Top 9 signs that your divorce or breakup is making you a nutcase

9) You refuse to sign any settlement agreement that does not make sure you get the Elvis collectable plates.

8) The first quality you look for in a new significant other is their willingness to “go after” your ex.

7) You see a mutual friend of you and your ex and cuss them out and threaten them for not “taking your side.” You get even angrier when that person seems not to know what the Hell you are talking about. 

6) You not only fire but cuss out your attorney for not following your instructions to hire a hit man to take out your ex.  That damn lawyer must be sleeping with 'em or out to get you. 

5) You just cannot understand why the court and everyone else is so upset that you left your kids unattended while you spent time and smoked pot with your friend nicknamed, “the big snake.”  You point out the kids were asleep anyway and you have your “needs,” and it was all just innocent good adult fun.

4) It has been ten years since the divorce or breakup, and you still park across the street from your ex’s house, taking careful notes about who comes and goes there. You send those notes to your ex in newsletter like form. 

3) You spend hours writing emails and facebook messages that makes sure the world knows who your ex “really is.”

2) You decide court orders about things like visitation and orders of protection are things you really don’t need to worry about.  After all, the judge who issued the order is “out to get you.”

1) You demand that the doublewide trailer home be broken back in half and you want the half with the bathroom. 

Read More

Afghanistan and other military issues people tend not to think about

The death toll in Afghanistan of American military personnel has now reached 63 for the month of July, which makes July 2010 the deadliest month to date in that war.  Sixty Americans were killed in June.  Real people are dying and dying at a rate higher than any other in the nine years that the United States has had forces in Afghanistan. 

Yet, the mainstream media gushes over President Obama appearing on The View, an ABC daytime talk show.  It was the first appearance by a sitting President of the United States on a daytime talk show.  The President did relatively well, considering the softball questions asked.  To the President’s credit, he did mention with respect those who have died serving the country. 

That said, before the show was over, the hosts of The View felt compelled to ask the President about Lindsey Lohan and “Snookie,” whoever that is.  They had to do that to appeal to their audience, which is typical of the American people today. 

Again, the President was the one who mentioned those who have died in Afghanistan, not the interviewers.  Two other issues were not mentioned at all by anyone, but they are hitting military families hard.  Both are issues that define the honor of America.

First, there is the issue reported in second tier stories in the media about the mess at Arlington National Cemetery.  Arlington, which is the place in which so many who have given so much to this country are honored with a resting place, has over 6000 graves unmarked or wrongly identified.  Such a disservice to military people and their families is unacceptable.  That America seems not to care is a mark of the lack of honor the culture has.  After all, Lindsey Lohan is in jail and Simon is off of American Idol. 

Even more dishonorable are the acts of life insurance companies who delay payment to the beneficiaries of military personnel who are killed serving our country.  Again, it was another lower tier story.  But, the fact that survivors of those who give all to this country are left to worry for 90 or 120 days about how to pay the bills while the insurance company delays payment of benefits in order to draw interest on the money is unacceptable.  It is dishonorable. 

The President went on The View in part to sort of reshape his image and get some popular support.  How refreshing it would have been if the President would had the gumption to go after the insults to national honor done at Arlington and by the insurance companies in regards to those who gave so much for us all.  Alas, that is not to be.  The President is paying attention to the polls, and knowing that Lindsey Lohan is in jail probably got him more support than saying he is going to wreak havoc on those whose sloppiness and greed dishonor the military and the country. 

God bless our troops.  Our nation doesn’t deserve what they do for us. 

Read More

Newt Gingrich for President?

At age 67, former United States Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is out campaigning for Republican candidates in early 2012 primary states, including South Carolina.  Rumors abound that Gingrich, almost twelve years removed from holding office, is going to seek the highest office in the land in 2012.

Gingrich certainly has the resume and the contacts for such a run.  The former House Speaker spent 20 years in Congress and has spent the last eleven years writing and lecturing about conservative ideas.  Indeed, Gingrich has spent his entire adult life thinking about government and is perhaps the best conservative intellectual of the current times.  Gingrich will not ever seem dumb, because he is not.  Indeed, Gingrich created the Contract with America and the campaign strategy that returned Republicans to power in the House for the first time in decades in 1994.

That said, transferring that intellectual heft into electoral victory today is tricky at best.  There are several factors going against Gingrich.  Some of them are his own fault; others are simply the times and his age. 

The factors going against Gingrich that are his own fault are easy to note.  Gingrich has, to be kind, a colorful personal life, with three marriages.  The former Speaker also was caught up in the House Bank check scandal of the early 1990s, and was fined $300,000 by the House Ethics Committee a few years later for ethical lapses.  The Speaker’s tenure ended due to him not wanting to deal with a leadership challenge.  All of that is his fault and will come up if the former Speaker runs for President. 

Then there are factors that go against Gingrich that are outside his control.  He will be 68 and a half when the first primaries are held in 2012.  While Reagan won at 69, Reagan appeared like a John Wayne character in that he had some age on him, but people felt he could get the job done when it counted.  Gingrich on the other hand, comes across as the old professor that he is.  People might want to heed his wisdom, but turning the reigns over to him just does not come to mind.

Another factor is the embracement of ignorance.  You read that line right.  In both parties, people tend to want to vote for someone who knows little about government.  Voters do not want to hear a well thought out argument on an issue.  They will be surfing the net on their mobile phones halfway through Gingrich explaining something like monetary policy.  The election of Barack Obama and even the nomination of Nikki Haley for Governor in South Carolina taught those who follow politics that the people need an entertainment factor or even a soap opera factor in these times.  They need their emotions played to, even in the Republican Party.   Gingrich, frankly, has too big of an intellect to do that.  Simply put, it is difficult to see how a man in his late sixties who wants to have an intellectual discussion about the issues can win in today’s politics. 

That is why is seems to VUI that the Presidential campaign of Newt Gingrich will be limited to conservative and Republican pundits who long for the past, when intelligence and reason were the mark of the Republican Party.  But, in the world of Obama-gasms and Palin Power, an intellectual like Gingrich will be lucky to get 10 percent in the New Hampshire primary.  

Read More

Top 9 things you just don't want to hear (revisited)

9) “We are from the government and we are here to help you do better.”

8) ”Mr. McCarty, I am Dr. Bihndi.  I read your blog.  By the way, you are having a heart attack and I don't like what you wrote about my cousin Nikki.  Relax, Sir, just relax. I am not too sure you are going to recover."

7) “Honey, don’t worry about your E.D.  Ernesto is coming to cut the grass on Friday morning.”

6) “Daddy, can you help your grandbaby’s daddy get out of jail?”

5) “Senator-elect Greene, will you please raise your right hand, no, sir, the other hand, and repeat after me.”

4) “As your lawyer, I can tell you this does not look good.  The parking lot had its cameras on.  Jakie Knotts has the video. You know how Jakie is about bloggers. Jakie even turned down the year's supply of barbecue I offered.”

3) “I know you are a Gamecock fan, but everyone in here has to wear orange. 

2)  “Congratulations, Mr. Sheheen, President Obama is not only going to endorse you, but he and Speaker Pelosi plan to campaign all over South Carolina for you.”

1) “I am at peace with the Lord and you had better be,” from the driver of a car you are the passenger in on Highway 378 as he prepares to pass four cars at once. 

Read More

Come on, Nikki, don't fight this way

Despite what some might think, VUI is playing the Governor's race straight.  That is why we were disappointed in the recent shenanigans by the Haley campaign.  Those shenanigans are pure petty politics without thinking or without looming on issues that really matter to the people.  

The Haley camp decided to demand the lawyer client list of Vincent Sheheen, the Democratic nominee.  The Haley camp will huff and puff about ethics, of course, while Haley took tens of thousands from firms doing business with the state.  

The truth is Sheheen can not release his client list without the clients permission.  It is called lawyer-client confidentiality.  Haley and her camp know that.  So, they create a red herring of an issue against Sheheen in demanding such a list.  

Such a demand from Sheheen is politically smart.  It covers up Haley's dismal work record and her own ethical lapses.  But, it is just a political trick by her campaign to distract people. As such, it is disappointing to those of us who hope for an honest and clean race for Governor.  Haley, surrounded by the Sanford people, is going dirty, as Sanford did time and time again.  

If the Sheheen folks had any sense, they would demand immediate debates on the subject of what a Governor can do.  Chances are, ten questions to Nikki Haley about the duties of a Governor would reveal just how shallow her knowledge of how things work really is.  But, of course, in this climate, being ignorant of how to run the job one seeks could gain votes.  

That makes VUI wonder, with someone like Haley who is so inept at understanding the basics, why engage in tricks like calling for Sheheen to give up his client list?  After all, stupid is as stupid does.  Why push for more? 

Read More

North Korea's Lil' Kim must need more western porn and booze

North Korean “strongman” Kim Jong Il is known for his love of western pornography and booze.  Apparently Kim is running low on booze and needs an update to his porn collection, because he is again acting nutty.  Frankly, it is what the little dictator over the hermit land of North Korea does when he needs a boost to his vice supply. 

Kim has acted nutty under various Presidents of the United States.  Clinton, Bush the Younger, and now Obama have the “Korean experience.”  That experience is always crazy and involves threats of “nuclear war,” and whatever.  Simply put, Lil’ Kim gets sideways when he is not paid attention to or does not get his porn and scotch delivery. 

Kim is insane.  There is little doubt about it.  But, he still holds control of North Korea and has spent whatever money that nation has on himself and building a military to threaten others.  Still, it is difficult to take Kim seriously.  Kim seems like the perverted neighbor who surfs porn on his basement computer while drinking cheap beer and whiskey, thinking everyone is out to get him. International diplomats have to say to themselves, “ah, crap, not that guy again.”

But, Kim is making his noise.  This time it is about military exercises by the United States and South Korea.  Those exercises come four months after North Korea sunk a South Korean ship, killing 47 South Koreans in the process.  Lil’ Kim looked up from his porn long enough to threaten “nuclear war” if the exercises went forward. 

President Obama, to his credit, ordered the exercises to go ahead and sent the USS George Washington, a Nimitz class aircraft carrier, to lead them.  That threw Kim into a fit.  Angry statements about impending nuclear war have been issued by the North Korean News Agency.  Diplomats have gone into overdrive. 

To some, an Asian crisis now looms.  However, it really does not.  President Obama should stock a plane with booze and Hustler videos and send it to North Korea.  Lil Kim will be distracted for years.  Perhaps Hustler publisher Larry Flynt should be finally paid off for his support of liberal causes.  President Obama should appoint Flynt special envoy to North Korea, making sure that Flynt takes several of his so called Hustler honeys with him.  Lil’ Kim might have a stroke when he meets face to face the women he watched on video. 

Sure, such sounds crazy and even unchristian to some.  But, it beats the alternative, which is blowing North Korea to bits and killing a lot of innocent North Koreans because their leader is a perverted nutcase.  

Read More

The dreaded C word

Cancer.  It is the ugliest word that begins with the letter c in the human language.  Forget the vulgar words in various languages that begin with the letter.  Cancer is the most evil of them all.  Not one single word changes the life of a person or their family and friends like the word cancer.  

We Americans have created the internet and sent people to the moon, but that word stands ready to pounce on each and every one of us.  Science gives us risk factors to avoid and offers some treatments.  Yet, despite the intelligence that we think we have, there is always someone who lived healthy, did the right things, and woke up one morning with a little pain and found that pain was cancer out of the blue.  

All to often, those who get cancer out of nowhere are some of the best among us.  They are loyal to their families.  They work hard.  They make a difference.  They do the right things.  Yet, cancer hunts them down.  

That's life, I suppose.  It's not meant to be fair.  But, wouldn't it be refreshing if our federal government dreamed big dreams again?  In the early 1950s, when so many were stricken with polio, our nation rose up to find a vaccine.  Then, we put men on the moon. Now, we seem to bailout more than to reach and dream.

We all have to die from something. That is the price we pay to live.  But, wouldn't it be some comfort if we spent even half the money on finding a cure for a disease like cancer that we spend to bail out failed bankers or build political pet projects?  For that matter, cancer has killed a lot more Americans than any terrorist.  


Something to think on. 

Read More

Top 9 reasons you ought to get a McCarty action figure

The staff of VUI likes to pick on its founder and editor.  Inspired by Democratic United States Senate nominee Alvin Greene's idea of making action dolls of himself to spur the SC economy, the staff of VUI has decided people ought to have action figure dolls of R.B. McCarty.  Here are the Top 9 reasons why: 

9) The expanding "beer gut" function lets you pour adult beverages into the mouth of the McCarty doll and watch his gut expand like a chia pet. 

8) It is voodoo approved.  Comes complete with a set of stick pins. 

7) It makes a better target than beer cans at the target range.

6) Just pull the cord on the back of the doll and get some classic quotes like, "who are you nutcases?"  "Somebody get me a beer."  "Liberals piss me off," and many more.  

5) If your wife just isn't turned on anymore, maybe this doll will help. 

4) Hey, its 2010, if your husband just isn't turned on anymore, maybe this doll will help. 

3) The McCarty doll comes with a redneck kung fu grip that allows you to fight your friends who have the Haley and Sanford dolls.  The McCarty doll is not near as bulky as the Jakie Knotts doll or as slippery as the Bobby Harrell doll.

2) The McCarty doll can take a beating.  Throw it up against the wall.  Run over it.  Shoot it.  The special care given to the textiles involved in making the doll gives you something you can show your hate against time and time again.  Like the man, nothing you do will make this doll just shut up.

1) The adult version of the McCarty doll has a special "Sarah Palin is in the room" feature that is strictly for adults only.   

Read More

The people need intellectual honesty, minus the bull manure

Americans, especially South Carolinians, are hurting today and disillusioned with the American Dream.  People over the age of 50 find themselves laid off, and unable to find work because no one will hire them because they are too old.  Never mind that they worked hard all their lives and paid their taxes and did the right things.  Now, Democrats and Republicans drawing six figure incomes in Congress squabble over details to extend the unemployment benefits that keep some of the older Americans from being without food and electricity.  Even higher paid politicos coax members of Congress in both parties to keep up the battle to jockey for election position, while the average man wonders how to keep the lights on. 

It does not end there.  We have a health care system, especially with the so called reforms instituted by Obama and the Democrats, that is bought and paid for by for profit insurance and health care providers.  It is a system that Congress created after millions in political contributions from health care provider unions, insurance companies and others with financial interests.  As result, the system is overregulated and overpriced so that everyone gets their cut.  The loser is the average American.  The average American, even if he has health insurance, faces a day in which, even after insurance pays its meager part, he has to raid his kids college fund or refinance his home just to pay to stay alive.  Even charity based hospitals want insurance and financial information.  Those with little or no means might get initial care, but they have little chance of advanced care.

Then there is education.  People want the best possible educational opportunities for their children.  However, in South Carolina especially, neither party is for that.  The Democrats do not call for real reforms in public education, because that might upset the powerful teacher union.  The Republicans offer a plan that only helps a handful.  Neither party offers the comprehensive public education reform needed to improve the lives of the majority of South Carolinians.  Again, it goes pack to money and paid political operatives.  The average family has no lobbyist or well funded group in their corner. 

Indeed, there is such an intellectual dishonesty by both parties that the ideals and dreams of America are slipping away.  People are fed up.  People are afraid.  People are losing faith.  When the average American is told that his President sides with those who come into America illegally over people trying to enforce the law, it hits hard.  Further, when the average American who is unemployed and has tried to find work but cannot is told he needs to tough it out as his electricity and water is cut off, it hits hard.  It is especially difficult to accept when the President and the Congress make sure they have time to go on vacation as weighty issues remain unsolved. 

The average American could not.  If he has a job and a problem comes up that needs dealing with, he foregoes his vacation and gets the job done.  There was a time the elite in America did the same.  Not now.  They think they are insulated.  Redistricting makes Congress almost a lifetime appointment.  The President has all sorts of perks even he is loses re-election in 2012.  Not a one faces sacrificing to make sure payroll is met, or worry about the electric bill.  But, they are quick to scare us to death on issues that do not matter in our daily lives.  The problem is the daily lives for so many Americans are becoming too bad for them to be distracted.  It is time for intellectual honesty and real solutions, minus the bull manure. 

Read More

Playing it straight in the Governor's race

Though the entire staff of VUI voted in Republican primaries most of our lives, this year’s Governor’s race is different.  After nearly eight years of Mark Sanford having a great urinating contest with the General Assembly and being incompetent in running the agencies that are actually under him, illustrated by scandals at the DOT, the DSS, and others, we are putting the state first in deciding whom to support. 

Frankly, VUI will be turned off if Nikki Haley runs as Sanford 2.0.  Our state cannot afford four more years of that.  Indeed, by every measurable standard, South Carolina is worse off today than it was when Mark Sanford took office.  The truth is what it is.  Far too much of the failure came directly from the cabinet that is under the Governor.  If Haley decides to be another Mark Sanford, Mississippi will thank God for South Carolina. 

On the Democratic side, Vincent Sheheen has to offer more than just rhetoric about being moderate.  If he is serious about being an all but non partisan Governor who puts the state first, then all he has to do is cut a deal with Republican leaders on next year’s reapportionment.   Also, Sheehen has to do one of the most difficult things a politician has to do: avoid the President of the United States.  Sheehen has to keep the campaign local.  He cannot even go out of state to raise money.  

Indeed, for Sheheen to have a shot at winning, he has to have a two pronged attack that seems not like an attack.  The first prong is being “Mr. South Carolina.”  The second prong is appealing to swing transplant voters, especially on the coast, by showing he has the intellect and work ethic for the job.  It is tricky road to victory for Sheheen, but it appears to be the only possible road. 

Haley on the other hand, can hide her lack of work ethic and poor relations with other politicos by appealing to the national anger out there about the President and the Congress.  Haley and the state GOP will be best suited to tie Sheheen to Obama and Pelosi.  Far too many voters will be fired up about that. Such a distraction could easily work. 

It is not going to work on VUI.  We are going to be following the candidates closely on their stands on state issues.  We will be looking at Nikki Haley to see if she really will not offer four more years of the same failure.  We will be looking at Vincent Sheehen to see if he will not just be another Obama liberal Democrat.  Frankly, if you have a little pulpit, you cannot play it any other way in good conscious if you actually care about what is happening to so many South Carolinians today.  

Read More

Conservatives need a loud and clear divorce from racists

For years now, Republicans and conservatives who believe in limited government and lower taxes have been tied to racists by media types and others.  There are several reasons for such a perception.   (Forgive the length of this post, but this subject has to be discussed fully.)

First, there is the conventional wisdom of those who work in the major media outlets.  Their so called conventional wisdom is often referred to in order to fill in gaps in stories and put people neatly in ideological boxes that can be neatly presented in a newscast or an article.  There is simply no time or resources available to dig and get the real story on such matters and how complicated life really is.  Some editor concludes that conservative approaches to policy questions hurt people of color, thus it is concluded that conservatives are racists.  It is that simple.

Another factor is the racists themselves.  They see what the conventional wisdom of the media is about some conservative principle, such as states’ rights decades ago, or opposition to President Obama’s policies now, and they embrace the Republicans and the conservatives as their own.  That compounds the conventional wisdom mentioned above. 

The problem with that conventional wisdom is that is does not go in depth.  Jim Crow was not conservative, as defined by those who want limited government.  Indeed, Jim Crow was the most liberal and most intrusive big government policy ever inflicted upon the United States.  Jim Crow told people whom to eat with, whom to live with, whom to travel with, whom to go school with and whom to do business with.  As result, government intrusion into the basics of daily life held back Southern economic development especially for decades and created a one party system (the Democratic Party) that rivaled the Soviet Union’s.   The big government nature of Jim Crow seems to never be told by those on the Left, though it stands as the best example of big government, albeit at the state level, gone wrong. 

That brings us to President Obama and his policies.  There are people who dislike and oppose the President simply because he is Black.  They are ignorant.  They are wrong.  However, one must distinguish the redneck who does not like a Black President from a conservative who simply disagrees with the President’s policies.  Wedding the two together does a disservice to the President, who as the most powerful man on the planet, certainly is powerful enough to not be discriminated against by some redneck living in a single wide in Georgia.  Thinking that President Obama is not that powerful seems racist itself. Further, the wedding chills the speech of those who think beyond race and dare to argue on the higher plane of ideas. 

Thus, for our country to move forward to honest debates about ideas there must be a clear divorce between conservatives and racists.  VUI will be proud to start the divorce.   First, VUI emphatically dismisses the so called “birthers” and claims Barack Obama as our President.  We disagree with the man, but President Obama is the legitimate President of the United States.  Second, as Southerners with moderate means and deep Southern roots, we admit some “mixed” heritage.  Indeed, if most Southerners were honest about it, they will find Black people in their families.  Third, we have dear friends that are Black and we think of them as our friends first.  That leads us to one of the things former President Clinton was right about.  Clinton stated, “It is hard to hate people you know.”  He was right on that.  And, if you look around, you might find yourself working or socializing with people that have the characteristics you respond to with discrimination. 

That leads VUI to discuss government and its role.  Big and intrusive government has never truly created freedom.  However, the world’s history is filled with the opposite.  Big and intrusive government has always been the tool of the oppressor over the oppressed.  King Richard II used it in England.  Stalin used it in the Soviet Union.  Hitler used it Germany.  Governor Barnett used it in Mississippi.  It is only through limited government and limited taxation that people find themselves free to live to their potential.  Without government trying to regulate their behavior, the people find the good in themselves and those around them as they move forward. 

Frankly, politics comes down to whether those in power believe in people or not.  During Jim Crow, Democrat whites in power did not believe in the abilities and goodness of Black people, so they used big state government to keep Black people down.  Now, the Democrats face the same question.  Do they believe in the American people as a whole, or will they use big government to keep the American people in their place?  That question makes the divorce clear. True conservatives believe in people, of all races. 

Read More

No Top 9, instead prayers for Earl Capps and his family

Usually over the weekend VUI offers a Top 9.  It is an appeal to humor.  We have decided to skip that this week after learning of the tragic death of the younger brother of friend and fellow blogger Earl Capps.  

We are praying for Capps and his family and we urge you to do so as well.  May God bless and keep them in this most difficult of times.  

Read More

Academics again show how out of touch with reality they are

U.S. News and World Report, along with other media venues, released a rating of American Presidents by academics.  Those academics ranked President Barack Obama, the man who has oversaw economic decline and seemed inept at handling the Gulf Oil spill, as the 15th greatest President in history.  The ranking puts President Obama above liberal icon Lyndon B. Johnson, who created Medicare and conservative icon Ronald Reagan.  


Former President George W. Bush is way down the list, considered one of the worst Presidents.  Bush is ranked well below Richard Nixon, who resigned the office in disgrace.  


How does one make sense of this?  Well it is simple. Academia is very liberal.  People in academia live by different standards then the rest of us.  They live in a world of political correctness.  They do not care about results as much as they care about appearing to be open minded about those who espouse liberal causes.  


Thus, Barack Obama is judged by them to be effective, when in fact, he is a failure as President of the United States.  Ranking President Obama after a year and a half of failure as the 15th most effective President is a sign of how afraid liberal academics are of telling the truth.  Academics simply can not rank Obama at the rate he really performs.  If they do, they will be outcasts in their academic circles and might even lose their jobs.  A liberal President can not be deemed a failure in the academic world.


So academics follow political correctness and tout Obama as something bigger than what he is. They call him our 15th most effective President.  While they do so, in the real world, the Chinese and others think of President Obama as a joke. 

But, you don't have to go to China to find a real world evaluation of President Obama.  Go to Louisana.  Ask someone there who is out of job because of the mishandling of the Gulf oil spill how effective President Obama really is.  


Perhaps academics should venture out of the politically correct insulated world of the academy and see how real people are affected by the lack of leadership by President Obama.

Read More

People can be tolerated, false claims by them should not be

The Governor of Hawaii saw fit to veto a measure that would allow gays to enter into civil unions in the state of Hawaii recently.  Hawaii is a state that overwhelmingly opposed gay marriage and unions when a ballot measure was presented on the matter.  The veto was no surprise. 

Also, there was no surprise in the response by gay rights activists and fanatics who comment on blogs and news sites.  Once again, some fanatics have to call historical figures gay to feel good about their own lives and political beliefs.  Some claim Jesus was gay. Even Elton John called Jesus gay.   Others claim Lincoln was gay.  It is classic projection.

Some people, educated beyond their intelligence, so fanatically believe in the righteousness of their beliefs and lives that they project their beliefs and lifestyles on positive historical figures.  Some are simply misguided and over enthusiastic.  Others are clear masters of propaganda.  The truth often is nowhere to be found. 

Take the example of Lincoln.  Gay activists who claim Lincoln was gay like to tout his friendship with Joshua Speed and the fact the two men wrote glowingly of their friendship and shared a boarding room together.  What they leave out is the context of the times.  In the early and mid 19^th century, men and women often shared boarding rooms and boarding beds together.  They wrote letters that used what we think of today as flowery and formal language.  They did not think of sex in those times as we do in this time.  It would not cross their minds in that time to mess around with one another. 

Indeed, historians have exhaustively looked into the personal life of Abraham Lincoln.  They overwhelmingly concluded that Lincoln was a man who battled depression and was devoted to a wife that was insane.  There is simply not one shred of historical evidence that shows Lincoln as gay or bisexual. 

There is also not one shred of historical evidence that suggest that Jesus Christ was gay or bisexual.  It is a fantasy concocted by extremists that not only is false, but insults people of the Christian faith.  Indeed, imagine the outrage if gay rights activists claimed Mohammad was gay.  

Further, there is ample evidence that some of those in the leadership of the Nazi Regime in Germany were bisexual and gay.  However, you won’t find gay rights activists claiming those guys as their own. 

Do not get VUI wrong.  VUI is not suggesting that gays and bisexuals are evil like the Nazis were.  We leave such insults to Vice President Biden.  What VUI is saying is that ignorance is a dangerous thing.  If gay rights activists want to argue their points, fair enough.  But, they should do so without hijacking historical figures such as Lincoln and Christ.   Gay rights activists should stick with the facts, not self delusional fantasies about iconic historical figures if they want the rest of us to take their arguments in the political arena seriously.  After all we at VUI are not angry at gays and frankly believe that if people find love, fair enough. We will leave the hate to others.    But, when gay rights activists go about trying to hijack history through web comments, well, we got to call them on it.  People are to be tolerated.  False claims are not. 

Read More

VUI will be proud to be banned for our opinions

The Department of Homeland Security recently announced that it would ban access to websites offering “controversial” opinions on Transportation Security Agency computers.  That move made some national headlines and provoked a debate about what is “controversial” and what is not. 

Fair enough.  But, the truth is that for a few years now, websites and blogs, such as this one, have been blocked by some government agencies.  Government agencies simply do not want to allow access to websites or blogs that criticize their activities.  It is human nature to deny people access to something that is against stated policy. 

Those in favor of such government bans on websites and blogs point out that private companies do the same.  That is true.  However, private companies are funded with private money.  If the ACME Corporation wants to block access to a certain website from its privately funded computers, so be it.  But, government agency computers are funded by the public.  To block publically funded computers from access to websites or blogs with “controversial” opinions is a clear violation of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech. 

Further, from the published reports of the TSA ‘s new computer guidelines, access to pornography is not blocked.  So, the government will decide which websites and blogs offer “controversial” opinions and block access to them by their employees.  Apparently, checking out the latest sex video online remains okay; as long as the actors involved espouse no “controversial” opinions.  

Perhaps that is a cheap shot at the government agencies that ban websites and blogs.  But, the real cheap shot is the fact that the taxpayers of the United States will pay the salary of some bureaucrat to decide which websites and blogs have “controversial” opinions.  Then, the taxpayers of the United States will pay for those websites and blogs with “controversial” opinions to be blocked on computers paid for by them.  With no open standards for judging such, politicos in power are free to ban from the public’s employees any opinion they seem uneasy with. 

Though we live in the modern age with the internet, banning people from opinions that are contrary to the ruling politicians is nothing new.  History is filled with dictators and monarchs who used the levers of government power to try to silence opposing opinions.  In the past, it was banning certain newspapers from government buildings.  Now, it is banning websites and blogs with “controversial” opinions.  It is the same old story in a different venue.  Those in power, even in a democracy, hate being opposed.  They work to silence those who disagree.  But, it is in the fire of disagreement that the best of government can be molded in a democracy.  Chilling dissent leads to tyranny and eventual ruin.  For that reason, VUI will be proud to be banned from any government agency that thinks our opinions are “controversial.”  

Read More

Ninety Six, SC shows America is alive and well

In these times, it is hard to believe in America. The President of the United States seems inept at handling the most basic of crisis problems. Republicans and Democrats in Congress choose to play politics with unemployment benefits as real American families face hard choices about rent, mortgage payments, and utility bills and the like.




Just when one would be cynical and jaded about America, there comes a Saturday afternoon in Ninety Six, South Carolina. In that little town, people put aside the hardships of the economy to join together to celebrate America. On Saturday, July 3rd, the little town of Ninety Six was a place of celebration. People, white and black, fat and thin, young and old, milled about as vendors hawked their wares and food. American flags were found everywhere. Good ole rock and roll music was played.



In short, America was on display front and center in Ninety Six, SC. There was a parade. There was a program at the historic fort. To be at Ninety Six on Saturday was to be on a movie set of the ideal American town. But, there were no movie cameras. What was there was real Americans celebrating their nation’s birth date and enjoying good music and good food.



Those who doubt the ideal of America should have been in Ninety Six, South Carolina on Saturday. In that little town, the American spirit was illustrated. People in that small town celebrated being Americans. The local high school football team helped to direct parking. Entrepreneurs hawked their wares and food. A damn good hot dog could be bought at the local gas station. Damn good barbecue hash could be found. Even helicopter rides were available.  Indeed, there was never a place that VUI ever felt America more than last Saturday afternoon in Ninety Six. Indeed, such a place as Ninety Six last Saturday is a tonic for any cynic’s soul. Ninety Six is proof that America is still alive an well and is something worth standing up for.

Read More

Independence Day

It had to be hot. There was no air conditioning or electric fans. A group of Congressional delegates gathered in their meeting room in Philadelphia to hear the document the committee led by Thomas Jefferson had come up with.

The sweat had be pouring through the formal clothing of the time as the document was introduced, read and approved. The sweat probably came not only from the heat, but from the situation. The men gathered were deciding to stand for liberty and against the nation that they had been a part of their entire lives. The break from Britain was not an easy one, and even the Declaration of Independence itself noted how such breaks should not be for minor matters.

Think of the courage those men showed that day. We often honor, as we should, those who have courage in military service for our country, but perhaps we forget those who showed real courage in the political world.

There were no lobbyists promising support for the next election campaign. There were no businesses ready to finance trips or the like for support of the measure. There was just the hope of liberty and a chance at a great experiment. The price for that hope was certain war against the greatest power on Earth at the time.

We are so used to how politics are now. We forget what a brave thing politics was on that day. Those who signed the Declaration of Independence signed onto a philosophy that changed the world. They also signed a document that made them traitors in the eyes the British Crown. Many of those men were, until that day, respected and accepted in high British culture. They knew that they would never be accepted again.

Some of the signers would be imprisoned by the British. Some would have their estates destroyed. Others would die broke. Some would have great success after the war and hold high office, even the Presidency. None of them made money from their beliefs.  Not a one of them.  Factor that in with the politics of today, when even someone who seems righteous like Nikki Haley, has "consulting fees" to deal with.  The Founding Fathers would have thought the whole lot of today a bunch of crooks.

However, on that hot day in July in 1776, standing for liberty was not something those men did for the money or for personal interest. They were devoted to serving the greater good. They embraced the idea that the people, not the government were ultimately in charge. They embraced the idea that the people were in charge because their Creator, God, gave them certain rights. In an age where it was thought God gave the King his power, contending that God gave the people power, and that no government could take those rights from the people was thought by some to be incredible. Think on it for a moment. Those men in Philadelphia committed themselves to the principle that no man, even a King, could take away certain rights from the people. Those rights came from God, and no man could touch them. (As a side note, when people talk about taking God out of public discourse in the United States, I wonder if they realize that they use a right that our founders said was from God.)

As we enjoy the barbecue and fireworks this Fourth of July, let us take time to pause and remember not only those who have served in our military to make and keep us free, but those brave men in Philadelphia who, with no regard for their own fortunes or political careers, had the courage to declare this nation free and establish an entirely new way of how the people and their government related to one another. God bless and keep the United States of America.

Read More

Something to read: The Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Read More

Top 9 signs you need a vacation from politics

9) You scream at your neighbors about the principles of the founding fathers, but you could not name five founding fathers to save your life.


8) You follow around some politician or blogger you don’t like, just waiting for that moment to show the world who they are really are.

7) You like awake at night wondering how the Republicans got Alvin Greene nominated.

6) You like awake at night wondering how the Democrats got Nikki Haley nominated.

5) Despite a successful career, money in the bank, and a great family, you sit in your office in the afternoon with the lights off, mumbling to yourself “how could they make fun of me?”

4) You took time to try to find out which primary South Carolina Head Baseball Coach Ray Tanner voted in to decide whether or not to congratulate him and his team on winning the national championship.

3) You are so wrapped up in President Obama’s lack of response to the Gulf oil spill that you tell folks that oil is washing up on the shore in front of your mobile home on Lake Murray.

2) You spend hours each day searching the internet for the Nikki Haley sex video you just know exists.

1) You go out and get a tattoo of Jakie Knotts wearing a turban.

Read More

Joe Wilson goes to work

Some people from outside of South Carolina wonder how Congressman Joe Wilson remains so popular with the people he represents.  Well, VUI thinks Joe Wilson remains popular because of his constituent service and his ability to understand the people he serves.

It looks like Wilson's re-election campaign is going to emphasize that.  Here is one of their latest ads that emphasizes Wilson's commitment to jobs and to understanding the people he serves. 

Read More