Edwards Plans Big For Presidency

John Edwards wants to be "all things to all people." Read below for some of his idiotic ideas.

John Edwards says if he's elected president, he'll institute a New Deal-like suite of programs to fight poverty and stem growing wealth disparity. To do it, he said, he'll ask many Americans to make sacrifices, like paying higher taxes.

Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina, says the federal government should underwrite universal pre-kindergarten, create matching savings accounts for low-income people, mandate a minimum wage of $9.50 and provide a million new Section 8 housing vouchers for the poor. He also pledged to start a government-funded public higher education program called "College for Everyone."

He knows he has a snowball's chance in Hell of reaching the White House, much less receiving the Democratic nomination.

I guess he figures he will throw out some "ideas" that will appeal to the poor and low educated, and hope for their support.

If he wants to do these things, why doesn't he open his wallet and pay for them himself. He does not need to use MY money to fund people who are too lazy or unmotivated to do it for themselves. That is why I think welfare programs should be handed by the private sector and not the government.

Republicans Debate on Fox News TONIGHT

The Republicans Presidential Candidates are debating on Fox News tonight. To be honest, I had forgotten about it. My lovely bride and I went for a ride this afternoon, after watching football on television. I was resting on our bed and she came in and told me it was coming on.

I will watch and post some thoughts after the debate.

Saturday Night Fever and Erectile Dysfunction

I know you are reading this and wondering "What in the HELL does Saturday Night Fever and Erectile Dysfunction have to do with each other? Why is Texas Truth posting about these two things and who the HELL cares?"

Well, here I go. Take my statements for what they are worth and make any comments you feel you need to. If you agree with me, that is fine. If you don't, then that is okay too. Just read on and think about it. I tfeel some readers might get a little laugh out of this.

First, Saturday Night Fever. My lovely bride and I settled down in front of the television tonight and started flipping channels. On VH1 Classic, Saturday Night Fever was on. We quickly switched channels. We both LOVE this movie as we were in college during the heyday of disco and it always brings back many memories.

Now I know some of you cannot picture a true red-blooded American conservative like Texas Truth actually going to discos, dancing, drinking and trying to pick up women. YES..I actually did. I even had shirts, pants, and shoes similar to the ones John Travolta wears in the movie. I took disco lessons and in my humble opinion, was not bad. I was not what one would call a great dancer, but I learned at an early age that any guy that can dance was better able to impress and score with the girls/ladies than one who could not.

Never the less, I was one of those "horny" guys in my younger days. I would even go so far as to state that if any daughter of mine ever showed up with a guy like I was in college, I would drop kick his butt into the next county. I don't know of ANY man today that would allow his daughter to date a guy like he was when they were younger. That is a FACT!!! Ask anyone over 40 and I bet you will get the same answer.

Okay, back to SNF. My bride asked me during the movie if Tony Manero (played by John Travolta) ever did love Stephanie Magano (played by Karen Lynn Gorney) or was just using her? I responded that I did not think any 18 or 19 year old male could actually be in love. He may think, in his head, that he is, but actually the only head he is thinking with is the one that is on the third appendage in his pants.

She started laughing hysterically and told me that was a very diplomatic way of putting it. That is one of the things I love about my wife. She can tell me that I have a unique way of putting thinks without making me feel like a total idiot for making a crude statement.

I would never think about making a comment like that around anyone except very close friends or my wife. As my father used to say, "There are things you only say around family and things you only say around males and there are things you can only say to your wife. But when you do say them to her, make sure she understand EXACTLY what you mean, or you might end up sleeping by yourself on the couch for a few nights." My father was a smart man. I am glad I came to believe that and take some of his words to heart before he died.

Now, on to erectile dysfunction. My wife and I have always laughed at commercials on erectile dysfunction and feminine hygiene products. They have just always struck us as funny. We would have never seen such commercials on television 30 years ago. These are things that were were discussed in polite and/or mixed company.

In the commercials about erectile dysfunction, they warn that if an erection lasts more than four hours, the person should seek medical attention. Our question is "Why would you seek medical attention for getting something the pill was designed to give you?" That statement is funny to us.

In addition, why would any red blooded American male who had that problem after using the pill admit his erection lasted too long. I realize that there could be a medical problem with the length (time) of the erection, but the statement in the commercial is comical.

In a related note, while surfing thought the online versions of the major metropolitan newspapers published in Texas this past week, I came across an article related to the commercials on erectile dysfunction . The Houston Chronicle has an article that stated that certain impotence drugs risk a sudden hearing loss. You can link to the article here.

The Food and Drug Administration alerted physicians Thursday to rare reports of sudden hearing loss in men taking popular impotence drugs from Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Bayer.
FDA said it is unclear whether the hearing problems are directly related to drugs like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra. However, at the agency's request the drug makers added more prominent precautions about hearing loss to product labels. (This is a direct quote from the article in the Houston Chronicle.)

What makes that funny to me was that if a man is having erectile dysfunction or impotence problems, and there is a chance he might suffer from sudden or temporary hearing loss, do they think it will stop him from using the drugs? I THINK NOT! Some might, but I would be willing to bet not many would.

Now for the relationship between Saturday Night Fever and erectile dysfunction. Tony Manero would be in his early 50s today. If he had erectile dysfunction, would he take one of the many drugs on the market to help his condition? I think he would, along with many other men with the same problem. I do not think that any of them would care about a sudden or temporary hearing loss. I know that the there are numerous side effect to any medications, but I cannot see a hearing loss as one of the reasons a man stops taking the medications.

As always, I welcome your comments. However, please remember, I am not making light of anyone who suffers from these conditions. They are tragic and I cannot imagine what I would do if I was in the same situation. But I know a possible hearing loss would not make me take any less of the drug. After all, I am still that red-blooded American boy I was 30 plus years ago.

And you know what they say, you can NEVER take the boy out of the man!!!

IEDs in the United States

I was visiting one of my favorite fellow bloggers, Texas Fred, this evening and came across an interesting post.

He writes about the Bush administration's concern for IEDs (improvised explosive devices) being used in the United States against American citizens. Click here to read his post on the subject. He makes some very interesting points and raises some important questions.

His writing and the accompanying comments did make me think. I cannot count the number of times since 9-11 I have pulled into the parking lot of my school and wondered how vulnerable it was to terrorism or a hostile action such as occurred at Columbine High School in 1999.

I am always watching whenever I am out and around, looking for anything out of the ordinary. It is not that I am paranoid but I have always been aware of my surroundings. IEDs are impossible to detect in America and it is only a matter of time until a terrorist detonated one domestically. Many more will follow the initial occurrence. That is a fact.

If Bush and his staff have a plan to deal with them, the troops in in Iraq would currently be using it. The only way I see to deal with domestic IEDs is to watch your surroundings, your back and to do the same for your loved ones.

We could round up and deport anyone whom we consider a threat. It is unfortunate that the liberal Democrats would not stand for that. They would have the ACLU all over everyone.

Great Reading for Teachers

I recently bought the book "Behind Enemy Lines...A Conservative Teacher's Observations of Generation XXX" by Marc Howard.

Right after I got it, I sat down and began reading. I could not put it down. I highly recommend it to all educators, parents, and any one who has dealings with students of any age.

He did an excellent job. My only regret is that I did not write the book. I have seen everything he describes in the book in my 30 plus years as an educator.

This book is a great read.

"The Kingdom" with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner

Last night, Texas Truth and his lovely bride of 24 years had a date night. I know that concept is a current PC idea and it has a meaning of a "special evening" together with one's significant other. Actually, the night out came to past because we both got out of our teaching duties early and decided to go to an early movie.

After scanning the paper, we decided to see "The Kingdom" with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner. I have never been a big fan of either performer, but I had seen some of the previews for the movie and felt we would enjoy it.

The movie was excellent. I recommend it to everyone. It had action, intrigue, and just the right amount of suspense. Go see it if you enjoy those types of movies. All the performers did an excellent job.

What made me post about the movie was a line from a scene in the movie. Without giving away the plot, the scene had a high ranking Untied States government official in a meeting with the head of the FBI. The official was accusing the FBI director of some sort of impropriety. As their conversation progressed, the FBI director commented about his time as a government employee and his service in Vietnam. He states that when he was serving in Vietnam, his commander (General William Westmorland) had all his officers write their own obituaries.

The FBI director stated that after that happened, they realized that their job (and life) was finite and it was going to end sometime. Once that fact was realized, they (the officers) were at peace in their minds they didn't worry about dying as much.

He further stated that he viewed his job with the FBI as finite and it was indeed going to end sometime in the future. He knew that fact and accepted it. The only question in his mind was whether he was going to leave the job on his knees or on his feet. He felt confident that everything he did was correct and had no regrets about what his decisions had been.

My description of this scene may not be exactly correct, word for word, but it did make my loving spouse and I discuss it on the ride home as it related to our jobs as educators.

A great deal of "CRAP" has been piled upon us and many other teachers in recent days, months and years. Moral around both of our schools is very low, and we are only half way through the fall semester. Pressure about TAKS testing, student discipline and "No Child Left Behind" is giving many educators sleepless nights and stress they do not need.

Many high ranking education officials seem only interested in pushing their objectives and desires with little regard for what is truly needed to educate students.

We both talked on the ride home and decided that his statement indeed applied to our jobs. We, along with many other teachers, are concerned that we are dinosaurs and will be forced out because of our conservative views and high standards that we demand from our students. If this does happen, then it happens. We are going to go out on our feet.

Indeed, we will not be in our current positions forever . Yes, we are comfortable in our current positions and very much love our jobs. But when that day does come and the "powers that be" decide that we are no longer a part of THEIR objectives for education, our time will come to an end.

That will then be the time for us to move on and try something else. After all, we are are both educated individuals and can find other jobs and positions. Looking at all the people out in the world whom can hardly function with their education level, but indeed do, I know we will be fine.

We are both going to go out on our feet, knowing that we did the very best job we could for the students we taught.

A Quick Quiz on History

I was having another evening (or should I say early, early morning) of insomnia and began surfing on my computer.

I began reading the blog of one of my favorite bloggers, Ol' BC, and came across this interesting quiz. He had posted it as a link from another blogger, Delftsman.

Please take a few minutes to answer the questions. They will really make you think. The answers are posted as comments in the "comments" section of the post.

Have fun and enjoy.

*************************************************************************************

It's been said that if you don't learn from history, your doomed to repeat it, so here's a little history lesson; If you don't know the answer make your best guess. Answer all the questions before looking at the answers. No fair peeking!
Who said it?

1) "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

A. Karl Marx
B. Adolph Hitler
C. Joseph Stalin
D. None of the above


2) "It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few, and for the few...and to replace it with shared responsibility for
shared prosperity."

A. Lenin
B. Mussolini
C. Idi Amin
D. None of the Above


3) "(We)...can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people."

A. Nikita Khrushev
B. Josef Goebbels
C. Boris Yeltsin
D. None of the above


4) "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own...in order to create this common ground."

A. Mao Tse Dung
B. Hugo Chavez
C. Kim Jong Il
D. None of the above


5) "I certainly think the free-market has failed."

A. Karl Marx
B. Lenin
C. Molotov
D. None of the above


6) "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched."

A. Pinochet
B. Milosevic
C. Saddam Hussein
D. None of the above

Now click on the "comments" section below. See if you did as well as I.

USA Vet Cuts Down Illegally Flying Mexican Flag

This has been all over the internet and blogsphere, so it might not be news to you, however I felt it was important enough to comment. Below is the clip of the action and my commentary beneath it.




Veteran Jim Broussard heard a Mexican bar in Reno, Neveda was flying a Mexican flag above the United States of America flag. He did what many good American would and what many of us would have done if this "situation" had occurred in our community.

He showed up outside the bar, pulled out his trusty Ka Bar knife and cut the flag down. He took possession of the American flag and threw the Mexican flag down on the ground. He states he was taking the American flag and dared anyone to take it from him. The bar owner stood there, looking totally stupid and refused to comment for the camera.

This man did what needed to be done and took care of it in "good old American fashion." This crap of Mexican thinking this is their country MUST BE STOPPED!!! If they are so proud and loyal to Mexico, they need to to get back to Mexico. There is no way that ANYTHING in Mexico can live up to the United States.

Some news accounts state this man might be charged with theft, trespassing, and/or assault with a weapon (knife). If he is, we need to stand by and support him in whatever way he needs. That include contributing to his defense fund and legal costs.

On a humorous note, if I ever have the pleasure of meeting this man, he can count on me to buy him numerous rounds of his favorite adult beverage. In fact, he should never have to buy his own beer again.

THANK YOU JIM!

WE ARE WITH YOU ALL THE WAY!

ALL TRUE AMERICANS ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!