Originally Posted by
saltydawg
*"I'm 63 and I'm Tired"*
/ by Robert A. Hall/
Robert A. Hall is the actor who plays the coroner on CSI if you
watch that show. He also is a Marine Vietnam War veteran.
*/Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms
in the Massachusetts State Senate./*
This should be required reading for every man, woman and child in
the United States of America .
*I'm 63*. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce
and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting
every day, I've worked hard since I was 18. Despite some health
challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick
in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't
inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given
the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very
tired.
*I'm tired* of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to
bankers (people) who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the
government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and
give it to same people who ruined my retirement by gambling with the
whole economy. (too lazy or stupid to earn it.)
*I'm tired* of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep
people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick,
I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times
the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my
salary, then let the [missing word] (leftwing) Congress-critters who passed the "Emergency Economic
Stabilization Act of 2008" bank bailout (Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble) help them with their own money.
*I'm tired* of being told how bad social security and Medicare is for America
by billionaires like the Koch brothers (is by leftwing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros, and Hollywood entertainers) who live in luxury because of the
opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the
United States will have the [missing text] (religious freedom and women's rights of Saudi Arabia,) economy of Zimbabwe , the freedom of the press of
China, the crime and violence of Mexico , the tolerance for Christian (Gay) people
of Iran , and the freedom of speech of Venezuela .... [missing text] (Won't multiculturalism be beautiful?)
*I'm tired* of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when
every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their
sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims
rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and
Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for
girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for
"adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all
in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them
to.
*I'm tired* of being told that "the rich pay most of the taxes" in the
post-fairness world of Wall Street bailouts, when their tax rate is only 15%
on the money they get from Wall Street, while honest working class people pay
28% on money they actually earn. The one honest billionaire, Warren Buffett,
said it best: "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich
class, that's making war, and we're winning."
(I believe “a man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin.” I’m tired of being told that “race doesn’t matter” in the post-racial world of President Obama, when it’s all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of US Senators from Illinois.) *I think* it's very cool that we have a black president and that a
black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote
the Emancipation Proclamation. I just wish George Bush had not left him with
two wars and a ruined economy. Not a good way to start a presidency. (the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less in an all-knowing government.)
[missing text]
I’m tired of a news media that thinks Bush’s fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama’s, at triple the cost, were wonderful. That thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress, that picked over every line of Bush’s military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his, that slammed Palin with two years as governor for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever.
Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn’t vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.
*I'm tired* of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures"
we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and
madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America , while no
American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious
school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.
*I'm tired* of being told I must lower my living standard every time the
Federal Reserve lowers interest rates on my CDs, (to fight Global Warming) which no one is allowed to debate. We worked hard to save the money we did, but the interest on that is not going to support us now. It's supporting bankers who get to borrow our
money for almost free, and lend it out at ten times as much interest. (My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore’s, and if you’re greener than Gore, you’re green enough.)
*I'm tired* of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I
must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do.
Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff
white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I
don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I #@*# damn sure think
druggies chose to take drugs. And I'm tired of harassment from cool
people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried
marijuana. (Update: People have written to tell me I'd have more sympathy if this was close to me. It is exactly having seen the destruction of alcoholism and heroin addiction in my own family that makes me pretty intolerant of people who are willing to destroy the people around them to indulge themselves.)
*I'm tired* of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," when no one
questions the employers who put them to work in the first place. Don't those
employers have some responsibility here? They sure do know they are employing
illegals, but they never get fined for it. (especially the ones who aren’t working, but are living on welfare or crime. What’s next? Calling drug dealers, “Undocumented Pharmacists”?) And, no, I'm not against Hispanics.
Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics
wanted to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship
any Hispanic person who [missing text] (can speak English) doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military.... Those are the citizens we need. (Update: A few people have taken this to indicate some bias against Catholics, based on events 400 years ago. While I think they are either too touchy or fail to understand, I was only trying to say that I have zero problem with Catholics wanting to come to the US, but that I have great concerns about Muslims, as a good % of them do want to kill me, or force their religion and moral code on me.)
*I'm tired* of billionaires and their paid-for Fox News (latte liberals and) journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their
privilege-(entitlement-)handicapped kids near a recruiting station, sending our boys to die for their profits (trashing our military). They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our
troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that
were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years and still are? Not even
close. So here's the deal. I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation
and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics
can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims, who tortured and
beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered
Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the
blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims
who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were
Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the
only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of
hiding from in fear.
*I'm tired* of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and
the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers; bums are
bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship. I live
in Arizona , where people applaud when a Democratic congresswoman gets shot,
and then auction off the same kind of gun to raise money for the Republican
party. (I live in Illinois, where the “Illinois Combine” of Democrats and Republicans has worked together harmoniously to loot the public for years. And I notice that the tax cheats in Obama’s cabinet are bi-partisan as well.)
*I'm tired* of hearing wealthy bankers and CEOs (athletes, entertainers and politicians) of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, especially the rich ones who want to cut social security for
everone else. (or poor.)
*Speaking of the rich (poor), I'm tired of hearing people who were born rich complain
about taxes. We ask so little of them. (with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor.) The majority of wealth in America is inherited, and not earned. Sorry to break that news to you folks, but you can look it up and see it's true. Americans used to require that the very rich give back a reasonable amount in taxes considering all that America has done for them and how little we ask of them, but the wealth pimps have to keep changing the definition of rich so that they can keep evading their taxes. They make us pay their taxes for them (Americans didn’t have that in 1970, but we didn’t know we were “poor.” The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.)
*I'm real tired* of bankers (people) who don't take responsibility for their actions (lives). I'm tired of hearing them blame the economy, or credit rating agencies (government, or discrimination,) or [missing text] (big-)whatever for their problems.
*Yes, I'm tired*. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm
not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm
just sorry for my granddaughter.