Fireworks for the 4th
Bensblurb #557 July 3, 2010
Editorial fireworks for the 4th (local edition)
Sweet land of liberty? It certainly still is, on this year’s Independence Day, at least for me and mine.
My generous pension, paid-off home in a nice, secure Aquia Harbour neighborhood, and a devoted wife of 54 years combine to make Virginia living easy. Nice. If it weren’t for my nagging backaches...
They undoubtedly have caused my grouchiness so much of the time since the Democrats took over Washington--with a teensy few extra personal pounds possibly contributing. Granted, it’s good locally that our own county swept Republicans into office last fall, brightening Stafford’s economic future.
As columnist John Stossel commented recently, "America's current struggles notwithstanding, life here is pretty good. We have a standard of living that's the envy of most of the world....Why did America prosper when most of the people of the world are still poor?... Milton Friedman, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1976, clearly warned the world about the unintended consequences of big government....'We've surrendered power to government; nobody has taken it from us. It's our doing...’--If we are free to make our own choices, we prosper."
But now it seems we aren’t, and we don‘t. And thus the problems today. Soaring deficits are going to unduly burden our heirs. Now I hear that Social Security’s payouts have begun to exceed its income from workers. It will only get worse, barring changes by Congress. Fat chance.
A bumper sticker on my car reads, “Fight socialism. Buy a Ford.” It’s about our only traditional car maker not being run by the feds. Their other takeovers continue unabated.
Item: Congress has let EPA decide how and when to regulate energy production, so it will cost more. Item: A new EPA rule requires that renovation of any building built before 1978 affecting six or more square feet of paint must be overseen by a government-certified renovator and conducted by a government-certified renovation firm. Certification requires completion of an EPA-approved training course and payment of a fee to the agency. Item: There’s that work-slowdown rule on the oil-spill cleanup, with OSHA limiting Gulf cleanup workers to laboring 20 minutes on the hour. Geez.
Such bureaucratic monkeyshines have led some folks to predict a lengthening of our jobless recession. “Double dipping” is the expression being bandied about.
I hope not, especially since that would most likely mean, for example, a longer stay for the virtual desert at our front door, formerly known as Aquia Towne Center. Its developer cleared out the formerly thriving businesses, including my favorite hangout, Gargoyles, and put up a big office building. Warm and cozy? Hardly.
To add insult to injury, a huge parking lot there is home only to weeds, having been fenced off. Of course, it could easily have been converted to allow commuter parking that is in such short supply in north Stafford. Is the developer listening? Hello.
But forget all that stuff for one lovely day. Wave the flag and salute as the parade passes by. We’ve been great for a long time, and we’ll darn sure overcome our difficulties again.
Ben Blankenship is an Aquia Harbour resident and career journalist. Reach him at Benblanken@aol.com
Editorial fireworks for the 4th (local edition)
Sweet land of liberty? It certainly still is, on this year’s Independence Day, at least for me and mine.
My generous pension, paid-off home in a nice, secure Aquia Harbour neighborhood, and a devoted wife of 54 years combine to make Virginia living easy. Nice. If it weren’t for my nagging backaches...
They undoubtedly have caused my grouchiness so much of the time since the Democrats took over Washington--with a teensy few extra personal pounds possibly contributing. Granted, it’s good locally that our own county swept Republicans into office last fall, brightening Stafford’s economic future.
As columnist John Stossel commented recently, "America's current struggles notwithstanding, life here is pretty good. We have a standard of living that's the envy of most of the world....Why did America prosper when most of the people of the world are still poor?... Milton Friedman, who won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1976, clearly warned the world about the unintended consequences of big government....'We've surrendered power to government; nobody has taken it from us. It's our doing...’--If we are free to make our own choices, we prosper."
But now it seems we aren’t, and we don‘t. And thus the problems today. Soaring deficits are going to unduly burden our heirs. Now I hear that Social Security’s payouts have begun to exceed its income from workers. It will only get worse, barring changes by Congress. Fat chance.
A bumper sticker on my car reads, “Fight socialism. Buy a Ford.” It’s about our only traditional car maker not being run by the feds. Their other takeovers continue unabated.
Item: Congress has let EPA decide how and when to regulate energy production, so it will cost more. Item: A new EPA rule requires that renovation of any building built before 1978 affecting six or more square feet of paint must be overseen by a government-certified renovator and conducted by a government-certified renovation firm. Certification requires completion of an EPA-approved training course and payment of a fee to the agency. Item: There’s that work-slowdown rule on the oil-spill cleanup, with OSHA limiting Gulf cleanup workers to laboring 20 minutes on the hour. Geez.
Such bureaucratic monkeyshines have led some folks to predict a lengthening of our jobless recession. “Double dipping” is the expression being bandied about.
I hope not, especially since that would most likely mean, for example, a longer stay for the virtual desert at our front door, formerly known as Aquia Towne Center. Its developer cleared out the formerly thriving businesses, including my favorite hangout, Gargoyles, and put up a big office building. Warm and cozy? Hardly.
To add insult to injury, a huge parking lot there is home only to weeds, having been fenced off. Of course, it could easily have been converted to allow commuter parking that is in such short supply in north Stafford. Is the developer listening? Hello.
But forget all that stuff for one lovely day. Wave the flag and salute as the parade passes by. We’ve been great for a long time, and we’ll darn sure overcome our difficulties again.
Ben Blankenship is an Aquia Harbour resident and career journalist. Reach him at Benblanken@aol.com
posted by Ben Blankenship at
7:49 AM
