Paul

I come from a family of average hardworking people. Nearly 95% of us are ordinary people with nice homes and children in college or the military and we seem to have long term employment. We seem to have fit attractive successful and intelligent daughters and sons who are active and hardworking as well. In the remaining 5% we have family members who are highly successful people who came from very average beginings. We always knew they were beautiful smart and hard working.

Now on the other side of the spectrum I visited a friend who I hadn't seen in a few years and came away puzzled. The wife who is obese, lazy, and miserable has a sister and niece nearly identical. The place had grass and weeds waist high, trash all over in the house and 5 able bodied adult age people "with nothing to do and all day to do it." They whined endlessly about each other and made excuses about their sloth filled life.

Would it be too much of a stretch to say our social problem people tend to come from the same families? And the hard working tax paying people are raised in families that value work come from families that do.

It certainly appears that the Casino is full of people who derive their income from the taxpayer and spending endless time losing it all constantly complaining about how little they have for living expenses. Why can't we all contribute more to these people?

Virtually everyone where I work got a $5,000 bonus check in December. This is in addition to my $70,000 I earned working on average 56 hours a week year round. We are mostly machinists, mechanics and welders.You would think a $5,000 bonus check is something wonderful to celebrate but $2,780 was taken out for Federal, State and FICA. With the remaining money, I paid the Property taxes on my home and came home with just a half gallon of peppermint ice cream which was the money left after paying these taxes. This does not include the school taxes which I paid with money I got for working 2 weeks of my paid vacation time. When will these nitwit politicians allow the average working man to keep his own money?

I am an average hard working American, just a machinist making above average pay. When we got our annual bonus check for $5,000, $2,764 was taken out for Federal taxes, State taxes,and FICA. Of the remaining money I paid my property taxes, not including School taxes which i already paid in October 2013. I treated the family with a half gallon of peppermint Ice cream with what was left of my $5,000 bonus.The same scenerio is pretty typical of all my 401 co-workers.When is enough taxes enough?

I went to a middle class school of 1200 in high school. It was fairly common for guys 16-18 years old to hunt on the way into school. Depending on the season we would shoot pheasant, duck, rabbit or squirel and walk into school and put our rifles away in our locker. Teachers would come up to us and ask if we shot anything that morning and we would show off our newest kill. Nobody was concerned over our rifles or shot guns being in our school locker. This wasn't back in the olden days before cars or planes. This was the 1970s and 1980s. This wasn't just a few guys but dozens. Why are there so many nuts in school now that think playing shoot em up is the thing to do?

I live in a county that is overwhelmingly White, yet my cousin the jail keeper says the county jail is 95% Black. I can go to the local Walmart 10 times and never see a Black person. The same with church, work, the local college, the home improvement store etc. and never see a Black for months at a time. The local school never has more than 1 Black in any graduating class of over 300.. We bent over backwards and elected a Black woman to town council simply because she wanted the position, not because of her skills or background. Sadly she was a welfare cheat and had to resign. Her brother has been in prison for years. Are White people really filling jails and prisons with Blacks unjustly in monumental numbers? Can't we spin this situation some way so that Blacks are not blamed for every statistic that portrays them as criminals and deadbeats? Isn't there some way to blame Whites for their monumental failures in life?

The cost was suppose to save everyone on average $2,500 a year. It was not going to add one dime to the deficit. You could keep your doctor. Doctors would like Obamacare. It was not suppose to have any effect on those companies which already had insurance for their employees. What do all these lies say about the character and foresight of those who pushed for Obamacare?

I can think of thousands of communities with small numbers of Black families that have virtually no or little crime as well as good schools, involved parents and thriving economies. I can not think of even one community which has majority Blacks which isn't a crime ridden, educational failure with uninvolved parents and businesses moving out. How can the color of ones skin cause all this if it were not linked to behavior?

It isn't just crime but education, employment, parenting, drugs, murder etc. It is undeniable that where Blacks are present, the social problems are overwhelming and where they are absent people live in relative safety, their children overwhelmingly get good educations and the influence of the ghetto is minimal.How can anyone turn this simple fact into a "Blame Whitey"? The last murder in our community was Feburary 2008. The last murder in the big city was 4 hours ago. My daughter graduated high school in a class of 298, 276 of which are starting college now. Not one Black graduated. In the big neighboring city less than 45% graduate high school and out of a class of 479, 23 will be going to college.The contrast is profound and communities with the presence of Blacks and communities with the absence of Blacks is undeniable.Does this simple fact have anything to say about the desirability of having Blacks in significant numbers in your community?

kids?

I have always thought the neighbors where I live are particularly friendly, giving and open about their lives. The children are supported and raised well as witnessed by the overwhelming parental attendance at school functions. (276 of 298 recent graduates got regents diplomas) I recently saw a map with locations of pedifiles and felony residents in my county. As you would think the criminals are concentrated in the "low rent" neighborhood with 98% of the county virtually free from crime. Of the 312 residents of this low rent area, 124 have felonies. Does it follow that many of the remaining 188 not yet with felonies likely have the character flaws that will make them poor

It isn't just a few as over 50% drop out of high school. Young Black men are 8 times more likely to go to prison. Statistics on parenting, meaningful employment, murder rates etc. etc. are profoundly below any other racial group.

On my way home from work I stopped to get gas. The first thing I noticed was a 20 year old hippie type playing his guitar and begging for tips. He had a sign that said he sang original songs but it was the same 2 sentences for the entire time I was there. Pumping gas opposite me was a Veteran in a wheel chair with both legs gone. It appeared he was going to mow lawns for the town parks. The cashier inside was a 20 year old no taller than 4'8" with his entire left side (left leg and left arm) contorted with a horrific skin disease. He has worked there for 5 years and is a dedicated employee. Did it occur to the 20 year old guitar player begging for drug money that there were two severely handicapped men working to support themselves and not asking anyone for anything?

I see these people daily most for over 20 years yet their tattoos are just blobs on their arms to me. The enhancement to their appeal escapes me as most would be better off with large scars. In all actuality my coworker whose brother branded him (like a steer) while blind drunk at least has an interesting story to his choice of body art.

to hide?

North have color on our skin. At a wedding reception this last weekend half the people were pasty white North Carrolinans and the other half was tanned upstate New Yorkers. All we heard from the Carolinans was how much better the weather was there yet it looked as if no one in the state ever goes outside to enjoy it. What's the attraction if no one takes advantage of the overwhelming heat in the Carolinas?

How many gun free homes in Watertown wished they had some sort of gun or rifle when the city was in lockdown and the terrorists were at large?