Sugar Creek Publishing

# 115

“Initials — these count!”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

June 16, 2012

It’s a simple word, really — one we use everyday. What a shame that some go about their work in such a cavalier fashion that the word is lost to them.

All of us are accustomed to receiving packages via the US Postal Service, UPS or FedEX. Rarely does a box arrive in poor condition. Not so when a package must undergo a series of stops in warehouses along the route.

First of all, I have the utmost respect for semi drivers. My father drove a semi for years in his business and my husband does so in his business today. Not only am I in awe of their talent in maneuvering these behemoths around small roads and parking lots, but also I shudder at the way most drivers behave when around them.

It seems that ordinary drivers think that a semi can “stop on a dime” or make turns without allowing for length and load. Not so. I cannot tell you how many times I have ridden along with my husband and had a driver cut whip in front of us or begin to turn without signaling first. It’s all the truck driver can do to avoid a calamity.

Back to the warehouse. While the semi drivers are fastidious in the way they load their trailer to balance the load and tie down objects that could easily shift, the forklift drivers work as if a tornado were bearing down on the building and they only have ten seconds to get the package on the truck!

I speak from experience on this one. I have watched warehouse forklift operators. While some are careful, others rush at their work. I’m not sure if their bosses require too much work in too short a time span or not, but it looks that way.

Forks are marvelous tools. Whether on a ground bound forklift or on a boom truck, they can maneuver in tight spaces and place objects with precision. I have seen forklifts set objects down so gently that one would assume the box contained eggs!

Ah, if only the warehouse people took such care. A box arrived at an area lumberyard marked for us. Marked “FRAGILE – HANDLE WITH CARE” in BRIGHT RED every five feet of its 30-foot length, that crate should have been babied from its origin to its destination.

So much for what I expected! One end of the crate hung wildly, separated from the pallet beneath it. The other end had a hole punched in about 8 inches in depth. Thankfully, the company that shipped it made sure it was encased in a particleboard box banded with 2x4s. About four or five feet down one side, a huge hole stopped just short of the cardboard box cradled within. Had it not been for the care taken at departure, we would have been recipients of a trashed product.

It all comes down to initials. Alas, pride should be read as Personal Responsibility In Daily Effort. I’ll bet if all workers took real pride in a job well done, the prices of many items would drop. Just total the costs of “en route” product damage, return shipping, replacement and additional shipping. Adds up, doesn’t it?

Preach to your teens on that first job. Insist that the follow instructions. This, of course, ignores a poor boss who pushes speed over accuracy. Why can’t we hope and pray that the employers see the value in taking those extra few minutes to do it right. Great idea, huh?

I know, that’s a lot to ask. Yet, in the greater scheme of things, I recall an old saying: “The hurried’er I go, the behind’er I get!” Think about it.

Column # 114

“Scary Tales”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
Hetty Gray

June 5, 2012

Forget about that “second childhood”. Youth, as we knew it, is history. It’s gone, folks! When I was a child, I learned how to handle adversity through tough experiences. I learned humility by example from stern but fair teachers and parents who expected me to do well. This holds true for most Americans over the age of 50 as well as others who were younger and were reared in traditional homes where parents paid attention to what their kids were doing and instilled faith as a major part in their lives.

I’m not less of a person because of those years. I am better for them. I could tell that things began to slide when my sons grew up in the 70s and 80s, but they have hit the pits now. The first hint began to surface in competitive childhood sports.

I thought I had heard it all when parents pushed for coaches to do away with keeping score to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. Oh, please! Winning is winning and losing is losing. Each outcome, in its own way, serves as a valuable tool and a real character builder. No scores? Good grief!

Yes, I thought that movement was stupid. I still judge it so. If you think I’m off in left field, just apply that wisdom to professional sports. Forget about a playoff game or a Super Bowl. Scores don’t count, right? Yeah. That would go over like a lead balloon. Just who would pony up money for NFL, NBA or professional baseball tickets if nobody won the game?

I never adjusted to that mentality or the contention that little boys shouldn’t be allowed to play with army men or act like cowboys and little girls should avoid playing “house.” Well, that worked out well, didn’t it? I can’t tell you how many middle-aged men tell me that they do the cooking and the laundry because their wives don’t do “those things.” As the church lady said, “Well, isn’t that special?” Role models require roles.

All that said, the media just reinforces that image in popular films. And if that weren’t enough, they’ve moved on to the younger set and hit a new low.

Who among us over 40 didn’t fall to sleep to the sound of a parent’s voice reading a fairy tale? There’s nothing wrong with a little girl imagining herself rescued by a handsome prince… or a little boy taking on the role of the hero in a desperate struggle to save the maiden… or the relief when the main character saves an animal from the jaws of a predator at the last minute….

The animated version of “Snow White” featured perhaps the most famous song of its time — I’m Wishing From “Snow White and the seven dwarfs” Music and Lyrics by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey. Released in 1937, “Snow White” was Disney’s first full-length animated feature film, and you might be interested in the identity of the vocalist.
According to IMDb.com, Adriana Caselotti (1916–1997) was born into an operatic family — her father Guido, an immigrant from Italy, taught music in New York City, her mother Maria (from Naples) sang at the Royal Opera, and a sister Louise was a noted opera singer and voice teacher. She was 18 when Walt Disney personally chose her for the voice of Snow White.
I adore that movie and I really need to purchase the DVD and enjoy it, both for the story and the music. As I take a deep breath and relish the memories of the film, I am shocked back to the present by a commercial touting a new film that turns my fairy tale into a “scary tale”.
Now, I must admit that I don’t intend to see “Snow White and The Huntsman,” but the very thought of turning that story on its head goes against the grain for me. The evil queen was true enough in the 1937 film, and Disney’s animators didn’t have to rely on special effects and wild chase scenes to get that message across.
Once, a family night at the movies was a treat and a special night out. Now, with movies available on cable or on DVD, families avoid the high cost of refreshments and enjoy those movies at home. Yet, it’s a shame that picking a movie isn’t as easy as it once was. I’m not sure it’s even possible to insulate children from the film violence that is so widespread we are turning out entire generations of young adults who are not shocked at all when it comes mayhem and death. They’ve seen too much of it for the reality to ring true.
The shock value of yesterday’s films was often left to the imagination. Not so today. The childhood innocence so valued by previous generations is a thing of the past. This poses the question do we care? Think about it.

# 113

Memorial Day 2012

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

The radio airs program after program today, all focused on the memory of the fallen — those who gave their very lives that America remain free and we sleep safely in our beds at night, unthreatened by war on our own soil.

My parents instilled in me a great reverence for the soldier. I use the term generically and mean for it to describe every person, man or woman, who serves in the name of our beautiful country.

Few civilizations last more than a few hundred years, and I worry that our way of life and our peace and tranquility are on the line unless we step up to the plate and recognize the Islamic threat for what it is.

Not since the 1500s has the world seen an influx of Muslims into other countries in a push to change societies at their core.

Today, thousands of our brave men and women toe the line in far-flung places where zealots kill in the name of their diety in deference to any form of law or decency.

To those who have given their lives in this cause, we pay homage. We cringe at the thoughts of what they might have seen or suffered in their last moments. We pray for their surviving loved ones and hope that healing comes over time.

We are a good people. We give more of ourselves than any other nation on earth. When our armed service members remain in a foreign land for decades, the native inhabitants are thankful for their presence and worry for their safety should their defenders leave.

God bless this nation and its servicemen and women. They take on a burden few of us would assume, and they do it for each and every one of us.

To take one day out for remembrance is important, but more important is a sense of support and respect for them every day of the year.

Happy Memorial Day. Amid the barbeques, the picnics and the leisurely walks with small children in tow, remember that you walk free because other walked a far harder road.

# 112

“Rules of the Road”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

May 19, 2012

With days remaining until tens of thousands of teenagers across Indiana finish the school year, it is tantamount to stupidity to avoid mentioning grim facts that are generally ignored by the media. Even the most cursory search confirms that the highest teenage driving deaths occur in June, July, and August — summer vacation. Now that proms are a memory and graduation ceremonies loom on the horizon, it’s time that parents and teens sat down around the kitchen table and really discussed the dangers.

This morning, as I listened to the radio, the timing for the column wasn’t lost on me. You see, a Hendricks County crash over the weekend took one senior’s life just days from graduation, left a second teen in critical condition and injured several others. It’s sobering, but true. Teenagers and cars can be a deadly mix on our highways.

It’s been fifty-plus years, but I was once a novice driver. However, I was required to do my “homework” and that included driving in bad weather, pulling and backing a two-wheel trailer among traffic cones and knowing to check the oil or add anti-freeze. Papa was fond of cars and in those days, many men took care of basic car maintenance themselves.

Add to this the firm sense of responsibility both in me and in my older brother by our parents, and our brother-sister duo began driving with a better background than most. Kids listened to their parents in those days and shuddered at the thought of having and accident and trying to explain it to them! Ah, yes, were days when parents held sway and their words were law. Oh, my, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.

Our family had just moved into a home that our folks remodeled. It had a large backyard that was over 200 feet deep and about 75 feet wide. Among the peach and cherry trees stood some really big maples. This scene was set for entry-level driver training. However, the star of the production was a little car seldom seen outside of rallies or auctions.

Enter Papa’s 1940s Crosley. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this little beauty, go to . Ours was a convertible with wood trim. Many laughed and said that the Crosley was simply a refrigerator on wheels. All joking aside, that Crosley provided us hours of entertainment. More importantly, it exposed us to driving before any of us far earlier than most of our peers. Small and sturdy, that little Crosley gave us all an important head start on traditional high school driver’s education.

After bolting immense men’s belts from a local haberdashery beneath the front driver and passenger seats, Papa turned us out in the yard — one at a time. It’s hard to describe the thrill as each one of us headed down that yard for the first time and made quick turns around the trees. What’s more, if we did manage to turn the car over on it side or top, it only took two or three of us to upright it and put the trainee back on the road. Those were days before seat belts in cars, so Papa was ahead of his time as he implemented his keen sense of safety.

We all looked forward to “Driver’s Ed”, but it didn’t hurt to have a bit of driving before you ever began to learn with a teacher.

Today, with the distractions of cellular phones, teenagers are far more at risk than their parents were at the same age. You’ve seen bad driving among adults, haven’t you? If you’re like me, you probably dodge people on phones every time you take to the road. I’ve even seen people with clipboards on steering wheels while using cell phones. Talk about dangerous!

The talking my generation did — on the home telephone — pales at what today’s teens do behind the wheel. It’s enough to make anyone cringe.

For every dream that the new high school graduate embraces, a nightmare lurks on the road. Understandably, teenagers do not consider themselves mortal. Oh, I’ve seen teenagers’ reactions to a sudden, violent death of a classmate. Unfortunately, those feelings are fleeting.

When you combine speed with any dangerous ingredient — alcohol, cell phones or texting — the result is no surprise. Things go south in a hurry.
These same behaviors, when mixed in a moving vehicle, conjure up a deadly mix. The highway safety research that I read confirmed that, even though teenage driving deaths account for only 6.4 % of the total driving deaths in the USA, they also account for 14% of all drivers involved in fatal crashes and 18% involved in police-reported crashes.

Considering that, nationally, homicide accounts for 14% of teen deaths and suicide 11%, authorities warn that no one hazard comes close to claiming as many teen lives as automobile accidents.

As this school year comes to an end, take the time to educate your children about safe driving. Begin early. A ten-year-old passenger is a captive audience for you. Serve a good example. Don’t speed along the interstate and then expect your child to do otherwise. Many adults refuse to answer a cell phone in a moving vehicle. Because a cell phone records incoming numbers, a driver has the option to pull off the road safely to use the phone.

Rules of the road should come early with youngsters. Instilled in a child, the rules of the road are real life survival skills. Teaching moments are easy when driving with a child. It’s up to every adult to serve as a positive role model for a child. At home? Set rules and stick to them, especially about cell phones in the vehicle. Remember, a teen drivers accompanied by other teens account for the highest number of accidents. In fact, the odds rise exponentially. A bad decision kills in seconds. Lives hang in the balance. For all the freedom that driving offers a teen, it also bodes ill. Think about it.

# 111
“Kettles and Pots”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

May 16, 2012

There is an old saying about “the kettle calling the pot black” and the near hysteria from administration spokespeople is a good example. These folks have the gall to decry J. P. Morgan Chase for its recent $2 billion-dollar loss, yet it fails to acknowledge the fact that it the federal government borrows that amount DAILY. Yes, we are up to our wazoo in debt and it’s getting deeper every hour.

The salient point here is that the bank expects to make over $10 billion yet this year. Now, a 20% loss is painful to the bank, but it is solvent. That’s more than we can say for the government! Kettle #1.

As we make our way into the deep weeds of media bias in this election cycle, remember just what has really happened in the halls of Congress for three years. The Senate has never passed a budget. The House has offered up bill after bill with substantive measures to decrease the national debt, cut spending and alter entitlements.

I hate the term “entitled”. It rings hollow. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are out of money, folks. There are fewer and fewer workers paying into the government and more and more receiving checks. No entity can survive with this kind of tilted bookkeeping, yet every time someone waves the red flag that it’s time to do something the opposition screams starving children, seniors on dog food and women in reproductive peril.

What we “owe” is to pass on a viable working environment to the next generations. We aren’t doing that at all. Instead, we are writing checks to Middle Eastern potentates and dictators while sitting on our own vast reserves of oil and natural gas. All the bragging about “more drilling now” than in the past ten years fails to state that it is on private land. Federal land is off limits. Kettle #2.

With the economic catastrophe staring each one of us straight in the face, what does the current White House occupant banter about? His minions warn of a fictitious war on women and voice support for same sex marriage. It’s not as if women, gay men, and lesbians are the only ones with jobs. How many of them are unemployed or underemployed?

There are 340,000 fewer available jobs today than in January of 2009 and over 7 million more eligible workers vying for them. Sounds more like lottery odds than job searching, doesn’t it? Kettle #3.

You can’t spend your way out of a financial hole. It’s time to put some adults in the leadership roles. I am weary of name calling and searching back decades to find out if someone acted like a teenager when a teenager. What is important here is money — how we keep from squandering it, from whom we choose to borrow it, and the possibility of said borrowed funds being used as leverage against the nation as a whole. That is a real threat and few news outlets even choose to mention it.

Given the latest forms of communication and the decline of print media in all forms, we find ourselves immersed in a world of information that could disappear in the click of a hacker. Imagine, if you will, what would happen if no computers worked — even for a day or two.

The majority of retailers would be stymied. You can probably count on your fingers the number of clerks who have waited on you in the last year who were capable of making change. Schools that abandoned textbooks in favor of tablets and laptops would be between that proverbial rock and a hard place. Banking done on line would cease. Instant messaging would disappear and I shudder to fathom what would happen in the transportation industry. Since trains and planes rely on computers, you can scratch travel and shipping. Set aside cars and trucks. That would be a nightmare, too.

People would yearn for the days of hand-written receipts, old cash registers that opened when the TOTAL button or lever was engaged, and they would find themselves in a world that doesn’t work very well — if at all.

For every advance in technology, its malfunction bodes ill — and not just for Americans. Let’s hope that this election cycle includes a serious debate on the economy and a long-range plan for recovery. These problems didn’t surface in four years and four years won’t fix them, either.

America is great because its people have always worked — yes, worked! Job applicants just two generations ago didn’t ask about “quality time”. They had no conception of “family leave”. They wanted a job and were willing to come early, stay late and do more than the boss expected. When that attitude morphed into the attitude we see today, America began to slide.

The pride and sense of accomplishment that comes from a job well done should be the battle cry of the next team to lead this country. A hobbled horse cannot run. Take off the hobbling regulations that have defied common sense since the so-called “environmentalists” hit the scene.

If they had been alive and had their way when this nation was on the cusp of expansion, we would still be living east of the Appalachians and railroads would have been labeled as “destructive.”

I’m not sure of your opinion, but I remain convinced that people come first. All those morons who call an end to clean coal would change their tune abruptly if the coal-fired power plants would shut down their juice to all but essential facilities — hospitals, etc.

Oh, they scream at what others should and should not do, and they climb into their corporate jets and settle down onto a stool with a cold one and laugh at the lot of us — calling us names in the bargain.

We here in Indiana benefit immensely from coal fired power plants. It’s about time we stood up for the coal industry. Do your own research. Clean coal is more than a term. It is real. Don’t let a bunch of well-funded naysayers destroy all the progress the coal industry has made over the years and imperil the future of generations unborn. Dismantling the power grid piece by piece without a dependable, cheap alternative is madness.

Remember that jobs and electricity are inseparable. Without subsidies, wind and solar wouldn’t be able to compete at all and WE pay those subsidies!!!

Jobs and a business-friendly environment are paramount for this nation. Every time laws clamp down on entrepreneurship and business innovation, jobs evaporate. We need a new generation of inventors and dreamers, not preventers and screamers.

Don’t rag on a bank that remains in the black and must recover from some bad decisions. Federal law enacted by Congress in 1933 forcing a separation between commercial banking and investment banking. This act, which required commercial banks to dispose of their securities affiliates, bears the same name as the Banking Act of 1933, and is part of the landmark 1933 act. Since then, the name Glass-Steagall has been more commonly used when referring to the four sections of the banking act (Sections 16, 20, 21, and 32) pertaining to underwriting and sale of securities.

This law met its end in 1999. That was a great way to start the new millennium, huh?

Many analysts point to this decision and link it to the 2008 bank crisis. No kidding? Turning bankers into bookies was not a good idea and then forcing banks to loan money to people who had no way to pay it back was even worse. Now we are all paying for it. The next newscaster or bureaucrat that bandies about more government regulation should set your hair on fire. Government needs to get the heck out of the way. Let the economic engine work without starving it for fuel. Kettle #4.

There are many more kettles out there today, but you get the point. Our Founding Fathers worried about overreaching government and now we see what it can do to us. It’s doing it right now— but we can turn it around. It happens one vote at a time. Think about it.

# 110

“Hiatus — an odd term…”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

May 3, 2012

Well, readers have been victims of hiatus. Like most of us, the best-laid plans, so they say, often go awry. I can’t count the times that I’ve put my domestic chores aside to sit down and write a column, but over the past two weeks I’ve done the opposite. To further complicate matters, I spent ten days out of state on family business. Ah, well. Life calls! The “to do” list is nearly exhausted, as am I. Apologies are moot, so I will chastise myself and I vow not to allow this to recur unless faced with a dire emergency.

Suffice it to say, prevailing thought among the movers and shakers has not reappeared in my absence, so the column title remains valid: “In Defense of Common Sense.”

Spring is, traditionally, the time that scholarship applications fly into the offices of high school counselors around the nation. Career choices loom over the latest generation of soon-to-be-graduates and parents’ stomachs churn with that old sinking feeling at the prospect of paying for college.

Often cited statistics vary a bit from state to state, but according to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, it costs less to college educate than to incarcerate a person. It probably hasn’t escaped you, but one of the highest growing enterprises in the nation is that of penal facilities.

It is incredibly sad to pass by what was once known as Bunker Hill Air Force Base near Peru. Now a combination business and prison site, it offers employment opportunities, but nothing in comparison to the zenith of the facility as home to the refueling unit of the Strategic Air Command.

Daily, more lives are taken and more injuries incurred on our streets than in a war zone. Few talk about it. I suppose that we are so immune to the constant list of crimes described on the radio and TV broadcasts that we hardly pay attention.

Drugs are at the heart of many crime sprees and fueling a habit is very expensive. The so-called “War on Drugs” is as an abysmal failure as the social bomb known as “The War on Poverty”. There are more people living in poverty today than when this governmental program launched in the 1960s.
It all boils down to the fish theory. Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

Bigger is touted to be better, but it is a hollow claim. Whenever there are too many cooks around a pot, the result is not palatable. Schools belong at the local level. Parents know what their children need. Whenever the federal government gets into any sector of private lives, the boon is to administrative salaries and not to results.

Many of us were flummoxed by the “No Child Left Behind” legislation that moved through Congress in the previous administration. The real bold step would have been to close down the Department of Education. When a national government “educates” you have real reason to worry.

Ask any local school board member how much he or she can really decide in terms of school direction and curricula. Very little. Mandates from the state rule and there is little “wiggle room” for those closest to the students.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to extrapolate that educational big stick to health care, either. When an Ethics Committee can decide if you or a loved one “deserves” a high level of medical care, beware!

As we move through the primary process and select slates of candidates at the local, county, state and national levels, keep in mind that the closest the governmental unit the more responsive. That is the beauty of a federal system. States have clout and can react to constituent needs far more smoothly and efficiently than national bureaucrats.

Patience is the byword. A change in administration is sorely needed, but don’t be anguished if the wheels of progress move slowly. It takes less time to incur debt than to repay it, and the current president has wracked up more debt in three and a half years than ALL previous presidents combined!

It would be one thing if all the debt was backed by solid currency, but ours is not. What we owe debt is a result of the “fed” authorizing money from a printing press and/or bonds sold to the Chinese and other foreign governments. Our leverage is nil. Wake up and smell. It’s not coffee, folks, it’s trouble and not in River City. It’s in every city or hometown across America, no matter how large or small.

The only growing sector of jobs is in government and those jobs don’t put out a product. They put out paper and regulations — just what we need, eh? Those jobs pay more than private sector jobs, too. Sobering? You bet.
It’s time we cut the corporate tax rate to encourage companies to return. Remember the Neil Diamond song “Coming to America?” Someone needs to play it for the U.S. Senate. It has gone without submitting a budget for years. It tables every piece of meaningful budget legislation that comes from The U.S. House of Representatives.

How does it make you feel when determined people draft bills that have clout and they are buried in a pile of paper on the Majority Leader’s desk? If your household went without a budget and spent twice what it took in, you’d be faced with losing everything. Not so with the government. It simply lifts the debt limit and goes on its merry way and spends with abandon.

Abandon is a good word for it. The current administration has abandoned every tenet of good stewardship and heaped a debt on generations unborn. So much for that lost ball slogan “Hope and Change”. The leadership in the White House is one syllable short. The word is not hope, but hopeless. And change? That’s for November to decide.

You can’t continue to operate on borrowed funds. Sooner or later you must pay The Piper and he doesn’t live in Hamlin. He lives in Beijing. Think about it.

#109

“Sound familiar?”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

March 26, 2012

“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”

This week the nine members of the U.S. Supreme Court begin to hear oral arguments on the Affordable Health Act, better known as Obama Care and their decision affects each of us.

Clear opposition to the law is the firmly held assertion by the countless Americans that their federal government has no business telling anyone to enter into a contract, and an insurance policy is just that — a contract.

It seems as if the three components of that familiar phrase with which I began this column are already either in jeopardy on dead on arrival. Life? Well, it is legal to kill unborn children, so there’s one down. Moreover, if Obama Care is ruled to be in sync with the U.S. Constitution, seniors’ care will be rationed (as it is in England and Canada) — again lives put at risk at the hands of “bean counters” obsessed with creating a “Nanny State.”

Liberty? With each passing day, via Executive Order or some unelected and roundly unaccountable Czar, we lose our liberty. The situation reminds me of a beaver, or that determined “ant and the rubber tree plant” that Frank Sinatra immortalized in song. Chip by chip, nip by nip, the tree of liberty is eaten away — and with it the way of life that our forefathers so desperately wanted to guarantee to each one of us.

The pursuit of happiness? Oh, sure, it’s still there, in spades. Have you noticed the movement to allow men to marry men and women to marry women? Then, add a plethora of behavior once deemed taboo in civilized society and now accepted in the name of “political correctness,” or worse yet, “tolerance” and you have a picture of a society degrading by the day!

My grandparents and parents would have tolerated none of this. I fear that untold numbers of our ancestors are turning over in their graves when witnessing the America of today.

The law labeled “affordable” in its very title is anything but affordable. Critics claim that numbers were skewed in order to keep the initial estimate below one trillion dollars and that very expensive portions of the law were not used as a base line. A recent estimate is that, once implemented, this behemoth of a law will cost a family $20,000 a year. Sound affordable to you? Hardly.

I hold out hope that Justice Elena Kagan will recuse herself, since she was a prime mover of the law before she was appointed and confirmed. It is a clear conflict of interest. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, I will hold my breath and pray (yes, critics of faith). I know I am not alone and, with the rest of you that oppose this law, I hold out hope that the court will stop this expansion of government control before it destroys the economy and the nation we love.

Current members are Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Bryer, John Roberts, Jr. Samuel Alito, Jr., Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan.

If you feel helpless, you are not solitary in that thought. Here’s an option:

www.toddyoungforcongress.com has a petition for you to sign. Congressman Young will forward the signatures and urge the Supreme Court to strike down Obama Care. The page comes up immediately and it only takes a few seconds to fill it out.

Remember those nine names. They are the sole arbiters of the law in this nation and now —more than ever — they hold the American dream in their hands.

I generally end a column with this phrase: Think about it. If you have to think about THIS dangerous overreach of the federal over individuals represented by their states, you aren’t thinking at all.

# 108

“Promising Senior”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

March 15, 2012

Every once in a while, you come across a youngster who floors you with enthusiasm, verve and ability. So it was when my husband and I sat at a small ice creamery in Florida while our Newfie enjoyed a tiny dish of vanilla.

Many folks stop to see our Bear. His size attracts attention, to say the least; but, through him, we have met more people than we ever would have had we traveled alone.

The slim girl, accompanied by her mother, had purchased a newspaper and began to walk to the car when she spotted the dog. Marissa came for Bear like a moth to a flame and we began to chat with her. She had aced her national math tests as a freshman and won a laptop computer for her deft knowledge. Now, as a senior, she worked part time at the ice cream shop and pondered the hurdles of paying for college.

Admitted to South Florida at Tampa, she has a plethora of careers available to her, among them engineering. Excuse me if I climb atop my soapbox again, but I feel the urge.

Every day we American taxpayers foot the bill for illegals — education, English as a second language for Pete’s sake, and health care. More than that, our charities and churches spend millions of dollars on those folks, too. That money would better serve society if it were channeled to deserving, entrepreneurial young people.

American business is under attack daily. Instead of increasing taxes on employers, why not enable them to offer partial or full-ride scholarships to bright young high school seniors seeking a good job?

Co-op collegiate work is not new. Neither are scholarships. Yet, I wonder just how many companies actually participate in these programs. It would be interesting to see if there are more of these programs today or fewer than in past years.

Getting back to Marissa. She is valuable to each of us. Her work could produce a new product or refine an existing one to better our lives and the nation as a whole. Not all of us are able to help send someone to school, but some of us are. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that nothing is more rewarding than seeing a graduate landing that first job with no college debt.

As for me, I plan to contact several young women engineers and explore the possibility of sponsorship for Marissa. Surely, there is a company out there that would be interested in helping her.

I don’t have an answer yet. For now, I vow to immerse myself in a quest for her. She will be the first college graduate in her family, and I want to help her achieve that goal. If any of you readers have any ideas for her, let me know. I can contact her.

# 107

“American Idle”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

February 28, 2102

Just in case you haven’t noticed, more and more of your neighbors are out of work, but there’s more to that story. I find it intriguing how the rhetoric changes with the slide in the economy. Early on, President Obama praised private business, affirming that the private sector alone was able to create jobs and also stating that government does not create jobs. In the wake of the failed “stimulus” legislation, his wording has changed markedly. Now, government is the last best hope to create jobs and save the American people from further financial morass.

My father was a private businessman, as are my husband and my sons. They face something that the president never faces: meeting payroll. It’s easy to spend the old “OPM” — other people’s money — especially when all you have to do to get more of it is to raise taxes.

If you don’t believe that higher taxes are coming, you are deluding yourself. Polled extensively, only 6% of the American people support the present strategy of spending out of a recession. That’s a rather odd position at its core. The last time you were over budget in your household, did you immediately figure out how to go spend more money? Hardly.

We are in a terrible fix. When you see what is happening in Greece, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how a population thoroughly disgusted with its leaders can take to the streets and turn violent. Remember Los Angeles and Rodney King? That horrific incident was in response to a unit of local government — in that case the police department. Can you imagine if such anger was vented on a national scale?

I hope it doesn’t come to a flashpoint that erupts in our cities’ streets, but it is not out of the realm of possibility. There is a small reading I suggest to you. It won’t take long and it’s bound to spur thought.

A beautifully written piece, it ranks among the most important works of all time. It is the U.S. Constitution. Its precise words guarantee your freedom. Vital to you is that the government operates with “the consent of the governed”. When was the last time you felt as if the government takes that seriously? Not lately, I would guess.

Most bookstores carry small, paperback editions of The Constitution. Other organizations supporting liberty send copies out free of charge.

Do your homework. Arm yourselves with the facts. You will be shocked at the actions taken by the federal government that have no basis in The Constitution. One parting thought. All powers not specifically given over to the federal government are reserved to the states and the people.

Nowhere in the Constitution is there any language allowing the government to launch the massive social programs that have grown steadily since the 1930s. We are given the right to pursue happiness, but we are not guaranteed equal results. We can succeed. We can fail. At this point, our government has failed us.

Raise your voice. Complain. Write. Call. E-mail. FAX. Tweet. Organize your neighbors. Form reading groups among family, co-workers and friends. Study The Constitution. Defend it on your own behalf. A few in Washington try to do that, yet so many others simply ignore it and— completely disregarding the people and following party ideology — plod across the marsh of debt and approach the cliff of financial ruin. Those who tread on our rights through such legislation should be seeking career counseling. Come November, they’ll need it.

Oh, and the “X” factor? That’s the box on the ballot!

# 107

“1s and 2s”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

February 21, 2012

Today’s date is chock full of 1s and 2s. Applied to our Bill of Rights, we see freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. Both of these are under attack and because so few of us are familiar with the U.S. Constitution, we tune into the ball games, the races, or the movies and leave the politics to the politicians. Bad decision.

Borne out of extreme control and censorship by The Crown, the colonists drafted those rights to allow people to be able to think for themselves and to express their thoughts. It was the right to speak out against an overbearing government that brought a lump to the throats of those people who had lived under an overarching government with no protected mechanism through which to complain or to petition for redress. It was the right to take up arms that held sway over a populace that was under the thumb of the British soldiers that was so prized by the United States’ first citizens.

By the way, it assures us freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion. And the people of God rose up as one… Will they? Basically, those within the government who target religion see it as competition. If religion guides us, government cannot.

As for current attitudes toward the Second Amendment, does the term “Fast and Furious” come to mind? Just who do those folks want not to have guns? Criminals will get weapons whether they are legal or not, and a license is a joke to an armed felon.

How about “gun free zones”? We see that term thrown around a lot. I pose one question for reflection. What would have happened if a teacher or a professor in either Columbine High School or Virginia Tech had been armed? Maybe you need to ask the families of the victims what they think.

Like a pig in a poke, whenever the government takes a hand, the result is not what you expect and involves a big hand — one seldom worthy of it synonym, applause.

Bigger is not better, so an individual’s rights need to be guaranteed. You know for yourself that local issues are local. If yielded to either the state or the national level, the ensuing messes would be unfathomable. Talk about a communication crisis! That would be one, for sure!

The minute you hear federal officials claim “they know what’s best for you,” run for it. Name one government entity that makes money. Hmmmmm…. No answer? That’s understandable. Let’s just look at one example. USPS is so up to its ears in pensions that it loses billions (yes with a B) of dollars each year and now we hear that a single stamp will be 50 cents!

I don’t see FedEx or UPS losing money, do you? No. That’s because they plan for the future of their employees by economizing, organizing, and simply performing better to make — now, hold your breath — a profit. Egad! The PROFIT is the word that so many in the government decry as if it were evil.

Well, if it weren’t for “evil profit,” no small business would exist and we would all be shopping, for want of another name, at the equivalent of the coalmine company store.

I heard an analyst state that if you were to rate government programs, most of them are losers and have been for years. Yet, they stay on the books and continue to suck up your tax money. I wonder if the annual Golden Fleece Awards still exist. These went to the government programs that best fleeced the public largesse. Looking back, if they hadn’t been so sad, they would have been funny as all get out.

Tightening the belt doesn’t seem to be SOP in government. Have you heard Congressional patriots who hold out for cutting spending labeled as real “obstructionists”? Those name callers are right, you know. Yeah, that’s what they are — obstructionists. They are busy trying to add logs to the levee while the critics are opening the spending floodgates! Get the picture?

If we don’t support the Senators and Congressmen (and women) who refuse to accept more spending without equal or greater cuts, we get just what we deserve — bankruptcy! Moreover, that bankruptcy will not at a personal level, either, but at a national level.

When the nation was founded, Benjamin Franklin suggested the turkey for the national bird. Well, sorry Mr. Eagle, but if things keep going the way they are right now, the Founding Fathers should have let Ben have his way.

The current administration struts about and makes a lot of noise; but, if given permission, will relegate us to a real turkey — fried, as in Greece. That’s not a faux pas in spelling, either. I didn’t mean fried in “grease,” I meant fried like GREECE. Consider what’s happening now in Greece.

Over the past years, the Greek people became accustomed to working less, retiring very early, and looking to their national government for their every need. It was a shortsighted and ill-conceived plan. Alas, the government well — predictably — ran dry, and lending Greece more money is not high on the European Union’s list. Other countries simply do not want to pay the Greek’s bills or finance their enormous debt.

Socrates and Plato must be rolling over in their graves! Let’s vow that OUR Founding Fathers do not suffer the same fate. Contact your Congress people and tell them to fight for solvency. Truly, it’s the only solution. If you owe a lot of money, you don’t up the limit on your credit card and spend more, do you? Well, maybe you don’t, but the government does!

I shudder at the folks who would answer “yes” to that question. You cannot spend your way out of financial trouble. Yet, that’s precisely what this administration has touted as financially prudent for the past three years and now gasoline is closing in on $4 a gallon – nearly twice as expensive than when they took control. When gasoline was in the $3.50 range in the 1990s, the media was all over it. Where are they today? Anyone knows that as gasoline rise, so follow do prices for consumer goods and commodities.

We are in a hole, people — A BIG HOLE! Isn’t it about time we stopped digging? Gee, I had no idea THAT was the meaning of “shovel ready”! Did you? Think about it.