It’s pretty common for people to have a standard answer they give when asked how they are. Mine is generally “I can’t complain.” I’ve come to realize that the normal response to that, “no one would listen if you did” is itself a subtle form of complaint.

There are at least a couple of reasons why I reply that way. For one, I’ve noticed during my career that everywhere I have worked, there has been at least one resident complainer. The most memorable of these was an otherwise intelligent curmudgeon whose retort to “good morning” was “what’s good about it?!” Tiring of his depressing answer, I shortened my greeting to simply “morning”, which he countered with a basic acknowledgment that I’d correctly identified the time of day. I eventually just greeted him by name, to which he could only answer with mine.

When Recep Tayyip Erdogan became Turkey’s prime minister in 2003, he seemed to be certain of the new direction his country would take. It would maintain cordial ties with Turkey’s old friends, Israel included, but also reach out to its Arab and Muslim neighbors, Syria in particular. The friendly relations between Ankara and Damascus soon morphed from rhetorical emphasis on cultural ties into trade deals and economic exchanges worth billions of dollars. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s vision of a ‘zero-problems’ foreign policy seemed like a truly achievable feat, even in a region marred by conflict, foreign occupations and ‘great game’ rivalry.

HOW TO REMOVE THE FEATHERS FROM A “FOWL” WASHINGTON DC TURKEY!
“The traditional way to clean a turkey is to pluck the feathers off and then gut the bird. This will keep the skin on the turkey which will give it more moisture and flavor after you cook it. You can also save the “giblets” (heart, liver, gizzard) from the bird and make a traditional turkey gravy later when you cook it.”

“It is preferable to pluck the turkey before removing the entrails. This keeps feathers from getting inside the bird cavity and in general keeps things cleaner. If you’ve already field-dressed the bird, don’t worry about it but be sure and rinse out the cavity good to remove any feathers when you are done plucking.”

“The Washington DC Turkey has about 545 feathers on it and you can pluck them one at a time, or remove them in large chunks by dipping the “bird” in hot water (people resistance). Some people use boiling water but many people swear that water at 140 degrees is the optimal temperature for plucking the feathers. Once the “bird” has been dipped in hot water, the feathers will come off much easier and they also are easier to handle since they are damp and they won’t fly around the room.”

Mr. Jefferson,

It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter to you. Although you have long since passed, I still feel that I owe it to you to apologize for the state this once great nation currently finds itself in. It has been said that George Washington is the father of our country and that James Madison is the father of our Constitution; if that be so, then you, by virtue of the Declaration of Independence, are the doctor which delivered us and signed our nation’s birth certificate.

Although you may have drawn your inspiration from the writings of some of the greatest minds in history, never has such a concise statement regarding the origin of man’s rights ever been penned.

Free Trade Treaties have resulted in encouraging US manufacturing to move overseas, with the accompanying elimination of 7 million manufacturing jobs in the US, in the last decade. One needs only to examine the products sold at Big Box Stores to discover they are made overseas. Cars, tombstones, large fragile clay garden urns, motorcycles, frozen foods,furniture and medicines are but a sample of what CAFTA. NAFTA, GATT, G8, and “Most Favored Nation Trading Status” given to China, have wrought. Our elected officials cheer these trade treaties and expound on how these treaties will open foreign markets to US products. How is that working out?

As I was getting up and getting ready for the day this morning I had this string of thoughts cross my mind.

Each and every profession or line of work has a set of tools to use to perform the job they are doing.

There are specific tools that a doctor uses, that an engineer uses, and the same goes for plumbers, electricians, carpenters, mechanics, musicians, chefs, farmers, fishermen, ranchers, teachers, parents, housewives, and law enforcement, to name a few. They each have their *toolbox* with the *tools* they need to do their job and do it correctly.

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.” – Psalm 100:4-5

Thanksgiving, as introduced by European explorers and settlers in the “New World,” was a time set aside specifically for the purpose of giving thanks to our Creator for His manifold blessings.

The earliest record of a thanksgiving in America is 1541 by Spanish explorer Coronado at Palo Duro Canyon in what is now Texas. French Protestant colonists at Charlesfort (now Parris Island, South Carolina) held a thanksgiving service in 1564. In 1607, the Jamestown settlers held thanksgiving at Cape Henry, Virginia, and there are many other records of such hallowed observances.

The first call for an annual Thanksgiving was at Berkeley Plantation, Virginia, in 1619, when Captain John Woodlief and 38 settlers aboard the ship Margaret, proclaimed, “Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrivall at the place assigned for plantacion in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”

Explaining our illegal immigration problem is simple, yet few get around to actually doing it. Simply, it is the result of decades of bad border policy plus a few supply and demand realities. Understanding this is the key to figuring out a solution, yet so many get sidetracked by emotional tangents instead.

And with liberals rolling in the aisles watching the Republican Party implode over what are ultimately inconsequential differences around illegal immigration, the Republic continues to burn — thanks to rampant statism foisted on us by those same liberals.

So perhaps it is time to soberly focus on why we are where we are and realistically what can be done to address it and to do so outside of the utopian visions of fantasy induced purities. And what cannot be done is anything that will at the snap of a finger make 60 or 70 years of mistakes go away. Like mass deportations Rapture style – ala the Left Behind series. This will not and cannot happen under any circumstances – primarily for reasons of logistics and costs – and the sooner we admit that the better. It’s ok to want it, just understand it cannot happen regardless of who is in power.