Happy Reset,,,If We can ?

The picture I chose to display is meant in both fun and reflection. I do not worry what the Mayan culture thought or meant nor that of what current "archaeologists" think. But rather, I do care what current day humans think about and act in our own society and culture (or lack thereof), as this is what will determine our collective future.

As we reflect on the past year and contemplate the next be it personal, national or international I ask God that we as people remember that we are all human no matter where on His Earth we reside and remain with His Gift of Free Will and use it very, very carefully.

Okay, I will admit both of those tunes no matter who performs them bring tears to this mans' eyes.

Could it be that I have achieved yet another year on this rock we humans call Earth? Sure.

But the main reason are the one's who gave me life, my parents through the Grace of God, and who gave me two Brothers, taught me how to love with humility, act with intelligence and pepper it all with good natured humor. Those thoughts along with those very familiar sounds bring tears of Joy not to mention my Bride and Daughter without which I just may not have made it this long!

(Cough)

As to the implied question proposed in my blog title, well I follow the preceding with the same artist, Andr'e Rieu with an answer,,,

I thank all for your friendship and wish all a very Healthy and Happy New Year of our Lord 2012 !

On a personal reflection of this past year if I may,,,

R.I.P
Bailey

1995-2011

My friend, you are missed dearly!

Ron Paul BLR - Art Imitating Life

"A pretty, a pretty, a pretty goose for you and a pretty racing car"

OK, Bad Lip Reading is just having fun in the following video but I myself must say this installment featuring Ron Paul comes very close to the real deal in my humble opinion.

No matter what ones position on Ron Paul might be or that of any other GOP nominee wannabe, these videos from BLR are fun to watch.



As we come to the end of Ronald Reagan's Centennial Year,,,

There is no doubt in this bloggers mind that Ronald Reagan was and is to this day the best President of the United States in my lifetime or that of my parents or grandparents.

Just recently I was having a conversation with a co-worker and it turned to Reagan somehow? Anyway, my co-worker went onto say that he had read a book about Reagan and how it said, or he read it to say, that Reagan was really "out there". This was in the tone of many of Reagan's opponents of then and now and of course got me going a tad to say the least.

I myself who lived and thrived during Reagan's presidency (as did the country and world) require no book to tell me of the man let alone one written by a detractor of his (I assume this without the title/author), God knows we have the New York Times archives for that.

I do not know at this time exactly what 'book' my co-worker read but I found the following about the best summation of the man and the office he held, President Ronald Reagan, I and so many others admire and wish those seeking office would emulate,,,,,

Reagan's Moral Courage
Andrew Roberts, Historian

ANDREW ROBERTS received his Ph.D. at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he is also an honorary senior scholar. He has written or edited 12 books, including A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900, Masters and Commanders: How Four Titans Won the War in the West, 1941-1945, and The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War

The following are excerpts from a speech delivered at Hillsdale College on October 7, 2011, at the dedication of a statue of Ronald Reagan by Hillsdale College Associate Professor of Art Anthony Frudakis.


The defining feature of Ronald Reagan was his moral courage. It takes tremendous moral courage to resist the overwhelming tide of received opinion and so-called expert wisdom and to say and do exactly the opposite. It could not have been pleasant for Reagan to be denounced as an ignorant cowboy, an extremist, a warmonger, a fascist, or worse by people who thought themselves intellectually superior to him. Yet Reagan responded to those brickbats with the cheery resolve that characterized not only the man, but his entire career. What is more, he proceeded during his two terms as president to prove his critics completely wrong . . . .

During Reagan’s presidency, America enjoyed its longest period of sustained economic growth in the 20th century. Meanwhile, in the realm of foreign policy, the Reagan Doctrine led to the defeat of the worst totalitarian scourge to blight the globe since the defeat of the Nazis in World War II. By the time he left office, the faith of Americans in the greatness of their country had been restored. In retrospect, Reagan’s was a great American success story. Born in rented rooms above a bank in Tampico, Illinois, he ended his days as the single most important American conservative figure of the last century. Not bad for an ignorant cowboy.

From his own reading and observation of life, Reagan understood that the doctrines of Marxism and Leninism were fundamentally opposed to the deepest and best impulses of human nature. Enforcing such doctrines would require vicious oppression, including propaganda, secret police such as the KGB, a debased and corrupt judicial system, huge standing armies stationed across Eastern Europe, children spying on their parents, the Berlin Wall, a gagged media, a shackled populace, a privileged nomenklatura, prisons posing as psychiatric hospitals, puppet trade unions, a subservient academy, and above all, what Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn dubbed a “gulag archipelago” of concentration camps. In sum, the entire apparatus that Reagan characterized so truthfully in a March 1983 speech as an “evil empire.” Yet he was immediately accused—not just in Russia, but also here in the West—of being mad, bad, and dangerous. He was written off as stupid, provocative, and oafish by huge swaths of the Western commentariat. Today, thanks to his published correspondence, we know that he was anything but. Indeed, he was very widely read and a thoughtful man, but it suited his purposes to be underestimated by his opponents. The cultural condescension of those experts and intellectuals who denounced his evil empire speech as unacceptably simplistic—even simple-minded—might have been despicable, but it worked to Reagan’s advantage. Although history was to prove him right in every particular about the true nature of the U.S.S.R., none of his critics have ever admitted as much, at least publicly, let alone apologized.

What helped to make Reagan great was that he couldn’t care less what his critics thought of him. He knew the image of the swaggering cowboy was very far removed from reality, but if his opponents chose to be mesmerized by it, all the better for him. It was he, not they, who in 1987 would stand at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and demand: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” The Left’s strategy of détente had been tried for 40 years, and it had led to ever wider Communist incursions, especially during the 1970s, into territories across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The Reagan Doctrine, by contrast, marked a turn away from the doctrine of containment, adhered to by every president since Harry Truman. Reagan bravely declared that communism’s global march would not merely be checked but reversed.

For decades the Politburo in the Kremlin had been testing the West’s defenses, looking for weakness. Where it encountered strength and willpower, as during the Berlin airlift and the Cuban missile crisis, it pulled back. Where, as was all too often the case, it instead found vacillation and appeasement, it thrust forward until whole countries fell under its control. Under the Reagan Doctrine, non-Communist governments would be supported actively, and Communist governments, wherever they were not firmly established, would be undermined and if possible overthrown. Reagan did not act in the name of American imperialism, as his opponents predictably alleged, but rather in the name of human dignity. As he fought the Communists, he received gradually more and more support from the American people. He supported anti-Communist movements in Poland, El Salvador, and Guatemala, as well as open insurgencies in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Laos, and Nicaragua. The Kremlin soon recognized that in Reagan it had a powerful and committed ideological foe on its hands, one who took seriously JFK’s words in his Inaugural Address, that the United States “shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, and oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty.” Believing in American exceptionalism, Reagan deployed an extensive political, economic, military, and psychological arsenal to confront the Soviet Union. And he did so mostly through proxies: Except for the Caribbean island of Grenada, where American citizens were in danger, he did not commit American troops to the battle . . . .

* * *

In the 1980s, Americans felt confident enough in their country’s future to spend, produce, and consume in a way they hadn’t under Jimmy Carter and don’t today. Reagan genuinely believed, as the 1984 campaign slogan put it, that it was “Morning in America.” His confidence in the country and its abilities spread to the American people and to the markets. After all, strong, confident leadership is infectious. There can be a virtuous cycle in economics, just as there can be a vicious one. Reagan’s Economic Recovery Act and his Tax Reform Act were the twin pillars of America’s renaissance in the 1980s. He reduced the highest marginal tax rate to 28 percent and simplified the tax code. He deregulated industry, tightened the money supply, and reduced the growth of public expenditure. By 1983, America had completely recovered economically, and by 1988, inflation, which had been at 12.5 percent under Carter, was down to 4.4 percent. Furthermore, unemployment came down to 5.5 percent as 18 million new jobs were created.

In one area, however, Reagan knew that he had to increase public spending dramatically, if the global threats to America were to be neutered. The overly cautious, nerve-wracked, and humiliated America of 1979 and 1980—when 52 American diplomats were taken hostage in Tehran for 444 days and were paraded, hooded and blindfolded, in the streets—was about to give way to a virile and self-confident America. It was no accident that, on the very day of Reagan’s inauguration, the Iranian regime released the hostages rather than face the fury of the incoming President. It was the last smart thing that regime ever did.

When Reagan entered office, defense spending had fallen to less than five percent of GDP from over 13 percent in the 1950s. His belief that the Soviet system would eventually crack under steady Western pressure encouraged him to increase defense spending from $119 billion under Carter to $273 billion in 1986, a level that the U.S.S.R. simply could not begin to match. The Left criticized what they believed to be wasteful spending, but this expenditure led to a massive savings once the U.S.S.R. no longer posed the global existential threat it once had.

America had achieved a huge technological advantage by the 1980s, which allowed Reagan to embark on the controversial Strategic Defense Initiative, nicknamed “Star Wars” by its opponents. The system was based on the idea that incoming ballistic missiles could be destroyed over the Atlantic or even earlier. Though the technology was still very much in its infancy, judicious leaking of suitably exaggerated test results further rattled the Soviet leadership. As Vladimir Lukin, the Soviet foreign policy expert and later ambassador to the U.S., admitted to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1992: “It is clear that SDI accelerated our catastrophe by at least five years.” Besides SDI, Reagan pursued rapid deployment forces, the neutron bomb, the MX Peacekeeper missile, Trident nuclear submarines, radar-evading stealth bombers, and new ways of looking at battlefield strategies and tactics . . . . In response to the deployment of these weapons, the Left issued strident denunciations and organized massive anti-American demonstrations all across Europe. These were faced down with characteristic moral courage by Ronald Reagan, ably supported by Margaret Thatcher. “Reagan’s great virtue,” said his former Secretary of State George Shultz, “was that he did not accept that extensive political opposition doomed an attractive idea. He would fight resolutely for an idea, believing that if it was valid, he could persuade the American people to support it.”

. . . In the words of Margaret Thatcher, Reagan helped the world break free of a monstrous creed. He understood that, in addition to being morally bankrupt—as it had been since the Bolshevik Revolution—the Soviet system was also financially bankrupt. Numerous so-called five-year plans had not delivered, because human beings simply will not work hard for an all-powerful state that will not pay them fairly for their labor. By contrast, Reagan believed that low taxes, a minimal state, a reduction in bureaucratic regulation, and a commitment to free market economics would lead to a dramatic expansion of the American economy. This would enable America to pay for a defense build-up so large that the Soviets would have to declare a surrender in the Cold War. That surrender began on September 12, 1989, when a non-Communist government took office in Poland. Within two months, on the night of November 9, the people of East and West Berlin tore down the wall that had separated them for over a quarter of a century. This was the greatest of Reagan’s many fine legacies.

The extension of freedom to Eastern Europe was not merely a political or military or economic phenomenon for Reagan; it was a spiritual one, too. Reagan believed that America had lost its sense of providential mission, and he meant to re-establish it. Beneath his folksy charm and anecdotes was a steely will and a determination to re-establish the moral superiority of democracy over totalitarianism, of the individual over the state, of freedom of speech over censorship, of faith over government-mandated atheism, and of free enterprise over the command economy. As the leader of the free world, he saw it as his responsibility to defend, extend, and above all proselytize for democracy and human dignity.

Reagan understood leadership in a way that I fear is sadly lacking in the West today. “To grasp and hold a vision,” he said in 1994, “that is the very essence of successful leadership. Not only on the movie set where I learned it, but everywhere.” Indeed, in some ways the world is an even more perilous place than it was in Reagan’s day. For all its undoubted evil, at least the Soviet Union was predictable, and it was fearful of the consequences of mutually assured destruction. By contrast, President Ahmadinejad of Iran is building a nuclear bomb while publicly calling for Israel to be wiped off the map. We know from the experience of 9/11 that Al Qaeda and its affiliates would not hesitate to explode a nuclear device in America if they got the chance. As the IRA pronounced when it narrowly missed murdering Margaret Thatcher in 1984: “You have to be lucky every time, we only have to be lucky once.” Yet, when looking at the dangers facing civilization today, there is this one vital difference from 30 years ago: I can see no leaders of the stamp of Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher presently on hand to infuse us with that iron purpose and that sense of optimism that we had in the 1980s. Indeed, some of our present-day leaders only seem to make matters worse. This is why it is all the more important to erect splendid statues like this one. “The longer you can look back,” said Winston Churchill, “the further you can look forward.”

The point of raising a statue to Ronald Reagan is not just to honor him, although it rightly does do that. A statue inspires and encourages the rest of us to try and emulate his deeds, to live up to his ideals, to finish his work, and to “grasp and hold” his vision. Reagan wrote in his farewell message to the American people in November 1994 announcing his retirement from public life: “When the Lord calls me home, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future. I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America, there will always be a bright dawn ahead.” Though characteristically upbeat, it will only remain true so long as America continues to produce leaders with the moral courage and the leadership abilities of Ronald Reagan, one of America’s greatest presidents.

Excerpted from IMPRIMIS, a publication of Hillsdale College

Was Reagan "out there"? No

The real question is are we? Just who will we select as the next POTUS given the last time out we got Carter on steroids and are paying for it dearly as will our children and grandchildren and more.

Smart Move: Cameron Says No, Nein, Non !

I actually heard this address by UK PM Cameron live on BBC America radio and was thrilled to hear it.

Cameron maybe allot of things to the voters of the British Isles but for this action of his they should be proud.

At least in terms of National sovereignty as opposed to some central socialist (actually communist) control from Brussels, Cameron gets it.

NEWS of the FUTURE: October Surprise 2012

Sure it's the Onion, but they have been known to be "art" imitating life before the fact previously. And yes the Onion being a satirical show tends to exaggerate.

But with the Europe Union imploding (predictable), Iran exploding from within (not predicted but welcomed) and Chinas economy shrinking (predictable again) what else could happen in 2012 to shift the voters attention away from a lousy, detestable POTUS but that of  North Korea?

I'm Back With Some Street Justice Fun !

Well I cannot say I am well rested after this sabbatical from blogging being my work schedule has not changed but I have got some things done around the old abode that needed my attention.

With all that is going on with Herman Cain down, Newt or Romney?, Iran, Russia, Europe, Afghanistan, Pakistan, College pedophilia,,,, Lions, Tigers and Bears oh my! Just where does one begin?

I know! Real justice!

And from none other than Obamas' adoptive hometown, Chicago,,,,,

CHICAGO (WLS) - A convicted felon chose the wrong victim when he tried to rob an ultimate fighting champion Friday night on the Southwest Side and ended up with two black eyes and a gunshot wound to the ankle.

Police say 24-year-old Anthony Miranda walked up to a car which was parked near 55th and Kenneth about 11:30 p.m. and asked the driver for a lighter.

When the driver said he didn’t have one, Miranda allegedly pulled a handgun, pointed it at the driver and demanded money. And even after getting some money, he ordered the driver out of the car, police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said.

At some point, Miranda’s attention was diverted and the victim was able to grab control of the gun and the two wrestled.

During the fight, Miranda accidentally discharged his gun, shooting himself in the ankle, Mirabelli said.

The victim -- who told police he’s a martial arts expert and ultimate fighting champion -- was able to pin Miranda down until police arrived. Police arrived to find Miranda with a face full of lacerations and two black eyes. He was taken to Holy Cross Hospital for treatment, police said.

Miranda, a convicted felon, is charged with armed robbery and aggravated discharge of a firearm, a Class X felony.

He was ordered held on $350,000 bond Sunday, according to the CooK County Sheriff’s office.

Records show he has several convictions, including at least one for a residential burglary.


For those who may be unaware of what the intended unnamed victim does to earn such a title as an "ultimate fighting champion", well here is a taste,,,,,,

Yes, I would say justice, a heavy dose of it, was done in this case before "authorities" arrived.

On a much, much more lighter note I would like to kick off the Christams season here at CP with a terrific song to our British friends with a particular seasonal favorite of our friend Banned,,,