"Let's Go to the Show."

That's what we used to call movies, "The Show."   When you wanted to sound more refined you used the longer version, "The Picture Show."  And, when a whole bunch wanted to go, or you didn't have in mind seeing the movie, you went to the Drive-In.  I enjoy a good movie.  Most of the good ones I see these days are DVD rentals, or old movie channel offerings.  I did see a pretty good movie the other night about a cop gone crazy and seeking revenge in the death of his daughter.  However, as I sat there in the dark with Bebe during the pre-show warm-up wondering what we were going to have for supper, it occurred to me I haven't seen many of the more recent offerings.

For one thing the previews are horrible conglomerations of flashing pictures with extremely loud sound effects and music.  At the end of these "trailers" I usually haven't the slightest clue what the movie is about.  They try and bolster their offerings by printing things about the director and previous movies I haven't seen either.  I used to think the movie sound tracks weren't played as loudly as the previews, but I think my ears are numbed sufficiently by the time the main feature comes on it just doesn't seem as loud.  I used to look at the posters lining the walls advertising coming attractions for new possibilities, but the content of most today is so absurd, I don't even bother.  I do recognize most of the younger actors from mug shots, rehab photos, paparazzi offerings, and clips of left wing political rants.

I don't mind a little social commentary (even if I don't feel it necessary) if it is done subtly.  Most of the movies in the line up today are "in your face" kinds of support for all sorts of aberrant life styles and baseless political philosophies.  I know that my late afternoon senior priced tickets aren't going to make you rich, but if  a lot of "boomers, a.k.a. white hairs" quit showing up, it might mean you have to go to the government run county rehabs.

It's all about being real today.  Cinematographers are masters at creating the correct lighting for every situation, but for my money, scenes shot in darkness would better serve the audience if there were enough light to see who or what was in the shot.  Voices talking from the darkness just don't get it, especially if there is also action going on.  Then there is the flashing of a plethora of blinding snippets of different scenes in succession.  I'm sure my opinion of the new special effects is not in vogue, but it definitely requires less of the stunt men when you only see them for a Nano-second.

I know my hearing is going, but even with the vibrating blasts of combined sound effects, musical score, and dialogue, I still don't know what the actors are saying half the time.  They must be teaching the mumbling technique in acting school these days.  Put the mumbling together with a musical score being played louder than the conversations and you have, "No need for a script."

So, my conclusion is "don't go."  I really enjoy many of the young actors, until they use their entertainment platform to support life styles I can't and won't condone.  At that point it really doesn't matter how good their movies are, I won't lend my financial support to their artistic efforts.  I'll bet very few of them read "Pappy's Place" so it is probably an effort in futility.

If there's anything unsettling to the stomach, it's watching actors on television talk about their personal lives.
  - Marlon Brando

Holy Bat Breath Robin!

"Let's get together and talk about Health Care Reform", he said smartly while reading from his teleprompted  note pad.  Even the Democrats knew he only wanted to put a face on obstructionism.  It turns out he did just that, the face we now see is Obama and those Democrats who are too stupid to ditch the Empty Suit.  It was all on C-SPAN and now America knows just how unprepared this cardboard interloper of a president really is.  Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were even more unimpressive than the president was for this meeting.  The Republican representatives to this phony summit ate the Democrats proverbial lunch.  Even the networks had to cut away from this boring nothing of a sham.  They were doing damage control for their handlers, the Democrats.  The cartoon above shows just how this haughty little man sounds when he is off the prompter.  He is so far out of his league, his closest sycophants are wishing for the meaningless slogans of the campaign.  Sorry, we are not buying that act anymore.

    The University of Chicago released a statement in March, 2008 saying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) “served as a professor” in the law school—but that is a title Obama, who taught courses there part-time, never held, a spokesman for the school confirmed in 2008.



“He did not hold the title of professor of law,” said Marsha Ferziger Nagorsky, an Assistant Dean for Communications and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago School of Law.


The former Constitutional senior lecturer cited the US Constitution the other night during his State of the Union Address. Unfortunately, the quote he cited was from the Declaration of Independence… not the Constitution.
 
The president showed some impatience when the Republicans read back statements from the Democrats and reminded the American public of just how dirty back room politics can be.  What goes on in those bat caves in Washington D. C.?  Occasionally, a real reporter will capture a revealing image.  It's usually not pretty.   

We really need to clean this stink hole out real soon.  I'm going to vote tomorrow.  

What is it about unconstitutional they don't understand?

I, and some of the boys in the neighborhood, enjoy tinkering with this thing in our spare time.  I'm so sick of all this political jargon from both sides I need a little project to keep me busy.  What is it about unconstitutional that our politicos on both sides of the imaginary aisle don't understand?  Let me remind them;  You were sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.  Nowhere in that document, or the tomes of explanatory writings of its authors, does it give the federal government any power over the following (and this I'm sure is an incomplete list);
Health Care
Cap and Trade
Gun Control
Education
Welfare
Global Climate Control
Insurance
Elder Care
Environmental matters
The Arts
Financial Bailouts
Mortgages
Census information gathered more than every ten years.
Census information beyond the scope of determining how many persons are in a household.
Medicaid
Medicare
Social Security
Banking Control
Federal Reserve
Interference with Business
Religious matters
If we would just operate within the scope of our constitutionally granted powers, we could get the debt under control and restart our economy within a relatively short time.

This is from a "real" retired Attorney specializing in Constitutional Law;

The Truth About the Health Care Bills - Michael Connelly, Ret. Constitutional Attorney

Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.

To begin with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for rationing of health care, particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are involved, free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession.

The Bill will also eventually force private insurance companies out of business, and put everyone into a government run system. All decisions about personal health care will ultimately be made by federal bureaucrats, and most of them will not be health care professionals. Hospital admissions, payments to physicians, and allocations of necessary medical devices will be strictly controlled by the government.

However, as scary as all of that is, it just scratches the surface. In fact, I have concluded that this legislation really has no intention of providing affordable health care choices. Instead it is a convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated If this law or a similar one is adopted, major portions of the Constitution of the United States will effectively have been destroyed.

The first thing to go will be the masterfully crafted balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the U.S. Government. The Congress will be transferring to the Obama Administration authority in a number of different areas over the lives of the American people, and the businesses they own.

The irony is that the Congress doesn't have any authority to legislate in most of those areas to begin with! I defy anyone to read the text of the U.S. Constitution and find any authority granted to the members of Congress to regulate health care.

This legislation also provides for access, by the appointees of the Obama administration, to all of your personal healthcare information, your personal financial information, and the information of your employer, physician, and hospital in direct violation of the specific provisions of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. All of this is a protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. You can also forget about the right to privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion regardless of what the 3rd and 4th Amendments may provide.

If you decide not to have healthcare insurance, or if you have private insurance that is not deemed acceptable to the Health Choices Administrator appointed by Obama, there will be a tax imposed on you. It is called a tax instead of a fine because of the intent to avoid application of the due process clause of the 5th Amendment. However, that doesn't work because since there is nothing in the law that allows you to contest or appeal the imposition of the tax, it is definitely depriving someone of property without the due process of law.

So, there are three of those pesky amendments that the far left hate so much, out the original ten in the Bill o f Rights, that are effectively nullified by this law It doesn't stop there though.

The 9th Amendment that provides: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people;

The 10th Amendment states: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are preserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Under the provisions of this piece of Congressional handiwork neither the people nor the states are going to have any rights or powers at all in many areas that once were theirs to control.

I could write many more pages about this legislation, but I think you get the idea. This is not about health care; it is about seizing power and limiting rights. Article 6 of the Constitution requires the members of both houses of Congress to "be bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution." If I was a member of Congress I would not be able to vote for this legislation or anything like it, without feeling I was violating that sacred oath or affirmation. If I voted for it anyway, I would hope the American people would hold me accountable.

For those who might doubt the nature of this threat, I suggest they consult the source, the US Constitution, and Bill of Rights. There you can see exactly what we are about to have taken from us.

Michael Connelly
Retired attorney,
Constitutional Law Instructor
Carrollton , Texas

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
  - Charles Mackay

Worship?

For those of you who are not Christians, you may want to come back on Monday.  I really don't mind if you read this post, but you might not grasp the significance.  I have been troubled for some years about what passes for worship in my denomination.  It really doesn't matter which one it is as they all are subject to the same social pressures.  I know some churches have a suitable worship service, but I have noticed a trend toward pleasing the public at the expense of experiencing worship.  Loss of the beautiful poetry of hymnity in favor of the endless repetition of some modern chorus is robbing us of some beautiful statements on scripture.  I wrote this poem  years ago to express my angst with the modernization of the service at the expense of real ministry.

            Worship?

I arrive each Sunday morning

With some anticipation

That perhaps I’ll find it again.

Worship.

I feel no comfort, only anxiety.

Has it left me, or have I left it?

Am I on the wrong page?

The buzz of people talking in the sanctuary

before the service.

Politics, health, sports, gossip;

It creates quite a din.

No time for quiet reflection,

thoughts of God,

relief from the every day.

The hustle to be on time.

Announcements with prayers in them.

Prayers with announcements in them.

Racks with unused hymnals,

silent reminders of the inspired poetic

utterances of Saints of old.

Sometimes we sing one or two

rarely stopping for a breath between them

so that we can chant some overused chorus

several times while craning our necks

to see the words displayed high above

on a drop down screen.

No music to follow.  Just some bouncy tune

that we should know because we

hear it so often.

It makes me want to bunny hop down the aisle.

I squirm and hope that the song service ends soon.

Worship.

Over amped, theatrical wailing with words lost in its

thunder.

This followed by clapping.

And we’ve just begun.

Let us all join in our denominational mandate

to try and find a sermon in whatever ten

verses might be next in line

as we pedantically march through

whatever book happens to come next.

That is if we, by some miracle, happen to

finish the last one.

Let’s not fall prey to the topical sermon

to uplift and inspire.

Whatever comes next is whatever comes next

regardless of content.

If it happens to be a little short on depth,

just use amplified sermonology;

The holy art of cramming a five minute sermon

Into thirty.

“And the young lawyer asked, questioned, inquired, formed an interrogative sentence, etc.”

“Who is my neighbor?

Who is my neighbor?

Who is my neighbor?

Who is my neighbor?”

Worship.

I don’t get it anymore.

But, we must move on to the reading of the announcements

printed in the bulletin.

Duck hunting instructions, flower arranging, and golf tournament.

Worship?

Dennis Price

The IRS.

I don't know about you, but the IRS is always lurking somewhere in the back of my mind.  At the end of December I start to tense up, and then in January when the required reporting documents start appearing in my mail box I go into full revulsion of the whole process.  Why should any American be required to hire outside help to pay his taxes?  Well, for one thing, the entire tax code is an impossible mire of mumbo jumbo that can't be interpreted the same way by any two people, and that includes those who work for the IRS.  Just look how many outside agencies are making money off the American Taxpayer.  You have agencies who sell computerized programs to guide you through the process.  I've watched my tax preparer try and use these programs and he has trouble with them even though he has used them for years and is very conversant with the tax code.  Then you have companies who will actually prepare the tax forms for you.  They even make money off filing the short form.  Then you have companies made up of former IRS agents who will go with you to fight for your rights as a citizen when the IRS interprets your tax documents differently than you did.

Yesterday, an Austin, TX man killed himself by crashing an airplane into a building that housed the IRS.  I think very few people would go that far, but it does highlight an increasing dissatisfaction with the government for ignoring the people who elected them.  Are you inclined to cooperate fully with the census?  Read Walter Williams column for February 17, 2010 for a better explanation.  I have long felt the increasing sprawl of federal government power in the lives of tax paying Americans.  The U. S. Constitution is being trampled by those who write our laws and those who interpret them.  Our inability to live within our budget is directly related to the number of  "needy" people who depend on the federal government for sustenance.  We support not only our own country and its citizens, but somehow we have the idea the American taxpayer is responsible for other countries and their citizens.  I not talking about temporary benevolent aid, I'm speaking here of lifetime commitments.  Throughout our history, some politicians have filled their own pockets with money stolen from the U. S. Treasury.  However, now many are stealing it not only for themselves, but for other ne'er do wells who have learned to live off of government donations to their worthless lifestyles.  No wonder people are feeling the way they do.

I would feel much better if we had a flat tax which required everyone to pay.  Imagine how simple the tax code would be then.  I would also like to see a system requiring some type of work to be associated with welfare, and severe penalties for fraud.  We could also simplify the Immigration laws and only allow immigration to those who made proper application and met stringent criteria for entry.  No citizenship for children born here just because their parents made the swim before they were delivered.  You might ask what this has to do with the tax code, but it has a lot to do with how many tax dollars are wasted on illegal immigrants.  I live in an area of the country awash with people who need a handout, and a goodly number are illegal immigrants.  We need to clean house in D.C. electing candidates who have high moral values, integrity, and a sense of patriotic duty.  I truly believe their are more of us than there are of them and we should all turn out at the polls.  Be sure to go to your primary elections too.  We can weed out the pretenders and long time political hacks during the primary elections.

The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.
  - Mark Twain

Back in My Office

I won't say I was behind, but I almost filled my existing hard drive memory.  I had a 40GB memory and by modern standards I was behind.  So, I had my very talented son-in-law upgrade my computer.  Now I have 30 times more hard drive capacity, and I doubled my RAM.  Aren't you impressed that I can even talk like this.  Three weeks ago I didn't even know what a terabyte was and now I have one.  My three year old grandson can play video games I can't even turn on, but he is trying to teach me.  I am weary of talking about the political scene as it doesn't change very fast, but I am hopeful voters will soundly reject incumbents in favor of new conservative candidates who have skills other than having been to law school.  We have been recycling these dolts for too long.  In Texas we have a long time Republican Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison trying to leave Washington and become our next governor.  I am amazed at her adds.  I don't think she realizes how little confidence the voting public has in people who have spent the last seventeen years in D.C.  Our other Republican choice is a Latina who thinks the government was responsible for the events of 9/11.  The multiple choices on the Democrat ticket are all, well, Democrats.  Our current Republican governor, Rick Perry, has done a pretty fair job.  It is difficult to whole heartedly back any seated politician, but I like Governor Perry more than the rest.

Every day I am amazed by the stupidity coming from the Democrats.  I continue to say if we had a bipartisan system still in place that offered real checks and balances, we could remove most of the current cabinet including the President for violating the Constitutional requirements related to holding their respective offices.

We need people on both sides who have a solid moral code and a value system that includes following our U. S. Constitution when enacting legislation.  We would then have legitimate checks and balances with both groups putting aside special interests (to include lining their own pockets with tax payer dollars) and doing what is best for the country.  Being bi-partisan in this day and age means going along to get along in spite of how ridiculous and illegal the legislation is.

We need legislation to stand alone on its own merits unencumbered by special interest earmarks used to buy votes from unscrupulous politicians.  These huge bills, which are constitutionally illegal and unmanageable because of their size and the amount of unintelligible legalese they contain, should be totally scrapped.

We could trim huge chunks from government by going to a flat tax and dumping the current tax code along with the thousands of bureaucrats needed to interpret and enforce it.  No American should have to pay experts to prepare and defend their tax contributions.  Everyone should be required to pay the flat tax.

We should embark on an all out effort to prevent illegal immigration into this country.  Other countries have been successful with stringent enforcement standards.  All illegal immigrants should be deported and face severe sanctions if they return without going through the proper channels.  The immigration code needs to be simplified so we can enforce it without another army of bureaucrats being on the payroll to plow through its multiple tomes.

We don't need to be giving anything to other countries until we get our own country back on a solid fiscal footing.  We should not engage in wars we don't intend to win and win decisively.  If a country is a threat, it should be neutralized.  No effort should be made to rebuild one building in these stone aged bastions of ignorance and religious zealotry.

We should pray for a leader talented enough to lead.  One who has some battle scars and loves this country. I think the next time I hear the words; "the first_________ (you fill in the protected class of your choice) to be nominated for __________...." I will automatically reject the candidate.  I would rather hear; "the first candidate to be nominated because of their outstanding qualifications to hold the office.  We need to drop this touchy feely politically and socially correct nonsense in favor of real character and patriotic zeal for our freedom.

The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.
  - George F. Will


That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.  Pappy

Happy Valentine's Day

     CUPID’S AIM

Eros raised his little bow

and let an arrow fly.

It failed to drop as he had planned

so, hit me in the eye.

He notched another quickly,

but, this one too was high.

I’ve always heard that love is blind,

now, sadly, so am I.

Dennis Price

The Audacity of Inadequacy

"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency.
 
It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president.
 
The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us.
 
Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.
 
The republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool.

It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.”

"It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in
vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of
its laws and constitution." --Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia Query
19, 1781


"The Left doesn't want to govern, it wants to rule.... The Left is not about principles. It is about itself. It is about power. Now that President Obama has been politically weakened, look for the mask to come back on. The words of sweet reason, the entreaties to 'make a deal,' and feigned affection will now make a surprise reappearance. When the Left cannot rule, it will try to govern. Until the next time." --columnist Richard Fernandez


This is what happens to a nation when people vote based on information received from the entertainment media, a complicit main stream media, and the special interest handlers of a puppet with a good voice and winning smile.  When all the candidate's background information is blocked and destroyed by the people who would rule, all we have left are the lies made up these psychologically disturbed little men in support of the sham.  So, the undereducated are told how to vote, and the educated who bought the revisionist version of history and sociology foisted by the cloistered social engineers of academia salve their social consciousness by voting for someones skin color.  The job of leading the greatest nation on Earth is an awesome task for even the most qualified.  However, when you are a low class imitation of a statesman with a lifetime of  hatred stuck in your craw, your inability to govern is immediately visible.  We must correct our error in judgement and get rid of the haughty lifers in all branches of government.  The citizens of our great country must once again be represented by people not influenced by greedy special interests.  Pappy

An American Dream

Walking the Seawall.

Walking The Seawall

The horizon shines with a faint glint

of dawn.

Chilly winter wind

wrinkles the gray water.

A rhythmic shush matches

the advance of foamy parallel curls.

Marching bands of gulls

 play in one-note, reed tone symphony.

Strange pink blocks of granite

hold firm to the base of the seawall.

Moist salty air seeps into every crevice,

condensing, drips from cool surfaces.

New construction on battered buildings

marks the passing of hurricane season.

 

More light colors this mural.

I turn to play the scene in reverse.

Dennis Price

A Dearth of Leadership

Dearth: any scarcity or lack.  A good word for the Obama administration.  It starts at the top.  Anyone who surrounds himself with people who are idiots cannot expect anything but trouble.  However, if you happen to be dumber than the idiots who surround you what can you expect?  We bought a pig in a poke with this president.  The only reason he was elected is because he was half black.  Very few people paid attention to the fact that he was amoral and totally self centered.  In addition to that he was totally unprepared for the huge job that he faced.  If you must spend millions to keep your past a secret then you must have something to hide.  We are reaping the whirlwind.  The toilet has been flushed and we are all headed for the septic tank.

This jewel is Eric Holder, Attorney General.  What an idiot. He also has an agenda which has to do with showing us that regardless of how stupid he really is, he is the Attorney General.  Never mind that he is wrecking the nation, he is the Attorney General.  I could post picture after picture of the former lobbyist in the Obama administration, and the leftist czars, but you get the idea.  A foul mouthed group of amoral bigots with something to prove is what we have in this administration.  All have issues related to their perception of their self worth.  They feel rejected.  Duh.  You got on the wrong train and you are not going to be treated differently until you get your mind right.  Until that time they will show us.  Small people with a lot of power are dangerous.  These people are dangerous and need to be removed from office as soon as possible.

What about this foul mouthed clown, Rham Emanuel?  He has shown his butt several times and will continue to do so until he is silenced by the voters.  Everyone in the politically correct crowd is really concerned about his use of the "R" word.  No mention of his obvious use of the vernacular of the ignorant in his dropping of the "F Bomb" in all this uproar. Low-lifes with no moral conviction what-so-ever are in positions of importance in our nation.  A nation run by people who were elected and appointed only because they filled the requirement of social justification due to their protected class status.  This is what you get when you look at nothing but the color of skin and the rhetoric of globalism and socialism.  Character is important, and so are Christian values.  Islam is a threat to this country (and others) in any form.  These people are not innocents who seek only the peaceful practice of their religion.  They are all terrorists.  All the Islamic countries are our enemies and should be treated as such.  They have no moral compulsion against lying to those who are not Muslims.  We must rid our government of the weak kneed politics of the past and elect statesmen who value the continuation of freedom.

As long as people will accept crap, it will be financially profitable to dispense it.
  - Dick Cavett

They have no dog in the hunt.

I just wrote a letter to one of our numbskulled Democrat Representatives from the lower Texas Rio Grande Valley.  He's real talented when it comes to attending political fund raising Bar-B- Ques, but his only talent outside of that is spending U. S. taxpayer dollars on any program foisted by the leftist Democrats. Most of the representatives from this region are in this category.  His reason for rubber stamping every bill they deliver is so he can  find a juicy earmark or two for the majority of his welfare addicted voting bloc.  Most of them don't read, and very few are fluent in any language.  They move from give away program to give away program as they believe they are entitled to do, and vote as they are instructed.   The complicit County workers and voting volunteers also feel obligated to overlook as much qualifying identification as they possibly can.  Our founding fathers warned us of these problems in their writing about the formation of this formerly great republic of ours.  I just read an anonymous quote that addresses a major concern of mine.  It doesn't just reflect on the parasitic politicians who are voted into office, but it calls on us to consider the part of the populace who vote for them. This large voting bloc pays little if any of the tax burden, and yet they draw a lion's share of the benefit.  The quality of education in this area is sucked down because of those brought over the border to be educated here.  The medical facilities are packed to the brim with people who are illegally here, and those who use their free benefits to see doctors for every little ache and pain.  They have plenty of time to sit in a waiting room all day because they don't have any other job related or social obligations until the weekend when they cook out with family and friends.

"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency.
 
It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president.
 
The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us.
 
Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.
 
The republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool.

It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.”


We must demand accountability from our representatives. This president is an interloper with a malicious agenda.   He has yet to be properly vetted, and I'm unsure why our conservative representatives are not raising a hue and cry to have his records revealed.  He is the least transparent president we have ever had, and he is anti-American.

Drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real owners.
  - E. Joseph Cossman