Louis R. Avallone

Category: Columns

  • Taking Action

    Taking Action

    By Louis Avallone
    –
    So, there we were, at a local restaurant being seated. The music was loud and lively, the wait staff was busy, and every table filled the room with conversations of every kind. And as we unwrapped our silverware and paper napkins, we made a curious discovery: There was a person’s name, handwritten in ink, on the backside of the paper napkin band. “Why is there someone’s name written here, Dad?,” came the response from the 7-year old son seated at the table. Well, it didn’t take me long to understand, and after confirming with the waitress, we soon all knew.

    “You see,” she said, “Every night, the wait staff wraps the silverware and napkins together for the following day, and we place our name on the backside of the paper napkin band so that if a set of utensils was incomplete, or not clean, we’d know exactly who was responsible.”

    Of course, this got me thinking about the increased accountability for those who did their job well at that restaurant, and the better results that obviously must have followed, from such a simple, inexpensive idea to measure results, and take the personal responsibility for them.

    After all, whether you are managing a business, or a family, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. It’s the reason that baseball players know their batting average, and why advertisers measure the number of people who respond to an ad. It’s why golfers keep track of their scores, and why students want to know their test results. If they didn’t measure their performance, how would they know if they improved?

    As much as that makes sense to you and me, there are far too many folks in Washington that simply don’t get the principle of accountability. You see, there are trillions of tax dollars raised and spent by Congress each year, and almost no accountability for their results, or the value received by the taxpayers.

    And to add insult to injury, Congress hasn’t passed a budget since 2009, even though the Budget Act says it must do so by April 15 every year. Literally tens of billions of dollars go unaccounted for every year, disappearing down bureaucratic black holes.

    And there are lots of examples of this unaccountability. From the estimated $72 billion in improper payments made each year, to the $25 billion annually spent just maintaining unused or vacant federal properties, to the health care fraud that is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $60 billion annually, our federal government is the model of unaccountability, and the undesirable results that necessarily, and predictably, follow.

    There is perhaps no corporation that comes close to the scope of fraud, waste, and lack of accountability than our federal government, and yet most folks stand idly by and vote for bigger and bigger government each election cycle. A government that spent over $593,000 to study where in a chimpanzee’s brain they get the idea to throw feces and that spent $200 million to fund a reality television show in India to advertise U.S. cotton.

    So, here’s what I was thinking: Would the bigger government folks in Washington sign a “napkin band” of their own, just like in the restaurant? Would these bureaucrats in Washington be willing to be accountable to families living paycheck to paycheck, and explain why they allowed the 2% payroll tax cut to expire at the end of 2012? Would they sign the back of the “napkin band” that raises your federal and state taxes to finance Medicare and Medicaid, when fraud and waste is the real source of the problem?
    You see, as a people, if we are to govern own affairs, either directly or through representative government, we must be informed about what our government is doing, and measuring the results.

    The reason is simple: If we don’t hold our elected officials accountable, then elections and the will of the people have no meaning. That’s why that simple “napkin band”, with a person’s name scribbled in ink on the backside, serves as a simple reminder that what works best, works simply.

    So, what if we all wrote our name on the back of our ‘napkin band’ in life?” Lots of folks, like you, already do. It’s the doctor that writes your prescription, or the bank officer that approves your loan. It’s the teacher who signs your report card, or the air conditioner repairman who comes to your home. Isn’t way past time for our federal government to do the same?

    Now, are you ready to order?

  • Multitasking

    Multitasking

    By Louis Avallone
    –
    It’s ironic, isn’t it? The Democrats in Washington, on any day of the week, want to convince you that bigger government is better government. They want you to believe that it can provide better schools for our children, even though only 69 percent of U.S. teens now graduate from high school (despite $2 trillion in federal spending since 1965). They want you to believe that government can create jobs, even though nearly 30%, or over 30 million Americans are unemployed (or underemployed) – and that’s after more than a trillion dollars in stimulus spending. In fact, at the current rate of job growth, it won’t be until 2022 before we return to the almost full employment rate that we had back in 2007.

    And these Democrats are the same folks that believe that bigger government (along with good intentions) can help the poor move from poverty to prosperity, even though there are more people on food stamps today than ever before in our country’s history, and that’s after $1 trillion in annual welfare spending (which is 250% more than it was just 20 years ago).

    Yes, these are the same folks that feel government-run healthcare, which makes up almost 20% of our gross domestic product (or $2.5 trillion in spending), can be administered efficiently, and effectively, by the same federal government that already makes $72 billion in improper payments every year to our healthcare providers.

    And yes, that’s the same federal government that cancelled White House tours for students, released thousands of illegal aliens from prisons, and cut back on the number of air traffic controllers, just to make a point during the sequester earlier this year.

    But even though liberals have an unshakable confidence in bigger government, liberals suddenly start acting like our federal government can’t walk and chew gum at the same time whenever there’s scandal or impropriety. They deflect the importance of issues by claiming that the federal government can’t be troubled with the issue du-jour, as if their all-knowing, all-solving federal government can’t focus on more than one issue at one time.

    You can tell when liberals feel threatened with scandal or impropriety because they suddenly start saying that they need to be “doing the job that the American people sent them to do”, or that they’re “going back to work for the American people” now.

    Remember, during the Monica Lewinsky investigation? President Clinton couldn’t be troubled with such ridiculousness, since the allegations being made were “false” and he said he needed to “go back to work for the American people”.

    And then there’s White House advisor David Plouffe who said Republicans in Congress should focus more on “doing the job they were sent to do”, instead of focusing on the IRS scandal, the seizure of the Associated Press phone records by the Justice Department, and the foreign policy failure in Benghazi.

    You see how this works?

    And when Obama’s $500 billion “American Jobs Act” was in danger of not passing in Congress, and was being debated by Republicans, what do you think a Democrat Congressman pulled out of his talking points? You guessed it: He urged his colleagues in Congress to stop debating and to finish “the job the American people sent us here to do.”

    And what about when Republicans were questioning last month the confirmation of Thomas Perez as our next Secretary of Labor? Yep, a Democrat U.S. Senator pulled out the predictable, “Let’s just do the job the American people sent us here to do.”

    So, instead of confronting the objection, or the underlying issue, these folks in Washington are only interested in their next election, instead of the next generation. They don’t get it, and they will use any means necessary to distract attention away from failed policies and broken promises. And while the Roman empire kept its citizens distracted during its decline with bread and circuses, Congress is aided by Americans who are kept far too occupied by Royal weddings, American Idol, Justin Bieber, Dancing with the Stars, and Lady Gaga.

    Our message to liberals in Congress is simple, though: You can’t have it both ways. A government that is big enough to be all things to all people can multi-task, if you really want to do the job that the American people sent you to do.

    You can investigate the failure of the Obama administration’s foreign policy in Benghazi, while at the same time addressing the fact that the U.S. will no longer be the largest economy in the world by 2016.

    Congress can appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS scandal, while at the same time deal with the fact that the average American family is struggling with the rising costs for food and healthcare costs. You can investigate the Justice Department’s seizure of the Associated Press phone records, and at the same time figure out how to reduce our nearly $16 trillion in federal debt.

    It’s still true, in the words of Ronald Reagan, “Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.” However, that “problem” can still walk and chew gum at the same time. But continuing to walk all over the American people with tired and trite distractions, should simply no longer be an option.

  • A Motto to Live By

    A Motto to Live By

    By Louis Avallone
    –
    Wal-Mart says, “Save Money. Live Better.” Hallmark is “When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best.” Disneyworld is “the Happiest Place on Earth.” And of course, M & M’s “Melt in your Mouth, Not in Your Hands”. These are among the most memorable phrases, or mottos, used in advertising, and you would be hard pressed to find many Americans who wouldn’t readily recite these with great confidence. But, do you know our nation’s official motto, as well?

    Many folks might respond these days with, “Live and Let Live.” Others might answer, “The Land of Opportunity,” or “The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.” If you asked the current President of the United States, he says it is “E Pluribus Unum” (which, translated loosely, means ‘one from many’).

    Of course, none of these are correct, because the official motto of the United States is, “In God We Trust,” and since our nation is facing such formidable social, economic, and political challenges, isn’t it about time that we better understand why?

    Although this motto has appeared on U.S. coins since 1864, and originated in the lyrics of the “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 1814, it’s not hard to understand why “God” is central to our nation’s guiding principle.

    After all, The Declaration of Independence secures our unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by recognizing those rights are endowed to us by our Creator, not by men or government. Of course, Abraham Lincoln called for our nation to have a new birth of freedom “under God,” in his famous Gettysburg address in 1865 and Franklin Roosevelt led the nation in prayer, over the radio, calling on “Almighty God” for strength, and faith, on D-Day in 1944.

    How different it was then – The New York Daily News even printed “The Lord’s Prayer” on its editorial page on D-Day, in lieu of its usual content.

    So, it’s no surprise that a few years later, in 1956, Congress made it official – it passed a law declaring the official motto of the United States as, “In God We Trust.”
    Since then, our nation has seemingly retreated from our trust in God, and it is reported that only 40% of Americans regularly attend church, although some studies indicate that number could be as low as 20%. In fact, it is estimated that by 2050, the percentage of the U.S. population attending church will be almost half of what it is today.
    And with the current administration’s policies coming out of Washington these days, such as opposing the inclusion of President Roosevelt’s famous D-Day prayer in the newly built World War II Memorial, it should be no surprise that God is increasingly harder to find in our national conscience. Just this month, for example, it was announced that the military would make it a crime for anyone in uniform to share their faith – and it is reported that this would include chaplains (or military officers who are ordained clergymen of their faith) to minister to the spiritual needs of our soldiers – a practice which has been performed continuously since the founding of our military under George Washington.

    And even though poll after poll reveals that almost 90% of Americans say that the motto, “In God We Trust” should not be removed from our currency, “God” is being challenged everywhere else, from praying in our legislative halls, to referencing God in courtroom oaths, to even reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in our schools.
    You know, there was a time in America where an atheist did not want to stop prayer during a high school graduation, or protest a moment of silence to begin the school day. Instead, they just did not believe in prayer. Christians that were not for abortion did not bombs abortion clinics – they just did not support abortions. Times are different today, and I get it – and religion has always been personal. As a matter of tradition, though, we have always mixed church and state, but by respecting all religions, as well as of those who don’t practice any religion at all.

    The largest challenges facing our nation today seemingly originate from a declining consensus about what we ought to do, and what we ought not to do, from abortion to marriage to our work ethic. And increasing the separation of church and state has not improved our nation’s quality of life, or its liberties. In fact, our national conscience has become so diluted, and so politically correct, that it is in danger of eroding altogether. It’s like a popular country music song explains, “You’ve got to stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything.”

    The bottom is line is that if life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are based on unalienable rights, granted to us by God, then in our society’s seeming rush to pull God out completely from our daily lives, in the name of political correctness, what replaces God? Who grants us those rights, if not by our Creator? Or will our nation’s new motto simply be, “In We, We Trust”?

  • Plan B

    Plan B

    By Louis Avallone
    –
    Ronald Reagan once said, “Governments have a tendency not to solve problems, only to rearrange them,” and the same could not be more true regarding the debate over the “Plan B” or “morning after” contraceptive. In fact, a U.S. District judge just ruled last month that the FDA must make “emergency contraception” available to girls of all ages, without a prescription, because there is no compelling state interest to restrict access based on age.

    So, let me get this straight: In our nation today, a thirteen-year old girl, who cannot drive or vote, or even sign-up for soccer at the YMCA, without parental approval, can now ingest massive doses of synthetic hormones – which could result in nausea, lower abdominal pain, and blood clots – and parental consent is not even required?

    If you’re like me, and think that sounds ridiculous, we apparently are in the minority on this issue because the American Medical Association, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have all recommended, for years, unrestricted access to emergency contraceptives. Even a U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1977 that it was unconstitutional to ban the sale or distribution of contraceptives based on age, because doing so “clearly burdens the right of such individuals to use contraceptives if they so desire.”

    Apparently, then, the same folks that brought us “safe” sex, are now bringing us “safe” emergency contraceptives. Well, we just can’t afford what that crowd is selling this time.
    You see, this is all about a public policy aimed at marginalizing parents, rather than involving them. Sure, most anyone would want to encourage abstinence, and thereby prevent children from having babies. But does unrestricted access to contraceptives by children accomplish that goal?
    Historically, it doesn’t seem so.

    In 1999, the British government launched its Teenage Pregnancy Strategy program, aimed at reducing the number of teen pregnancies in half, by promoting birth control. After $454 million later, British teen-pregnancy rates, and teen-abortion rates, have climbed steadily – with teen-pregnancies (among girls under 16) reaching their highest level since 1998, which was the year before the program even began.

    Here at home, the Centers for Disease Control reported last year that the unintended-pregnancy rate increased between 1995 and 2008 – despite increased contraception use, and the development of more reliable forms of contraception, as well.

    So, if you consider the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1977 that said it was unconstitutional to burden the access and use of contraceptives, based on any minimum age requirement, and you consider the decision of the U.S. District just last month, ordering the FDA to lift all age restrictions on “emergency” contraceptives, it’s hardly a Norman Rockwell picture of America that so many of us still long for.

    But there’s hope. In fact, up in Washington state, a U.S. District judge recently ruled completely the other direction, saying that it would be okay if pharmacies refused to sell “Plan B” to folks of any age, if they believe selling those products would violate their own religious beliefs. I’m sure that this decision will soon make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    But in the meantime, put all of this discussion against the backdrop of a federal healthcare system that is currently forcing religious organizations, such as the Catholic church, to offer insurance coverage for birth control, which apparently now pharmacies don’t have to sell in the first place (well, at least in Washington state, that is).

    None of this fits together. None of it. It’s like Mark Twain said, “It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.”

    So, instead of “quick fixes,” let’s promote abstinence, at home and in our schools. Instead of talking more about the medical risks of unprotected sex, let’s talk about how only 50% of teenage mothers graduate from high school or receive their GED. Or how they are 10 times more likely to live in poverty, and how almost 80% of them end up on welfare. Tell them that teenage mothers have higher levels of anxiety and depression, and how their children will be more likely to be incarcerated and be less likely to even finish high school themselves.

    There’s no “morning after” pill for these consequences, and no substitute for making better choices. Focusing on providing children with unfettered access to contraception is not the issue, nor the answer, and that’s regardless of the question. The bottom line is that if you need this “Plan B,” then your Plan “A” couldn’t possibly have been that good of an idea to begin with.

  • Triumph of Good

    Triumph of Good

    By Louis Avallone
    –
    In Stephen Covey’s best-selling book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” habit number 5 is, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” The principle here is that by empathically listening to one another, we create an atmosphere of caring, and positive problem solving, whereby the other person then reciprocates the listening, and a win-win outcome can be achieved. In other words, if we just understood one another better, we would all be happier with one another.

    That may be true, generally speaking, but frankly, I’ve had enough of folks in the media seeking to “understand” the Boston bombers, whose callous disregard for human life left 264 people injured, and took the lives of 4 others, including 8-year old Martin Richard.

    I’m not sure it’s important that we understand that the Boston bombers came from a Chechen tribal community that has been brutalized by the Russians in recent decades. Or that the bombers felt alienated and disillusioned, despite both of the bombers being afforded all of the advantages that America has to offer – including public assistance when they needed it most.

    It does not matter if the bombers’ motivation was because of the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or because they were frustrated with the perceived lack of economic opportunity that they were finding here.

    Save the psychiatric analysis for the doctor’s office, please. I’m equally not interested in whether or not these crimes were rooted in the development of their masculine identities, or if they lacked self-esteem.

    It’s not that important that the surviving bomber, until recently, was a nice and sociable kid with a bright future, or that the deceased bomber attended community college and was a Golden Gloves boxing champion who wanted to compete in the Olympics for the United States.

    All of these details are distractions from the real issue: The bombers committed an act of evil, plain and simple, and they knew that what they were doing was wrong. They chose to cause irreparable harm and injury to hundreds of people, and it’s inexcusable, and unworthy of any justification whatsoever, regardless of whatever crybaby problems they were having.

    And while single victim killings have dropped by more than 40 percent since 1980, mass murders are on the rise. From 1900 to 1980, there have been approximately 1 to 2 mass murders per decade, but in the 1980’s this spiked to 9, and then to 11 in the 1990s. Since 2000, there have been 26 mass murders.

    Some folks say that we can’t stop mass murders if we don’t understand mass murderers, and that we can’t stop terrorism if we don’t understand terrorists. Tom Brokaw says, “We have to work a lot harder at a motivation here. What prompts a young man to come to this country and still feel alienated from it, to go back to Russia and do whatever he did?”

    I don’t think that it’s all that complicated, Mr. Brokaw. You see, in the book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” Viktor Frankl explains simply that, “There are two races of men in this world, but only these two – the ‘race’ of the decent man and the ‘race’ of the indecent man.” And that’s what is underlying the challenges of our modern day society – a lack of decency – not a lack of understanding, coddling, or pampering of the indecent.

    There has always been a certain population of young people disillusioned with the status quo, and who felt alienated. But until recent times, murder was simply never considered by them as an acceptable way to express their unhappiness. But there’s just evil in the world, and indecent people who find it acceptable.

    And the more we justify it with explanations, and focus on the motivations; we’re only encouraging such evil to spread. In the words of Les Brown, “Life is a fight for territory. When you stop fighting for what you want, what you don’t want will automatically take over.”

    This is about the fight, then, not forgiveness. The only folks in Boston that can forgive are those that have lost limbs, and those who have lost their loved ones.

    For the rest of us, it’s about fighting for the good in all that we do, and the triumph of decency over evil, because if good people don’t inspire others, bad people always will. After all, in the words of Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

  • The Big Picture

    By Louis Avallone
    –
    Some people might say we have bigger fish to fry. Others might say first things first or that we’re making a mountain out of a molehill. But when you see that the Japanese people, for the first time, are now buying more adult diapers, than baby diapers, there’s cause for concern – and not just here at home. I’ll explain.

    Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard challenges to both the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman, and California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages. The Cliff’s notes version of the issue before the justices is whether or not the federal government has the authority to regulate marriage, in lieu of the states, considering the “historic commitment of marriage, and of questions of the rights of children, to the states.”

    In fact, this deference to the states, regarding marriage, stretches back to the American colonies, which officially required marriages to be registered. In the old country, though, all that was needed were public announcements in church to notify family, friends, and neighbors of one’s matrimony. In colonial times, getting the word out in this manner became more difficult, considering the growth of the colonies, and some historians believe that marriage licenses developed, as a result.

    Of course, there is much debate regarding why government is in the marriage business at all. Matters of romance, love, friendship, and even sacred bonds, can all be achieved without government entanglements. But a marriage license from the state also profoundly simplifies the legal complexities of couples, on matters from property and finances, to children, inheritance, and medical care. In order for the government to get out of the marriage business, it would have to stop giving special legal standing to spouses.
    But that’s another discussion altogether. Here’s what I think we are missing, when we are talking about government regulation of marriage: A marriage license is not the state’s approval or sanctioning of the morality of one’s matrimonial union, whether it be to another man or woman, or whether it be your first or fifth marriage. After all, 50% of marriages now end in divorce, and the chances of a first marriage lasting more than 10 years is less than 1%, for all sorts of reasons, with infidelity being at the top of the list.

    With that said, the government’s real interest in regulating matrimony was that it wanted folks to get married, and then make babies. There’s a couple of important policy reasons that this still makes sense, especially today:

    First, the erosion of marriage and family over the past 50 years has created all sorts of problems. In 1964, only 7% of American-born children were born to unwed parents. Today, that number is 46%. This is important for society because a child born out of wedlock is seven times more likely to be poor, than a child raised by married parents. Did you know that welfare spending is the fastest-growing part of government, and that it has outpaced that of Social Security, Medicare, education, and defense? Under the Obama Administration, the Food Stamp Program has nearly doubled and welfare spending is projected at $10.3 trillion. In short, society is better when folks are married with kids: 70% of poor families have unwed parents, and 80% of long-term child poverty occurs in these families, as well. This creates generational dependence on government.

    Secondly, government needs folks getting married and children because the birthrate in the U.S. has fallen to record lows. In fact, it’s the lowest it’s been since 1920. There are many reasons for declining birth rates, such as folks delaying family formation (as discussed above), and running from religion (worship attendance is precipitously declining). However, unless the trend is reversed, we will soon be headed over the “demographic cliff” because our birth rate (1.9 births per woman) is below the replacement rate needed (2.1 births per woman) to just maintain our population level.

    This means a shrinking population which will get older much faster, and that means the economy shifts to healthcare, and away from consumption and innovation. To add insult to injury, there won’t be enough workers to pay for retirees (Social Security will be depleted by 2033) and our military strength will decline because there won’t be enough folks to enlist.

    Consider Japan, as an example of when the fertility rate persistently remains below the replacement rate. Over the past 20 years, Japan’s annual rate of economic growth has averaged a mere 1%, its population has already shrunk by a million people since 2008, and more than half of the country has been categorized as “depopulated marginal land.” We don’t want to be Japan, do we?

    Of course not. So, while marriage may mean romance, love, and friendship to you, the government interest in promoting the general welfare of its citizenry should be in making babies in marriages that the public does not support. Does that include same-sex marriages, which could adopt the nearly 37,000 children in the U.S. who will be conceived this year by in vitro fertilization, or the 50,000 children will be given for adoption by biological parents?

    Well, the Supreme Court may soon answer that question. But in the meantime, let’s not miss the opportunity to have a discussion about what really matters in our country – and not miss the forest for the trees.

  • Hard Work

    By Louis Avallone
    –
    Thomas Jefferson once said, “I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” And he should know about hard work. Jefferson was America’s first secretary of state, our second vice president, and our nation’s third president. He drafted our Declaration of Independence, and successfully negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, which nearly doubled our young country’s size.

    Indeed, then, if hard work is the cornerstone to acquiring “luck”, our country’s luck may be running out, especially if the folks in Washington continue to ignore that each one of us is responsible for our own individual prosperity and happiness. It’s called “the American dream”, and no one who has climbed that ladder – or pulled themselves back up when they have fallen – credits government spending and cradle-to-grave entitlements for their achievements.

    This doesn’t keep liberals from peddling this prospect, though, and they seem to be making their case very well. A recent Pew Research poll indicates that almost a majority of Americans believe “the rich” are rich mainly because they know the right people or are born into wealth, rather than because of their own hard work, ambition, or education.

    In fact, an economics professor, from Cornell University, wrote in the New York Times recently “talent and hard work are neither necessary nor sufficient for economic success.” Really?

    And around the world, this sentiment appears to be growing. In eight of 21 countries, recently surveyed, fewer than half of the citizens believe hard work is a guarantee of success for most people.

    You understand what we’re up against here, right? The virtue of hard work is in decline, and that’s not good. Of the 2.7 million people who dropped out of the labor force altogether last year, did you know that about 2.2 million of them say they’re not interested in finding a job anyway?

    And why not? Some of them are retiring. After all, baby boomers are retiring now at the rate of 10,000 per day. Other folks may be going back to school, instead of work. And then there’s growing numbers of people sitting around doing nothing.

    What liberals don’t understand is that most people don’t want just a handout – because a job is more than just income. More than just what we do to pay the bills. A loss of a job is the loss of control for folks to earn a living and take care of their families.

    Hard work is not just the physical effort alone, but it represents who we are as a country, and it is how we have defined ourselves to the world.

    Handouts don’t reduce poverty or put a nation back to work. In fact, they provide only the illusion of economic benefit, considering that even after billions of dollars spent in Great Society programs since 1964, the poverty rate is actually higher today, than it was then.

    Too many folks in Washington either don’t get it, or they care more about their next election than the next generation.

    Nonetheless, it’s hard work that will put our nation back on the path it started upon, a path that was forged by thrift, integrity, and self-reliance. A path filled with those who believe “a penny saved is a penny earned”, and understand that “opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work”.

    Now, this may all be too old-fashioned thinking, for our modern day leaders in Washington to grasp. Old-fashioned or not, history repeats itself, and in the words of Winston Churchill, “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”

    And so here’s what I see, in any direction I look: Each one of us is responsible for our own individual prosperity and happiness – not government. Period. It starts there, and ends there.

    Yes, you and I can see plainly where we need to lead the nation. The liberals in Washington only see where they need to lead their next re-election campaign. But that’s okay. We’ve got something on our side that they don’t: hard work. And a little “luck”.

  • Challenging Times

    Challenging Times

    By Louis Avallone
    –
    One of Thomas Jefferson’s “Canons of Conduct” urges us to, “Always take things by their smooth handle.”His intended meaning in saying so was that there is both a respectful and thoughtful manner for us to deal with one another, despite the inherent – and expected – differences of opinion between us. And while the folks in Washington never want to let a crisis to go to waste, they definitely—and deliberately – missed grabbing the smooth handle on this one. In fact, they grabbed it by the sharp end, and now we’re definitely going to need stitches.

    And while not everything in life has a smooth handle, the news that officials at Barksdale Air Force Base have canceled the annual Defenders of Liberty Open House and Air Show is another example of a government that cannot successfully manage its own affairs, yet nonetheless increasingly urges you to allow them to micromanage yours.
    The air show attracts as many as 300,000 visitors to our area each year, not to mention its use as a valuable recruitment opportunity for folks looking to join the military as career. Before 9/11, the only other cancellation was 60 years prior – in 1942.

    You see, the air show is more than just a “show”; it’s part of our community, and our shared traditions. To watch those fighter jets streak across the sky, and hear the thunderous roar of their engines – whether you were driving along Youree Drive or working in your backyard – these were the sights and sounds on a warm and sunny weekend afternoon that assured you that all was still right in the world (or at least that our country’s best men and women were fighting to make it that way).

    There is a cost of approximately $250,000 to organize the air show, but the admission and parking for the air show were always offered free of charge by the base. And even though Col. Andrew Gebara, 2nd Bomb Wing commander explained the cancellation by saying, “These are challenging times,” I believe that there are literally thousands of residents in this area that would gladly support the air show by paying admission, out-of-pocket. It would not be merely for the entertainment value either, but to honor those Americans who have sacrificed their lives for liberty, and for those soldiers who continue to guard it every day.

    We’re told that the “sequestration” is the reason for the cancellation of the air show at BAFB, as well as the cancellation of White House tours. It’s also the explanation why The Department of Homeland Security released thousands of illegal aliens from prisons to save money. It’s why the Federal Aviation Administration says it is planning to cut back on the number of air traffic controllers.

    It’s the reason that the National Park Service plans to close visitor centers, open park road later, and furlough park police. It’s why some federal courts may have to suspend civil jury trials in September, and why the administration explains that every FBI employee, including special agents, will be furloughed for almost three weeks by the end of September.

    But it doesn’t have to be this way, especially when our federal government wastes annually far more than the $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts that are being blamed for those furloughs, closings, etc.

    Examples of waste? Well, where do we start? It is estimated that taxpayers spent $1.4 billion on the Obama family last year, on everything from staffing, housing, flying and entertainment (by comparison, British taxpayers spent $57.8 million on the Royal family). In fact, just the four (4) Hawaiian vacations, taken by the Obama’s, have cost taxpayers over $20 million, including operating Air Force One at a rate of $179,750 per hour, for the nineteen (19) hour roundtrip journey from Washington, D.C. to Hawaii.
    Considering this cost, you might think this administration would show some solidarity with the nation, particularly because so many Americans are out of work, and choose instead to vacation at Camp David, or a nearby resort, where vacations could be arranged for a mere pittance, compared to the cost of getting to Hawaii. Just sends the wrong message, when our nation is borrowing so much money to just pay the interest on its bills.

    The bottom of line is this: The cancellation of the BAFB air show is an example of a giant ruse being imposed upon our nation. When our federal government is already wasting at least $72 billion in improper payments every year to healthcare providers, and when we are already spending $25 billion every year just maintaining unused or vacant federal property, and when there’s $2.7 billion in fraud within the food-stamp program, there’s just no need for Obama to threaten laying off teachers, or scaring senior citizens of an impending flu epidemic, or warning of higher cancer rates, or even cancel our air show, because federal spending has been cut this year by just 2.4% of the federal government’s annual budget.

    The answer, my friend, is for this administration to employ common sense tactics first and last, not scare tactics.

    Yes, there’s definitely a “smooth handle” here. Those folks in Washington just need to get a grip.

  • Translation

    By Louis Avallone
    –
    Do you remember Charlie Brown’s teacher in the TV series, where the teacher made odd, unintelligible sounds whenever communicating with Charlie, Lucy, Linus or any of the other characters in the Peanut’s series?

    The teacher would be heard saying, “Wah wah woh wah wah wah wah,” and the children would respond with, “Yes, ma’am,” or “I understand.” The viewer at home was then left to interpret what had been said by the teacher, based on observing the kids’ reactions to the teacher’s “wah wah woh wah wah wah wah.”

    Well, this is what it is like trying to understand President Barack Obama’s rhetoric and campaign speak, especially these days.

    And many Americans are satisfied to hear “wah wah woh wah wah wah wah” anyways, without details.

    One example of this rhetoric is the Obama campaign against the $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts that begin this month. As you may know, from the media coverage, the “sequester” is a $1.2 trillion collection of automatic federal spending cuts that will be made over the next 10 years, with these spending cuts divided evenly between the military budget and domestic spending programs.

    Although only 1 in 4 Americans report paying attention to this “sequester” debate at all, a recent Gallop Poll shoed that 57 percent of Americans have concluded that the sequestration cuts will harm the national economy, while 44 percent believe it will harm their personal financial situations. So what did Obama say when he recently commented about the sequester?

    Well, he started with scare tactics, causing unnecessary stress to our senior citizens as well as
    disheartening millions of families where a mother or father is still looking for a job in an economy where 23 million Americans are out of work.

    He said, “Thousands of teachers and educators will be laid off,” and “(t)ens of thousands of parents will have to scramble to find childcare for their kids. Hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose access to primary care and preventive care, like flu vaccinations and cancer screenings,” not to mention that cuts in federal spending “could” force reductions in food inspections, which “could” lead to outbreaks of more food-borne bacteria such as E. coli.

    And if that wasn’t enough to get your heart pumping, he ramped up his rhetoric by saying that these mandatory spending cuts will jeopardize our military readiness and “eviscerate jobs and energy and medical research.”

    Wow. I think he left out that there will be less baseball, hot dogs and apple pie for everyone too, right? So, when do the locusts arrive?

    Well, here are the facts: Even with the $85 billion in spending cuts this year, the federal government will STILL spend more in 2013 than it did in 2012. This year’s spending cuts represent only 2.4 percent of the federal government’s $3.6 trillion budget, and our federal government wastes far more than $85 billion every year – and without the Biblical calamities prophesied by Obama.

    Some examples of this waste? Well, it is estimated that the federal government makes at least $72 billion in improper payments each year and that we spend $25 billion annually just maintaining unused or vacant federal properties.

    Then there’s healthcare fraud that is estimated to cost taxpayers more than $60 billion annually, not to mention a GAO audit recently that found that the Pentagon’s weapons systems suffered from a combined $295 billion loss in cost overruns.

    With all of this said, those scare tactics employed by this White House, regarding the sequester, are collectively a disingenuous, self- serving, ideological effort to avoid shrinking government at any cost, especially when you consider that federal spending will STILL be higher in 2013 than in 2012 (even with the spending cuts) and that federal spending will continue to grow in coming years – exceeding 40 percent of the economy by 2050, and that’s even with Social Security going bankrupt by 2037.

    Notwithstanding those scare tactics and Obama’s “sky-is-falling” campaign against any spending cuts, it’s all quite hypocritical – especially from an administration whose own party, in the Democrat-controlled Senate, has not passed a budget in 1,402 days.

    And so, we wait, while this administration runs up the federal debt, now expected to be $16.2 trillion by 2016, which is $6.2 trillion more than when Obama first came into office four years ago and while they oppose any spending cuts whatsoever and however small.

    The bottom line is that Obama hasn’t redirected America from the slippery slope of financial insolvency. No, in fact, he’s brought his own sled.

    And as long as most Americans are satisfied to hear “wah wah woh wah wah wah wah” without knowing the details, it’s just going to be tough sledding for us all.

  • The Parade of Life

    By Louis Avallone
    –
    With dozens of floats and marching bands, in Mardi Gras parades throughout Shreveport and Bossier City, there’s nearly 2 million beads – over $100,000 worth of beads, plastic drink cups, stuffed animals, and other trinkets – that get tossed to nearly 400,000 parade-goers during Mardi Gras season. For many, shouting out, “Throw me something, Mister,” is all that is needed to soon have all of the iconic accouterments of the season – whether the countless beads worn around your neck or the many commemorative doubloons. Indeed, during Mardi Gras, every man is a king and every woman a queen.

    But as you all may well know, the prosperity of one’s “kingdom” during a Mardi Gras Parade is akin to the cardinal rule of real estate, “location, location, location”. So, when my family and I positioned ourselves near a “no throw area” of the parade, we learned this valuable lesson first hand. You see, there was this sign that said, “No Throw Area” at the Stoner Avenue bridge over Clyde Fant Parkway. And even though we were standing only a mere 2-3 feet from fellow parade-goers being showered with throws, in the “land of plenty”, the land behind the “No Throw Area” sign was a desolate, barren wasteland, where many folks waited and wondered why there were no throws for them.

    But if you paid attention, and saw the sign, you understood, and moved. Like others, my family simply moved a few feet north, until we had safely arrived in the “land of plenty”, on the other side of the “No Throw Area” sign. But many in the area still didn’t see the sign, and with each passing float, you could see their dashed excitement, and frustration, as they looked longingly upon the float riders, as if to say, “What about me?”

    I got to thinking about that, and about how sometimes we can all find ourselves in the “No Throw Area” in this parade we call life. I wondered why everyone didn’t move from the “No Throw Area” of the parade, and then I remembered reading that Ray Croc, the founder of McDonald’s, once said that the two (2) most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it. A few folks did something about it, when they found themselves in the “No Throw Area” of the parade, and just moved, to be in the right place at the right time.

    But far more folks didn’t move at all. Maybe they didn’t see the sign, or felt that they couldn’t improve their position along the parade route. That certainly would be consistent with the sense of pessimism coming out of Washington these days; about how our position along the “parade route” of life is fixed, and that only the “lucky” receive the throws, while government is needed to right the wrongs, and redistribute the throws themselves, and making sure that all parade-goers contribute their fair share.

    But more often than not, receiving throws in life is not about luck, but about choices.

    For example, for young people, if you don’t want to be in the “no throw area” of life, then stay in school because a high school graduate, over their lifetime, generally earns twice as much as those who drop out. Additionally, male high school dropouts are 68-times more likely to go to jail, than do men who have a 4-year college education – definitely a “no throw area” there.

    Another example, if you want to keep out of the “no throw area” of life: Don’t become an unwed, teenage mother. Regardless of right or wrong, the realities are sobering: Only 50% of teenage mothers graduate from high school or receive their GED. They are 10 times more likely to live in poverty, as nearly 80% end up on welfare. Their children are more likely to be incarcerated and less likely to finish high school themselves, and the cycle just keeps spinning – definitely a “no throw area” here too.

    But in addition to the social benefits, if the large number of dropouts completed their high school education, it is estimated that the federal government would save as much as $1 trillion over a decade. These young people would be less likely to rely on government healthcare and welfare going forward, and less likely to be incarcerated. And because of the increased earning potential with a high school diploma, most will also contribute more in tax revenues, over a lifetime. Isn’t this where we really want our next generation to be?

    So, back to the parade route along Clyde Fant Parkway: You see, those fellow parade-goers, on the better side of the “no throw area” sign, were not “lucky”, nor did they have a moral obligation to share their better position along the parade route with me and my family. They planned ahead where they wanted to be, and then got to the parade route early, and waited (and waited and waited). We didn’t.

    And no, for you liberals reading this, we don’t need a government program to fix it, nor do we need to disparage those whose position along the parade route was better than ours. We have the opportunity to do it all differently next year – and we will. Now, throw me something, mister…I’m staying in the “Throw Area” this time.