WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT

Maybe it was because I was young. Maybe I was just naive. Whatever the reason, I used to be able to trust our government to, one, tell the truth, and two, do the right thing. That no longer is the case. It seems this entire government is built on lies.

Do you remember when we decided to go to war in Iraq because, among other reasons, they had chemical weapons? It made perfect sense. Saddam Hussein had used them already on his own people. Well, when we get there, we can’t find any. So the media begins the crucifixion of Pres. Bush. “Bush lied and people died.” What a mantra. Well guess what, they did find the weapons and they found them by the thousands. The Pentagon covered up the fact that they were found. Soldiers, many of whom were harmed by the discovery of some of those weapons were told to keep their mouths shut. Cover it up as if it never happened. Why? Why would our own government lie about this? Who gained what by this lie?

Let us consider Benghazi. Again, obvious lies. First we were told this was all about some silly video on the internet. Then we were told it was just a little group of upset militants. Three of our people died including our ambassador. The lies are still flowing. Who is being covered for? Is it Hillary? Is it Obama? And why? Why can’t these people man up and face the music? Or would they prefer to be remembered as just liars?

How about the IRS scandal? It is patently obvious that Lois Lerner is lying. She obviously destroyed her e-mails. When called before Congress to testify, she perpetuated her lies and refused to talk. Her punishment? She has retired to receive her substantial pension from the very government she tried to destroy by her lies.

I could go on and on but I think you understand the gravity of my comments and my concerns. My simple question is how much longer will we put up with the lying?

Here is a simple primer on American Government. Number one, Obama is not the government and he doesn’t own the government. He is a civil service employee who is responsible to the people. The Congress is not the government and they also do not own the government. They too are civil servants who are responsible to the people. The Judiciary is not the government and the judges do not own the government. They, like the previous employees I discussed, are merely civil servants who work for and are responsible to the people.

We are the government. We all are the government. Regardless of our station in life, we share equally as owners of our government. Those people in Washington, D.C. work for us, not the other way around. We get to choose them and we get to remove them. In fact, another election is just around the corner where we will choose again who will work for us. Don’t take that responsibility lightly. Do you want to continue to put liars in office? Or do you want to get someone in office who can be trusted to at least tell the truth?

I long for the day when I can trust government officials. This isn’t a party thing. Liars come from both sides of the aisle. Our world is a dangerous place. Now, more than ever, we need trustworthy people in positions of leadership. On Election Day, choose wisely.

Ron Scarbro

HMMM, WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

If anyone had told me this story just a few years ago, I would have laughed in their face. But sadly the story is true. I cannot make this nonsense up.

In Kentucky an Atherton High School student who was born an anatomically correct male, now wishes to “express” himself as a girl. He claims to be transgendered. He has demanded that the school allow him to use the girls’ restrooms and locker rooms. He also intends to shower with the girls. The school board, in their zeal to be all inclusive, unbiased, and celebrate diversity, has agreed to the student’s demands. Now let’s see, a sixteen year old boy showering with a bunch of sixteen year old girls. Hmmm, what could possibly go wrong?

Some time ago I wrote that California had passed a law allowing for the same type of treatment. Youngsters who are either homosexual, have a leaning toward homosexuality, or who just wish to express themselves as the opposite sex must have access to whatever facilities in which they feel most comfortable. Certainly showering together has to be a part of the experience. It’s a matter of “gender identity.”

Can you just see it now? Young teenagers, armed with raging hormones, getting together after gym for a quick little shower. Nothing could go wrong. After all, these kids have decided to “express” themselves as members of an opposite sex. They would have no interest in the naked bodies of anyone, right? Certainly not the opposite sex.

Are the people making these decisions nuts? Remember they are supposed to be legislators, school officials, and people who are highly educated. I think these people are just crazy.

This may come as a shock to some, but humans are members of the animal kingdom. While it is true some of us have developed bigger brains to reason out problems, sadly not all of us have advanced. And as animals we have certain instincts and proclivities. It would appear that these so-called enlightened individuals who think they know what is best for us are among those whose brains have not quite advanced.

Nothing good can come from young teenagers of different sexes showering together, period.

Those of you who know me know that I am not a psychiatrist. I don’t have a string of initials after my name. I don’t claim to understand the human brain or why some individuals seem to choose to be a different gender than their birth gender. Some of it may even be legitimate. I understand there are homosexuals in the world. Not everybody fits the same mold.

But I also know this. There is chicanery in this world. There are hijinks. There are people, especially young teenage boys, who just might take advantage of stupid laws and rules to subsequently take advantage of young girls. I don’t think that is a stretch of my imagination, do you?

Finally there is no way I would ever let my child, male or female, be involved in any organization, school, or anything which allowed for this type of behavior. I would also work diligently to fire any person in authority who advocated such nonsense.

All across this country it seems morons are getting themselves into positions of authority and sensible people are just sitting still for it. Would you allow your sixteen year old child to go to a school that allowed and encouraged mutual showers? Well neither would I. Be careful who you put into positions of power and constantly hold their feet to the fire. The kid you save may be your own.

Ron Scarbro

BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY

I remember when I was a small child my mother and my grandmother cooking in the kitchen on a wood burning stove. They had to first build a fire, let it die back a bit, and then proceed to cook whatever they were preparing. They did this in the winter and they did this in the hot, steamy summer. This was in the south and let me tell you we did have hot, steamy summers. Oh, and we didn’t have an air conditioner. Nobody had an air conditioner. I remember small fans which were used to blow the hot air from one room to another. At that time, some sixty plus years ago, what I just described was commonplace.

We also didn’t have a refrigerator. We had an icebox. The iceman would come and deliver ice which sort of kept our food cold for a time. Spoilage was quite common. In fact food poisoning was a regular occurrence.

Time and chemistry changed all that. Today virtually all new homes and cars have air conditioning. Everybody has a refrigerator. Everybody has a range and oven. Almost everybody has a freezer to preserve food and to make their own ice. While food poisoning still happens, it is far less common.

My mother and my grandmother, as well as most of their peers, aged before their time. Their toils and labor just being homemakers were life shortening experiences. Back then a fifty year old woman was old.

Look at today. People, especially women, in their sixties and seventies are vibrant and alive. Seventy is the new fifty. All people are living longer, healthier, more comfortable lives. I believe a lot of this is because of refrigeration. Refrigerating the air we breathe and the food we eat. We have come a long way and it is good.

Here is the point of all this. Some in the so-called “scientific community” have apparently decided that the refrigerants we are now using are harmful to the atmosphere. It started with Freon. They didn’t like that so it got eliminated. Now they are after the chemicals which replaced Freon. It was just announced that some world leaders, whatever that means, are getting together to try and ban many of the chemicals that we use to cool our air and our food. I wonder what they have in mind to replace them. Some skeptics among us believe that somewhere in the wings is a chemical company which stands to make billions with the next big chemical and that many of these “leaders” will be in for big money themselves. Oh, and the cost to the consumer will skyrocket. Tsk, tsk. Why would anyone be that skeptical?

This is what I know for sure. People, all people, are living longer more comfortable lives because of many things but certain among them are refrigerated air and food.

As a child, if I wanted to experience air conditioning, I had to go the movies. For some reason, in those days, theaters had air conditioning. It was, in a word, heavenly. If I wanted a cold drink, I chipped a shard of ice off of the block in the icebox and chilled my drink. But there was no respite for my mother and my grandmother. They still had to build their fires and cook over that hot stove. We all took it for granted and never really appreciated what they went through for the family, and because of their sacrifice, they aged before their time. Look at how much better our lives are today through chemistry.

Ron Scarbro

THIS IS PROBABLY GOING TO END BADLY

Like most of you I watch a little television. While watching news from virtually any station we are invariably treated on occasion to the Los Angeles freeway car chase. Somebody will steal a car or try to run from an accident or just have warrants. Whatever the reason, they decide to run from police. Well the news and police helicopters go up and record every move made by the perpetrator. Usually a battalion of police cars get in on the chase. Speeds often reach over 100 mph and other drivers on the freeway system are put at risk. I think to myself as I watch the drama unfold, this is probably going to end badly. And, almost without fail, the inevitable happens. The subject of the chase either stops because of car failure, tire failure, or worse case scenario, car crash. In many cases people are killed or maimed in these car chases. One could almost predict the end result well before it happens.

The point of all this is the situation we are facing today in the world. ISIS or ISIL, whatever you want to call them, are like the car being chased on the freeway. It is going to cause some mayhem. It may even cause some to die, but in the end it is  going to end badly for them. The reality is that groups like ISIS or Al-Qaeda are like ants at a picnic. They, in light of the bigger picture, are little more than irritants. And, like the ants, they will be squashed like the bugs they are. The world is not going to put up with murderous thugs running around killing and beheading people. For a time they will be news. They will cause many to fear. But, like the killer thugs before them, they will disappear from the earth and be relegated to the dung heap of yesterdays killers like Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein and so many others. The world has not been kind to killers in the past and they are not likely to in the future.

Instead of wringing our hands and worrying about this latest bunch and others in the future, there are things we as a country can do to mitigate this threat. ISIS is being funded by petrol dollars. Countries like Saudi Arabia and others of their ilk are using their oil money to fund groups like ISIS. What if we got off our duffs and began a serious effort to become energy independent? Drill our own oil. Extract natural gas from the deep recesses where it is hiding. Open up the Keystone pipeline to move the oil already discovered more cheaply to the refineries. Get off the backs of coal miners. Let them produce the energy that is basically at our fingertips. If Sheik Abdullah What’s-His-Name had to face life without his oil billions, he might be a little more reluctant to fund terrorist groups. Even Vladimir Putin would have to reconsider his position of trying to take over the Ukraine. His only power comes from the fact that he provides the Europeans with natural gas. How much power would he have if Europeans had other sources for their energy?

The inconvenient truth is that we have such energy reserves. We have the oil and the natural gas. Additionally, we have the brainpower to continue to find and produce alternate forms of energy and better products with better energy efficiency.

ISIS’s reign of terror will end badly, and soon. Al-Qaeda will disappear. The car chase will come to an end. Smart choices on the part of our government can speed that process along.

Ron Scarbro

TRUE JUSTICE IS BLIND

Racial injustice is a term that is being thrown around a lot recently. Our Attorney General has even weighed in decrying treatment of young black men by the judicial system. He has opined that black youngsters are arrested more often and incarcerated more often than their Caucasian counterparts. He even implied that black people were being treated unfairly by the judicial system.

It is true that our prisons and penal institutions are disproportionately populated by minority convicts and many of them black. The question is, is this because black people are being treated unfairly or is it possibly that black people are committing the majority of the crimes?

In Brunswick, Georgia recently there was a fight involving at least eight black middle school girls. The word fight doesn’t do it justice. It was more like an all out brawl. Several teachers were injured trying to break it up. Three were hospitalized for a brief time. Five of the girls were arrested for assault and  permanently expelled. They will not be allowed to return to public school. They are now being educated through a taxpayer funded home school program.

These girl’s parents along with some community leaders are protesting. “It was just a squabble.” “Kids will be kids.” “Let these girls return to school.” This, they claim, is racial injustice.

If this is racial injustice, what would racial justice look like? Isn’t that a fair question? I remember a bank robber who, when asked, “Why do you rob banks?” replied, “Because that’s where the money is.” Why are so many black youngsters arrested and jailed for crimes? Because they are committing the crimes.

Some will say that black people are the victims of a white dominated society. Still others might believe that black people are owed because of their treatment in the past. The truth is that they are in the state they are in because of their choices and their actions, period.

If anybody chooses not to get the free education that is available to all citizens, and then run rampant in the streets using and dealing drugs and committing other crimes, they deserve the justice they get regardless of their race.

Nobody is picking on black people. We have elected a black president twice. He has surrounded himself with other black people of prominence. We have a black Attorney General. This victimhood business is getting tiresome.

It is really simple. We are all responsible for our actions and our choices. We all need to be respectful of law and law enforcement officers. And we all need to obey the law. When we don’t we face the consequences. Contrary to popular liberal thinking, we are not arrested because of our race. We are not convicted because of our skin color. We are dealt with by our criminal justice system because of our choices and our crimes. If you don’t want to be treated like a criminal, don’t commit crimes.

Of course all black people are not criminals. In fact the vast majority are not. I believe it is extremely painful to them that many of their children are so out of control. I am sure that most black parents wouldn’t choose for their own children what many of these kids are choosing for themselves. They would opt for, as most would, a good life, a happy life, a productive life.

True justice is blind. It is also color blind. When individuals, regardless of their race, take responsibility for themselves and the choices they make, they rarely have to deal with the Justice System.

Ron Scarbro

LEAVE MY S'MORES ALONE

Some people like to burn their marshmallows. Some just like them toasted a golden brown. Others just want to warm them. For me the chocolate has to be Hershey’s milk chocolate. It should be room temperature so it melts some when the hot marshmallow touches it. I don’t like to char my marshmallow until it is black, just golden brown. The cracker has to be a graham cracker. I’m not picky about the brand, just crispy and fresh. Of course I’m talking about s’mores. S’mores are a great treat that virtually everyone who has ever roasted hot dogs on an open fire or camped in the woods, or even in the backyard, has enjoyed. S’mores are a staple for Boy and Girl Scout cookouts. I am confident that adults enjoy them as much as kids.

It seems the government, in its wisdom, has decided that s’mores must be changed. They have decided that the chocolate must be removed. Why, you ask? Because they have decided its bad for you. You should use fruit instead of chocolate. What? Are you crazy? Oh, and they have also decided that the marshmallows should be cut back considerably. You see, you just can’t be trusted to make your own decisions about what you should eat or how much.

This kind of reminds me of Michelle Obama’s war on children using the school lunch program. She sent out an edict that schools must make their lunchroom offerings healthier. No more pizza. No hamburgers. No desserts. Well guess what. Kids who would normally buy their lunch at the school lunchroom have stopped. Lunches are being sent back to the kitchen uneaten only to be tossed into the trash can. Sounds like a big fiasco to me.

There are lessons here. There is information to be gleaned from all this. First and foremost, government and her bureaucrats and politicians are not my mother. They are not my father and they are certainly not my big brother. In fact they are my employees. I hire them to do certain jobs and trying to decide what my eating habits should be are not on any job description. And if they were truly doing their job, would they really have the time for this nonsense?

I never cease to be amazed by the arrogance of individuals who, when put into positions of government officialdom, come to believe that we are their subjects instead of free citizens. They begin to see themselves as the all knowing, all seeing arbiters of what is best for you and me. Well I have a simple message for these would be big brothers. BUTT OUT. I will decide, as a free citizen of America, what is best for me and my family. When I want your counsel, I will ask for it. Until then, just do the job you were hired to do.

Some might think that there are people in this country who are just too stupid to know what is good for them. If that is the case, that’s too bad. It is none of the government’s business. We, the people, are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

If, in pursuing your happiness, you choose to make yourself a s’more with chocolate, or marshmallow, or peanut butter, or whatever, it is absolutely none of the government’s business, period.

To any and all bureaucrats who might someday hear this message, do what you have been hired to do. Nowhere in your job description is messing with my s’mores. Leave my s’mores alone.

Ron Scarbro

IT SEEMS WE HAVE ANOTHER SMOKING GUN

Oops. It seems the missing e-mails from former IRS Commissioner Lois Lerner aren’t missing after all. All the lying and misleading statements from IRS Commissioners past and present are proving to be just ruses designed to put investigators off track. As required by law, the Justice Dept. has copies of the e-mails and will be soon turning them over to investigators.

All of this reminds me of scandals past and how they all fell apart and how the cover-up turned out to be worse than the original crime. Do you remember Richard Nixon?

In the Nixon case there were months and months of allegations and accusations leading up to his “smoking gun.” Nixon and his henchmen lied, misled and tried to change the subject. Their arrogance got them. That gun turned out to be tape recordings actually recorded in the Oval Office by Nixon himself which he thought he could hide from investigators. He even had his secretary delete portions of the tapes to hide his guilt. It didn’t work. The truth came out. Nixon was told by members of his own party, Republicans, to resign or he would in fact be impeached. Resign he did and the nation was better for it.

How about Bill Clinton? We were treated to months of lies, denials and all manner of obfuscation. Accusers were defamed and liabled. How dare anybody accuse the President of sexual misconduct. Move on became the mantra. It even sparked a new liberal pact, “MoveOn.Org.” Hillary said it was all a part of a “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.” Well sorry Hillary, but again there was a smoking gun. The blue dress. When Clinton heard about the blue dress, he knew the gig was up. He was impeached but the Senate didn’t have the courage to kick him out of office. Perhaps it was because Al Gore was waiting in the wings. Just my guess.

Fast forward to today. It seems we have another smoking gun in the IRS “lost e-mails” case. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge knows you can’t just delete e-mails and have them disappear. Somebody somewhere has a copy of those messages. In this case it just happens to be the Justice Department. Of course there are probably many more copies. We all knew this would have to come out.

So now what? Does Lerner continue to try and claim the Fifth Amendment to keep from admitting to crimes which could well send her to Federal Prison? Does she get support for her position from other high officials in the IRS who themselves could be in trouble for lying to Congress?

Any way you look at this mess, it is going to be interesting. Government employees are civil servants. Regardless of their position they have to obey the same laws as everybody else. As previously discussed, the IRS belongs to the people. It is not a tool for any politician or any political party. Their work is vitally important to the security of the nation. Their integrity must at all times be above reproach.

I don’t know where this will lead. I don’t know how high up it will go. I just know the truth needs to be told. We the people demand that this be cleaned up and we demand that governing bodies be put into place to insure we never again have to deal with this type of dishonesty from our government.

Ron Scarbro