I am seventy six year old and I have been exposed to a lot of human behavior. Some of it I approved of, but most of I it do not. In all of my years growing up and experiencing adulthood, I have notice a lot of changes with human behavior and what that hurts me most is the continuing lack of respect for other human beings.

 

There are many examples of this but I believe it all begins with language. I have worked a lot of my life in fields that were dominated by men, such as auto mechanics and railroaders.  Few women were around. These men used language that you would not believe. They were the most foul mouths and obscene speaking people you would every meet, and I joined them.

 

As a young man, even I heard words that I had not heard before. However. This language was heard only in the work place. Visiting their homes, you never heard any of this kind of language. If a woman (or child) or even a stranger would show up at the work place, all foul language would stop. This was due to respect of others.

 

The use of foul language seemed to grow gradually. First some “Realistic” movies add the language to their films to make them more grown up. This didn’t seem too bad. They stared with less non abusive words such as “Frankly, Scarlet, I don’t give a damn.” It became so popular that they put it in many films. Soon it was old stuff, so they add a few more words, like “Bastard, etc. It made them money. People love it. It was like they talk sometimes every day.

 

This exploded until today; there are no words that are not use on our entertainment. Children always mock adults and their TV and movies did the same. Even pre-school movies and shows today use language that would be unaccepted a few years ago. I have watched children shows for pre-school children on TV and in many of those movies they delight in devoting many minutes about passing gas (farts). That is today’s comedy for children.

 

Foul language only does one thing and that is to show disrespect to the person you are directing it to. That is bad enough, of course, but it perpetuates lack of respect for all other things. When you lack respect for others, it turns up in all of the rest of your behavior. Hence the increase on young children showing disrespect for their teachers and other adults.

 

One instant I would like to relay to you. An elderly may was in a doctor’s waiting room. A young couple came in (probable pre-twenty) and sat across for him. They immediately stated “necking”. They got more amorous as time went on. Not to be crude, but they were “feeling each other up” and putting on quite a show. The people in the waiting room were getting very nervous, but no one wanted to say anything. Finally, the old man had enough. He got up and proceeded to “chew” out the couple for being inconsiderate of all the others in the waiting room. The young man argued that they were in love and just showing their love for each other. If others didn’t like it, they didn’t have to look. No one in the waiting room came to the old man’ defense. The old man just said, “Maybe you should show some of that love for your fellow human beings.” This couple showed no respect for anyone but them selves.

 

This phenomenon has caught fire. It is everywhere you look today. Children do not respect their parents, their teachers, adults or even each other. Our leaders and politicians are using “gutter language” to show they are like the rest of us. Celebrities think nothing of using words that a decent person would not want to use in front of their mother. Yet they broadcast it to everyone in the world.

 

I am a firm believer that if you don’t respect others, you cannot respect yourself. Just look around, you will see what I mean.

There are a lot of strong opinions on the habit of smoking also a lot of misinformation on both sides. I have decided to give my feelings and opinion on smoking.

 

I was born in 1935 and grew up at the end of the depression years and during World War 2. That was the time that cigarette smoking really started to become popular. During the depression and war years, most people were feeling down. There was no entertainment as there is today to lift your spirits except the movies. Movies were very popular. It seems that everyone went to the movies. Cigarette smoking also became a common sight in the movies. Actors found it was a perfect prop to use. They all started to use it. Every leading man smoked on screen. It was a sign of independence and strength. Many men were off to fight the war leaving a lot of women at home. Women began to take the place of men in the workplace and soon because stars in the movies with strong leading rolls. They too started smoking on screen. We saw our heroes fighting our enemies all the while with a cigarette in the month. Dying heroes last request was for a cigarette. Women looked sophisticated when demanding that a man light their cigarette. These were our heroes and idols. They were all we had. Of course many of us mocked them by lighting up a cigarette. There was no other reason to start smoking, as it tasted nasty to everyone at first. It soon became rare to meet a young person even as young as preteens that didn’t smoke a cigarette now and then when they could get away with it.

 

I smoked my first cigarette at a very early age. I have seen many such young people start smoking. I have never seen or believe that anyone enjoyed smoking their first cigarette. It was something that you had to be determined to do even if you choked. Their body would rebel and warn them but that didn’t stop them. We kept at it until we won and our bodies accepted the intrusion of a foreign matter into our lungs. Soon we came to the point where we liked smoking and in fact insisted on it. If anyone tells you that they enjoyed their first cigarette, they either can’t remember or are being untruthful.

 

My belief is that smoking is the worse possible thing that a human being could do to diminish his health. The one element that all living creatures need and depend on to live is oxygen. Smoking interferes with that. I am not talking about cancer now. That is a by-product of poor health. To remain healthy the body needs a lot of oxygen.

We must be able to breath properly to maintain good health.  The lungs are the means of transporting oxygen from the clean air to the tissue cells and the transport of carbon dioxide in the opposite direction. This is only part of the processes of delivering oxygen to where it is needed in the human body and removing carbon dioxide waste. Without the proper amount of oxygen and discard of carbon dioxide our body cannot function correctly. The more this balance is interfered with the poorer health we have even perhaps death.

By the time we reach adulthood our body consist of 100 Trillion cells. All cells have to have oxygen and a way to expel the carbon dioxide waste to function. They are all connected in a network and each must function property to keep the body in tune and working. This all begins in the lungs that defuse oxygen into red blood cells that carry it to the cells that need it. The cells used this oxygen to burn excess waste and repair any damage to the cell. Although the lungs are more powerful than actually need to be, there ability to do their job is weakened by the breathing in of polluted air. Much of which is caused by our industrial living. However, cigarette is much worse as it is drawn into the lungs in heavy amounts daily.

The harm that cigarette smoke does to us is unnoticeable at first. It takes years to damage enough lung cells to interfere with our body’s operation enough to be notice by the smoker. Eventually it will happen though. The smoker will have less energy than they would have if they didn’t smoke. The smoker will have shorter breath than they would have if they didn’t smoke. The smoker’s body will gradually become less able to do the functions necessary to maintain good health. They will have more colds and infections to the weakening of their immune system. They will age quicker. Their mind will function less efficiently. The brain represents only 2% of the human body weight; it receives 15% of the cardiac output, 20% of total body oxygen consumption, and 25% of total body glucose utilization. Heavy smokers have more problems with senility and Alzheimer’s than non-smokers.

There are many more reasons that I won’t go into here for lack of space. Add them to the fact the smoking makes your breath smell bad, your teeth yellow, your clothes stink, I think only a fool would want to poison their body with cigarette smoke.

I began smoking in my pre teens. I smoked until I was a little over thirty. I ended up smoking three packs of Chesterfields each day. One day I read a little poem written by an anonymous author. It made me think about how stupid it was to light the end of a stick and put the other end in my mouth and breath smoke into my body. I threw my cigarettes away. I never smoked cigarettes again. About a year later, I had an important job and started smoking cigars with my fellow workers. I bought King Edwards five in a pack. I thought a cigar now and then wouldn’t hurt me too much. In less than three months I found myself smoking twenty-five cigars a day. I was shocked. I gave up cigars. Of course you may have a lot of health problems and still not smoke. However, the health problems you now have would be a lot worse if you were a heavy smoker. Every health problem is made more serious without the proper amount of oxygen reaching the cells, be it high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, or whatever.

I lived for fifty years with a wonderful woman who smoked three and a half packs of cigarettes every day. (Incidentally , I don’t think second hand smoke is enough to cause much harm unless you work in a closed environment with a lot of smokers, such as a bar.) My wife’s relatives all lived long lives. Her grandmother lived to be 100. He mother into her late nineties. They didn’t smoke. I watch my wife age even faster than I. I watched her health fail more each year. Her body became old before it’s time. She had many health problems. She died at a too young age. I still believe it is everyone’s right to make their own decisions. I just wish they would learn all there is to know about the unhealthiness of smoking.

Those are my own honest opinions..

The 4^th of July has always been recognized as “Independence Day” in the United States of America. It is by far the most important day for us Americans. We have long celebrated this day and as the years passed, the day seemed to lose importance to many of us. We thought of it as just another holiday that we could picnic and spend time with our family and friends. This year, our great country is hurting and many changes are being made. Some good and some bad. Many citizens are becoming disillusioned and some have lost faith in our beloved country.

I believe that this year is the best time for us to reread the Declaration of Independence in its entirely as it was written and signed by those brave Americans that put their lives and the lives of their family on the line.

Most of us have never read the entire transcript of the Declaration of Independence. We have only read a small part of it. Please take time to read the exact copy printed below and learn just why these brave men risked everything by signing it.

 

My wish is that there were some Americans with the courage of these great men living today. If there are such men, have them step forward. We need them now as we have never needed them before.

 

 

Declaration of Independence

 

Here is the complete text of the Declaration of Independence.
The original spelling and capitalization have been retained.

(Adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776)

The Unanimous Declaration
of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, July 8, 1776

 

Today is D-day. It is an important day in history. It is a day from which we can learn many lessons.

 

In 1944, the United States and its allies stormed to the beaches at Normandy to start a military drive that would end World War 2. For the first time in history many nations joined together for a common task. For 65 weeks secret plans were made by the allied leaders to make the battle a success.

 

In that battle alone, there were over 10,000 allied (6600 Americans) casualties of whom 2500 died (1465 Americans). Over 4000 Germans were killed. That battle marked the start of the end of WW2.

 

By the time WW2 was over, over 60 million military and civilians died as a result of the war. Many historians believe that most of them could have been saved if the allied forces had acted much sooner against Germany and Japan.

 

Many believe that is a problem today. Countries are just watching power hungry leaders build momentum toward a devastating war and it will cost millions of lives if not stopped soon. (Yes, Virginia, there are truly evil people in this world.)

 

War is a terrible thing and very few people want it, however, war cannot be fought and won following the Marquess of Queensberry rules. It is a fight for survival. It must be decisive. There has to be a commitment to totally defeat the enemy. The leaders of the losing country must pay the supreme sacrifice. In my opinion, to do less would merely postpone the inevitable and make matters much worse over time.

If full efforts were put into the US war with Korea, there would be no problem with danger of a nuclear war today. Korea would have spent the years of building itself up and a more stable country would be there today. The same holds true for the Vietnam War. By holding back and trying to save casualties, we have developed situations where many have spent years suffering and a more devastating war will develop.

 

If the US had ignored the UN and finished the Iraq Gulf war instead of stopping short, there would be no second Iraqi war that is still going on. Iran would have learned that it would be useless to try to invade a weakened Iraq.

 

When a country fights a war and doesn’t completely lose and their leaders are not punished, they have learned no lessons and will try again. Sometimes suffering must be done now to avoid much greater suffering later.  

 

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.  
Thomas Jefferson 

            According to the Constitution of the United States and its laws, all of its citizens are created equal and should not be discriminated against for race or religion. I believe the vast majority of America citizens believe this. Most of us have no problem with those laws. However, it seems that our government does. Every government document asks and keeps records on each applicant’s race. Why is that? According to our constitution it makes no difference what your race is. You will be treated equally. Why then must they know?

            Their answer is so they can apply money and benefits to the needed people. Is this decided on race and if so, why is it? Aren’t all races treated the same by our government? Is there an unknown law that allows separating citizens according to race? If so, isn’t that racism itself? Could it be that if the government stopped promoting counting people by race that maybe the race differences would just gradually disappear. It seems to me that to keep records of the different races will only perpetuate the differences.

            There are people in this country, as in all countries, that are extremely prejudice. Although these people are usually very vocal, they are definitely in small number. They compose the very end of the right and left spectrum. The vast majority of US citizens does not have extreme prejudices and are tolerant of others.

            Today we have politicians fighting over which side is acting more racist. It is to their advantage to keep the voters divided on this non-issue. Until, the politicians stop promoting racism and passing laws that favor one race over the other, we will never have racial harmony.

            This country was formed as a bonding of different states. The states joined the United States government for only one reason. That was protection from the invasion of foreign countries. The federal government was not supposed to interfere in any state’s business. The nation was set up that way because the United States is a very large territory. What is good and works well for some areas is not good and won’t work for other areas. Industrial states are ignorant as to what is good for agricultural states and vice versa. Each state could choose how much it taxed and what the tax money was spent on.

            Disagreement between the states caused a civil war and the Union states won. Some changes were made to the US constitution but very few. Slavery was abolished. Other that a few other minor changes the Constitution remained the same. The Federal government still did not have control over the states. This idea has worked beautifully for over 200 years.

            Because it was a good financial decision, the federal government started taxing the states and then sending back some of the money for the states to use as the Federal government saw fit. This has blurred the lines of States rights. In violation of the US Constitution states gradually gave up some of their power to the Federal government. Now one government controls the money and the States have to fight over money to do what is important for their own State. What is important to one State is not important to another State.

            Today, there are States that are trying to control the flood of Illegal aliens pouring into their territories by passing their own laws. These laws are not in conflict with the Federal laws but mimic the Federal laws and allow the States to enforce them. This is exactly why this country is not one State but is fifty United States.

            People and Politicians living in other distant States than those with the problem cannot solve the problem by using the same formula that works in their own State.

            In order to keep the voters upset and confused, the politicians are not arguing whether not over stopping people from coming in to this country Illegally is wrong, but are arguing whether it is racism to arrest people who are breaking the law.

            That, my friends, is why our society is not making any advancements.

 

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.  
Thomas Jefferson