Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Jobs will come if Obama gets out of the way

Democrat strategist Doug Schoen recently remarked  that President Obama is incapable of creating jobs.  I have observed more than once that Obama is philosophically unable to allow the creation of jobs because he believes that government should be in control.  He and his administration have passed laws and issued regulations that have made it more difficult for banks to lend andfor  companies to borrow funds in order to expand. Other regulations are ham-stringing business in various ways.

Obama is in love with the "green" industry and opposes oil and gas and coal.  Allowing the Keystone pipeline to go forward would add 20,000 jobs immediately and at no cost to this country.   Allowing the full development of shale and permitting drilling off shore drilling  to proceed could eventually provide a million jobs. We can get by without positive action from Obama; we need for him to get  the government out of the way and let private industry provide the jobs.

Monday, November 28, 2011

I did not succeed everytime

It was that dead time between Christmas and New Years and nearing the end of my first year as an economic development specialist for the state.  I reviewed a group of inactive files, devised a letter inviting company officials to visit, and offering to pick them up in the state's jet.

A maker of men's suits in Georgia responded and visits were scheduled  ( I thought) for Greensburg and Covington.  When we arrived in Greensburg the industrial team was not ready but soon arrived and we had a productive meeting.  We were late to make the scheduled time for Covington, and I asked the client if he minded putting off lunch because the Covington team was waiting.  He complied, saying, "They will surely offer us some coffee."  When we arrived at the chamber of commerce office, we were informed that they did not expect us. A group of leaders was organized and our  meeting went forward.  

We left to go to a restaurant that, I assured the client, was highly recommended.  After a pleasant meal I began to write a credit card.  The waitress said, " That's not us; that's a restaurant down the road."

I was speechless but the client wasn't.  He said, "You took us to two places that didn't even know we were coming. We missed lunch and to top it off, we eat at the wrong restaurant."

(A week later I rode the state jet to Georgia to pick up the client and several of his staff to go to Greensburg  fo conduct a labor survey.  We bucked head winds returning to Baton Rouge so were an hour late for a meeting that had been called.  Yet, we were told, 200 people waited, only two leaving because cows had to be  milked.  The survey went well and I wish I could say the company located a plant, but it was later determined they did not require added production.)

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy thanksgiving to all

Like the old hymn says, count your many blessings -- name them one by one;
                                    and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

I have promised myself that today I will forget personal pains and problems and ignore the mess our so-called leaders have gotten this nation into.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

So that's why he said New York was dangerous

Most of my many industrial prospecting trips were for one week; I'd leave Sunday afternoon and return Sunday night. However, I took two weeks to call on companies in South and North Carolina, and once I attended he apparel show in Atlantic City and went on to spend a week in New York before going home. 

I was on that particular trip to New York that I met with the owner of a company  that made a top line of women's dresses.  His plant was located in California and he was looking to move and/or expand.  We met in his hotel suite, and he remarked that when he had business in New York City that he never left the hotel. "New York is a dangerous place," he said.

Some weeks after my meeting with this prospect, we read a long article about him, that his Cadillac had been found abandoned and he was missing.  Further, he was in the FBI witness protection program and had been established as a garment manufacturer.  As far as I know, he was never heard from again.  Yes, he had a reason to fear New York.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Super committee is colossal fail

As of one today the super committee, supposed to find l.2 trillion in cuts, savings or revenues, has done nothing, as really was expected.  Congress and the president have the power and the responsibility to come up with a plan to cut spending and reduce the debt.  The markets are already falling and a further down grade of our credit rating is likely. 

This administration has carried excess spending to heights never before approached.  It is easy to spend and become popular with certain groups while some courage is required to reduce funds.  This nation is in bad trouble. Much waste could be eliminated if  Congress and the president would just do it.  But painful cuts are coming in entitlement programs, and those cuts will not be received happily by those affected.  Certain groups, including that stinking outfit AARP, have already run ads defending their funds and castigating anyone with guts to vote for the cuts.  Let me say as strongly as I can -- this nation is in danger and every day we delay makes our situation more perilous.  Greece, here we come to join you unless we act now.  When I say cuts are needed I don't mean we have to cut out steak twice a week and drink a cheaper wine; we are going to have to get by on smaller pieces of corn bread and less buttermilk..

Friday, November 18, 2011

Carter had a fancier name to criticize us

With unemployment over 9 per cent, the economy in a shambles, debt over 15 trillion and wasteful spending exploding, Obama has identified the cause -- Americans are lazy.  Remember Jimmy Carter.  Unemployment and inflation were in high double figures when he said the problem was the American people were in a "malaise." That's an old French word meaning, roughly, "out of sorts."    

Carter and Obama have something in common -- they are both miserable failures as president.

Obama is over seas but he has his thoughts on this country enough to blast public schools while sending his children to private schools.   I think our schools would do better if the federal government was completely out of them.  I favor abolishing the Department of Education, but Obama's criticism  while visiting Australian schools was out of line.

Our problems are not because Americans are lazy; they are not.  Get government off our backs and we will compete.  Do away with the EPA regulations added under Obama's rule and companies will begin to hire. The head of Coca Cola has pointed out that it is easier to get permits to build a plant in China than it is in the United States.  Our corporate tax rate must be lowered to make it profitable to operate here. Otherwise, you'll have corporations loved by Obama, like General Electric, figure ways to avoid paying any taxes.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Thoughts that come on a beautiful day

Another beautiful fall day.  November can be sunny and pleasantly warm or cool, but it can also be cold and wet.  Thinking back to my childhood and days on the farm we would be fully engaged in picking cotton, harvesting corn, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and hay.  Cutting sugar cane and making syrup would usually be done around Thanksgiving on into early December.

I didn't have a garden this summer so have no late vegetables to harvest.  I look out my front door and see the ground covered with pears  which ripened and fell at the slightest breeze.  I usually make pear preserves and/or pear relish but have been too lazy and with too many pains to take advantage of an abundant crop, letting them go to waste.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Associate Pastor leaves -- to form non-denominationl church

                           He leadeth me, O blessed thought!
                           O words with heav'nly comfort fraught!
                           Whate'er I do, where'er I be
                           Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

Shocking announcement at church today -- Associate Pastor Joe Robideaux is resigning not only from this church but as a Methodist as he feels called to join another young man, also a former Methodist, to form a non-denominational church in North  Bossier.

There are some highly successful -- at least in attendance -   non-denominational churches.  What they have to offer that is different I don't know.  As a child and young adult I attended both churches in our community.  Occasionally, a brush arbor would be built during the summer and a group would hold night services.  We would attend.  There were periods of time when prayer meetings would be held in homes within the community.  We would participate in those.  This country, as has England, been swept at times by evangelistic fervor.  I would like for that to happen now but if it comes, will it come from some denomination, such as when Methodism spread throughout the land or from tent revivals such as those conducted by Billy Sunday early in the last century.  Christianity is under attack in two ways -- from Islam which says convert or die, and from apathy as all denominations are losing members.  Too many of we Christians are luke warm. We need to be revitalized.


Saturday, November 12, 2011

Obama "passes" on Keystone pipeline

Obama says he will delay until after the 2012 election a decision to allow construction of the pipeline which would bring oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf coast.  This costs a minimum of 20,000 jobs to begin and probably a total of more 50,000.  Canada is the largest source of imported energy into the United States and the pipeline would make this nation more secure.  The  no-decision was strictly political; Obama wants to please the radical environmentalists whose goal seems to be to destroy the United States.  Pipelines cross this country and are the least costly method of transporting energy.

The president has dealt another blow to the goal of becoming self-sufficient in energy.  He has put a moratorium of five years on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and most of the Alaskan coast. Obama is philosophically unable to take actions to allow jobs to be created.  More and more regulations are keeping unemployment high. For example, it is more difficult for a Frenchman to get a visa to visit the United States than a visa to tour China.  Additional regulations have cost 500,000 jobs in the tourist industry.  This nation will remain mired in a sick economy and high joblessness until Obama is replaced.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Happy veterans day

I am thinking especially  of my former shipmates and their families.  I feel like they are part of my family.  Personally, as a World War II veteran, I have never thought veterans day has much significance compared to Memorial Day. which honors those who gave their lives for our freedom. Serving our country in uniform or in any other way is no more than our duty and our privilege.

This would be a good day to honor those who were wounded in our actions in the Mideast by contributing to organizations that make their lives  a little better.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

A pleasant navy memory -- visit to D.C. and Baltimore

While still attached to the USS Pickens and  awaiting orders to send us home, a shipmate and I took a bus to Washington D.C. We admired the cherry blossoms and took a guided tour of the capitol.  Security at that time was unobtrusive and minimal if it existed at all.  Later we caught a bus and traveled by graveled road to Baltimore.

We got a hotel room and took in the city sights, shortly arriving at a place where a dance was going on. Neither of us danced but we soon were enjoying the company of a group of girls,   spending most of our time with two.  The girls offered to buy us a beer but we declined. (Girls could buy beer at 18 but uniformed servicemen had to be 21. Some fairness, huh.)

Closing time came and my pal kept the room key because my girl lived a distance away.  We took a bus, transferred to another, and then walked several blocks.  The girl was concerned that I get to the bus stop before the bus stopped running. As we entered her house, she said, "You can stay a little while but I don't want you to miss the bus."  When we entered the house we saw her sister and boyfriend on the sofa. They said it was time for him to go and he could take me to the place where I could catch the bus that would take me all the way back downtown.

When I arrived  at the hotel, my buddy was not there.  While I waited I was pestered by women who were drinking a  perfumed liquor ando who tried to get me to drink.  I  didn't give in. What a good boy I was.

Joe Paterno must be fired today


This is not something I would ordinarily write about but I have read the grand jury report on the Penn State situation and am so hurt and angry that I must vent some way.   For 12 or 15 years a monster has abused boys while  others who knew about it did nothing to stop it.  They put the name of Penn State ahead of the lives of innocent boys, and everyone involved from the president on down should be dismissed immediately.  No need for the board of regents to appoint a committee to meet and investigate. Act now.

For Joe Paterno to prowl the sidelines during the game Saturday with Nebraska would be a travesty and an insult to the victims and their families.  That goes for every other person who enabled Sandusky to continue to abuse boys sexually.  

Finding something good that could come from this is well nigh impossible. Perhaps, it will make people more determined to do their utmost to stop evil when they see it.  Sins of omission can be worse than sins of commission.

I just cannot get over the lack of action by so many who could have acted and saved those boys from abuse that will scar them all their lives.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Overcoming obstacles to build an airport

As mayor and newspaper editor, I was the victim of a double blow when the competing newspaper came out with the news story that the state had chosen to build a landing strip in Haynesville and not in Homer. In making the announcement, the state representative had given the Haynesville News a scoop. That violated the usual tactic of treating the newspapers fairly. 

At this time the state would build a one-mile landing strip in each parish, usually at the parish seat.  Homer, being in the hills, had difficulty in finding a well situated mile of fairly level land that could be acquired.

I was not only upset; I was angry.  I got in touch with  an engineering firm and put together a request for the Federal Aviation Administration to build an airport in Homer.  While the FAA had granted funds to improve air port facilities, it had never provided a grant to build an airport in Louisiana.  This was a first because Homer was awarded a grant if we could match it.  Rep. John Garrett and I traveled to Baton Rouge and met with Governor John McKeithen  to ask for matching funds.  He pointed out that that would be much more money than the state provided for landing strips, but he agreed.

We still had to provide a suitable site. This is where civic minded friends took over.  A beautiful site was located between the upper forks of Lake Claiborne.  Land owners were contacted and, while they really did not want to let their land go, they sacrificed and sold the land.  Contracts were let and an airport was built; a much better facility than a landing strip.

(I wanted to name the many people without whose help this could not have been done but I know I cannot remember everyone so I decided not to try.)

Thursday, November 3, 2011

My sad attempt to roller skate

During the days we were still on the Pickens at Norfolk, waiting impatiently for travel orders, I asked some friends why they went skating so often.  They gave me the magic word -- girls.  That sounded good to me and I visited the skating rink.  Before I could skate holding a girl's hand I had to learn to skate. I rented a pair of skates; the boy put the first one on; I tried to stand and hit the deck.  I fell again when the second skate was put on the other foot, and I fell and fell for hours.

The rink had a railing beginners could hang on to, so there I was walking on skates along with little boys and girls about five or six years old. I lasted several hours but gave it up as hopeless and never visited the rink again. I had better luck in Baltimore, but not at a skating rink.

And how was October for you?

United States debt increased 203 billion dollars in October alone.  That amounts to 650 dollars for every man, woman and child.  This administration and Congress can not or will not stop excessive spending.  We can not save this country unless we defeat Obama and many members of Congress.

Some more good news -- Officials of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have voted themselves l2 million dollars in bonuses.  They are the ones who are largely responsible for the housing debacle, which sent the economy into a tailspin.  Taxpayers have been forced to pay 175 billion dollars to cover many of their bad loans.

With the economy so sick, it is no surprise that 45,800,000 individuals are now on food stamps.  Have a good day.