Sunday, September 2, 2012

Random Thoughts for September, 2012

Because of my LT evaluation (no word as I write), I went on a diet on March 31. I’m down about 50 lbs. No expensive diet food, no programs like weight watchers, just incentive and Marine discipline. The down side is I discovered that only about three sport coats and one suit fit (and I just bought that one for $17 at a consignment  shop, with one of the sport coats for $13). So I took the too-large items to Goodwill. And shopped there for “new.” One weekend I picked up eight sport coats and a suit, between four charity shops. Cost me under $70 for the lot, so I’m good again. I was green before green was cool.

If you go to Goodwill and other charity shops, you can very often get good condition jeans, shorts, sport coats and casual slacks and shirts. Sometimes good dress shirts and suits, but not as often. A lot of stuff is there because it is stained or worn, but much because of weight changes like mine. There are usually a few good ties, but I didn’t outgrow my collection. The downside is Bonnie finds more dishes—we may have to build an annex to store them.

September 5, 2012 is my 20th Wedding Anniversary. I’ve been a faithful husband for twenty years. You could have made a lot of money betting on that, against people who knew me and wouldn’t have believed it possible. That may not be due to my virtue, but that no one who would be interested in me after age 46 was interesting to me in that way….

My wife was a widow; she lost her first husband in their 20th year of marriage. So my disease has her a lot more worried than I am. I just “continue to march.”

Republicans believe they are successful because America gave them a hand up, not a hand out.

Breaking: Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Chicago Alderman Poco "Joe" Moreno and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel named Chick-fil-A Salesmen of the Year.

The mass of people who showed up at Chick-fil-A on August 1 to support Freedom of Speech against political muscle need to keep eating there regularly to make a real difference. “Once” doesn’t win a game, a war or a culture.

Anyone who doesn’t think the Media is all-in for Obama 2012 need only look at the coverage of Romney’s overseas tour. If he said, “Have a nice day,” it was a “gaffe.”

You can bet that living someplace close to you is an unassuming old guy who saw combat for the Republic, put his life on the line for the life you enjoy, and seldom talks about it. Or gets much thanks and respect for it. And then there are the fake heroes, groveling for unearned admiration….

Nothing warns you that you are in trouble like a woman saying, “Fine!”

The number of folks who want something to happen is always very large, and the number willing to make it happen much smaller. Ever smaller is the number willing to take responsibility for the decision to make it happen. “Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant.” – Isaiah 1:9

Why does Obama get to define what folks’ “fair share” is? So that the 47% who pay no federal taxes are paying their “fair share,” but the 5% who pay 60% of the Federal taxes are not?

Yes, I know saving the Republic may be hopeless. I figure if we can elect Romney and restore the economy we might keep things going for my life time. And, who knows, in that time, some game changers might come along and even save the future for my granddaughter. As the old tale goes, “The horse might learn to fly.”

Phrases that will not be in Obama’s DNC acceptance speech: “You didn’t build that,” “The private sector is doing fine,” “Trayvon Martin could have been my son,” “We are going to win all 57 states,” “I promise to close Gitmo,” “If we pass my stimulus bill, we will keep unemployment under 8%.” “Summer of recovery,” “We need to invest in Green companies like Solyndra,” “Obamacare is NOT a tax,” “I promise to cut the deficit in half by the end on my second term,” “We tried our economic plan and it worked,” and “Spread the wealth around.” Probably no references to golf or vacations, either.

Pew ran a D+19 Democrat poll showing Obama up by 10. Right. But this kind of thing may hurt Obama, make Dems complacent about giving money or voting. So fiddling the numbers can cut both ways. A Boston Globe poll in the1970 Congressional Race right before the election killed the Republican candidate, John McGlennon. It over-sampled Dems by about 12%, and it showed the incumbent Democrat Congressman, Phil Philbin, in second  place behind Robert Drinan, the far-left priest who had beaten Philbin in the primary. But it didn't take into account that Philbin was running on write-ins--his name was not on the ballot. Because of the poll, conservative working-class Dems, who would have gone with McGlennon, stayed with Philbin. The final result, if I recall, was Drinan by 3,000 over McGlennon, with Philbin 15,000 behind both. Without the skewed poll, 4,000 or more of those Philbin voters might well have gone with McGlennon. 
If you can’t serve them steak, give them beans. Folks still have to eat. Don’t let “the perfect be the enemy of the good.” Perfection isn’t possible.

I wish I was “too big too fail.” I’d go to Vegas and put everything I have on Red. I’d either double my wealth, or the taxpayers would bail me out. There’s no incentive not to take bad risks if I get the gains and you get the losses.

“Cherokee” Liz Warren, Godmother of the OWS Poopers and famous for saying no one “got rich on his own,” will speak at the Democrat Convention. Since she’s a well-advertised “Woman of 1/32 color,” if you don’t watch, you’re a racist. But we already knew that, didn’t we.

I wish I was an EU finance minister. I’d sell the market short, then issue a statement that the Euro is doomed. Then after stocks fell, I’d buy them low and issue a statement that the Euro was saved and the PIGGS bailed out. I’d be rich without any effort. Say, you don’t suppose that’s what they are doing….?

Somehow the media found and published Romney’s high school report card. Still nothing about Obama in college, though. Some mysteries voters were not meant to know….

Some days I get to the office with little that needs to be done on my agenda, and still find that I don’t have time to get it all done.

“Politician’s Memory Syndrome” should be categorized as a separate affliction, attacking office holders of all political stripes. The politician, when questioned, cannot recall actions, events, people, places, calls, conversations, women or letters that might put him in a bad light.

If you compete at something, and come in last, you still come in ahead of all those who didn’t try.

Progressives’ idea of a “hate group” is any group that doesn’t agree with their policies.

A lot of people seem to have substituted Political Beliefs for Religious Beliefs, thus making them shrill, unreasonable and totally closed to talking with “infidels.” Secular Progressives especially seem to do this, probably because they have no other religion. Thus questioning “Global Warming” or “Affirmative Action” or “Keyensian Economics” or “Social Justice” or “Minimum Wage Laws” is like telling a fundamentalist Christian that Mary was a slut or a fundamentalist Muslim that Mohammad was a hallucinating pedophile. Not likely to get a dialog going. But the shrill Right is hardly immune. And for a large segment of Muslims who support Political Islam, there is literally no difference between Religious Beliefs and Political Beliefs—it’s all one system. And they have direction from Allah to kill you if you don’t believe as they do or at least submit to their rule.

I have no problems with gays having a “kiss-in” to protest the views of the Chick-fil-A owner. I support both his and their freedom of speech. I do wish they’d do it in front of Mosques as well, to protest the Shari’a Law requirement that gays be executed. That might be fun.

When Muslims in Iran hang gays (you can Google the pictures), do they eat Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches while they laugh and shout “God is Great”?

When a leftist does something violent or destructive, the left always blames the right for “creating a climate of hate.” See Oswald, Lee Harvey.

I may have had a “Misspent Youth,” but it was a well misspent one.

It's a good thing I'm not rich. My house would be filled with so many neat things you couldn't move around. Now I can only afford cheap neat things from flea markets or yard sales, and have far too many of those as it is.

I cannot for the life of me see how anyone can care about professional sports enough to beat up someone who roots for an opposing team. Get a life.

I’ve probably said this before about the war on RINOs. Suppose the US Senate has 45 Conservative Republicans and 45 liberal Democrats. If the other ten seats are held by Conservative, “Blue Dog” Democrats, the Democrats control, and liberals are mostly in charge of the committees and the flow of business to the floor. If they are held by RINO liberal Republicans, Republicans control and conservatives are in charge of most committees and the flow of business to the floor. Nothing gladdens Harry Reid’s heart like a good RINO hunt, giving him another vote to stay in power.

If all the unemployed would just quit looking for work, the “unemployment rate” would drop to zero and Obama would benefit. So it’s selfish and probably racist of them to go on looking for work.

Obama is the leader of the Free Rider and Entitlement party. It’s now huge. Another reason why his numbers are higher than his performance.

Saw a great tee shirt at the Bristol RenFaire: “It’s all funny until someone gets hurt. Then it’s hilarious.”

I don’t know why everyone is congratulating Gabby Douglas on winning the Gold. Someone else built the gym she used to practice and the road she drove on to get to it. Just ask Obama. Personally, she made us proud and I hope she cashes in big time—and handles it well so she has a great life.

How to start political slime: “I know people who voted against Obama in 2008, who are now dead. Coincidence?” BS, of course, but the Obama supporters are doing this type of thing to Romney. Let us stick to provable facts—there are more than enough.

The government cannot do anything nice for one group without doing harm to another group.

If it turns out to be true that Romney avoided paying taxes, will Obama feel compelled to offer him a cabinet position?

You’ll know things aren’t going well for Obama when he starts claiming that Hitler was a Mormon.

So a 16-year-old girl has a right to chose an abortion without parental consent, but not to chose to eat a Chick-fil-A sandwich in Chicago or drink a large soda in NYC. Have I got that right?

I’ve long believed in the old saying that, “Anger is a good servant, but a bad master.” I find that as the years pile up, I’m getting better at following it, though I’ll never be perfect. Suppressing justifiable but counter productive anger is difficult. And has a cost.

The Islamophobic, shrill nut jobs warning loudly about the dangers of the Islamic Supremacists, who, after all represent an ancient culture and “Religion of Peace,” remind me of nothing so much as the wild-eyed fanatic nuts in the 1930s, who loudly proclaimed that Germany, the most civilized, cultured and scientifically-advanced society in Europe, was becoming a threat to human rights and world peace. Ridiculous, of course.

Some people think Obama is a Communist, but I don't think so. Communists, historically, have always resorted immediately to murder, often on a mass scale, when faced with any serious opposition. Chicago Way machine politicians, on the other hand, prefer character assassination, bribes, vote fraud, government muscle to silence political speech, rewarding friends with tax dollars, onerous regulations to drive opponents under and general power politics to exert control. They resort to murder usually only in the last extremity. It gets a bad press. This style fits the administration's pattern much more closely than the Communist model.

I wonder if folks will need an ID to get into the Obama acceptance speech at the DNC? Racist if so.

I feel like Obama is getting his “fair share” of vacations and mine too. How about spreading the wealth around?

If Bush was responsible for FEMA’s reaction to Katrina on his watch, then Obama is responsible for the ATF “Fast and Furious” program which provided guns to Mexican drug cartels, resulting in the deaths of two US Agents and about 300 Mexicans.

Many people have trouble separating what they hope will happen from what they think will happen. Me too; I buy lottery tickets.

When Jimmy “Hamas” Carter speaks at the DNC (Democrat National Convention), one assumes he’ll be bold and propose a “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” Non-Jewish progressives would love it.

I hate most meetings. Some days I wonder how much of my life has been wasted in meetings. Mostly I don’t want to know. If 50% of the time in a meeting is valuable, it was a very good meeting.

Breaking!? Just because it’s the first time you ran something, media weenies, doesn’t make it “Breaking.” You are making the word meaningless, like “gaffe.”

Breaking: Pentagon to announce “USS Enterprise” being renamed “USS You Didn’t Build That.”

Boy, if I had only got this stuff done yesterday, I’d be caught up today. Well, almost.

The job of an executive—or often any other leader—consists of two things. One is making decisions with not enough information, and taking responsibility for them. The other is finding solutions to problems that come up. The really good leader trains subordinates to come up with recommended decisions and solutions, so the team can function well in the leader’s absence. This often makes the team uncomfortable, as they think the leader isn’t doing the job—but it’s a key part of the job.

Imagine that a black man is accused (probably falsely), but is held prisoner for two days, tied to a bed, tortured by having boiling water poured over his body until he confesses, then taken out and shot dead, his body thrown in a river. Every liberal would have the guy’s name tattooed on his heart, every American would know that name as a symbol of racial injustice in America. Except, of course if it was done by Black Panthers. Then the left, including the President of Yale at the time, would rise to the defense of the murderers and punishment. It happened, but is largely forgotten, to Alex Rackley: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Rackley
(The story that Hillary Clinton defended the Panthers is, I understand, a myth. But apparently as a law student she helped the ACLU monitor the case for “racism.”)

If Napoleon was correct that in war the moral is to the physical as three to one, a large part of American society has been so disarmed by Progressive education that they are taking a nail clipper to a knife fight in our struggle with Islamist Supremacism.

One nice thing about having looks when I was young that were sometimes generously described as "average," is that I don't fret about having lost them now that I qualify for senior discounts.

If you can, avoid the "perpetually offended," for whom “gotcha” is a blood sport and the only joy in their lives.

On my diet, I eat a lot of apples. Yes, they have calories and sugar, but Weight Watchers rates them at zero points, due, I guess to the fiber. Seems to be working. I don't think you can get too fat on apples.

Stopped at a McDonalds for coffee on my way back to Crook County from Madison. The manager instructed the server to pour it in one of their cups, then pour it in my travel mug and throw their cup--and the extra coffee--away. That hurt their profit margin, the environment and my opinion of their intellect.

People who can deal with the world as it is have a huge advantage over people who try to deal with the world as they wish it was. The world may suck, but as Tom Kratman, a favorite fiction writer, had one of his characters say, “I didn’t make the world—I just have to live in it.”

After my recent heart cath, they suggested I not use my rowing machine or lift anything over 10 pounds for a week. After all the food and drink I skipped to lose 50 pound in the last five months, I had the self discipline to skip a week of exercise.

I only remember two knots that I learned in the Boy Scouts--the square knot and the double half hitch. But those two have sure been useful for the past half century.

Nothing is more telling than that married people, who have families and a stake in the future, are overwhelmingly for Romney, while single people, who live in the here and now, let-tomorrow-take-care-of-itself are strongly for Obama.

I have liberal friends who have been complaining for years that Social Security and Medicare were not likely to be there for them, certainly not for their kids. Now when Paul Ryan says we need changes to save it, they say he’s an extremist!

When Al Sharpton says the Tea Party is racist, you must remember that no one knows racism like Al. He faces its most evil and virulent form every morning. In the mirror.

Question: Can something be true, but also racist? For example, I’ve read that blacks make up 13% of the population, but commit 53% of the murders. If that is true, is it racist to tell the truth by reporting it? Does it make a difference that most of the people they murder are also black? Is it racist to state that most of the flash mob violence, that is, “youths” attacking, beating and often robbing other folks, is blacks attacking whites, Hispanics or Asians, according to the few reporters with the courage to report it? And are the media right not to report the race of the attackers because reporting that fact is racist? If so, was it racist to report that the person who killed Trayvon Martin was a “white Hispanic,” or is it okay to report the race of someone who attacks a black person, but not the race of the attackers if they are black? Just asking, because that double standard seems to be in effect.

Say you see someone hemorrhaging, bleeding to death. You run over to put on a tourniquet, and a fellow who doesn’t like you yells, “He’s trying to kill that guy. Get away! Let him bleed—he’ll be fine!” That’s Medicare, bleeding to death. Romney and Ryan are trying to save it. By opposing any change, Obama-Biden are saying, “As long as we are re-elected, we don’t care if it dies in ten years.” Will their scare tactics work?

Much of the foreign aid sent to the third world by American taxpayers to do good for the people goes into the pockets of autocrats who do great evil.

No one knows everything. In fact, no one knows everything about any one thing. Remembering that might help keep you humble.

If you say everything you think, you are likely to be jobless and friendless.

You can tell if a guy lives alone. All the towels hanging in the bath are for people to dry off with, not to impress visitors.

Had an “I’m Tired” blog comment in August: “Mitt’s looking for a running mate.” But that conniver Paul Ryan beat me out. I’m gonna vote for Romney anyway.

The road to slavery is paved with liberals’ good intentions.

I don’t mind that liberals’ chief policy goal is to feel good about themselves, but I resent them thinking they are entitled to have me pay for it.

I like getting out of the city into small towns. When people put their hands out, it’s to shake….

We were at a flea market and I overheard a woman say, “We should buy that for Uncle Joe—he has a lot of obnoxious stuff.” Don’t know him, but I like Joe already.

The most challenging thing about being a government leader in an Arab country appears to be knowing when to change sides.

There was a time when Whites in America clearly had the most racial animus, against Blacks, Asians and Hispanics. It’s no longer socially-acceptable, and Whites have either gotten over it, or hidden it. On the other hand, Blacks are encouraged in their racist attitudes by everything from rap music to progressive media types to Black and Democrat political leaders, eager to foster a sense of grievance and reap power and money from it. That Black racism now exceeds that of Whites, or that it hurts Blacks more than Whites, and revives While racism, the “leaders” care not at all.

We met with a social worker during my transplant evaluation. Very bright, very attractive woman of Vietnamese ancestry. She said she had to ask me a couple of questions alone. When Bonnie left, she asked if I felt safe at home, or if I was being physically or emotionally abused by Bonnie. Yes, I know she has to ask everyone, but it was hard not to let my smart mouth run away with some bad joke….

One of the many LT hoops was a 165-question true-or-false psych eval. One question was “I consider myself a tough and unsentimental person.” Bad question. I’m a Marine. Of course I’m tough. And of course I’m sentimental.

Two days before my lung transplant evaluation, we took the granddaughter horseback riding, with an oxygen tank on my back. The day before, we went canoeing, with a tank on the deck of the canoe. The evening of the first day, we rode bikes, with a tank on my back. Pulmonary Fibrosis is something I have to cope with. I don’t have to let it define my life.

Though I’m still living in Illinois, my wife has moved back to our condo in Madison, WI to get things settled there and fine a job in case I’m forced to retire in the next two to three years. She voted in the Wisconsin primary and said my name is still on the list, though I registered in Illinois in 2008. So I could vote in November in two states, if I wasn’t a Republican with principles. And any Democrat can vote in Wisconsin in my name, no ID required because, as the Democrats tell us, minorities are too incompetent to get ID. I wrote and got them to take it off. No use voting Republican here and having someone vote me Democrat there.

Friend sent me a note saying she had read that white wine is good for the lungs. No need to research that one further, I’m on board.

If there were funds to be raised, you can bet there would be an “Islamic Supremacists for Obama” organization. Probably is, under a more benign name.

This election is between those of us who value Freedom above all, and those who want Free Stuff paid for by the rest of us.

I see an awful lot of folks walking around who, because of their attire, tattoos or piercings—or all of the above—look like idiots and clearly don’t know it. Which means, of course, I could look like an idiot and not know it! (I know this will get me dozens of e-mails from old friends saying, “Yup, you look like an idiot!)

Within living memory, a lot of people came out of good high schools or prep schools far better educated than a large number of today’s college graduates, thanks to the march of Progressivism on campus.

Hanging around a hospital for four days of tests, you notice that there are a lot of folks worse off than you are, many of them younger. Puts things in prospective and keeps down the whining.

Captain Dan would like me to remind you to chew your corn.

When I was in Madison, WI for my LT tests, the local throw-away had the following political meetings advertised for the week:

  • Amnesty International
  • 79th District Democratic Party Candidates Forum
  • Non-sectarian Marxist Study Group
  • Peace Vigil
  • Communities United Social Justice Coalition
  • Women’s International League for Peace and Justice Dinner
  • Madison NORML
  • History of Political Economy: Why the Worldwide Depression?
  • 49th  and 80th  District Democratic Party Candidates Forum.
  • Madison Area Peace Coalition
  • Socialist Party of South Central WI
  • Solidarity Sing-Along
  • Ayn Rand Free Enterprise League. (Just kidding—I made that one up.)

What’s the difference between a farmer and a Democrat politician? A farmer plants seeds and harvests crops. A Democrat plants tax dollars and harvests votes.

Yes, alas, a lot of Republican also got into vote buying in the last 50 years. One more reason why we face fiscal collapse now.

People who are committed to theories and good intentions rather than results are responsible for a lot of grief in this world, including tens of millions of needless deaths from war, famine and disease.

The association I manage has an annual conference. We require identification to get in the meetings or on the exhibit floor. I assume the DOJ may sue us for racism.

I have an oxygen concentrator both at my office and at home, same model. The one at home has worked fine for two years. I took it to Madison for the ten days I was there. When I got back, I plugged it in and about a half hour later, it beeped and quit. Turned it off and on, ran two minutes and did the same thing. The O2 company brought another on Monday. It did the same thing. So I figure there's a very small chance that two concentrators go bad in a row, in the same way, that I must have screwed up somehow. I tried a different outlet. I tried running it with the AC off. Same result. It smelled hot to me. So they brought a third Tuesday, different model. Tech said the bad one smelled like burning to him! So far, the new one is working fine. The one in the office is fine. Sometimes the unlikely explanation for a problem is the right one. 

Funny the crowd that was hollering  for "change" the loudest is now loudest against any change in Medicare or Social Security. Saying they want to preserve Medicare and Social Security as they are, is like saying you want to stay 29 forever. The math doesn't work and can't be made to work. Opposing all change is being for the worst change of all--fiscal collapse.
Obama—the Gift that Keeps on Taking

It’s little known, but Joe Biden is as much Native American as Liz Warren. In fact, his Indian name is “Stepped in Shit.”

The average Muslim has been “educated” to be as anti-Semitic as the average non-Jewish American progressive. Both create a lot of hate in the world.

It must be my age, but this summer, like the last couple, seems to have slipped away far too fast.

Todd Akin said something very stupid about rape and is (rightly in my opinion) loathed by almost everyone, not just feminists. But feminists revere Bill Clinton, who was accused of rape. Go figure.

Todd Akins “legitimate rape” statement is almost as dumb as Whoopie Goldberg’s “it wasn’t rape-rape” statements about the rape of a child. And do you recall how Obama and the Democrats slammed her for that? Me, neither.

So it’s fine for General Dempsey, a currently-serving officer, to defend Obama against criticism by former members of the military. But he thinks civilians who were once in the military should not make political statements. You know, like Dwight Eisenhower, Colin Powel, Jim Webb, John McCain, Wesley Clark or John Kerry.

My grandmother claimed that granddad was 1/4th Cree, making me 1/16th native American. So I suppose in racial solidarity, as a person of color myself, I should be for 1/32 Indian Liz Warren for the US Senate. But I don’t believe in identity politics.

I think the Democrat National Convention should forgo air conditioning to keep down carbon emissions.

June and July were stinking hot in the Chicago area, but August has been mild. Not too hot, not too humid, nice breezes, temps mostly in the 80s. Best of all, the Global Warming Alarmists have crawled back into their holes, after a lot of shouting and hand waving in the earlier months.

I intend to stand by America for what she once was, even if what she is becoming no longer stands by me. I owe her that for a wonderful, free life.

I’ve long ignored the political “surveys” I get sent at home. They are just fund raising appeals. I’ve started ignoring surveys at work. I get sent several every week. If I gave everyone my opinion about the things they ask, I’d have no time to do anything else.

We say, “I spent some time” for good reason. Time is the most important currency we have, and it must be spent, for good or ill—it cannot be banked. A 75-or 80-year-old lady running a B&B up a remote Scottish glen, where one would think time would pass very slowly, told me that the 50 years since she came there as a bride, “Went in a flash.”

We were out to breakfast, and the waitress was commiserating with me over my oxygen tank and my lung transplant evaluation. "Well," I said, "As it says in the Bible, ‘Shit Happens.’" "Not in my Bible," my wife snapped. Some folks just aren't good at theology.

When Katrina hit New Orleans, and lots of people died because, unlike with the later Hurricane at Galveston and Houston, local officials were incompetent and unprepared, Democrats said, "Bush hates black people." When Issac threatened Tampa and the GOP convention, Democrats said, "God hates Republicans." So responsibility for hurricanes depends on who is threatened. Some folks are really bad at theology.

October is my favorite month--crisp and cool--except for thinking about November, December, January, February and March. And, as they say around here, "April can be iffy."

More and more, the boss in most places has to go out of the way not to offend subordinates, some of whom are looking for ways to be offended, there being "gotcha" players everywhere. Used to be that the employees tried not to offend the boss.

About 15 years ago, we sold a house to a used car salesman. After the deal was signed, he came up with something he thought we should fix. When we did, he came up with something else. Then a third thing. After which we got the message that the demands for concessions would never end, until we said no. So it is with Muslims since 9/11, who when one demand not to offend them is met, come up with another. Nothing has advanced Islam and Shari'a law in the civilized world like 9/11. What we see as trying to be tolerant, they see as weakness. Every concession leads to a new demand, as they want the government and society to enforce Islamic Supremacy and their religious beliefs. Keep conceding to try to get along and in ten years they will be demanding that churches and cemeteries not display crosses and that walking dogs on the street be outlawed. And when they get that, there will be more. It will end when they rule and non-Muslims are subjugated, or when the rest of us say, "Practice your religion as you wish, but we will make no concessions of our practices to your beliefs."

Progressives excuse the most awful evil with some version of, "He can't help it, it's the way he is and we must understand."(But they don't feel that way with people who disagree with their policies. Thus Bush to liberals is more evil than murderers like bin Laden or Saddam.) Well, given the opportunity, I'd shoot evil people. That’s just the way I am--a product of an equally-valid culture, fostered at Parris Island!

There is hardly a human being, alive or dead, to whom the term "mixed bag" could not be applied. We are all a combination of the precious, the mundane and the corrupt. In most folks, the mundane predominates. In a few, the precious. And in far too many, the corrupt controls. Despite the mundane and precious parts of their natures, they are evil and must be extirpated.

When I look at tattoos on other old guys, I'm glad I never indulged. I shudder to think what these young girls with the huge, ugly tats will look like at 65.

Justice for Tonya Reaves. (Look it up.)

Be careful of “tolerant liberals.” When push comes to shove—push usually comes to shove!

The word is “trouper,” not “trooper,” as in, “She’s a real trouper.” The saying comes from the theater, not the military. Though for those of us more familiar with a fire mission than a play, trooper seems right.

When an old Marine says, “I’m going to grab him by the stacking swivel,” it doesn’t mean something dirty.

If Republicans have a “gender gap” with women, doesn’t it mean that Democrats have a “gender gap” with men? And isn’t that equally bad? Or is all the talk of equality just BS, as some genders are more equal than others?

I think Todd Akin’s comments on rape were stupid. But I’d rather my granddaughter have to listen to him, than to ride in Ted Kennedy’s car or be alone in a hotel room with accused rapist Bill Clinton. (Yes, I know Ted Kennedy has gone to the big frat house in the sky, and she’s still thankfully too young for Bill Clinton, I hope. I’m speaking figuratively. ~Bob.)

A couple of times a week, well-meaning folks send me “miracle cures” for my pulmonary fibrosis. I know they mean well and just say thanks. Last guy ripped into me for that, saying he was sorry he’d wasted his time being a nice person telling me about his special drink that would cure me. Then cursed me out when I told him I was too busy to respond at length.

When conservatives talk about math, liberals’ eyes glaze over,. They want to talk about Social Justice and Fairness.

If Obama loses, he and the left will blame the “racism” of a country that in 2008 gave Obama more white votes than John Kerry got in 2004, or Al Gore in 2000.

It amazes me how, in redistricting, Democrats say that blacks or Hispanics must be represented by a black or Hispanic Congressman, or it’s racist. But a black president can represent whites, and if they don’t vote for him, it’s racist? Make up your race obsessed minds, please.

If we don’t use the ballot box wisely in November, in a few years Americans may be resorting to the cartridge box.

Liberals tend to think—or claim to think—that if you are against all-powerful big government, you are an anarchist against all government, and opposed to everything government does. That’s either stupid or dishonest, of course.

Having a large ego, I always want to publish under my own name, and never wanted a nom de plume. Though, “The  Magnificent One” does have a certain ring…

Politicians give voters bullshit, because most voters vote for politicians who give them bullshit. If it didn’t work, they wouldn’t do it.

I read that “Jersey Shore” has been cancelled. I gather this was yet another famous TV show that I’ve never watched a minute of. The more TV you give up, the more productive you can be. Besides, as a kid I spent a lot of time at the real Jersey Shore. It’s great.

As I write, the Chicago teachers are threatening to strike. Without kids in the CPS, watching Rahm try to copy with this produces a certain frisson of schadenfreude. Live by the bloated public unions, die by the bloated public unions.

The best payoff for being honest is you aren’t always fretting someone will find out.

*****

Robert A. Hall is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic.
For a free PDF of the book, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com.

2 comments:

  1. "It must be my age, but this summer, like the last couple, seems to have slipped away far too fast."

    I know that feeling. Too little time with the grandsons, not enough fishing.

    All of the suits I own came from either Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Does that make us cheapskates?

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  2. "When an old Marine says, “I’m going to grab him by the stacking swivel,” it doesn’t mean something dirty."

    Wow, haven't heard that in a lot of years.

    ReplyDelete