Offline
Background
Name: Bob
Birthday: May 8
Gender: Male
Status: Widowed
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Location:
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nevada
United States
School:
University of Toledo Ohio
Work:
Retired
with way too much time on my hands
Hometown(s):
Toledo Ohio
Perris, CA
Lambertville, MI
Albany, NY
Largo, FL
Morristown, TN
Arlington, TX
Las Vegas, NV
Quote:
"My candle burns at both ends, It will not last the night - But oh my foes and oh my friends It makes a lovely light."

About Me

I live in North Las Vegas, Nevada with my brother and his two sons. I moved here after my wife passed away in 2002 after 20 years in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. I am a retired videographer, having done primarily weddings for 13 years. I was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, but have lived all over the US. I have a 35-y.o. daughter who lives in Houston, Texas.

Interests:
I enjoy computing, reading, TV and movies and eating buffets at the casinos. I enjoy working at home repairs and landscaping. I belong to the National Rifle Association, American Philatelic Society, American Mensa Society. As far as Religious Beliefs - I consider myself a latitudinarian.

My Photos (240)

My Videos (17)

My Journals (7)

 

 

Thoughts on a subject -


I had the good fortune to meet and spend time with a British author and intellectual while on a trip to Belize. We discussed many things over the days we spent together, and it was interesting to see how America and Americans are viewed by other members of our international community.


One thing she shared was the international perception of American gun ownership. She said that even though Americans are viewed as the most heavily-armed citizenry in the world, we are seen as allowing our government to dictate to us, and even when those dictates become counterproductive or corrupted, we only stand lamely and complain. Whereas a democratic government is supposed to be a tool of it’s citizens, it seems to many foreigners that in America, the citizens are merely tools of the government.


She said that she hears all the time when speaking to Americans that our citizens bemoan the fact our countrymen are going hungry, yet we spend billions of our tax dollars to send food to foreign regimes that merely divert the aid to ’black-marketeers’ for their own prestige and profit.

 

Our educational system is practically broken, mostly for lack of funding, yet we continue to develop great weapons of mass destruction costing billions of dollars, rather than trying to develop an educated citizenry. So very many of us are suffering from a lack of medical care, or inadequate housing and nutrition, and our elderly are barely able to survive, yet government waste and corruption siphon billions of needed dollars every year, and it never ends. 

 

Illegal aliens stream into the country and drain more billions in the form of border control, capture and deportation, substandard employment, medical and survival assistance, use of the infrastructure paid for by our citizens without contributing to it’s upkeep, and freely using and straining the resources of an eductional system barely able to keep pace with our own citizen’s demands.

 

Our troop go overseas and lay their lives on the line, yet when the unthinkable happens and they are sent home to recover, they are subjected to military hospitals that are delapidated and decaying, and the damaged among them are discharged and forced to wade through miles of red tape to get the assistance and medical help needed to maintain life after service. Which, by the way, should make other young, able-bodied soldiers question the wisdom of fighting and dying for a system that won’t support them should they make the ultimate sacrifice of giving their life or their health in it’s defense.


And her point was, with such a heavily armed citizenry, why do Americans simply whimper and continue to take this abuse from the very government we created?  I hear people like Obama saying ’Enough!’, but older Americans have heard it all before.  Not one candidate in modern history has stood before the American media and hollered ’Four more years of graft, ineptitude, waste and corruption’, but that is what we keep getting. They all promise change, reform, governmental responsibility, yadda, yadda, yadda - yet here we are! Almost 40 years ago, the actor Peter Finch in the movie ’Network’ urged everyone to adopt the attitude of  "I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore."  Yet here we are, a whole generation later, still taking it. 


You need only ask anyone, friends, neighbors, co-workers - anyone, and they will echo the same sentiments - they are tired of the waste,the inefficiency, the corruption, the malfeasance that continues year in and year out. But - NOTHING EVER CHANGES!  And this in a country where more than half the citizenry is armed!!!   This is baffling to those not conditioned into thinking the citizens are tools of the government, not that the ’democratic’ government is supposed to be the tool of the citizenry.

 

Is it time to say ’Enough’ and "I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore"?  And, if not now -- when?

Bob Sage - Labor Day, 2008

Added: September 1, 2008
Views: 32 | Comments: 5 | Bookmarks: 0
DorKul says:
P.S. I see you deleted the "Taoist" from your profile, but I'm still interested to know what a "latitudinarian" is?
Posted: September 4, 2008 12:22AM EDT
BobInLV says:
[This is a comment submitted by my daughter, concerning the journal entry above:]

I would agree that that in order to affect a change we, as Americans, will need to "collectively rebel" against the status quo - not necessarily by the taking up of arms but via some "we're not going to take it anymore" mechanism. Equally effective would be a collective failure to pay taxes. Or collective failure to vote...maybe. I don't think many would disagree that it will take citizens united to make any kind of drastic change (and we have already seen that gradual change is ineffective). So to me, the real dilemma is not how to affect the change but rather how to unify and motivate citizens to action. I think the downfall of the American culture (and therefore ultimately our government) is the inability to compromise. While we won't be able to all unify on an exact agenda, we probably are all generally upset about the same type of things - but people can't see the forest for the trees. Until people are ready to set aside their own agendas for the greater good we won't see the collaboration required to make the needed significant changes
Posted: September 4, 2008 3:03AM EDT
DorKul says:
I totally agree with you and your friend as to - "if so many people think it's bad, then why is nothing happening to change it?" - especially since we are talking about a democracy, with built-in tools for change. I hate to admit it (since I am very much against civilian gun ownership - but we don't have to go into that) - but I do have to agree with your 1776 example - in an oppressive regime, it seems there is no other way out. Still, I don't really see the connection between this and the right to bear arms, since we agree that democracy does enable peaceful change, and that is still not happening.
I also don't see the connection of all of the above with the international perception of the US as "the greatest threat to international security". The fact that the US is a democracy (and the fact that many US citizens own guns) has nothing to do with the international perception of the US. I think that perception is based on US international policy - not how the government treats its citizens, but how it behaves outside of US boundaries. I've lived outside the US for many, many years, and most people I've spoken with don't know (and don't care) about US gun-ownership policy. Most people (including US citizens) are mainly concerned with what affects them directly. Which would also explain "American's perception of themselves" - it's very easy to have a good opinion of yourself when you are cut off from (or refuse to listen to) people who might think otherwise. A friend from Singapore told me a few years ago that only 7% of US citizens have passports - which leaves 93% who have never visited another country, and don't know how it looks from the outside. I'm not sure the numbers are accurate, but I'm sure the general idea is true
Posted: September 3, 2008 11:45PM EDT
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