Archive for January, 2014

# 176 “Because it is hard..”

Thursday, January 30th, 2014

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

# 176

January 29, 2015

“Because it is hard…”

Again, I harken back to the words of John F. Kennedy as he took his oath of office in 1961. He challenged the nation to undertake efforts (to paraphrase) “not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

We have lapsed into a malaise that is not only inane, but also perilous. Take the example of the grasshopper and the ant. You know the story…. One worked, the other played. It didn’t work out too well for the non-productive one, did it?

Well, we see that on a grand scale when it comes to an assessment of a growing segment of our populace today. To dilute the initiative and drive of the young in this country is tantamount to murder. Yes, murder. When you kill the soul, you eventually kill the body.

The soul of America has been — from the founding and well before — its people’s drive to design, innovate, and manufacture, surpassing all comers in an ever-expanding plethora of activities. In less than seventy years, man went from the fledgling Wright brothers’ airplane to landing on the moon. Sadly, the last seventy years has another side to it — a dangerous one.

Since the 1930s, one after another, government programs wedged their way into more and more American lives until now nearly half of our population receives some sort of monetary support from the federal level. Remember, the government is not a manufacturer. The government, sad as it is to say, is a master marketer. The only product it offers is money that it prints with nothing to back it up. Alas, we went off the Gold Standard decades ago. Printing money only softens the economy in a pitiful effort to stave off inflation — the offshoot of a sick system.

Government, especially at the federal level, hands out its hand — green with money — and lures people into a state of dependency that strips them of pride and accomplishment. In essence, the government is a first class example of how to destroy a civilization from the inside out.

Couple this with the present administration operating sans any business acumen or respect for our own natural resources and you have a recipe for real disaster. We have more energy resources than the Middle East, yet our president and his cohorts refuse to push the Keystone Pipeline project. The result may well be the export of critical oil bound for the USA to China. My, what a nice idea! That should make us feel safer.

The incessant push to reduce emissions and shut down our coal-fired power plants is futile, too. Why? China builds at least one coal-fired plant per week and has no emission restrictions. With the prevailing winds from west to east, guess where their pollution will drift? You got it? First, it goes to Hawaii and then the mainland. Ah yes, yet another gift coming from the tiger we continue to feed — the tiger eager to devour us.

We have a very hard task at hand, and it’s not landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. It’s wrenching the reins of power away from those bent on diluting the American spirit to nothing and in response electing men and women pledged to defend and enforce the tenets of the U.S. Constitution — all the while paving an economic pathway for all. Lincoln put it thusly: “That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise.”

To return to such a stance, new leadership will require basic bricks. I see these as simple measures, yet powerful ones. First of all, education must teach basic skills, including English as the primary language, truly accurate history, the scientific method. This will infuse a sense of wonder in students that culminates in determined workers, whether trade bound or college bound. In short, we need to prepare our youngsters to work, not file for some sort of federal help.

“PR” should anchor it all — no, not public relations, but personal responsibility. Young people need to know that their future hinges on three elements: education, marriage before children, and savings before spending. If a person graduates from high school, gets married before becoming a parent and saves before spending, he or she has a very good chance of achieving a decent life.

The lure of technology is there, but how many of our children truly understand how the technology works? Show children how science is a miracle before their eyes. Encourage them to bring new ideas to the marketplace. Never diminish the trades. We would be hard pressed to get along without carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and other skilled trades.

Quality should trump quantity. It’s an uphill battle, but if we fail to act, we will be the first elder generation to see its grandchildren sliding toward a bleak future spurred by lower expectations and unnecessary dependence on government.

I can’t get some memorable quotes out of my mind. They are from Ronald Wilson Reagan, and are as timely today as when he made them. Here are samples of his wisdom.

“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

“Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.”

“All great change in America begins at the dinner table.”

“I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”

“The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.”

“Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.”

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Who will fill his shoes? Surely, somewhere among us dwells a voice in the darkness that we endure today. We need to find that voice, and soon. It will be hard to find that voice. That is our hard task for every American’s future. Think about it.

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

# 174

January 6, 2015

“Because it is hard…”

Again, I harken back to the words of John F. Kennedy as he took his oath of office in 1961. He challenged the nation to undertake efforts (to paraphrase) “not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

We have lapsed into a malaise that is not only inane, but also perilous. Take the example of the grasshopper and the ant. You know the story…. One worked, the other played. It didn’t work out too well for the non-productive one, did it?

Well, we see that on a grand scale when it comes to an assessment of a growing segment of our populace today. To dilute the initiative and drive of the young in this country is tantamount to murder. Yes, murder. When you kill the soul, you eventually kill the body.

The soul of America has been — from the founding and well before — its people’s drive to design, innovate, and manufacture, surpassing all comers in an ever-expanding plethora of activities. In less than seventy years, man went from the fledgling Wright brothers’ airplane to landing on the moon. Sadly, the last seventy years has another side to it — a dangerous one.

Since the 1930s, one after another, government programs wedged their way into more and more American lives until now nearly half of our population receives some sort of monetary support from the federal level. Remember, the government is not a manufacturer. The government, sad as it is to say, is a master marketer. The only product it offers is money that it prints with nothing to back it up. Alas, we went off the Gold Standard decades ago. Printing money only softens the economy in a pitiful effort to stave off inflation — the offshoot of a sick system.

Government, especially at the federal level, hands out its hand — green with money — and lures people into a state of dependency that strips them of pride and accomplishment. In essence, the government is a first class example of how to destroy a civilization from the inside out.

Couple this with the present administration operating sans any business acumen or respect for our own natural resources and you have a recipe for real disaster. We have more energy resources than the Middle East, yet our president and his cohorts refuse to push the Keystone Pipeline project. The result may well be the export of critical oil bound for the USA to China. My, what a nice idea! That should make us feel safer.

The incessant push to reduce emissions and shut down our coal-fired power plants is futile, too. Why? China builds at least one coal-fired plant per week and has no emission restrictions. With the prevailing winds from west to east, guess where their pollution will drift? You got it? First, it goes to Hawaii and then the mainland. Ah yes, yet another gift coming from the tiger we continue to feed — the tiger eager to devour us.

We have a very hard task at hand, and it’s not landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. It’s wrenching the reins of power away from those bent on diluting the American spirit to nothing and in response electing men and women pledged to defend and enforce the tenets of the U.S. Constitution — all the while paving an economic pathway for all. Lincoln put it thusly: “That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise.”

To return to such a stance, new leadership will require basic bricks. I see these as simple measures, yet powerful ones. First of all, education must teach basic skills, including English as the primary language, truly accurate history, the scientific method. This will infuse a sense of wonder in students that culminates in determined workers, whether trade bound or college bound. In short, we need to prepare our youngsters to work, not file for some sort of federal help.

“PR” should anchor it all — no, not public relations, but personal responsibility. Young people need to know that their future hinges on three elements: education, marriage before children, and savings before spending. If a person graduates from high school, gets married before becoming a parent and saves before spending, he or she has a very good chance of achieving a decent life.

The lure of technology is there, but how many of our children truly understand how the technology works? Show children how science is a miracle before their eyes. Encourage them to bring new ideas to the marketplace. Never diminish the trades. We would be hard pressed to get along without carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and other skilled trades.

Quality should trump quantity. It’s an uphill battle, but if we fail to act, we will be the first elder generation to see its grandchildren sliding toward a bleak future spurred by lower expectations and unnecessary dependence on government.

I can’t get some memorable quotes out of my mind. They are from Ronald Wilson Reagan, and are as timely today as when he made them. Here are samples of his wisdom.

“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

“Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today’s world do not have.”

“All great change in America begins at the dinner table.”

“I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”

“The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.”

“Entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States.”

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Who will fill his shoes? Surely, somewhere among us dwells a voice in the darkness that we endure today. We need to find that voice, and soon. It will be hard to find that voice. That is our hard task for every American’s future. Think about it.

175 – “What price success?”

Friday, January 17th, 2014

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

# 175

January 17, 2014

“What price success?”

We all value success, be it among personal matters or in the workplace, but there is a price involved in both.

Looking back a little more than 150 years, we see an America on the brink of both discovery and innovation. Natural resources fueled an explosion of manufacturing and expansion in the business community.

I doubt if that could even occur today. The very idea of blasting through mountains to carve out roads and tunnels would, no doubt, endanger some little creature and environmentalists would stop the process in its tracks. God forbid a new oil field discovered anywhere in the lower 48 — and if you doubt that, ask Alaskans what they think!

Vault through the decades from the 1880s to the 1980s and what do you find? Millions of dollars change hands without a single tangible product in sight. The millionaires and billionaires of the technology age came away with lots of dollars, but they merely found new ways of informing and entertaining their customers.

Where the country once boasted rolling steel mills and huge factories producing what economists deem “durable goods,” now all we see in our huge ports are cranes unloading items made abroad.

Anyone who deals in hardware can tell you about the poor quality nuts and bolts China churns out. In less than heartbeat of history, we have moved from “Made in America” to made everywhere else you can imagine. Never mind they pirate and steal anything they can get their hands on and hack into our computer systems with glee.

Call centers dot the globe and, bless their hearts, many of the technicians on the other end of the phone have a hard time speaking English, let alone understanding it.

Quality and quantity once went hand in hand in this country. We set the standard for the world. Now, we have given over the reins to others and go our merry way with technology at the helm. A fat lot of help technology will be if we really need to make things.

For example, today no factories on American soil produce items critical to the electrical grid. Should we suffer damage from a solar flare or an Electro-Magnetic Pulse attack, we will find ourselves plummeted back to the 19th century in seconds.

Since so few of us can conjure up how to do anything manually, this kind of catastrophe will trigger riots and chaos from coast to coast. People laugh at the “dooms dayers” who store up food and prepare to exist solely on their own talents, but maybe they are the ones to laugh.

Just how capable are you of living without electricity, running water, heat or cooling. And what of food? Ever raised it? Ever had even a small garden? As the old saying goes, “Don’t laugh at the farmer with a mouth full.”

Despite being linked by computers, email, cell phones and all sorts of broadcast media, we are completely unhinged when it comes to knowing the basics of getting along on our own.

It is about time we took a really hard look at just what we don’t manufacture in America. We need to be able to step up to the plate and make critical items here at home. Oh, sure, things made in China or other far-flung places may be cheaper, but quality is poor. So they are cheap, but at what cost? Sadly, that cost may be our very lives.

I have claimed for years that we are feeding the tiger that will devour us, and it is becoming more and more of a reality. When you throw in currency manipulation and the ridiculous trade imbalance. It may be free trade, but it is far from fair.

So now we are at a critical crossroads and we need to rediscover American innovation — once the envy of the entire world. After all, when was the last time you heard of someone “making it big” by actually inventing something? A while, huh?

We need to give our kids more than computers in classrooms. All that high-end stuff is fine, but in case of widespread power outages, it is useless. Without electricity, students can still read a textbook. Light still streams into windows of schools —that is, if the buildings actually have windows. Minds continue to function without the use of laptops and tablets.

We rely much too heavily on machines and forget to value the pure mesh of the human mind and the human hand.

Revitalize “Made in America.” The only way to make a change is at the cash register. I hope people begin to demand goods made here — especially durable goods. A groundswell can work a miracle. In truth, a miracle is precisely what the nation needs. Are you willing to move toward a self-sufficient America? Think about it.

174 “More Than Film”

Monday, January 13th, 2014

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

“More than a film…”

# 194

January 10, 2014

For two weeks I have sought to give you another column, yet thoughts failed to merge in a cogent way.

In lieu of my own words, I defer to my county seat’s newspaper and offer the article in today’s edition. So often, we forget that the bulk of our servicemen and women come from small towns. Such is the case of Sergeant First Class Marcus Muralles of Shelbyville, Indiana.

The following story, written by Editor Paul Gable of The Shelbyville News, Shelbyville, Indiana, is not only timely, but also sobering. We are all — each of us — shall remain indebted to Mr. Gable for this excellent piece.

Movie, citizen keep Shelbyville soldier’s spirit alive

Published: Friday, January 10, 2014 8:05 AM US/Eastern Time
Paul Gable, Editor

Odds are very good at some point this weekend, Morristown resident Scott Spahr will get away for a bit, head to a movie theater and watch the new blockbuster “Lone Survivor.”

And, as he does so, he will feel a personal connection with a fallen Shelbyville soldier that, while he never met, he feels like is a part of his family.

The movie, which features Mark Walhberg playing the role of Marcus Luttrell, is based on the June 28, 2005, mission “Operation Red Wings,” in which four members of SEAL Team 10 were tasked with the mission to capture or kill Taliban leader Ahmad Shahd.

The mission failed when three Navy SEALs were ambushed and killed and a reaction force helicopter was shot down killing all on board. Luttrell was the only surviving member of the initial surveillance and reconnaissance team.

One the soldiers on the helicopter was Sergeant First Class Marcus Muralles, of Shelbyville.

Muralles enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1994 and became an elite Ranger. He served a tour of duty before going inactive ready reserve. According to the Army, he returned to active duty in 1998. He also returned to the 75th Ranger Regiment in the medical field, where he remained until 2003, when he became an aerial flight medic assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers.

Murralles was 33 when the Army MH-47D Chinook helicopter he was aboard with 15 other soldiers and sailors was shot down in Afghanistan. It was reported the loss of the 16 was the deadliest single blow to American forces that ousted the Taliban in 2001.

The Army posthumously awarded Muralles a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal, an Air Medal and a Combat Action Badge.

Spahr said he heard about Muralles when he was killed and decided the community had to do something to help honor him.

He immediately became close to Muralles’ mother and stepfather and came up with the idea of planting a tree in his honor.

“It was very important for me to do this. I made a promise to a Vietnam vet some 20 years ago to pay it forward when I was done with my military days, and I have tried to live up to that promise,” Spahr said.

The tree is located in Martin Estates, along with another endeavor Spahr took upon himself to see through.

Spahr approached former Shelbyville Mayor Scott Ferguson about renaming a street in honor of Muralles.

“We were able to get that done. It was my goal to ensure that we didn’t forget, and I wanted the residents who live on that street to think about him every time they write their address down. It’s not a street name, but a hero’s name,” Spahr said.

As a result, SFC Muralles Drive is located in the Martin Estates apartment complex, 2301 Raleigh Blvd.

“I encourage you to go and see the movie to see what these men did to save the life of one,” Spahr said.