PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN

I have been watching the events of the past week with renewed interest. First we had the inauguration. I was proud to be an American as we watched the history being made before us. I have watched many inaugurations and have been filled with pride with all of them.

Right after those festivities however, we witnessed rioters disguised as demonstrators in the streets doing what anarchists do. They turn over cars. They break out windows. They loot and steal. All this is done under the guise of lawful demonstration. Obviously these are paid rioters who are hired to disrupt and destroy. I bet most of them don’t even vote and have no idea why they are even demonstrating. They just know they are paid to create havoc and get arrested. I  hope Soros and the others who pay for this are proud.

Then came the “women’s march” and all that surrounded that little event. Are the women of America proud of the profanity-laced tirade by Madonna? Do these has- been so-called celebrities represent rank in file women of America? Is Michael Moore one of your heroes? Do they speak for you? I don’t think so.

Don’t these sore loser liberals understand that the very reason they lost this last election was because of actions like these? In reality profane, loud mouths don’t speak for the true Americans of any gender. Worn out has-been entertainers are paid to entertain, not preach hatred. Anarchists have no place in the real America.

True Americans of both genders want a traditional country based on our Constitution and the rule of law. We don’t want illegal aliens running loose in the streets. We don’t want men going into ladies’ restrooms, regardless of how they might see themselves on any given day. Gender is not an identity to be chosen at will. It is instead a biological fact of birth.

True Americans want equality for all of her citizens. We want no special treatment for any race and we don’t want any mistreatment either. All blood is red, period. Citizenship has its requirements however. Responsibility, respect for law and law enforcement, for example.

True Americans want a powerful military with the ability and willingness to confront and deal with any problem or challenge in the world that endangers us. We bow to no one. As the old country boy once said, “We take no crap and we give very little.” We want to again have the respect of the world that we once had.

I also have been watching the hearings in the Senate for the confirmation of President Trump’s new cabinet. If you are a Democrat are you proud of Minority Leader Senator Charles Schumer, D. New York and his “slow walking” of candidates? It is nothing but political theater. I know both parties do it but playing politics with such an important task as Cabinet confirmation is childish. The Senate has a majority of Republicans and can at any time confirm anyone they choose with a simple majority vote. On that note I have a suggestion. How about the Republicans trading Sen. John McCain to the Democrats for Sen. Joe Manchin. We trade a rino for a dino. Sounds good to me.

The national media has decided that they will fight Trump at every turn. That’s a bad decision. Trump is our duly elected President and he is in charge. Using his social media devices he will speak directly with the public whether the media likes it or not.

This final note to liberals everywhere. If you think it is bad now, just watch the next four years and unless I miss my guess, the next eight years. Proud Americans have spoken.

Ron Scarbro

NUGGETS AND TIDBITS

The Clinton Global Initiative is being shut down. Since the election and Hillary’s loss, there is no reason for foreign governments to continue to donate money to the Clintons. Since this little shakedown first started, it has always been an influence peddling scheme. With Hillary’s loss and with no influence to peddle or sell, no cash was going to come in. This, however will not cause the investigation to end. A Republican led Justice Department will get to the bottom of this “pay for play” enterprise and indictments will follow.

As I write this Rep. John Lewis, D Georgia, has decided that Trump’s victory is illegitimate. Therefore he, along with a number of other Democrats, will not attend the inauguration. He did the same for George Bush’s inauguration. I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to Mr. Lewis and the others, but I don’t care. I don’t think Donald Trump cares either. Over the next few months and years people will either be a part of the solution or a part of the problem. Which will you be Rep. Lewis?

Rosie O'Donnell has decided she should declare “Martial Law” until Trump is cleared of all charges??? Charges? What charges? Also, this little bit of information to Rosie. Private citizens cannot declare Martial Law and who really believes, other than a few wild-eyed liberals who see themselves as the smartest and most influential, that our own military would take up arms against Trump? Martial law is when the military takes over complete control of the government. Our military is far more apt to round up people like Rosie O’Donnell and put them in a rubber room for their own protection.

I am amazed as I watch this all unfold. As a lifelong Republican, it isn’t my place to say but, why do the Democrats think they lost? In their heart of hearts they surely know the Russians had nothing to do with our election. They also must surely know the election was fair and honest. Do you suppose it is possible that at some point in time they will come to understand that the reason they lost was, one, they had a scandal ridden, flawed candidate? Two, this election was a repudiation of the Obama Administration and his programs. Thirdly the American people were growing weary of the continued excuses for a poor economy. The recovery touted by Obama was lame at best. We always knew we could do better.

The direction of the country was not what the majority wanted. Think about it. The national media is out of hand. They have become nothing more than a propaganda arm of the Democrat Party. Now Trump goes around the media by tweeting his opinions and thoughts. This drives them crazy because they are then not able to filter his thoughts and add their own agendas.

We are going to see some major changes in the coming days. Trump will probably spend his first few hours as President eliminating most of Obama’s executive orders. Obamacare is history. Illegal aliens running freely across our borders will end. Cities who have been defying Federal law with regard to these illegals will pay dearly if they continue. We are going to see major tax relief. The billions of dollars which have been hidden overseas will come back. Small businesses, relieved of the onerous regulation which has been strangling them, will come back.

Finally, I believe the VA will get fixed. The bureaucracy which has been responsible for its mismanagement will have to change. Veterans need pure choice and not government runaround. Incompetent employees and managers will be terminated and replaced by capable people. It can’t happen soon enough.

Ron Scarbro

AMERICA DOESN'T HAVE A RULING CLASS

I don’t hate Hillary Clinton. I don’t hate Bill Clinton. But, I do want them and their actions investigated fully by the new Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the  Justice Department and if indictments are in order, I want those indictments handed down. This has nothing to do with hate or even dislike. This has to do with law and order.

This is America. We don’t have a ruling class. We don’t have royalty, even though the media would seem to prefer that we did. Let’s take for example, speed limits. If I get in my car and drive down the highway, I am bound by the rules of the road. If the speed limit is 65mph, I am bound by that restriction. By the same token, if Hillary Clinton drives down this same highway, she has the same speed restriction. Her personal wealth or her station in life do not give her or anyone else exemption from the same rules as everybody else on the highway. If she or I violate the rules, we must be held to account. Some years ago I remember Richard Nixon saying that if a President did something, it couldn’t be illegal because the President did it. Wrong again Mr. President. The law applies equally to everyone.

Let us now consider Hillary’s obvious violation of our secret’s laws. She set up a private server in her kitchen and transmitted top secret messages that any hacker worth his pc could hack and steal. In a recent “document dump,” the FBI revealed that many of Hillary’s emails were indeed hacked and that they were hacked by “hostile” foreign actors. Comey says she was careless. Okay, careless and illegal. He didn’t say that, I did. Attorney General designate Jeff Sessions must investigate this and take it wherever it leads him. If this leads to indictments and trial for espionage, so be it. Any American in any station in life should face the same. The law is there to protect us all and no one is above the law.

How about the so-called Clinton Foundation. Do you or does anyone actually believe this was set up to be a charitable foundation? This is now and always has been an influence peddling slush fund for the Clintons. Don’t you feel a little bit sorry for all the foreigners and tin horn despots who contributed to the fund hoping to gain access into top government decisions?  No? Well I don’t either. In reality influence is not for sale. Access is not for sale. Persons who would deign to run for elective office should always be above reproach. They should be of the highest integrity.

I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here. We don’t need new laws. We don’t need a special prosecutor. All we need is for the laws already on the books to be enforced, criminal perpetrators to be held to account, and punished according to the law.

We are not kings and commoners. We don’t have a ruling class. We are all equal under the law, period. Be they the Clintons or the Smiths. It doesn’t matter.

To those who say Hillary has suffered enough, nonsense. She still thinks she is a player. That notion needs to be eliminated from her thoughts for all time. If, however, after a complete, unfettered, non-political investigation is done, and she is found to be without any indictable offense, then and only then can she even consider that she has any place on the stage of America.

Ron Scarbro

DON'T MESS WITH ISRAEL

Have you ever read the twelfth chapter of Genesis? Regular visitors to this blog will understand that it is not a religious blog, but I do call on Higher Authority from time to time. Also, regular visitors will recognize that Genesis is the first book of the Old Testament of the Bible.

In a nutshell, Genesis chapter 12 relates how God granted to Abraham and to his followers, Israel, most of northern Africa. This happened thousands of years ago.   Israel’s boundaries are clearly laid out in this chapter. Also in these words God makes it clear that anyone or any nation who curses or defiles Israel will suffer the curse of God. In other words, don’t mess with Israel or else.

Well the UN General Assembly apparently decided that they would in fact curse Israel and defile her. So, they passed a resolution essentially denouncing Israel and attempting to take territory away from her. These types of resolutions have been presented before but we have always vetoed them. This time we abstained from a vote which allowed the resolution to pass easily. We turned our backs on our only true ally in the Middle east. By turning our backs, we granted tacit approval for this defiling of Israel. We invited God’s curse on us. Many are now suggesting this act was nothing more than Obama giving Israel the “middle finger.”

The liberals in the world are demanding a “two-state” solution to the Israeli problem. In other words, we split up Israel’s God given historical territory and give some of it to the so-called Palestinians. That split would include a part of Jerusalem which is, of course, the traditional capital of Israel. That would be like splitting up Washington DC and giving part of it to England.

In the past, Israel, in the interest of peace, has voluntarily given up some of their land to these terrorists only to find them using that territory as a base to fire rockets and bombs on Israel. They are not too happy about giving up more territory to just make their problem worse. As Prime Minister Netanyahu has said, if Israel’s enemies quit bombing Israel, there would be peace. If Israel quit defending herself, she would be destroyed.

Simply stated, there can be no “two-state” solution. Israel is a legitimate one state. The screamers who cry for her to share her land don’t want a two-state solution. They want one state, and that state would not include Israel.

I think the time has long passed for us to face a reality. The United Nations has become the League of Nations. Its value as a problem solver has ended. The UN doesn’t prevent wars. It is more apt to start them. The UN doesn’t settle border disputes. It is more apt to exacerbate them. The UN is nothing more than a beautiful building in a very beautiful section of New York that has become a financial drain on America. I heard recently that the building would be better served as condos for the very rich.

Here is another reality. The United States gains absolutely nothing from membership in this little club. Its main function is to rein in our power and do it with our money. If the world wants an organization known as United Nations, let them build a building in Sudan, or Venezuela, or some other country. Let them require that members pay their own way. Let’s see how that would work out.

Finally, whether one reads and follows the Bible or not, Israel is our ally. We need her in the Middle East. We need her to be strong and able to defend herself. We may well call upon Israel to help us get rid of terrorists in the future. You don’t treat friends the way Obama has treated Israel. Another mess that Trump will have to fix.

Ron Scarbro

IT'S BEEN A HELLUVA YEAR

2016 started with the proclamation from the national media that Hillary Clinton was going to be our new President, period. Oh, there would be an election but that would just be a formality. The outcome was already determined. After all it was her turn.

Well a funny thing happened on the way to the polls. The American people didn’t get the memo. They elected Republican Donald Trump instead and not only that, they also elected a Republican Senate and a Republican House along with a majority of statehouses and governorships. So much for news media proclamations.

Since that election some disgruntled individuals decided that if Hillary lost, it must have been rigged. So, Jill Stein, the fourth place finisher out of four, begged for some money to demand a recount in three of the key states. She picked up over seven million dollars. Federal judges in the key states of Michigan and Pennsylvania said she had no standing and could not request a recount. In the meantime Jill spent over a million in salaries and costs, she says, only to be shut down by the courts. Wisconsin went ahead with their recount where Trump picked up several hundred additional votes from that count. Jill lost again. I have a question. Where did all the rest of that money go? It is well over six million dollars. Maybe that will just be her consolation prize. Go home Jill. Your fifteen minutes are up.

Since that didn’t work out for the Democrats, they have decided on a new scheme. We’ll blame the Russians. We will claim that they hacked our election and that will prove that Trump didn’t actually win. Of course we have no proof but it won’t be necessary. The American people will be so incensed, they will go along with whatever we say. That current fiasco is underway.

What’s next, you ask? Well a group of so-called Hollywood celebrities demanded that the Electoral College refuse to elect Trump. They wanted the electors to violate the law and not vote for their state’s elected choice. Another desperate act by a desperate bunch of losers. After the Electoral College vote, Trump lost a total of two votes and Hillary lost five which made Trump the overwhelming winner. For the disgruntled losers, that’s 0 for 3. Attention Democrats, your cry-baby antics are getting tiresome. Grow up. Go home. Get over it.

Fortunately in a few weeks all of this will be over and the Democrats will come to the understanding that they lost and Trump can get about the business of governing the country.

And how about the media. Both the print as well as televised news have lost all credibility. Today news is a crap shoot. The agenda of the newspaper, or the television station, determines what we read or hear. Television anchors have become stars with clothing contracts. They are paid huge salaries. All they have to do is conform to the agenda of the check writers. Never mind the truth. Apparently facts aren’t important.

I can remember when public embarrassment pronounced the end of one’s career. Not anymore. The morons are out of the closet. Weirdness is celebrated. Perversion has become the norm.

I believe that’s all changing. The election of Donald Trump is our “brexit.”  I think we all will see a different America in a few weeks. Yes, it has been a helluva year. But, we are about to embark on a new day and a new year. To any liberals who might be reading this blog, I have this advice. The train is leaving the station. Either get on board or be left in the dust.

Happy New Year

Ron

THE LEGEND OF DOUGIE THE FIR TREE

A CHRISTMAS STORY

Way out west where the mountains are really tall, snow comes early in the winter and stays long into the spring. In the winter the air is clean and crisp but it is very cold. In the spring though, the sun warms the woods quickly and causes great stirring among the plants and the animals.

On one particular mountainside there lived a magnificent stand of Douglas fir trees. They grew tall and straight destined to become the finest lumber in all the land for building. The great trees were rightfully proud of their destiny. No other trees grew straighter or made finer lumber. In the fall the trees would shed seed cones which would feed the squirrels and other small animals in the woods. Inside the cones were many nutritious seeds. These morsels were the feed for most of the forest’s critters.

Occasionally some of the seeds would be buried by the squirrels for later use. Sometimes the squirrels bury so many seeds that they forget where they all are buried. This is just what happened one autumn on one of these tall mountains. The next spring when the sun warmed the earth and melted the snow, the little seeds sprouted into seedlings. In the life cycle of Douglas firs, new great trees are born. All over the forest young seedlings were sprouting and showing their new growth to the warming sun. All was right with the world as new life was born to take the place of the older trees which would be removed to become the finest lumber in all the land.

Dougie was just such a seedling. He stretched his young needles trying to reach the warming sunlight. But there was a problem. He had sprouted under a giant log which was blocking his sunlight. Dougie thought, “This is not such a big deal. I’ll just grow around the giant log and reach the sunlight.” That is just what Dougie did.

Every winter he slept under the heavy snowfalls and waited until the warming spring melted the snow and let Dougie stretch, further bending around the giant log to grow.

All went well for a few years until Dougie became a sapling. He was now about three feet tall, gangly and spindly as you would expect a teenager to be. Trees don’t grow as fast as humans but they grow much taller. Because Dougie had to grow around the giant log, his trunk was developing a curve. “Don’t worry,” his mother had said. “I am sure your trunk will straighten up when you grow a little more. I just know you will become a great tree and you will be sought out for your destiny to become the finest lumber in all the land.”

The next winter was particularly harsh. Snowfall far exceeded normal. All the young saplings were pushed down by the weight of the snow. But it is the nature of mountains and snow and trees to have these little experiences. When the warming sun returns and melts the snow, all the trees will spring back and grow to become the tallest and straightest trees on the mountain. Dougie had another problem however. The shade over him had caused the snow to stay considerably longer than normal. To deal with it, Dougie decided he would just grow around it as he had before. This time though, he had to grow in a different direction to get to the sun’s warmth. This caused his trunk to develop an “S” shape. “I’m not going to worry,” thought Dougie. “I will just continue to grow taller and taller to become the tallest, straightest tree in the forest. I will achieve my destiny to become the best lumber in all the land.”

Sadly it was not to be. As Dougie grew, his curvature only got worse. His growth became stunted. All the other trees grew taller and taller leaving Dougie in their shade.

“Now what? What is to become of me? All my life I had planned to achieve my destiny to become the tallest and greatest tree in the forest and now it looks like I will be nothing more than a scrub bush. I will never be good enough to be the finest lumber in all the land. It looks like I will have to spend my life as a nothing.”

Well life has a strange way of dealing with things. Just when you think things are the darkest, sometimes great light is shown. As it turns out, Christmas was approaching. Snow had fallen and the forest was even more beautiful than usual. Dougie heard a strange noise in the distance. It seems a family had come to the woods looking for a Christmas tree. The family was a Dad with his three children. The children were very excited looking for the perfect tree to decorate for their home. As they walked around and among the many beautiful young Douglas firs, they would shout “How about this one?” or “Dad, I think this is the best one.” They seemed not to even notice Dougie.

Dougie thought, “I cannot do anything right. I can’t even become a Christmas tree because of my curved trunk. Now I will never be a great tall tree and I won’t even be a Christmas tree. How sad is my life.”

Just then Dougie noticed a little girl looking at him. She was part of the family who was out looking for a tree to decorate. She was smaller than the other children. She stood in a strange way. She seemed to have some difficulty getting around in the snow, but she had a huge smile on her face. She was definitely having a good time. Dougie looked closer and saw that this little girl had a strange curve in her spine much like the curve in his trunk.

“Dad, come and look at what I have found. I think this could be the Christmas tree for us.” Dad came over and said “Honey, this tree has a crooked trunk. I don’t think it would be the perfect tree for us.” He then went off to be with the other kids continuing to look for the perfect tree.

The little girl just stood there and stared at the crooked tree. Dougie was as sad as the little girl. Off in the woods there was the rustling of the kids as they continued to look for the perfect tree. Dad called to the little girl to come with them. “No Dad,” she said. “This tree and I both have a curve in our spines and you always told me that I was as good as anybody else, so I think that just because this tree has a curve in his spine, he can be as good as anybody else also.”

Dad stopped in his tracks. His eyes filled with tears as he suddenly recalled his feelings when he learned of his little girl’s condition known as scoliosis. He remembered the fear both he and the little girl’s mother felt. He knew that he and his daughter had to learn to live with her condition. He had, for years, told her she could do anything she put her mind to. He and her mother had told her to reach for the stars and not allow her physical limitation to slow her down. Now here before his eyes was the essence of the lesson he had tried to teach his daughter for years and today he had to learn it from her. She had become the teacher.

Dad immediately called all the kids together and announced that we had indeed found the perfect tree. The kids were surprised at the choice of the tree with the bent and curved trunk. Dad said, “Just you wait until you see what this tree will become. We will decorate this Douglas fir as no other tree has ever been decorated.” Dad quickly cut the tree down and it was lovingly loaded in the van for the trip home.

When Mother saw what the family had done she was also surprised. “Is this the best you could do?” she asked. When Dad told Mother what had happened, the matter was immediately settled. Mother said, “Let’s decorate this tree as no other tree has ever been decorated.” And so they did.

Dougie saw what he had become and he was truly the finest Christmas tree that has ever been. The tinsel and lights were so grand that no one could ever notice that there was a curve in his trunk. His heart sang. Dougie never again thought of his destiny of being the finest lumber in the land for now he had become the finest Christmas tree in the land.

Often in our lives we make great plans. We prepare for lives with one destiny on our minds. Then on occasion, things happen to change our plans. That’s the way life is sometimes. If we can somehow become like Dougie and this little girl, perhaps we will find a different direction that we could never have prepared for. Perhaps our destiny is yet to be decided. Life truly begins when we accept those things which we cannot change and then live our life to its fullest. Whether you are to be the tallest, straightest tree in the forest or the most magnificent Christmas tree that has ever been, success in life is being the best that you can be.

Copyright © 2010 by Ron Scarbro

AMERICA HAS GIVEN HERSELF A GREAT GIFT

The commercialization of Christmas starts earlier every year. I started hearing commercials for Christmas back in October. I’m a capitalist and as such I am okay with selling your product any way you can. Let’s face it, Christmas has become a retailer’s dream. That doesn’t mean that the true meaning of Christmas has to be lost in the hubbub. I just heard Donald Trump wishing a crowd Merry Christmas. He said isn’t it great to be able to say that once again. He challenged the retailers of America to once again use that greeting instead of the politically correct non- greetings that have invaded our language over the past few years. I am hopeful that we all can return to a more traditional America where tolerance abounds and the perpetually offended can just relax and enjoy the ride.

If the music and the decorations of Christmas bother you, that’s okay. Your intolerance bothers me, but I don’t march in the street and cause uproar over it. If my greeting of “Merry Christmas” offends you, I’m sorry you feel that way. A while back I was having a conversation with a Jewish lady who told me in no uncertain terms that she was offended by someone saying Merry Christmas to her. Okay, I’m sad for you and your very thin skin. Along with the vast majority of America, I’m not going to change my ways, so get over it.

I just heard that the atheists are running an ad campaign to ask people to celebrate Christmas but don’t go to church. If you don’t want to go to church, don’t go. I’m pretty sure that the church will be fine without you. The thing about atheism that has always bothered me is that if they are right, they’ll never know. But if they find out they are wrong, it will be too late to take it back. Personally, I wouldn’t want to take that chance.

This Christmas season is particularly special to me. There is a new optimism. People seem to be happier. Now I know there are some who will never be satisfied but you just can’t please everybody. The Stock Market is exploding with new historic highs. The retailers and the online businesses are reporting record sales. Just since the election the Stock Market has risen nearly ten percent. It is an indication that growth is on the horizon. With the election of Donald Trump our economy will grow again. The future has brightened considerably. America has given herself a great Christmas gift. She has rejected the dour, sour, negativity of liberal politics. She has instead voted for a new beginning.

Donald Trump has promised to make America great again. I, for one, am ready. For the past eight years we have been led to believe that slow growth and our bad economy was just something we were going to have to get used to. This was to be the new normal. Well guess what. It turns out that line of reasoning was just the liberal’s way of excusing bad decisions and over regulation. We do have a bright future. Our economy will grow. In fact it has already started. I am going to sit back and watch it all happen. America, open your gift and celebrate Christmas.

Ron Scarbro