How often have we grumbled about the situation we find ourselves in, or about the world around us, and wished we could return to a time when things were simpler, when people intuitively knew right from wrong, when a person's handshake was better and more dependable than all the legal paperwork we fumble with today.  Ahhhhh, how sweet it would be, or so it often seems.  The Fort Hood shooter would already have been dispatched to meet his maker, and the Casey Anthony trial would have been over two years ago.  But the fact is that no matter how hard we try to turn back the hands time, time will always move forward.

And if we stop to think about it, that is probably good for us.  While we wouldn't have to deal with folks like the members of the Westboro Baptist Church disrupting military funerals, we also don't have to ride around in buckboards or horse-drawn carriages.  And while we think that our kids might be better off with a little less in the way of electronic connection via ipads and cellphones, we must realize that going back in time would also deprive us of these things -- and computers -- and telephones -- and automobiles.  How many of us would like to depend upon the Pony Express to communicate with relatives in a distant state?! 

If you're into all of that, and there would be nothing wrong if you are, you can join a group of Mennonites.  But when all is said and done, what most of us really want is not to turn back the hands of time, but to have a little more common sense and responsibility exercised by ourselves, our kids, our neighbors, our legislators, and our courts.

But you ask, what about the child that is runover and killed by the negligence of someone driving drunk.  Would it not be good to be able to pull back the hands of time just long enough to allow someone to save that child just before the car struck?  That's always a heart wrenching scenario, but who are we to know that the outcome would be better one way or another.  Maybe that car saved the child from something even more horrific a day or two later, or a week, or a year.  Whatever.  Where would it end?  Where would we draw the line?

It seems to me that no matter how attractive going back in time might seem, we must accept that things happen the way they do for a reason and we need to live in the here and now, while maintaining a hope for a brighter future.  There will always be times when we will want to change what is, but going back in time (even if we could) doesn't seem to me to be the way to do it.

According to THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, the TSA has humiliated another passenger, this time Alaska State representation Sharon Cissna.

"SEATTLE -- An Alaska state lawmaker is returning home by sea after refusing a pat-down search at a Seattle airport, a spokeswoman said.

Rep. Sharon Cissna underwent a body scan as she was preparing to leave Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Sunday and was then required to undergo the pat-down by Transportation Safety Administration officials, said Michelle Scannell, her chief of staff.

Scannell said that TSA called for the pat-down because the scan showed Cissna had had a mastectomy."

TSA officials have declined to comment except to say that they welcome comments from passengers about their screening process.  *SPAT*  I spit upon them all!!!  When will this monstrous intrusion upon our rights come to an end. 

I have flown many thousands of miles, yet I will not fly again until TSA is kicked out of our airports and other transportation areas once and for all.  We need to bring some sanity back to our systems.  In the mean time, I applaud Ms. Cissna for refusing to be further humiliated by the insane process in use at our airports.  May she continue to do so in the future.

I just saw on the news that Boston, New York City, and the State of New Jersey want the Federal Government to declare those areas diaster areas and financially bail them out because they have blown through their winter snow removal budgets for the year.

What a crock!!  Whatever are they thinking?  The government itself is broke.  But now Boston, NYC, and New Jersey say that if they don't get help, it will have an adverse effect on jobs.

Guess What!  I-Don't-Care!!!  Since the foundding of the nation, towns and cities all over the country have managed to get through their winter months without federal help, even if they just had to rely on the sun to melt the snow.  A lot of areas get hit far worse than the North East and have a lower tax base, and they get through it just fine.  So get over it!  Man up and fend for yourself like everyone else in the country!! 

'Tis the season when many people make resolutions for the coming year.  The idea is generally self-improvement.  This year, however, I have only one resolution for the new year: to make it to the next new year.  Better yet, maybe I should make it to through the next two new years.  That way I get to brag that I got past December 21st, 2012.

I can't believe the Republicans let Obama snooker them into reducing the payroll tax by 2% taking it from the Social Security income portion of the taxes withheld.  To me, that sounds completely stupid.  I mean think about it: they spend a lot of time telling us how much trouble the Social Security System is in then reduce the amount of money taken in to pay for social security benefits.  That can't do anything but make the situation worse than it already is.

You may point out that its only 2%, but I must respond that 2% amounts to nearly 1/3rd of the total take.  Translated into dollars that amounts to about $17 billion less in income to support social security payments (based on the 2009 total tax collections).  That comes straight out of the pockets of the nation's seniors; and unless the government fills that gap from another source, Social Security payments to the nation's most needy will be cut by that amount by default without a peep from anyone.  That's on top of the cuts seniors are already experiencing as a result of changes in the formula used to calculate inflation, changes that result in no annual increase in payments to compensate for real inflation. 

So president obama has snuck one by congress (or did he).  God how I despise politics and politicians.  Why do these idiots think they are fooling us?

Last week was Hanukkah.  I had not problem wishing my Jewish friends a Happy Hanukkah.  And this past September was Ramadan.  I had no problem acknowledging that to my friends who practice the Islamic faith.  And they don't seem to have any problem wishing me a Merry Christmas.

Now comes the business community that refuses to acknowledge the same, saying that it's because they don't want to offend anyone.  How stupid can they be?  In there haste not to offend a handful of dissidents, most of whom are atheists, they rush headlong into offending a greater number of people by refusing to say Merry Christmas.

I have gotten so disgusted by this practice over the last several years that I refuse to shop is stores that use the happy holidays expression.  In fact, I have, on several occassions, walked out leaving my shopping cart where it stood when an employee said happy holidays to me.  Of course I let the management know why I left.  (It wouldn't have the same affect if I didn't.) 

There are those who would say that I'm just being dumb, because my small protest won't change anything.  And by itself it certainly won't; but if enough people do the same thing it will have an effect.  People don't seem to understand how much of an impact they can make with their individual statements of protest.  Five dollars here and ten dollars there adds up.  Let's face it, you can buy groceries anywhere.  Store managers know that and are not very happy when a customer walks off leaving $150 dollars worth of goods blocking a cash register isle.  And if others do the same, suddenly we are talking about billions of dollars nationwide.  One year I even went so far as to close a bank account because of this issue.  It didn't take very long to open a new one at another bank.

Merry Christmas

As as been recently passed around, "Never let a crisis go to waste," or words to that affect.

So here we are; North Korea develops nuclear weapons capability in the face of international opposition.  Then they sink a South Korean submarine killing 46 sailors in an unprovoked attack, following that a couple of months later with an artillery shelling of a South Korean Island, killing at least 2 marines and an unknown number of civilians.  And for what.  To my mind, they are trying to see what kind of a response they will get from the world.  And left unchallenged, they will continue to escalate these provocations until something happens.

It's inevitable, so why wait?  North Korea has provide the perfect opportunity for a massive air strike against its nuclear facilities.  Just take 'um out now, because it's clear that they won't be impressed or frighten into backing off by a "sternly worded" letter or another condemnation from the United Nations.

I say blast them so hard that they won't be able to retaliate in any way for 100 years.  And while we're at it, we should roll the peasant population into South Korea and reunite the two States after killing off the political and military leadership of the North.

What's the matter.  Afraid of Chinese interference?  Bring them on.  They're not friends anywhy.  Besides, it will all be over before they could even get on line. 

And that's all I have to say about that.

You all know the flak the TSA is taking for its current airport security policies, and I won't repeat them here.  I will say, however, that I don't like them, and I refuse to tolerate them. 

Some people are trying to get people to protest the full body screenings over Thanksgiving by opting out and forcing TSA to do aggressive body patdowns, thus slowing the entire process down to make a point.

My suggestion is that everyone who might fly this holiday season opt out of flying altogether.  Drive instead, or stay home altogether.  That will keep planes on the ground in many cases and reduce airline ticket sales on virtually all flights across the country.

With income drying up, the airlines themselves will bring so much pressure on the administration that the TSA can not help but back off their insane, illegal, and criminal activity against the American public.

I myself have already opted to drive rather than fly three times this year.  I will opt out of flying again in December.  That will make four lost round-trip ticket sales this year from me alone. I will do the same next year.  I didn't find it to be a hassel either, especially when I figured in the time I would have spend in and around airports, the possibility of lost luggage or cancelled flights, and the cost of having to rent a car at my destination.

Why opt out of flying?  Simple.  I will not submit to a sexual assult and be told that it's for my own good.  I will not sacrifice my Constitutional right to be free from intrusive government interference in my life without reasonable cause or due process just because the government, or more specifically the head of TSA, thinks that I should do that for the good of others.

Quote is from Peter Schmuck, a Baltimore sports writer, concerning the indictment of Roger Clemens.

The last four letters in American..........I Can
The last four letters in Republican.......I Can
The last four letters in Democrats.........Rats

End of lesson. Test to follow in November.

Remember, November is to be set aside as rodent extermination month.