Walter Patterson Herald ColumnistHow frustrated do you feel each day after watching the evening news?  
If you are like me, you may even have a touch of depression to make the news even more frustrating
To help pay my college tuition, I worked during the summers on a road construction crew. I found the work to be enjoyable, and I really enjoyed being around the other workers.
As you can imagine, there were some true characters who worked on the crew, and most of them had colorful and entertaining stories to tell. But there was one man on the crew who may have been one of the most disagreeable people I have ever met.  He and I never agreed on anything. Once, we were talking about the circumference of the earth, and he told me, “The earth is not round.  It’s square, and I can prove it.”  
Perhaps everything I had learned in school was wrong, so my response was, “prove it.”
His proof was simple.  “The Bible says to take the gospel into all four corners of earth. Does a circle have a corner?  No. Does a ground ball have a corner? No. The earth is square. The Bible says so, and all those college books you’ve been reading are wrong.”
How do you argue with this kind of logic?  There was no scientific or political theory with which he did not disagree. But, as I recall, he always had some proof, as illogical as it was, to bolster his thinking.  
Talk about frustration, anyone who dealt with this man for long walked away frustrated and shaking his head.  One of my friends simply called him the “eighth wonder of the world.”
Barack Obama, in his wisdom, has poked his finger into the eye of Catholics across this nation. Since Catholics make up about one-third of the voting population, why would a politician, especially one running for president, do this?
As you know, Obama declared that religious based entities must furnish birth control to its employees – free, of course. The Catholic Bishops, along with 59 percent of those of the Catholic faith, rose up in unison, and said correctly that this violated the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
The heat from American citizens and the Catholic Bishops continued to rise, even though Obama held steadfast to his edict that Catholic institutions had to furnish birth control to its employees free of charge. Finally, the heat turned to a blue-hot flame, and Obama had to change his decree. He then resorted to another unconstitutional decree which said that “Insurance companies must furnish birth control free of charge.”
No president has the authority to make the laws. Bills must first be passed through both houses of congress and then signed by the president before they become a part of the Federal Code. Even then, these laws may be subject to litigation if they violate a section of the Constitution. The facts are that Obama is claiming power he, or any president, does not have.
Last week, Obama dealt this country another blow. He plans to reduce our nuclear arsenal by 80 percent.  This will leave the United States with about 300 nuclear weapons. Russia, of course, will have at least 1550, and China, who is getting heavily involved in the nuclear game, will have an estimated 300. This does not count North Korea, Iran, or other rogue countries that bear ill-will against this country.
This move to unilaterally disarm this country is not just frustrating, but extremely dangerous. Nuclear weapons served us well during the cold war. The prayer was that we would never have to use them, but our enemies knew that if they attacked us, we could strike back. This knowledge kept the peace until Ronald Reagan outsmarted the Soviet Union and caused it to collapse.
From now to November, the frustration level is going to rise. The news will make you want to pull your hair out, but remember this. Obama wants you frustrated and mad.  He wants to divide this country into groups, and cobble together enough votes to win a second term.
If he wins a second term, I’m afraid we all might have to learn to speak Chinese. At my advanced age, this task, I’m afraid, will be impossible.