Stop Pulling the Wagon

An Open Fan Letter To Congresswoman Maxine Waters

Dear Congresswoman Waters,

I must admit that in the past I have not been one of your supporters or fans.  Now however, I would like to thank you for your consistent and strident attacks on President Donald Trump.

You have accomplished far more to support the causes I believe in than I ever could have done.  It is my sincere hope that you will continue, even intensify your attacks and in that effort I would like to make some helpful suggestions.

First and foremost do not “sugar coat” how you feel and don’t “beat around the bush”.  Lately it seems I detect a weakening in your attacks and a softening of your hatred for him.  Don’t let this happen.  

Second, you might want to get counsel from people like Hollywood Actor Robert De Niro on adding a little depth and color to your language when you speak to, and of the President.  Mr. De Niro has a real way with colorful speech and the ability to add spice to what you say.  His specialty seems to be in words beginning with the letter “F” when speaking to the media.

Third, consider adding Hollywood Actor Peter Fonda to your staff of strategic advisers.  Mr. Fonda has put forth some intriguing ideas about surrounding the schools of the children of your political and policy opponents and then threatening and terrifying them so as to intimidate their parents.  Brilliant thinking and ideas like this could add to your growing fan base.

Finally, consider creating a Council on Women’s Empowerment and Rights.  You could ask your personal friend Former President Bill Clinton to head up this Council and perhaps strengthen its impact by asking Hollywood Film Producer Harvey Weinstein and former Democratic Senator Al Franken to Co-Chair the group.  Possibly former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner could be a consultant or media adviser for publicity for the group. 

I have many other, I think worthwhile ideas but hopefully if you just implement the above it will speed along your campaign to unseat the current President. 

With Kind Regards,

Bob Bandy

This will not be my usual posting.  I feel compelled to write this but you might find it unlike anything you are familiar with in my writings.  Feel free to stop reading at any point.

Confucius has been credited with the saying: “Before embarking on a journey of revenge, first dig two graves”.  The message being that you will need two graves, one for the object of your revenge and the other for yourself. 

To which I would add this corollary:  Before embarking on a path of hatred, first dig two graves.  One for yourself and the other for the people and things you loved which will be destroyed in the process of fueling your rage to destroy that which you hate.

Hate is a poison and a powerful emotion.  It can destroy your logic, your reason, your compassion and your humanity.  It is a cancer which can rapidly spread to consume every aspect of your life.  

I once experienced such a hatred in my own life.  A person whom I believed to be a  friend double crossed me and destroyed me financially.  I was faced with starting all over again.  For more than a year I was consumed by my hatred for this person.  I allowed it to nearly destroy me personally. 

One day a light kind of came on inside me and I realized that when it says in the Bible to forgive your enemies, it is not maybe so much for their sake as it is for your own.  I began practicing “letting go” of my anger and hate.  It took a while but in the process I learned to forgive and not to hate individuals or groups of individuals. 

I may strongly disagree with their words and deeds to the point I will speak out against what I see happening.  I may be appalled at the destruction to lives that I witness due to their actions.  I am willing to engage in logical verbal combat with them.  By my actions I will peacefully and legally oppose those systems I deem destructive that they are attempting to put into place. 

But….   I will not hate them individually.  I will not call them Nazi’s.  I will not tell lies about them,  I will not try to harm their families.  I will not threaten their safety.  I will not propose or use physical violence against them.  

It grieves me to see what is happening in America, land of my birth and land that I love. We are split into what can only be called warring camps.  One of those camps is so consumed by hatred that they will do literally anything to destroy the other side.  Lies, unnamed sources, gossip, corruption of government agencies, distortions, “Spin”, half truths (which are lies in lipstick),  etc. etc..   They will call people they disagree with Nazi’s, compare their opponents to some of the great monsters of history (Stalin, Hitler, etc.).    

A growing, toxic and dangerous hate in America.  Those who disagree with them must be destroyed by any means possible.  There seems no words or actions they will not advocate resorting to in order to destroy their political enemies. They will  propose surrounding their opponents children’s schools to intimidate the children and their parents. (Tweet – Peter Fonda).

This group seems prepared to destroy our whole country and way of life if it will fulfill the goals of their political agenda.

I fear for the very survival of America as a nation. 

In my writings here I do not often quote from the Bible* but, in the book of Mark, chapter 3 – verse 24, Jesus says that “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.”    History is littered with the carcasses of kingdoms and nations that demonstrate this to be true.

Can we learn to agree to disagree and find common ground to come together as a nation or are we condemned to a world of non-negotiable demands where the “other side” must be destroyed at all costs?  Are we doomed to the fruits of hatred.  Must America dig two graves?  

Bob Bandy

Lord, Make me an instrument of you peace.  Where there is hatred, let me sow love…  Prayer for Peace – St. Francis of Assisi

Bible – NIV – New International Version

IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A HOLE, STOP DIGGING

Will Rogers

I have read and heard the above and many versions of it most of my life.  It represents the most basic kind of common sense,  yet….. 

In my own experience I have found myself in many holes of my own creation digging away.

Observation has shown me that this seems a common human failing. 

From those addicted  to gambling – what’s the old line – went to Reno in a twenty thousand dollar Chevrolet and came home on a ninety thousand dollar Greyhound – and keep on digging –

To those who pour their life savings and huge amounts of borrowed capital into a business venture that was doomed from the start – and keep on digging –

Many others give everything they have into a destructive relationship – whether it is a  personal relationship with another individual, or some failed ideology, political agenda, drugs, alcohol, debt, accumulation of “toys” or……  – and keep on digging.

In nearly all cases the above is the result of individuals finding themselves in a hole of their own making and needing someone, or some set of circumstances, to “slap them up side the head” to get them to stop digging and work on building a ladder out of the hole they got themselves into.  Then fill the hole.

In too many cases, folks do not get that helpful “slap up side the head” and end up with their lives in tatters and the only possibility is some form of  Bankruptcy or worse. 

I was once told by a Pastor that not every broken life can be fixed by our good intentions and personal efforts and we must first sometimes let folks “crash and burn” before they are willing to accept a helping hand.

BUT…..

For truly colossal hole digging on steroids you need Government.  For these folks there is no program or scheme ever devised that has dug itself into a hole that cannot be “fixed” with more…..    More Tax Dollars.  More Bureauocrats.  More Regulations.  More time…..   All forms of digging.  They never get that “slap up side the head” and say “wow, this isn’t working…..  let’s shut it down, stop digging and fill this hole in.”

Governments never seems to learn and can’t file Bankruptcy.  Whether like the Romans, who came up with “free” Bread and Circus’s  (today’s “free” Welfare and Flatscreens), until they could no longer fund it through ever increasing taxes and worth less and less fiat money, and their Empire collapsed.  Or, any number of other Governments and Empires that litter the dust bin of history.   All governments seen to – just keep on digging.  

Government.  We voted for them.  Will we ever learn?  Or, just keep on digging.

Common sense yes,  but to quote Will Rogers again: “Common Sense ain’t common”.  

Bob Bandy    

ETHICAL TREATMENT FOR SQUIRRELS NOW! 

I hope you will join me today in this newly founded organization dedicated to the rights and care of our long tailed furry brothers and sisters.

There are no forms to fill out.  No meetings.  No dues.  No age restrictions. 

Just a silent pledge made in private to do your part for the welfare of  these beautiful creatures who give us so much and ask for nothing in return.

Squirrels do not lie to you.

They are not corrupt.

They do not demand your tax dollars. 

They do not ask for your vote.

They do not try to control every aspect of your life.

You do not have to license them with some government agency.

they are fun to watch.

And…..

After the Dark Lords of Mordor in Sacramento complete the destruction of California and turn it into the Venezuela of North America with an economy in ruins and nothing to eat…..

…..Our squirrel friends will still be here to continue to serve us…..

They make tasty stews and and warm winter hats.

Bob Bandy

Unemployment benefits are creating jobs faster than practically any other program.

Nancy Pelosi

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It has been pointed out to me that most often the targets of my written angst is government and politicians.  I would be remiss if I did not point out that not all government or politicians are inherently evil or motivated by nefarious intent.  

Most government programs were not originally created with the intent to do damage to society and many young politicians go to Washington D.C. or Sacramento or other State Capitols with noble aspirations.  

The problem is that the above must work in an environment that is totally polluted  and infested with the power of money, the need to “go along to get along”, moral corruption, greed and the addictive qualities of raw political ambition.  While there will always remain a small fraction of male and female Don Quixote’s attempting to “Tilt at windmills with broken lances”, the majority succumb to the temptations of power and money achieved by prostituting their values to secure re-election and obtain their political immortality. 

The above being said I can sort of metaphorically shrug my shoulders and decide to just live my life while, to the best of my ability, keeping government at arms length, ignoring the “Idiocratic” burden on my life, pay the legal minimum in taxes and laugh with my friends at governments foibles and the politicians desire to leave their names in the footnotes of history.

Having stipulated that, what I cannot ignore and leave unanswered is the constant assault on my intelligence by people in power lying to me and then compounding the insult when they know that I know that they are lying but continue to lie to me anyway.  

I will admit that in some cases the lies are probably unintentional and just the fruit of the infertile soil of the mind of a politician who was not gifted intellectually.  Please notice the way I deftly avoided the word “moron”.

However, it often infuriates me when politicians make statements that are blatantly false and any eight year old can figure out they are either lying or stupid or both.

An example:  Sometime back a politician said:  “Welfare recipients pay taxes too.”  When asked what taxes they pay the politician said: “You know, sales taxes, gasoline taxes, utility taxes and even property taxes which are included in the rent they pay.” 

This is the kind of political statement that makes me want to go someplace private and just scream or find one of those “Cry Closets” that are gaining popularity in some corporate headquarters and on college campus’s.  Folks, you can only really pay taxes if you first EARN  the money.

You can’t truly pay taxes if your only source of income is money confiscated from those who work for it. The taxes you pay on the purchases you make using the money gifted to you by the workers who earned it are just a transfer of additional taxes from those who earned it and had it confiscated in the name of forced “charity”.

So please, Mr. or Ms. Congressperson or Senator, stop insulting our intelligence with what I can only refer to as idiotic statements.

Enough already!

Bob Bandy

CONGRESS AND THE ATTRACTIVE HAZARD LAW

We have laws in America that state if you build something dangerous but attractive and make it accessible to the public you can be held liable in court for any damages the public might incur.  Including Punitive Damages.

A common example is that if you put a swimming pool on your property that children might find inviting and fun but you fail to fence it so that children cannot get into it and drown, you can be held liable in court should that occur

Simply put: If you create something that is attractive but  ends up hurting people because you failed to provide safeguards, you can be held legally and financially responsible. 

I suggest that we all find a “Good Attorney” – cross that out – “Good Attorney” is a contradiction in terms – make that a “Ruthless Attorney” – that’s better – and file a Class Action Lawsuit against Congress for creating not one, but many “Attractive Hazard Government Programs” that have not only damaged our Country but in the process  caused great damage and harm to our culture and the american family. 

Members of Congress, House and Senate, should be held, individually and collectively, financially responsible for the damage they have caused.  Some Punitive Damages would be well deserved also.

Example: The 1960’s Great American Society program to eliminate poverty in America.  Sounded good, looked good on paper and was perhaps well intended but poorly thought out and loaded with unintended consequences.  A sort of  Rube Goldberg Contraption  imposed on the American public without a test flight.  (The above pictured “flying machine” could well have been designed by a Congressional Committee.)

There are now more poor people trapped in poverty than when the program to eliminate poverty began.  Millions of American families were destroyed in the process.  Filling the country with angry, frustrated, fatherless young men raised without the discipline young boys need.   By passing this law Congress said it was “okay” for men to create families and then abandon them to go “play” while “Government” would step into the void created and be “daddy”.  The damage caused is most obvious in poverty riddled and crime ridden  inner-cities but also has manifested itself throughout the land.  Who is most responsible for this mess?  Congress. They should be held liable.

Can Congress realistically be sued and held to account financially?  Unfortunately I think not. Congress creates all kinds of exceptions for themselves legally when they pass these “Programs” and have exempted themselves from most every law they pass, like “The (un)Affordable Health Care Act” and so many others.

Supposedly this can all be “fixed” at the ballot box.  How has that worked out so far?  I live in California and have voted all of my life.  California is so corrupt, over taxed and mismanaged that I am ashamed to admit that I live here.  It claims to have a “Balanced Budget” but has an almost One Trillion Dollar UNFUNDED Liability to its “Public Service Employees Retirement and Healthcare System”.  “Who gonna pay for dat”.  It cannot be Bankrupted. 

The Trifecta of Clowns, Criminals and Lunatics have won.  Voting is now a waste of time unless you enjoy the reality of living under the “Dark Lords” who run Sacramento.

Where is there a “good” attorney when you need one?

Bob Bandy