Rest In Peace Rodney King

If you are from the LA area, the name Rodney King is very well known.  I'm not sure how much the rest of the country or world really know the name.  Over 20 years ago this young black man was beaten by LA police.  After a trial for the officers involved that became a televised media circus, a verdict came down that was less than satisfactory for the African American community (and to most normal thinking people).  The verdict was followed by the LA riots, that turned the city into a war zone for days.  Even in the Inland Empire where I lived, fear was rampant.  One of the most famous moments during the riots was when Rodney King himself went on TV and pleaded for calm, "Can't we all just get along?"

After the riots cooled and life in LA went back to normal, King dropped off the radar, except for a few brushes with the law.  He tried to live a quiet life out of the spotlight.  On Sunday morning his girlfriend found him in his pooled, drowned.  I pray now that he finds the peace that eluded him in his life.

Black Music Month and Poliical Correctness

June is Black Music Month.  They told us so at work the other day.  It is an observance that was started by President Jimmy Carter, and June has been declared as such by each successive president with the exception of President Obama. I know what you are saying right now.  "How could the first black president not declare Black Music Month."  Well here's the thing; In his great wisdom President Obama has caved to the idiocy of Political Correctness and is now calling it "African-American Musical Heritage Month".

Besides being way to long to say, this bow to PC effectively eliminates a lot of great Black Music.  We lose Seal and Sade, both British, with a Nigerian background, so NOT African American.  We love Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the Black vocal group from South Africa that came to fame on Paul Simon's Graceland album (they are just Africans, not African Americans). And of course we lose Bob Marley and all his kids, as well as Peter Tosh and most of the rest of the reggae community, who mostly come from Jamacia, not America.
So why limit Black Music Month to only African Americans...Let's screw Political Correctness and celebrate Black Music WORLDWIDE!!!

Election Time for California

California's primary is tomorrow.  Of course it is a bit late in the season, and as a Republican I am basically down to just one choice for the presidential primary.  So I was thinking of just throwing the vote there and picking Green Party Candidate Rosanne Barr (just kidding).  There are a couple state wide ballot measures that are of interest. There is one dealing with term limits for state legislators, which if I understand it will actually extend the current term limits by allowing legislators to switch houses at the end of their limited term. If it keeps those idiots in longer, I'm opposed. And we also have to vote on an increase in tax on cigarettes.  On this one I figure I'm for it because the big tobacco companies are spending big bucks to defeat it, and anything that might make less people smoke their cancer sticks, I'm for it!

So not a lot of surprises expect in California tomorrow, but I ask my fellow Californians to vote anyway.                                                                                                                                                                                        

Missing the boat on Education

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day.  He is a recent (2012) graduate of the UC system here in California.  We were talking about how the California state government is missing the point on education.  The state government, currently under our idiot Governor Brown has decided the only way to do anything for  the state's floundering budget is to cut over $330 million from the state's education budget.

My friend and I discussed that fact that when you cut spending on education, you raise a generation that will not be able to compete in the job market, and will be forced to work lower income jobs, or be on welfare, costing the state more.  If you invest in education you will have a generation that can get good jobs in fields where they can make money and pay taxes and actually assist in the budget crisis.

But California was dumb enough to elect Brown AGAIN, and I think he hopes by cutting education he will breed Californians dumb enough to keep electing the same idiots to our state government.  Our state will never recover economically until we cut government waste spending (like the "new car" budget that is filling state storage facilities with unused cars), and invest in our future (EDUCATION!!!).  I say vote them all out!!

Fishing Lessons.

There is an old saying that says "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime."  It seems to me, as I look back over the last several decades that the Democratic party seems to favor the "Give a man a fish" philosophy. They have created a generation of people who have had things handed to them.  "Can't find a job? Not qualified for the job? Don't worry about training...we'll give you welfare"  In other words they hand people the fish.  And the children of the people who have been handed the fish expect the fish to automatically come to them.  Why bother to learn how to fish when the government keeps handing you fish.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't want to get rid of welfare altogether.  There are people out there who work hard and try to support their family and just can't make it with out a little help, and I think it is good that they can get that assistance.  But I think the system needs to be reviewed and repaired. The people out there who refuse to get work, or just keep having more kids so their government check gets bigger, need to be taken out of the system, or penalized for abusing it.

I am also not saying the Republicans have done a perfect job of "teaching people to fish"  but at least they realize that by continuing to hand people fish with no accountability is not the answer.

And another thing the Democrats have become good at is blaming the people who "have learned to fish" for the problems of those who have "no fish".  That is to say they have demonized those who are successful and have made money.  The "occupy Wall Street" movement is a prime example.  Now there are some bad people in the financial business world, yes; but making money and being successful is not a bad thing.  But if the democrats can get people to ficus their anger at business, they can take the eye off the runaway government spending.  With the national debt ceiling at $14.5trillion (that $14,500,000,000,000.00) I think maybe it's time the American people call for the government to curb its out of control spending, drop taxes on everyone, so they would have more of their money to spend and boost the economy.

I do not claim by any means that the Republicans are not also to hold blame for the out of control spending, both sides of the political system is reckless in their spending.  If anyone of us ran our finances the way the government did, we would be in the poor house for sure...wishing we knew how to fish.

An election is nearing...let's find people to vote for who want to help the economy, not just get a tax exempt government job.


okay...I'm done ranting...been a long week...sorry if my train of thought jumped a few tracks.

Say it ain't so!

One of the great things about America is that you don't have to be one of the two major parties to get on the ballot.  Received in the mail today our California primary ballot.  And there to my surprise on the Green Party section of the ballot is Rosanne Barr.  Guess I have been concentrating too much on the Republican candidates, and had not heard she was running.  I realize the last time we had an actor in the White House he did a pretty good job, but are we ready for Rosanne as the first female president...seriously I would rather have Hillary than Rosanne...I mean look what she did to the national anthem.

Obama Backs Gay Marriages

President Obama came out today in support of same sex marriage. At least this is what I am seeing all over facebook & twitter.  I admit I have not yet watch the video clip or read the news blurbs. But I tend to believe it since it has been posted by numerous people I trust.

A great number of my friends are excited about this, and I would say with good reason.  But at the same time I must ask what underlying motive might be behind this? Now whether you think gay marriage is ok or not, and whether you like Obama or not, we must remember he is a politician.  A smooth-talking, straight-from-Chicago politician who knows exactly how to play the political game.  He also knows there is an election in 6 months, and today he pretty much sewed up the gay community vote. 

So did he come out now, six months before the election, because he just now decided gay marriages were ok, or did he make this declaration just to get votes, knowing that no matter what he thinks, the decision still rests with each state, and so he will never have to face a national test on the issue.

I don't know the answer, it's just something to think about.