The Old Alarmist Says

The Old Alarmist Says…first, let’s understand that if you’re reading this, you’re going to be on one side of the fence or the other.   My side of the fence is conservative, with a desire for smaller government, smarter administrations and a stronger America.   The other side of the fence wants bigger government, more regulations and more political correctness.  At some point, and it’s apparent that we’re close to it, there will be more people on government handouts than are working to support them.

            So, decide where you are and then we can proceed because if you’re on the other side of the fence this is where you should stop reading and delete this and never come back to me on e-mail.   Or, perhaps you’re one of the few that thinks for themselves and looks for indicators in what is being said or printed.  Kudos to you, if you are.

            I believe…that the current occupant of the White House is a clinically delusional madman…that he is following an agenda straight out of Saul Alinsky’s Rules For Radicals, along with the Cloward and Piven strategies, both of which aim for the destruction of the United States even though it’s couched in politically correct language. 

            At a time when our potential enemies, China and Russia, are building up their militaries, our delusional leader is decimating ours.   We are still borrowing money, which many experts say can never be repaid, and handing it out to almost anyone, or anything, without much chance of getting any sort of repayment to us.  That is plainly fiscal irresponsibility.

            Based on books that I’ve read over the past five years, doing research for the radio show, it is plain to see that this country is being degraded and destroyed systematically.   Succeeding generations are being dumbed-down, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the two political parties when you examine what they do when they are the “in” group.   My affiliation, for the present, is Republican, but could we use a third party?  I think we could.

            If you write you will get an answer.  The problem is that the answer you get may not be the answer you expected or wanted.   Write me at amafrog@att.net

           

RONALD REAGAN AND OTHER GOOD GUYS…

RONALD REAGAN AND OTHER GOOD GUYS…

            Ronald Reagan may not have been the most brilliant president we’ve ever had, but his heart was in the right place and, there was no doubt, that he was an American.

Here’s a few quotes from our 40^th President: “Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”  That, to me, sounds like the opposite of what the current occupant of the Oval Office is all about.  Another quote goes like this…”We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”   How can society be responsible for mentally disturbed people, or for people that are indoctrinated to hate America and do us harm?   A gun in the hands of a sane person, one who has no hate in his/her heart, will probably do no harm.   The recent shooting in San Bernardino is an excellent example of this.  California has very strict gun laws, but the killers had plenty of weapons, so the laws didn’t bother them at all.   They had been inculcated to violence against America, so it wasn’t OUR society that did them wrong, it was the training they received somewhere else.

            Thomas Jefferson, a brilliant visionary, also had a few pertinent things to say, and remember, he was a century(at least) ahead of our present troubles.  He said, “For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.”   His words were meant to get back to England and a despotic King, but they are just as noteworthy today.  Something else he said was “Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.”   You have to ask yourself, how did he know that we would aid and abet our own destruction by importing barbarians that have killing Americans uppermost in their minds?   The consolidation of power in the executive branch of our government has been allowed to take place because the Congress has not done their job, which is to rein in the lawless

occupant of the White House.   Why they seem to rubber-stamp his every wish is beyond me.

            One of my personal heroes is JFK and not just because he was in the Navy.  He had a few memorable things to say also.  One is “The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.”   As mentioned above, Congress seems to have gotten the idea that you need to go along to get along, and that’s not what America is about.   We are a nation founded on certain principles that were, at the time, contrary to the popular belief…and we turned out to be the greatest nation on earth…ever!   Something

else that JFK said was “The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.”  If you think about it, almost any nation, the US included, that would drop a nuclear weapon could very well set off a chain-reaction of other nations dropping their own bombs and THAT, according to NewScientist.com could usher in a nuclear winter.  A regional exchange of relatively small nuclear weapons could plunge the world into a decade-long “nuclear winter”, destroying agriculture and killing millions, according to a new study.   Weapons experts to consider that small-scale nuclear exchanges are now more likely than the massive US-Soviet exchanges feared during the Cold War.   In the 1980s, scientists calculated that such exchanges would put enough smoke into the atmosphere to shade the Earth from the Sun, causing a nuclear winter.

Now scientists have re-calculated the likelihood of nuclear winter using modern, vastly improved climate models and a more likely modern scenario for small-scale nuclear war.

In short, we could be looking at an event that would bring about the end of mankind.  Period.

            There are many people, of differing beliefs, that populate the earth and if we start with that as a given fact the rest of this becomes logical.   To date we have not learned to live on other planets, so we must learn to live, together, on this one.  Any one group that threatens the existence of all, must be dealt with, and in a manner that would preclude them doing anything to jeopardize the rest of us.   If mankind is to continue, and continue to move forward, action would seem to be the watchword here.

            One last quote, and this from Lawrence Eagleburger, “One nuclear war is going to be the last nuclear - the last war, frankly, if it really gets out of hand. And I just don't think we ought to be prepared to accept that sort of thing.”  Mr. Eagleburger was a diplomat during the George H.W. Bush administration.   Can there be any doubt that, unless we are careful, we may be rushing headlong to our own destruction?

           

Ronald Reagan and other good guys…

 Ronald Reagan and other good guys…

            Ronald Reagan may not have been the most brilliant president we’ve ever had, but his heart was in the right place and, there was no doubt, that he was an American.

Here’s a few quotes from our 40^th President: “Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”  That, to me, sounds like the opposite of what the current occupant of the Oval Office is all about.  Another quote goes like this…”We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”   How can society be responsible for mentally disturbed people, or for people that are indoctrinated to hate America and do us harm?   A gun in the hands of a sane person, one who has no hate in his/her heart, will probably do no harm.   The recent shooting in San Bernardino is an excellent example of this.  California has very strict gun laws, but the killers had plenty of weapons, so the laws didn’t bother them at all.   They had been inculcated to violence against America, so it wasn’t OUR society that did them wrong, it was the training they received somewhere else.

            Thomas Jefferson, a brilliant visionary, also had a few pertinent things to say, and remember, he was a century(at least) ahead of our present troubles.  He said, “For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.”   His words were meant to get back to England and a despotic King, but they are just as noteworthy today.  Something else he said was “Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.”   You have to ask yourself, how did he know that we would aid and abet our own destruction by importing barbarians that have killing Americans uppermost in their minds?   The consolidation of power in the executive branch of our government has been allowed to take place because the Congress has not done their job, which is to rein in the lawless

occupant of the White House.   Why they seem to rubber-stamp his every wish is beyond me.

            One of my personal heroes is JFK and not just because he was in the Navy.  He had a few memorable things to say also.  One is “The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.”   As mentioned above, Congress seems to have gotten the idea that you need to go along to get along, and that’s not what America is about.   We are a nation founded on certain principles that were, at the time, contrary to the popular belief…and we turned out to be the greatest nation on earth…ever!   Something

else that JFK said was “The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.”  If you think about it, almost any nation, the US included, that would drop a nuclear weapon could very well set off a chain-reaction of other nations dropping their own bombs and THAT, according to NewScientist.com could usher in a nuclear winter.  A regional exchange of relatively small nuclear weapons could plunge the world into a decade-long “nuclear winter”, destroying agriculture and killing millions, according to a new study.   Weapons experts to consider that small-scale nuclear exchanges are now more likely than the massive US-Soviet exchanges feared during the Cold War.   In the 1980s, scientists calculated that such exchanges would put enough smoke into the atmosphere to shade the Earth from the Sun, causing a nuclear winter.

Now scientists have re-calculated the likelihood of nuclear winter using modern, vastly improved climate models and a more likely modern scenario for small-scale nuclear war.

In short, we could be looking at an event that would bring about the end of mankind.  Period.

            There are many people, of differing beliefs, that populate the earth and if we start with that as a given fact the rest of this becomes logical.   To date we have not learned to live on other planets, so we must learn to live, together, on this one.  Any one group that threatens the existence of all, must be dealt with, and in a manner that would preclude them doing anything to jeopardize the rest of us.   If mankind is to continue, and continue to move forward, action would seem to be the watchword here.

            One last quote, and this from Lawrence Eagleburger, “One nuclear war is going to be the last nuclear - the last war, frankly, if it really gets out of hand. And I just don't think we ought to be prepared to accept that sort of thing.”  Mr. Eagleburger was a diplomat during the George H.W. Bush administration.   Can there be any doubt that, unless we are careful, we may be rushing headlong to our own destruction?

           

PEARL HARBOR…AND OTHER THINGS

PEARL HARBOR…AND OTHER THINGS

            Those of us who remember the attack on Pearl Harbor, look back and some of us wonder how we could have been so naïve.   Others will say that they knew it was coming because of our treatment of Japan…and both sides might be right.   On that Sunday morning 74 years ago, the US Navy was decimated.   The Army Air Corps was decimated.   Outlying Marine posts were overrun.   It was a day of infamy.   Now, fast forward to the present.

            We’ve rebuilt Japan, even following two atomic bombs, to the point where they are not just an economic competitor, but we owe them a bunch of money now!  No, not in reparations…we have become a bankrupt, debtor nation, and Japan is just one of our big creditors.   The same can be said about Germany, although we helped them rebuild, we don’t owe them as much, if anything.  

China…well, that’s a whole other story.   This once backward nation that we helped to survive during World War Two, bounced back with a vengeance.   It is to China that we owe most of our money, and according to experts, have little or no chance of ever repaying the loan.   We counted them as a strong ally during the war, and now we are facing them as a potential enemy…and the same can be said for Russia.

Somebody once said that politics makes strange bedfellows and it certainly is a truism in this modern world.   Who would have known that the attack on Pearl Harbor would evolve into a political and economic ally?   Could anyone have guessed that Russia and China, both of which might not have survived without our help could become “frenemies”, a term that didn’t even exist until a couple of years back.

A frenemy, as I understand it, is a person, even a nation, that works both sides of the street…they’re both for you and against you, publicly and privately.   That, to me, describes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen and a host of other countries in the muddled Middle East.   Oil made them all rich, but it didn’t make them all civilized.   They wear civilization  like a coat, to be taken off or put on as the occasion demands.   They tell us to our face that they like us but they shovel money out the back door to the barbarians.

As Pearl Harbor approached on that fateful day, America was taking the first steps to becoming a superpower.   We invented, we made, we improved and it was all done here in the United States.   Now there’s some stuff that’s still made here, but if you pick up something in the big box store, 9 times out of 10 it will say “Made In China”.

The same goes for the supermarket…except that the “Pacific Rim” countries also share in that.   It’s very difficult to find canned fruits and vegetables that are still grown and processed in this country…without ever having to go overseas first.

            A listener wrote in recently to say that I was “a one-trick pony”…that is, my stuff was all the same week in and week out.   He could be right in one respect because the show is about trying to right the wrongs being perpetrated.   That’s a big job and I’m just a whisper in a windstorm.   The salmon swimming upstream to spawn have nothing on me…the tide is always against me but as long as we have free speech in this country I’ll keep on saying what I think needs to be said.  

            Now, that bit about free speech…you want to think about that for a bit?   On many college and university campuses you don’t have that…unless you get a permit, and then only in certain “free speech zones”.    How does that square with the First Amendment to the US Constitution?    You want to hear some interesting things?   Make up a 20 question test about Americana…history, government, literature, stuff like that and ask your kids and grandkids to answer the questions.   They cannot use a smartphone or a computer…they have to actually know the answers, and that’s where the amazing part comes in.   Try it and see what happens.

            Remember Pearl Harbor…the Maine…the Alamo.   There’s probably a thousand things you could, and should, remember, because it’s what made America what it was.

            Well the holidays are coming so I’ll put on my happy face and see what transpires.   Who knows, we might even have Peace On Earth for a week or so.

THE NUT-JOB YOU ELECTED…TWICE.

 THE NUT-JOB YOU ELECTED…TWICE.

            If you needed any more proof that Barack Hussein Obama(and I love those American names) is a nut-job, just keep watching the news.  In the face of the terror attacks in Paris, and the potential for attacks in the United States, he still maintains that global warming or climate change, is the biggest threat to the world.   According to the MedLine medical dictionary “delusion” is a false belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that persists despite the facts and occurs in some psychotic states.   So there it is…he is delusional because he believes that what he says is going to come true when the rest of the world knows, and says, differently.   There was an online video circulating, from Egypt, and the three commentators all acknowledged that our Muslim-in-chief was a nut-job and that he was deliberately bringing down his own country.   One of them went so far as to call him insane, and I have to concur with that assessment.  Unfortunately, that video turned out to be a hoax, but I’ll bet that, in private, that’s exactly what they DO think of our mush-for-brains leader.

            The ROE, or rules of engagement, for our troops actually put the odds in favor of the enemy.   You cannot fight a war if you are worrying about innocent people getting killed…because that is going to happen.   The Russians, the French, and the Jordanians, all sent sorties to hit established targets…targets that, in some cases, our Defense Department knew about but didn’t nothing about.  The question is, if we knew about these targets, why didn’t our nut-job in the White House do something about them?   The Russians are using long-range heavy bombers which, I understand, are some of the same ones that have been skirting our own west coast.   They are comparable to our B-52’s, many of which are sitting in the desert, being cannibalized.

            Everybody says we shouldn’t put our boots on the ground in this fight, but we already have at least 50 troopers over there…as advisors.   In looking at this situation, it seems that the enemy just has to pick them off one-by-one and we will not be sending any more to replace them.   What happened to the troops we sent, again as advisors, to root out Boko Haram?   Why are we not doing the same as the Russians…using heavy bombers to level known hideouts of the bad guys?   Instead of dropping leaflets, which only help the bad guys to know our plans, we should be carpet-bombing Raaqa until it’s nothing but flattened ground.   The ISIS leaders are getting money through the sale of oil, so why are we not flattening the refineries, which can be rebuilt later?   The so-called surgical strikes, using a drone to get one or two guys, is expensive.   A “dumb” bomb, if you use enough of them, will do the same job.

            There can only be a few outcomes of this war in the muddled Middle East.   The ISIS people will win, take over huge patches of land and declare a caliphate(which they’re close to doing now), the West will band together for the common defense and root out ISIS and kill every single one of them, or some lunatic will use a tactical nuclear weapon and World War Three will start…and that may have already started, without the nuke being used.   Countries have treaties with other countries, so that in time of danger, they come to the aid of their friends.   More and more, under the mis-guidance of the nut-job in the White House, we are losing friends almost on a daily basis.   He does not listen to his military advisors and fires those Generals and Admirals that have the temerity to voice an opinion that he doesn’t like.   So, what advisors does he listen to?   Valerie Jarrett?   Susan Rice?   Obviously he’s not listening to his FBI chief.   His head honcho at Homeland Security is really just a political hack and the job is a payback for his support.   In fact, that’s probably the case in most of his appointments…you work for me, I give you a cushy job with a great title, but no real power.   The power, which is supposed to be equally divided between the three branches of government, now rests solely with the Executive branch and the lawless so-called President.

            Anyone that asks can get a straight answer from me and there are things that can, and should, be done to bring this country back from the pit into which we’ve been thrown.   A hero of mine, Neal Boortz, once likened the illegal alien problem like a boat in the middle of a lake.  The boat is the Southern border.  The boat springs a leak that could sink it.  The leak, of course, are the thousands of illegal aliens flowing into the country…and now being imported.  So the question is, do you continually bail out the water, or do you stop the leak first and then bail out the water?     It’s illogical what we’re doing about illegal alien migrations.   In a sense, we are importing the very people that want to, and will try to, kill us.

            The American people have a right to abolish a government that is not treating them as they should be treated…and maybe it’s time to think seriously about doing that.

What are YOU doing for America…and yourself?

 What are YOU doing for America…and yourself?

            Each week my program closes with a quote from President Kennedy asking what you can do for your country.   Veterans know what to do because they’ve done it, and have been given a lousy deal in return.   Congress, and that’s both sides of the aisle, have been surgically altered, apparently, because they have no spine and no testicles.

Americans, that is the generations coming up behind mine, are quietly receptive of the pap they are being fed, and never realizing that what they’re becoming is a nation of sheep…and rather ignorant sheep at that.   It’s no secret that our government is corrupt, and it’s been that way for generations.  In all fairness, it hasn’t been just the current administration although they are the most blatant in their desire to see America crushed.

            There was a time, and I’ve said this before, when we were top dog, king of the hill, the one and only…but that position of eminence seems to have been taken away from us.  The halo that once topped our head has slipped and become a noose, and we are not doing much about it.   Our politicians are on the take, from every quarter, and for any reason you can think of.  Perhaps it’s time to just vote everybody out, start fresh with a new resolve to stick to what really made this country great…the Constitution.  We are trashing it, we are shredding it, we are ignoring it…we are doing everything but following it.   Where do you think that’s going to get us?   Is there a knight in shining armor, on a white horse, coming to save us?   I think not.

            My father used to tell me that if I needed a helping hand there was one at the end of each of my arms.   That, if you want to translate it as I have, means that whatever needs to be done is going to have to be done by you…and not you alone, but by millions of you.  Another saying to think about is “If not now, when, and if not me, who?”.   The American people have the Constitutional right to abolish the government when it no longer serves the people.   That’s in the Declaration of Independence and while that document severed the relationship between the colonies and England, it could very well apply to the present situation.   We need to separate ourselves from a government that is not doing its job.   The American Revolutionary war might be considered a military coup, and since we have the law on our side, why not have another one?

            You and I and millions like us can raise our voices and call for the complete removal of all the current administration and all members of Congress.   Oh, you think that’s too drastic?   Think of the government as a cancer, which it is in many cases, and what do you do with a cancer?   You excise it before it kills you.   Recent elections, where we thought the new members of Congress were going to be a breath of fresh air turned out to be only stale vapors and it was business as usual.  Speaking for myself that’s not an option that should continue.   Yes, I write to my elected officials, but what do I get?   Form letters that do not address, in any way, what I have written them.   That, to me, is not a responsive government and if they are not going to be responsive to what the public wants and expresses a need for, they have to go.

            So, my friends, it looks like protests get their attention…as witness Ferguson, Baltimore, Black Lives Matter and on and on.  What about a couple of million steadfast Americans marching on Washington demanding the impeachment, indictment and incarceration of the entire current administration?   Would that get their attention?

Hmm…I wonder how long it will be before “the suits” and guys with earpieces, will show up and conservative talkers will begin having “heart attacks” or “auto accidents”.   There’s been enough stuff done in real life, as well as on TV and in books, so that it should be well-known that accidents can be staged, heart attacks can be made to happen and people can disappear and never be heard from again.

            When Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin begin to have these occurrences that will be the time for me to worry…but for now, I’m going to continue to have my say and I sincerely hope that it’s making a difference somewhere, somehow.   In particular, I want to address the American Jews.  Are you so far removed from World War Two that it is ancient history?   Are you so far removed from World War Two that you cannot remember the concentration camps…the gas chambers…the ovens?   Do you have expectations that your wealth, your education, your gated community is going to save you?

Here’s a quote you should pay attention to…”Secure our borders first. Let us know and let us make sure the American people know that we're taking care of the important business of dealing with the illegal immigration into this country. You cannot begin to address the concerns of the people who are already here unless and until you have made certain that no more are coming in behind them.” by Michael Steele former Lt. Governor of Maryland.

           

Larry’s blog for November 23, 2015  What are YOU doing for America…and yourself?

            Each week my program closes with a quote from President Kennedy asking what you can do for your country.   Veterans know what to do because they’ve done it, and have been given a lousy deal in return.   Congress, and that’s both sides of the aisle, have been surgically altered, apparently, because they have no spine and no testicles.

Americans, that is the generations coming up behind mine, are quietly receptive of the pap they are being fed, and never realizing that what they’re becoming is a nation of sheep…and rather ignorant sheep at that.   It’s no secret that our government is corrupt, and it’s been that way for generations.  In all fairness, it hasn’t been just the current administration although they are the most blatant in their desire to see America crushed.

            There was a time, and I’ve said this before, when we were top dog, king of the hill, the one and only…but that position of eminence seems to have been taken away from us.  The halo that once topped our head has slipped and become a noose, and we are not doing much about it.   Our politicians are on the take, from every quarter, and for any reason you can think of.  Perhaps it’s time to just vote everybody out, start fresh with a new resolve to stick to what really made this country great…the Constitution.  We are trashing it, we are shredding it, we are ignoring it…we are doing everything but following it.   Where do you think that’s going to get us?   Is there a knight in shining armor, on a white horse, coming to save us?   I think not.

            My father used to tell me that if I needed a helping hand there was one at the end of each of my arms.   That, if you want to translate it as I have, means that whatever needs to be done is going to have to be done by you…and not you alone, but by millions of you.  Another saying to think about is “If not now, when, and if not me, who?”.   The American people have the Constitutional right to abolish the government when it no longer serves the people.   That’s in the Declaration of Independence and while that document severed the relationship between the colonies and England, it could very well apply to the present situation.   We need to separate ourselves from a government that is not doing its job.   The American Revolutionary war might be considered a military coup, and since we have the law on our side, why not have another one?

            You and I and millions like us can raise our voices and call for the complete removal of all the current administration and all members of Congress.   Oh, you think that’s too drastic?   Think of the government as a cancer, which it is in many cases, and what do you do with a cancer?   You excise it before it kills you.   Recent elections, where we thought the new members of Congress were going to be a breath of fresh air turned out to be only stale vapors and it was business as usual.  Speaking for myself that’s not an option that should continue.   Yes, I write to my elected officials, but what do I get?   Form letters that do not address, in any way, what I have written them.   That, to me, is not a responsive government and if they are not going to be responsive to what the public wants and expresses a need for, they have to go.

            So, my friends, it looks like protests get their attention…as witness Ferguson, Baltimore, Black Lives Matter and on and on.  What about a couple of million steadfast Americans marching on Washington demanding the impeachment, indictment and incarceration of the entire current administration?   Would that get their attention?

Hmm…I wonder how long it will be before “the suits” and guys with earpieces, will show up and conservative talkers will begin having “heart attacks” or “auto accidents”.   There’s been enough stuff done in real life, as well as on TV and in books, so that it should be well-known that accidents can be staged, heart attacks can be made to happen and people can disappear and never be heard from again.

            When Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin begin to have these occurrences that will be the time for me to worry…but for now, I’m going to continue to have my say and I sincerely hope that it’s making a difference somewhere, somehow.   In particular, I want to address the American Jews.  Are you so far removed from World War Two that it is ancient history?   Are you so far removed from World War Two that you cannot remember the concentration camps…the gas chambers…the ovens?   Do you have expectations that your wealth, your education, your gated community is going to save you?

Here’s a quote you should pay attention to…”Secure our borders first. Let us know and let us make sure the American people know that we're taking care of the important business of dealing with the illegal immigration into this country. You cannot begin to address the concerns of the people who are already here unless and until you have made certain that no more are coming in behind them.” by Michael Steele former Lt. Governor of Maryland.

           

STUFF AND NONSENSE

            If you’re reading this, you’re on a computer and, if you’re on a computer you know the meaning of nonsense, right?  It’s my contention that much of what comes out of Washington is nonsense and then it’s disseminated to the rest of the country…and sometimes to the rest of the world.   An example of that would be when the so-called leader of the free world goes on national television and says that he has no strategy to combat terrorists…or when he calls those terrorists a junior varsity(JV) team and then in a later interview says they are a potent threat, or words to that effect.

            How about needing a special permit to utter something, on a college campus?  Not only do you need a special permit, but you can only do it in certain places at certain times!   When did we deep-six the United States Constitution?   When did freedom of speech fall into the hands of people who don’t believe in it?   Oh sure, you still cannot shout “fire” in a theatre and that sort of thing, but having an open discussion, or a difference of opinion in a place where the ideas should be flowing like a river, and to be punished for it?

            The American flag, a symbol of what this country stands for, or used to, can now be prohibited from flying.   As memory serves me, no flag flies above ours, at least in this country…but it’s been done.   The flag has been ordered to be taken down from apartments where it was displayed in the windows.   It has been ordered to be removed from the bed of pickup trucks where it was flying high.   Any representation of it, in certain places, cannot be worn to schools, work, or protests, lest it offend someone.  In most of the cases of offending someone it’s either Muslims or atheists.

            Muslims and atheists…now there’s a combination for you.   The former believes that unless you believe like they do 100%, you’re going to be killed.   The latter, the  atheists, who don’t believe in any religion might be their first target…but then, I could be wrong on that.  Maybe Christians and Jews, regardless of whether they were atheists or not.   Freedom of religion in the United States means just that, but it doesn’t mean that one religion(or in this case a cult) shall force everyone else to kowtow to them, or die.   Muslims, it seems, are offended by just about anything…if the sun comes up in the morning, or if it’s a starry night, I’m sure that would be offensive to some of them.   Why, if they despise everything that we stand for, don’t they all find a perfect home in one of the Islamic-controlled countries?  Oh, that’s right, they want to dominate the world.   It’s their way or the highway…if you live to make it to the highway.

            Our Constitution, like most brilliantly-conceived pieces, has amendments to it.   These amendments come about because society changes and we have to change with it.

We tried prohibition of liquor, but that didn’t work, so it was repealed.   We had an age limit for voting, for entry into the armed forces, and some states wanted different ages for that, so there was a change.   The founding fathers, in their wisdom, devised a three legged government, with each leg having equal powers so that we wouldn’t wind up under a dictator or a king.   Of course, that was dependent upon each branch doing their proper thing.   As you well know, the Congress has had its spine and testicles surgically removed by the occupant of the White House and the Supreme Court has also fallen under the spell of the Svengali-like character in the Oval Office.

            America, once the shining city on the hill, as described by an actor-turned-politician, has become the shanty in old shanty town.   We have almost more people dependent on the government for some sort of subsistence, than are working.   There is a huge number of people who have simply quit looking for work and accepted the handouts the government is more than willing to give.   Government, as practiced by this administration, is determined to have as many people dependent on it as possible because dependence equals subservience.   The government is the plantation of the time before the war between the states, and the recipients of government largesse are the field hands working(or in this case not working) to keep the plantation going.

            Education in this country is a joke…and not a funny one at that.   There are a few people on TV, that go around asking basic questions about America…how it’s governed, what laws are being proposed, who’s this person(being shown a picture) and the results are appalling.   The ignorance and apathy displayed should make anyone that cares about this country cringe and want to shake these young people(and some old ones too) and find out why they are the way they are…but we know, don’t we?   In the 1960’s it was the norm to treat small children as if they were adults, to allow them this and that, some sort of laissez-faire, which is  part of a larger French phrase and literally translates to "let (it/them) do", but in this context usually means to "let go".   We are reaping that whirlwind now that we sowed back then.

WHY ME?

WHY ME?

            It seems to be human nature that, in times where things are going against you, you ask yourself, “Why me?”   There have been times in my life, both as a child and as an adult, when I asked that question.   When my father would hear that from me he had a standard answer and it was “Why not you?”   He thought that no one was that special that they could dodge the various less-than-good things that came along.   Presidents,

leaders of the military, politicians, celebrities of all sorts have encountered an event at some point in their life where they asked that question.

            We, the American people, have asked that question as a nation, and as over 300 million individuals.   Situations arise that may aggravate you, might make you look inside yourself, or make you question whether or not you should be doing, or not doing, what the situation demands.   Why me?   A veteran, lying in a hospital bed somewhere, realizing that for whatever has taken place, his or her life will never be the same, asks that question.   Perhaps the question arises as he or she is leading a charge to the enemy, or their aircraft or ship has been hit and they suffered wounds.   Veterans are almost traditional in their reluctance to discuss things they’ve been forced to do in order to survive, and at that point they ask themselves, “Why me?”.

            So…why not you?   Some of us Americans think that because we ARE Americans we should be exempt from taking part in world affairs.   Then there are others that would say if not me, who…and if not now, when?   You, and you alone, are truly responsible for your actions.   Oh sure, you can say that you’re just following orders, or that you had peer pressure to do whatever it was that you did…but in the end, you must ask yourself “Why me?”.   You’re not chosen out of millions to be a fall guy.   You haven’t been picked out to be a sucker.   No one has elected you to be the patsy.

            For many years now, our armed forces have been all-volunteer so even the threat of the draft is not there.   No one has had their number picked out of a big bowl, and realized that they may have to go fight a war…maybe lose a limb or two, or even their life.   That’s a decision you make all on your own.   That’s a decision that places you in the ranks of heroes.   That’s a decision that answers the question of “Why me?”, and you know the answer…”Why not you?”

            “I am super proud of being an American, but we fail our veterans every day.”

----Laurie Halse Anderson.   I don’t know who that lady is, but that’s a good thought, and here’s another one…”As young West Point cadets, our motto was 'duty, honor, country.' But it was in the field, from the rice paddies of Southeast Asia to the sands of the Middle East, that I learned that motto's fullest meaning. There I saw gallant young Americans of every race, creed and background fight, and sometimes die, for 'duty, honor, and their country.'”----Norman Schwarzkopf and my personal favorite…“A Veteran Is Someone Who, at one point, wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America’ for an amount of ‘up to and including their life.’ That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.”   To the veterans who have asked “Why me?”, I think you know the answer…because it was the right thing to do.   Some gave all…all gave some.   Thank you for your service.

HALLOWEEN AND OTHER CELEBRATIONS.

HALLOWEEN AND OTHER CELEBRATIONS.

            We’ve just gotten over Halloween, or as it started out, All Hallows Eve, and according to Wikipedia, it’s a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide,  the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed believers.   For many of us, our children and grandchildren experience it as a night for gathering as much candy and other goodies as possible.   We used to say “trick or treat”, but nobody ever tricked, at least no one that I can remember.   My friends and I didn’t need any sort of holiday or reason to trick someone, and we had some really good ones.

There was the phantom knock on the door and the barricaded street…they were the two most popular because they were the easiest to do with the best results.

            The phantom knock on the door went like this…at night you looked for a front door that had a knocker on it.   Tie some black fishing line to the door,  wind it around a tree and sit on the front steps of a house next to your target.  A couple of pulls on the line and the knocker tells the people inside that someone is at the front door…but when they open the door there’s no one there.  They close the door and then you repeat the trick…it’s usually good for at least two, and sometimes three times.

            The barricaded street was really an illusion, and again it was at night.   Two or three kids on each side of the street would wait until a car came along and then they would mimic pulling on some sort of a barricade…like a rope or a cable.  The driver would see what he thought was a barricade and come to a screeching halt.  Then we all ran away to wait for the next car.   Good clean fun and no messy cleanup as might be involved in toilet-papering a tree or a house…and that was just a waste of money too.

            Again, from Wikipedia, there’s this…Walpurgis Night is the English translation of Walpurgisnacht, one of the German names for the night of 30 April, so called because it is the eve of the feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in Germania. In Germanic folklore Walpurgisnacht, also called Hexennacht literally "Witches' Night", is believed to be the night of a witches' meeting on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains, a range of wooded hills in central Germany between the rivers Weser and Elbe. The first known written occurrence of the English translation 'Walpurgis Night' is from the 19th century.   Local variants of Walpurgis Night are observed across Europe in the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland and Estonia.   In the United States, Walpurgisnacht is one of the major holidays celebrated within LaVeyan Satanism and is the anniversary of the founding of the Church of Satan.

            France has a liberation day, much like our 4^th of July, with some similarities.   Both of our countries sought to remove themselves from the tyranny of a king.   We had George and they had Louis.   Bastille Day, symbolizes the end of the constitutional monarchy, and the beginning of the democratic republic of France.   There again, both countries went to a republic rather than a democracy and if you don’t know the difference, well, that’s for another time.   On July 14, 1789,  in France, there was an uprising against the constitutional monarchy.   The Bastille was actually a prison, and it was a symbol of the monarchy.   The people wanted a reconciliation for all of France, to promote unity, and purse liberty from the monarchy.

            As reported in the Huffington Post on April 7^th, 2014, Each spring, people flock to Kawasaki, Japan, to celebrate Kanamara Matsuri, aka the "Festival of the Steel Phallus."

 The festival is a celebration of the penis and fertility. People parade gigantic phallic-shaped mikoshi (portable Shinto shrines) down the streets during the event, as revelers suck on penis lollipops, buy penis-themed memorabilia and pose with sculptures in the shape of -- you guessed it -- penises.   According to the BBC, the festival is believed to have roots in the 17th century, when prostitutes are said to have prayed for protection from sexually transmitted infections at Kawasaki's Kanamara shrine.   Today, the festival reportedly raises awareness about safe sex practices and fundraises for HIV prevention.

            May 17^th, in Norway, is their Constitution Day.   The Constitution of Norway was signed at Eidsvoll on May 17 in the year 1814. The constitution declared Norway to be an independent kingdom in an attempt to avoid being ceded to Sweden after Denmark–Norway's devastating defeat in the Napoleonic Wars.   Once again, sort of, it was a move away from a king to a democracy.   By historical coincidence, the Second World War ended in Norway nine days before that year's Constitution Day, on May 8, 1945.       You see, then, that there are happy occasions, occasions of war and remembrance, and some just silly ones.   Whatever the reason, a person can always find something to celebrate, somewhere in the world, so enjoy!

     Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired      www.AirHumanityRadio.net

GO BIG, OR GO HOME…AND OTHER THINGS.

GO BIG, OR GO HOME…AND OTHER THINGS.

            The recent decision by the White House to leave a small force behind in Afghanistan is, in my opinion, a mistake.   The heading above tells the story…go big, or go home.   Leaving a force behind that is straddled with ridiculous rules of engagement, dealing with tribal personnel that, really, could care less who runs the country because they will fight for or against whoever treats them better.   A smaller force can be picked off one-by-one and that will probably be the enemy’s strategy.   Inside the United States we tell people that if they see something they should say something, right?   Were it up to me I would tell the US field commanders in war zones that if they see someone they should shoot someone.   War, by almost any definition, has to contain an element of what the military calls “collateral damage” and what the rest of us call civilian casualties.

In World War 2 the Navy would sit offshore and send huge shells to whatever area needed to be “softened up”…then the various administrations retired the battleships and heavy cruisers, to be replaced by an assortment of missiles.

            General Curtis LeMay once said that he preferred to “bomb them back to the Stone Age” and for a lot of people in the muddled Middle East, that’s not a big stretch.

ISIS is definitely one of those groups that should be, and could be, carpet-bombed back to the Stone Age.   No other group that’s associated with them, no matter what they may call themselves, is so determined to take the world back to the 7^th Century.   They should be accommodated by bombing them incessantly with the B-52’s that are sitting, unused, at an airbase in Tucson, Arizona.   With the technology that we have now, we probably wouldn’t even have to man these bombers so if the planes were shot down somehow, no personnel would be in danger…I could be wrong on that one, but I don’t think so.

            Since I mentioned the Navy, let’s see what’s going on there.   Are we going big there?   What ships are being added to the fleet are smaller, specialty ships, mostly incapable of delivering heavy shelling to pound the enemy.   The administration is slicing and dicing all the armed forces to the point where, according to experts, it would be very nearly impossible to mount a foreign war, much less defend the homeland.  Between the Navy and the Coast Guard they are doing splendid work, but they’re just not as big as they should be.   Go big, or go home…and it looks like we’re going home.

            A potential enemy, Russia, is attempting to re-establish that country as a world superpower and because of our administration’s crazy non-strategy all over the world, they may succeed.   As a matter of fact, the Russians said that our leader has “mush for brains” and that would be my sentiments also.   No one, looking at the big picture of our strategy, or lack thereof, in various incidents, could say that the plans were based on solid experience.   Barack Hussein Obama(and I just LOVE those American names) is like a proctologist conducting an examination…everything he touches turns to crap.   Whatever he says or promises, he then turns around and does the exact opposite, or causes the opposite to happen.   Oh, he did go big on this one thing…Obamacare.   It has ruined what used to be one of the best health care systems in the world.   Now it’s like a painful ingrown toenail…you cannot just let it go on, you have to snip and cut until you get the nail out and the toe can become normal again.

            Go big…and he is going big on importation of so-called “refugees”.   Some of these people, mostly young, able-bodied men, are probably terrorists.   Nevertheless, and many times without warning, groups of these “refugees” are being dumped in unsuspecting cities and towns across America.   He said, at the beginning of his presidency, that he wanted some sort of police/army that would be equal to the US Army.   These “refugees” are most likely that private army being formed right under our noses…and we’re letting it happen.   You will see more and more so-called “lone wolf” attacks on Americans as time goes by, but don’t kid yourself, these are being manipulated from behind the scenes as a way of terrorizing the public.   If you’re out and about and someone approaches you rapidly, waving a knife or a hatchet, what are you going to do?  

            Go big…and here’s a way to do that.   We have thousands of veterans who would proudly serve in some capacity to protect the homeland.   My plan, as an example, would be to station vets at the border with Mexico.   They would be “federalized” the same way the TSA was, and they would have the authority to detain and interrogate anyone crossing the border.   Let them have their own weapons, which I’m guessing about 90% of them already have, and they’d be stationed about 50 yards apart on a 12 hour shift.   They would be on duty 12 hours and then off 48 hours.   They would earn the minimum wage for Federal workers in that same position.   Think about it, this would ease unemployment while at the same time protecting the border.

   Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired   www.AirHumanityRadio.net