English in America

It is time we made English the official language of the United States.

With an ever-increasing population of foreigners, both legal and illegal, we are rapidly losing our identity as a nation. Ethnic groups are forming communities that replicate their homelands, complete with radio and TV stations, and newspapers in their native language. Unlike immigrants in the last century, these new residents on our soil are refusing to assimilate into American society.

From Hispanic illegals who keep to themselves for fear of getting caught, to radical Islamics who are actively working to overthrow our culture, these immigrants are contributing to the fragmenting of our nation.

Some state an local governments are contributing to the problem by printing official forms in several languages and offering alternate-language phone service. Private industry is going right along by providing non-English services.

As a nation of immigrants, we have always struggled with maintaining our identity as Americans. We are in danger of losing that identity and the strength in unity that made this country great.

Maybe we should take a cue from Germany where an immigrant must have a knowledge of the language and have a job waiting before being allowed into the country. It is time for our governments to stop the insanity and require that English be our official language.

California Fires and Katrina

I marvel at the differences between what happened in Louisiana after Katrina and what is going on in the wake of the California fires. Just compare what went on in the Super Dome with what is transpiring in Qualcomm Stadium.

Both venues were packed with evacuees but the difference is like night and day. No reports of looting, rapes or murder. In fact, the evacuated residents of San Diego seem to be having a rather pleasant time, considering the circumstances.

To quote a post on an Internet message board, "...it sure does sound like San Diego really has its act together; I've been really impressed. From what I understand, they're even making room for pets in the shelters, and have clowns at Qualcomm Stadium to amuse the children who are stuck there. What a welcome contrast to the pathetic aftermath of Katrina."

Another wrote,"I just spoke to a friend who had been evacuated to Qualcomm for 2 days.
She's just returned to her home in Scripps Ranch. She told me that at Qualcomm, there were vet techs there, giving eye drops to animals and making sure all animals had plenty of food and water. Also, they put up temporary awnings to make shade. There are church organizations with people helping to watch kids and walk dogs. There are arts and crafts and little splashy pools set up for kids and seniors. Also, someone was leading a yoga class!

"This morning there were men from a service organization that came in and set
up big griddles and cooked pancakes for all who wanted them."

Admitted, there is a big logistical difference between the two events, but that alone doesn't explain the differences in civility. Is California better prepared to handle natural disasters? Are Californians more cooperative?

Southern California Fires and Hurricanes

A great tragedy is unfolding in Southern California as thousands of people are being evacuated in advance of the raging fires that are destroying their homes.

Just as most of the country experiences the four seasons, SoCal has its own unique set of seasons that includes a fire season followed by the rainy season. First, the hills are burned out, then the rains produce mud slides in areas where there is no longer any vegetation to hold back the earth.

Some of the areas that are on fire now were also burned out in 2003. What is insane here is that people continue to build and rebuild in the fire and mud slide prone areas, just like those people who build and rebuild their homes on the beach.

I feel for the victims of the fires just as I feel for those whose homes get washed into the sea every time there is a major storm. What bothers me is our tax money subsides the insurance for beach-front homeowners and pays for disaster assistance for those caught up in the fires.

Natural disasters happen and we need to help those who suffer. While few of us live in areas immune from fire, hurricanes, or tornadoes, why tempt fate by building our homes in known brush fire areas or on the beach front then expect the government to bail us out when the inevitable happens?

Al Gore is scaring our children

ABC did a report on 20/20 last night that took a look at the global warming debate.

For me, the biggest problem about global warming is that all the insanity is scaring children into thinking they will drown.

Al Gore has won an Oscar AND a Nobel prize promoting his hysteria.

According to the scientists interviewed by John Stossel, global warming is mostly a natural occurrence and any rise in ocean levels would be measured in inches.

The debate is definitely not over and Al Gore needs to quit frightening our children.

Southern Traditions and BBQ Sauce

I was born and raised in a sleepy little north Georgia town in the Atlanta suburbs. Considering the hustle and bustle of the area today, it is hard to imagine my hometown as little, much less sleepy.

If you are not a long-time native of metro Atlanta, you will just have to trust me on this one.

Growing up, I walked to grade school and I walked to high school. My mother had taught me to look both ways before crossing the street, so she never worried about my daily excursions to and from classes until I turned 16 and bought a motorcycle.

We knew all our neighbors and all my schoolmates lived within walking distance. Our church pastor lived on our street and his children – slightly older than myself – took great pleasure in aggravating me.

When I got sick, I went to see the same doctor my grandparents, parents and eventually, my daughter went to see. If one of us required a hospital, we went to a small, caring community hospital across town that somehow managed to pull us through our medical difficulties.

Most of our meals were taken at home, lovingly cooked by my mother. My father, an accomplished cook in his own right, having been trained by the army, reserved his culinary skills for the grill.

The secret to his outdoor cooking success was a home-grown BBQ sauce that could turn the most pedestrian cut of meat into a gastronomical delight. In the old southern tradition, his secret BBQ sauce recipe remained just that - his secret.

Years of begging and cajoling on my part failed to convince my father to divulge his secret recipe. I shamefully admit to having stooped so low as to enlist my mother as a spy to watch him cook his magical concoction in a vain attempt to steal the potion. Sadly, most of my adult life as a grill master was relegated to the dirty little backwaters of commercial sauces that came sealed in colorful glass bottles that offered much promise but delivered only disappointment by the quart.

A few years back I celebrated yet another in a long string of birthdays that God in his infinite wisdom has seen fit to bestow on me. Tucked inside a birthday card from my parents was a piece of paper, upon which my father had written out in his own handwriting, the sacred and heretofore elusive BBQ sauce recipe.

My heart leapt in my throat and my eyes welled with tears. After regaining my composure, my father proceeded to give me a hands-on demonstration of the proper way to apply the family sauce to the family chicken and the handing down of a family tradition was complete.

We, as a culture in the South, have many valued traditions. Some, like my father’s BBQ sauce will continue on. Others will become lost to the ages because they do not represent the current American culture.

We have lost the flag that linked us to our ancestors who gave their lives for a cause they believed in. We let hate groups make it their banner and now it is stained, not with our forefather’s blood but with the poison of a group that insists on preserving their own ugly tradition.

We have lost the small hospitals where the candy-stripers were our neighbors and the doctors were leaders in our churches. We now have giant medical corporations that have to teach customer service to their employees. We need “patient bill of rights” laws to protect us from HMOs whose chief executives glean millions in salaries.

We have lost our streets to the drug dealers and pedophiles. Our southern hospitality has been replaced by materialism and multi-culturalism. I used to see bumper stickers that said, “The south shall rise again.” My fellow native Georgians, the south may have risen from many of its shortcomings but many of its qualities are on the dusty road to the landfill of history.

Resting in an envelope and sealed in a safe deposit box is a hand-written note, waiting to be passed to the next generation. If my daughter continues to display the southern-rooted family values she was taught, then maybe on some distant day, she will proudly present to her child, the old family BBQ sauce recipe that once belonged to her grandfather.

I hope, on that day, that child will feel some small sense of his heritage.

Can we survive the assault on our Bill of Rights?

There is an old adage that if you want to boil a frog, you can't just drop him into a pot of boiling water else he will just hop out as soon as he feels the heat. However, if you place him in a pot of tepid water and slowly raise the temperature, he will never notice the change and happily sit there until he is cooked.

Our rights under the Constitution are slowly being undermined and we are sitting there like the frog, allowing special interests and the courts to slowly take them away.

Political correctness has become the destroyer of the First Amendment. Don Imus lost his job because he used a derogatory term to describe the Rutgers women's basketball team. We, as individuals, are now censoring ourselves least we say something "insensitive."

The Second Amendment has been under attack for decades. While "the people" clause in the other amendments in the Bill of Rights are viewed as individuals, hoplophobics insist that the Second Amendment is a collective right.

The facts are clear that the thousands of restrictive gun laws on the books have failed to reduce violent crime, yet there are cries for even more laws.

The Fourth Amendment has been eroding away as law enforcement and Homeland Security have been given ever-increasing powers to search our homes, cars and person and to seize our property. "No knock" warrants have become the tool of drug agencies, sometimes with tragic results.

The Sixth Amendment has been watered down by legal systems unable to keep up with the work load. "Speedy trial" no longer has a meaning.

The Ninth and Tenth Amendments seem to have lost their meaning as the federal government has taken control of more and more of our lives. What rights are still "Retained by the people" and what powers are "Reserved to the states?"

If this insanity continues and the Bill of Rights becomes more narrowly defined, we will find ourselves living in a nation with no individual liberties and a government of "Big Brother."

Atlanta Water Worries and the Mussel

The Atlanta region is running out of water and the federal government's biggest worry is protecting an endangered species of mussel downstream.

With an estimated 100 days of water left in the area lakes, the Corps of Engineers are releasing water at an alarming rate to keep downstream water levels high enough to save some mussel most of us never knew existed. I'm glad the government has its priorities in order. I would hate to think I couldn't flush my toilet for no good reason.

What we have here is the result of government insanity at two levels: A federal government that puts "endangered" species ahead of people and local governments that put the profits of developers ahead of the needs of the people. It doesn't matter that development around metro Atlanta has far outpaced the infrastructure, all that matters is if developers make their dollar while scraping the landscape bare.

It is said that we get the government we deserve. As long as Americans keep reelecting these self-serving, professional politicians, we don't deserve much.

Illegal Immigrants and Our Tax Money

Neal Boortz, a syndicated talk show host based in Atlanta, noted today that 1/3 of the dialysis patients at the Grady Hospital clinic were illegal immigrants. It makes me wonder just how much of our tax dollars are being consumed by the illegals.

My personal observations at emergency rooms around metro Atlanta tell me that a large number of Hispanics are using those partly-taxpayer funded facilities for their primary health care. It is not difficult to draw the conclusion that our already overburdened health care system is being abused by people who should not even be in this country.

Much has been reported about the influx of Mexican gangs into this country, which places pressure on our tax-supported law enforcement system.

How many illegal immigrant children are in our schools and being fed with out food stamps?

The examples could go on and on. The point is, never mind the jobs that are being taken from Americans. The drain in tax revenue is more than we can afford.

Confederate Flag, Southern Heritage, Racism

For many Americans of Southern descent, the Confederate flag is a symbol of their heritage and a source of pride for their ancestors who fought and died in the Civil War.

For many Americans of African descent, the Confederate flag is a symbol of racial hatred, bigotry, and slavery.

Thanks to the KKK, the Confederate flag has been tarnished beyond repair and anyone who displays it is looked upon as racist. That gives me just another reason to despise those sorry, inbreed Klan bastards.

In this time of unchecked political correctness, the general consensus is to view the Confederate flag as a negative symbol, ignoring all the Civil War descendants who view it with pride.

To my African-American friends, neighbors and coworkers: please do not judge me when I fly the Confederate flag on Confederate Memorial Day, I am just honoring my forefathers who died in the war. It will come down the next day so I don't hurt your feelings.

Self Defense, Concealed Carry, Second Amendment

A recent Gallup poll indicates that Americans are becoming more comfortable with the idea of responsible gun ownership. This is good news because there has been a trend over the last few decades to blame violent crime on firearms while turning a blind eye to the real problems facing society.

One reason for the shift in public opinion about guns could be the trend over the past ten years of states allowing licensed citizens to carry guns for personal protection. Beginning with Florida and spreading to 48 states, these carry laws have resulted in measurable decreases in the violent crime rate.

Those who predicted that allowing citizens to arm themselves in public would result in "Blood in the streets" have been proven wrong. In fact, an estimated annual 2.5 million violent crimes have been prevented because the victim merely had a gun.

There was no bloodshed, no shooting. Just the presence of a firearm in the hands of a person who refused to be attacked stopped 2.5 million violent crimes.

The facts are clear - guns in the hands of responsible Americans works to prevent rapes, murders, robberies and home invasions.

Now it is time for those responsible adults to have the same protection in Illinois, Wisconson, and on college campuses across the nation.