I'm Tired

I'm Tired by Robert A. Hall

Robert A. Hall

is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts

state

senate. He blogs at www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com

I'll be 63

soon. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce, and a

six-month

period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked,

hard,

since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour

weeks,

and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good

salary, but I

didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am.

Given the

economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.

I'm tired of being told that I have to

"spread the wealth around" to people who don't have my work ethic.

I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by

force

if necessary, and give it to people too lazy or stupid to earn it.

I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more

taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs

or got sick, I'm willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at

three times

the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary,

then let

the leftwing Congresscritters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the

Community Reinvestment

Act that created the bubble help them-with their own money.

I'm tired of being told how bad America is by

leftwing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood

entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America

offers. In

thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the

religious

freedom and women's rights of Saudi Arabia, the economy of Zimbabwe, the

freedom of the press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the

tolerance

for Gay people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. Won't

multiculturalism be beautiful?

I'm tired of being told that Islam is a

"Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of

Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family

"honor;" of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims

murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers;" of

Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape

victims to

death for "adultery;" of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little

girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law

tells them

to.

I believe "a man should be judged by the

content of his character, not by the color of his skin." I'm tired of

being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial world of

President Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs,

lower

college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them

the

most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture

of

violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than

anyone, and in

the appointment of US Senators from Illinois. I think it's very cool

that we

have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at

the desk

where Lincoln wrote the emancipation proclamation. I just wish the black

president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and

the

individual and less in an all-knowing government.

I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's

fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think

Obama's, at

triple the cost, were wonderful. That thinks Bush exercising daily was

a waste

of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the

public to

control weight and stress, that picked over every line of Bush's

military

records, but never demanded that Kerry release his, that slammed Palin

with two

years as governor for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama

with

three years as senator as potentially the best president ever.

Wonder why people are dropping their

subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didn't vote for

Bush in

2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.

I'm tired of being told that out of

"tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil

money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in

America,

while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or

religious

school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.

I'm tired of being told I must lower my living

standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My

wife

and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles

to our

jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and

granddaughter

live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're

greener than

Gore, you're green enough.

I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have

a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the

damage they

do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff

white

powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think

Gay

people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take

drugs.

And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak

when I

tell them I never tried marijuana.

I'm tired of illegal aliens being called

"undocumented workers," especially the ones who aren't working, but

are living on welfare or crime. What's next? Calling drug dealers,

"Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no, I'm not against Hispanics. Most

of them are Catholic and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics

wanted

to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship

any

Hispanic person who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record

and who

is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably

for three

years in our military. Those are the citizens we need.

I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists,

who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let

their

entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our

military.

They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second

decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better

people then

themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops

sometimes

misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the

policy of

our enemies for the last fifty years-and still are? Not even close. So

here's

the deal. I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse

that

was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let

themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims who tortured and

beheaded

Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered

Marine Lt.

Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the

blood-spattered Al

Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off

the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were

Christian. Then

we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops

in

history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding

from in

fear.

I'm tired of people telling me that their party

has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption.

Read the

papers-bums are bi-partisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need

bi-partisanship. I live in Illinois, where the "Illinois Combine" of

Democrats and Republicans has worked together harmoniously to loot the

public

for years. And I notice that the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet are

bi-partisan

as well.

I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes,

entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent

mistakes,

stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their

only

mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of

entitlement,

rich or poor.

Speaking of poor, I'm tired of hearing people

with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The

majority of

Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were

"poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of

poor to keep the dollars flowing.

I'm real tired of people who don't take

responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them

blame the

government, or discrimination, or big-whatever for their problems.

Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be

63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to get to see the world these people

are

making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter.