Take Back Our Country From Whom?

As of Friday, January 20, 2012

"Take back our country."

I remain confused by this term. What ever happened to losing an election, and when did mere doctrinal disagreement turn into treason?

I think it happened late one night when we began, as individuals, to join packs and decide "my way or the highway" had the same ring to it as the Bill of Rights or self-chosen phrases from a holy book.

Why am I confused? Well, partly because in the life of any citizen, surely we've all lived with a senator, representative or president we did not like. We knew those officials were coming up for election in a short number of years. Time to gather one's commitment and begin to listen and learn as the newly elected went forward. Time to see if there was more there than I could see at first. Or if not, time to look for someone to put forward.

Wisely, the founders staggered our elections so that the will/voice of the people could be heard. The voice of the people, a voice that is not of one note, background or value system - and that is what makes our country so grand and also like herding wet cats.

But as I hear the call to take our country back, I feel a rising fear. It is not enough to be duly elected, apparently. We are rewriting the rules; now when "my choice loses," the country is hijacked, despite the fact that my fellow Americans, also the people, voted in such numbers that one candidate lost - which is what I thought we expected. Nobody stole it. The people voted, influence shifted and leadership shifted - and will shift again. All without bullets, mind you.

As we become increasingly addicted to hyperbole and ginned-up impending doom, We the people are forgetting that deliberate thought, deep consideration and real conversation are called for. No, Henny Penny is not helpful.

We may want to "throw the bums out," but the signers/designers protected us from codifying groundswell hysteria into bad decisions. We need the cooling-off period between elections.

Add to that protection our new obligation: to make those elected to do the people's business get out of the business of immediately running for office again and instead buckle down and solve problems. It is as simple as what our kindergarten teachers forced us to do: make friends, do no harm to our classmates intentionally, get our work done on time, push in our chairs, and go outside and play together.

If members of Congress continue to work only in lockstep (right or left) and demonize each other so that going for a meal together is a violation of principle, we are right where I started: Fellow citizens with different ideas are now traitors. Pull up the sidewalks; it is all over.

That is not really where we are in our neighborhoods. We live with people of other faiths, color and politics because we all know we have to. And I think in our hearts we also want to.

There is plenty of room for discussion about how much to downsize or grow government, how to trim the budget, how to move forward in a global situation that bears almost no resemblance to what we grew up with. These are rightful areas of discussion. These are not rightful areas of bullying or punditry, because they are real and vital issues.

I do feel that it is my obligation to learn about a matter that I have some passion about and not just spew diatribe and catch phrases. We the people have our obligations, along with the right of free speech, to study a bit and listen with an open mind.

As our election cycle heats up, as it surely will, my call is to remember our kindergarten rules. Make friends, have an honest exchange of ideas, push our chairs in, and play well together.

We should demand that our taxes pay for folks to go and do the work for the people, not to run an election campaign interrupted by a few bills and a lot of food-fighting.

If we must pay taxes, as we surely must, the least we, as the employer of record, can expect is they all get the real job done. They can run for re-election on their own time.

Joyce Reehling lives in Pinehurst. She recently retired here from New York after a 33-year career in theater, TV and commercials.

More like this story

ProudYankee 4 months, 1 week ago

A great column, and unfortunately, all too true. What ever happened to co-operation and compromise, to actually get things done for the common good of everyone?

Sadly, I feel the comments here will reflect the childish, partisan bickering that our politicians of BOTH partys seem locked into.

Hembloche 4 months, 1 week ago

If we elect Obama for four more years America will be DESTROYED!!! I know it's true cause I read it on the interwebs. Thank god we didn't re-elect Bush back in 2004 cause that woulda been the end for us as well. Oh wait... Hyperbole is a wonderful thing.

Bentpan 4 months, 1 week ago

Conservative republicans support the TEA party= o arrests, 0 property damage, clean up after protests, engaged successfully in the political process Liberal Democrats support Occupy Wall Street= Over 5000 arrests( assaults on police and others, vandalism, drugs, rape, murder, theft), millions in property damage (private&public), forcibly removed from areas for sanitation concerns. Now about this call for civility.

TreadLightly 4 months, 1 week ago

No one could cry, "Take Back Our Country" if it had not first been "taken away." If you do not recognize that the country has been far removed from the constraints and guidance of the Constitution, then you have failed to learn what the rules constrain, and more importantly, why they constrain them. Thus, the “who took it” would be whatever person, party or ideology that moved away from the Constitution.

You sound like you are irritated that politicians are in constant campaign mode. That is not just a sign of civic distraction, but a sign of the corruption that the Constitution was designed to prevent. Recognizing that power corrupts, it limited the power wielded by any one man or legislative body. It limited power by dividing it between three branches of the federal body, and more importantly, between the federal and state governments.

The progressive movement began over a hundred years ago, obviously influenced by that trendy new thinker, Karl Marx. One of my personal heroes, Teddy Roosevelt founded the Progressive Party, but the ideology quickly spread to all political parties. President Wilson, FDR and LBJ were the strong men of the movement, but none of them were able to nationalize General Motors, put us on socialized medicine or shut off our domestic oil production.

Obama could do that because the gradual nature of the movement finally brought together the perfect storm of power in Obama, Reid and Pelosi, backed by their socialist bent cohorts in both parties. When General Motors and all of our family doctors are taken into the government fold, we feel our country is slipping away. When the government war on oil production doubles the price at the pump and the powers that be are plotting to take their opposition off the airwaves and internet, why should we not feel that the country where we grew up has been hijacked?

The only choice that “traditional” or law-abiding citizens have is to try to “take it back.” Take it back to the rule of law, the prime national law being the Constitution. When you look at the courts and legislative bodies packed with progressives or downright socialists, it is a daunting task to restore the system to sanity.

No one should be fooled into thinking that the socialists will lie down and give up. Therefore, those willing to pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor in the battle to restore our lost government have accepted a difficult task that could become personally dangerous if we stand up and lose. And many of us settled into the tea party.

We do not expect that you and others who have drank the progressive Kool-Aid will ever understand the problem.

alladat1 4 months, 1 week ago

Hey - Bentpan - wake up and read the last paragraph from ProudYankee!

alladat1 4 months, 1 week ago

As for TreadLightly - we will pray for him/her.

moonchild7 4 months, 1 week ago

Oh, Joyce, Joyce, Joyce, Joyce. Welcome to the Sandhills, I hope you enjoy all that it has to offer, and it has lot's to offer. It's a GREAT place. But to answer your question after reading your excellent opinion, the answer has always been quite obvious. Look at the faces of all of the people who've been shouting this pile of "you know what" and the answer is right there. "Take Our Country Back From Whom?" Well, of course...from BLACK PEOPLE and MINORITIES. When have you ever heard a statement like that said before? NEVER because it usually is, "Let's CHANGE our situation and/or country for the BETTER." Meaning: "Let's change it for the BETTER for ALL of US". After watching that Repo-Debate last night seeing that Newt Gingrich was getting standing ovations after basically calling his second wife TRASH and for his being a really egotistical maniac, those "Take Our Country Back" Teapotters(That's what I call them, Joyce) have absolutely no rational, moral or intelligent brains in the bunch. And Romney, DEER in the HEADLIGHTS!!!! Gingrich pushed President Clinton's Impeachment into the House's Hall's of "Justice" while he was Speaker and at the same time was having an affair with the second wife he just called TRASH. I wish John King would have called him on that one but he let Gingrich twirl his lies around again. I do hope though that he wins S.C., because President Obama is going to make mincemeat of anyone of those BOZO'S.

The_AnonymusProfit 4 months, 1 week ago

I have spoken many times on the subject of how both sides are to blame for the dismal situation we find our selves in at the current moment in time. I have spoken many times on the partisan nature of politics and how the ramp of technology has fostered this partisanship to a new level of amazement for most of the general populous.

This article hits home on many of these subjects. When we see pictures of the men assigned to write and ratify our constitution we understand that there were differences on both sides, yet through these differences were born the Bill of Rights and our founding law document. A true Union was born out of this disagreement and sometimes harsh partisanship between the Federalists and Anti Federalists.

The problem that this article does not address is the difference of situation between our first 180 years of existence and the last 100 or so years. Even during the Civil War, the prinicples of the Union were held solid, though the southern states felt that their individual soverignties were being to harshly removed, nothing could compare to the situation we find ourselves in today.

Our country is based on a Republican form of government and a free market economic system. These two principles have allowed us to become the only dominant economic, military, technological, principled, country on the face of the earth. We know however find ourselves moving ever more drastically away from our founding principles and moving ever more closely to the principles of European socialistic government. When we hear the phrase take back our country from the political right in our country, we understand it to be a call for a return to our founding principles and a move away from the more liberal stagnation of economic progress and individual freedom. The democrat party serves an important purpose in our government, as a theory, there more social aspect of our country would keep in check a hong kong style economic expansion that truly would harm our country..however that is not what we have. Stopping our countrymen from exercising the right to expand our country through the common sense exploitation of our natural resources, our inherent drive, and our founding principles is wrong and would be considered a stealing of what America stands for.

Mr Column writer, I applaud you for your article, yet I ask you to take time to think of your education and ask yourself seriously if the America you live in today shows any real semblance of the America that was founded in 1776.

justmyopinion 4 months, 1 week ago

I like (sarcasm) how MC7 throws the racism play at every republican and can't see that she is the biggest racist we all read. I never recall anyone screaming racism when Clinton was in office. Maybe just maybe lunar-tic, people dislike Obama for his beliefs/politics and not the color of his skin.

The best country saying I've heard, which is damn good advice, is that you better sweep your own porch before you sweep someone else's.

wdd101st 4 months, 1 week ago

How come moon beam is the only one that uses the race card all the time. The article writer said nothing about race. If you look at photos of the two different groups (Tea Party & OWS) you will notice lots of blacks not only in the TEA party crowds but on the platforms speaking. OWS didn't have a lot of backs.

blessherheart 4 months, 1 week ago

Excellent column!

nothingspecial 4 months, 1 week ago

Well said, Treadlightly and Anonymous Profit. Mrs. Rheeling where there is smoke there is fire - the take back our country calls are not just grumpiness. Recommend more reading on how far our political and judicial process has moved away from where it is supposed to be.

Just this week, here's an example. I ask you how the President could turn down a pipeline proposal that was supported by 70% of our nation at a time when predictions of $200.00 a barrel oil are truly looking to be coming true? This is not just politics where one side wants the opposite of what the president wants. His energy policies are causing the most vulnerable in this country to suffer needlessly and is causing us to be more dependent upon a region increasingly siding with our enemies. When I see an editorial by Robert Redford applauding the presidents courage in standing up to big oil by refusuing the pipeline I see elites who have made their fortunes and do not know or care what the most vulnerable in this country think.

geoffcutler 4 months, 1 week ago

Joyce...nice column for the most part, and you do a good job attempting to straddle the fence, as it were. But the polarity and the idea of "taking back the country" hit full stride during the Bush administration...starting with the recount, and finally settled by the Supreme Court. At that time, the left was screaming to take back the country, led by that savory organization, MoveOn.org. and the charming Michael Moore. And so I wonder...did you write a similar column back then? Or are you just befuddled about it all now that the shoe is on the other foot?

herecomesthescience 4 months, 1 week ago

If a republican wins: Democrats cry and whine and faint and yell "Impeach him!" If a democrat wins: republicans cry and whine and faint and yell "take the country back!" America: Home of the sore looser. If your guy wins, great. If your guys does not, too bad. Seriously folks, just shut up and vote. You can be sure that there were people having this same discussion 100 years ago, it's nothing new...the country has stood strong through it all...have some faith in the people and the system, and learn to deal with it if your guy did not win. Both sides have become whiny babies about this, and its sad. We have the ability to vote freely in this nation, a right that a very large part of the rest of the world does not have, so use your votes, because your complaining about the winner does nothing at all but blow hot air.

sgmartin 4 months, 1 week ago

Welcome Joyce. It is good to have another voice of reason in the Sandhills.

teufelhunden 4 months, 1 week ago

Here here!

The_AnonymusProfit 4 months, 1 week ago

Moonchild, I cant actually give a concrete reason as to why I am responding to you...Ill chaulk it up to the fact that I am at work with nothing to do and bored out of my mind. So here goes. You took a good column written by someone we have not heard from before with a valid question and point. Instead of responding with some form of intellegent prose as treadlightly and myself did..You chose as you always do, to reach down into the liberal pocketbook of nonsense responses and fill a post with nothing but hot air and drivel. You comments on race are unabashed, unfounded, and quite offensive. Your hate of wealth, capitalism, freedom, liberty, free speech, equal rights, and many other principles for which this country was founded on astound even our ardent liberal posters.

You lack of self discipline, your lack of any ability for abstract thought process and reasoning astounds even our most uneducated posters. Your total disregard for anything bordering on reason and sanity gives us reason to question weather or not your mental status is in good standing. You refuse to to drink the water for fear of poison even after the masses have drank and found to be in good health. For once we would like to see a sane post from you that shows that you not only grasp the idea of what America is and how it was founded, that you grasp the fundamentals of how we as a society operate, we understand however that this will never happen. O what fun it would be to visit your brain MoonChild, I feel as though it would be an amusement park like no other.

MoonChild your primary issue is that you are disturbed by the fact that many Americans want American Exceptional ism, that we do not apologize for being the Strongest, that our GOP is all inclusive. You are terrified of our reaching these quote on quote minority parties and empowering them to succeed.

MoonChild your Utopian wishes are far from ever coming true, we will TAKE BACK our country as the author of the post wrote questioningly about and return it to the calm waters of market capitalism, we will return to exploiting our natural resources for gain and profit. We will return to the principles of GOD and country and be damned if anyone will stand in our way. We wish for all men to be equal and have opportunity based on their willingness to work, not on their understanding of how to pull a handout from others.

teufelhunden 4 months, 1 week ago

Hear, hear!

moonchild7 4 months, 1 week ago

When the LEFT talks about "Taking Our Country Back" or 'Making our Country a Better Place" the LAST thing we're talking about is anything RACIAL. We're talking about giving our "Country" back to the PEOPLE...ALL of it's PEOPLE" from the Corporations and all of the SUPER MONEY, SUPER LOBBYISTS, and SUPER CORRUPT who have STOLEN it from the rest of us. On our side there are No exclusions but rather we are ALL INCLUSIVE. The "RACE" card that you say I present is NOT from any of my doing, so to spreak. It comes from many of those Republican /Teapotters that I guess NONE of you know or have heard in the media who absolutely DO NOT LIKE OUR BLACK PRESIDENT.....for no other reason than he is an African-American. If any of you DENY the truth in that statement then your blinders are showing. There continue's to be a huge amount of racially prejudiced people living in America. Whites hating blacks and blacks hating whites. It's not new, but it has yet to go away. So, to ask Joyce's question again to the local Teapotters out there, Who are we supposed to be taking our country back from? Who?

Courseaire 4 months, 1 week ago

We need to “Take Back our Country” from the sucophants – those lazy, good for nothing people that do nothing but drain the life out of America – be useful & earn your keep instead of waiting around for your next handout.

The_AnonymusProfit 4 months, 1 week ago

And que a comment exactly reflecting my post on moonchild

herecomesthescience 4 months, 1 week ago

You mean old people and children?

alladat1 4 months, 1 week ago

All Hail The_AnonymusProfit! We bow down to your wisdom which is vast as your ego. I can only say that I wish I had a job (with nothing to do) like you.

The_AnonymusProfit 4 months, 1 week ago

alladat1 i do not recognize you, from what clan do you hail?

skylinefirepest 4 months, 1 week ago

Hey Moonie, I don't like our BLACK PRESIDENT not even a little bit!!! But not, as you would state because he's BLACK, but because he has done and is doing his absolute best to destroy this country!! So, yes, I also accuse you of playing the race card when there's not one to play!! So you say that Obama is going to make mincemeat out of any Republican challenger??? Not a chance in Hell, unless totally un-thinking, America hating ( ring a bell, Moonie? ) diehard idiots vote for him again.

teufelhunden 4 months, 1 week ago

...from whackjobs who are trying to fundamentally change America.

moonchild7 4 months, 1 week ago

Our previous President started America's slide into MUCK, YUCK, MIRE, DIRE, SLOP, GLOP, GOO, and POO. The DENIAL of that FACT, that continues to this very minute and second to be spouted out by anybody at this point on this blog is NOTHING but complete confirmation of the points that I made. While slow but steady, and climbing out of the depths of despair, America since the "retirement" of our previous President and the DEFEAT of MCAIN-PALIN is PROOF that your comment PEST is what I said it was. I recently returned from a very nice "vacation" in the NorthEast. I drove there and back and I saw homes, and shopping centers, and car lots, and subways and "FREEDOM TOWERS" being built. Traffic jams abounded and cars were lined up for gas on the Jersey Turnpike. My extended family and I didn't spend New Years in NYC(been there done that)but rather we met in Annapolis, MD to celebrate on the docks and at a local crab house "partying the New Year in". The crowds were tremendous, the fireworks looked pretty over the water, the boats were decorated with christmas lights and families with children were everywhere! We all can choose to be MISERABLE(as someone said I was but definately am not)or we can be alive, caring, and busy. While in NYC, after leaving MD, one evening sitting on the couch in my son's apt. I looked out at night, saw lights I never noticed before and asked him what they were. "That's One World Trade Center, Mom, you can see it from here now", he said..."it won't be called the Freedom Tower". I nearly cried(I do have feelings)knowing that after all of these years we are now moving on, making progress, but still, never forgetting. I DO NOT believe we be making this kind of PROGRESS if those TEAPOTTERS had won in 2008.

justmyopinion 4 months, 1 week ago

Lunar-tic --You keep blaming Bush but you never say what he did. Specifically, what did he do and then tell me how, in a democracy, he was able to do it alone. And please tell me what Obama has done to supposedly "reverse" anything? My bet is you couldn't start a list on either topic.

wdd101st 4 months, 1 week ago

I do not dislike or even hate our half white President. What I hate is the way he has damaged this country to the point where we may never recover.

He campaigned on open, transparent government and then took the democrats into back rooms to pass Obamacare. I could have swore he promised the debates would be on CSPAN. Nope, they cancelled that idea.

Now he is claiming that he wants more jobs, but has said no to a pipeline that would have provided many jobs, and high paying ones at that.

People say that the down turn started on Bushes term. Well it did but only because the democrats controlled the Congress and Senate. Then when Obama took office we really started going down hill, because he was president and had a democrat controlle Congress and Senate. Did they straighten out the mess? NO! They just made it worse and blamed everything on Bush.

Thatcher 4 months, 1 week ago

MC7 (4 hours and 14 minutes ago). I'm curious. You used a phrase that most liberals use: "corporations...who have STOLEN it from the rest of us." Please tell us: (a) which corporation(s) "stole" from you; (b) how did they "steal" and when: and (c) how much did they "steal" from you, personally? I hope you will answer these questions, in order. My guess is, when you try to do so, you will realize you're merely spouting liberal rhetoric/talking points...which have no basis in reality and are simply nonsense.

justmyopinion 4 months, 1 week ago

Lunar-tic is will say the banks, wall street, ( YAWN ) etc... etc... You know, the usual demoncrat talking points handed down weekly by Demon Wasserman-Schlutz.

And by the way Lunar-tic, what kind of progress "we be making" with Obama?

sgmartin 4 months, 1 week ago

Joyce please ignore the cyberbullying you see going on here. It demeans us all and is not representative of the whole

Yukonjohn 4 months, 1 week ago

I wish the two party system worked better, but maybe it may never work again. To me, they all seem the same. Geo Bush is not a speck different that Barrack Obama. They all are beholden to the big banks, Israel, and big pharma. Until we change to someone like Ron Paul with that platform, we will be wallowing around in the same thing.

MC7, race is not even an issue. I think maybe down south in years past, but NOTHING like when I grew up there. My freshman year at Pinecrest, they shut the school down for a long time because of race relations. That kind of thing doesn't happen very often anymore. It might again if we keep people dividing our nation unless trying to unite it.

moonchild7 4 months, 1 week ago

SO much to say but so little time. The problem with "Race Relations" in America today is for the very most part a "thing of old"; as in Old Timers who NEVER got over their predjudices. They have passed their HATE on to their children but they are slowly becoming a minority in and of themselves. My generation raised our children to be OPEN-MINDED and INCLUSIVE. They have learned those lessons very well and have in turn begun to raise their children and grandchildren that way. Freedom is a wonderful thing..being FREE of HATE and UGLINESS. Corporations Thatcher are NOT people because I blame the Fortune 500 Co. my father worked at for over 25 yrs with killing him. That corporation did not go to jail or even to court. No justice. I grew up in that "Corporate" home and as a kid it was great but my father worked unbelievably hard for them. He traveled the world, did important things made good money. When the 70's got here things started to "get bad" and the company was reeling. My Dad was working 7 days a week, stressed out. When he finally was able to take a short weeks vacation he had a heart attack. He lived for 2 more yrs but had retired. The company tried everything they could to get him back but he told me they only wanted him back so they could FIRE him so as NOT to have to pay him his pension. He was 53 when he died. I had been with him all day because he hadn't felt well, fixed his dinner and went back to my home. A call came an hour later that he had died, sitting in his lounge chair watching the news. Things haven't changed too much have they? So, what is it again that we need to take our country back from?

The_AnonymusProfit 4 months, 1 week ago

Im gonna play the heartless person, that story is touching moon, but not relevent to anything at all.

Thatcher 4 months, 1 week ago

MC7-- So sorry to hear about your dad. It sounds like he worked very hard for you and your family, and it is obvious (from your post) that you love him very much. You said your dad worked 7 days a week for a Fortune 500 company, and made "good money." I'm sure he did so because he loved his family and wanted to provide them with a good life. Lots of folks today work 7 days a week, at 2-3 jobs (none Fortune 500), just to help their family survive. Others search 7 days a week for a job, but are unsuccessful. I would urge you to reconsider your use of liberal cliches. You are (in a sense) correct: A corporation is not a person. It is a group of people who come together with an idea for a service or good that customers might want. NO guarantee that the public will give them a dime for their service/product. Many corporations fail. Many succeed. These people risk their money hoping for success, and ask others (investors) to believe and risk their own money in growing the company. If the company takes off and the public likes their service/product, more people are hired, the investors receive a return on their investment, and the corporation grows. If not, the company tanks and folks lose their job. Again, sorry about your dad.

JER 4 months, 1 week ago

The AP: You are at work with nothing to do and are bored out of your mind. Sounds like your company could save a bunch of money and contribute to their bottom line if they fired your ass. You are a liability, not an asset. Being unemployed will also give you a different perspective. I hope they catch you screwing off on company time today!!

JER 4 months, 1 week ago

nothingspecial: The energy policy in this country has allowed refined fuel to become our leading EXPORT. How does this fact square with your contention that the policy is ruining the country? The next question you can answer is: why does this pipeline have to run through the center of the country and through environmentally sensitive areas? Would it not make more sense to refine the crude from Canada closer to the source. Why not refine it on the northwest coast? There are already five refineries in the Seattle area, for example. Jobs can be created there, expanding present refineries and building new ones. These would be more permanent jobs than the ones building a 1500 mile pipeline that would go away when the pipeline was completed. Much of our crude oil imports from Canada and Mexico. Having refineries in Texas, Louisiana and in the northwest coast seems to make the most sense.

The_AnonymusProfit 4 months ago

Jer its doubtful since I own the company

moonchild7 4 months ago

It seems anonypus that you're not READING other peoples post's so as to better understand the arguments being made. I was responding to Thatcher's questions concerning "what corporations had stolen from me". Sometimes I might use so-called "talking points" but a lot of what I have to say comes from ACTUAL LIFE EXPERIENCE'S. Of course my "other" point about corporations Thatcher was how the corporation began to ask my Dad to do "Unethical" things, something they never did before. Their stature in the business world had begun to crumble not just on the outside but also the inside. His 7 days a week hours only happened in that last year when he felt the pressure to constantly "be there" for anything that might happen. A few years after WWII (he served in the Navy) he began work with this company, at the bottom of the rung, working his way up to an Executive Position with the Main Office. The AMERICAN DREAM as pure as it can be! Living in some of the most notable suburbs in this country. Since I was a kid at the time I was able to see/experience the highs and lows of the AMERICAN DREAM, because near the end my parents divorced and a few years later he passed away. Human Beings have become so dispensible now, at the hands of the Corporate Monsters. So, I ask again, "Who do we need to take our country back from, guys?" Oh, and just for the record "That Company" is somehow still on the Fortune 550 List. I can't stand them.

JER 4 months ago

The AP: Let me be the first to tell you that you are employing a slacker who is doing little to make your business successful.

skylinefirepest 4 months ago

Moonie, sorry about your dad but I also agree that it had no relevance. He agreed to work and stayed with the company! Why? You hate the company to this day...but it was your dad that made the decision to work seven days a week and let the stress get to him! Why do you hate the company for what was your dad's decision??

The_AnonymusProfit 4 months ago

Moonie I read everything, btw what is this 500 company you are refering to, My father worked in the corporate world as well eventually becoming president of Lipton Tea. That would be Unilever for you stock traders. He died at 77 from heart failure. Work is stressful, and Im sorry but im sure work was not the only factor in your fathers death. If it makes it easier to deal to blame the company then by all means be my guest, just don't try to pass it off as a damnation of free market capitalism, the plain truth is you want something for free, thats all your posts are ever about, even the monkey lost in the woods can see that.

TreadLightly 4 months ago

Moonbeam, you may have seen the dark side of a company with no soul, likely because the individuals involved did not have a soul anchored for the storm. I know a man who worked up to one of their vice-president positions. He left that company, and is now anti-capitalist. I believe the root cause was ethics. Companies do not have ethics, they have SOP's and policies. People have ethics, and sometimes have to choose between a good job or good ethics.

Which brings me to the question of the ethics of the ruling political parties. Where are they? You can;t blame the Dems or Repubics because parties do not have souls. We have assembled a group of legislators and executives in Washington (and some state capitols) who can be bought with a fat pension and personal gain. Look at the "deals" to pass ObamaCare. Clearly crininal conduct pretending to be "political maneuvering."

Both parties are full of these political whores, but even worse is the drive (1900 to present) to derail the American Constitution in search of Utopian socialism. They can't publically call themselves Marxists, Socialists, Communists, or Liberals because too many Americans detest these ideas which have caused misery and death every time they were tried. They are calling themselves Progressives at present, but just like the early 1900's, that term will become known as the cover word for Marxism, and they will have to invent a new name.

The tea party groups are just a small fraction of the people of Amereica, but what scares the daylights out of socialists is that the majority of the American people identify with the ideas and values expressed by the tea parties. They just want to quit supporting the kind of criminals that they wouldn't sip tea with, and let honest men earn a living for their families.

Don't worry-- hardcore socialists and their useful idiots will always be large enough (30%) to keep the comment sections of every paper hot with their talking points. No one can talk them out of it, because it is not rational thinking that got them there. Just emotions. Rant, rave, spout talking points, but never engaging in the hard task of learning history and using their brain instead of their gut to find their way.

I sympahize with the poor useful idiots. I have been there. But those with inetlligence to know that they are assaulting the supreme law of the land and deliberately trying to make sure that the name of God or his son are never uttered in a public place, I commend to their maker for His judgement.M

justmyopinion 4 months ago

sgmartin "Joyce please ignore the cyberbullying you see going on here. It demeans us all and is not representative of the whole"

Isn't that special?

nothingspecial 4 months ago

JER, I see your point but defer to those in the oil business who know better than I the feasibilities of such things lately. I see a well thought out and engineered proposal that will right now put our citizens to work, help the economy, strengthen our oil independence and weaken the control of the arab states. Polls show that more folks are in favor of those things.

Thatcher 4 months ago

Funny thing about the folks on the left who complain (like the author of this column) about people using the phrase, "Take our country back." http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/taking-our-country-back_555497.html. Seems it started in the modern age with Howard Dean (in 2004) and Barack Obama (in 2008). If I remember correctly, Dean and Obama are both leftist democrats.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDwODb.... Just for nostalgia.

nothingspecial 4 months ago

Good commentary about the Keystone decision from Newsweek, Forbes and the gatewaypundit:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/01/20/keystone_madness__112829.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/warrenmeyer/2012/01/19/keystone-xl-voting-for-the-stone-age/

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/01/70-of-american-voters-disagree-with-obama-favor-increased-access-to-oil-and-gas-resources/

Thatcher 4 months ago

Great post nothingspecial!

JER 4 months ago

nothingspecial: Thanks for having an open mind and considering my point. Allowing oil companies to do whatever they want because they appear to be the "experts" does not always work out well. Doing what I suggested ticks several of your boxes: It provides much needed jobs. It helps the economy and it ticks one of my boxes, it is more likely to be safer for the environment. What I don't understand is how crude oil from Canada will "strengthen our oil independence". While we import relatively little oil from Arab states, the vast majority that we do import from them comes from our major ally in the region. Having the Canadian oil refined in the state of Washington or in Texas has no effect in weakening the control of Arab states. If the poles show that our people want to lessen any Arab control, the easy solution is to use less oil. We would only need to use a small amount less to eliminate the current need they fill.

jgc 4 months ago

Geoff, please let's not single out one PAC, ask John Kerry about SwiftBoatss. Also all the fun watching the Super-Pac farce in the GOP primaries eat their young to "take back what is theirs". It's unfortunatley a dirty business that continues to reach new lows, all parties are guilty and the worst is yet to come this fall.

skylinefirepest 4 months ago

Well, I for one, am sick and tired of the whiney anti-capitolism bullhockey that I read constantly from the Left. NO ONE will work without the promise of ample reward...it's been tried and it's ALWAYS failed!! This country remains one of the few on the face of the earth to promise to reward hard and smart work. The government has NO MONEY OF IT'S OWN, people. The government produces nothing and takes from the pockets of it's citizens to "provide" infrastructure for the benefit of it's citizens. Why then, do we allow government to take money from our pockets at the point of a gun and give it to people and countries who do NOTHING for it??? Why do we borrow trillions from China and give them back half a billion in foreign aid?? The welfare state has failed...we now have GENERATIONS of families that have been on welfare! Approximately half the country pays NOTHING in income taxes! The left has primarily been the tax and spenders that have put us in this mess and they want to re-elect a man who has the destruction of the United States as one of his un-stated goals. The Great Society has failed miserably and the Liberal Left wants to keep it going. Jim Heim has stated several times on these blogs that he thinks we can keep on spending borrowed money and the country will prosper...it'll never happen, Jim, it's been tried and it's ALWAYS failed!! Now they call themselves "Progressives" and that's a failed name right from the start because they want to keep on trying programs that have been proven not to work, and keep expecting a different result!! Obama wants to "put people to work" but then he vetoes one of the very programs that would do it...and the "Progressives" cheer! Stupidity at work, people.

JER 4 months ago

If you want to be taken seriously, skylinefirepest, you need to stop making statements like " they want to re-elect a man who has the destruction of the United States as one of his un-stated (sic) goals". Do you have any idea how stupid that statement makes you look? When you have many legitimate complaints with the current administration to work with, why would you want to say something so completely stupid and make anyone who might have been listening to you want to immediately tune you out? Would you go to a doctor who presented a paper on how he has found a cure for cancer when the next part of his presentation reveals that he learned the secret of the cure during an alien abduction? That is what you sound like when you make silly comments that are patently untrue.

lakeview 4 months ago

JER- Why does his statement make you think he should not be taken seriously? President Obama is on record saying that he (paraphrasing) wants to fundamentally change the USA. Many feel that is the destruction of the US. Obviously, you are a democrat and based on your intolerance of skylinefirepest's opinion as well as others, you must be liberal.

skylinefirepest 4 months ago

JER...look at Obama's record and actions. I rest my case.

alladat1 4 months ago

Same old paranoid comments from the usual suspects. The tip off is when the comments become hateful and are longer than the original article. Why don't you guys go over to Hate.org and vent

skylinefirepest 4 months ago

alladat? You can always tell the liberal loonies in the Pilot blogs...you are always the ones that attack the messenger and not the message. Look at what Obama has done, has said he will do, has written in his own hand, has associated himself with, has appointed with or without approval from the Congress, has said about the Constitution, etc. and then tell me that this man loves this country! Can't do it, can you??? Amazing that even the Democrats are turning away from this administration and the few, unthinking diehard Liberals in Moore County are still hollerin' "ain't he just great?"

alladat1 4 months ago

Hey Skyline - I'll pray for you too.

lakeview 4 months ago

Liberals pray??

moonchild7 4 months ago

The level of absurdity, hypocricy, and idiocy around here is mind-boggling. America is NOT in decline, it is EVOLVING. The Teapotter FEAR MACHINE continues to spout it's delusional blah-blah-blah.

skylinefirepest 4 months ago

Hey Moonie? What in the world are you talking about? Would you please explain what you think is absudity, what is hypocricy, and what is idiocy?? And would you please tell us who you think the "teapotters" are?? As usual you're not making much rational sense.

JER 4 months ago

Hey moonchild7: Since skylinefirepest doesn't recognise absurdity, hypocrisy or idiocy when he speaks it, you might want to add oblivious to the list as well.

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