[StBernard] I'M TIRED

[Westley Annis]

This is a little long, but says multitudes...

 

Rena

 

                           
I'm Tired

   by Robert A. Hall             

 

            I'll be 63 soon. Except for one semester in College when jobs
were scarce, and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting
every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health
challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in
seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or
my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the Economy, there's no
retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.

          I'm tired of being told that I have to spread The wealth around to
people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government
will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people
too lazy or stupid to earn it.

          I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to keep
people in their homes. Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm
willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of
our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the
leftwing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie (the Democratic
Black Caucus) and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble
help them with their own money.

          I'm tired of being told how bad America is by leftwing
millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood entertainers who
live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years,
if they get their way, the United States will have the religious freedom and
women's rights of Saudi Arabia, the Economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the
press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for gay
people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. Won't
multiculturalism be beautiful?

          I'm tired of being told that Islam is a religion of peace, when
every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters,
wives and daughters for their family honor; of Muslims rioting over some
slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't
believers; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage
rape victims to death for adultery; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of
little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Quran and Sharia law
tells them to do it.  I believe a man should be judged by the content of his
character, not by the color of his skin. I'm tired of being told that race
doesn't matter in the post-racial world of President Obama, when it's all
that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and
graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government
contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and
fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the
appointment of US Senators from Illinois. I think it's very cool that we
have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the
desk where Lincoln wrote the emancipation proclamation. I just wish the
black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and
the individual and less in an all-knowing government.

          I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and
inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost,
were wonderful. That thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of
presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to
control weight and stress, that picked over every line of Bush's military
records, but never demanded that Kerry release his, that slammed Palin with
two years as governor for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama
with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever.

          Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to
Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and
Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.

          I'm tired of being told that out of tolerance for other cultures
we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and Madrassa
Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is
allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to
teach love and tolerance.

          I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight
global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a
two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also
own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our
carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore,
you're green enough.

          I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I
must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a
giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up
their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think gay people
choose to be gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And
I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I
tell them I never tried marijuana.

          I'm tired of illegal aliens being called undocumented workers,
especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime.
What's next? Calling drug dealers undocumented
pharmacists? And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic
and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my
religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person who
can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting
without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our
military. Those are the citizens we need.

          I am tired of hearing latte liberals and journalists (who would
never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their
entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station) trash our
military. They and their kids sit at home, never having to make split-second
decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people
then themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You
bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the
atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and
still are? Not even close. So here's the deal. I'll let
myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on
terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be
subject to captivity by the Muslims who tortured and
beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered
Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in  Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the
blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the
Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls
were Christian. Then we'll compare notes.  British and American soldiers are
the only troops in history that
civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.

          I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on
virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers.
Bums are bi-partisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we
need bi-partisanship. I live in Illinois, where the Illinois combine of
Democrats and Republicans has worked together harmoniously to loot the
public for years. And I notice that the tax cheats in
Obama's cabinet are bi-partisan as well.

          I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and
politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes
or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only
mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement,
rich or poor.

          Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people with air-conditioned
homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't
have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were poor. The poverty pimps have
to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.

          I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their
lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or
discrimination, or big-whatever for their problems.


          Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly,
I'm not going to get to see the world these people are making.  I'm just
sorry for my granddaughter.

          Robert A. Hall is a Marine  Vietnam veteran who served five terms
in the Massachusetts state senate.