AMERICA - WE ARE THE MOST LITIGIOUS SOCIETY IN THE WORLD!

AND THEREFORE, THE LEAST INCLINED TO ACCEPT PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY! The following is a BIG part of the problem...

From today's news - "SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A lawsuit that seeks to stop McDonald's from selling Happy Meals must be dismissed because parents can always prohibit their children from eating them, the hamburger giant said in a court filing.

The lawsuit claims McDonald's unfairly uses toys to lure children into its restaurants. The plaintiff, Monet Parham, a Sacramento, Calif. mother of two, claims the company's advertising violates California consumer protection laws."

The article goes on to mention names and Mickey D's position on the lawsuit (if I was on the jury hearing the case, this woman wouldn't stand a chance, and I would never change my position). Here's how I see it...

If you don't want the kids to hassle you for the Happy Meal, don't take the little bastards to McDonald's! Take them somewhere else for lunch or dinner. Or, here's a really unique idea - fix their meals at home! DON'T blame the seller if you buy something for your kids that you don't want your children to have. But, I suppose that suing somebody else for your personal inability to parent your kids, is better than being forced to admit that you can't accept your parental responsibilities and simply say, "No. You can't have that because it's not good for you. It may taste good, but it's not good for the rest of your body."

Then the situation is compounded by courts that will actually hear such ridiculous cases... which simply encourages more idiots to file suit to protect their self-image. It seems that most people would prefer to pin the blame on somebody else - especially if that somebody else has a very "deep pocket" - rather than exhibit self-discipline in matters of child rearing. And, they will do so every time, rather than examine their own fragile ego for flaws.

The legal profession has been guilty of "looking out for their own" for centuries. Judges today are the end-product of practicing lawyers, and they are keeping other lawyers cash flow positive with every lawsuit heard, no matter how groundless it may be. That explains why baseless lawsuits, that 50 years ago would have been dismissed as "frivolous" and a waste of the court's time, are allowed to go forward today. Inasmuch as 90% of our law makers are lawyers, that explains why our laws have become so complicated that the common man can no longer understand his rights, and why common sense has been effectively banned from our court system. The lawmakers feather their own nest, and the nests of their legal brethren, by insuring that Joe Average cannot understand the laws that govern his daily behavior. Should Joe find himself afoul of the law, he is defenseless without the expensive services of an attorney.

Citizens today will be greatly disappointed if they go to court expecting justice. With all the technicalities now built into the system, the main purpose of which is to protect legal practitioners, justice is an extremely rare commodity. What the plaintiff or defendant will get is a king-size helping of law, which is frequently lacking even a side order of "justice". To correct that we need panels of at least three judges, two of whom have common sense and have never practiced "law". It would then be incumbent upon the trained judge to convince the majority which party should be the victor in any case - civil or criminal.

But, that's just how I view systemic stupidity in our country. Stupidity, along with corruption, is rampant in all branches of our government... from municipal government to the federal government, what we have is the best government money can buy. We should all have that kind of money... or perhaps, less expensive lawyers.

"Our Muslim Brothers and Sisters"... say WHAT?

I was channel surfing last night, when I stumbled across C-Span, where the Senate Subcommittee on Civil Rights was hearing "testimony" from several people about the recent inclination of We The People toward limiting the rights of Muslim-Americans. The committee chair, Senator Dick Durbin, a left-wing Democrat from Illinois (SURPRISE! That's where Chicago is), and the committee in general appeared to have "stacked the deck" since there was no testimony given refuting their glorification of Islam and its practitioners.

Durbin, at one point, went so far as to refer to Muslim-Americans as "our Muslim brothers and sisters". I'm sorry, but I have no Muslim brothers or sisters! Muslims are neither my blood relations, nor are they my spiritual siblings. Perhaps that sounds racist, radical, insensitive and/or Islamophobic to some of my readers. But, that's the way it is when your "brothers and sisters" follow the doctrine of a "holy" book (the Qur'an/Koran) that exhorts them to -

• Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them(Sura 2:191)
• Make war on the infidels living in your neighboorhood (Sura 9:123)
• When opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you catch them (Sura 9:5)
• Kill the Jews and the Christians if they do not convert to Islam or refuse to pay Jizya tax (Sura 9:29)
• Any religion other than Islam is not acceptable (Sura 3:85)
• The Jews and the Christians are perverts; fight them (Sura 9:30)
• Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticise Islam. (Sura 5:33)
• The infidels are unclean; do not let them into a mosque (Sura 9:28)
• Punish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water; melt their skin and bellies
  (Sura 22:19)
  
• Do not hanker for peace with the infidels; behead them when you catch them (Sura 47:4)
• The unbelievers are stupid; urge the Muslims to fight them (Sura 8:65)
• Muslims must not take the infidels as friends (Sura 3:28)
• Terrorise and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an (Sura 8:12)
• Muslims must muster all weapons to terrorise the infidels (Sura 8:60)

My spiritual brothers and sisters are much more likely to be Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, Wiccan and even Atheist or practitioners of Voodoo and Santeria! Why? Because there is no other "holy book" on Earth that proclaims its followers must "terrorize and kill" any and all who do not share their Muslim beliefs!

During this C-Span hearing, representatives of our own government accused Americans of being "intolerant" toward Muslims. Intolerant? They're lucky we didn't kill 3,300 of them (under Mosaic law) on September 10, 2001! There is no religion on this planet that is as intolerant as Islam! But, let's not mention that... because it would be politically incorrect.

Let's assume, as does our government (and common sense to some degree), that not all Muslims are terrorists, and that not all Muslims wish to terrorize and kill anyone who does not accept Islam as their personal belief system. Unfortunately, you "can't tell one from the other without a program". Why are those majority "moderate Muslims" not eliminating the "radicals" from their midst? Why are the moderate Muslims not identifying the "radical Muslims" to the authorities? Why is the government allowing the continuing influx of Muslim immigrants into our country, when we can't accurately identify those whose goal is our destruction? Who would want a child molester to move in as their next door neighbor? Yet our government allows those who have the proven ability to cheat, steal, lie and murder to promote the goals of World Islamization to pour into our country and set up residence next door. We are the first two of the "Three Little Pigs"... building our domestic protections from straw and twigs, when what we need is bricks!

That just the way I see things. I am not a bigot, but I am a realist. I will not "gild the lily", nor will I tell you that black is white, or that bad is good. The biggest threat to our national security is not in Afghanistan, or Iraq... or even Iran. The biggest threat to our national security is along our swiss-cheese borders, and in cities like Dearborn, Michigan (where the government essentially said, "It's okay to irritate 99% of our population by the broadcasting of the Muslim call to prayer over high-powered amplifiers and loudspeakers five times daily. We just have to be careful that we don't inconvenience our local Muslim population.")

My attitude is basically one of, SKROOM! Let the Muslims become as flexible in their religious practices as they are in their politics...

Citizens of Utah... WAKE THE HELL UP!!

Have you bought motor oil at Wal-Mart lately? Have you been asked to bend over at the register, while the cashier scanned your Quaker State, Havoline, or Mobil oil purchase? Or, perhaps you were bent over by the cashier without noticing it? Look at your receipt! Here's the deal...

Title 40 (40-6-14) of the Utah Code establishes a "Fee on oil and gas", and it reads:

"(1) (a) There is levied a fee as provided in Subsection (1)(b) for oil and gas:

(i) produced; and
(ii) (A) saved;
(B) sold; or
(C) transported from the field in Utah where the oil or gas is produced.

(b) The fee imposed under this Subsection (1) is equal to the product of:

(i) .002; and

(ii) the value of the oil or gas determined in accordance with Section 59-5-103.1."

(2) (a) The State Tax Commission shall administer the collection of the fee, including any penalties and interest.
(b) The money collected shall be deposited in the Oil and Gas Conservation Account created in Section 40-6-14.5.
(c) Time periods for the State Tax Commission to allow a refund or assess the fee shall be determined in accordance with Section 59-5-114.
(3) (a) Each person having an ownership interest in oil or gas at the time of production shall be liable for a proportionate share of the fee equivalent to that person's ownership interest.

So, what does all that crap mean? It means that there is a "fee" imposed upon "Each person having an ownership interest in oil or gas at the time of production" equal to 2/10 of a penny. (Section 59-5-103.1 is simply the statutory authority establishing the Utah State sales tax, and explains how much and for what goods and service sales tax will be chaged.)

Nowhere in the statute does it charge this "fee" to the retail seller, nor does it allow the retail seller to pass the fee along to the end user. Further, according to the statute, the "fee" is only placed upon oil and gas that is produced; and saved; sold; or transported from the field in Utah where the oil or gas is produced. However, Wal-Mart (and possibly other retail sellers of oil in Utah) charges a 4¢ ($0.04) "oil use fee" on one quart of motor oil. If the sales unit is a U.S. quart, then the fee charged by Wal-Mart is 20 times what the State of Utah authorized. This raises four questions in my mind:

1. Was that quart of Quaker State motor oil produced; and saved, sold or transported from the field in Utah where the oil was produced?

2. Under what statutory authority does Wal-Mart collect the "oil use fee" from the end user (purchaser) when the fee is imposed upon - and supposedly paid by - the oil producer?

3. Why hasn't the State either (a) stopped this practice of passing the fee along to the customer, or (b) amended the Utah Code, Title 40, to permit the practice of passing the fee along to the customer, but at no more than the prescribed rate of .002 per unit.

4. Who's bending us over further, Wal-Mart with its illegal practice, or the State of Utah for permitting it to continue?

It's not just a few pennies we're talking about here. Well, okay, it is just a few pennies for each of us individually, but Wal-Mart is probably raking in several thousands of dollars per day in illicit profits. And, they're doing it 4¢ at a time in their Utah stores!

And, the State of Utah can call it a "fee" all they want... it's just another TAX... in fees clothing! Somebody has apparently determined that we have too much disposable-by-choice income left after paying bills and all the other taxes with which we've been burdened by your government...

I'm Gil (and you're not), and I approved this blog!

Government Control Is Not Needed Where Obama Wants It!!

Your government wants to stick it's bureaucratic nose into everything that affects average, working-class people. Everything except those areas it should be investigating and regulating more strictly! For example...

"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. reported quarterly earnings Thursday that easily beat analysts' expectations on higher crude prices.

The world's largest public energy company reported net income of $7.56 billion, or $1.60 a share, in the second quarter, up 91% from $3.95 billion, or 81 cents a share, in the same period in 2009.

Earnings for the first half of 2010, excluding special items, were $13.9 billion, up 60% over the first half of 2009." (Emphases added)

Yes, my friends, that is Billion with a capital "B". The concept of a million of anything is difficult for most of us to envision, and the term billion just boggles the mind. Maybe this will help get it into perspective - a billion minutes ago, Christ was alive. Here's a picture showing the relationship between one thousand, one million and one billion -

There is a 6" difference between the million point and the billion point on this line. (A trillion [a figure our government loves to throw at us] would be marked 500 feet to the right of the billion mark.) Now, think of that number in terms of dollars - the dollars you spend at the gas pump, the dollars you spend for groceries, the dollars you spend for clothing... and your tax dollars!

Diesel fuel, the least refined and least expensive to produce, currently hovers at around $4 per gallon. More than premium gasoline! Do you still wonder why the cost of "goods and services" is skyrocketing upward? Understand that goods do not magically appear in Wal-Mart at the beginning of each business day, nor do groceries breed on the shelves of your local Kroger or Safeway grocery stores when the lights go out. These items are transported to every retail store in our country by diesel-fueled delivery vehicles, whether they be 18-wheelers, railroad trains, or a combination. The oil companies have taken our nation hostage! And your government has not done - or even said - a thing about it. It's areas like this that we need government mandated price caps! The workers of this nation need gasoline to get to and from their place of employment in order to earn a living so they can afford to buy those goods and services. Gasoline now costs between $3.25 and $3.65 per gallon and the price is increasing almost daily! The excuses used by big oil are "There's unrest in Saudi Arabia", "The middle east crisis is driving our costs up", and "It's the Yemeni problem". What's wrong with this picture? The problem is Big Oil's corporate GREED! Individually, or even collectively, We The People can do next to nothing about it directly. Government intervention mandating price caps is the only solution.

How do we get that done? Write, email, or telephone your elected Congressional Representatives - including Senators - and tell them that We The People need relief from the price gouging oil corporations economy-crushing GREED!

(Because our national economy is "in the dumper", China is campaigning at the U.N. to have the U.S. dollar replaced by the Chinese yuan as the "reserve currency". For those of you who may not know exactly what the "reserve currency" is, it is the global currency of international trade. If China is successful in their bid, it will further diminish the U.S. in the eyes of "the global community".)

I'm Gil, and I approved this blog!

Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier Returns to Haiti... Who Do Voodoo?

Yes, he returned to Haiti recently. Where had he been? Who is he? How/Why did he leave Haiti? It's an interesting but deeply disturbing story, and very few people even know who the Duvalier's were. Let's begin with who "Baby Doc" is...

The son of the despot, François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, who died in 1971 , "Baby Doc" came to power upon his father's death, and carried on the family tradition of pillaging, rape and murder. He also directed the infamous and bloodthirsty Tonton Macoutes (Creole for "bogeymen") - the Haitian secret police - whose primary function was to eliminate dissenters and critics of the Duvalier regime, and was formed under "Papa Doc". He ruled Haiti from 1971-1986 continuing his father's legacy of terror on the small island nation. The Duvalier's lived like royalty, while their subjects lived in abject squalor and poverty. The elder Duvalier was a practitioner of voodoo, which should be no surprise since Haiti is the birthplace of voodoo, and voodoo is the de facto religion of the majority of Haitians. Who is "Baby Doc"? In a nutshell, he is the Haitian equivalent of the "Black Death" plague, which killed roughly 30% of Europe's population in the mid-14th century.

How/Why did Duvalier leave Haiti? He was eventually run out of the country by the people, and he departed on an aircraft provided by the U.S. Air Force. Wasn't that nice of us... to assist a thieving, murdering dictator in making his escape to France, where he has lived in luxurious exile for 25 years? How can we Americans reconcile such despicable behavior from our own government? And those - and similar behaviors - continue today! Are the requirements of international politics such that governments cavalierly ignore such things as morality, character, justice and that which is simply "right"?

Haiti has forever been an economic sinkhole, and has suffered a series of tragedies that seem to be virtually endless. Since its establishment as a French-owned slave colony, it has never flourished economically, and the average per capita income today is USD $75. We Americans could not provide for a family of four on $75 a week even, but the Haitians manage to do it because they are used to nothing more. They do not "live" (by our standards), but they do survive.

The only good news to come from Haiti recently is that Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier has been arrested. Accused of ordering thousands of killings, the question now is will he be properly tried in a court of law?

Back By Special Request

Okay, several of my readers have requested that I reopen my blog. I suppose I lost a bit of my motivation when, after over 300 posts, I had only 6 followers. Apparently there were many more that just hadn't bothered to select the "Follow" option from the left side of this page. If you would like me to continue the blog, please select the "Follow" option. You won't get a bunch of unsolicited ads or emails by so doing - just an automatic notification when I post something new here. And my newest is just below this one...

Thanks for your interest,

Gil

"God save us from those who govern us."

Major Nidal Malik Hasan - Just ONE Home-Grown Terrorist?

Or, more likely, one of many! How did a man like Major Hasan join the United States Army? Not only join, but get a commission and eventually promoted to the rank of Major? He should never have been permitted to enter our military, nor should several hundred (perhaps thousands) of his fellow Islamics.

Under the guise of Political Correctness, our government is building its own Trojan Horse within our military, and our country in general. Sun-tzu, a Chinese military genius of the 6th century BC, is credited with having coined the phrase, "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." (I don't know that this idea was to have them in sufficient numbers or in a physical proximity close enough to kill you, though!) Sun-tzu's idea was to have his enemies observed - either from within, through the use of spies - or by external means such as tradesmen, farmers, prostitutes, or anyone else privy to more casual observations, and the informal discussions, of his enemies. Sun-tzu's leadership methods and military skills were so efficient and correct that the principles in his military treatise, The Art of War, is still a standard reference of military leaders worldwide.

In the year 2001, it was estimated that the Muslim population in the USA was 2.8 million. In 2010 the US State Department estimates the US Muslim population at roughly 7 million - that's a 150% increase in 9 short years. There are no statistics available to establish how many of that increase of 4.2 million were natural-born Americans who converted to Islam, versus how many were already Muslims but imported from around the world. (Sun-tzu would not import those who would do him harm.)

As usual, my blog will raise more questions than it supplies practical answers, so here goes...

How do we deal with the unusually heavy influx of Muslims into our country? My most practical solution would be to place a moratorium on immigration into the USA from Islamic-based countries. In other words, if the principal religion of your country of origin is Islam, your application for admittance into the USA will be considered... within the next 20 years. But, that would be religious profiling and religious persecution according to the bleeding heart, left-wing liberals who run our media and our government. We can't do that!

How about we make all Muslims wear the "crescent and star" symbol of Islam on their clothing, and force them to live in ghettos - like Detroit, LA, and the boroughs of NYC? Oh, come to think of it that was Hitler's approach to dealing with "the Jewish problem" in Nazi Germany... We can't do that!

Well, then, let's put them into "Internment Camps", like we did to the Japanese-Americans during WWII. That worked well for us, didn't it? Too much like the previous idea? You're right... and it didn't work well for us. We can't do that!

Now that we've covered almost everything we can't do - short of mass executions for anybody that doesn't believe exactly the same way that we do (and then defining exactly who that particular "we" is) - what can we do? We - you and me - individually can do very little. We don't make the immigration laws or policies, but we elect the people who do!

Our elected "representatives" have failed to listen to the voice of the people for the past five or six decades (which I have personally observed). A constant pressure upon Congress from the people regarding such things as illegal immigration and the enforcement of expired work/student visas might go a long way toward minimizing such problems. Those who have made a conscious decision to violate our laws and our sovereignty, have proven themselves to be de facto criminals. Will they break only minor laws in the future? Will they become good citizens? Who knows? Do they deserve a chance at the "American Dream"? No! They have proven themselves to be scoff-laws, and consider themselves to be above the law. They deserve absolutely nothing... except arrest and deportation to their country of origin - which is far better than the punishment meted out to you or me if we were caught in their home country without proper paperwork!

Our "political correctness" will be responsible for the death of our Republic. Our government will continue to make concessions to the religion of Islam - the religion of TERRORISTS - until the United States Code (our federal laws) is supplemented or supplanted by Sharia "Law".

Does Sharia law allow a husband to rape his wife, even in America? A New Jersey trial judge thought so. In a recently overturned case, a "trial judge found as a fact that the defendant committed conduct that constituted a sexual assault" but did not hold the defendant liable because the defendant believed that he was exercising his rights over the victim.

In the In the State of California, 7th grade students at Excelsior Middle School in Discovery Bay, California adopted Muslim names, prayed on prayer rugs, and celebrated Ramadan under a state-mandated curriculum that requires instruction about various religions.

After Carver Elementary School in San Diego absorbed Muslim students from a defunct charter school in September 2006, a special recess was provided for the students to pray, classes were segregated by gender, and pork was removed from the school menu.

Muslims periodically block the streets of New York City, prostrating themselves in the middle of roadways and sidewalks undisturbed by police and other authorities. The resulting traffic jams are ignored, the double- and illegally parked vehicles are free of citations, and law enforcement officers are nowhere to be seen. Surely, practitioners of other religions or groups planning similar gatherings would be required to obtain permits for such an activity. Reportedly, the police have been ordered not to interfere with the Muslim prayer spectacle.

These special accommodations for Muslims effectively elevate the Islamic faith above that of Christians and Jews, reinforcing the message of the Koran -- "Allah proclaims Islam over all other religions" (48:28), "Islam will dominate other religions" (9:33), and "Islam does not coexist with other faiths" (5:51). Muslims are required by the teachings of their faith to conquer and subjugate non-Muslims and ensure worldwide submission to Islam -- "The believers must make war on infidels around them and let the infidels find firmness in them" (9:123).

This is the goal of the Islamic terrorists - to subjugate the entire world to the religious tyranny of Islam. Are we to help them in achieving that goal? When will the citizens of the United States say "ENOUGH!" Enough "political correctness", enough enabling, support and adoption of foreign customs, cultures and laws. Enough erosion of our Constitutional rights!

I'M DONE...

and THAT'S the bottom line!

McCain Calls Pentagon Study on Gays Flawed

Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank (especially Barney) and the rest of the left-wing, liberal-progressive, Marxist-socialists in the House and Senate have high hopes of repealing the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" act. They will support any effort to weaken our national security and self-defense efforts. They have been further emboldened by a recent "Pentagon Study", stating that 70% of those serving in our military believe that repealing the Act would have little noticeable impact upon the performance of our troops.

Senator John McCain, (R)AZ suggests that the study is flawed, and those of us who have served in the military can understand such a suggestion. McCain's statement was directly challenged by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the military's top uniformed officer who chairs the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

For those of you who haven't had the honor of serving in our military, understand this - the Chairman of the JCS is appointed by the president (with Senate confirmation) as a 4-star general or admiral, and serves at the pleasure of the president. One does not advance into the ranks of general officers - not even a 1-star) without some serious political connections. The Defense Secretary is also a presidential appointee who serves at the pleasure of the president.

My point is simple - unless one wishes to end their military career, or forfeit a cabinet position which pays almost $200,000 (plus perks) annually - they will support the agenda of he to whom they are indebted for their prestigious and prosperous position. As the Chairman of the JCS, Admiral Mullen is compensated at the rate of $216,734.40 (O-10 over 38 yrs service = $18,061.20 per month x12 [PLUS allowances and perks]). Granted, both these men were appointed by President George W. Bush, but they still serve at the pleasure of the current president, and technically, both Mullen and the Pentagon work for Gates... and Gates works for Obama. And Obama is the Head Lefty. Would a Pentagon Study dare be released if the results were other than supportive of the president' desires? If you believe it would, you'll be deeply disappointed on December 25th... while you're waiting up for the fat guy in the red suit to come down the chimney!

HERE'S HOW I SEE THE SITUATION IN... ALMOST EVERYWHERE!

The recent shelling of South Korea by their northern neighbors, reminded me of a bully in junior high school ("middle school" to some of you).

What would the United States do if we were attacked by... let's say the Mexican Army (instead of just an army of Mexicans sneaking across our southern border)? Imagine that Felipe Calderon lost his mind (just like North Korea's Kim), and began lobbing artillery shells into Arizona, California or Texas. What would our response be? Would our "president" issue a statement condemning such an action, and threaten that a strongly worded letter will follow? Obama probably would do just exactly that.

What should the response be to an attack by a bully? You can either submit and accept the beating, in the hope that someday the bully will weary of beating you up, or... you could (and should) respond quickly and surely, with all the strength you can muster. To accept the beating simply encourages the continuation of such behavior! A strong defensive response, on the other hand, has just the opposite effect - it discourages such displays of such aggressive behaviors. A swift and powerful response is what is demanded.

However......... there's another factor in the South Korea-DPRK situation. Apparently the "bully" from the North has the (thus far) unwavering backing of the Giant of the North - China - whose standing army is estimated at 2.5 MILLION (and, if you include paramilitary organizations the estimate jumps to 7.5 MILLION). To complicate matters even more, China has - primarily through lopsided international trade agreements - gained de facto control of the world economy.

Now you have to ask yourself, "If I defend myself against this little piss-ant, tin-horn dictator, will I also be fighting the hordes of Chinese military? How much affection does Hu Jintao of China really have for Kim Jong Il of the DPRK? Will we have any true allies if we respond and are faced with China? Will WalMart still be in business if China gets distracted for a few days?"

But, one thing is certain - taking no action is admitting you are powerless, and you will submit to the whims of your personal "bully". It escalates from bully to gang to army. International politics is a bitch... take the odds and kick Kim's butt!