Time to give thanks.

As I sit on my back porch in sweats and a T-shirt (now I remember why we tolerate the unbearable heat and humidity of SE Texas in the summer) I take pause to remember how great it is to live in a country where we are free to do as we please.

I'm sitting here smoking a turkey. 11 or 12 hours from now, we're going to have some tasty goodness coming off the smoker and we'll have friends and family over for Thanksgiving dinner and it will be a wonderful time.


But I have to remember that there are places in the world, MOST other places as a matter of fact, where people are either not free to do what I am doing, or they don't have the resources to do what I am doing right now.

Cooking a meal for extended family and friends.

A lot of the rest of the world has people just trying to figure out what their next meal will be, or even more important, when their next meal will be.


We live in a country where we the people have the freedoms and ambition to do what is needed to make this Country, this United States of America, the greatest place to live on earth.

We do not live in a 3rd world nation.

The United States of America is not a third world nation.


Unfortunately, a lot of other folks out there in the world, want us to be.


I just hope that our "Leaders" don't mess things up so bad that we become one.


I am thankful today for my family. Their health. Their prosperity. Even those in the family who aren't doing so well, really are still fortunate in that we all have roofs over our heads, and food on the table, whether it be at our own house, or Grandma's house.

Let's just take pause today, for a minute, and remember those less fortunate than we.

Let's take pause today, and for a minute think about the brave men and women of our Armed Forces who are in various hell holes around the world fighting for our right to sit on the back porch and relax while smoking a turkey.

God Bless us all. Especially those less fortunate that I.

Hug your family and tell them you love them!

The Audacity of Faith

I am watching the excellent Investigative Journalism of Al Roker who is doing an expose' on firearms in America and how terrible they are. (Al Roker needs to stick to BBQ)

A commercial comes on. Some mint is selling the "Barack Obama Gold coin".

Freshly minted to commemorate his historic rise to be the 44th President of the United States.

In their commercial, this "mint" says:

"Barack Obama has inspired millions of people and has restored faith that we live in a Great Country"


Excuse me?

I never LOST faith that I live in a great Country! The United States of America is THE GREATEST Country in the world!

Are you serious? Really? Did I just see that on TV?

So let me get this straight: Obama has now formed the "Office of the President Elect" and is giving us weekly addresses. (His approval rating last I heard was over 65% without even doing a thing!) And now he has his own coin to help me remember how he restored my faith in America?


How dare anyone question my faith in The USA?

We aren't even in to the first day of the Obama Presidency and I already want to puke.

You know what?

I challenge anyone who'd like to try to convince me that the United States of America was a bad place until Barack Obama was elected.


I'll whip your ass!

I know I'm not wrong on this one.

You don't need to decide!

When will it end?

When is the pity party going to end?

We have The Big 3 Automakers asking for bail out money.
We have California asking for bail out money.
We have banks asking for bail out money.
We have mortgage companies asking for bail out money.

What about me?

I think I need some bail out money.

You too?

Here's the link so you too, can apply for your piece of the pie:
http://www.taxpayer.net/user_uploads/file/Bailout/capital_purchase_application.pdf

Hell, that application is shorter than the one I had to fill out to get in to my Mortgage I can no longer afford!

Sweet!

Has it occurred to anyone that maybe we need to just let the economy be? Let the economy correct itself?

Our Politicians have been trying so hard for 10 years to stave off any kind of a recession, that when we run out of options to prop up the economy, we're all going to be in a far worse place than we would have been if we'd just let things work themselves out.

Instead of going through a moderate (in the early 2000's) to a now severe recession, we're going to cook the books to keep it from happening.

Then, when this latest round of "stimulus" doesn't work, instead of a severe recession, we'll just go in to another Great Depression.

Will our elected officials ever learn that sometimes, the best thing to do is just leave things well enough alone?

I am probably wrong.

You decide.