SLAYING DRAGONS

'IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT POLITICS IS

            THE SECOND OLDEST PROFESSION.

                 I HAVE FOUND THAT IT BEARS

               STRIKING RESEMBLANCE

            TO THE FIRST"

                                                         Ronald Reagan

     Hitler perfected the BIG LIE.  Which is that by telling the biggest whopping lie over and over that it will eventually be believed.  And this has not been lost by politicians and industry strategists when working on a cause.

      I was bowled over by the ad run by UNCORK KANSAS ALLIANCE about changing the retail rules for beer, wine and spirits.  They stated that you needed to join them to work against the 'giants' in the liquor industry and let the grocery, discount, and convenience stores sell them.

      This group headed by the retired Mr. Dillon of Kroger (based in Cincinnati), Wal Mart (Bentonville, Ark.), Target (France), and others, fighting against the mom and pop store in your neighborhood.  What a whooper.

     This movement comes around every session of the Legislature with the same arguments.  They bring to town suitcases of cash and slick ad campaigns to get the only protected family business in the state killed.

     All the hype and lies it stills leaves the reality that one family in your neighborhood could be losing their business.  Anti trust laws protect from one entity dominating a particular area of business.  But there is no protection from clusters of competing business from killing the little guy.

      Imagine owning a business that you have to wonder from legislative session to session whether you will still be in business?  It is the law now that only one license can be held by anyone at a time. 

       Most places have a resident requirement for that.  Plus your business is the source of increased taxation for a government that cannot control spending.  Then you have law enforcement that instead of working with you to stop underage drinking try to set you up to be ticketed when they figure out how to fool a clerk into selling to one.

      It seems that the benevolent UNCORKED is slaying dragons in the wild west of Kansas.  Seems more like stepping on a lizard or kicking your dog.

      

SAVING HISTORY

"PLANS ARE NOTHING;

                         PLANNING IS EVERYTHING."

                                 Dwight D. Eisenhower

      Wichita has a fantastic group of people and an institution that I have never had the chance to go see.  It is the Kansas Aviation Museum at the old Municipal Airport on the west side of McConnell AFB and north of Boeing.  Here they are taking a lot of Kansas Aviation history and restoring it to its new looks and function by a group of talented aircraft workers and enthusiasts.  They have been working on 'Doc' a B-29 of the type that dropped the Atomic bombs on Japan ending WWII.

      But that is not their only exhibit or restoration job.  It is great when folks you know can create something that is world class.  I never worked in the air craft industry but no Kansan can deny the deep roots it has in the state.  It is a fascinating story and world.

     Friends of mine built the current Air Force One and Two 747's here in Wichita.  They are about to replace them with another pair of 747's modified to be a flying White House for our president.  The Air Force One program is a great story and the first version of it is about to be lost.  And I propose that a joint effort to procure the number one version that belonged to our home son President Dwight David Eisenhower.  Bring it to Wichita and restore it for the museum.
     In 1953 there was a near miss collision between Eastern Flight 8610 and Air force Flight 8610 over New York City.  When they found out that Air force Flight 8610 was President Eisenhower's Constellation Columbine II it was quickly decided that whenever the president was in the air that the flight was AIR FORCE ONE.  This Lockheed Constellation was the first in the series of Air Force Ones and the only one to be sold as surplus by the government.
      When the Smithsonian started looking for the lost plane it contacted the owner of record Mel Chrysler in Wyoming.  Mr. Chrysler runs an aerial spray service and purchased a lot of five Constellations.  He intended to put all into service but one was in poor shape and was saved for parts.
     The one setting in the desert and almost cut up is the original Columbine II.  It would be a shame to lose a part of our history to the scrapper.  Mr. Chrysler is interested in seeing the plane restored and in a museum somewhere.
     Since I just found the story I am checking on the progress that has been made and where things are at this time.  But what better timing than when we just changed the name of Wichita Midcontinent Airport to Dwight D Eisenhower airport, to save his plane and put it on display here in Wichita?
      I am hoping that I can start the interest building here in the community and with the City of Wichita, Wichita Air Museum, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, and the aircraft industry here to fund and complete this project.
     There is a Face Book page at FirstAirForceOne.  Also an email address FisrtAirForceOne@gmail.com.  The website is not up right now

      

OH THAT EARLY SPRING DAY.

"SUNSHINE ON MY SHOULDER

MAKES ME HAPPY".

                                              John Denver

     There is such a nice thing that happens now and then in the late winter that really makes me happy.  It is that odd day or two that the cold, blowy, cloudy, winter days seem to be getting longer as I get longer in the tooth.  With the blood sugar that is always giving me problems I seem to be cold all the time.  Setting on the porch on summer days are a pure pleasure now instead of hibernating under the air conditioner of earlier years.

       Well this week I was able to take the dog out on the porch and I have gotten the same pleasure of a warm sunbeam that she does.  It is a great feeling to thaw out clear to the bones including my toes.

      Now part of the pure pleasure besides the sunshine is the TV turned off and the continual drivel of News is off and the quiet is so nice. I have the CD player on with silly stories by Andy Nelson.  As I am writing this the sun is starting to warm up one last time for now.  And I am handed a 21st century staple gun that needs loading.  After an hour of ruining my attitude it goes in the trash and the perfected design from the 1950's is dug out and put back into service.

      Oh I can feel that sunshine now.  Soak up a batch of that vitamin D and snooze with the dog at my feet.  The Blizzard from Hell did not happen back east and the climate change people are trying to figure out how the fact that they can't predict 12 hours that they can convince us that they can predict 50 years ahead.

      Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy!!!!!

SOMETIMES YOU JUST DON'T FEEL ALL THAT FUNNY

"OUR LIVES BEGIN TO END

THE DAY WE BECOME

SILENT ABOUT THINGS

THAT MATTER."

                                                Martin Luther King

     It may be the weather or the fact that I am on my way to get a needle stuck in my back, that I am not feeling particularly funny.  Maybe it is the fact that after the known lies and false science that was pushing the global warming crowd that they are back with a new set of figures to push their agenda again.

      Or that we are two years away from the presidential elections and the news media is busy determining who we are going to nominate and vote for at that time.  What ever happened to reporting the news not creating it?

      Could it be that there are people who really believe that UN troops are threatening our way of life.  (Really, those blue bereted peace keepers that could not stop either side in a dozen conflicts from shooting each other)?

      What is fully expected is the new proposal from Der Fuher to increase taxes instead of stop spending.

       At long last the price of gas is coming back towards reasonable levels and we can fill up with wondering at the amount of money left over from the last few years.  Yet when we have the ability to buy a little more what we choose it is a looming worldwide disaster.

       The dynamic of how the world operates takes a different flow, and possibility, when energy is affordable is a fact that governments and bureaucrats don't want us to know about.

     It is expensive to produce energy and those who are in the business adjust to the fluctuation.  Many fortunes were made from $10 oil.  There is a lot of available energy at a higher range and there is a happy medium out there.  It is just not so easy as when oil is $95 a barrel.

      When the medium is discovered and the politician and nationalists are put out of the control, the rate of efficiencies will go on and alternatives will be cheapened.
     As time goes on we know that the developments will make our heads spin and it is the old boy under the shade tree that figures it out and not the PHD spoon fed the taxpayers dollars.
     Right now we have a bunch of 8th century clowns threatening to attack us.  Guess it is time for rag heads and Indians.
     Nope I am just not feeling so funny today.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

"NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER

OF HUMAN STUPIDITY!"

                                        Robert A Heinlein

     You know I have known ordinarily nice and intelligent people who turn into closet Nazis when emotions are stirred into a subject that they have strong opinions of.  Now it does take some conviction and courage to stand for what is right.  The problem is when 'right' is mixed up with agenda.  And many times the 'agenda' is someone else's.

       It is OK to have strong feelings on a subject that you have more emotions of than knowledge of.  That is as long as you are not forcing your opinions on someone who is knowledgeable and making a living from it.

      Let take Pigs for an example.  Yes, pork, hogs, swine, porcine, the other white meat.  Now I am sure that there is a small percentage that make their living raising Pork.  There is also a huge group that loves the products made from pork.  Now there is an even smaller group outside of Jewish and Muslim communities that for some reason either hates pork or uses it to drive agenda's that have nothing to do with reality.

       Now when a small group wants to drive agendas and need the numbers of people that will actually join them in their crusade there has to be a lot of misrepresentation, fabrication, and lies to build the emotions of its followers.

      Now lets look at Chipotle's Restaurant's.  Since a group has tried the frontal approach to change how hogs are raised and have not been overwhelmingly successful.  A campaign of emotions and pure bullying has been waged.  Pork is now dropped from the restaurant chain since the organizations who are attacking the Pork industry are forcing businesses to take stands that have nothing to do with their business.

      Forcing companies to set their own industry standards on the products they sell is not new.  It is a shame that Chipotle is forced by animal rights groups to drop a product that is a major part of their historic menu.

     It is a shame but this works both ways and the Chipotle company will be the loser either way.  It is very simple.  I will not eat at their restaurant's as long as they knuckle under to the animal rightists.  Lets see if the few animal rightists make up for the loss of this business.

    But then I doubt that they even care or eat their anyway.

CAKE AND EATING IT

"IN POLITICS STUPIDITY

IS NOT A HADICAP".

                                              Napoleon Bonaparte

     Well since it is so cold, (damn that global warming), I am not getting out and visiting parts of Kansas as much as I like to.  So even with Fox News gone fighting with Dish, politics is taking a big part of my observations.  We are about to witness the worst in human behavior.  Not just terrorists, but those who are in charge of doing our business.  The most dangerous time of year is when Congress and the Legislature are in session.

     If any of you are waiting for solutions to come out of Washington you might as well find a place to get comfortable and wait.  When the chance to replace the leader of the House was stopped we all know that things have not changed.  The first duty of the day is to punish those members who had the gall to oppose the leadership.  New ideas are not the subject of the day.

      The original way that the states selected their Senators was not by direct vote of the people.  The people elected their state legislatures and the House of Representatives for their districts.  It was up to the state to nominate and elect the senator.  This changed because it made the position too beholding to the people back home.  It is a six year term for Senator so even doing some blatant things lets the office holder pretty well count on the short term memory of the voter.

     Without an added amendment to the Constitution there is no way to rein in the out of control workings of the Federal Government.  I am afraid that the next two years will be so disappointing that the gains made in the Congress will be lost for a generation.  We are at that point where dependence on the government, deteriorating education, and expanding self centeredness are over growing the well informed voter.

      Is there anything I feel good about?  Yes.  There is a new generation of sincere, educated, and products of grassroots America starting to show up.  One that I am most hopeful for is the newly elected 113th House Rep. J. Basil Dannebohm from Ellinwood.  Whatever the circumstances, he ran unopposed in the primary and general elections and was able to concentrate on getting a foot up in Topeka and ready to hit the ground running.

      It would take too long to go through his resume but suffice it to say that he is an extraordinary person for the job and I think larger jobs down the line.  Yes I mean national office.  I want to be the first on his bandwagon.  This considering that I am not a fan of the run of the mill politician or the wannabe politician. 

     As they say "all politics are local" I hope that Basil's run at representing you and me inspires others that still possess some character and common sense to follow his lead.

      The old saying "you can't have your cake and eat it to" never made any sense to me.  And it doesn't take a smart elec kid on a TV commercial to say if you have cake we might as well eat it.  Lets find some more of these smart kids growing up and get them in their pushing out the dead weight.

2015, YOUR KIDDING RIGHT?

"I AM SEEING THE LOGIC

OF TUCSON IN THE

WINTER"

                             Roger Ringer

     When I was in school around 1969 I thought about what things would be like at the turn of the century.  It seemed like a long time because I would be 45 years old.  I could not imagine that the 25 cent hamburger would cost over $5.  It just seemed like a long, long time to wait.

      The revolution in technology passed me by in a blur.  It is amazing to me that the PC that I am writing this on has more power than the computer that run the space shuttle.  To go from the 707 to the 777 seems just ridiculous.  I had friends that worked on both Air Force One's and they are outliving my friends.  I would like to see them set on the ground a little more often.

     I used to be impatient with the 'older' folks setting and talking about doctors and the latest ailments.  Now I am the one doing that.  Hold on!

Things that I used to love to do I cannot even get excited for and a well designed restroom is more exciting than the latest cars from Detroit.

      I will soon be turning 60 even though it does not seem possible or logical.  I am more and more not wanting to read the highlights of what happened last year.  The list of people we have lost in the year is depressing because most of the entertainers and celebrities are not measuring up to the ones we grew up with.  (Who is Rob Lowe) and why is he bothering the hell out of me?

      Ad men used to  just smoke Mary Jane, but now seem to be smoking Crack.  I am more and more wondering just what they are advertising?  It has always seemed that the latest doom and gloom scenario was hot topic on the news and now we get them in bunches.

       What is 2015 going to be about?  Well I foresee a bunch of self centered people in Washington trying to tell us how to live our lives.  I see more and more who want to give someone else's money to others.  I see agendas coming from so called news organizations which may as well just call them selves what the are, Propagandists.

       I see self centered people worrying about things they can do nothing about and yet sacrifice their children to 'save' the world.  I see a whole lot of ordinary people who do the job, as they always have, in the quiet custom that they are used to.  And a handful of loud obnoxious people trying to change the world for no other reason than they have Hope and Change as a mantra.

      In other words, 2015 is going to be the same.