> "I'm 63 and I'm Tired"
>
> by Robert A. Hall
>
> I'm 63. 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" 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 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 left-wing Congress-critters 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 left-wing 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 economy
> of Zimbabwe , the freedom of the press of China , the crime and
> violence of Mexico , the tolerance for Christian people of Iran , and
> the freedom of speech of Venezuela .
>
> 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'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter" in the post-racial
> world of 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 U.S. 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 arrogantly of 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 than 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 bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need
> bipartisanship. I live in Illinois , where the "Illinois Combine" of
> Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the
> tax cheats in Obama's cabinet.
>
> 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 have to see the world these people are making. I'm just
> sorry for my granddaughter.


> Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in
> the Massachusetts State Senate.

What a guy!!

Anybody normal who's seen it all too from the mid-1960s on feels exactly the same. He's got PLENTY of company.

I'd be wonderful if he'd continue serving his country by running for national office.

I'm tired too, and I'm young. I agree.

Hell at 36 I'm plum wore out I don't know how you old farts hold up.

I remember what our country was like before WWII.

The arrogant wealthy were just as bad then as the arrogant wealthy are now and there were a whole lot of the bad ones then too. In my opinion, they included folks like John D. Rockefeller, Joe Kennedy, and Leland Stanford.

Difference is, there were a lot of rich folks like Mr. Woolworth who were wealthy, honest, and moral, who worked their butts to the bone to get where they were.

Sports figures weren't all saints, but they and even many of the movie stars knew they were the idols of us kids, and most worked real hard to set good examples and deliver honest best-efforts at everyday workers' prices. Even more so with singers and stage actors.

Big thing was, everyone still knew what God gave us guns, a rope and a tree limb for. I don't recall if any of you remember at least reading about what happened when the government tried to screw the veterans out of their WW I pensions. We came as close to a second revolutionary war as this country ever has.

Nowdays, no-one seems willing to call a crook a crook, and to stretch his neck a few inches if necessary....even if he IS in Congress. Believe me, it not only straightens him out, it makes everyone around him stand taller, too.

Committees of Vigilance DO make mistakes...humans are prone to do that. But they played an important part in making the American frontier honest when nothing else could. Now that we are on the new frontier of becoming a Third World country for most of us, and a new Monarchy for the few self-appointed elite tgo rule, I think we need them again. I am tired of there being no real justice system grass roots groups to work for us everyday folk.

I just turned sixty last September, and I been retired for two and a half years. Worked hard all of my life to get there.

I feel sad for young people these days. I wonder, when the fedguv will make the choice to repudiate all foreign debt or sell most of the public parks to pay it; if our citizenry will have the balls to hang the bastards and restart this country back on the right path.

I can remember a time when peer pressure kept a lot of poor white trash, and ghetto minorities from acting a fool. It's okay to be stupid, but too many people these days want to make a career out of it.

My place is paid for, and the clan will prosper if we have a collapse.

Rich