Just under 24 hours To decide...

Well here we are just one day before the elections. Will the Dems gain enough seats to take over the House? Will the Republicans hold on by the skin of their teeth? Will Saddam's verdict effect the election and how? If the Dems do win the House or maybe even the Senate, will they stay the course in the war on terror, or will they cut and run like we did in Vietnam? Will the Dems finally step up to the plate and show some backbone? If they win, what will be their first order of the day?

Will they go after Bad Boy Bush, or will they just coveyhole everything he sends their way? Can the Republican party ever regain faith in their commander and chief? Will Hillary finally make the decision as to whether or not she is going to run in '08? SOOOO MANY QUESTIONS?

There is only one way to determine the outcome of this election...GET OUT AND VOTE!!! But do everyone a favor, forget about party lines. Forget about who the talking heads are supporting, vote your gut feeling. Do we want a safer country, or one offered up to the illegal aliens and Fanatic Muslims? What's even worse is do we want a country like France or Germany, where the Extremists pretty much pull the strings? Hey you decide. But whatever you do GO VOTE.

Mr. Kerry...we are fine and well in Iraq

Recently Mr. John "I was for before I was against" Kerry made a comment regarding the need for a better education and or continuing educational goals. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone should further their education, including Mr. Kerry. However, I think the troops in Iraq answered Mr. Kerry's comment the best as provided in this picture. Plus considering the fact that todays troops are much more educated than when I was in the service, I mean look at the equipment that they have to use on a daily basis. Does Mr. Kerry think that he can operate this equipment without an education? Their response just goes to show you Mr. Kerry how much they think of you, being a Vietnam HERO and all.

This is not to say that they all have college degrees, but there are a majority who are taking advantage of the military's educational programs and those that are continuing their education through various colleges while in the service. Not to mention those that go on to continue their education after serving their country. Bad joke, yes; poor taste, to say the least. And this was the best that the Democrats had to offer in '04, I am just glad he didn't win; and so are the troops. HOOAH!!!

Is Too Much Time Taken...NOT A CHANCE!!!

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the newest addition to the Drake Clan. His name is Samuel Hagerty, born August 15, 2006. He is the son of Capt. Scott Hagerty (USAR) and Daphne Hagerty (my daughter).

This is one of the reasons for which I have not been blogging much lately. He is a wonderful joy and occupies much of my off time. His father Scott was on assignment in East Africa at the time, but was given leave to be present for his birth in August. Scott is now back in Africa, but should be able to be home for the holidays. This is Scott's second year of being away on military orders. His first stint was in Iraq for 12 months, during the transition period. He was a liason between the US and the interim PM, and worked in intelligence information gathering, which by the way helped lead to the capture of Saddam and other hinchmen in his circle.

Samuel is my second grandson and both spend a lot of time at our humble abode. At the time this photo was taken, Samuel just turned 2 months old. So if I am not online, you will now know why. Got to enjoy them while they are young, and while there is still time to do so.

Been Awhile, BUT I AM BACK!

Hello fellow bloggers, it's been a while. Sorry I've been away for so long but there were some things that came up that kept me away from being able to blog with you and post my opinions. I really can't go into a lot of detail regarding the reasons but please understand that I have definitely missed your company. There was a stretch there where the hours working made it hard to spend much time on the computer.

I know my last blog was sometime back and I haven't really been able to watch that much TV and gather much information of what's going on in the news. Physically I'm fine, thank you for your concerns and questions as to my whereabouts that some of you have posted in the past few months. Hopefully, I'll be able to be on here a little bit more often now and give my two cents on what's going on in the world.

As you notice My recent post is in regards to a college football game balance played this last Saturday. How outrageous some of the calls were by the officiating crew. As you can tell I am a Sooners sports fan and have followed the Sooners quite avidly for the best part of the last 32 years. HA HA!

With the November elections coming up and all the to do about the war and Iraq and the war on terrorism it would seem that the democrats are still up to their old antics, trying to scare the people into believing that we're no safer now than we were before. We've covered this topic indepth in a number of other posts. So I'm not going to go into much detail at this time, however I will say that unless the republican party starts coming together as a whole they will lose in the November elections. There is way too much division within the party for them to secure a true victory in this election. Although I don't always agree with everything that Bush does or says, he is the leader of that party. In the past, 98 percent of the republicans in Congress have agreed with and voted for the things that Bush has presented to them for approval, now it seems that there are jumping ship to save their own butts their reelection year. The democrats to my knowledge still have not presented a true and honest guideline as to what they will do if they win the election, other than impeach Bush.

I look forward to hearing from all of you and as usual welcome your comments on this posting site. I am glad to be back in the fold so to speak.

Were they wearing blinders or just BLIND

Well, I don't know how many of you watched the Oregon/OU game saturday, but it the last minute of the game was an embarassement to the officiating club in the NCAA. Be you a anti-Sooner fan or an advid Sooner fan you have to agree that there were some major problems in how the final seconds of the game were called. Don't get me wrong, OU played very poorly during the first half of the game and made one of their wild comebacks in the second half. Their defense isn't what it should be and the secondary is definitely one of the weak spots for the Sooners. However, be that as it may, the Sooners did take charge of the game in the third and most of the fourth quarter.

Almost every sports organization out there has agreed though on one thing, OU was raped of its victory in the last minute or so of the game. Two very game determining calls gave the game away to the Ducks. The on-side kick, that was supposedly recovered by the Ducks, and the pass interference call. The on-side kick, which in fact was recovered by the Sooners, gave the ducks possession of the ball inside OU territory. Yet on TV and on the screen at the stadium it was very obvious that the Ducks 1) touched the ball before it had went ten yards and 2) the Sooners recovered the ball after it had squirted out of the pile. OK, missed call number one. Then on the same drive, OU was called for pass interference, when on the replay there was evidence that the ball had been tipped by an OU player at the line, therefore negating any chance for any pass interference. These two very controversial calls ended up giving the game to the Oregon Ducks giving them their first victory over the Sooners in six trys.

What should be done? Good question. First the game will not be overturned by the NCAA. But it should not count as a victory or a loss for either team. The officiating crew should be suspended pending review of their actions on the field and in the review booth. Both clubs should be given a draw (or tie) since neither team had any direct connection with the calls from the officials. This should leave both teams were they stand in the rankings or move both up considering the losses over the weekend by ND, LSU, etc.

Well that is my take on the issue, what's yours?

Hey, My Rights Have Been Violated...Haven't they?

There must be a lot of people out there that have someting to hide. At least that is the way that it seems to appear anyway, with all the whinning going on over the NSA wiretapping. Papers have been hitting the headlines with one of the democrats favorite electionary scar tactics in hopes to secure the election in November. But what they aren't telling you is that they have been fine with the program for quite some time. Oh sure, they are running around like chicken little screaming that the sky is falling and our privacy is being invaded. Yet, when Hoover did it under Kennedy it was OK. When Clinton did it, it was OK. Now that Bush is using it as a defensive move toward terrorism, it is suddenly one of the most outrageous invasion of privacy on the books. Excuse me, but would you like a little cheese to go with that whine?

Osama Bin Laden doesn't need to strike the USA again to destroy it. That is being done from within. Within our own democratic system. Police have used this tactic for information gathering for decades. They have done stake outs and written down vehicle information to identify suspicious persons. They have tapped phones in a means to gather information as to the ties a suspect might have with other "bad people", yet that was OK, right? Now here we are fighting a war on terrorism with some of the highest technology in the world and we are worried about someone keeping a "database" on our phone calls. Like I said, there must be a lot of criminally intent people out there.

This tactic that the NSA is using is not "monitoring" your phone calls. It is simplying gathering information regarding phone numbers, not conversations. If you are calling al Queda, watch out. If you are calling grandma, whats your worry? The phone companies have been keeping phone data on Americans for years, were you worried then? For the life of me I can not understand all the whinning going on, unless you have something to hide. When I was in the military, I had a secret clearance. Therefore I was checked on a regular basis for any inproprities, or if there was something that might "pop" up on my record. As a police officer, we used spying tactics as well. We would follow suspects to gather information on their behavior, contacts, and locations where suspected illegal activities might have taken place. Now if memory serves me correct, I didn't need to get public permission to do it. As long as I was doing it in the "line of duty" and for the "protection" of the citizens to which I took an oath to protect. Isn't this the same thing that the president is doing?

Even the Justice Department has determined that the wiretaps are legal. There have been no violations of privacy. If there have been violations and there are victims out there, why haven't they come forward to present their claims? Where are the court cases? Who has been the "victims"? Who's rights have been violated? I will tell you who. The terrorists. If there were to be another attack on America like 9/11, I could assure you that there would be an outcry from the public as to why we hadn't done anything to keep it from happening. But since we haven't had another attack, we can only see it as a violation of our rights. Again, who has been violated? Please step forward and present you claim to fame. It simply amazes me that there are so many whiners out there over protecting the United States. Are these the same people that are yelling "make the [illegal] immigrants legal, by giving them citizenship ahead of those that have been using the process to become legal citizens? Oh wait a minute, that is the politicians in Washington D.C.

Think about it for a minute folks. Which would you rather have: a safe and secure country, free from terrorist strikes or a country living in fear because we didn't do anything to stop it from happening all over again? For me, if the government likes keeping a database on how many times I call my mother, or my relatives, great. Maybe I could get a copy of it so that my folks could see that I do call them, and often. So stop your whinning, get on with the things at hand to make this country better.

What the ____ are they Thinking?

Just how serious are we on limiting the immigration of illegals into our country? I could hardly believe my ears and eyes when I read this article and heard about it on the TV. To say the least I am appalled. It would now seem that the US is in aid with the notorious Mexican government in assisting illegals in coming into this country. Isn't it bad enough that the the government has turned a blind eye to the immigration population explosion, illgal marches and protestings? Now they are actually assisting them in getting into this country without being stopped.

It is an obvious thing to me that the government (both sides of the aisle) is doing little to stop this. As the article states, this move enables the illegals to skirt the location in which the Minutemen are operating as well as Friends of the Border Patrol. Privately organized civilian groups of concerned citizens, being dismantled (so to speak) by the very government that has made the statement that something needs to be done about the massive immigration taking place in the US. Believe me I do not endorse any violent action taken by any civilian group against another (unless deserved of course). At the same time to assist those coming into the country illegally goes far beyond "protecting the rights of those detained". Another thing that is obvious, is that the Border Patrol can not do their job effectively, or the flow of illegals would have been slowed or stopped by now. So here is a group of concerned American citizens taking time out of their lives to assist their government in helping curb this influx, and their efforts are being thwarted by the very government they are assisting.

In a statement by Darryl Griffen, San Diego Border Patrol sector chief, "...the Border Patrol will not permit any violence or any actions contrary to the law by the groups, and he is continuously aware of (the volunteer organizations') operations," according to the document. "Mr. Griffen reiterated to the undersecretary his promise to notify the General Consul right away when the vigilantes detain or participate in the detention of any undocumented Mexicans."

There have also been protests (verbal) from the Border Patrolmen themselves as to the actions taken by their superiors in the providing of information to the Mexican Consulate after a internal memo was passed down last year. The memo also gave out the locations of field operations of the Friends of the Border Patrol, and the exact location of the group founded by Andy Ramirez.

So where will these illegals be stopped? Not at the borders, and especially not by American citizens. American it is time to stand up and sound off. Who runs our country, the citizens (of the people, by the people, and for the people) or a foreign country (MEXICO)? Who controls who can come into our country? According to this enlightenment, there is very little being done to control this mass exodus from Mexico into the US. And yes, even though there are other immigrants coming into this country, the onslaught from Mexico is the worst. I want to personally thank the agencies that are in place to protect our borders for cutting the throat of their officers and the American population. It makes one wonder what other information is being given out about how one can successfully enter into the US illegally by members of our government agencies.

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A Salute To A Fellow Blogger

Today, I am going to stray away from my normal ranting and commentary on news events to prop up a fellow Blogger. Griz, at God Bless America. One does not necessarily need to serve in the armed forces of the United States to be a patriot. Griz is standing proof of this. Although Griz and I have never personally met, I visit him quite often. As I started blogging back in February, God Bless America was one of the first places that I visited.

Griz's blog is one that is informative with some of todays headliners, but at the same time he takes us away to a more simple time and place, through his pictures. From some of his various contacts with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has shared some of their e-mails with those of us in the world of blogging. One story, that really made me think of "is it all words or is there a real desire to do your part", took place back in March (I believe). Griz had been communicating with a particular troop and had invited him to give him a call if he was ever in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Well, one day Griz received a phone call from this contact and stated that he was at the airport on a layover between flights and would be leaving shortly. Griz, having received this message, jumped in his car, drove to the airport and hunted down his contact and shook his hand before he took off.

I haven't heard of many people saying that they support the troops doing this. There may be others out there that have done this as well, but Griz is the only one that has communicated this to others (that I know of). Griz has, on a consistant basis, always expressed a true support for the troops by his posting, poems from troop contacts, and his always wonderous and beauty filled pictures from north Texas.

For those of you that haven't visited Griz's site, I encourage you to do so and often. I think you will find that Griz always tries to put things in a perspective that only he can do. At the time of this posting Griz doesn't know that I am doing this "special post" in his honor. Hopefully, he will not find it offensive, or as trying to glorify him. It is just a true expression of thanks from a vet that thinks he deserves a big pat on the back, and a thank you for his true belief in our troops and their cause; and a willingness to go that "extra mile" to let them know that he is there for them. Thanks Griz. God Bless.

Right or Wrong?

Well folks here we are, May 1st. Millions of our kind Hispanic friends are planning on marching in force today. Plus they are planning on boycotting purchasing any products today. Not showing up for work, ditching school, blocking traffic in major cities and byways. Yes, this is there way of making there way into our hearts and gaining citizenship in the US of A. And you know what, they will probably get what they are wishing for. Yet then again they might get something that they are not wanting. Fired, suspended, zero's in classes that they ditch. Yep, some companies and schools are finally getting some backbone. If you don't show don't bother coming back, amigo. At least to some employers that is the stance they will take. Yet again there are more companies out there that are going to close the business today so that their illegal base can go out and march.

Heck, some places are calling this a "Mexican Holiday". I have an idea. Instead of taking today off to march, why not just take the rest of the year off and GO HOME TO MEXICO. Please don't give me that BS about how they deserve to be here, or how they contribute so much to our economy. I know all that crap. What puts a burr under my saddle is the fact that they are using these organized tactics, when they have no rights under the US Constitution to even be here. Yet, we have companies and cities, and yes, even a state backing their "ILLEGAL" actions. I say that we boycott all those companies and cities and so forth that are supporting their illegal antics. I can pretty much bet, and feel comfortable about it, that there will be more MEXICAN flags being waved than American. There will be more "this is my land not yours" signs, than "together we can make America better."

Recently, I broke the law. I was stopped by an officer, issued a ticket and told when the court would meet. Just as the law specifies. I was also informed by the officer, and not harshly, that failure to appear could result in a bench warrant being issued for me and my license being suspended until the matter was taken care of. All of this is rightly so, in accordance to the law. Yet, I am being discriminated against by the same people that write and enforce these laws. How? I hold a legal state license, pay state and federal taxes on everything that I buy. Have taxes and other supportive monies withheld from my paychecks, including health insurance, FICA, etc. Yet, if I fail to show for the court or pay the fine, I will be arrested. Here we have millions upon millions of "ILLEGAL ALIENS" that have broken the law, put a tax on our health system, and they are being given a green light to continue breaking the law.

I know better than most, that arresting all of them and shipping their butts back to Mexico or where ever they came from, is not a very plausible or feasible idea. However, if we can sit back and watch these ILLEGALS continue to commit crimes in our country, how can we then turn around and enforce other laws that are on the books? Are they above the law? Are they going to be compensated for their illegal actions? Probably. And our government is allowing it with open arms. OK, I am through with the ranting. Have a Great Day America.

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