WE DO NOT ELECT EMPERORS OR KINGS

If a president intentionally lies in order to get a law passed, is it still a law? Should it be enforceable?  Must we obey it? But wait a minute, you say. What if that law is all about giving health insurance to people who can’t afford to buy their own? Isn’t the end, insurance for poor people, worth the necessary lies to get it passed? In other words, doesn’t the end justify the means even if the means is outright lying? I’ll let you form your own judgement. I have formed mine.

If a president says publicly that even if you are living in the same household as illegal aliens you can go ahead and sign up for Obamacare because nobody in the government will check out the legal status of your housemates. Is there anything wrong with that? If you know that you are living with a person who has committed a crime and you don’t report it, aren’t  you guilty of aiding and abetting crime and harboring criminals? Would it be any different if, for example, the crime was bank robbery, or kidnapping, or arson, or child molestation? In other words, what crimes are really crimes and what crimes are just suggestions? You’ll forgive my ignorance but I thought crime was crime.

What if a president decided that we are just too harsh when it comes to deporting illegal trespassers and that we should be more compassionate? We might be breaking up a family. Often it appears, illegal aliens come here, marry legal citizens, and start families. Should we just look the other way? What’s next? If a person with a wife and children robs a bank, or hijacks a car, or kills somebody, should we just forgive him because we don’t want to break up his family by putting him in prison? In other words, when do we realize that crime is crime? People who break the law should suffer the punishment called for in that law.

I guess what I am asking is this, shouldn’t the President of this country be held as responsible for law breaking as anyone else? Shouldn’t the President be held accountable for what he says just like everybody else is? Where in our book of laws is any government official exempt from the law? The answer is of course, there is no exemption, president, attorney general, or anyone. No one is above the law.  

Over the last several years the office of President has become something other than what I believe our Founders envisioned. It seems our presidents dominate the news every day. I think they see themselves as some sort of royalty and it didn’t start with this President, it has just dramatically increased recently. The so-called mainstream media serves to add to all the pomp.

We the people need to put government officials back in their place. We do not elect emperors or kings. Presidents do not make laws and they also do not get a pass when they break laws. All government employees from the President on down need to be held accountable for their violations of the law regardless of their positions. Media outlets who cover for lawbreakers are aiding and abetting illegal activity and they too should be held accountable. All would-be emperors and kings and liars in general need not apply when it comes to leadership positions in America. Frankly we’ve had enough.

Ron Scarbro

AFTER MARCH 31, WHAT THEN?

Let’s see now if I have this straight. About four million people have signed up for Obamacare but no one seems to know how many have actually paid. The original  goal by March 31st was eight million. That was changed to seven million, then six million, and now they will be lucky if they get five million and who knows how many of those will actually pay their premium. In the meantime approximately six million existing policies have been cancelled because they don’t measure up to ACA requirements.

Initially the Administration said they needed a large majority of the signups to be young healthy individuals, but that isn’t happening. Estimates are somewhere around twenty-five percent. These are not good numbers. Let’s face it. This whole deal is an unmitigated disaster. It is no wonder that Kathleen Sebelius is trying to hide the numbers. If I were in charge of this mess I would try to hide them too.

One of the big problems with all this is Democrats cannot run from it. They and they alone caused it and they and they alone are responsible for it. There will be no place to hide. No amount of spin is going to fix this mess.

So if you are a Democrat and you want to win an election, what do you do? What if you are an incumbent and you want to run for reelection, what do you do? Do you run as a supporter of Obamacare? Do you brag that you voted for this turkey? Do you invite Obama to your district to campaign for you? Far be it from me to offer help to the Democrats, but to all of the above, I think I would just say no. President Obama and his programs have become a boat anchor to the Democrat party. The smart ones will run in the opposite direction.

Another big problem for the country is that Obama surely knows his days are numbered. He has to know that after this midterm election, he will not have a supportive Congress to rubber stamp his programs. So he has apparently decided to “use his pen” to enact legislation and get what he wants. I am sure he believes the Democrat Senate will let him get away with it. I offer this bit of caution to the Democrats however. Be very careful. Just look at what this blind approval has already caused.

 

True to his word, Obama promised to fundamentally change America and change it he has. Now it will take years to fix the mess he has created.

When Obamacare was first introduced there were supposedly some thirty million uninsured people in this country. Now, with the number of signups and the number of cancellations, the problem is only worse.

Today if a gang banger in  any major city gets shot or stabbed will he go to the emergency ward and be treated? Do you really think he will have insurance? Will the illegal alien who has an accident while driving on our highways without a license be treated? Will he have insurance? How about all the others who refuse to buy insurance protection, will they get treatment? Of course they will and nothing that has happened will change that.

All of the drama caused by Obamacare is so unnecessary. The fundamental change offered by Obama is also unnecessary. Granted, the medical industry in this country needs reform. Obamacare isn’t the answer. After March 31, what then?

Ron Scarbro

THE FACTS WILL COME OUT

So Lois Lerner refuses to testify before the Congressional Committee. Are you surprised? I’m not. It has been reported that she has had death threats. Again I am not surprised. I actually kinda feel sorry for her. She is on the horns of a dilemma.

Let us consider what her dilemma might be. First she is not smart enough or, for that matter, stupid enough to pull off the situation she is accused of causing. Using an agency of our government to abuse any special interest group is dangerous to say the least. To pull this off requires more horsepower than she possessed. No, she had to have high powered help from the White House calling the shots. This brings up dilemma number two. The people she is covering for could make her life very uncomfortable if they chose to. All she has to do is keep her mouth shut, draw her sizable pension, and stay out of sight.

That would be doable if only the Congress would just leave her alone. But they apparently didn’t get the memo. Congressman Issa seems intent on getting to the bottom of this issue. If that is true, the next thing on the agenda is a grant of immunity for her testimony which would then render her claim of Fifth Amendment protection mute. Contempt of Congress would be the least of her worries. She could be facing serious jail time along with the people who got her into this regardless of the positions of those people.

All we need now is for the Congress to do the job we pay them to do. Not only does the House pay the bill for all government agencies, they also have the job of oversight. That includes insuring the IRS, or any government agency for that matter, obey the rules. The American people have the right to expect honesty from all agencies of our government. We also have the right to expect the Congress to do their job. Obama’s assertion that this is just another phony scandal is reminiscent of Clinton’s “move on” strategy. This administration seems intent on changing the subject. After all, it has worked in the past, so why not? We, the American people, will not let this just go away.

I believe the vast majority of IRS employees are honest, honorable, and capable. The IRS is necessary for our system of government to work. The bills have to be paid. If any employee of any government agency compromises that agency, we have a huge problem. The IRS is autonomous, therefore they absolutely have to be above reproach. As a country we absolutely cannot and will not allow malfeasance in our agencies to go unpunished nor can we allow any refusal to answer questions, period.  

These so called “phony scandals” are not going away. Benghazi, NSA spying, gun giveaways to Mexican Cartels and IRS cheating are real and they will be solved. Obama’s intent is to ignore them and hope they disappear. Well, sorry, but that isn’t going to happen. Today I think his biggest fear is that he will indeed lose the Senate to the Republicans and that they will retain the House thereby eliminating his built in protection.

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of this dishonesty. I want answers. I want guilty people prosecuted. I want the media to quit acting like lap dogs for this administration and be diligent in seeking truth. We are not a third world dictatorship. We elect our representatives and we can get rid of them. The facts will come out, and the sooner the better.

Ron Scarbro

IS IT AN ACCIDENT OR JUST ACCIDENTAL SUICIDE?

I remember when I first heard about drugs. I’m not talking about the drugs your doctor administers when you are sick, but instead the drugs that are sold on the streets and shot up in dark alleys and flop houses. Understand, this was the fifties and drugs had not become the huge problem they are today. I was naive, of course. It occurred to me that only a moron would give themselves a shot when they didn’t have to. I thought nobody was that stupid. Well I was wrong. It turns out that many, many people are that stupid.

Like you I have had a lot of injections. That’s what the medical profession prefers to call shots. I have had injections for sickness as well as when I traveled to Europe and to Asia, and now regularly for flu and other maladies. I cannot say that there was ever a time when I enjoyed an injection. I feel sorry for those people who must give themselves injections for diabetes and other diseases.

But this column is not about the drugs that are legally administered. This column is about the illegal drugs that are a cancer on our society. Just recently actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died with a needle in his arm on his bathroom floor. Today, as I write this piece, the coroner has ruled his death as accidental. I have a few questions.

I doubt that Hoffman intended to take his life on that particular evening. In fact he had probably given himself that same combination of drugs before and gotten away with it. But he, along with countless others who have experimented with illegal drugs, died because of their actions. My question is, is this really accidental?  Really? An accidental death caused by an accidental overdose of illegal drugs? Time and again we hear of people who have died because of their dependence on illegal drugs. Are these accidents? Or are these just a way that nature adjusts the gene pool and culls out those who would further weaken the pool?

In the so-called “lesser animal kingdom,” when a particular animal doesn’t conform to the realities of their breed, they are often culled by their peers or just by nature herself. An example is the occasional albino animal who doesn’t survive primarily because of their inability to camouflage themselves. Nature deals with these abnormalities in a harsh but effective way. Such is life.

Did Marilyn Monroe die of an accidental overdose? How about Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix, or so many of the others who took themselves out at very young ages? Were these all accidents?

I doubt that any one of them ever was forced to stick a needle in their arms and inject the poison that was bought on the street from who knows whom. So, when they do, is this an accident or is it just accidental suicide?

I feel sorry for their loved ones and their fans. I feel sorry for the families they leave behind. I feel sorry for those who try to understand what went wrong. I even feel sorry for a coroner who must try to determine a cause of death. Is this an accident or is it just suicide? And what is the responsibility of the drug dealer who sold the drugs to these people? Did he commit murder? Yes, I do indeed have questions.   

Some are “hooked” they say. They can’t help themselves. Sadly, for all of them, it is just a matter of time before they join all the others who “couldn’t help themselves.” The rest of us will be left with the mess to clean up. We will watch as nature cleanses her gene pool. It just doesn’t seem like an accident to me.

Ron Scarbro

ONE WINTER DOES NOT A CLIMATE MAKE

It has been a winter for the record books and it is not over yet. The “polar vortex,” whatever that means, has been very active. At one point recently there was snow on the ground in 49 of our 50 states. The northern third of the country has seen temperatures rivaling all time lows. The Great Lakes are approximately 90% frozen over. This hasn’t happened for years and years. New York City has had snowfall totalling over 55 inches this winter. Their normal snowfall is about 17 inches by this time each year. There is no doubt this has been a terrible winter.

It would be tempting to say now that this debunks the “man-caused global warming” theory that has been advanced for the past several years. The advocates of that theory say instead that this winter is just more evidence that the globe is under a warming spell and that weather patterns are changing. Know this however, one winter does not a climate make. Climates and climate patterns are established over thousands of years.  

To make my position clear, I am not a believer in the man-caused global warming theory. I am certain that the climate is changing on this planet. In fact, I believe it has been changing for millions of years. We have had ice ages and we have had warming periods. We may well still be in a warming period recovering from the last ice age.

You see, I don’t know what the temperature is supposed to be. I don’t know what the ocean level is supposed to be. I don’t know if polar bears are supposed to survive. Dinosaurs didn’t. Dodo birds didn’t. There are probably millions of species of plants and animals which have not survived and most of this happened well before man even made his first appearance on this earth. I don’t even know if man is supposed to survive. The reason I don’t know is the same reason you don’t know. We were not in on the original plan.

This is what I do know. Millions of dollars have been and are being spent in the pursuit of some climate ideal which no one can describe for a certainty. No one can state for a certainty what the temperature is supposed to be. No one can say for a certainty what animals or plants are supposed to survive and thrive. These millions are being spent to satiate some high-dollar scientists who have the ear of certain political parties who have a financial or political interest in keeping the theory alive. There have been entire industries spawned by the whole “man- caused” global warming theory.

What do you suppose the cavemen were saying around the campfire when the ice age began to melt? Do you ever wonder who they might have blamed? I’m pretty sure fossil fuels would not have been the culprit. Do you think they had weathermen who told them what the temperature was supposed to be on a particular day? Or what animals were going to be extinct?

Global climate change has become the latest cause celebre for certain political groups. They keep it alive because it serves them politically and financially. As long as they can garner believers, they will continue in this campaign and they will not let facts get in their way.  As for me, I will look forward to the spring and the summer. This winter will pass and better days are coming.

Ron Scarbro

IF EVERYTHING WAS LEGAL

The late comedian, Dave Gardner, once said that if we made everything legal, we wouldn’t have any crime. It appears Colorado and Washington State have taken him to heart at least when it comes to marijuana. But the funny weed is a subject for another day. This column will deal with illegal immigration.

The popular way of identifying these aliens is now to call them “undocumented workers.” That’s like calling a drug dealer an “unlicensed pharmacist.” Crime is crime and refusing to call it by its name doesn’t change the fact that it is a crime.

Both political parties seem bent on racing to see which can figure out a way to grant these illegal trespassers legitimacy. Both sides believing they would get their votes. Maybe we should consider what else is at stake.

Every single illegal who has a job and is paid with an actual paycheck is working with a stolen Social Security number and phony identification. Many, of course, are paid “under the table” with no record of either their employment or their pay.  In many states most are driving on our streets with no driver’s license. They also have no auto insurance. Here in Georgia, where there are an estimated one hundred thousand-plus illegals, in order to get a driver’s license or even to renew, one must provide a birth certificate or a passport, and a legitimate Social Security card. I wonder, as I look out at the many lawn maintenance people driving pickup trucks who cannot speak English, where did they get their license? Just asking.

Now let us consider the other side of the coin. Who benefits from the presence of  illegal aliens. Well, being the skeptic that I am, I follow the money. Imagine how much money is being saved by farmers and food producers who knowingly hire illegals and underpay them. Consider if you will, how much money is saved by packing houses who knowingly hire employees who cannot object to mistreatment or low wages. What about the money that politicians are paid to insure that this never ending stream of low paid workers continues? Do you suppose the Social Security Administration feels bad about collecting all those millions from known phony SSNs knowing they will never have to pay any of it out? There is no doubt illegal aliens generate big bucks for some at the expense of others.

What do these non-citizens cost the rest of us? Literally millions in welfare, health care, public education, and law enforcement. We spend millions at the “border” attempting to catch them only to have them turn around and try again and again. That has become a joke.

The saddest part of all this is that we could end this situation in days if we had the will. It is as simple as requiring all employers and welfare granters to verify the legal identity of everyone they come in contact with and refuse employment or  benefits to any illegal. With no jobs, no welfare, no free medical care, and no free schooling, these millions of illegals would quickly deport themselves. It is clear the reason we don’t was stated in the above money following paragraphs. Too many people get too much money to even consider “fixing” the situation.

So the political parties race to make the previously illegal act of trespassing into our country legal. That way it wouldn’t be a crime. Then, after that, we could make everything legal and empty the prisons. The entire judicial system would be free to just take the rest of their lives off. After all, everything is legal.

Ron Scarbro

THE DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA

Recently I have read and heard a lot about what many believe is the overt intention of Barack Obama and his handlers to destroy our country and our way of life. Well, I don’t believe it. I am going to tell you why I don’t believe it.

Like you I see the mess he has gotten us into. I see the failure of his programs such as Obamacare. I see how our influence around the world has been reduced to the point of being the brunt of jokes. I also see an economy which has been extremely slow to recover. While it is tempting to suggest all this is on purpose, the people we have in charge are not that smart.  I believe it is instead just the result of unprepared people with ill conceived notions attempting to “fundamentally change America” into some European utopia that has never existed in reality and only exists in the minds of some leftists. I think that these people actually believe that socialism is the answer for us. I think they actually believe that the redistribution of wealth is in the best interest of the majority of people. They probably think their leftist ideas are the best ideas. Of course, what they want is never going to happen and I will tell you why.

Reason number one that the destruction of this country can’t happen is the American people will not allow it. We will be patient. We will be tolerant. We will let this administration run its course. But, we do have a limit. When that limit has been reached, we will end it. Secondly, for any individual or group of individuals to overthrow America, they would need the military. Our military despises Obama and his entire administration. Finally, and this is the most important reason, we the people are armed. There are more guns in this country than people. And the people who own the guns are not people who would stand by while a bunch of lefties try to overthrow America. These are people who understand the Second Amendment and know why it exists. This is the militia which our Constitution called for. These are the descendents of the original Minutemen.

While there has been and will continue to be efforts on the part of the left wing to disarm America, it won’t work. It ain’t gonna happen. Armed men are citizens and unarmed men are subjects and the left knows that. I don’t know about you, but I have no interest in being a subject.

Some of you will think I am naive. Some might think I am not thinking this through. Some doubtlessly believe the end is near. The only end that is near is the power of the left. It has been tried and it has failed. With the election of 2014, a new beginning is at hand. That will be followed by the election of 2016 and a new America will emerge stronger because of our experience with those who would have tried to destroy her.

Too many have given too much for too long just to look the other way. Blood has been spilled for centuries to insure that we survive and survive we shall. No, there will be no destruction of America. Not on my watch or the watch of the millions who think just like me. And as we leave for brighter days in eternity, others will follow who believe like us. The future is bright.

Ron Scarbro