kardashian's marital mess than we do to matters that are actually important? 
• (By the way, who was thrown off Dancing With The Stars last night???)
• Have welfare programs doomed America's future? 
• Is personal responsibility a thing of the past?
• Has consideration of these questions ruined your mood for the day?

I'm normally quite a positive guy, but these questions and more have me a bit in the doldrums lately. 

Lord, help us. 

Boston Strong

My oldest son lives just outside Boston. He is a running enthusiast, among other interests. A few years ago he ran The Boston and I was there to watch him, cheer him on, and congratulate him at the finish line. Unless you've witnessed it first-hand, it is difficult to imagine what Patriots Day and the running of The Boston Marathon means to those involved. It is truly one of the most important days of their year.

This past Monday afternoon, although I knew he wasn't running, I knew that his many friends participating may have led him to the race route to watch them, cheer them on, and even be at the finish line. Since they had no school that day, my grandsons could have very likely been with him. When I heard the unfathomable news of the bombing, a few very tense minutes passed before he replied to my text message of "you OK?" to say that all was fine and he was not anywhere near Boylston Street and that horrific scene. Thank God.

A transplanted Michigander, greater Boston has been his home for almost 20 years now. A sports nut, he has related how Bostonians, now including he and his family, are absolutely crazy about their local professional sports teams. Last night at the Bruins hockey game, those fans really showed their love of their city and their unwillingness to be taken down by cowards out to make a statement. This excellent article, and it's embedded video of the fans singing the National Anthem as one, wonderfully highlights the strength and the resolve of those fans, along with their love of America.

This video of the pre-game activities, serves to remind each of us that although they are enduring the grief of their losses, their spirits are rock-solid as they resolve to get through this tough time together...Boston Strong.

Enough is Enough

The calendar says that tomorrow is the first day of Spring. I fear there has been some mistake. You see, this morning I woke up to find this when I gazed out the front window...

By 5:00 this afternoon it amounted to 5 - 6 inches of new, fluffy, ugly white stuff! Will it never stop? This winter wasn't really too bad...until February and March came around. The last 7 weeks have been brutal, by southwest Michigan standards anyway. 

However, the long-range weather forecast calls for warming into the 40° range this weekend. 

Could that be the final change I'm so longing to see??? 

C'mon God, work with me here. Our beautiful yellow and white crocus flowers are under 6 inches of snow and begging for sunshine. And, well, so am I. 

Free At Last!

About 8-1/2 years ago, we decided to move from Wyoming, Michigan to Byron Center. My stepsons attended school in BC and it just made sense to be closer to all the school-related activities.

We found a house, loved it, and made an offer that was accepted. As far as the Wyoming house went...I remember saying, "oh, don't worry Sweetheart, it'll sell in a heartbeat". Oh boy...I sure blew that call! No sale of the home materialized, even after three tries with three different realtors over those years.

Therefore, for the past 8 years, that house has been a rental. I now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I do not care to make Landlording my avocation. No thanks, don't want the hassle, no way, no how. We had good renters and bad renters; fortunately, the good ones were in the majority.

So, it is with great joy that I publish this photo, showing the absolutely lovely SOLD sign atop the realtor's For Sale placard. Ah, thank God Almighty, free at last, we're free at last, as the late Dr. M.L. King so eloquently stated many years ago.

It will take a while to get used to one mortgage payment, one property tax bill, one insurance invoice, and the lack of extra responsibilities an additional property adds to one's life, but I think we'll get accustomed to the change very quickly!

What a Difference 2,400 Miles Can Make!

Recently, we spent a terrific week in Nuevo Vallarta, 

enjoying the sun, water and beauty of the central Pacific coast of Mexico. 

Swim-up bar, of course!

Beautiful landscaping throughout the grounds of the resort. 

But, all good things must come to an end. We returned home to find winter was still in full force. 

I know they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, 

but winter really does have a special peacefulness, doesn't it?

Recent Executive Orders Explained

The Buckeye Firearms Association just sent out this succinct explanation of each of the 23 Executive Orders recently signed by President Obama. Much ado, pomp and circumstance, and "show"...accomplishing nothing more than a nice feeling for the one who signed the orders, in this blogger's humble opinion.

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Obama's 23 Executive Orders 

translated from the formal bureaucratese

Submitted by cbaus on Thu, 01/17/2013 - 12:00.
Editor's Note: This succinct, pithy analysis of Barack Obama's 23 Executive Orders was posted yesterday on the Internet and has quickly gone viral. The original author appears to be this blogger.


So Obama released his Executive Orders to Prevent Maniacs From Being Maniacs today. I've taken the time to translate the summaries into plain English below:

1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.

     Tell the government to follow the law.

2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.

     Tell the regulators to stop the stupid and useless regulations.

3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.

     Pay the states back for the unfunded mandates that the Feds keeps making.

4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.

     Tell the Attorney General to do his job.

5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.

     Start another unfunded mandate. (See #3.)

6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.

     Tell FFLs how to do something no one is ever going to bother to do.

7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.

     Do the same thing the NRA already does, only half as well at twice the cost.

8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).

     Do what Underwriters Laboratories already does, only half as well at twice the cost.

9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.

     Tell the Feds to do their jobs.

10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.

     Tell the DOJ to do its job.

11. Nominate an ATF director.

     Tell myself to do my job.

12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.

     Spend more money.

13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.

     Tell everyone to do their [$%^&*#] jobs.

14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.

     Tell the doctors to figure out why it isn’t the feds’ fault that they aren’t doing their jobs.

15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.

     Figure out a way to push “smart guns” that don’t exist and wouldn’t be useful as guns if they did.

16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.

     Tell everyone that Obamacare doesn’t actually mean what it says.

17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.

     Tell everyone that, seriously, Obamacare doesn’t actually mean that. We had to pass it to find out what was in it, after all.

18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.

     Tell everyone that I’ve been a partisan hack for the last month every time I said the NRA was crazy to want to post more cops in schools.

19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.

     Do the same thing that every police agency in the country has already done, only half as well and at ten times the cost.

20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.

     Tell doctors what they already know.

21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.

     Tell people what the parts of Obamacare that don’t say anything say.

22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.

     Tell HHS to do their job.

23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

     Hand the rest of the job of telling everyone to do their jobs off to someone else so it is no longer my job.

In Good Conscience

I ran across word of this CEO of a Grand Rapids, Michigan business standing up for his convictions and suing the Department of Health and Human Services over what ObamaCare will force him to pay for...totally against his religious beliefs. Thankfully, he isn't alone in standing up for his convictions. Hobby Lobby is risking having to pay fines up to $1.3 million per day for refusing to bend their owners' religious convictions.

Americans are fighting back, thankfully; each of us needs to be strong and voice our objections to a federal government that seems hell-bent on ignoring the Constitution and it's right-protecting amendments. Shame on each of us if we sit idly by and watch our freedoms be taken away.

Get Out Your Wallets

The first paychecks for those of us working for a living will begin arriving any day now. With those checks will come changes to the "withholding" column of your detailed paycheck report. Sure, most of the increases apply to those making over $250,000 per year, but folks those are the people, by and large, that are running small businesses throughout this land. That fact does not bode well for increased employment, not at all.

In addition, these "soak the rich" increases were fought for, tooth and nail, because they would help to balance the awful, one-sided, overspending of tax receipts by the federal government. HA! Do the math; this won't even begin to right the lopsided, deficit-laden expenditures by this bunch in D.C.

We're in trouble and our esteemed President seems dead set on continuing down the same road to eventual financial ruin. Look at Greece, look at Spain and see what type of malaise is in store for our own United States. It's coming...maybe not tomorrow, this year or next, but it is really coming soon to send all of us into financial Armageddon.

The Heritage Foundation's "Morning Bell" report this morning (1/8/13) detailed 13 tax increases that took effect on January first of this new near. Here they are in brief:

13 Tax Increases That Started January 1, 2013 

Tax increases in the fiscal cliff deal:

1. Payroll tax: increase in the Social Security portion of the payroll tax from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent for workers. This hits all Americans earning a paycheck—not just the “wealthy.” For example, The Wall Street Journal calculated that the “typical U.S. family earning $50,000 a year” will lose “an annual income boost of $1,000.”

2. Top marginal tax rate: increase from 35 percent to 39.6 percent for taxable incomes over $450,000 ($400,000 for single filers).

3. Phase out of personal exemptions for adjusted gross income (AGI) over $300,000 ($250,000 for single filers).

4. Phase down of itemized deductions for AGI over $300,000 ($250,000 for single filers).

5. Tax rates on investment: increase in the rate on dividends and capital gains from 15 percent to 20 percent for taxable incomes over $450,000 ($400,000 for single filers).

6. Death tax: increase in the rate (on estates larger than $5 million) from 35 percent to 40 percent.

7. Taxes on business investment: expiration of full expensing—the immediate deduction of capital purchases by businesses.

Obamacare tax increases that took effect:

8. Another investment tax increase: 3.8 percent surtax on investment income for taxpayers with taxable income exceeding $250,000 ($200,000 for singles).

9. Another payroll tax hike: 0.9 percent increase in the Hospital Insurance portion of the payroll tax for incomes over $250,000 ($200,000 for single filers).

10. Medical device tax: 2.3 percent excise tax paid by medical device manufacturers and importers on all their sales.

11. Reducing the income tax deduction for individuals’ medical expenses.

12. Elimination of the corporate income tax deduction for expenses related to the Medicare Part D subsidy.

13. Limitation of the corporate income tax deduction for compensation that health insurance companies pay to their executives.
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We're in trouble, my friends. Hang on to your hats; we're in for a wild and terrible ride.