Over the past several years, we've been barraged by an endless stream of news and weather reports designed to make us believe that the world is coming to an end, while mostly ignoring the real threats that we face. Every time it snows here in Maine now, they give it a name, as if it's a horrific storm. Okay, so we had some snow; well, it's near the end of January and this is Maine, so we're supposed to have snow. If it didn't snow, they'd drag the global warming stories up. Remember the bird flu? For months, we heard of nothing but the bird flu, which was described as a pandemic. People were ducking for cover whenever a crow flew over their house. Well, very few people got sick or died from bird flu, and nearly all of them had been handling dead infected birds. I don't know if my mother even had to tell me not to play with dead things that I picked up from the ground. Somehow, I knew this instinctively. Remember the swine flu? Described by the media as a super bug, it caused worldwide panic; yet more people died from the vaccine than from the disease. Ebola, of course, is a scary thing and, although I have had no personal experience with it, it does indeed sound horrible. Yet, for all of the hours that the media spent on hyping the situation up, as far as the American scare goes, our government failed to do the one thing that might have lent some credibility to the hype -- take precautions. More Americans are probably murdered in Chicago alone each year than are killed by terrorists worldwide, yet we've spent years battling this elusive enemy, whom we are supporting and supplying with military weapons when we're not fighting against them. Certainly, I am not suggesting that there is no such thing as terrorism, but the average American is more likely to be killed by a police officer here in the United States than by a terrorist. Yet we are forced to endure our fifteen minutes of rage against Islamic terrorists repeatedly throughout the day, every day. Whenever anything whatsoever goes on with the weather, it is trumpeted as a sure sign of global climate change, the only solution being for us to lower our standard of living, give up more of our rights, and pay higher taxes. It doesn't matter what it is. If it rains, that's global climate change, and if it doesn't rain, that's global climate change too. If there are hurricanes during hurricane season, that's global climate change; if there are no hurricanes, that's global climate change too. Is it warm in August? Global climate change. Is it cold in January? Global climate change. Global climate change serves as the basis for new laws, new regulations, new taxes, and the usurpation of powers never intended for the federal government, as well as fodder that can be used to fill in the gaps between pandemics, storms, and terrorist attacks.
The sad part is the more they talk about the bad stuff the less we listen. It's like the boy the shouted "Wolf", when it really is bad no body will be listening. The image says it all.
You have to watch out Ken, talking about "Islamic Terrorists!" All of our government, starting with our illustrious poobah, is trying to be PC and polite. Being PC is the right thing to do and we all know it because that is what we are told to do. Those terrorist folks are just a small JV bunch of hooligans who are no real threat to the U.S.A. Global warming is now called "Climate change." That way, no one can be wrong since climate change is a daily thing and can be put in the record books as such. It is not PC to point out that in Chicago the major crimes against the black community are black criminals with guns. The war against women is ongoing and is dominated by republicans who hate to see women get ahead. Voting ID's prevent black and Hispanic people from voting. It is not correct to carry a Bible to school and the carrier can be expelled because someones feelings might get hurt by the mere image of the Christian anthology. The flag of the U.S. is no longer a sacred symbol of America, so if someone sets it on fire and stomps on it our freedom of speech is being upheld. A man who defends his home by putting a bullet in an assailant / crook / rapist, whatever, is guilty of hurting a misguided individual. (and may be compared to the person below because a person entering your home can also be called an undocumented individual) A person who comes into this country illegally is no longer illegal,......just an undocumented, unemployed, migrant from another country. We must be careful how we speak, for freedom of speech is only for those who have a definite agenda against what freedom really is.
You have to realize that the news business dropped its journalistic ethics many years ago when there was still an attempt made at honest reporting. Now it's almost purely commercial with some political bias thrown in for good measure. The goal is eyeballs and the bigger and badder the news event is made to seem, the more viewers. It's too bad that you can probably get better news from random people on the internet than the major news sources.
Of course, now we're asked to fund a three-year war in order to fight the JV team. Does that make us the freshman team?
You do bring a strong thought, Ken. I do remember when we were at least feared, if not respected. Now it seems, we have allowed the varsity team to graduate and are starting from scratch. So, your analogy might be the closest description we have. I do not in any manner suggest that our military is any less capable of doing a great job with minimal costs of life. What I do suggest however, is that the golfer in the white house (note the lack of capital letters) is more concerned with his game rather than speaking to his military and intel advisors so as immediately convert the Islamic terrorist groups from the living to the very popular "standing before God" status. They have a belief system that somehow allows them a voracious appetite for virgins in the hereafter, so I do believe we should unchain our military to help them find their deepest desires with absolutely no exaggeration or hype. Just the facts, and this is of course..... IMHO, How's that for PC?
I believe that our president's concept of winning differs from most Americans, in that, what we might consider a loss, he considers a win. Basically, I don't believe he likes the United States of America, as most of us have known it, and his goal is to bring us down to the level of the rest of the world, while continuing to have the best of everything himself, of course.
I will be the first person to admit that I know very little regarding politics. What I do know is during the second term of Bush, after being very successful, I lost my butt in business.
Another thing you might consider about the various wars the US gets involved in is that the lobbyists control Washington D.C. and the military-industrial complex has some of the best. They are easily in the tier along with the big pharmaceutical companies and the financial industry, mainly Wall Street firms. If you go back and look at who wrote Obama care, the banker bailouts, etc. you'll see their handiwork all over the place. I'm sure the MIC also has the same influence.
I believe this is done on purpose. They want to keep us in a constant state of fear so we always turn to the government and media for reassurance. By doing this they have us in the palm of their hand. We will believe anything they say and always take their word for gospel. It's not good to completely turn away from all government but at the same time it's not good to trust them completely. A healthy degree of skepticism is necessary.