America...and reality.

America...and reality. 

            If anyone doubts that we have a person(or persons) in the Spite House, that have no grasp on reality, they only have to listen to what he says.   While the rest of the country is backing away from the so-called "Affordable" health care program, the The Snake-Oil-Salesman-In-Chief continues to be delusional about his government-dictated health care scheme and he's more than willing to throw millions of Americans under the bus to salvage his ObamaCare disaster.   Barack Obama took to the airwaves on Monday, the 21st of October, to address the problems with his health care scheme... but he didn't apologize... he didn't say he was sorry... he didn't even have the courage to admit his government takeover of health care is a disaster.   Calling ObamaCare a "good product" that is "exceeding expectations," he repeatedly lauded the phantom accomplishments of his scheme to destroy our nation's health care system and transform our great nation.          Even House Speaker John Boehner took notice: "If the president is frustrated by the mounting failures of his health care law, it wasn't apparent today. Americans are looking for accountability, but what the president offered today was little more than self-congratulation. Either the president doesn't grasp the scale of the law's failures or he doesn't believe Americans deserve straight answers."   Lately, it's been difficult for me to face reality when it came to some things, but this is reality, folks, and reality bites!

            Have you been following the emasculation of our armed forces?   We are getting down to the point where we'll have to do what they did prior to our entrance into World War Two.   Back then, the army was SO badly equipped that troops used broomsticks for rifles, and automobiles for tanks!  We may be a technologically wonderful military, but if you don't have people that can comprehend that troops need to train, need to have current equipment, then we're going to be the most-easily defeated technologically wonderful military on earth.   Get rid of the bean-counter mentality in the military.   Stop firing anyone that disagrees with you.  Be aware that we are spiralling downward...maybe into oblivion.  There was a time, and it wasn't that long ago, when the United States was looked up to as the best country on earth...now, we are almost universally despised, distrusted and disrespected.   It doesn't take a genius to see that we're facing a harsh reality...but the current administration would have you believe that everything is hunky-dory...and that's not reality.  Maybe we should question what WE think is reality, as opposed to what the government wants us to believe is reality...and, by the way, this trip into Never-never Land has been going on for a long time...maybe 40 years in my estimation.

            Here's another bit of reality for you; there are thousands and thousands of miles of roads in this country that are in desperate shape.  Add to that the hundreds of bridges that need to be replaced and you're looking at a LOT of construction work...enough to keep tradesmen in this country working for years!   So, you may ask, why isn't it being done?  Why aren't the tradesmen hard at work?  One of the answers may be that we don't have ENOUGH skilled tradesmen because that sort of work has been outsourced for years, so nobody here is going into those trades.   My working background includes a lot of years as a carpenter and in the remodeling business, and based on that experience, I can tell you that technology has almost killed off the craftsmen.   That could be a good reason why, when you call for a person to fix something, or build something, it really costs an arm and a leg!  Supply and demand, that's what runs the world, believe it or not.  If the supply for a skilled craftsman is low, and the demand is high...you can bet the charges will reflect that.   Ask the folks that live in either the tornado alley or the hurricane path...when they go to get supplies, you can be sure that the prices have gone up, and will continue to go up until the supplies are exhausted.   That, my friends, is reality.

            As I said, reality bites, and since most of the country is now resigned to their "fate", don't look for a resurgence in patriotism, military prowess, integrity in government...none of it.  Wake up America, reality is calling.

WHAT HAPPENED? Some random thoughts.

 What happened?  Some random thoughts.

            Suppose the chief justice, John Roberts, had not cast his vote the way he did, on Obamacare.  Would we have the mess that this law has created?  Now, the question in my mind is...what do you suppose was the argument given to Roberts, that made him vote the way he did.  Someone once told me that it was a good thing to be in the middle on discussions…sort of straddling the fence.  Then, another person spoke up and said that if you straddle the fence you probably will get something up your butt.  Sounds logical to me.

            Even though, as a US Senator, the president was against things that he’s now FOR, people don’t seem to understand that…I wonder why that is?  Could it be that the “cool factor” overcomes all sorts of logic and integrity, and blinds some people to the obvious faults of the occupant of the Spite House?  At no time in my memory can I recall this country ever being against most of the things that made it great…oh wait, it’s not the country, it’s the administration.   The current occupant of the Spite House, is an incompetent, petulant, thin-skinned, narcissistic, lying, probably foreign-born, puppet, being manipulated in order to bring this country to its knees...and between apathy and ignorance, he will succeed.  THIS AIN’T MY AMERICA!

            What are they teaching in our schools today?  Obviously, geography, history, and penmanship are not being taught because if you ask college kids today about history they give you a blank stare.  Ask them to write something and you’ll get a printed message, sometimes with nonsensical abbreviations, because that’s what they use on texting!  Is it any wonder that our country is sinking to the level of a second, maybe even a third-tier, nation?  Cursive writing, which we old folks called handwriting or penmanship, isn’t being taught in a lot of American schools…and that’s sad, believe me.  Nothing is more welcome, at least to me, than a hand-written note of thanks or condolence.

            There’s something stupid going on in this country…well, actually there’s a lot of stupid things going on in this country, but a “trans-gendered” bathroom, where boys and girls use the same facility, in a high school, is just going beyond any sort of reason.  Political correctness is ruining this country!  Florence High School, in Florence, Colorado is allowing boys, who claim they are trans-gendered, to use the girls facilities, and the boy says his rights trump their privacy!  Where are the parents in this?  Where are the school officials in this?

Where is the common sense in this?  THIS AIN’T MY AMERICA!

            There seems to be an awful lot of high-echelon military officers that, for reasons unknown, have suddenly lost their minds and commit acts for which they get fired.  It strikes me as odd, because the ones that are left are sycophants to His Eminence, the president, the Muslim-in-chief, The Imposter, The Petulant Child.   General Martin Dempsey, as I’ve said before, is a derriere-osculator of the first magnitude, more intent on keeping his job than keeping the country safe.  He would, I believe, fire every flag-rank officer that wouldn’t go along with all that the current occupant of The Spite House would ask.             

            The FBI, which officially stands for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, should be called the Fink Battalion of Idiots.  In his book INFILTRATION by Paul Sperry, he details the absolute failure of the FBI to prevent the tragedy of 9/11.

When you read the account of how they fumbled, covered up, and ignored, you cannot help but be outraged…and then to let the head honchos get away with a clean bill of health, that’s adding insult to injury.  As a matter of fact, there’s a bunch of people that have caused this country to get a black eye, and that’s the least of it…and none have been fired, much less go to jail, where some of them belong! 

            So, what are YOU going to do about the mess that we’re in?  If you read these blogs, let me know and comment…otherwise they’re going to stop.

            Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired.      

THIS AIN'T MY AMERICA!

This ain't my America!

            Today I watched what was probably a platoon of baton-armed police in Washington DC, the capitol of the United States of America, forcibly try to keep veterans from going to someplace in the district.  Although I didn't live through the experience personally, I know a lot of people that lived through the years just before World War Two, in Germany.  What they have described over the years sounded exactly like what I saw on TV today.  THIS AIN'T MY AMERICA!   A government, driven by the most spiteful person ever to claim the title of President of the United States, and to succeed in inflicting pain upon Americans, to either prove a political point, or to gain a political advantage.   THIS AIN'T MY AMERICA!

            Our first president, George Washington was offered the title of King, and he turned it down because he, and the other Founding Fathers, knew what life was like under a king, under a person who had little or no regard for his subject.  Washington said, "A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."  He knew that ignorance and apathy would allow a despot to gain control of the government, and that the Republic for which he and others had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor, could be stolen away.  We, the people, are responsible for what happens, and what has happened to this country.  What we have now...THIS AIN'T MY AMERICA!

            It seems that almost any display of patriotism is either frowned on by officials or, as has happened many times already, it's been made illegal!  There are places where American flags, even when they are displayed inside the house, if they are visible from the street, may be against some homeowner's association's by- laws.  Open-air monuments, even those where there is NO security ever, have been barricaded, or as one guy put it, those are "barry-cades".  This wannabe-dictator has even closed off portions of the ocean!  You cannot drive near enough to Mount Rushmore to take a decent picture, and it's obvious that the closures are selected

to inflict the most pain on my fellow countrymen.  I salute the veterans who went to war, gave their lives, or came home wounded...and then are treated rather shabbily by a president who is, in my opinion, the most despicable of men.  THIS AIN'T MY AMERICA!

            On the show I sometimes refer to a Latin phrase which is the unoffical slogan of the US Navy.  It is Non Sibi Sed Patriae, and it means Not Self, But Country.

and if more of us thought of the country first, and ourselves second, and our political affiliation last, we would have a chance of regaining the glory and the prestige

that this country once had.   To see once-magnificent cities, like Detroit, become like war zones in Europe following the war, because greed overcame integrity and

cronyism overcame common sense and courage makes me ill.   Our current president has shown that he is not the man for the job but acts like a little kid when the game doesn't go his way, so he wants to take his ball and go home.  Frankly, I wish he WOULD go home...wherever that really is.   What's going on now, when history is written, people will say "how did you let this happen?"   I say it again Folks, hoping it will bring you to your feet.  Like that actor in the movie "Network", go to the window, stick your head out and yell "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"...because THIS AIN'T MY AMERICA!

            LARRY USOFF, US NAVY RETIRED

"Spitting into the wind"

            I have gone back through my blogs, and through some of my earlier shows, and when you consider the vast audience that is out there, I'm amazed that more responses don't come in.  My opinion is just that, my opinion, and while it's based on things that are printed or said, it's still my opinion.  Why don't YOU out there have more to say about what goes on in the country?  Is it too much trouble to write your elected officials...or could it be that you're tired of getting a form-letter for an answer?   They DO listen, eventually, and they DO answer, eventually...but you have to get their attention.  There's a story about two farmers, Clyde and Henry.  Clyde sold his mule to Henry and one day when they meet Henry says, "Clyde, how did you ever get that mule to do any work?"  Clyde responds, "Well, you gotta walk around front where he can see you and then you whack him between the eyes with a piece of 2x4."  Henry is aghast and this and says, "Doesn't that hurt him?"

Clyde replies, "Yep...but you gotta get his attention first."   You can't walk up to a Senator and whack him one, even though you think he deserves it, but telling them, in no uncertain terms, what you are about, and asking for a reply, addressing THAT concern, will probably get you a decent answer.

            There's a lot in this world that I don't understand, and one of those things is that administrations, both sides of the political fence, seem to be more intent on what's good for the party, rather than what's good for the country.  Term limits would put an end to career politicans, and that would be a good thing.  Another good thing, for the country, is for us to revere the men and women of "The Greatest Generation" because, as one vet put it, "...if it wasn't for us, you would all be speaking German now."   The attempted closing of the World War Two memorial, by a government that doesn't seem to know much about appreciation, was just appalling to me.  Kudos to the people who opened the barriers, and some of them were those very same elected officials that we gripe about.  It's just beyond my understanding that the men and women who sacrifice so much for us are not treated with the utmost dignity and reverence.  Maybe there should be a political party comprised of veterans and their families.  That would encompass both sides of the political fence, but stressing neither.  It could be that these folks would have the clear-headed

idea to put country first.  I have a saying over my desk and it says "Non Sibi Sed Patriae" and translated from the Latin it means, "not self but country".  I read somewhere that the veterans of WW2 are dying at about one thousand a day, and we need to know, and honor them.

            There is SO much duplication in our government that it boggles the mind as to how ANYTHING gets done...or done correctly.   No one in Washington seems to be aware that people are lying, under oath, to members of congressional hearings, or if they ARE aware, they don't seem to care.  We don't have, or shouldn't have, an elite "class" of people in this country.   We are a classless society, regardless of what you might hear or read.   So much is said about "the middle class" that it makes me ill to think about it.  Go around and start asking people what class they belong to and you're going to get some mighty strange looks and answers.   Most Americans probably think they could be doing better, and that some people might have more stuff than they do...but then, there's others that probably have less too.

Should we break ourselves into little groups so that we can be identified that way?  If you ask someone to describe another person, odds are they'll start their description with what that other person does...but that is not who that other person is, is it?

            I don't pretend to have all the answers...I don't even pretend to have ANY of the answers, but I'll still ask the questions.  So you, reading this, do you have a question that should be answered?  Do you have an answer to a question that other folks might have?  Let me hear from you and maybe we can work something out on some of these questions and answers.

            Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired

"MY TURN TO HAVE A SAY."

I saw a cartoon the other day that just bowled me over with its honesty.  It was a picture of Attorney General Eric Holder, at a podium, with the seal of the Department of Justice in the background.  The caption read "The Department of Just-Us" which, of course, is exactly the way it works now.  He has lied to Congress, and been caught at it, and didn't even miss a night's sleep over it.   The DOJ, under Holder's direction, is suing the state of North Carolina over voting requirements.  It seems that the state wants to require a picture ID in order to vote.  Well, what is the problem here?  We have to have a picture ID to buy alcohol, to get a plane ticket, to buy a gun...just about anything, so what's gotten his back up?  I'll tell you.  He is claiming that its racial discrimination because black people can't get picture ID's,

The DOJ plans to ask a federal judge to place four provisions in North Carolina’s voting law under federal scrutiny for an indefinite period of time.   The suit would claim that the North Carolina statute violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and would seek to have the state subject to federal pre-clearance before making "future voting-related changes."     Additionally, the DOJ suit also takes aim at the law's requirement that voters present government-issued identification at the polls in order to vote. The North Carolina state board of elections recently found that hundreds of thousands of registered voters — mostly the young, poor, elderly, or minorities — do not have a state-issued ID.   By the way, according to a North Carolina website, it only costs $10 to get a picture identification card.  I'm pretty sure that's within everybody's budget since it's a one-time charge.  Analysts wonder, however, why the administration did not take such “appropriately aggressive action” five years ago against efforts to hinder voting at Philadelphia polls by members of the New Black Panthers.   And while the new Black Panthers continue to go unpunished for intimidating voters at the polls, Attorney General Holder has targeted the June Supreme Court ruling that attempts to free specific states from selective scrutiny as “deeply flawed."

            How's this for a brilliant idea?  Let's have Muslim-free zones.  They'll be just like Sharia-controlled zones, only in reverse.  There will be package stores and bars, movie theatres, restaurants that serve pork products, and music will emanate from all sorts of places.  Women will wear mini-skirts, if their figures warrant it, and men will be clean-shaven for the most part and, most important, people will bathe on a regular basis.  Goats will not be objects of desire, inbreeding will be frowned upon and religious worship will be on a voluntary basis.   Headgear will consist of hats, baseball-style caps or other appropriate coverings, but will definitely not be a towel or sheet wrapped around the head.   Rape will be considered a heinous crime AGAINST  a women, not one perpetrated BY a woman, and certainly not requiring 4 male witnesses.  Testimony in court will have equal weight for men and women and, in cases of inheritance, women shall recieve their full share and not a half-share as under Sharia law.  Honor killings will be considered as murder and the killer shall get a fair trial, something that the victim certainly did not.   If, for any reason, Muslims see this proposal as being discriminatory, that would show that they are above-average in intelligence, but should stay out of the Muslim-free zones anyhow.  While no harm would come to a Muslim who happened to find himself or herself in a Muslim-free zone, they might be OFFENDED by the amount of freedom being bandied about.  Oh, wait a minute...no Muslim woman would be allowed out of the house unescorted, so we needn't worry about them.

            I'm not much of a movie fan, and very few make an impression on me...but I'll tell you one that did, and does.  It's called V For Vendetta and although it takes place in the United Kingdom, it could very well take place here...and might, if the people will just wake up and see what's happening to America.  Briefly, it's the story of an over-powering government...much like our current government, with a lot of Big Brother thrown in.  One man decides he's had enough and begins to harass the government, to the point where they notice him, and want him taken care of because he's about to spill the beans about Mr. Big, who is a really bad guy.  If you have not seen this movie, I suggest that you rent it or buy it...and watch it a couple of times.  It's brutal in spots, but it is not gratuitous brutality...just your ordinary brutality.

            If you read this...how about some comments?

Larry Usoff, US Navy, Ret.