A SLOW LEARNER

Life is somewhat cyclical in the sense that children become their parents.

I watched some of the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics last night and today I caught some speed skating, snowboarding and women's hockey.  I particularly enjoyed the USA women's hockey team defeating the Finnish team at 3 to 1.

In my earlier years I use to watch my father watch sporting events on television that would bore me to tears.  It would be basketball, football, track, golf and the Olympic games.  I would always find something to do like go outside or curl up with a book or magazine and escape the sound of the amped up television.  I could never understand my father's fascination with those sporting events.

Last evening I was watching the broadcast of the opening ceremonies and at a certain point Bob Costas began to interview President Obama.  Obligatory remarks were made about the athletic prowess of the competitors but soon it was all politics and all about me.  I became incensed.

I wanted to see the ceremonies and the parade of athletes.  I muted the television and after surfing the web for a while I returned to a very entertaining event.  I do admit at times it was boring but interesting nonetheless.

This evening after viewing some events Bob Costas was in studio talking with Chris Collinsworth and an Olympic athlete.  The discussion centered on the opening ceremonies and the excitement that participants were feeling about being involved in a worldwide production.  It went well for a while and then Costas began to editorialize and Collinsworth verbally slammed him down.

I finally realized what my father saw in these competitions.  He saw himself, he saw his children, he saw his grandchildren.  The games are about THEM. 

It should not be about politicians.  It should not be about ideologies.  It should not be about talking heads.  It is about THEM.

It has taken me over forty years to finally understand the lesson my father was trying to teach me. 

Thanks Dad, I finally got it.

Just my Opinion

I know many of you are disappointed that President Obama so far has chosen not to come to Gettysburg for the commemoration of Dedication Day at the Gettysburg National Cemetery on November 19, 2013.

This should be a surprise to no one who studies history.

In a recent political tiff the president had with congress, he used the National Park Service as political club to inflict as much pain as he could into the lives of patriotic Americans.

It wasn't the closing of scenic lands and recreational parks that cut deeply into the flesh of veterans and historians, rather the unnecessary closure of national battlefields here in the U. S. and the national cemeteries both home and abroad.

Those actions betrayed the most historically tone deaf president in our history.

His actions were designed to support his political agenda by creating a straw man that would destroy his political opponents by creating a public opinion conflagration. It did not work and he was seen as the clueless historian he truly is.

He had many alternatives but he chose to inconvenience the American public as much as possible.

His disrespect for the American dead that occupy all our "hallowed ground" was witnessed by everyone on the planet. It would seem an extreme example of hubris if now he tried to show reverence for the soil he had secured behind locked gates a short time ago.

A Shameful Incongruity

The inability for the President and Congress to sit down at a negotiating table and produce some productive measures to satisfy all political factions is disgraceful.  All voters regardless of party, should be angry with their elected officials.

This failure to compromise is hurting the taxpayer and government employee on a daily basis.  People aren't paid and government services cannot be fulfilled.

With living near Gettysburg, one can really feel the pain.  Tourists have been deprived of visiting the battlefield and national cemetery.  Licensed guides suddenly have lost income overnight due to the inability to guide anywhere with the closure of federal property.  Locally businesses are losing income everyday as tourism spirals downward.

The real shame is that all of this could have been prevented regardless if there was a government shutdown or not.  The Executive Department (i.e. President Obama) made a political calculus on how to address the government slowdown and decided on closure in order to hurt the public the most.  This has been confirmed by at least one federal park ranger and the actions of the Department of Interior which have adversely affected private commerce near the federal parks.

In the instance of Gettysburg, the Visitor's Center is open because it is run by a private non-profit organization.  There is a minimal federal staff present in law enforcement and maintenance. 

The point is President Obama could have allowed the public to walk and visit their OWN property but he decided not to.  He decided to take the "pour the salt in the wound" approach to remedy a political imbroglio of his own making.

The biggest shame is not economic nor service related, it is that patriotism, thanksgiving, appreciation, remembrance, thankfulness and respect for American sacrifice has taken the largest and most painful hit.  And to think, this avenue of political vengeance has been ordered by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States.

Until further notice,  we cannot contemplatively stroll the National Cemetery or amble the hallowed ground of the Military Park until this present president changes his mind.

That is a vile shame and a repugnant disgrace.

Hopelessly Clueless

So we left Iraq, we are leaving Afghanistan.  Both are now a devil's stew.

And we are going to Syria for???  Bombing milk plants and aspirin factories?  Oh, WMDs.

A good old fashion "I have no idea what to do so let's lob some missiles at them and see what happens!" 

I admit, this may be more effective than his "Grovel and Apologize" foreign policy.

When is the next presidential election?

A Memorial Day Remembrance

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, Private First Class Clairus L. Riggs of Company B, First Battalion, One Hundred Sixteenth Infantry of the Twenty-Ninth Infantry Division was being transported across the English Channel aboard the troop transport S.S. Empire Javelin.  He was from Coalport, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania.

At 0330 hours, the landing craft containing Boat Team One of Company B was heading toward Omaha Beach.  Riggs carried a Browning Automatic Rifle which is a light machine gun that was deployed in a squad of men.  At 0640 hours the ramp of the landing craft was lowered in the surf off of Dog Green Sector.  As the six foot two inch soldier stepped on the ramp he was hit by enemy gunfire and fell into the water, dead. 

PFC Riggs was originally buried in an American cemetery in Normandy but his body was one of many that were requested to be re-interred in the United States.  On November 26, 1947, the U.S.S. Robert Burns arrived in New York harbor with its blessed cargo.  Since Clairus was from Pennsylvania he was selected for a U.S. cemetery in this state. 

On December 16, 1947, at about 2:00PM, PFC Riggs was buried in Plot 2, Site 308 at the Gettysburg National Cemetery.  He is one of twelve D-Day KIAs buried there.  He rests peacefully with all his comrades from the other wars America has fought.

Rest in peace Clairus L. Riggs.

The I Word

• Fast and Furious,  a clandestine and clownish operation by the ATF which resulted in guns being sold to Mexicans and one of those was used to kill a U. S Border patrol agent.
• The Benghazi cover up and scandal in which the Obama administration has been lying about since September 11, 2012.
• The IRS was prejudicially targeting conservative non-profits for punitive political purposes.
• The DOJ wiretaps the telephones of the AP at an unprecedented level which even sparked the ACLU to call for an investigation.
• The Homeland Security Department refuses to enforce the federals statutes concerning illegal immigration.

Impeachment, to bring formal charges against a public official for wrongdoing while in office.

This isn't oral sex in the Oval Office, this isn't a burglary of a private office, this isn't violating the Tenure of Office Act and questioning the legitimacy of Congress.

Americans died, some needlessly, the rights of Americans have been violated by governmental agencies.  All the agencies or departments involved are under the purview of the executive branch of government.

Investigations into some of these matters have not even begun and others have been stonewalled by an uncooperative executive branch.  Impeachment now, no,  but it's a possibility.  I guess it all depends on what the meaning of the word is, is.

" The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Generations, generations.

I grew up in a small town in the Southern Tier of New York State during the sixties and seventies. 

In our modest six member household we had about a dozen long guns in the house.  We all loved out of door activities such as fishing, hunting and camping.  It was a rite of passage that my two brothers, my sister and I became of age and took the state mandated hunter safety training course at fourteen years old.

With each of us it was the same procedure.  Upon successful completion of the course my father would take that child to Dicks or Philadelphia Sales to get our hunting license AND buy us our first shotgun, used of course.

I remember the other long guns in the house as a 30-06 rifle, several .22s  ( one long and one short) rifles, a .225 (?) rifle, 410 shotgun and probably a few others that I have forgotten about.

The firearms and ammunition was stored away but not locked up.  My whole family had unfettered access to all the guns and all the ammo on a 24/7 basis.

We shot a lot of rabbits, squirrels, grouse, pheasants and deer.

We never thought to use the guns for any other purpose other than hunting or target shooting or the emergency of self defense.  Our household was typical of the homes in our neighborhood in regards to firearms.

Fast forward to today in New Jersey.  A picture of a youth that was lawfully possessing his rifle is shown on social media.  Due to a flawed reporting system, overzealous child protective personnel and police rush to the residence to investigate the matter under the guise of child endangerment.  They brow beat the father of the child to gain entrance to the home and insisted on seeing the firearms that were locked in the safe.

The confused and concerned father contacts his attorney via phone and the attorney advises him that unless the authorities have a warrant they must leave the premises upon his request.  He requests, they leave.  

At the time of this writing it is not know if any charges are being contemplated by the authorities.

I suggest that the agents of the state, in New Jersey, that were involved in this incident, go to a refresher course at an in-service training session on topics that include the rights of citizens in regards to the Second, Fourth and Fifth Amendments.

Generations, generations.

A Glimmer of Hope

After having 27 years in government let me explain to the politically naive what sequestration actually means; smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand in conjunction with a gullible public.

The government has OUR money.  They will spend it where THEY want to.  At the same time the government (legislators and chief executives) realize they don't have enough money for THEIR stuff.  One way it get more money is to take financing from other programs and put the funding in their favorites programs and or to raise taxes and fees.

Now, because of their greed, stupidity and fiscal ineptitude they are caught in a pinch where they have no money to back THEIR programs.  

Here is where the deception and the use of Teflon clothing comes in.  Bring the fiscal crunch to the public forum by cutting the MOST popular or MOST strategically important programs and BLAME the loyal opposition.  

This is where the public is to rebel and approve of the solution to the fiscal problem set forth by the current administration.  You the public rejoice as the useful fools that you are (some of you anyway).

Four years ago, President Obama abdicated his fiscally responsible leadership to guarantee an approval to the fiscal irresponsibility of the 111th Congress.   Hence the PORKCULUS BILL was made law and we all suffer from it today.

The voting populace who voted for President Obama and the 111th Congress and also those who voted for giving President Obama a second term, are those responsible for our present fiscal woes.

A glimmer of hope remains.  It appears that not everyone is backing the administration's way of avoiding finding a real solution.        

Safety and Respect

While doing some historical research I came across an interesting article which appeared in The Washington Post dated January 4, 1913.  The subject of the piece was a report given by Major General Leonard Wood, Army Chief of Staff, concerning improvement of the army. He mentioned several ways to accomplish this task which included getting rid of unfit officers, improving the canteen services and reorganizing the artillery branch.  I found the last statement of the article very telling in how our American society has changed.  It read, "Gen Wood strongly recommends the enactment of legislation pending in Congress for a certain amount of government support of rifle shooting in the public schools."

I graduated high school in 1972 and I can't honestly remember if my school had a rifle team or not.  I know they weren't uncommon at the time.  A quick check of the web shows high school rifle teams still exist as do college rifle teams.  Air rifles and .22 caliber rifles are used most commonly.

Does anyone remember any story about a rifle team member going berserk and killing or wounding others?

Times have certainly changed for the worse.

It isn't the firearm that causes the death and destruction at a shooting incident, it's the mental state of the person pulling the trigger.

Personal privacy concerns govern treatment for mental illness rather than public safety concerns. 

The movie industry and gaming industry have more power and effect on our society than we want to admit.

Topsy Turvy

It seems incongruous that law abiding gun owners have to listen to and be lectured by President Obama about what types of firearms and magazines they may possess in light of the fact that the president has the power to execute an American citizen without due process.  Also, he and other governmental officials are guarded by employees that not only possess high capacity magazines in their firearms but also have fully automatic weapons as well.

The killing of subjects that are believed to be dangerous to the United States is being done on a continuous basis with the help of drone aircraft.  Sources now indicate that under Obama's watch more have been killed in the name of national security than under the Bush administration, even to the point of killing an American citizen without utilizing the constitutional  guarantees of due process.  Where is the public outcry? 

Bush- Cheney evil: Obama - Biden good. 

This is an extremely sad commentary on today's society.

Many Americans remain smug and unfeeling that law abiding firearms owners are having their constitutional rights to firearms possession eroded away by law and regulation.  The same people sit idly by when a American citizen is executed without due process by the president.  How long will it take until those torpid spectators start to have their constitutional rights violated?

Oh, don't worry, "Some animals are more equal than others."  Which category do you belong to?  For now.  Enjoy it while it lasts.

While we are at it.

The easiest target is always the law-abiding citizen or the person that would turn the other cheek.

Soft headed intellectuals and criminals see these traits as weaknesses in human beings. So now that some people have harassed legal gun owners who exercise their constitutional right, let us turn the table!!!!

Let's have all Americans with any criminal record or mental record or medical record have their name, address and crime or malady for all to see, published in the newspapers. The purported reason for putting handgun owners in the newspaper was in response to so-called public safety concerns. Okay, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

I want to know if the guy next door is a criminal whether he committed DWI, smoke pot or physically abused his children or spouse; IT IS FOR MY SAFETY AND THE SAFETY OF MY FAMILY!!! SO IT'S OKAY.

I want to know what mental illnesses my neighbors suffer from. IT IS NOT THEIR PRIVACY IT IS FOR MY SAFETY AND THE SAFETY OF MY FAMILY.

I want to know what diseases my neighbors have. Are they communicable and dangerous? Do they have HIV OR HEPATITIS? THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO PRIVACY WHEN IT COMES TO MY SAFETY AND THE SAFETY OF MY FAMILY.

Legal firearm ownership, criminal tendencies, mental disease and infectious disease; it's all the same, right? Oh it's not? Why not?

What about MY RIGHTS!!!!!

Get Rid of New Years Day Holiday

How many of you are in favor with doing away with the New Years Day Holiday? In today's world what purpose does it serve except to give non-essential government workers a day off.

We have to suffer through endless, boring looking-back -over -the- year- perspectives on television which are totally meaningless. Drunks crowd the downtown square while public officials try to burn downtown by igniting tons of fireworks. For what purpose, because the next day is January one and it is a new year? We are not celebrating the birth of a messiah or birth of a nation; it is just a new year like last year was, BIG DEAL!

What do you think?

Nanki Poo this ain't Titipu Anymore

In recent weeks I have been irked by some comments made by people when they were discussing the President of the United States (POTUS).

One talking-head on MSNBC was referring to POTUS and his upcoming remarks on gun control legislation in the wake of the shootings in Connecticut.  She said something to the effect that we all should be interested in what POTUS has to say because he is "the Commander -in- Chief".

 

Well...., yes and no.  He is not my Commander-in-Chief since I am not a part of the military.  He cannot order me to do anything.  Military personnel are another matter and he is in fact their Commander-in-Chief.  He is in fact the civilian commander of the United States military.  We the People run the military, they do not run us.

But not too far from that blooper Nanny -in-Chief Michael Bloomberg was stating what POTUS should be telling us what to do about gun control.  

Well......yes and no.  He can't just tell us what to do.  He may suggest legislative changes and then enforce them as law BUT even with his shaky "Executive Orders" he must be constitutionally correct and should not over step his authority in a non-emergency situation.

These episodes represent the mistaken notion that POTUS is supreme dictator or Commissar ala Joe Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao se Tung and Nanny Bloomberg.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is even getting into the act!  The New York Times reported on his intention to possibly "confiscate" firearms from New York State citizens.

Why are chief executives at all levels of government considering themselves Commissars, Nannies, Tsars, Despots, Emperors, Kaisers or Big Cohunes and by doing so being the legislative, judicial and executive roles all wrapped one!?!?!?  This reminds me of Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan's satirical comedy opera The Mikado.  That was fictional comedy, this is real governance in the 21st Century.

These Pooh Bahs ought to remember the United States Constitution has a Second Amendment and Fourth Amendment.  They should also remember they are the representative of only one co-equal branch of government.  The electorate elected them, they did not appoint themselves and no power has anointed them. 

We the people gave the power to govern to the government and we can just as easily take it away.

Oh how life was so simple in The Town of Titipu!

The Truth

I have been trying to keep myself under control when the kooks are talking about secession.  For the US, that question has been asked and answered with a resounding NO as the final verdict which was voted on by over 600,000 dead Americans.

As I am fashioning a heavy duty aluminum foil chapeau, I do have to wonder of the extraordinary dump of inflammatory information which occurred over the weekend.  I guess it is true, "Mister Obama, you got some esplaning to do!"

So many sacrificial sheep are currently falling out of the sky that I may mold my hat into a hardhat in order to save my cranium from physical damage.  At this point, I don't care who falls and who stays; or who resigns or who may be impeached:  I want the full unadulterated truth on why we lost four Americans on September 11, 2012.  And why there was a massive cover up after the incident. In addition, what type of parole violation would place an American in jail for a year.  How must this man feel about the United States when he his attacked by the present administration for exercising First Amendment rights.

I guess we have seen it before.  I remember a previous administration attacking a religious compound under the guise of saving children from reported abuse.  The horrific result was that the Justice Department shot and burned all the members of the sect, including the children they cared so much about.  I remember cringing in disgust and anger when a reporter asked President Clinton about the gruesome result and he simply referred him to Attorney General Reno, because after all, she was in charge of the incident.

The scales of justice shine brightest in full sunshine.

A good thorough, objective and bipartisan look at this matter of American dead in Libya is needed and the avenue in which to do it is a Congressional committee.  The executive branch has shown it cannot be trusted on this issue.  With America split 50/50 on support for Obama and Romney, this panel should be easy to form.  Truth is what they should seek and let the chips fall where they may. 

Presidents should be less concerned about their legacies and more concerned about the  proper governance of all the people they represent.  Their legacy will not be determined now, in the present, but fifty to one hundred years hence when the emotion of the moment has dissipated and the public and historians may review their administrations in excruciating detail.

Congratulations on your reelection President Obama.

Now show us how you can measure up to the current demands of the office of President of the United States.

Some Are More Equal Than Others

I feel bad.  My feelings have been hurt.  For the second consecutive presidential election in Pennsylvania my wish for president has gone unfulfilled.

I have also discovered that as a white male, I am now, an official minority.  So as recent American trends have developed, I want to impose my wishes over the ruling of the majority.

In Pennsylvania, the results for the presidential election were as follows:

            Barack Obama - 52% of the popular vote at 2,894,079

            Mitt Romney     - 47% of the popular vote at 2,610,385

These figures make it a fact that I and 2,610,384 other Pennsylvanians are minority voters.  The majority has paid no attention to our needs or wants but has cast their votes for a candidate, we in the minority, don't want.  This will prompt the 20 electoral college voters to cast their vote for the majority approved president elect.  IS THAT FAIR!!  NO!!

There are 67 counties in the Keystone State and 55 counties were Red (82%) and only 12 (18%) were Blue.  This is absolute proof that we Romney voters got the shaft.  But don't you worry, I have a solution to ease the guilty conscience of the Obama voters.

The electors should cast their votes as dictated by the number of counties for each candidate.  So if we used yesterday's results, the 20 electors would have to cast their vote for Romney because he took the state by a county count of 55 to 12.

This new system would strip the oppressive counties of Philadelphia, Erie, Allegheny, Dauphin, Luzerne, Lackawanna, Monroe, Northampton, Lehigh, Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware of their powers to subjugate us 55.  Domari Nolo!

Write the governor.  Write your legislative representatives.  How long will this tyranny last?   

The Fate of Man

What causes man to war?

What causes man to hate?

What sparks his bent to evil?

What sparks his bent to malice?

What lessons must he learn,

to avoid the great mistakes?

What suffering must he endure,

to find it's his own fate?

                              Jerry Desko

War will always be with us since it is part of the human condition.  

At times, we could at least, contemplate its cost.

American Cemetery and Memorial at Normandy

Treason and Civil Rights

In  Benghazi, Libya, the American Consulate was attacked and four American diplomatic workers were killed, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

In Cairo, Egypt, a crowd of 500 demonstrators breached the outer perimeter of the American embassy and set a vehicle on fire.  A statement by Ambassador Anne W. Patterson blamed the violence on people who said bad things about someone's religion.

Ambassador Patterson's statement is a direct attack on First Amendment privileges.

Image courtesy of the National Archives

Both incidents happened on September 11, 2012.

The Egyptian government is controlled by an organization called the Muslim Brotherhood.   During the "Arab Spring" the Obama administration sat back and did nothing to stop this group from taking power and allowed our alley, Hosni Mubarak to be taken away to jail.  Many security experts warned at the time that the Muslim Brotherhood is a cover for radical Muslims throughout the world.

The Obama administration ignored these warnings and has even gone further by giving Egypt foreign aid money.

It occurs to me that the present administration has the same foreign policy acumen as the Carter administration. 

The administration's failure to prevent the Muslim Brotherhood from taking power resembles the appeasement policy of Neville Chamberlain when he dealt with Adolph Hitler. 

In addition, in this election year, the President is campaigning as a champion of women's rights.  The irony is, radical Muslims don't believe women have any rights.

To financially support the new Egyptian government is treasonous in that it lends aid and comfort to our enemies.

The failure of the State Department to tighten security at foreign posts on an anniversary of September 11, 2001, smacks of total clueless incompetence.

That's the way I see it.

The Charters of Freedom

WHAT????

FIRED FOR ONE'S POLITICAL BELIEF'S?? 

How intolerant, prejudicial, bias and racist is that?

Are we living in a democratic republic or a totalitarian state?

ERMEY FIRED

A CAPITOL DUD

I have just finished watching, excuse my language and for lack of a better phrase, a huge Suck Fest on PBS.

It was billed as A Capitol Fourth : America's Independence Day Celebration.

It ran for one and a half hours.  The first hour and fifteen minutes was nothing but a concert which featured mediocre talent from the past and present that sang tunes from the seventies through the nineties.  

None of it was entertaining and there were no headliners which appeared in the performances.  I guess the entire tone for the whole program was represented by the melba milk toast, little known host, Tom Bergeron.  PLEASE!!!!!

Let me get this straight, to celebrate the 236th birthday of the United States we'll entertain a national audience with singing talent, no one knows and a host, most Americans have never heard of!  WHY?

The last fifteen minutes was filled with orchestral music that included Souza marches and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture intermixed with a visual background scene of a giant fireworks display.  Fine, the martial music is appropriate for the celebration BUT why would a piece of music that celebrates the Russian victory in defense of the French taking Moscow, have to do with our thirteen colonies in North America, separating from the control of England in 1776?

Why do we celebrate national holidays?  To remember seminal events in our nation's history and give thanks to those who sacrificed for us as well as to understand the experience in the context of the past and how it shapes our future.  So where was any allusion to historical events? 

There was none.

The Declaration of Independence was never mentioned or discussed.  There was no allusion to our Founding Fathers or reference to the American Revolution.  The significance of the event of July 4, 1776 was never related to any event that took place that was part of our nation's history or identity.

Has the July Fourth holiday just become a reason for a day off, or a reason for a barbeque, or a reason for a sale of merchandise or the cheapest reason for a mindless celebration?

It is a national disgrace that we as a society have lost our reverence for and our honoring of those who have come before us and who sacrificed so much. 

How sad, how very sad.

How about the following.

"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, ..."

"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."

Thank God, some of us remember. 

Thank you, to those of you, who came before us and have had the vision to create the greatest country on the planet. 

May God bless the United States of America.

BUREAUCRATIC BRAVO SIERRA

Well I almost said something nice about The Gettysburg Foundation this week.  Alas, almost!!

A friend alerted me on facebook that The Gettysburg Foundation and the Gettysburg National Military Park were offering a plethora of talks about the Civil War.  When I checked it out, there were to be three days of talks, all for free on June 29, 30 and July 1, along with book signings.  WOW! GREAT!

When I looked the schedule over I found most of the ones I was interested in were set for the afternoon of June 29. 

Earlier today, I traveled to the visitor's center and even found parking in the regular lot.  What a great day, in spite of the heat, history lectures and good companionship, what else would you need?  (At my house the temperature was 102 degrees in the shade!!)

As I approached the visitor's center I heard the muffled sound of a voice on a loudspeaker.  As I got nearer the building, I realized the talks are being given outside under a tent!!!!!!!!!!!  One hundred and two degrees in the shade!?!?!?

I was incredulous. 

The programs are being presented in a marquee adjacent to a multimillion dollar temperature controlled boondoggle!  I paused for a moment and listened to a few words that speaker was saying during his talk on the Maryland Campaign.

I found the heat stifling in spite of the fact at least a half dozen fans were set on full blast.   I immediately thought of the Ford Motor Company Lecture rooms.

As I entered the building, I noticed a noted author basking in the temperature controlled climate.  He had a total of one person in his queue. 

I went to the back of the building and checked on the lecture rooms.  The large room had the divider up, both doors were locked and NOT ONE PERSON WAS IN EITHER ROOM!!

Upon returning to the front of the building I noticed the author still had only one person in the line.

As I left the building I was furious.  Is it just me? 

As a taxpayer I was outraged at the National Park Service.  And as for The Gettysburg Foundation, this is exactly why I now hold my monetary  support.

"This event is free."  Indeed it was.  The question is, should it have been located in the empty air conditioned classroom instead of outside in the oppressive heat.

Needless to say I did not stay for the lectures.  As I traveled home I calmed down.  I began to realize that the Gettysburg National Military Park is about the men and women who sacrificed and suffered there.  It is not about the incompetent bureaucratic bunglers that have been placed in charge of caring for and overseeing that hallowed ground.

I hope everyone has a meaningful and satisfying July Fourth holiday. 

May God bless the United States of America.