Sunday, March 30, 2008

Illegal Immigrants


Invoice their Home Countries



Illegal immigration is not about to stop or be stopped any time in the future; it’s been part of America’s history and will continue to be so.

By the time we add up the cost to the taxpayers for the benefits those illegally here receive in schools, health care, welfare and many other services plus the cost of attempting to keep them out every taxpayer in the US could probably receive a 10% income tax reduction if we put an end to it.

Prisoners break out of prisons that are designed to hold them, America is a free country with thousands of miles of borders that cannot be patrolled as securely as minimum security prison, or even a road gang so are we suppose to keep people out?


Pretty simple, but a diplomatic nightmare. First our government comes up with a dollar figure that is an average of what each illegal cost the US taxpayer, and that can and should include lost wages to American citizens who cannot get a job, how many were involved in car accidents where they had no insurance where American citizens may have lost their homes or savings and had to pay these bills out of pocket, and how much it cost to those who have broken our laws including the cost of the trial and all legal bills including public defenders. Add into this total how much it is costing us in our courts, and in the extra police protection for the demonstrations to protect the illegal immigrants anything else that costs American taxpayers should be added in to the total.

Now comes the diplomatic nightmare. Our government estimates how many illegal immigrants come from what country round the figure up to the nearest half million multiply this by the dollar figure each illegal immigrant cost the US taxpayer and deduct that amount from any foreign aid given to that country. If we don’t give foreign aid to that country deduct it from our dues at the UN and let that august body collect it.

Some of these countries may tighten up their borders if this starts costing them to much, or maybe they won’t care but at least the taxes of the US citizens won’t keep going up to cover these losses.


Bonz


Melting Pot



America had for many years been called “The Melting Pot”. This because America was and still is a land of immigrants. That is what made it the greatest country history has ever known, in inventions, science, government, and freedom to name a few examples. This growth seems to have died. Both the American born citizens and the immigrants legal and illegal have forgotten the magic that made this country what it was. That magic is there in its’ nickname “The Melting Pot”. Immigrants came to this country because of the promise of a better life, in prosperity, religious freedom, to open businesses to own land and many other wonderful reasons. Immigrants of this time come here for the same reasons the ones in the past did however they seem to have forgotten one thing that the immigrants of the past remembered. That is they left their countries because their countries, for whatever reasons could not or would not give them the freedom or chances to live the type of life they wanted so they came to America.

In order to embrace this new life with the opportunities it offered they could no longer cling to traditions, values, languages, and ways of life of their homelands. They didn’t need to forgo them all but they had to adapt, to grow to become part of this new country melt into it.

At the same time the native born citizens or the older naturalized citizens looked to these new immigrants for new idea’s, new ways to do things ways to melt parts of the new culture into the culture that is America.

That’s the magic that is forgotten.


To the new immigrants, remember you left your homeland for chances and freedoms it’s government, culture or traditions didn’t give you. You came to a new land for these chances and freedoms so melt into this country. Show us the best your homelands have to offer, and we with you as part of us will do what the magic of the melting pot has done incorporate them into “American Culture” as we have done through out our history.


To the native born Americans remember your ancestors were immigrants, they went through what these people are going through now. Show them the best of American culture. The patience, the wisdom the way we as Americans adapt and melt the best of the new with the best of what we have and make something even better.


Bonz

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Retirement Pensions


The question before the state legislature should not be whether or not elected or appointed state officials who have been convicted of a felony related to their office should be stripped of their retirement benefits be it pension, medical, or any other form of compensation. The question should be; why do elected and/or appointed officials of any government branch, (municipal, state, or federal) receive a pension and/or medical benefits at all. We taxpayers who pay these benefits have to work 40-50 years to collect miniscule social security payments and what ever 401K or employee pension we may be eligible for and hope we can survive what time is left us in a decent manner. These officials on the other hand serve a term or 2 in office (4-8 years) and receive a pension and benefits better then most taxpayers receive in pay and benefits while they are working.

Why? I see no reason for a person to collect a pension from an elected or appointed position.

I believe it is time for the taxpayers to start taking back our government and if the legislature does not do away with all retirement benefits for all elected and appointed offices then we should hold a binding public referendum and let the taxpayers have their direct say. At the same time vote out of office those officials who want to maintain the give away program to politicians.

It is time our elected officials remember that they are elected to best serve the taxpayers; it is not the other way around. Nor are they elected to serve multinational corporations and lobbyists. They are elected to do the best they can for the taxpayers and to carry out the wishes of the taxpayers to the best of their ability.


Bonz



Monday, March 17, 2008

Cut Foreign Aid & Subsidize Gas and Oil Prices


The U.S. seems to be heading for a bad economic time call it a recession or a depression we are on that downward slope. The interesting thing about this is that our politicians don’t want to do anything to help the American taxpayer but still allow big oil, other countries and other large multinational corporations to hurt America with price gouging, unfair trade practices and so on. Please don’t tell me we are not being price gouged by the oil companies, I don’t care what the price of a barrel is if your prices at the pump are so high you are making record profits in the 10’s of billions of dollars per quarter you are just gouging us.

I’m not an economic expert, however I don’t see how a small amount of tax rebate from our government is going to jump start our economy when the amount they are talking about is less then the extra (price gouged) cost it took me to heat my house this winter, add to that I’m paying an extra $150 to $200 dollars a month just to go to work. Based on that where is my disposable income to jump start the economy?

I have an idea, let’s stop all foreign aid. To Israel to Taiwan, to Brazil to Kenya to every country that we give foreign aid to. Foreign aid was a nice helpful thing to do when America could afford it now we can’t. We have Americans going with out medication or food and clothing because of this price gouging and our high taxes to help other countries. Charity begins at home.

Cut all foreign aid then subsidize gas and oil so that the American taxpayer is paying about $1.50 a gallon for gas and $1.00 a gallon for fuel oil.

China won’t let us import to them anything they make in China to protect Chinese jobs, but our government charges them little to no duty on their products because they have Most Favored Nation Status. It’s our government who’s job it is to protect Americans just giving away our jobs.

Stop allowing other countries to export to the U.S. sub standard cheap products that they pay no duty on. If they want to export to the U.S. their duty rate should be what they charge on American goods going into their country. This would help jump start American manufacturing jobs again.

But we need to get our elected officials to stop worrying about other countries but to put the United States of America first they should remember who elected them and the oath they swore when they took office to protect America.


Bonz






Misplaced Generosity



Bikers have been shown to be an extremely generous group in all the different forms of media these days. I wouldn’t dispute it one bit. Show them a worthy cause and they are out there lining up and revving their engines to support it this in it’s self is a good thing, however I feel a little prioritizing of the charities maybe in order.

If the charity is one that is near and dear to your heart or that of a loved one or friend by all means support it. If you’re just looking for a ride that weekend and not particular on what charity event you support might I suggest the following criteria to help you in your choice. Does the event support bikers, a downed brother or sister benefit, a club party, a ride for the rights organization in your state these would be first on my list to go to. Second on my list would be veteran benefit rides, animal rescue or rides for a specific hospital or care center. If none of these were going on that weekend I would just ride with some friends.

You’ve probably caught on that I do not support any of the large national rides. My reason for this is that I read an article years ago stating that only 5 to 10 cents on every dollar you donate goes to the actual cause the other 90 to 95 cents goes for administrative costs, 6 figure salaries for the head honcho’s, the rest for large staffs, (they only use volunteers at the very local level) advertising, tee shirts and other give-a ways, the entertainment at the end. To me that’s not good use of my money. The events that I listed first I feel sure donate all the money that is left over after the expenses of the run to the charity it was designed for which is hopefully more then 75 cents on the dollar, that is a good use of my money.

There are exceptions to all things and as far a large charities go a donation to the Salvation Army from what I remember 75 to 80 cents out of every dollar goes to help the people it is intended for.

Another charity event that I personally know of gives 100% of every dollar to the intended people and this event is the CMRA Toy Run, which happens the first Sunday in October. The reason I know that 100% goes to the children via the toys is because the bikers buy their own toy and donate it, there is no charge to go on the run all expenses are borne by the CMRA.

Please don’t stop being as generous as you have been, but be a little more selective in where you donate your hard earned dollars. Contact the charities prior to making your decision ask them for a financial sheet that shows how your dollar is distributed then make your decision.

Everyone out there wants your money but remember if it’s near and dear to your heart that’s number 1. Then support other bikers, followed by charities where the bulk of your dollar goes to the cause you want to help.


Ride Free, Safe and Generously this Year,

Bonz

Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Today’s Youth


Is drinking and drug abuse today really that much worse then in the preceding generations? I’m not sure. It gets more publicity then in the past but is that because there is so much more? Or is it because everything ends up on the internet or what passes for TV news these days and is blown up out of all proportion to get high ratings? I’ll let the so called experts figure that out.

What to do about it now that is the question. In today’ s mindset the way to deal with this is to blame someone or some company and then make a law against it and sue. I like keeping things simple so let’s sue the parents. After all they created these children who are creating this problem so let’s sue them. If you really do think you can solve this problem by blaming someone and suing them, then I’m serious a class action suit against parents. I’m sure at this point some people have thrown down this article in disgust, some are intrigued and some want to see if they can sue me for this.

I am serious though, in my mind the vast majority of parents today are guilty of child abuse and this is a large part of the cause of this rampant drug and alcohol problem. I am not saying the majority of parents today beat their children or abuse them in what could be considered the “norm” in child abuse. What they do in my mind while not illegal in any sense is just as damaging in the long run. They rob their children of their childhood.

It’s as if the child doesn’t come out of the womb reading, writing, playing sports or what have you they are failures. Unreasonable expectations of childhood.

I grew up in 50’s to 70’s. I remember learning how to ride a bike, the falling the fear all of it, the same with skiing matter of fact I didn’t try that until 8th grade. I remember not being chosen for little league I remember sandlot games with no adults around and we worked it out. I remember learning a lot of things. You see I had a childhood. What do kids today remember as they become adults. Probably not much. Parents have them on ski’s, ice skates, playing instruments learning sports as soon as they can walk and talk. All the things that preceding generations took up to 18 years to try, do or learn parents today want their kids to accomplish by kinder garden. They have nothing to look forward to. They’ve done it, seen it, got the tee shirt before they even know what it is they want to do. They are not living their lives, they are living the lives their parents wanted to live but couldn’t.

Interpersonal skills don’t exist, very few things are face to face. TV and the computer bombard their developing minds with new stimuli every 60-90 seconds how can they have an attention span. We read books, we played outside we invented our own games and changed the rules in others we used our imaginations to keep ourselves from getting bored and more importantly we developed attention spans and interpersonal relationships. We learned what it felt like to win and what it felt like to lose. We learned how to make friends and how to lose them.

It is interesting that the grandchildren of the “free love tune in turn on and drop out generation” should have their parents and grandparents all upset with their drinking and drugging. We all know how well behaved and anti booze and drugs we were, right. People who coined the phrase ‘if you remember the 60’s and 70’s you weren’t really there’ now telling their kid’s kids not to do what they did. Lots a luck. It didn’t work with us it didn’t work with our kids and it’s not going to work with their kids.

Examine the situation logically, do your best not to bring in any emotional coloring , opinions, survey’s or psychological ideas just keep it very simple and plain.

Everyone needs some form of stimulation, and in most cases the stimulation covers more then one of the senses or it can be mental, physical, emotional or all of the above. Our generation and preceding ones didn’t have the electronic mediums that have been developed in the past 15-20 years. We had radio, TV and movies. When I was growing up only TV channels 2-13 worked if you were lucky and had a good antenna, movie houses had 1 screen and the movie if it was good stayed for a couple of weeks, radio AM was the big thing when FM finally caught on it was great, 8 track tapes. With these limited electronic stimuli what did you do to fill in your day. We read books, we played pick up games of baseball, basketball, football (touch and tackle without equipment). These were played on vacant lots, school playgrounds, anywhere we could and no adults around and we were 8years old and older and we lived. We played war, cops and robbers cowboys and Indians, tag, dodge ball, hide and seek again without adult supervision and we lived. We didn’t sue anyone either when we weren’t picked for a team or when we feel and hurt ourselves that was just part of life. You’d be embarrassed to run home crying that you didn’t make a team. This went on all thru high school did we smoke cigarettes, drink and smoke some pot? Yes. Did it control us or ruin our lives I don’t think so. Most stopped heavy drinking and drugging along the way. The ones who didn’t probably couldn’t, they are the alcoholics and addicts every generation, every social strata every job religion ethnic group and culture has people with this disease it knows no boundaries and for that reason this group is not part of the “ problem” with today’s youth and I’m not going to discuss them.

My opinion is that when a person’s life is fast forwarded to the extent that they have no new vistas, goals or dreams that they can see in front of them that are their own they lose hope. Lost hope alone does not lead to over indulging in mind altering substances what leads to that is boredom. I’m sure more then a few of you are wondering how can they be bored, there’s theTV, internet, ipods, cell phones. Soccer practice, baseball, dance, gymnastics, all the things to fill up every waking moment in a child’s life. So how does boredom even enter the picture? Simple have the parents ever asked the kid do you want to do this? If the child says no do the parents listen, or do they force them to do it under the guise you’ll learn to like it. What could be even worse is when they have nothing to do. A glitch in the schedule, a power failure, some actual free time kids these days don’t know how to handle it. Why don’t they know how to handle free time? Because they were never allowed to have any. Well if I’m a kid and I don’t want to do something or I’m bored from free time that I don’t know how to handle and I can raid my parents booze or medicine cabinet so I’ll be a little messed up and it won’t be so bad or if I’m pretty messed up I won’t even have to go that would work for me. Punishment for this? Maybe when my parents happen to be around long enough to say something to me since they’re always working, driving myself or my siblings somewhere, or volunteering to be the ‘perfect’ parent, or they’re having their relaxation drink, prozac, valium or whatever sleep aid or anti depressant they’re on this month maybe they may say something but it will be of the don’t embarrass us and do as I say not as I do variety.

How can you blame a kid, forget the liquor ads there are plenty of anti drunk driving ads and classes out there to balance that. But what balances all the ads for the sleep aids, anti-depressants, the pills to calm your nerves, lose weight, stay awake, the pills to help you have sex. These ads are in all the “family” magazines, on all the TV channel during prime time and they see their parents, grandparents, friend’s parents all taking these things so how can they be bad for you? I mean doctors are in these ads saying how good they are and they themselves use them. Interesting or confusing message.

Maybe you don’t want to agree with this but if you’re honest with yourself you probably will, getting tipsy, high or drunk feels good at least at first. So now these kids have something they have never tried before and it makes them feel good. Add into this mix normal teenage rebellion, spreading of ones wings and just the fact that as a wise man once said “ every generation will dress drink listen to music and have sex in a way to most annoy the one that came before them” you have a large number of teenagers abusing mind altering substances.

What can be done to stop this? Really for today’s teenagers and the ones right on their heels I don’t think to much. If however we take a step back in time and allow the kids 10 and under to just be kids and learn to use their imaginations, to leave things like being a golf pro a singer an actor until they are in their teens in short leave kids something to look forward to. Don’t have them live the life you wanted to live but couldn’t for whatever reason. You had your chance if you didn’t take it oh well so sad to bad and if you want to blame your parents go a head but do you want your kids blaming you in the future. Do you want to continue the circle of abuse or do you want it to end with you.

Bonz


Sunday, March 16, 2008

Role Model for Daughters

The fact that the governor of NY had to resign because of sexual encounters with prostitutes is just a sad fact of life. He has to deal with it and unfortunately so does his family. This is becoming the norm for politicians. I'm sure everyone of them has a secret that would cause their resignation at best if brought to the light of day and probably jail time in most cases.

The issue that appears to be glossed over and even glamorized by the media is the woman who is the prostitute in this case. 22 years old selling her body for sex, gets caught doing it, gets a deal from the prosecutors office to turn states evidence. OK that's how it's done in most cases, give the person with the lesser crime a deal so that you can nail the bigger criminal. Give her the break and end it and the media coverage of her there.

The sad part is in today's world she'll probably make up to and maybe more then a quarter million dollars for her story, for nude pictures of her and what ever other sleazy marketing people can come up with, all this for being a criminal. For being guilty of one of the oldest crimes in history. Go ahead laugh say it's not that bad, she made a mistake cover for her. But remember she was living in a $3500 per month apartment, not just trying to keep food on the table for her family but rather just living a greedy materialistic life that only benefited her. So when your daughter decides instead of getting a decent normal respectable job because she thinks she can make more as a prostitute and since you and the media said it was ok for this girl to do it don't get mad at her you condoned it, even if only silently by not speaking out.

Everyone wonders why drugs, sex and violence permeate US culture. It's really quite simple, people like this are made celebrities by the media and decent people don't speak up. Billions of dollars are made in this country glorifying needless violence and sex and our children think this is the way to behave because their parents don't speak out against it or promote it by watching it, taking part in it or just silently condoning it because they don't have the courage to stand up to it.

Just remember the old quote " When they came for the Jews I did nothing, when they came for the Gypsies I did nothing, when they came for the Christians I did nothing when they came for me there was no one left to do anything"
If your your daughters and sons turn into prostitutes and pimps remember you could have said something.

BONZ

Commander and Chief Oath



When I enlisted in the US Air Force I swore an oath to defend the United States of America from all enemies foreign and domestic. I would think the oath our commander and chief swore when he assumed the office of president would have been the same if not stronger. The same for our congressmen and women, senators, governors and all of our elected officials both federal and state.

It appears I was wrong. By virtue of their ignoring the raping of the American economy by the oil companies, the giving away of American jobs by lowering our health and safety standard to allow importation of substandard less expensive articles to be sold in mega stores which have all but guaranteed the death of the American dream by destroying or buying out all competition. By allowing other nations to import their goods into America for little or no duty knowing full well that they have lower costs and are in many cases subsidized by the government of that country and yet that country (China in this case) will purchase one (1) machine from the US copy it and then refuse to allow any further importation of that machine to protect it’s countries workers. One solution to this is subject all imports into the US to the same duty and restrictions that country places on US goods being imported into it.

Oil companies should be nationalized or failing that the majority of all gas and oil sold in the US must come from US sources at a subsidized rate. In addition all major oil companies operating in the mid east should be billed for the cost of our keeping a military presence there to protect their fortunes. This should lower American’s taxes. Why should we pay double for our gas and oil?

Immigrants legal or illegal should understand the way my grandparents did when they immigrated. They are leaving their homeland because it does not give them the freedom, safety, growth potential they are looking for. To move to another country to get those things they must embrace the new way of life. If they continue to try to make America into their old homeland they may soon find the same restrictions in place that caused them to emigrate in the first place. America was called the melting pot because we blended the best of all cultures and got rid of the worst.

It appears to me beyond a reasonable doubt that our present elected officials have sworn oaths of allegiance not to the United States of America but rather to multinational corporations who’s only God is greed.

The solution I see is in this coming election vote out all incumbents, take back our country and states governments. Put these politicians on notice that if they put multinational corporations and other countries ahead of the US they will be voted out. This is good practice for the 2008 presidential elections.

The last piece of evidence that makes this an air tight case that from the president on down our elected officials do not care about Americans and that is the fact they will spend billions of dollars and tens of thousands American lives in Iraq but they will not provide healthcare for American children. Bush vetoed it and congress didn’t care enough for American children to override it. Remember these are the same children who will be paying taxes in the future. But more important then that if you keep giving away our jobs who is going to pay your salaries now?