OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS

Gentlemen. It seems that I remember during the campaign last year, several politicians, including you, Mr. President, said you wanted to “get rid of Obamacare” and let the people decide for themselves what insurance they wanted or needed.

Now, I am hearing that you are going to keep some of the Obamacare.  For what? If the healthcare plan is offensive (and it is), why in the world would we want to keep some of it.

Another thing, now I m heard a lot of, “repeal and replace.”  My memory may be a little slow but why should we replace something with another something where people are having to deal with laws and regulations that determine what they do about their insurance.

It’s simple, REPEAL OBAMACARE, PERIOD. Let the market determine what insurance is, as it has always been.  The American people do not need a babysitter or a guide to tell them what to do about insurance.  Why, all of a sudden is it necessary that the government, which has an terrible history of managing business, get involved in personal decisions of our people.

It is our money, why can’t we decide how to spend it?

Chief, Ed Smithson

WHY IS IT SO HARD?

Almost every day i hear on televison or radio that a terrible thing has happened, people killed and injured for no reason at all, and they say “it has not yet been determined if it is terrorism.” Terrorism is defined as: “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.”

Do you think a guy is waving an automatic gun or piston is doing it “just for fun.”  Anytime someone appears out of nowhere and begins shooting people at random, for no apparent reason than his own, he is doing it to instill fear in people.  From that point on, people who were there, although not injured, will remember that every time they go to a public place, perhaps for the rest of their lives.  Is that not “violence and intimidation?”

Public images continue to say, “if you see something, say something,” and most of us continue to ignore it.  One reason is that most law officials will not take us seriously, and if it gets to the politicians, i guarantee you they “dress it up” to where it will not sound so bad by the time they get through with it.

For so long we have heard, “you cannot take the law into your own hands,” for so long that it has gotten into the psyche that people have developed the idea that a citizen cannot act in any way on his own to prevent crime.  That is the job of the police.

So now the terrorists are targeting the police because they are the only enemy.  Everyone remembers the slaying of five police officers in Dallas last year, at the police station, of all places.

So now, we need to educate the population to the idea that this is their country, they have to get involved if we are to remain safe.

The time is now, and it is not really that hard to do.

Chief

POLITICIANS AND TRAVEL

I heard on the news this morning that John McCain is somewhere overseas, again.  Almost every time you turn around we hear about some politician that has gone overseas, or they have gathered for some “conference.”  It really doesn’t matter to me where they go.  What i want to know is Why?  These people are supposed to be representing their people in the district where they were elected.  It cannot mean very much to the folks back home that their representative is somewhere overseas, (on our dime) discussing things that has nothing to do with us.

First of all, these guys that are supposed to be representing us, don’t work very much anyway.  Every time you turn around, they are taking some time off, in fact, right now, they are trying to get things out of the way so they can go home for the holidays.  I have forgotten the number of days they take off but no one in private industry can hold a job taking as much time off as the politicians do.

Seco

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

Comment(required)

Submit

Δ

ddondly, if they are going to travel (I think the need is questionable at best) they should pay their own travel expense.  They have a good salary, which they set themselves without our input.  They have a pension equal to their salaries, again, that they set themselves.  So if they are going to travel, they should pay for it themselves.

Chief

TO SPEAK OF MANY THINGSWhen I began this

TO SPEAK OF MANY THINGS

When I began this some years back i thought I had a lot to say and this would be a good place and way to say it. Then things begin to happen.  I was sick for a while and didn’t feel much like doing anything.  Then I started a process of trying to get rid of my arthritis pain in my knees, went through that for several months, time and money down the drain.

Finally I decided to have knee replacement surgery have had that done over the last year.  Didn’t accomplish what I really wanted but got rid most of the pain so I will take what I can get.  So, not that I am 100 percent most of the time, I still feel good enough to see if I can write on a little more regular basis.

There is so much junk coming out of Washington these days, each time I turn on the news on TV I wonder what is going to “break” next.  Evidently most people don’t know it but this government is broken, not only are we in debt to the tune of 17 Trillion dollars, and counting, the SYSTEM is broken.  In all my 81 years I have never seen it the way it is now.  There is absolutely no cooperation between the “Executive” branch and Congress so nothing is getting done, it appears the courts are making laws where Congress should be doing it.  It i so frustrating it would drive a person to…do something crazy.

It has got to be fixed.  Yeah, I know it will be tough but the longer we go the tougher it will be to get it fixed.  We have to start somewhere.  I think we should have started by getting rid of this President in the last election but we didn’t.  Now we have to elect some people to the House and the Senate that know how to get things done and stand up to bullies.

Nuff said for now,

Chief

POLITICS

I have never liked politics, but that does not mean I am not interested in what is going on.  But I like politics less today than even.  The reason?  Two men, who are politicians, that I have appreciated for a number of years, have engaged in disappointing conduct because things didn’t go the way they wanted.

Rick Perry, our Governor, going after his opponent for the presidential nomination, using things completely out of context and saying things I know he does not believe.  That is a Christian whose wife God speaks to?  Perhaps he got caught up in the moment by what Gingrich is doing but that is no excuse.  I would have expected something like that from the other side but not from a republican.

It isn’t that I don’t know and understand there is a little under handiness that goes on in politics all the time, but to take an obviously decent mans words complete out of contest is beneath their dignity, a Governor and a former House Speaker.

I have a message for both Perry and Gingrich. SHUT YOUR MOUTH!  if you cannot run a decent and dignified campaign, then what good is the job if you get it?  If you have to sacrifice your dignity and the dignity of your offices, how much have you gained.  Not only will you lose your credibility with the voters in those primaries, you will lose your credibility with the people with whom you will have to work.

Nuff Sed?

Chief

THE POLITICAL SITUATION

I watched some of the Fox News last night on the New Hampshire primary.  I had heard that Newt had gone viral on Romney because of things he said, taken out of contest and Perry even got in on it.  I liked Newt when he got in, except for his problem with chasing skirts, but I never thought, with his accomplishments back in the eighties he would stoop to such tactics.  I thought it was beneath him.  guess I was wrong

Governor Perry is my Governor and I like him as my Governor.  I did not want him to get into this race but he didn’t ask me.  His stock dropped a great deal in my eyes when he did the same things as Newt.  Why can’t they understand that such tactics is not going to defeat Romney?  It is just going to diminish what people think of them.

I am among those that would like someone else but Romney.  Last time I wanted someone else but McCain, but I voted for him and I will vote for Romney if he is the nominee.  I love Ronald Reagan as President, much more than I did as an actor, and I even liked his movies and shows.  I think he was a great man and became a great president.  But Ronald Reagan did not do all the things I thought he should have, and he did some things I just didn’t like much.

We are never going to find a perfect man to run as a president.  I remember George Bush made fun of Reagan’s “trickle down” economics but found out they worked.

Whatever we do people, lets do whatever we need to do to get his joker out of the White House.

Chief

FROM MY FRONT PORCH

I have a view from my front porch.  I live in east Ft Worth in that little strip between Euless and Arlington.  We get our mail through the Euless post office.  Go figure!  Anyway, I live in a manufactured home park on Trinity Blvd.  It is a nice place to live.  It isn’t what you think of as a “trailer park.”  We have concrete paved streets and for the most part the houses are not as close together as in some housing additions.  When I moved to Texas from California (San Bernardino Country) six years ago I wanted a front porch large enough to be able to sit out and enjoy the fresh air.  From my front porch I can see some of the traffic on Trinity Blvd. one of the main streets to the FFA.  I can also see the Bell Helicopter  complex and quite a bit of the skyline of the City of Ft Worth.

From my front porch I can sit and read the Star-Telegram, which I do every morning.  Usually I will drink a cup or two of coffee and maybe even have a few pulls off a stogie while I am there.  I also can get my emails on my iPhone and do some work on my MacBook computer.

I think about a lot of things on My Front Porch.  I have friends that I see occasionally and have breakfast or lunch with.  I think of my boys who live nearby and their lives and how they live them.  I remember a daughter I lost 7 years ago at age 47.  She is never far from my mind.  I think of a friend who lives in the Texas Hill Country with whom I talk a couple of times a week, and another friend who lives in Florida with whom I communicate almost daily.  I think of my long time friends in Oklahoma City that I have now known for 45 years and the many friends that I have made through the years in various states where I have worked.

You see, I am a 78 year old gospel preacher and have worked in several states, 9 or 10 anyway, and have friends of long standing from those times.  I do a weekly radio program  broadcast in Springfield, Missouri at 101.3 FM each Sunday morning and I think about that some.  I think of articles I have written and am working on and a bunch of other things.

I think of this administration that is in charge in Washington, the worst I have seen in my lifetime and wonder how it is going to affect my kids and grandkids and great grandkids.  I wonder what it is going to be like for them.  I am not concerned about myself because I won’t be around to see the fallout from all this.

How about this business of breaking up the Big 12?  Can you imagine.  I am not a big sports fan but when I heard this I could hardly believe it.  Of course, I am old enough to remember the Big 8.  I guess things are going to change, especially where money is concerned, and that is what this is about, money.

I’ll sign off for this time and hope to see you again soon.

MUSIN’

I have decided that I am going to just write about anything that comes to mind.

One of the things that comes to my mind today is “Diary.”

I have tried through the years to keep a diary but have never been able to be consistent with it.  I have started a dozen times but just never kept up with it.  I know people who have and they can go back and tell you what they did on any given day.  I was talking to an old friend of mine, Carl Hecker, earlier this year before he passed away.  He told me the day he did the funeral for my sister who passed away in 1979.  He gave me the date, place, her name and everything.  I did not even remember the date.  So I envy people who keep records like that.

I don’t really know the amount of good that would do me, to have all those things written down.  I guess I could sit in my chair in my old age and relive many of those things thought to be important at the time.  But alas, it is not to be.

I might be afraid i would use it like a woman in Missouri I knew.  Evidently she kept a daily diary most of her life and she would go into those books, find those things she wanted to remember and remind the people who had wronged her during her life.  What a waste.

So I didn’t do that.  I still have some of the notes I did keep, and it is interesting to look at the once in a while but there isn’t anything of much significance and I can remember the things that matter anyway, at least for now.

Big Chief

FIRST EFFORT

For quite a while I have been thinking about doing this.  For one reason or another I kept putting it off.  Now I finally am getting around to it.  It is not like I have nothing else to do.  I write for my web site oldpathspulpit.org, but only on biblical of spiritual subjects.  There are times when I would like to express myself on other things but I do not want to contaminate My Personal Notes column I write for the web site.  About four or five years ago I started another blog but never did anything with it.  I don’t intend to do that with this one.

A WORD ABOUT DOCTORS

With all the talk about healthcare in the news and among politicians, I guess I might as well ad my two cents worth.  I went to a doctor today, and yesterday, and the day before, and I have two doctor’s appointments in one day the first of the month.  I guess when you are 77 and in a wheelchair and have half a dozen things wrong with you, and the local pharmacy would probably go broke if it weren’t for you, you might as well expect to spend a lot of time in the doctor’s office, or in doctors offices, to be more specific.

I grew up in the country and we had a “country doctor.”  He did everything there was to do, delivered babies, set broken bones, treated fevers and might even double as a veternarian sometimes.  Things are not that way today.  We have to have a specialist for everything.  Now I have so many doctors looking after me I can hardly keep count.

Since I have diabetes and have starting having some peripheral neuropathy, I had to see a Neurologist a while back.  My regular doctor is an Internal Medicine Specialist.  Do they have “family practitioners” anymore?  Over the years I have been going to my doctor I have obtained several others.  I have a cardiologist, hematologist, gastrointologist (sp), podiatrist, and who knows how many more before I am through.

I am not at all sure that all these doctors are necessary, or what would happen to me if I didn’t have them.  But, if your doctors tells you something you have to do what he says, or else, why do you go to him.  So, as long as they tell me I guess I will keep going back and I guess we will see what happens.

Well, I am over 400 words already so I will leave off this time but I will see you later, in a manner of speaking.

Big Chief

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!