I Could Be Wrong.

  There is pornography in our school libraries here in Florida. That is at least what one school board member is saying. She stated that she personally has found 75 books that she thinks should be banned. They have formed an emergency committee because of the urgency of the situation because school starts right around the corner. Do I think that there is pornography in schools libraries? Nope I don’t. Are there books that may make one think about many of the wrongs of this world? I hope so. Are there books that might help a child to know the dangers of the world around them? There better be or we are not trying to educate our children. Just because you find a topic offensive does not make it pornography. “Debbie Does Dallas” is pornography, not that I ever read the book. The “Scarlet Letter” is not. There are many things in life that happen that may be offensive to you but that does not mean they should be banned from the library. If anything a library seems to be the perfect pla...

  As we get closer to the November election the real problems in this country surfaces - suppression and oppression.   To me the party of smaller government is really the party of gigantic government. Oh sure they want to do away with regulations and safeguards on businesses that protect things like the environment and questionable business practices. When you know you have huge government is when they are going into your homes and your bedrooms. When they begin controlling people’s everyday lives you have gigantic government. I have heard that Republicans want to restrict birth control pills and condoms. There has been talk from Republicans of wanting to outlaw mix race marriages. There has been talk of Republicans wanting outlawing same sex marriages. I am sorry to have to tell this but letting a business cut down a forest is going to do a lot more damage to the world than some gay couple getting married. People want to control the things that offend them, but really don’t h...

  Well vacation is over and we just drove home from Wisconsin to Florida. The entire trek from Wisconsin to Florida we had a heat advisory. Living on Florida you expect it to be hot and wet this time of year. That is why we have an awful lot of people that live here only six months. When it is as hot in Illinois as it is in Florida for prolonged stretches you kind of take notice. Online I see many people stating that President Biden should declare a climate emergency. Yes, I agree that we are in a climate emergency but what would it accomplish if Biden declared it an emergency. Are people going to drive less? Are we all going to run out and buy electric cars? There lies the problem. Our lives depend on the burning of fossil fuels. I just drove from Wisconsin to Florida burning fossil fuel. We can’t expect Biden to take on the oil and coal companies all by himself when we voters won’t do it. It should start with us. How long have we known that the planet was warming? As far back i...

  Dereliction of duty is that what Trump did on January 6 th ? I would say that is an understatement. He took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. This was not the constitution of Trump. This was the oath that every President from the formation of our Country has taken so it is not just any oath. It is the same oath that George Washington and Abraham Lincoln have taken. The oath is a simple statement but says a lot. “I do solemnly swear that I will execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The phrase “So help me God” is not in the oath but most Presidents have added it since good old George. On January 6 th not only was our Capitol attacked but also our Constitution, a document that President Trump had taken an oath to protect. Trump failed and when a President fails he fails not only himself but he fails the entire Country. Trump sat for 3...

  I always write that we must treat every single election as a referendum for democracy and our Constitution against fascism and American apartheid. It used to be that when we voted we were voting on which person we thought would be able to lead the country forward best. Both Republican and Democrats had liberal, moderate, and conservative members. The liberal Republican is an extinct species. Even the liberal Democrat is not what they used to be. The world has gone more right than left. They use to be able to reach across the aisle with the other party and things in this country actually got accomplished. From the end of World War II until I think 2000 we led the world because people and other countries wanted to follow. They trusted us to do the right thing. In my opinion, in this new century, things have changed.  Everything in the world has become more intertwined while our politics have become more divisive. After 9/11 we had the support of the world but we lost that ra...

  I have been on vacation for the last 3 weeks so it has been hard for me to sit down and write. I still won’t be home for a few more days but I have a little down time while watching the grandkids. They are typical teenagers; old enough to take care of themselves, we are here just in case they need a little monitoring. They are one of the reasons I started writing. What are we leaving behind for them? What I see is not real encouraging right now. I get a lot of comments back on Twitter and to be honest with you it really scares me. Now, I do know that it is just Twitter and people are always braver at their keyboards than what they are in real life. I do tweet about guns and if people have been following my blog they would know that I am a gun owner that believes that I have a right to defend my home and my property. What I am always critical is guns on the streets. We watch the old westerns and what does Wyatt Earp do? He outlaws carrying guns in Dodge City to curb the violence...

  I am sitting in Fish Creek Wisconsin today after a couple of days in Menomonee Michigan. As we were approaching Menomonee by boat we saw thousands and thousands of dead fish. It was a sight that I had not seen on the Great Lakes for about 40 years. This was a common sight back in the 70s but not something that I had seen in this volume for quite some time. The beach next to the Marina was just covered with dead fish and the smell was worse than low tide in Ft. Myers Beach. The last time I had seen this many dead fish was during the Red Tide off of Captiva Island, Florida 3 years ago. I also saw two ducks dying and a couple of dead geese. A person in our group called the DNR hoping that someone would come down and try and rescue the birds but we don’t know if anything happened.  In Florida we would call CROW and they would come and try to rescue the birds or at least put them down mercifully. We have come a long was when it comes to the environment but not far enough. On th...

 I have been sitting in Door County Wisconsin for the past week and I have always thought of this place as a magical place. For those of us that live near Sanibel Island know what Door County is to Wisconsin is what Sanibel is to Florida. Good shopping, good food, good recreation and of course lots of water. People have worked hard to keep places like Door Country and Sanibel Island the places that create lasting memories that you keep on wanting to return to. I remember a time when Northern Wisconsin and our water and woods were in deep trouble. I remember a time when there was so much pollution in the air that when it rained the water that fell was like poison. It was called acid rain. The rain was polluting our lakes so that it was killing off the fish. In 1970s Richard Nixon created the EPA to help combat things like acid rain. The Supreme Court has just ruled that the EPA that Nixon created was no longer able to regulate emissions from our Power Plants. The Supreme Court aga...

  As some of you know I live in Florida but for the next couple of weeks I am visiting friends and family in Wisconsin. This week I am in beautiful Door County, a place that some people have described as the Cape Cod of the Midwest. The other day I was driving past a restaurant, Al Johnson’s,   in Sister Bay and I saw something that I had never seen before in Door County. I saw a man carrying a gun standing outside.   Some of you may know that particular restaurant is one of the “go to” restaurants for families and kids in Door County. The building has a grass roof and there are goats on the roof eating the grass.   Besides their great food, that alone creates a memory that will last a child a lifetime. A man carrying a gun I would think would kind of change that memory. I have been coming to Door Country for almost 40 years and that was a first. I don’t know about you but I do not feel safer when I see someone carrying a gun. There are just too many unstable people ...

  God works in mysterious ways. I have heard that many times in my lifetime. What in the hell does that really mean? To me it just sound likes a person trying to put a positive religious spin on something bad. A child gets raped and someone will say that the child is a gift from God. Really? Children having children is not what I would call a gift from God. I remember when my father died and people would tell me that it is all part of God’s plan or he is gone to a better place like those things were suppose to make me feel better. As I look back now those words didn’t help comfort me one bit. If God had a plan it should have not been taking away a father and husband from his wife and five children. How can cancer be a part of anybody’s plan let alone God’s. Our Government is not based on Religious principles. I have been told that the Ten Commandments were the model that was used to formulate our laws. The First Commandment is the one that says. “ I am the Lord your God, who brou...

 I saw a headline today that John Voight was calling for the impeachment of Biden, claiming that Biden had “wronged this nation’s glory”. First, I will want to ask, What part of this nation’s glory has he wronged? Did he lead an insurrection trying to destroy our Constitution? Did he try to strong arm the President of another nation in an effort to get dirt on a political opponent? Did he lie to the American people about a pandemic that caused the death on hundreds of thousands that could have been saved? What impeachable offense has Biden committed that has wronged our nation? All I that I have seen Biden do is pass an  Infrastructure Bill that the whole nation will benefit and try to work with the Republicans that best he can. I have seen a President that wants to work with all States and communities. I don’t care what political party you are a part of if you don’t have anything to back your statement up maybe you should keep your mouth shut. Would Biden have been my first c...