It’s starting to get crowded for the 2012 Presidential Election Republican Nomination.  From what I have garnered, I think the following are going for the gold:

1. Governor Romney
2. Governor Huckabee
3. Governor Palin
4. Representative Bachmann
5. Speaker Gingrich

I would like to see at least one of the following get in the race.

1. Governor Walker
2. Governor Jindal
3. Governor Christie
4. Governor Barbour

Each of those has handled some crisis in his state that showed he will stand strong for what is RIGHT not what is expected.  I plan to spend some time analyzing each of the individuals listed, but if there is someone you think I should take a look at, let me know in the comments.

Sarge, Out

And, yeah, it took a long time to count Me, CINCHOUSE, and SIT.

Sarge, Out

I hope that 2010 finds you all healthy and remember to pray for this country and our leaders.  See you next year and look for some changes.  I’ll be adding some links to  a couple of sites that I found and GuyK, I know you will enjoy at least one of them.  Read through his archive yesterday and laughed my rear off.

See you soon.

Sarge, Out

Article I, Section 2 states:

“The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.”

Article I, Section 3 states:

“The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.”

If you don’t like what your elected representative is doing, work to get him/her defeated in the next go around (which folks is a little over 13 months away). You the electorate get to choose your representation. The last thing we need is another law telling us who we can and cannot select to represent us.

Sarge, Out

No takers? The concept of a “Wall of separation between Church and State” comes from a letter penned by T. Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. The Founding Fathers and Framers, who all believed in a Supreme Being and Creator as evidenced in their writings and the Declaration of Independence.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States states, in part, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” And what this means is we, as a nation, will not have a “State Religion” such as the Church of England where the head of the government is the head of the Church. We have a right to participate, or not, as we see fit in the religion of our choice. We are not bound to a state church.

“Great, Sarge, but why are you bringing this up now?” Well, my friends, here is why: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/large-20676-administrators-pensacola.html and I happen to agree with the judge’s ruling. My problem with this whole case is simply this. The school district and the school were sued because of prayer. I would like for someone to explain to me how an individual offering a blessing constitutes the state making a law?

Sarge, Out

Sarge, Out

Sarge, Out

Let me simplify for those that can not grasp this simple concept.  First a definition courtesy of dictionary.com

merge

verb, merged, merg⋅ing.

–verb (used with object)

1.	to cause to combine or coalesce; unite.

2.	to combine, blend, or unite gradually so as to blur the individuality or individual identity of: They voted to merge the two branch offices into a single unit.

–verb (used without object)

3.	to become combined, united, swallowed up, or absorbed; lose identity by uniting or blending (often fol. by in or into): This stream merges into the river up ahead.

4.	to combine or unite into a single enterprise, organization, body, etc.: The two firms merged last year.

Now, when it comes to merging into traffic. follow these steps.

1. GET THE DAMN CELL PHONE OUT OF YOUR EAR!
2. If you have the benefit of an acceleration lane, USE IT to match speeds with the traffic you wish to merge with.
3. TURN ON YOUR DIRECTIONAL INDICATOR FOR THE DIRECTION YOU WISH TO MERGE.

I will bet my next paycheck that if you do these things, 9 out of 10 times, someone will make an adjustment for you to smoothly merge into the traffic stream.  Give it a try and see how easy it is.  Soon you too will be merging with the ease and skill of a professional.

Sarge, Out

My mind raced back 233 years to another hot, humid locale where 55 men met to discuss issues important to them in their day and time. Some of those same issues are prevalent today and not just with the current administration. Over the past decades, we have seen our liberties taken or restricted in ways the Founding Fathers could only imagine. Maybe they did, I can’t really say.

As we get ready for the next election cycle, keep some of these items in mind:

Real ID
Patriot ACT
Immigration
Gun Control
National Security
National Defense
Health Care Reform

The list goes on and on.

As you contemplate your choices when you next visit the ballot box, keep in mind not only what is good for you, but what is good for your neighbors, your neighborhood, your city, county, state and the nation as a whole. Take the time to learn who the candidates are, and where they really stand on the issues. Look at the voting records of the incumbents ans ask yourself is how they voted the way you wanted them to? If not, have you voiced your concerns to them? If not, why not?

Recently, I saw some stats on communicating with members of Congress and found them interesting:
e-mail or other electronic forms of communication = 1 person
Telephone communication = 10 people
Written letter = 100 people
I’ll see if I can find the source for those numbers.

As a side note, on Wednesday, the price of a pack of cigarettes when up by the a dollar. Smokers in this area now pay $1.34 in state taxes per pack. I saw that a carton of Marlboro’s now costs in excess of $50.00. Glad I am a reformed smoker.

Sarge, Out

First, in 1776, we declared our independence from Great Britain and the “Empire upon which the sun never sets.” While the British didn’t take to kindly to this, loss of revenues and such, they decided to come on and as they say today “bring it.” While they came and marched in beautiful formations, our Minutemen met them on the field of battle and kicked some British army tail. Not to say it was easy, but we had the fortitude to see it to the end.

Next, in 1812, the British decided they wanted a second helping of Colonial Whip A@@. They got so far as to burn Washington DC. Of all the government buildings, only two survived, the Patent Office because one man stood tall and convinced the British commander that it was a building worth saving, and the Marine Barracks. Yes, my friends, even the residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave was burned with Mrs. Madison escaping with the portrait of George Washington at the last possible moment.  U.S. – 2UK – 0

Let’s jump ahead a few years to a place called the Alamo. A small band of patriots stood off a larger better equipped Mexican army under the command of General Santa Anna, for about a week. Name such as Davey Crockett and James Bowie among others less known. Rumor has it that when informed of her son’s demise at the Alamo, Bowie’s mother stated that there was not a single wound to his back.

In 1860, we fought a little skirmish amongst ourselves, or as Sons of the South would call it “The war of Northern Aggression.” Not about slavery, as you were no doubtly told in school, but about whether states could just decide to leave the Union. In a place called Gettysburg, over the course of three days in July 1863, more men fought and died than any other place on American soil. Just so you know, General Robert E. Lee had 75,000 men that stood toe to toe with General George G. Meade’s 97,000. Neither army could gain the advantage over the other.

Moving into the 20th Century, we sent young men not much older than the cadets at the various Military Schools to Europe to help our allies fight off the Germans. Unfortunately, we had to do it again about a quarter century later. All we ever asked for in return was enough land to bury our dead.

What do you think; do we have a right to be arrogant? Who is it that steps up to the plate when there is some sort of natural disaster? A Tsunami in Indonesia, food shortages in Kenya, earthquakes in Mexico. We are the most giving nation on the face of the Earth today, and we have a President whose wife has stated that “America is a mean country.”

To those that think I agree that we are an arrogant country, you didn’t read the post closely enough. I only stated that we had every RIGHT to be, not that we were. We are a proud country and we welcome those that want to share in that pride with open arms.

Take a look around you. If you live in a military town, you can tell who the military members are. Not by the haircut, but by how they carry themselves. Especially Marines.

If you want to see arrogance, watch the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Every time he speaks, he is speaking down his nose. Watch him. Here is a man that won an election, but hasn’t stopped campaigning. He has been called a “gifted” speaker. But if you take away his teleprompter, he can’t put a coherent sentence together.