IS THERE ANY SIGN OF INTELLIGENT LIFE OUT THERE!?

     I have to say that I am nervous and afraid when it comes to politics these days.  I don't understand how we could have gotten so far off track from where we should be.  I am beginning to think that all of our elected officials for the last fifty years have blown it big time and I'm mean Dems and Repubs equally.  And I think we as the citizens have let it slip by without saying a word.
     I read some statistics yesterday that said since 2001 we (the U.S.) have lost almost 50,000 manufacturing plants that employed over 500 people each.  Think about that, and that is just since 2001. Now Dell  and Ford are closing plants and sending the jobs to China. Manufacturing is what has given America its edge since the Industrial Revolution.  Manufacturing is one of the reasons the North won the Civil War.  It is something that should never should have been allowed to slip through our fingers.  Our money is now being exported to China at a rate never before seen in our history.  It is almost a four to one ratio. For every dollar we bring in four are going out.
      In California, their is a faction of people that want to abolish saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school every morning because it is offending to the Latino students. What's up with that!? If I moved to Mexico I would not be offended at the sight of a Mexican flag. And if I was there illegally, I sure as heck would keep my mouth shut and not be demanding my "rights" because I wouldn't want to spend any time in a Mexican jail.  I am all for treating people with respect and dignity but this political correctness thing has gone too far. That being said, we should have changed the immigration laws years ago to make it fair for those who wanted to come to our country for a better life.  How can our country charge such exorbitant fees to file paper work when some of the people in Mexico only make 500 dollars a year. It is elitist and wrong for us to only let in the very wealthy and well connected.  We have left them no choice but to over run our borders.
     And about our borders, if our elected officials refuse to secure them, you can bet that our enemies know that, and sooner or later the Taliban or Al Qaeda are going to come across with some kind of dirty bomb.  While we are all being molested at the airports, terrorists will have free reign.
     And if you want to talk about elitist, just look at our elected officials and I mean all of them.  Our founding fathers would never have given themselves a top-notch health care plan and let the rest of us suffer with mediocre health care that we can not afford.  They have forgotten that they work for us.
     All of this and so many other things make me want to step out onto our back deck and scream at the top of my lungs, "IS THERE ANY SIGN OF INTELLIGENT LIFE LEFT OUT THERE!?"
     
     I apologize if this isn't what you all were expecting this morning, but sometimes I just have to get it off of my chest.