Texas A&M Commencement Address – The students gave a standing ovation; the faculty were deathly silent!

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Neal Boortz, success

BLOGGER’S NOTE: This speech is from a book Neal Bortz wrote in 1998, and NOT AN ACTUAL SPEECH HE recently gave at TEXAS A&M. Nevertheless, Mr Bortz is the author and perhaps he will deliver this one day soon!

Neal Boortz is a Texan, a lawyer, a Texas Aggie (Texas A&M) graduate, and now a nationally syndicated talk show host from Atlanta . His commencement address to the graduates of a recent Texas A&M class is far different from what either the students or the faculty expected. Whether you agree or disagree, his views are certainly thought provoking.

“I am honored by the invitation to address you on this august occasion. It’s about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to impress you; you’ll have enough smoke blown up your bloomers today. And you can bet your tassels I’m not here to impress the faculty and administration. You may not like much of what I have to say, and that’s fine. You will remember it though. Especially after about 10 years out there in the real world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those of you who will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees.

This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You’ve heard the old saying that those who can – do. Those who can’t – teach. That sounds deliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth in insensitivity, just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies in compassion. Say good-bye to your faculty because now you are getting ready to go out there and do. These folks behind me are going to stay right here and teach.

By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diploma doesn’t mean the learning is over. When an FAA flight examiner handed me my private pilot’s license many years ago, he said, “Here, this is your ticket to learn.” The same can be said for your diploma. Believe me, the learning has just begun.

Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact, you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much. You feel so much. You want to help so much. After all, you’re a compassionate and caring person, aren’t you now? Well, isn’t that just so extraordinarily special. Now, at this age, is as good a time as any to be a liberal; as good a time as any to know absolutely everything. You have plenty of time, starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in.

Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath of reality down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty fast… Including your own assessment of just how much you really know.

So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality: Pay attention to the news, read newspapers, and listen to the words and phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Then, compare the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear from those evil, heartless, greedy conservatives.

From the Left you will hear “I feel.” From the Right you will hear “I think.” From the Liberals you will hear references to groups — The Blacks, the Poor, the Rich, the Disadvantaged, the Less Fortunate. From the Right you will hear references to individuals. On the Left you hear talk of group rights; on the Right, individual rights.

That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They are pack animals whose identity is tied up in group dynamics. Conservatives think — and, setting aside the theocracy crowd, their identity is centered on the individual.

Liberals feel that their favored groups have enforceable rights to the property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives, I among them I might add, think that individuals have the right to protect their lives and their property from the plunder of the masses.

In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely at your diplomas you will see that they have your individual names on them. Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity or sorority, but your name. Your group identity is going away. Your recognition and appreciation of your individual identity starts now.

If, by the time you reach the age of 30, you do not consider yourself to be a conservative, rush right back here as quickly as you can and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcome you with open arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as you haven’t developed an individual identity. Once again you will have to be willing to sign on to the group mentality you embraced during the past four years.

Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open your eyes. You’re going to actually get a full time job!

You’re also going to get a lifelong work partner. This partner isn’t going to help you do your job. This partner is just going to sit back and wait for payday. This partner doesn’t want to share in your effort, but in your earnings.

Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent representing a strange and diverse group of people; an agent for every teenager with an illegitimate child; an agent for a research scientist who wanted to make some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeys grind their teeth. An agent for some poor demented hippie who considers herself to be a meaningful and talented artist, but who just can’t manage to sell any of her artwork on the open market.

Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any, job skills, but who wanted a job at City Hall. An agent for tin-horn dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping for American foreign aid. An agent for multi-million dollar companies who want someone else to pay for their overseas advertising. An agent for everybody who wants to use the unimaginable power of this agent’s for their personal enrichment and benefit.

That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressive government. Believe me, you will be awed by the unimaginable power this agent has. Power that you do not have. A power that no individual has, or will have. This agent has the legal power to use force, deadly force to accomplish its goals.

You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up to you, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fill out, and move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one ton gorilla. It will sleep anywhere it wants to.

Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you become successful it will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I’m sorry, there just isn’t any way you can fire this agent of plunder, and you can’t decrease its share of your income. That power rests with him, not you.

So, here I am saying negative things to you about government. Well, be clear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrong to fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despise government for government is inherently evil. Yes, a necessary evil, but dangerous nonetheless, somewhat like a drug. Just as a drug that in the proper dosage can save your life, an overdose of government can be fatal.

Now let’s address a few things that have been crammed into your minds at this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge as soon as possible. These ideas may work well in academic environment, but they fail miserably out there in the real world.

First is that favorite buzz word of the media and academia: Diversity! You have been taught that the real value of any group of people – be it a social group, an employee group, a management group, whatever – is based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal because diversity is based not on an individuals abilities or character, but on a person’s identity and status as a member of a group. Yes, it’s that liberal group identity thing again.

Within the great diversity movement group identification – be it racial, gender based, or some other minority status – means more than the individuals integrity, character or other qualifications.

Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmosphere where diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individual achievement and excellence actually count. No matter what your professors have taught you over the last four years, you are about to learn that diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence, ability, and individual hard work. From this day on every single time you hear the word “diversity” you can rest assured that there is someone close by who is determined to rob you of every vestige of individuality you possess.

We also need to address this thing you seem to have about “rights.” We have witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called “rights” in the last few decades, usually emanating from college campuses.

You know the mantra: You have the right to a job. The right to a place to live. The right to a living wage. The right to health care. The right to an education. You probably even have your own pet right – the right to a Beemer for instance, or the right to have someone else provide for that child you plan on downloading in a year or so.

Forget it. Forget those rights! I’ll tell you what your rights are. You have a right to live free, and to the results of 60% -75% of your labor. I’ll also tell you have no right to any portion of the life or labor of another.

You may, for instance, think that you have a right to health care. After all, President Obama said so, didn’t he? But you cannot receive health-care unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders some of his time – his life – to you. He may be willing to do this for compensation, but that’s his choice. You have no “right” to his time or property. You have no right to his or any other person’s life or to any portion thereof.

You may also think you have some “right” to a job; a job with a living wage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a right to force your services on another person, and then the right to demand that this person compensate you with their money? Sorry, forget it. I am sure you would scream if some urban outdoors men (that would be “homeless person” for those of you who don’t want to give these less fortunate people a romantic and adventurous title) came to you and demanded his job and your money.

The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have are simply exercising one of theirs – the right to be imbeciles. Their being imbeciles didn’t cost anyone else either property or time. It’s their right, and they exercise it brilliantly.

By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase “less fortunate” a bit ago when I was talking about the urban outdoors men? That phrase is a favorite of the Left. Think about it, and you’ll understand why.

To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk, spaced out on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is “less fortunate” is to imply that a successful person – one with a job, a home and a future – is in that position because he or she was “fortunate.” The dictionary says that fortunate means “having derived good from an unexpected place.” There is nothing unexpected about deriving good from hard work. There is also nothing unexpected about deriving misery from choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street.

If the Liberal Left can create the common perception that success and failure are simple matters of “fortune” or “luck,” then it is easy to promote and justify their various income redistribution schemes. After all, we are just evening out the odds a little bit. This “success equals luck” idea the liberals like to push is seen everywhere. Former Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refers to high-achievers as “people who have won life’s lottery.” He wants you to believe they are making the big bucks because they are lucky. It’s not luck, my friends. It’s choice. One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in a book by Og Mandino, entitled, “The Greatest Secret in the World.” The lesson? Very simple: “Use wisely your power of choice.”

That bum sitting on a heating grate, smelling like a wharf rat? He’s there by choice. He is there because of the sum total of the choices he has made in his life. This truism is absolutely the hardest thing for some people to accept, especially those who consider themselves to be victims of something or other – victims of discrimination, bad luck, the system, capitalism, whatever. After all, nobody really wants to accept the blame for his or her position in life. Not when it is so much easier to point and say, “Look! He did this to me!” than it is to look into a mirror and say, “You S. O. B.! You did this to me!” >>> READ MORE

RELATED READING: The Speech You Never Heard

OBAMA’S ATROCITIES

OBAMA’S ATROCITIES

When President Obama made the declaration last week that his stance on same-sex marriage had “evolved” into supporting it, the New York Times called me up to see what the conservative movement thought about Obama’s evolution. I said to the reporter, “Just when you thought the conservative movement couldn’t be any more energized against President Obama, he gives us another gift. Add it to the list of atrocities.” The liberal cave dwellers hit the Twitterverse with outrage. Their heads exploded that I equated President Obama’s policies with atrocities.

So, to enrage the wacky Left even more, below is a list of atrocities President Obama has committed since he was inaugurated President of the United States:
1) The National Debt
Under President Obama’s failed leadership the national debt has gone up $5 trillion to an unprecedented $15.7 trillion – that is $50,000 per person. President Obama’s spending spree on Big Government programs that are seeded by his far Left ideology have cost our children and our children’s children the American dream. America needs a leader who will reverse government spending and put us on a path towards financial sanity.

2) Obamacare
President Obama wasted a year of his presidency forcing through a law that may be deemed unconstitutional next month. While the economy tanked, President Obama and his enablers in Congress wanted to transform healthcare so that people would be dependent on the government. Americans dislike the law–among other reasons–because liberal Democrats forced the issue. Remember the quote from then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” Well the American people found out, and they have thoroughly rejected it.

3) Failed Stimulus
President Obama promised that his $825 billion stimulus plan would keep the unemployment rate below 8 percent. Over three years later, the unemployment rate is 8.1 percent, the lowest it’s been since the stimulus, and that is only because so many have given up on finding work. At its highest point, the unemployment rate hit 10 percent under Obama. President Obama gave false hope to the nation about his failed stimulus bill and now 23 million people are under or unemployed. The stimulus bill added jet fuel to our burning, out of control national debt and future generations will have to pay for its failure. >>> READ MORE

That’s What Freedom Costs!

Enduring gratitude and sober sympathies to the families and loved ones of those who sacrificed everything, even their lives for the cause of Freedom. Your sacrifice is much appreciated and remembered!

This is NOT Freedom!!!

How Does Obama’s Gay Marriage Stance Affect Military?

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gay marriage

WASHINGTON — When President Barack Obama announced his support for same-sex marriages on Wednesday, he noted that his decision rested in part on the plight of gay troops who feel they’re being treated unfairly.
Now, gay rights groups hope that the president’s statement could trigger more dramatic changes for gays in the military in coming months.

It also puts the Defense Department in the middle of another heated social debate, less than a year after the repeal of the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, which barred gays from serving openly in the military.

In an interview with ABC News, Obama said his position on gay marriage has changed in part because “I think about those soldiers or airmen or Marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage.”

Within hours of that announcement, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki announced that his department would not argue for the Defense of Marriage Act in a lawsuit seeking benefits for the same-sex partner of a Navy veteran in Connecticut, another win for rights groups. DOMA prohibits federal agencies from recognizing legal same-sex marriages for purposes of family benefits or programs, since state laws on the legality of those unions differ.

Other Democratic lawmakers — including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. — also voiced their support for same-sex unions following the president’s lead. Proponents said they hope the groundswell of support can quickly move into legislative or administrative action.

“Hopefully, this will be the catalyst for the Pentagon giving more benefits to same-sex couples,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. “We hear from our military clients that they’re looking at or are planning on getting married, so it’s an important issue for them.”

For the last year, SLDN has pushed defense officials to broaden the benefits available to same-sex couples, even while the Defense of Marriage Act prohibits federal agencies from formally recognizing those unions.
Sarvis said lawyers at the network believe military commanders could grant gay families things like base housing, military ID cards, joint-duty assignments and combat exemptions without running afoul of DOMA. So far, however, military officials have maintained that federal statutes prohibit such actions.

Officials from OutServe, whose members include hundreds of active-duty gay troops, said the president’s statement helps bring the issues of inequality for gay troops back into the public debate.

But Clarke Cooper, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans and an Army Reserve captain, criticized the timing of Obama’s announcement, which came a day after North Carolina voters rejected a proposal to allow same-sex marriages in that state. Conservative opponents of same-sex marriage also called it a move designed to rally Obama’s core voters but not representing any real change.

In fact, just a few hours after the news broke, Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee worked to step back last year’s biggest gay rights victory — “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal — in the annual defense budget debate.

One amendment would bar any same-sex wedding ceremonies on military facilities, while the second would prohibit commanders from punishing chaplains who express views against homosexuality.

Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., who sponsored the latter amendment, said the move was necessary because the president “is now using the military as props to promote the gay agenda.”

The measures are unlikely to pass the Senate and become law, but do indicate the continued difficulty ahead for any substantial change from Congress on the issue of same-sex benefits.

The Obama administration has said they will not defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court, but Republican House leaders have taken up the cause in their place. Efforts to overturn the law have stalled in the Republican-controlled House … READ MORE

READ Obama Continues His Assault on Christians: Will Force Military Chaplains to Marry Gays, and

Public Opposes Gay Weddings at Military Facilities

OPINION: At a time when the correct thing, the necessary thing to do is CUT costs in the military, the timing of this couldn’t be worse! While it seems logical for same-sex couples to receive the same benefits as married couples (in & out of the military) the expense of bringing this to pass is certainly an issue.

In addition, it must not be mandatory for a Chaplain to go against his or her conscience in the performance of such ceremonies.

On some level, one must wonder what President Obama might have up his sleeve. Several statements in weeks past have polarized the American people even further on the abortion/contraception issue, including his own base. Why would he deliberately force people to choose between their conscience and him unless he has a “Plan B?” Just sayin … Are we paying attention yet?

Obama Accepts Funding From Same Private-Equity Group He Previously Attacked

On April 20, 2012, President Obama’s campaign website KeepingGOPHonest.com released an ‘enemies list’ in an attempt to vilify GOP donors “who benefit from betting against America.” The first name in the list was Paul “Chip” Schorr, a partner at Blackstone Group, a private-equity firm based in New York.

The website states:

“As a partner at Blackstone, Schorr closed a deal in 2007 to outsource the services of seven U.S. companies to a firm in India, boosting that firm’s profits by $220 million and making millionaires of the Indian management team. In 2006 he arranged a buyout of a Colorado travel reservations company that led to 841 layoffs while Blackstone and its partners recouped the billions of dollars they invested in less than a year.”

Now, this is a fairly limiting view of what happened. Highlighting TWO examples of lost jobs as a result of actions by a firm that has a vested interest in the success of the vast majority of the businesses is completely and totally unfair. Either way, it is clear that the Obama campaign had a very negative view of Blackstone Group as of the end of April.

So why did President Obama attend a fundraiser this week in his honor at the home of the president of Blackstone Group?

The Wall Street Journal reported that Obama spoke Monday at a fundraiser at the home of Tony James, the president of the private-equity firm, with the cost of attendance at $38,500 a head. This is the EXACT same company he tried to portray as thieves just weeks ago. BusinessInsider.com stated that “Obama raised over two million dollars” at the event.

On the very same day, his campaign released a video attacking Bain Capital, the private-equity firm started by Mitt Romney, for the failure of GST Steel, a Kansas City, Missouri based steel company.

Mitt Romney’s response:

Is this not the exact same business that Blackstone Group is involved in?

What Obama has done here is said it is a crime for private citizens to give money to Romney because of the business they have involved themselves with, but it is perfectly okay if they give him money.

In reference to the issue at hand, Don Peebles, a Miami real estate executive who has raised over $100,000 for Obama’s campaign, told Buzzfeed, “I think it’s difficult to attack or demonize an industry and then take money from it.” Peebles added, “Any type of attack and vilification of a particular industry is not okay to begin with.”

The actions of private-equity firms will be a hotly debated topic this campaign season because of Romney’s involvement and claims that he has created jobs. Many would argue that private-equity firms have created many jobs. But, businesses do fail, and sometimes that leads to the loss of employment. GST Steel of the Obama ad had problems long before Bain Capital intervened, so laying all of the blame on Bain is unfair….READ MORE

This Memorial Day … Take a Minute to REMEMBER

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freedom isn't free, Memorial Day, TAPS, Veterans' Day

The Military lifestyle is unique – much different than one might expect! Since people come and go every few months or so, friendships are formed quickly, and in many cases, more deeply, especially if there’s combat deployment involved. It really feels like a family which is part of the charm of military life. They may leave the blood family behind in the states, but they are a family in uniform wherever they are posted.

“Above all, we must realize that no arsenal,
or no weapon in the arsenals of the world,
is so formidable as the will and moral courage
of free men and women.
It is a weapon our adversaries
in today’s world do not have.”
Ronald Reagan

SOLDIERS’ OATH: “I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

Generations of our young men and women have served in uniform in times of war and in times of peace, their sacrifice given selflessly. Once a Vet, always a Vet!

It is a great thing to don the uniform of the united States military. It is sobering and thrilling at the same time. It is not only a physical challenge, but more importantly, a mental challenge. Military life involves tackling skills that are for the most part foreign to civilians. It involves little things like wearing long sleeves even when it’s over 100ºF in the desert or soaked boots in jungle swamps. It involves separation from friends and family for extended periods of time, including such things as graduations, weddings, and baby births. Even with today’s communication possibilities, it often means communication gaps of weeks. And that’s the easy stuff! Why do they do it? It’s a “calling!” But sometimes that calling requires everything. For these who gave all, we mourn and give thanks!

24 Notes That Tap Deep Emotions
By MSG Jari A. Villanueva, USAF

THANK YOU, VETS
WW11, Korea, Viet Nam, Grenada, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan
And all others who have served the cause of FREEDOM
at home and around the world

The first use of Taps at a funeral occurred in 1862 during the Peninsular Campaign in Virginia. Usually, three volleys were fired during a military burial service. This practice may have originated in the old custom of halting the fighting to remove the dead from the battlefield. Once each army had cleared its dead, it would fire three volleys to indicate that deceased soldiers had been cared for and that the army was ready to resume the fight. The tradition of firing the three volleys at funerals was noted in regulations and manuals. (In modern-day ceremonies, the fact that the firing party consists of seven riflemen firing three volleys does not constitute a twenty-one gun salute; that is only rendered by cannon firing twenty-one times.) MORE HERE

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

For decades, the Tomb of the Unknown has served to represent any and all lost in battle for the preservation of Freedom. “At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union shot down a U-2 reconnaissance plane deep inside Russia on May 1, 1960. The plane was being operated by the Central Intelligence Agency and was piloted by Francis Gary Powers. Powers was held and tried for espionage by the Russians. He was convicted and was sentenced to ten years in a Soviet Prison. He served less than two years, and was exchanged for a convicted Soviet Spy being held in the United States. On February 10, 1962, he was released from captivity at the Glienicker-Brucke Bridge between East and West Germany. Powers returned to the United States and was exonerated by the US Congress after he returned home in 1962 and his reputation cleared on May 1, 2000 when he was posthumously awarded the POW Medal and CIA’s Director’s Medal on the 40th anniversary of the shoot down. He found employment as a reporter with KNBC in Los Angeles and on August 1, 1977, he died in a helicopter crash while covering a story on a brush fire near Los Angeles. He is interred in Section 11, Grave 685-2.” MORE HERE

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