Random Thoughts for January, 2014

Random Thoughts for January, 2014

Robert A. Hall

My new lung: I am not restarting the blog, as I'm still recovering and trying to learn and structure my new life style, but a lot of this was in the computer when the phone rang at 01:45 on December 23, 2013. For an update on that, see: http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2014/01/im-home-with-new-lung.html

Given how happy the nurses were when I urinated, and how they carefully measured it, my pee has a street value I had not realized.

If you need rest, do not go to the hospital. Trust me on this one.

I thought getting a lung transplant would be as hard as Parris island. Not close. I was at Church less than two weeks after we got the call.

I'm not out of the woods yet, as rejection or infection can still knock me off any time for the rest of my life. But now there may be a rest of my life, however long, and I'm off the oxygen I pulled behind me for 3.5 years, including to work. I think I had maybe three more months until I had a PCS.

Given my mood swings and dreams, I can see that my decision never to get into drugs was a good one.

I prayed a lot in the hospital, but always for other people, not myself. Including my family, the family of my lung donor, and sick friends. I've been given a blessed life and it seemed greedy to ask for more. But hundreds of folks across the world (we got around) wrote to say they and their churches were praying for me. I imagine God saying, "Seriously, people? All the problems in the world and you are praying for Bob? Seriously?" If you were one of them who did, thank you.

One of the Health Techs, as the VA calls nursing assistants, was from Africa. I asked if he was from Nigeria, from his lilt. He said no, Tanganyika, next door. I said that Nigeria had a lot of problems. "Yes," he said, "That Boko Haram is crazy. I am Muslim and I do not know how they can blow up people and call themselves Muslims. In my country, Christians and Muslims celebrate Christmas and Muslim holidays together. Muslim friends send me Christmas cards. There are many ways to get to New York. You take the train, I take a plane, what matter if we all get to God?" Now a citizen, he said that in America one could mostly say and do as he wished, but not in Tanganyika. We need to send him on the road.

A nurse was in chatting with me and I was being Bob. "You're a charmer," she said. I said I learned a long time ago, that when you look like me, if you want to get lucky, you need to get charming.

Given the left's power in the media and the universities, in ten years the conventional wisdom will be that HealthCare.gov flopped because of a YouTube video that offended Muslims.

The ARMY has a new recruiting ad where the recruit tells his Drill Sergeant he joined up to become a Graphic Artist. "Outstanding!" says the sergeant. "I like a man with a plan." Then they brag that the Army has over 140 non-combat jobs. If I had said that to my DI, I'd have died right there. You join the Corps to be a rifleman and to kill people and break things when the country needs you to. The Army's attitude leads to things like the 507th Maintenance Company in Iraq taking a wrong turn and getting easily over run with many soldiers never firing their rifles.

                                                                                                                      

I would not buy a car from a company that features folks driving like idiots, like the current one where the woman lands on top of a train and drives off.

The problem with fishing for compliments, is the ones you catch are too small to keep.

It's been so cold in Madison lately, down to -22 degrees, that folks are keeping warm by cursing Al Gore.

There are so many weak bowls now days, I imaging the announcer saying, "In today's Tidy Bowl Classic, the Chichester Chipmunks defend their 10-8 record against the Milton Mice, who are 0-5 since the team bus crash."

Hopefully you know this, but if you get an e-mail from a friend saying they are out of the country, have been mugged, and need money, it's a scam. They have been hacked.

Isn't it nice that under Obamacare, children can stay on their parents' insurance until they are 26? George Custer was a Civil War general at 24. Men at 26 were leading battalions in combat against the Nazi's and Japanese in WWII. I had served as a Marine in Vietnam, graduated from college and been elected to the Massachusetts State Senate when I was 26. Now at 26 they are just boys, sitting around in plaid PJs, drinking cocoa, talking to their families about healthcare during the Holidays.

The main threat to Freedom of the Press is an irresponsible media that publishes information that helps our enemies or criminals, and a biased media that promotes an agenda for one side, rather than reporting the facts. When people see the media doing this, they conclude that Freedom of the Press is over rated.

If Obama had been a Pilgrim, he would have promised the Indians, "If you like your land, you can keep your land."

Looking around America today, I don't think you could go wrong investing in a business making extra large coffins.

If covering people with pre-existing conditions for healthcare is a good idea, why not force life insurance to cover them at demand? Then people would wait until they were sick to buy life insurance. In a year, every company would be out of business.

Back when Democrats were filibustering civil rights, they loved the filibuster.

The nuclear agreement with Iran is a win-win. Obama wanted an agreement to take folks' minds off Obamacare. Iran wanted nukes. Both got what they wanted.

I think liberals are racists--they hate AR-15s because they are black.

School choice not only improves educational opportunities for poor black kids, but the evidence is that it increases integration. So if you oppose it, you are a racist. Or a race baiter like Obama and Holder.

Liberals hate freedom because it allows people to do what they think is in their best interests, rather than what the liberals think they should be doing.

The Civil War in Syria has nothing to do with freedom. It's about which oppressive monsters will be in charge. All sides hate us.

Verizon keeps wanting me to upgrade. I wish they would upgrade so our cells didn't drop calls in our Madison, WI condo, or in Waterloo, WI where our granddaughter lives.

So, we can get free healthcare and birth control if we open the gates and roll that big Obamacare wooden horse inside!

An e-mail that says, "I'm reaching out to you today," should say, "I'm sending Spam to every address I got in hopes someone buys something from me."

From my friend TH: If I were a snotty, arrogant "progressive," wouldn't I think it fun to run around pretending to be a conservative and leaving racist or anti-gay comments where they would do the most to inflame sentiment against my enemies?  PLUS I'd save money by not tipping the poor fools who aren't smart enough to get real jobs.

Since one leftie professor said global warming helped al Qaeda recruiters, I now call them the GWL--Global Warming Lunatics.

If you drive with your headlights on at all times, you reduce your risk of accidents, as it makes you more visible to other cars.

Apparently, the new liberal catechism is, "Sure, Obama lied about keeping your health plan if you liked it. All politicians lie. But it's only wrong to lie if a Republican does it, because Democrats lie to you for your own good."

It's a wonderful life. Every time Obama gives a speech, someone gets health insurance. And a hundred folks lose it.

Apparently, if you don't believe in child marriage, stoning teen rape victims for adultery, hanging gays, FMG and throwing acid on girls wanting to go to school, you are an Islamophobic racist hater.

Capitalism keeps taking folks out of poverty, but progressives insist on policies that stuff them back in.

I saw a guy at the VA with a cap that said, "Four War Veteran." I said to my buddy John, "There's a slow learner."

With the low as I write expected to hit -7 degrees next week, two weeks before the start of winter here in Wisconsin, it looks like Global Warming is another empty Obama promise we won't see in my lifetime.

Obama was so determined that millions would lose the health plans he said they could keep, that he shut down the government to be sure they lose their insurance.

The Obamacare senator, Max Baucus, who said it was going to be a train wreck, should get an award as a master of understatement. But h got rewarded for voting for it with an ambassadorship.

How much do you have to contribute to Democrats to get an exemption from Obamacare?

Since the right to be armed is in the constitution, and healthcare is not, shouldn't the government be subsidizing guns for the poor?

I must admit that Obamacare and the economy are the Republicans fault. If only they had won more elections...

If we drive by a Walmart, it seems like our credit card automatically posts at least a $200 charge.

If Nelson Mandela had known how much PR Obama would get from his death, I'm sure he'd have died earlier. Like, say, October 2.

My life insurance has gotten expensive, but it seems a shame to cancel just when it might pay off.

Do you suppose Obama likes wind farms because they kill eagles, a Tea Party symbol?

When my dad retired, he used to say that when he got up, he had nothing to do, and when he went to bed, he had it only half done. I'm finding that's true.

Of course I'm willing to negotiate. Let's start with "No."

It was easy setting a retirement budget within our retirement income. Unfortunately, we have yet to hit it. And China is not returning my calls.

When Republicans shut down the government, unemployment dropped to 7% and the Dow broke $16,000. Let's do it again. (Yeah, I know unemployment is only down because millions were driven from the workforce.)

Gee, I can't figure out why people with minimum skills, minimum education, minimum experience, minimum work ethic and minimum motivation only make the minimum wage.

Warning: You have no reasonable expectation of privacy when dealing with liberal government programs.

Liberals think if they let you keep any of the money you earned, it's a handout or government entitlement program.

Liberals think it's discrimination that people who get an education, work hard and develop good employment experience live better than those who don't.

We need some new Luddites to break up the government money printing machine.

Progressives care more about toy guns than Iranian nukes.

Murphy's Law for Oxygen Users: If your hose can get caught on something, it will. If there are two hoses in a room, they will crawl to each other to tangle.

When illegal immigrants say they want to come to the US to "live free," I don't think they mean what we do by the phrase.

From TH: Doesn't "American exceptionalism" refer to whether or not O has given one an exception to O care?

The one good thing about the Ryan-Murray budget deal is that it may deny Obama the thing he needs most right now, another government shutdown the media will blame on Republicans.

To be a liberal, you must be for "The Poor," while being for policies that makes the poor destitute through high energy costs, high food costs and lack of jobs at the entry level.

Tell a progressive that it's going to rain and he'll blame "climate change." (The new term for global warming, since there has been no warming for 19 years.)

Obama and Kerry could doubtless negotiate for a delighted lion to lay down with a nervous lamb, and tell the lamb, "We've got your back."

Slow learning is deep learning. (I have no idea if that is true, but when it popped into my head I thought it sounded profound. If you tell people it's an old Hungarian Proverb, they will likely nod like they learned something.)

If they discover life on mars, Democrats will want to give them collage aid, let them vote and provide a path to citizenship.

I notice there are a lot of escapes from prisons holding terrorist, but none from graveyards holding them.

In the 1930s, Germany, Russia and the USA got a "New Deal." Germany seems to have recovered after it destroyed the country.

Liberals get votes by promising you will get more and pay less. They are always stunned when the laws of economics wreck things like Obamacare.

Can we fool the voters with a "you can keep your plan" lie? Yes, We Can!

Try to use language in email and on Twitter that you wouldn't be embarrassed for mom or your granddaughter to read.

Nobody is worse at thinking than a recent college grad who has been taught what to think by the profs, not how to think.

If you have hopes of convincing a Progressive Statist of the error of their ways through reason, forget it. The East German Communist Statist Officials could see how much happier and prosperous the common people in capitalist West Germany were, but they didn't care. The North Korean Communist Statist Officials can see how much happier and prosperous the people in capitalist South Korea are, but they don't care. It is not about people--it's about power for the elites.

Adrenalin is a wonderful and powerful drug. And at least as dangerous as any other drug.

They want to change the name of "Obamacare." I think "The Final Solution" has a nice ring.

I thought I had PTSD, but it turned out to be a hangover.

Liberals clam that if you are for smaller government, you want to abolish government. So if you are against taking 300 aspirins a day, you are against aspirin...

Liberals have a passion for making dead terrorists into saints.

The left keeps bashing colonialism. Weren't the colonists just hard working illegal immigrants looking for a better life and, perhaps, a path to citizenship?

If you are a toddler, a geezer or in between, life has more "must do" items than "want to" items. How efficiently, effectively and, yes, cheerfully you do the "must do" items determines how successful and happy you are. And, ironically, often how many of the "want to" items you get to.

My wife has trouble with large pills, so she recently she bought some Co-Q-10 at Walmart because it had a picture of the pills labeled "actually size" that seemed manageable. The pills turned out to be about twice as large as the "actual size" picture. Advertisers.

Obama Bumper Sticker on Twitter: Solve Income Inequality: Give DeCaprio a $7,500 credit to buy a Fisker.

Criticizing gays is homophobic. Criticizing Muslims for hanging gays is Islamophobic. Got it? Either makes you a bad person, but the second is worse.

If Minimum Wage Laws are a good idea, why not Minimum House Price Laws? A fellow wants to buy your house for $150,000 and you want to sell it to him for that, but the government gets to block the sale if they think it should sell for $200,000, and the lower price is bad for you and the economy. You can just keep it.

Am I for "immigration reform?" Yes I am--if by "reform" you mean a bigger fence and more armed border guards.

You cannot have political freedom or prosperity for the common folks without economic freedom. You cannot have economic freedom with Progressives in charge.

See if I understand. John Kerry offered $17M to Vietnam to deal with Global Warming. The idea is to build tighter ties to the countries around China, like Vietnam, to buffer China's new expansionism. We will now borrow that $17M from China....

Frankly, I don't have a problem with a Black Santa, a Black Barbie or a Black Easter Bunny. But on Black Presidents, we need to step up our game--there are thousands of better choices among patriotic, competent Black Americans than the one we've got.

If I understand the progressive position, the laws of mathematics and economics are racist.

A conservative is a liberal whose health insurance was cancelled by Obamacare.

There's not much to choose from in thugs running the Middle East countries outside of Israel, but if I have to choose, I'd prefer secular despots to Islamist despots. Safer for us.

I think my wife is confused. To celebrate Christmas, she bought two bottles of Mogen David kosher wine.

Tell me, my liberal friend, if you aren't anti-Semitic, why are you boycotting Israel, the only country run by Jews, when human rights are so much worse in its Muslim-run neighbors?

I oppose colonialism, especially the Muslim Colonialists who took over the middle east at sword point from Christians and Jews.

I couldn't get interested in the Duck Dynasty thing. Censorship is when the government stops speech. But an employer has a perfect right to terminate an employee who brings discredit on the organization, though not to stop his speech. Suppose I work for the Widget association and I make a public statement that whites, blacks, Asians or Hispanics are too dumb to use widgets. The government has no right to stop me saying that, but the association would be more than right to fire me.

Liberals cannot understand why sticking their fingers in something like healthcare, the environment or the economy to "improve" it produces massive bad ripple effects elsewhere, despite their good intentions.

Racists keep asking for my ID when I use my credit card.

I see all the ads for Day Trading stocks. With all I know about the market, I'd have a better chance going to Vegas and putting it all on red.

When I was in school, at least until 10th grade, we had a bible reading every morning in homeroom. (Yes, this wise guy volunteered so as to read dramatically!) I don't think it hurt a soul. But I don't think it helped anyone, either.

Want to get fired? A stupid tweet can do it quickly.

Get the collection! My “Random Thoughts” from 2008 through July, 2013 are now collected in this book: The Old Jarhead's Journal: Random Thoughts on Life, Liberty, and Leadership by Robert A. Hall

http://www.amazon.com/Old-Jarheads-Journal-Thoughts-Leadership/dp/1490500162/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373907206&sr=1-1&keywords=Old+Jarhead%27s+Journal

The Old Jarhead’s Journal is a collection of Random Thoughts on politics and life and Conservative Political Essays, mostly published on the author’s blog, including the essay “I’m Tired” which went viral on the Internet in 2009, “The Hall Platform,” “This I Believe,” and “Why I’m a Republican.” While they will be of interest to conservative thinkers, they are collected here in book form as a service to readers who wish to give a copy to a favorite liberal and watch his or her head explode. All royalties are donated to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.

*****

Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic.

http://tiny.cc/g02s4 For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. All Hall’s eleven books are listed here: http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html