Tag Archives: current-events

I Take Exception, Mr. President


adams white house
The White House as it looked when President Adams occupied it.
whitehousehistory.org

Mr. President, I take exception to your leadership.  I feel it is flawed.

You are supposed to be MY president.

My fellow Mustang buddy’s president.  He’s Black and has a doctorate.  Oh.  He’s married to a Middle Eastern lady – who screams while sitting shotgun in his grossly overpowered car.

My neighbor’s president.  He’s Hispanic, an American citizen and is in the USAF (and who got his pay cut due to The (Dumb) Sequester.)

My blogging friend’s president.  She is Irish with blazing red hair.

Yes, even #41 and #43’s president.  They are Caucasian and BOTH served in the Armed Forces.  Hell, #41 was shot down and lost his two crew members.  Like Old Man Jack, even he must’ve had nightmares for the rest of his life.

You are the elected person to represent ALL of us…together.

But do you?

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Yes, I voted for the other guy.  Glad that’s out in the open.  Whew.  Now hate me.

But all through your campaigns and years in office, you have made it a point to distinguish (imply?) yourself to be Black…and rarely or never infer that you are “White”.

How can that be, Mr. President?  Your mother was White.  Your father was Black.

To me, that’s 50%-50%.

parents
President Obama’s parents

It’s simple math.  The same simple math taught in school.  Well, pardon me.  Not too many folks recall seeing you in class.

Perhaps you ditched classes, Mr. President, just like my angelic oldest daughter..?  But my oldest daughter got straight A’s.  I’ll let you see her report card if you’ll show me your transcripts.

So I excuse you on your mathematical error.

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Trayvon Martin died on February 26, 2012.

On March 23, 2012, you said on national TV:

“But my main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon. And I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves, and that we’re going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.”  (Note: President Obama, the LOCAL authorities and DA DID get to the bottom of exactly what happened shortly after the shooting, right?)

After the verdict was read, you made another statement.  On July 20, 2013, you said:

“When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son,” Obama said. “Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.”

t m obama
First speech mentioning Trayvon Martin.

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The Zimmerman/Martin fight took place in a smaller township called Sanford, FL.  The local – LOCAL – authorities concluded there was not enough evidence to hold or charge Zimmerman under their STATE laws.

But alas…  The MEDIA was a huge contributor.  In my opinion, it was primarily CNN who started a fire where there should have been none.  Day after day, they tried to “stir the pot”, as they say.  RACE came into the limelight thanks to CNN fueling the self-grown fire.

Then Obama’s ill-advised comment…  RACE again.  He’s HALF-WHITE.

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Race is one thing contributing to the deepening divide amongst our citizens.

In his first speech, he fueled the frenzy with those words, “…and that we’re going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.”

Who is “we’re”?  Him?  The Feds?  It fell under state and LOCAL jurisdiction.  And the local law enforcement and DA – closest to the case and evidence – had closed its case.

Obama and CNN was pouring copious amounts of salt onto a festering wound.

By the way…  How does CNN pick which murder to sensationalize?  Why didn’t CNN sensationalize this more recent one – of four Blacks killing an unarmed White college student:

I am curious why you did not come out in front of our nation and say, “If I had a son, he’d look like Joshua Proutey.”

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In closing, how DARE Obama distinguish himself from me implying Trayvon Martin could have been his son – for whatever reason – in front of our country.

You are supposed to be MY president.

You are to lead us… represent all of us… and not imply “favoring” one race over another.

How do you bring this together instead of dividing it?

Simple.  Like this:

20011017-15
THIS is how YOU should lead OUR country, Mr. Obama.
(White House Archives)

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Face it.  There are racists.

White people who hate other races.  Blacks who hate other races.  Asians who hate other races.

Lead us.  Tell us citizens to quell this lunacy…and get off the minority soap box at the same time.

ps   PLEASE PAY MY USAF BUDDY.  HE IS IN HARM’S WAY AND WORKING TO PROTECT US.  HE IS NOT HOLDING HIS HAND OUT LIKE 47 MILLION OTHERS ARE.

Spill It – For the Good of Our Country


benghazi2
The four Americans murdered in Benghazi

Sure…  People will say its politics.

Democrats supporting the Adminstration.

Republicans attacking the Administration.

But there are four Americans whom I believe – BELIEVE – needlessly died at the hands of terrorists on 9/11 last year.

The four who died are pictured above…along with their names.

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attack
The attackers actually had enough time to snap pictures of themselves.

For argument’s sake, let’s say the firefight DID last about eight hours…that it wasn’t over in a flash.

For argument’s sake, let’s say there were drones videoing the attacks.

For argument’s sake, let’s say there was a gunship up in the air with her dedicated crew’s fingers on the triggers of very accurate weapons.  Well, their fingers were on very accurate targeting systems, not triggers.

For argument’s sake, let’s say the attack took place on any OTHER day instead of 9/11.

For argument’s sake, let’s say that the two former SEALs – our BEST – were killed SEVEN hours after pleas for help went out.

SEVEN HOURS?

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The deceased souls parents want to know.  Here is just one letter from one mother to Congress.  It’s a link so please feel free to click on it:

Letter to Rep. F. Wolf

The mother was there when her son’s body – in a flag-draped casket – was off-loaded in Washington, DC.

hill

(Yes.  President Obama and Hillary were there.)

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Our country needs to heal.

Not just about Benghazi…but about nearly everything.

We are divided – right down the middle, it seems.

But what happened to CHARACTER?

A person I like to follow is Michael Josephson.  He “teaches” folks about ethics and character.  I would like to close this blog with this excerpt from one of his commentaries:

“The way we treat people we think can’t help or hurt us — like housekeepers, waiters, and secretaries — tells more about our character than how we treat people we think are important. How we behave when we think no one is looking or when we don’t think we will get caught more accurately portrays our character than what we say or do in service of our reputations.

Of course, our assessment of a person’s character is an opinion and it isn’t always right. Abraham Lincoln recognized an important difference between character and reputation. “Character,” he said “is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”

Because the shape of a shadow is determined by the angle of light and the perspective of the observer, it’s not a perfect image of the tree. In the same way, reputation is not always an accurate reflection of character. Some people derive more benefit from their reputation than they deserve; others are better than their reputations.

Still, reputation matters. It determines how others think of us and treat us and whether we are held in high or low esteem. That’s why many people and organizations are so preoccupied with their image that they actually undermine their character by concealing or creating facts to make them look better. It’s ironic that reputations are often the result of dishonesty or the lack of accountability.”

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Hillary…  No more conveniently-timed strokes or falls or other ills.

Parents want to know what happened and why their sons are no longer with them.

We want to know why NOTHING has been done to go after these terrorists, some of whom were in PICTURES…on the INTERNET.  It’s been eight months, for heaven’s sake.

Hillary.

Spill it.

For the good of our country.

Old Man Jack-ism #5: “Shit from Shinola”


shinolaWell, Old Man Jack always spoke his mind.

I’ll give him that but that’s maybe why we were close.

He didn’t care who was there when he spoke.  His thinking was it was their fault for listening in to something they had no business in.  Lot of truth in that, I guess.

But it was if his departed wife came down from above and washed his mouth out with soap when my kids were in earshot.  He spoke like an angel.

Well, not quite…but almost.

Some of his more oft-used phrases (light-heartedly said) were:

  • “You dumb shit.  Shut up and listen,” or,
  • “They thought they knew everything but found out the hard way,” or,
  • “Them Marines thought they owned the beach but they forget who brought them there.”

When he would say these phrases, it would likely be when he was story-telling on some of the more memorable moments on those “stinkin’ islands”.

But one of Old Man Jack’s phrases keeps popping back into my head with fondness:

“They didn’t know shit from Shinola.”

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For some of you, no explanation is necessary.

But for you younger folks, Shinola was known for shoe and boot polish.

And for Old Man Jack’s phrase, the dark brown Shinola boot polish would be implied…which has a strikingly similar coloration to cow poop.

Hence, “…doesn’t know shit from Shinola”.

Pardon the French.

And yes, the phrase arose from the ranks of World War II military personnel.

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And while Old Man Jack DID get the local newspaper delivered to him, he never really read them.

He’d look through them for some restaurant coupons.  That was about it.  I asked him why and he said he doesn’t believe half the s*it in it.

(Odd why there’s an asterik there when I quoted him earlier.)

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Which brings me to one thing that depresses me immensely: the lack of legitimate oversight on our media.

They use their own medium without restraint.  To suit their pocketbooks.

How they deem fit…and pay no mind to us.

Doctors get controlled.

CPA’s get controlled by the government now.

Everyone else does…  Oops.  Not the lawyers.  They’re as bad as the media.  Did I say that before?

But certain media “stations” or “newspapers” love to castrate law enforcement personnel…or shame soldiers or Marines doing their best to protect us after one incident.

It is like they were the judge and jury before the case could come to court…or actual facts disclosed…or the brutal environment in which our young men and women trying to protect us is truly displayed.

THEY deem it wrong.  That’s similar to discrimination.

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But to close this story – and as I blogged once before – please compare these two webpage screen prints taken within minutes of each other.

First CNN.  Notice nothing is highlighted about gun control (when that was all they could write about at that time) or the murder of four Americans in Benghazi…but they deem news of a woman who shows up after 11 years to be crucial to Americans.  Certainly nothing embarrassing to President Obama.

cnn

And here’s the webpage from Fox News.  It does highlight the murder of four Americans and brings up guns…and makes only small mention of the mysterious woman that CNN deemed important.  But certainly, the first two items could embarrass President Obama.

fox

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“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.”

― Mark Twain

Old Man Jack was right…again.

So what are we to read?

After all, we need facts and truth so that we’d be able to tell the difference between shit and Shinola.

What do you all think?

News Reporting? Pffft


This is what my monitor showed at 9:00 AM this morning.

For CNN:

cnn

For Fox:

fox

If you click on the images, you can see the topics each news media “deems” important.

How can they be so different?

How can CNN essentially ignore the tremendous budget issues confronting the United States while concentrating on the election of the head of the Catholic religion?  (Just being factual here – Catholicism is but one religion in this world.  Just citing fact.)  Well, Michelle Obama got a line in “for being in the vogue”.

Just weeks ago, CNN was headlining day after day Obama’s attack on the “GOP” as he greatly exaggerated the negative effects of the sequester.  They even followed Obama when he went campaigning to bash the GOP…instead of trying to run this country.

I thought news was to be objective…or at least consistently applied?

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I will WRITE it.

Our country’s WOES are the result of two dictatorships…  A dictatorship being defined as they do as they please as no one can challenge them.  A form of Hitler-ism…

One dictatorship is the damn LAWYERS.  We are better off without them.  We don’t need lawyers representing jerks who go into small businesses just looking for minor violations.  Attorneys WON’T restrict themselves as they feel they are “protecting us”.  Pffft.

The other dictatorship is the MEDIA.  Reporters are using it to spout off their personal feelings or agendas…or of their management…who gets revenue rewards of various “types”.

Media.  Double Pffft.

Rant over.

Ironies and Observations


memorial

Ironies with wise observations:

“If we lie to Congress, it’s a felony; if Congress lies to us, it’s just politics.”

“‘The Land of Opportunity'” is now “‘The Land of Handouts'”.

“The Government spends millions to house, care for and rehabilitate criminals but do nearly nothing for the victims or for our veterans.”

“The Government is unwilling to close our border with Mexico but have no problem protecting the 38th Parallel in Korea.”

We are in trouble, folks.

A Democracy…? Or Playing Perceived Loopholes?


Espousing a political agenda is not an intent here.

But I do support upholding basic laws and rights.

But I do NOT support anyone being above the law (or stretching the words making up a law) to fulfill a personal viewpoint and to further political goals.

Court: Obama appointments to labor panel are unconstitutional

As a side note…  It’s just my humble opinion but because something is LEGAL does NOT make it RIGHT.

About Rights


Our rights.

The Bill of Rights stems from those natural rights…at least in my opinion.  I ain’t a lawyer, thank goodness.

Original Bill of Rights
Original Bill of Rights

And if my schooling and failing memory are correct, this Bill of Rights sought out to protect us from our own newly created government.  It sought out to call out these rights simply…and protect us from tyranny.

It put into simple language a guarantee of a number of personal freedoms, limit the government’s power in certain areas, and provide power to the states and the public.

The Bill of Rights cements our national culture, I feel.

Help me out here, smarter people than I.

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But can an American overrule this foundation, the Bill of Rights.  Singly overrule this foundation?

Yes.

Its called an Executive Order.  The President of the United States can act as a monarch in concept.

Tremendous power, yes?

But do we learn from our past mistakes?

A kind reminder: FDR signed an Executive Order in 1942.

Executive Order 9066.  Notice, readers, it is not “We the people”.  It is filled with “I”.

02496_2003_001.tif


This Executive Order resulted in this somewhat familiar poster:

Poster9066

It stripped my father, uncle, aunt, and cousins completely of their rights.

Not just one right.  All of their rights.

They were forced out of the West Coast and forced to live in concentration camps if they could not afford to move.

Their US Passports were confiscated.  They were fingerprinted, photographed and assigned an inmate number.  Man, woman or child…or baby.

All this happened with one signature.  FDR’s.

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Some people say this Executive Order arose out of hysteria.  Reaction to something that happened.

I just want to say I am against any Executive Order.  Large or small in its magnitude.  By definition, it serves to nullify the Bill of Rights.

One person – one signature – is not right.

Just wanted to get this off my chest.

Presidential Campaign and Child’s Play


I am disgusted.  Disgusted with the cheap shots that the Presidential campaign trails are littered with.

One child says, “He said that.”

The other child says, “No, I didn’t.  You started it!”

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The campaign for the presidency of (what I feel is) the greatest country in the world has not left kindergarten.

And the all powerful media loves it.  Perhaps they are still in pre-school.

I am disgusted.

Sorry for the rambling.