Don't Trip....Don't Fall
Restaurant guys always think we know about war. We work crazy long hours under intense pressure in dangerous, fucked up conditions. We are judged on not on the length or quality of our sevice, but on decisions we make and skills we exhibit in a furnace of experience the feels like war to us. We feel like we are going to die....all the time.
It is bullshit, of course. Rarely is anyone actually shooting at us...except in Cachagua.
Still, there are parallels. The pressure.....the intense, proximate and physical nature of the work.
In Restaurant Land.....no one gives a shit about your personal life. Can you produce? Can you stand up for your fellow workers? Can you handle it?
Restaurant Land is fine with coked-out bartenders, Wikka witch waitresses, illegal Salvadorian dishwashers sleeping in the dumster, heroin pumped chefs, gay waiters and maitre d's, lesbian bar managers. No one cares.....we judge you on what you bring to us in your eight, twelve or twenty hour shift.
"Don't ask, don't tell"?
Fuck that...we are all about: "I will tell you stuff you don't want to know....and you better tell me stuff you don't want to share....."
Or...I will make up shit to counter the shit that you made up about me....
Bitch.
But....it works.
Right now, Community Organizer Obama is melding into some weird Presbyterian Rotary guy with five broomsticks up his ass.
The LBGT.....or LGBT...I don't know who gets to be on top.....voted overwhelmingly for Obama, and he has not done shit for them in return.
He is no dummy. I mean, whatever he does....short of hanging faggots from lampposts.......who they gonna vote for? Sarah Palin? Newt Gingrich?
We all thought better of him...but we all thought better of ourselves, as well. I was "Most Likely To Succeed" from Chatham Township High School in 1967. Succeed at what? Composting?
I'll take that award.....I have it down. Finally.
Anyway.....the U.S. military has been canning openly gay and lesbian soldiers since the Clinton era. Thousands of them.
Really unfortunately for us as a nation is the weird statistic that American educated Arabic speakers tend to be more gay than hetero. So, the Bush administration.....and the Clintons and Obama.....have been hunting down and firing Arabic-speaking, less-than-heterosexual Arabic speaking intelligence officers. Hundreds of them.
Because......???
As someone whose Dad was gay....whose brother was gay.....and who has spent a career working with and for gay and lesbian people who seemed smarter and better at what I do than I am.....I have always been mystified by DADT.
Obama could....as Commander-In-Chief.....in one second defer all firing of LGBT soldiers. He is the super general....he doesn't need to wait for Congress.
Obama claims that he is waiting for a generational change in the military.
He may have a point.
The US military has the dual distinction of being one of the last holdouts of organized racism....and one of the first heralds of institutional diversity.
The modern US military probably has more Asian, black, Latino and Pacific islander officers and advanced enlisted men and women than society at large.
Picture this, though.
I bought new shoes last month. Not for some Pebble Beach function where I was being given big dough to perform in an arena where perception is reality.
I bought new shoes to go to my friend's "Hail and Farewell" ceremony at the DLI in Monterey. Clean shirt, jacket, new shoes....nice tie.
My friend....who should probably go un-named although I know he could give a rat's ass....is an actual war hero.
West Point. Fluent Mandarin speaker. Part of the SecDef staff under Rumsfeld. Sent to Harvard for an MBA by the Army.
Rock-climber from Sanctuary Rock Gym!
Blown up in the Second Battle of Fallujah. Hit by an RPG, which did not go off....but still blew off half his face, his tongue, his eye....and lots of his control over half his body.
After six months in a coma....my buddy woke up in a room in Walter Reade with crumbling plaster and active rats.
My buddy has poor impulse control....so he told everyone, and the shit hit the fan. He got fired from his cushy SecDef job, and it was assumed that a guy that fucked up would take early retirement and leave the Army.
My buddy loves the Army. Actually loves the Army.
On the day he assumed his command in Fallujah he talked with the soldiers in his platoon and swore an oath that....no matter what....he would take care of them, and use all his skills and powers to bring them back from Iraq in one piece.
Next morning, he was hit with an RPG and blown up. His troops saved him, rather than vice versa. This is a debt of gratitude, obligation and responsibility.
Fast forward four years. My buddy refused to be retired from the Army due to wounds. Got sent to northern Alaska to try to convince him otherwise. Didn't work.
His most recent command was locally. Actually, not his most recent command.....his next command. Our local commandant...an amazing woman in her own right....reached out and put my buddy in a command where no one else would.
As a Captain, he was in charge of a company of various officers in the local language school. Many of the officers in his command out-ranked him.....but that is the way things go in school.
The day I bought new shoes to go to the Hail and Farewell is a big ceremonial day at the local base. The outgoing guy brings in his friends and family, and everyone gets a place on the dias. The new guy brings in his friends and family, and everyone gets a chair on the dias.
I got a chair on the dias.....with my own name on an actual US Army piece of paper taped to the back. Scary.
Part of the deal is that the current command of the outgoing Captain is there on the field. There is a lot of music, and saluting....and scary Sargent-Majors stalking around doing the real work of organizing the company.
My buddy did not make it mandatory to come to his Hail and Farewell. Normally it is mandatory. My guy told his troops to come if they wanted.....
Out of 200 some-odd soldiers....officers for the most part.....60 showed.
The reason?
The Army thinks that badly wounded people.....regardless of their mental, spiritual, emotional capabilities...should retire.
Two thirds of my buddy's command fell on that team. No one showed.....in blatant disrespect and protest to my buddy's command of the company.
The weekend before the Hail and Farewell my buddy climbed Half Dome.....up one of the harder routes. With one arm and one leg and one eye. Turns out your tongue grows back after an RPG strike.
Two weeks before, my buddy organized anyone interested at the local base to help me put 5,000 crosses on Carmeol Beach to commerorate our lost soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. He bought all the paint, and did all the work identifying and labeling all the lost soldiers and getting their info onto cards for us to staple to the crosses on the beach.
In his speech to the 60 soldiers who showed, my buddy said:
"On our first day in Fallujah, I told my platoon that I would take care of them, that I would keep them safe and bring them back home intact....as soldiers and as a unit. It did not work out that way. My unit saved me. I have spent the last four years working myself back to a command post where I could fulfill that mission and promise I gave my troops that day in Fallujah. I thank the Army for giving me that chance to fulfill my promise to my troops."
Yeah, well.....Fuck you, cripple.
I guess the point of this post is two-fold:
Obama is right....there is a culture in the US military that needs to be undone and out-waited. Older fuckheads need to be retired and replaced. Better to go along and get along, for now.
And....the efficiency and ability of the US military to function in the modern world is directly dependent on its ability to LIVE in the modern world.
For me these two aspects are not parallel....they are at cross purposes. Whatever rot in our armed services allows discrimination against gays....and acutal wounded, experienced, trained, talented veterans....needs to be scoured out.
Macho has its uses.....
But, right now.....I wish my President had a quarter the balls, courage, vision and determination of some of the people that serve him as Commander-in-Chief.
From what I have seen......make that one-tenth.
Frankly.....I don't see it.
We have been dog-sitting my buddy's wolf puppy that he bought in Alaska when the Army was trying to either kill him or get him to quit. Our buddy was on the lawn at the White House last Sunday for a PR event with lots of other wounded vets.
There are all kinds of wounds......not all are inflicted by RPG's.
I hope Obama doesn't get lost in the Washington bullshit and forget his core principles.
There is really very little difference in the effect on our country between the kinds of injuries inflicted on my buddy....and those of his classmate at West Point.....Lt. Dan Choi.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell...
Oh, yeah......and:
Don't Trip, Don't Fall....
It is bullshit, of course. Rarely is anyone actually shooting at us...except in Cachagua.
Still, there are parallels. The pressure.....the intense, proximate and physical nature of the work.
In Restaurant Land.....no one gives a shit about your personal life. Can you produce? Can you stand up for your fellow workers? Can you handle it?
Restaurant Land is fine with coked-out bartenders, Wikka witch waitresses, illegal Salvadorian dishwashers sleeping in the dumster, heroin pumped chefs, gay waiters and maitre d's, lesbian bar managers. No one cares.....we judge you on what you bring to us in your eight, twelve or twenty hour shift.
"Don't ask, don't tell"?
Fuck that...we are all about: "I will tell you stuff you don't want to know....and you better tell me stuff you don't want to share....."
Or...I will make up shit to counter the shit that you made up about me....
Bitch.
But....it works.
Right now, Community Organizer Obama is melding into some weird Presbyterian Rotary guy with five broomsticks up his ass.
The LBGT.....or LGBT...I don't know who gets to be on top.....voted overwhelmingly for Obama, and he has not done shit for them in return.
He is no dummy. I mean, whatever he does....short of hanging faggots from lampposts.......who they gonna vote for? Sarah Palin? Newt Gingrich?
We all thought better of him...but we all thought better of ourselves, as well. I was "Most Likely To Succeed" from Chatham Township High School in 1967. Succeed at what? Composting?
I'll take that award.....I have it down. Finally.
Anyway.....the U.S. military has been canning openly gay and lesbian soldiers since the Clinton era. Thousands of them.
Really unfortunately for us as a nation is the weird statistic that American educated Arabic speakers tend to be more gay than hetero. So, the Bush administration.....and the Clintons and Obama.....have been hunting down and firing Arabic-speaking, less-than-heterosexual Arabic speaking intelligence officers. Hundreds of them.
Because......???
As someone whose Dad was gay....whose brother was gay.....and who has spent a career working with and for gay and lesbian people who seemed smarter and better at what I do than I am.....I have always been mystified by DADT.
Obama could....as Commander-In-Chief.....in one second defer all firing of LGBT soldiers. He is the super general....he doesn't need to wait for Congress.
Obama claims that he is waiting for a generational change in the military.
He may have a point.
The US military has the dual distinction of being one of the last holdouts of organized racism....and one of the first heralds of institutional diversity.
The modern US military probably has more Asian, black, Latino and Pacific islander officers and advanced enlisted men and women than society at large.
Picture this, though.
I bought new shoes last month. Not for some Pebble Beach function where I was being given big dough to perform in an arena where perception is reality.
I bought new shoes to go to my friend's "Hail and Farewell" ceremony at the DLI in Monterey. Clean shirt, jacket, new shoes....nice tie.
My friend....who should probably go un-named although I know he could give a rat's ass....is an actual war hero.
West Point. Fluent Mandarin speaker. Part of the SecDef staff under Rumsfeld. Sent to Harvard for an MBA by the Army.
Rock-climber from Sanctuary Rock Gym!
Blown up in the Second Battle of Fallujah. Hit by an RPG, which did not go off....but still blew off half his face, his tongue, his eye....and lots of his control over half his body.
After six months in a coma....my buddy woke up in a room in Walter Reade with crumbling plaster and active rats.
My buddy has poor impulse control....so he told everyone, and the shit hit the fan. He got fired from his cushy SecDef job, and it was assumed that a guy that fucked up would take early retirement and leave the Army.
My buddy loves the Army. Actually loves the Army.
On the day he assumed his command in Fallujah he talked with the soldiers in his platoon and swore an oath that....no matter what....he would take care of them, and use all his skills and powers to bring them back from Iraq in one piece.
Next morning, he was hit with an RPG and blown up. His troops saved him, rather than vice versa. This is a debt of gratitude, obligation and responsibility.
Fast forward four years. My buddy refused to be retired from the Army due to wounds. Got sent to northern Alaska to try to convince him otherwise. Didn't work.
His most recent command was locally. Actually, not his most recent command.....his next command. Our local commandant...an amazing woman in her own right....reached out and put my buddy in a command where no one else would.
As a Captain, he was in charge of a company of various officers in the local language school. Many of the officers in his command out-ranked him.....but that is the way things go in school.
The day I bought new shoes to go to the Hail and Farewell is a big ceremonial day at the local base. The outgoing guy brings in his friends and family, and everyone gets a place on the dias. The new guy brings in his friends and family, and everyone gets a chair on the dias.
I got a chair on the dias.....with my own name on an actual US Army piece of paper taped to the back. Scary.
Part of the deal is that the current command of the outgoing Captain is there on the field. There is a lot of music, and saluting....and scary Sargent-Majors stalking around doing the real work of organizing the company.
My buddy did not make it mandatory to come to his Hail and Farewell. Normally it is mandatory. My guy told his troops to come if they wanted.....
Out of 200 some-odd soldiers....officers for the most part.....60 showed.
The reason?
The Army thinks that badly wounded people.....regardless of their mental, spiritual, emotional capabilities...should retire.
Two thirds of my buddy's command fell on that team. No one showed.....in blatant disrespect and protest to my buddy's command of the company.
The weekend before the Hail and Farewell my buddy climbed Half Dome.....up one of the harder routes. With one arm and one leg and one eye. Turns out your tongue grows back after an RPG strike.
Two weeks before, my buddy organized anyone interested at the local base to help me put 5,000 crosses on Carmeol Beach to commerorate our lost soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. He bought all the paint, and did all the work identifying and labeling all the lost soldiers and getting their info onto cards for us to staple to the crosses on the beach.
In his speech to the 60 soldiers who showed, my buddy said:
"On our first day in Fallujah, I told my platoon that I would take care of them, that I would keep them safe and bring them back home intact....as soldiers and as a unit. It did not work out that way. My unit saved me. I have spent the last four years working myself back to a command post where I could fulfill that mission and promise I gave my troops that day in Fallujah. I thank the Army for giving me that chance to fulfill my promise to my troops."
Yeah, well.....Fuck you, cripple.
I guess the point of this post is two-fold:
Obama is right....there is a culture in the US military that needs to be undone and out-waited. Older fuckheads need to be retired and replaced. Better to go along and get along, for now.
And....the efficiency and ability of the US military to function in the modern world is directly dependent on its ability to LIVE in the modern world.
For me these two aspects are not parallel....they are at cross purposes. Whatever rot in our armed services allows discrimination against gays....and acutal wounded, experienced, trained, talented veterans....needs to be scoured out.
Macho has its uses.....
But, right now.....I wish my President had a quarter the balls, courage, vision and determination of some of the people that serve him as Commander-in-Chief.
From what I have seen......make that one-tenth.
Frankly.....I don't see it.
We have been dog-sitting my buddy's wolf puppy that he bought in Alaska when the Army was trying to either kill him or get him to quit. Our buddy was on the lawn at the White House last Sunday for a PR event with lots of other wounded vets.
There are all kinds of wounds......not all are inflicted by RPG's.
I hope Obama doesn't get lost in the Washington bullshit and forget his core principles.
There is really very little difference in the effect on our country between the kinds of injuries inflicted on my buddy....and those of his classmate at West Point.....Lt. Dan Choi.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell...
Oh, yeah......and:
Don't Trip, Don't Fall....
posted by Txacoli at 10:37 PM
36 Comments:
I still love my brand new president and I keep telling myself that he's probably way smarter than I am and that he has a plan.... There can be no other reason for NOT getting rid of DADT. With everything that's going on here and there and beyond, rescinding DADT wouldn't cause even the smallest of farts. Really. Get rid of the policy this morning and by this evening's news cycle a Michael Jackson will expire or a suicide bomber will blow up another 95 humans or a plane will crash or a Christian GOP law-maker will admit to stealing money from his (always a 'his') constituents so he can boink his mistress or Paris Hilton will drive the wrong way in traffic or scary Sarah P will do something that no one could ever even fathom that a human being could do. Any anti-gay disgruntlement would be usurped nearly immediately.
My brand new President sucks. Obama promised not to bring lobbyists into his administration. He promised no earmarks. He promised bills would be readily available for 5 days to the public before they're voted on. He promised that no one making less than $250k would see any tax increase. He promised to go through the budget and slash programs that aren't working. He promised to slash the "Outrageous" deficit he inherited. His administration has lobbyists, there's billions of dollars in earmarks, bills are voted on just hours after they are completed, Cap & Trade is coming down and will be the largest tax increase in American history, we still have useless programs and he's tripled the national deficit. I can keep going, but this is Mike's blog not mine. Obama seems to have said whatever it would take to get the job.
I can't disagree. I have a new story that is so disturbing that I am forced to be a real journalist and get at the actual facts and try to get some glimpse of the motivation. Straight from the source....a one-on-one with Obama.
But I STILL love him.... so far.
I agree with Marilyn in Cachagua. This new President is no different than any of the Republican dick heads that were in office before him. He promised so much, seemed to have a great deal of integrity. We believed in him as a people and bought his "time for a change" slogan. We are being force fed a health care system that has not worked in any country that has implemented same. Now he is preparing to tax the very air we breathe. No bipartisan debates on this so called farce of global warming. Scientists that can prove differently, banned from his assembly. Alaska is experiencing the coldest weather they have known in 100 years. The South pole ice borders are expanding. This President has such an ego that he complains about Fox News. We have never had a President who voiced a halt to a differing opinion. What about Freedom of Speech? Obama is apologizing for the American people all across the globe, and handing out our money while we go deeper into a recession. Never before have we experienced such a racist attitude among our elected. I fear for this country and what comes next until we kick Obama's silver spooned ass out of office in the next election. Yes, I am a Democrat, and I am thoroughly disgusted with the latest farce of leadership.
Your point is well taken. If we look at the history of the Earth, there has always been global warming and cooling. The dinosaurs were wiped out when the Ice Age melted and there were no humans on the planet at that time. Yes, we need air quality reforms. We as humans in the last 200 years in particular have soiled the very air we breathe. We do need our rain forests protected, our oceans to be kept from being used as dumping grounds. Solar, wind and alternative fuels implemented. Cleaner living all around.
As for DADT, I for one don't give a rats ass about a persons sexual preference. I don't want to know who, when and where. As long as we have consenting adults, I will mind my business and they can mind theirs.
Obama scares the hell out of me. The Government has entered the Auto Industry and now entering Health Care Insurance business......they will run them as well as they ran FANNIE MAY and FREDDIE MAC. A government that can't balance a check book shouldn't expand their horizons to business. When the government feels entitled to it citizens earnings....the citizens have become slaves to the government.
A stock market does not make a GDP. And that is where the rub is. When U.S. corporations are in China and they are doing well because of low wages and tax dodges, then they have no allegiance to the U.S. In effect they become communist sympathizers because the Chinese government tells them they can stay if they do not say anything bad about their treatment of the people of China or how they cheat at all the rules laid down by the World Trade Organization. Check out Google, Microsoft, Cisco, and IBM. They all play along and are as bad as the Nazi sympathizers before WWII, IBM, Ford and others......The list of your Communist sympathizers in the government and corporate America runs long because they all profit it from it. When the greatest export you have is your manufacturing sector, you become a nation of third worlder's and about the only things you're going to build are Big Macs and sit at home and sell Chinese crap on line. It was once said if every working person in the US would pay 8-10% of their income the Federal Govt. would be out of debt within a couple of years. No deductions just a flat tax rate. It would be fair for everyone.
Clean out both the Democrat and Republican houses....start the hell over. Both parties are just as diseased and full of bullshit as the other.
What scares the hell out of ME is that there are so many ignorant, uneducated citizens in our society! (Evidence above . . . )
Our President would have a much easier time getting intelligent, common-sense goals reached if it weren't for the absolutely idiotic people like these he and our lawmakers have to deal with.
Absolutely agree Pexter! My prez has only been in office for 6 months! He has a lot on his plate. He's dealing with global warming? Wow! Okay, for the naysayers, let's call it global weather change. Is that simple enough for the simple minds? It means that weather patterns are changing. It's warming and it's cooling. Warming begets cooling and cooling begets.... Weather patterns are becoming more severe. And THAT'S the point.
What work of fiction were you reading that the South Pole ice borders are expanding? When did he call a halt to differing opinions? Were you there when the dinosaurs left the room? If not then you don't know shit about why they left. And neither to the scientists - yet. The 'government' didn't want to enter the auto industry - but something had to be implemented to take care of the messy room the last administration left. THIS administration did not run Fannie and Freddie. Again, it was the last administration. THIS administration is trying to fix what it was handed on January 20th.
I don't even know HOW to address the Communist and Nazi sympathizer statements. That's just plain whacked. I can't even imagine how someone leaps to conclusions like that.
Yep, scary!
This really amuses me what Pexter has laid down in print. I am afraid we are all ignorant to a very large extent on what is REALLY happening in the background of today’s politics. Like Kathy said-she thinks “he has a plan.... There can be no other reason for NOT getting rid of DADT.” Like-oh yeah? Can’t trust us lesser folk with the knowledge? Gee what else are we NOT privy to?
(Sorry to end that sentence with a preposition Pex-must indicate a lack of education to you.) You may be my guest and judge me as you did Marilyn of Cachagua. Actually Pex it is obvious to me that Marilyn in Cachagua does have an extensive education. There are many points that she made that are indeed taken as factual. She also spoke about her fears and gave her opinion. She agreed with Kathy regarding DADT. Concerning other issues it is obvious they have some opposing views in light of Kathy’s latest comments. I am sure we could all sit down and have a very lively debate on the issues. Of course you only did sling a personal attack and contributed no real content.
In my mind the un-educated folks are the ones who just suck up information from one type of source. Why do today’s scientists not concur on global warming?
Some say we swing like a pendulum with climate. Of course internal combustion engines produce smog which is unhealthy, and cutting down rain forests helps not in the least. As Marilyn said we need cleaner living all around. Myself I totally agree but resent it being used as a ploy for our citizens to be taxed when we are already bleeding in this recession. Is your tax money really going to keep the worst offending countries from continuing in their shitting in the world’s nest? An educated person would check out both sides and not call someone else uneducated just because they might have a different opinion.
Pexie if you think it would be easier for our president (yes lower case p) to reach intelligent goals without “the absolutely idiotic people” to deal with then it is apparent you are just a pompous name-calling self righteous closed minded member among the sheep who allow for no diverging opinions.
I suggest you call a few of our congress persons and see how many of them have actually read the bills they are signing so quickly. It is scary that the people who are elected by us for our needs are signing into law bills when have not fully EDUCATED themselves with the contents. These bills have been at the humongous levels around a thousand pages. Who among us have had the 5 day advance opportunity to read the bills that Obama said he would place on the internet? Why has he not kept that promise after being taken to task for the quick footwork on the stimulus bill. Why is a huge portion of the stimulus money not implemented yet if there was such a need for that much money in that much of a hurry?
Since the other countries that have tried government run health programs have failed miserably I should hope that our country would try to take the time to get it right. Haste makes waste.
I think that all of us who cast votes for this guy need to ask ourselves if this is the change for which we had hoped. He said if the stimulus was not passed immediately the unemployment rate would go above 8%. His projections are proving to be so inaccurate and the money going to folks who got us into this mess.
Kathy if you are calling these two people with opposing views from yours simple minded then I suggest you and Pex head back to your trailers, smoke your crack, read your bibles, continue to bury your heads in the sand and continue to judge.
Whatever, dude. A quick glance above refreshes my memory of rants about Communist sympathizers, a "health care system that has not worked in any country that has implemented same," (Gee, every other major industrialized country in the world must not have been considered here), comments about the budget deficit that do not factor in any basic macroeconomic principles, and a whole bunch of other garbage. You seem to agree with it, fine . . . have a nice day . . .
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You worked with Nassau? The island? In the Bahamas? Doing science?
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It seems Kathy has been eating sour grapes and sipping on hater-aid far too long. For some, the world is only black or white. This attitude makes for a great flock of sheep.
FarmOrgnc - just, like, wow! I'm not sure where you picked and gleaned that assessment. Black and white ONLY occurs in conjunction with my children - either they're happy and alright or they're not.
I'm constantly amazed by what people read between the lines while forgetting that they should actually be reading what has been written. I took offense to labeling people (yes, they are people because people make up governments and corporations) communist or Nazi sympathizers.
My ancestry is Jewish AND Russian so I think that I’m entitled to be a bit miffed when comparisons are made regarding communists and Nazis. There’s nada there that implies sour grapes or hating.
And another reading between the lines - I did not bring up jesus.
WTF!!! Really WTF is it with the putting words into the mouths of people who didn't utter them? Now that's just whacked.
signed: lover of sweet grapes and water
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Here are the keyords in the essay:
13th Amendment, 14th Amendment, 2012 Election, B.E.T., Barack Hussein Obama, Booker T. Washington, Bryant Park, Cipriani's, Colin Powell, Criminal Industrial Complex, Deb Slott, Do The Right Thing, Heidi Klum, Hip-Hop, Mark Penn, Melting Pot, Pink Elephant, Racism, Reconstruction, Robert Johnson, Seal, Segregation, Shelby Steele, Sidney Poiter, Sonia Sotomayor, Spike Lee, Tavis Smiley, Terrence Yang, The Dance Flick, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Virginia Davies, W.E.B. Dubois, Zero Mostel, Politics
Prologue to Obama 2012
We approach the future walking backwards, our gaze forever fixated on the past. Predicting the future is not a passive exercise; we invent it every day with our actions.
I began the sketches for what would ultimately become Obama 2012 in March 2007, a month after Barack Obama declared his candidacy. I had spent much of the previous 18 months living abroad as an entrepreneur and statesman of sorts, and I was slightly out of touch with the pulse of life on the street in the United States. I learnt about Sen. Barack Obama’s Springfield, IL speech formally declaring his candidacy for president of the United States through one of the international cable news channels and thought how great it would be to have a fresh start after years of mediocrity in Washington and a plummeting reputation around the world.
By September, after what seemed like raising a six-month-old child, my sketches had turned into Why the Democrats Will Win in 2008 the Road to an Obama White House. It was my answer to the burning question everyone had back in March: Can he really win? Actually, not everyone thought it was a question. For many people, including Mark Penn, director of the Clinton campaign, the answer was an easy “no way.” This strategic blunder made it that much easier for the Clinton campaign to be defeated. Then there were Black pundits like Shelby Steele, a fellow at the Hoover Institution, who came out with a 2007 book entitled A Bound Man, Why Obama Can't Win.
Being Black did seem to be an automatic disqualification, but then why did someone need to write an entire book arguing what should have been patently obvious? Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell came to my mind and I remembered that he could have run for president in 1992 as a war hero. But Colin Powell was Ronald Reagan’s protégé and got a special pass on the race question. Black conservatives like Justice Thomas, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell were careful to disassociate themselves from liberal thinkers and activists like Jesse Jackson, who lost, as expected, the 1984 and 1988 Democratic primaries. Ultimately, Colin Powell, in spite of all his honors, declined to run for president. His wife Alma feared for his safety. Common sense said that a candidate like Obama, for numerous insurmountable reasons, didn't stand a chance of winning the Democratic primary, let alone a general election in which 10% of the electorate is African American and Republicans controlled the White House for 20 of the preceding 28 years. But I decided that Obama's chances merited a closer examination. In it, I would bring to bear my gambling skills.
Kathy, You sound like an angry bar fly down at the Stirrup Cup. Fighting for the sake of spewing your anger. Not one intelligent sentence is written anywhere on your posts. You must be one screaming biotch at PMS time. Give it up...yer outta gas.
I have to say something here. Marilyn I don't know how you are keeping your cool with Kathy. High five girl! Pecker left with his tail between his legs. LOL! Too funny. Both Pecker and Kathy sound like bullies. The more Kathy blogs, the dumber she sounds. Girls you need to stop this, and both of you go to your rooms!
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What are you people on? Really? I'm not at all angry. Honest to goddess - I'm not. And I’m not a bully. Please cite what indicates that I am. Is it because I chose to disagree with someone’s point of view?
BTW - the 'golden rule' is not the exclusive territory of christianity - it is a tenet of most beliefs. I certainly don't think of it as exclusively a christian principle.
Nope, no Stirrup Cup for me. And isn't that a pizza place? Are you talking about the Running Iron? Nope to that as well. Not a drinker.
I do find it tremendously intelligent to assume that because one appears to be a female who might not agree with someone it must be because of PMS. That's astutely brilliant. I won't even address the screaming bitch statement.
I don't get the “god and jesus are one” statement - what does that have to do with anything? Please explain what I'm supposed to be looking up.
I'm finding that writing styles of several people are remarkably the same. Coincidence?
And in conclusion, just what am I misinformed about?
Confirmed by Snopes.com
Subject: FW: PLEASE SEND ON.....HR 45 Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale
GET THIS OUT TO ALL YOUR MAIL LISTS!!
YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN HERE
R 45 Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sales Act of 2009
Please send this to everybody on your list... this is Obama gun control by secrecy.
Very Important for you to be aware of a new bill HR 45 introduced into the House.
This is the Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale Act of 2009.
We just learned yesterday about this on the Peter Boyles radio program.
Even gun shop owners didn't know about this because it is flying under the radar.
To find out about this - go to any government website and type in HR 45 or Google HR 45 Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sales Act of 2009. You will get all the information.
Basically this "little" piece of legislation would make it illegal to own a firearm - any rifle with a clip or ANY pistol unless:
.It is registered
.You are fingerprinted
.You supply a current Driver's License
.You supply your Social Security #
.You will submit to a PHYSICAL AND MENTAL EVALUATION at any time of their choosing
.Each update - change or ownership through private or public sale must be reported and costs $25
- Failure to do so you automatically lose the right to own a firearm and are subject up to a year in jail.
There is a child provision clause on page 16 section 305 stating a child-access provision. Guns must be locked and inaccessible to any child under 18.
The Government would have the right to come and inspect that you are storing your gun safely away from accessibility to children and fine is punishable for up to 5 yrs. in prison.
If you think this is a joke - go to the website and take your pick of many options to read this.
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/text
It is long and lengthy. But, more and more people are becoming aware of this. Pass the word along.
FAILURE TO DO SO AT YOUR PERIL!
Any hunters in your family - pass this along.
Peter Boyles is on this and having guests. Listen to him on KHOW 630 a.m. in the morning.
He suggests the best way to fight this is to tell all your friends about it and "spring into action".
Also he suggests we all join a pro-gun group like the Colorado Rifle Association, hunting associations, gun clubs JPFO (JEWS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FIREARMS OWNERSHIP) and especially the GOA and National Rifle Association.
This is just a "termite" approach to complete confiscation of guns and disarming of our society to the point we have no defense - chip away a little here and there until the goal is accomplished before anyone realizes it.
YOU MAY NOT OWN OR EVEN LIKE GUNS, but if you LOVE FREEDOM, YOU better get involved NOW!!!
TOMORROW YOU MAY NOT HAVE AN OPTION.
This is one to act on whether you own a gun or not.
Since no one is answering you, I will. "Do unto others..blah blah..." verbiage is recognized as Christian. The "unto" is old style English, that the bible was translated to. Buddah didn't speak like that. When you said you didn't bring up Jesus, I figured you meant you were talking about God.
The emails that I have received from folks in Cachagua are saying you are seemingly superior and condescending in every piece you wrote. I agree. Mike does have a LOT of readers. You are speaking to everyone that has written as if they have no brain. Look again at every single one of your posts. They are taunting and inflammatory on a personal level according to those who wrote me. I hope you see it. These folks just may be your neighbors. Anyway, I have had enough of this. I have chores to do.
I don't understand why a whole bunch of comments have been deleted. That could mean this whole debate is now less than complete. (Two of the deleted comments were mine since I didn't proof-read before I posted. I corrected and reposted. But why were the others removed?)
I am certainly don't think that I am superior and I'm not trying to be condescending. I did not bring up christianity. I brought up a tenet by which most religions try to live - that we try to treat each other as kindly as we'd like to be treated. That's all. Really. I've read through my posts and the others that remain and I don't see anywhere where I'm bullying anyone. That's not my style.
And according to the many people who've emailed me they can't understand why people have gotten so inflamed over something that doesn't exist.
It appears to me (and I could be wrong) that people initially got incensed because I said I love my new president. Isn't that how all this started? It seems so. If that's the case then it seems that people are attacking me for my initial comment. But I'm not taking offense that people disagree with me. I don't expect everyone to agree with me. I think some people will agree with some or all of what I say and some people will disagree with some or all of what I say. Pretty simple.
I don't know how that can offend people.
I think I'll take Jasons Mom's advice and go to my room since I'm not explaining myself clearly enough.....
kathy, you may not be condescending, but I am. These people are insane, lol. Too much Cachagua meth? Dunno . . .
Your posts make perfect sense.
Marilyn, that was not directed at you. You seem rational.
Kathy and Pexster
Have you seen the new Amnesty Bill that Obama wants passed? I sent the CNN News clip to Mike. Email him and ask for it.
Am sure we will be debating on further blogs.
Thanks Pexter...appreciate it.
Freedom (at least as much as we have in this society) comes with a price. One of the highest is having people like RawkClmbr loose.
Dearest Rawkclmbr, No I dont sit down at the store....ever. I have eaten there once...and it was delicious...you dont know me...at all. I barely know Mike, though I say hi on the occasions I see him at the farmers market or Carmel Beach. I am a gret proponent of free speech...I think its wonderful that the wackos and looneytoons speak so freely and soooo loudly because this way I can avoid then...dumbfuck.
I actually do have a life...a damn busy one, so I rarely comment on this blog though when I get a chance to read it I usually enjoy it....and I never sit around cachagua with my thumb up my ass stockpiling weapons and tuning up my conspiracy theories either...I am too busy living life. It wouldnt hurt some of you nutjobs to try that.
Dearest Rawkclmbr, No I dont sit down at the store....ever. I have eaten there once...and it was delicious...you dont know me...at all. I barely know Mike, though I say hi on the occasions I see him at the farmers market or Carmel Beach. I am a gret proponent of free speech...I think its wonderful that the wackos and looneytoons speak so freely and soooo loudly because this way I can avoid then...dumbfuck.
I actually do have a life...a damn busy one, so I rarely comment on this blog though when I get a chance to read it I usually enjoy it....and I never sit around cachagua with my thumb up my ass stockpiling weapons and tuning up my conspiracy theories either...I am too busy living life. It wouldnt hurt some of you nutjobs to try that.
Everyone take a chill pill. New post with new info for y'all. Information is really useful
New essay "The Gates Affair:Why We Care" yours to publish
Dear readers and webmasters,
Author Daniel Bruno Sanz has written an essay about Gatesgate. We encourage its publication and distribution.
Regards,
Navas S.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
- 4th Amendment to the The Constitution of the United States of America
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