POLITICAL RATING SYSTEM
There is so much confusion about voting for a Republican or Democrat. As you will see, the problem is that the labels of Republican and Democrat don’t really work anymore. To eliminate confusion, the labels of Conservative and Liberal are more descriptive and should be used.
By definition:
a. Conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems. Conservatives want to pay less taxes for less government programs, less regulations, more personal freedom and more personal responsibility.
b. Liberal policies generally emphasize the need for the government to solve people's problems. Liberals are willing to pay more taxes for more government programs, more regulations, more social engineering, more big brother and more Nanny State policies.
Liberal Republicans (RINOs - Republicans In Name Only) who act like Democrats ought to be kicked out of the Republican party. My problem with George W. Bush is that he never vetoed a spending bill in his first six years and Federal spending ballooned. Most Republicans spent money like Democrats and the American public voted the big spenders out of office and rightfully so.
To get a better handle on this problem, think of a rating system from zero to 100. Liberals would range from 0 to 60 and Conservatives would range from 40 to 100. As you can see, there is an overlap between 40 and 60. A rating of 50 would be considered “middle of the road.” A Conservative Democrat with a rating of 60 would be closer to my Conservative ideology of less taxes and less government than a Liberal Republican with a rating of 40. The scale has moved to the left in the last 40 years as America has become more and more socialistic. Forty years ago, a “middle of the road” rating of 50 would be a rating of 60 or 70 today. Of course, they would fight it but wouldn’t be great if we could assign a number to every politician.
To illustrate, Arlen Specter (Democrat then Republican then Democrat from Pennslyvania) and other Liberal Republicans would have a rating of 40. President Reagan would have been a 70. President George Bush and Presidential candidate Robert Dole would have a rating of 50. President Clinton would be a 25 and George W. Bush would be a 55. Democrat candidates Al Gore would be a 15 and John Kerry would be a 20. My ideal President, Senator or Congressman would have a rating of 80 or 90.
Early in President Reagan’s life, he was a Democrat. He said that he didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left him. President Reagan (70) was the most popular President in years. Reagan’s policy of lowering taxes and cutting spending got America’s economy back on track after President Carter’s (30) double-digit interest, double-digit inflation, and double digit unemployment almost ruined America. You would have thought that America would have continued with a conservative. The problem was that George Bush (50) was not a conservative and raised taxes after he promised “no new taxes.” But, for a Liberal like Bill Clinton (25) to beat Bush (50) and Dole (50) and to have Al Gore (15) and John Kerry (20) almost beat George W. Bush (55) just shows that most of the American public are unsophisticated and uneducated in politics.
30% of the voters are on the Liberal side and vote for more government. 30% of the voters are on the Conservative side and vote for less government. The remaining 40% of the voters are the so-called undecided and independent voters who make up their mind in the last two weeks of an election and are so wishy-washy that they believe the last person who talks to them. Psychologists say that 30% of the population has the IQ of a moron and these are the people who ultimately decide the elections. We need to do a better job of educating the public about the difference between Socialism and American Free Enterprise.
Are we really getting to be so lazy that we want Big Government to do everything for us? I really believe that most people wouldn't allow a relative let alone a stranger with his wife and kids come into their home and just lie on the couch all day, raid the refrigerator, run the air-conditioner, borrow the family car and not put any gas in the tank, refuse to find a job, get his wife pregnant again and again and overload our healthcare system and our schools. With our messed up tax system, 50 percent of working people don’t pay any income tax. Back in 1950, a combination of Federal, State, and Local taxes was less than 5 percent. Today the combination of taxes is over 40 percent. The problem is that most politicians have found out that the easiest way to get re-elected is to play Santa Claus with our money.
It’s unpatriotic not to pay your fair share of taxes. We need to scrap our loophole ridden, 66,000 page current tax code and replace it with a simple, no form to fill out, 10% National Retail Sales Tax with No Deductions, No Exemptions, No Exceptions, No Social Engineering, No IRS, No Complicated Tax Code, No Withholding, No Audits, No Tax Attorneys and No Big Brother. Everyone pays because everyone spends money. The rich will pay more because the rich will spend more. No tax forms will be needed because Wal-Mart and other retailers will collect the tax from the end user just as they do now with the state sales tax. Once we get that established, we can work on getting the rate lowered to 9% and then 8% and so on. As the system stands right now, most people cannot begin to estimate the percent of taxes that we pay and the tax and spend politicians like it that way. We need to be able to put a number on it and then lower that number.
All things being equal, I will vote for the most Conservative Republican in the primary. But, in the general election, I will hold my nose and vote for a Republican with the lowest rating of 40 over a Democrat with the highest rating of 60 because having the Republicans control Congress gives conservatives more control over what bills come out of committee and come before Congress for a vote. Since 1994, when the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives where all new taxes originate, no tax increases came out of committee and were allowed to be voted on until the Democrats took control over the House or Representatives in 2006. In 1992, Bill Clinton (25) signed the largest tax increase ever in American history and would have raised taxes again if not for a Republican majority in the House of Representatives from 1994 thru 2006.
A vote for a Conservative is a vote against Socialism. Socialism is a middle step between Free-market Capitalism and Communism. Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, and Communism are just more of the same thing.
When Hillary Rodham Clinton (10) says that it takes a village to raise your child, I always think that, in Hillary’s early years, a village was a commune and people who lived in communes were Communists. Hillary wants the State to raise your child.
Barack Hussein Obama with his extreme Marxist, Black Liberation theology is the most liberal member of the senate and would have a rating of 5. Obama says that to be fair, we have to “redistribute” your wealth. Karl Mark said, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Instead of the American principle of “Equal Opportunity For all,” Marxists believe in equal outcome and equal results.
John McCain (50) is not a conservative but was more preferable than Hillary Clinton (10) or Barack Obama (5). McCain lost because he started promising to give money away and quite laughably, Obama won because he said he would lower taxes and the morons believed him. Life is tough and it’s even tougher if you’re stupid.
We need to privatize Social Security and everything else the government runs. We need to privatize the educational process so that we can get away from the way that the Liberal, National Educational Association (NEA) indoctrinates our children with Socialist principles and teach them about American Free Enterprise and how business have to operate profitably in order to stay in business. In order to do this, we will have to institute Term Limits so that we can get rid of the politicians who put their self-preservation and self-interests above our principles of less government and less taxes. Teddy Kennedy is the poster child for Term Limits. He died before he could complete his 48th year as a senator. Teddy Kennedy never had a real job.
Economist Milton Freedman said that if you were to put government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years you would have a shortage of sand!
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Sunday, October 18, 2009
THE 45-52 ZULU GUN
THE 45-52 ZULU GUN
I pitched fast-pitch softball three to five times a week all over Southern California for almost twenty years.
In 1974, I pitched in a mostly Spanish league on Sunday mornings in East Los Angeles at Evergreen Park on the corner of 4th and Evergreen and then starting in 1976 some of my friends began playing in a mostly Black league in Watts at Hoover Park on the corner of Manchester and Hoover just west of the Harbor Freeway. For the first two years I pitched for the Compton A’s.
Hoover Park was large enough that four fast-pitch games could be played at the same time on diamonds located at all four corners of the park. All of the games started at 10 am and then after the games most of us gathered around under some trees on the first-base side of the diamond located on the northwest corner of the park and ate barbecued chicken, hot links and ribs. An enterprising man with the help of his teenagers, made some pretty good money selling barbecue and drinks.
Most of the guys stayed awhile and discussed what happened at the games on the other diamonds. That was the best part … all the joking and storytelling … ballplayers, fans, and old-timers all joining in to have a good time … It was great!
One older gentleman (I have since forgotten his name) always used to come to the games dressed in a suit. I guessed that he was stopping by after church. He would watch the games behind the backstop with some of his friends and then stay for the story telling afterwards. I looked forward to the times that he would show up. I enjoyed kidding with him and listening to his stories.
One time he told me a poem about a Zulu Gun. I couldn’t remember the whole thing. I would try to repeat it and beg for him to help me with a word or two but, no! The next time I saw him, I would pester him to tell me about the Zulu Gun. It would just drive me nuts because he would only tell it one time through and then that would be it. He would never repeat it. He would always say, “I’ll tell you again next time.”
Sometimes, I wouldn’t see him for months at a time and I used to worry that I might never see him again. I began to always carry a tape recorder inside a zip-lock bag in my game bag.
Finally, in 1982, I saw him for the last time and this time I told him that I wasn’t going to let him go without telling me about the Zulu Gun. I showed him the tape recorder and told him that I had a C-90 cassette.
After some barbecue, he said, “Let’s take a walk.” I let him do all the talking as we walked away from all the others and continued walking down the left field line toward the other diamond on the northeast corner, which was almost deserted. I sensed that he wanted to talk. He talked about his life and an assortment of topics. We quit walking, sat in the stands at the other diamond, and just talked about ball playing and life in general.
When the first side of the tape ran out, I flipped it over to the other side. We talked for a while longer and then he said, “Before your tape runs out, I’d better tell you about the Zulu Gun.” We started walking back to join the others when he began and as any good storyteller would do … he took his time.
“I want to tell you about the 45-52 Zulu Gun. It’s the most amazing gun you’ll ever see. You’d have to see it to believe it. It’s a 45-52 Zulu Gun built upon an automatic frame. It’ll shoot nine times before you can cock it and ten times before you can stop it. If you hold it on the left it says, “If you hold me square, I’ll shoot him fair.” If you hold it on the right it says, “If you hold me level, I’ll shoot the Devil.” Then he would move his hand in a snake-like fashion forward and back again when he said, “It shoots the bewitching cannon ball. If it goes by and misses you, it’ll back right up and hit you. Don’t allow you no chance at all!”
He was a good friend and I miss him.
X
I pitched fast-pitch softball three to five times a week all over Southern California for almost twenty years.
In 1974, I pitched in a mostly Spanish league on Sunday mornings in East Los Angeles at Evergreen Park on the corner of 4th and Evergreen and then starting in 1976 some of my friends began playing in a mostly Black league in Watts at Hoover Park on the corner of Manchester and Hoover just west of the Harbor Freeway. For the first two years I pitched for the Compton A’s.
Hoover Park was large enough that four fast-pitch games could be played at the same time on diamonds located at all four corners of the park. All of the games started at 10 am and then after the games most of us gathered around under some trees on the first-base side of the diamond located on the northwest corner of the park and ate barbecued chicken, hot links and ribs. An enterprising man with the help of his teenagers, made some pretty good money selling barbecue and drinks.
Most of the guys stayed awhile and discussed what happened at the games on the other diamonds. That was the best part … all the joking and storytelling … ballplayers, fans, and old-timers all joining in to have a good time … It was great!
One older gentleman (I have since forgotten his name) always used to come to the games dressed in a suit. I guessed that he was stopping by after church. He would watch the games behind the backstop with some of his friends and then stay for the story telling afterwards. I looked forward to the times that he would show up. I enjoyed kidding with him and listening to his stories.
One time he told me a poem about a Zulu Gun. I couldn’t remember the whole thing. I would try to repeat it and beg for him to help me with a word or two but, no! The next time I saw him, I would pester him to tell me about the Zulu Gun. It would just drive me nuts because he would only tell it one time through and then that would be it. He would never repeat it. He would always say, “I’ll tell you again next time.”
Sometimes, I wouldn’t see him for months at a time and I used to worry that I might never see him again. I began to always carry a tape recorder inside a zip-lock bag in my game bag.
Finally, in 1982, I saw him for the last time and this time I told him that I wasn’t going to let him go without telling me about the Zulu Gun. I showed him the tape recorder and told him that I had a C-90 cassette.
After some barbecue, he said, “Let’s take a walk.” I let him do all the talking as we walked away from all the others and continued walking down the left field line toward the other diamond on the northeast corner, which was almost deserted. I sensed that he wanted to talk. He talked about his life and an assortment of topics. We quit walking, sat in the stands at the other diamond, and just talked about ball playing and life in general.
When the first side of the tape ran out, I flipped it over to the other side. We talked for a while longer and then he said, “Before your tape runs out, I’d better tell you about the Zulu Gun.” We started walking back to join the others when he began and as any good storyteller would do … he took his time.
“I want to tell you about the 45-52 Zulu Gun. It’s the most amazing gun you’ll ever see. You’d have to see it to believe it. It’s a 45-52 Zulu Gun built upon an automatic frame. It’ll shoot nine times before you can cock it and ten times before you can stop it. If you hold it on the left it says, “If you hold me square, I’ll shoot him fair.” If you hold it on the right it says, “If you hold me level, I’ll shoot the Devil.” Then he would move his hand in a snake-like fashion forward and back again when he said, “It shoots the bewitching cannon ball. If it goes by and misses you, it’ll back right up and hit you. Don’t allow you no chance at all!”
He was a good friend and I miss him.
X
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