This weeks Hamlin/Clarkson Herald (NY) has a report on its front page about WWII prisoners in Hamlin, NY. Apparently, these Italian  and German prisoners were used as labor on nearby farms, and in food processing plants. Hamlin had a large complex which was then run by  Duffy Motts. Motts was bought out by Cadbury Schweppes, and the plant hasn't been in operation for over 30 years now.They made apple sauce, and prune juice, among other things.

The story relates how prisoners were treated, with a pen put up to keep prisoners who tried to escape, or who did other things contrary to decency. The pen had no structures inside it. The prisoners slept on the ground at night in the clothes they had on during the day. They spent the day in the sunshine, or the rain.

Anyone who has spent a summer day in western NY can tell you the sun beats pretty hot on some days, and sunburn is easily obtained in short order. Rains are cold, and often sleet, or snow, may accompany them. A couple years back there was  major snowstorm in the first week of October. One summer day in the early 1970's my little brother was running throgh the yard when pea sized hail started raining down. "Lookm little ice balls," he retorted. It is said that during fall and winter prisoners acted much better, preferring the barracks and bunks to the elements day and night.

Apples, plums, peaches, cherries, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, squash, corn, are, or were, staples of upstate, western NY, Lake Ontario's loam soiled border lands. Plum pumice (the remains after juice was removed, included prune pits) was dumped on nearby farms, and used to fill swampy areas, one area of which borders my neighbors land. Several people I know, including my father-in-law, and my best man, used to deliver the pumice by the truckloads to local farmers, or to their own property. My father-in-law dumped over 100 truckloads on his 4.5 acre plot. You'd never know it to look at it today. The large piles are no much smaller having eroded, and decayed to the point that they are a tenth their original size, or less. The soil is fertile, and very soft, excellent for growing root crops such as potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke, carrots, parsnips, garlic and onions. Other crops grow on it to proportions unimaginable. Good food from good soil.

 But the key here is that easily constructed wooden shacks surrounded by chain link fence topped with barbed wire were easy to set up, and kept the prisoners very well. After the war ended, many wished to stay in the U.S. knowing that--the author states he doesn't know how they knew--they were going to be returned to areas where the Russians (Soviets)  had control. They wanted nothing to do with the mad Russian cossacks, and their evil. Yet, was Hitler any worse? Were his economic, and social, policies better than the Soviets? Our forefathers, even those who hailed form Germany of the Hitler era thought so. So why does America rush to Soviet, or National Socialist style governance?

Have we become so enamored of our government, is our belief in its benevolence so unrestrained, that we are willing to  allow them to take over our businesses, our Health Care decisions, our lives, cradle to grave? What of American freedom, individual liberty, that can do spirit that made America grow faster, and become the most powerful nation to ever roam the Earth's seas, to fight major world wars, and win, to develop technology that could land a man on the moon, and put a space station in orbit around our planet, and to deliver supplies to it, and return to Earth none the less for wear? What of the technology to create instant communication with pictures, between individuals, on phones so small they fit in the palm of our hands, to send pictures through the air the instant we take them, to go from LA, to NYC in a matter of a few hours by plane, to have such an advancement in society that no other country to this time has been able to touch us, in fact, for the most part fear us, our abilities, and capabilities?

And, yet, we are willing to accept, now, some form of socialist policy that will make us give up all that has made us great, all the freedom that made one of the world's greatest powers in WWII, the Nipponese, say that they could never attack America in a land invasion, because there would be a gun behind every blade of grass? Today we are willing to give up our guns, give up our freedoms, for what? A Great'er' Society? A more civilized Politically Correct, hate filled, division of our people through hyphenated Americanism? Is that the America which was able to make itself great, to conquer a wild continent, to totally destroy enemies in world wars, to tame wildernesses, to build massive dams, to tame nuclear power, to release it to vanquish foes, to right civil wrongs? Is this still the same country people flee to from other nations to make a better life, to fulfill an economic destiny, to be free to pursue their passion, make a name for themselves, or simply survive in a land where they are free to pursue these freedoms, these blessing bestowed upon us by a 'greater hand'?

Have we advanced so far that we have come full circle to a neo-slavery, a slavery to government, and to its largesse? Is our desire to succeed so great, our fear of failure even greater, that we think we need a bloated bureaucracy to tell us what to do, when to do it, what job to be at, and when? Is that the America which allowed prisoners of war to work in its farms and fields? Is this the America at which these people preferred to stay rather than face Soviet domination? Are we willing to accept Soviet domination today because we are no longer great? Or are we doing it to satisfy some deeper desire to overcome, to atone, to seek the wisdom of our minority oppressors because it makes us feel better about ourselves? When did we become such a touchy-feely society, such a bunch of pansies, and posers? Was it the 1960's "Better red than dead" phenomenon that led us to this? Was it the peace and free love of the hippie movement? Was it the unwashed masses of illegal aliens yearning to be free who changed us? Or, was it, as I believe, we who took ourselves to the abyss?

All the immigrants I know who came here to flee the oppression of Hitler, Stalin, Kruschev, Mao, Hu, Castro, the Iranian mullah's, did so for a freedom that we take for granted, and are willing to sell for a few pieces of gold. We are willing to accept slavery that we might not have to suffer? Yet, our forefathers suffered greatly, in trenches in France, in frozen foxholes in Bastogne, on France's Normandy peninsula on Utah, and Omaha, Beaches. These brave souls sacrificed their blood and treasure to free slaves, to free whole people's from the tyranny of European imperialism. And, we are willing to give it up so easily to a Marxist Kenyan Muslim/Christian, and his ilk, who won't show his birth certificate, fights having to do so, and is most likely no cooperative because he knows that if he does he will be seen for the fraud, the charlatan, the unconstitutional president, that he is? What has become of this nation? What has become of our courts that they would rather accept his charlatan than ask for proper procedure be followed, ask that the birth certificate be produced? Can our country, the greatest nation ever, not survive a minor constitutional crisis in which we have to have a new election, one where we check the birth certificates of the people running for the office to assure they are constitutionally eligible? are we that fragile a society that such will tear us asunder? If so,  perhaps Jeff Snyder was right. Perhaps, Eric Holder is right. Perhaps we are a nation of cowards?

Middle America has been showing its strength, not just through its guns, religion, and supposed bigotry, but by its votes. Pennsylvania's primary proved this. Middle America is clinging to its guns because it sees candidates such as Barack, Hillary, and McCain as unlikable, not capable of change, and not working for the American people, their claims to be doing so to the contrary.

Americans see higher taxes in their future. They know that Social (in)Security (SinS) cannot be maintained without further raises in FICA, or revenue, something I proclaimed back in the Reagan era when the government was in another hoodwinking mode. Back then, FICA was raised to make the program solvent, but the premise was that the money taken in would be used for expenditures today, making the receipts years out pay for them. Well, as Barack's preacher, Reverend White has so succinctly stated, "...the chickens have come home to roost," and they forgot about the nest egg they had saved for us almost two generations ago.

Anyone with half a brain could have seen that SinS cannot ever be workable (even in FDR's time there had to be some) given it takes from today's generation to pay for today's recipients. Never was any money saved, or st aside, in a special fund. It was merely put into government IOU's. These IOU's are coming due, and the only way to prepare for the payouts is through printing of more money, or raising taxes, both of which will lead to inflation.

But, the government, long ago, figured this into SinS by reconfiguring the way they calculate inflation. Thus, real inflation is hidden in number crunching numb nut formulae, which only a mathematics scholar can understand. But, boots on the ground, "we the people," have figured it out long ago. They saw larger pay out for goods and services did not equate with government numbers. Today real inflation, for the market basket of goods of middle America, has increased 50%, if not more, in just a few short years, but calculations by our government have inflation below 3% most years. This doesn't add up in the super markets of America. Foodstuffs are considerably more expensive today than they were just a few short years ago, and with the food shortages being predicted, with other countries holding our debt, what commodities will they demand from us first? Will it not be our food, of which they are in short supply? So, our money will come bac to us in higher food prices.

What Obama doesn't understand is that middle America clings to its guns and religion because it is on that which they can rely. God is a constant. Guns are a means to hunt food, and protect our homes and loved ones, for surely our open borders government isn't protecting us. Surely bigotry never enters the equation in most of middle America, because most of middle America could care less about hatred sensed by the left. The left's senses have been dulled over the years by constant diatribes about race. Blame for the hardships of different segments, and let's be clear here, it is one main segment which has fallen on hardship, the black community. Latino's seem able, especially the illegal immigrant community, to find jobs, and make something of themselves. Asian immigrants fare well, both academically, and monetarily. Their work ethic is such that they are able, and capable. But, blacks, and some portion of Latino's whose families have been here since the welfare generation of the 1060's, especially those in inner city areas, have forgotten any work ethic they may have had. That is not the fault of middle America, but the fault of our nation's leaders, and the leaders within those inner city communities. They were looking for handouts when they should have been looking for hand ups. Worse, Barack's middle America was oblivious, or more importantly, unable to make a difference because of the high concentration of inner city socialists (for that is what the Democratic Party has become) voter registration.

What middle America has a problem with is the ever growing phenomenon of government. It can no longer afford the luxurious government social(ist) programs foisted upon it, especially with rising inflation, and ever higher taxation at the state and local levels. And, this is what the people see from Democratic candidates. Certainly they will save SinS, but at what cost to America's youths. And, why can't America's youths wake up to the fact that Barack will be selling them down a river of higher taxes, and lower wages, inflation which eats up their earning potential, and saddles them with increasing debt as much as it does the government. So, if Barack really wanted to become one with middle America he woud join them in expecting lower inflation, guaranteeing them lower taxation, fewer social programs, and a revived economy. He would seal our borders, an seek to return that population which lives here outside of our laws for the sake of middle America. Instead, Obama will keep blaming us for the problems when it is leadership which is supposed to fix them. Instead, the fixes are always temporary. The government programs ever increasing trying to fix what government cannot fix. But, I don't think any of the three top contenders understand this.