I attended a fund-raiser for a local volunteer fire department this weekend. It was a great time! Only in Small Town, USA can 54 lawn tractors pull people and coolers around the town on a "Poker Run", ending with drinks and dancing at the local bar. I spoke with the fire chief, a 35-year veteran volunteer, and he shared with me that 72% of all citizens in this country are served by volunteer fire departments. The tax revenues in rural areas are not sufficient to fund full-time fire protection and EMT personnel. Instead of these small, often rural, communities whining for the government to step up, members of the community come forward and just get the job done. These men and women are on call 24/7. They attend hours of training each year and spend their weekends maintaining the fire station and the equipment. The monies that these departments do get from property tax revenues don't cover the costs of running the departments, so several events are held each year in the community to raise the additional funds needed for facilities, training and equipment. The communities are always generous because we know that every dollar we contribute goes directly into the fire department and will be used with the greatest benefit to the community. These volunteer departments are required to meet all the same regulatory mandates and are often called upon to provide support to and work alongside their professional, union counterparts in the larger departments.
The same type of "git'r'done" attitude can be found in nearly every area of Small Town, USA. In our town right now, there is an effort underway to fund the second phase of the renovation of our little city park. There are simply not the funds available from government sources to improve the facility, but the residents want the improvements, so we are paying for them ourselves. We purchased new equipment last year with a private grant that matched the funds we raised. The equipment was installed by our own residents. Our local branch of the county library is staffed by volunteers.
Several years ago, it was determined that a new city hall / library building was needed. The townspeople formed a committee and conducted several fundraisers over a period of about 5 years and a new facility was built to meet our needs, debt-free and without tax money.
Americans do not need "big government" to provide for us. Americans are innovative and generous, so there is no doubt that any need we have will be met. We take pride in our communities and we care about our neighbors. The call for big government always comes from one of two groups: those that want to control or those that don't want to work. We don't need Barack Obama to call us to community service. Real Americans serve everyday, we just don't keep score.
If you do have the urge to be a "community organizer", organize a Lawn Mower Poker Run. It's the most red-neck fun you will have with your neighbors on a Saturday afternoon!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Letter from Medal of Honor Recipient - My Thoughts
My brother received this account about a POW in an e-mail and asked me to share it and I am happy to do so.
On the issue of national security, as with everything else, the current congress and our current president have it wrong.
The terrorists "detained" at Gitmo need to stay there. What damaged brain cell is the government sharing that thinks it is a good idea to allow enemy combatants suspected of planning attacks on American soil onto American soil?
The "detainees" are not American citizens, therefore, they are not covered by the Constitution. No Miranda rights, no state-paid attorneys. By the way, the same should apply to anyone who is not a citizen and breaks our laws.
For those in the international community who think we are being mean in keeping them, why aren't they stepping up to take them? They are free for the taking! No one, not even the home countries of these people, wants them. If they did, Gitmo would have been closed the day Obama signed his executive order.
National security is an ugly business. To successfully infiltrate gangs, mobs, drug cartels or terrorists cells, we need people who are willing to do the dirty work and gather the intelligence. The type of people who do this work well are not the type of people you are going to be having over to your home for a weekend barbeque nor will they likely be sitting next to you in church. I am sure that they see and do unimaginable things to build the credibility needed to reach the levels of these criminal organizations that yield the valuable information we need to keep our country safe. I am not suggesting that the United States treat their detainees with the same inhumanity that Bud Day, John McCain and thousands more of our brave servicemen have endured at the hands of our enemies. What I am suggesting is that the "enhanced interrogation techniques" that we do employ don't even come close to what was described in Colonel Day's narrative. If Nancy Pelosi and her cronies don't have the stomach for waterboarding or showing dirty pictures to the oh-so-sensitive Islamic extremists, perhaps she should excuse herself from the national security committee and join the ranks of the rest of us who, gratefully, leave the dirty work to those who know what they are doing.
On the issue of national security, as with everything else, the current congress and our current president have it wrong.
The terrorists "detained" at Gitmo need to stay there. What damaged brain cell is the government sharing that thinks it is a good idea to allow enemy combatants suspected of planning attacks on American soil onto American soil?
The "detainees" are not American citizens, therefore, they are not covered by the Constitution. No Miranda rights, no state-paid attorneys. By the way, the same should apply to anyone who is not a citizen and breaks our laws.
For those in the international community who think we are being mean in keeping them, why aren't they stepping up to take them? They are free for the taking! No one, not even the home countries of these people, wants them. If they did, Gitmo would have been closed the day Obama signed his executive order.
National security is an ugly business. To successfully infiltrate gangs, mobs, drug cartels or terrorists cells, we need people who are willing to do the dirty work and gather the intelligence. The type of people who do this work well are not the type of people you are going to be having over to your home for a weekend barbeque nor will they likely be sitting next to you in church. I am sure that they see and do unimaginable things to build the credibility needed to reach the levels of these criminal organizations that yield the valuable information we need to keep our country safe. I am not suggesting that the United States treat their detainees with the same inhumanity that Bud Day, John McCain and thousands more of our brave servicemen have endured at the hands of our enemies. What I am suggesting is that the "enhanced interrogation techniques" that we do employ don't even come close to what was described in Colonel Day's narrative. If Nancy Pelosi and her cronies don't have the stomach for waterboarding or showing dirty pictures to the oh-so-sensitive Islamic extremists, perhaps she should excuse herself from the national security committee and join the ranks of the rest of us who, gratefully, leave the dirty work to those who know what they are doing.
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