Random Thoughts for August, 2014
Robert A. Hall
When a majority of Americans no longer willing to support America, but expect America to support them, we shall
cease to be a free people. That day isn't quite here--but I can see it from my
back porch.
As a Republican who voted against Obama twice, I think the
talk of impeaching him is just dumb. Have we forgotten how the impeachment of
Bill Clinton allowed the media and Democrats too picture him as a victim,
saving his presidency? And today he is the revered elder statesman, having
joined the rich one-percent through paid speeches. But no, on it goes. First,
to convict Obama, even if the GOP wins the senate in November, you'd need at
least 12 Democrat votes. No Democrat would vote to impeach, if Obama was caught
raping a nun. They are dependent on the minority votes in their base; they
would not care what the evidence was. Then if you convicted and removed him,
there would be riots in the cities, with millions, maybe billions of dollars in
destruction, and hundreds of deaths. That might give even very conservative Republicans
pause. And after that settles down--and you foot the huge reconstruction bill
through your taxes--say these two words: "President
Biden." Not only would he continue Obama's policies, and provide even
more inept and dithering leadership in the world, he would instantly be the
Democrat nominee and likely front runner to be elected president in 2016.
When you hear someone say, "Life's too short
to...," trust me, they aren't kidding. At 68, I've lived longer than 99%
of the people ever born. Some memories seems long ago. But it all went in a
flash.
For the privilege of living in a civilized society, we all
acquire daily responsibility for small duties, which preserve the fabric of
that society. Things like getting out of the way of emergency vehicles, not
tossing trash on the ground, being polite and kind to strangers, not just folks
we know, and avoiding crude and offensive public behavior. Unfortunately, each
year in America,
fewer people accept these duties--or care about them at all. Thus civilization
dies.
Obama was so shook up by the downing on the airliner in the Ukraine that he
had to schedule two extra fund-raisers and 9 holes of golf to calm down.
People condemn "enablers," those whose support and
silence allow others to engage in drug abuse, crime, domestic violence and
alcoholism. But the greatest enabler of these pathologies is the modern welfare
state.
Going around the net, not original with me: Hamas is
attacking. Israel
is defending. Russia
is invading. The Middle East is
smoldering. Boko Haram is massacring. ISIS
is conquering. Iran and North Korea are
threatening. American cities are crumbling. Our southern border is dissolving. Our
debt is skyrocketing. Americans are hurting. Our enemies are laughing. Obama is
fundraising.
I think progressives, as usual, are starting to edge towards
sacrificing Obama to preserve the progressive religion. That is, when
progressive policies and principles lead to disaster, as they always do, they
cannot admit the policies are wrong, but only that this was the wrong person or
group to implement them due to incompetence, corruption or other personal
flaws. But next time will be different. If Obama was not black it would have
already happened. But one of the principles of the progressive religion is that
black politicians--liberal ones that is--are sans blemish or flaw. Black
conservatives are Uncle Toms, of course. Liberals know not only what everyone
should do, but how all black folks should think..
Definition:
Chi-cag-o. sha-cog-oh
Verb, Noun or Adjective. To ruthlessly acquire power and wealth through
corruption of the laws. Examples: "He Chicagoed his way to $100M since he
left office." "A Chicago Politician" "We can Chicago this one."
Rich is relative. Compared to most of the third world, I'm
rich and the American "poor" are well off with cars, TVs, cell
phones, AC, microwaves, etc. Compared to Hillary and Bill Clinton, I'm as poor
as any deprived slum-dweller or third world subsistence farmer. But they don't
compare themselves to me, but to the billionaire hedge fund managers they hang
out with. Thus they feel deprived and resentful.
Obama ran on being for "change." Isn't Climate
Change "change"?
Liberals are denying me access to Single Malt Scotch. Not
one of them will pay for it for me. What? Well, because the Court says Hobby
Lobby doesn't have to pay for birth control, liberals say that women are being
denied access to birth control. So they should pay for my Scotch using the same
logic. Nothing different between them wanting someone else to pay for birth
control and me wanting someone else to pay for my whisky. (BTW, Hobby Lobby
pays for 16 forms of birth control, just not the morning after pill for women
who decided to have unprotected sex and, like Obama's mother, were
"punished with a baby.")
I gave up my pipe about 15 years ago. I didn't inhale the
smoke (like Bill Clinton), but was concerned about the elevated risk of mouth
cancer. I figured when I got old and sick, and it wouldn't hurt, I'd take it up
again. So I got old and sick--with a lung disease. God laughs.
And, along the same line, I wrote this quatrain many decades
ago.
The worst of fates is dying slow,
The bitter dregs of mellow cup,
Better like Socrates to go—
I’ll take mine straight, and standing up!
So here I am battling a chronic, usually fatal disease,
pulmonary fibrosis, since 2006. Not funny, God.
Nothing hits liberals so hard as the law of unintended
consequences, especially when "the best and brightest" decide they
should make economic decisions for the poor, dumb public.
I notice liberal elitists who defend the teachers' unions
and the inner-city schools never send their kids to those schools.
Liberals tend (or pretend) that the bad behavior--drugs,
crime, domestic violence--of the thugs in the lower class is due to oppression,
poverty or circumstances and they can't control it, so they are victims, not
responsible for their actions. But the thugs rarely do these things in from of
the police or other authorities. So apparently they can control their behavior
if the risk of adverse consequences is there. Conclusion: we need more and
harsher adverse consequences for bad behavior.
If liberals get their way, "work" and
"achievement" will be declared racist code words.
Personally, I think "bureaucrat" has become a code
word for fascist.
And "Social Justice" is a code phrase for,
"Hands up! Give me our wallet and no one gets hurt!"
"Restive" is media code for a country where they
will kill you if you are Christian, Jewish or American. But mostly they kill
local folks who don't agree with them 100%, even if they are the same religion
and ethnicity.
"Youths" is European media code for "young,
violent, Muslim thugs." "Asians" for Muslims.
"Insurgents" is a liberal code word for violent
Muslims who oppress women, murder gays, execute anyone who leaves Islam, stone
teen rape victims for "adultery," use children as suicide bombers,
engage in honor killings, support child marriage that is little different than
slavery, and consider children as legitimate military targets. Sometimes called
"freedom fighters" by the more radical liberals.
I have to conclude that those folks who believe, "Things
always work out for the best" just aren't paying attention.
I'm a big fan of the Redskins Football Team and glad they
haven't given in to PC and changed their name. Oh, not the Washington Redskins.
I'm not big on pro sports, but cheer for the Patriots when I do. I mean the Red
Mesa High School Redskins--located on the Navajo Reservation where the fellow
who started the complaints about the Washington Redskins lives. Go Redskins! http://rmusdhs.ss4. sharpschool.com/programs/ redskins_sports
I've decided that the trick to staying married is letting go
of small stuff. If you are neat and organized, and your spouse is a
clutter-bug, better to let it go than expect that person to change.
There are no "do-overs" when you are dying. Get it
right the first time. Start right now.
If there is anything worse than a know-it-all, it's a
profoundly ignorant know-it-all, full of lightly adopted but deeply help
opinions.
When they told Obama that Republicans were accusing him of
running an imperial presidency, he said, "We are not amused."
The hard thing is not having a vision. It's getting others
to share your vision and act on it.
The way civilization is declining, we will all soon live in
bad neighborhoods.
I'm not entirely opposed to paying for birth control for liberals,
if it means fewer liberals to screw up the future.
Do you think the reason that blacks make up 13% of the
population, but have 40% of the abortions, is because the racists at Planned
Parenthood think that keeps down the welfare rolls?
The liberal philosophy is that if you make good choices in
life and someone else makes bad choices, you should have to pay to mitigate the
results of their bad choices.
Funny how the left is "tolerant" of cultures that
mutilate the genitals of young girls, stone teenage rape victims for adultery,
allow men to marry fur women and divorce them at will, forbid women to work or
get an education, allow child marriage, and execute gays, but very intolerant
of Christians not wanting to pay for others' birth control.
I guess Obama thinks having part time workers, versus full
time workers, reduces carbon--he's created so many of them.
Haven't heard much lately about the hundreds of young girls
kidnapped and sold into sex slavery by Muslims in Nigeria. Didn't Michelle Obama's #BringBackOurGirls
hashtag work?
In the coming post-American world being built now in Washington and at the
universities, the compassionate and the kind will die. Only the utterly
ruthless and hardhearted will survive. Some of them.
From my friend George: "You can make a lot of money by
figuring out how to get people to remember the name of your alcoholic beverage."
(I'm thinking, "Bob's Bad Booze." No?)
Telling a liberal that you believe Obama is incompetent,
over-his-head and has made almost everything worse is like telling a member of
the Westboro Baptist Church that you believe God loves Gays, and for the same
reason. It challenges and offends their deeply held religious convictions. (I
believe both, so I'm in trouble on both sides I guess.)
In this world, there are Must-Dos, Should-Dos and
Like-to-Dos. For a successful life, do them in that order.
"Hi, my name is Bob and while I'm not an alcoholic, the
way things have been going with me and with the country, I'm willing to
learn."
Liberals believe that the great mass of people, being
ignorant, must be required to live and behave as liberals believe is in the
interests of the collective society--but not, of course, as the liberal elites
live and behave themselves. This is why Barack Obama has no cognitive
dissonance over depriving poor black parents in DC of the right to send their
kids to better, private schools through vouchers, while he sends his kids to a
better, private school.
I gather from progressives that I'm not qualified to have an
opinion on global warming, because I don't have a degree in social work, art
history or gender studies.
Progressives are often communists who don't know it. Maybe
because they haven't yet resorted to coercion and mass murder to force everyone
to follow their vision and do as told--for their own good, of course. Give them
time.
There seems to be a rash of crashed computers and lost
emails among federal employees--the folks who will be in charge of keeping your
electronic health records.
Looking at the chaos they have made of the lands they
control, you can see why more people all the time consider "Islamic
Civilization" to be an oxymoron. There was a time, way back in 1960, when then-Christian
Beirut was called the "Paris
of the Middle East." Now it is the "Detroit of the Middle East."
The racist rumor that, in deference to their African
American fan base, the Washington Redskins are going to rename as the
Washington Darkies is NOT TRUE. But I think the Washington Zulus would be cool.
The Zulus were a brave, proud and warlike people. With just assegai spears and
cowhide shields, they destroyed a British Column with breech-loading rifles at
Isandlwana. And even where the lost, they fought and died bravely. Have to have
a serious mascot, of course, not a cartoon; maybe a fierce Zulu looking over a
crossed assegai and shield. If the Cowboys, Vikings, Spartans, Trojans and
Fighting Irish aren't offensive, the Zulus done right shouldn't be either. But,
alas, the racial grievance industry is ever alert to be offended, so it would
likely be futile to honor the Zulus as other warlike ethnic groups are honored
by teams.
Saw a car in liberal Madison,
WI with a Marine emblem and this
bumper sticker: "I don't believe the liberal media."
I was going to buy a Ché tee shirt, but they were out, so I
got a Reinhard Heydrich one instead. Almost as good.
There are two types of people: the hunters and the hunted. A
large majority of the folks in any society are the second type. But if a
civilized society doesn't have enough trained and brave men of the first type,
the hunters from a less benevolent society will destroy the civilized society.
This is known to progressives as "bad luck." Marines are hunters.
Liberals dream of a world of justice--and they will hurt
anyone or commit any crime to get it. All for the "greater good," of
course.
One of God's best gifts is a grateful and generous heart. If
you don't have one, you might ask him for one.
Everyone knows that the unsustainable fiscal position of the
US
will catch up with us sooner or later. Unfortunately, with a debt of $17T and
unfunded liabilities that may be north of $200T, "later" is likely to
be here soon than you think.
I've come to believe that civilizations wear out and fall
apart like old shoes. Ours is run down at the heels, with holes in the soles
and broken laces. I fear it is going the way of all manmade institutions--and
sooner than you think. After the tipping point, the collapse will cascade
rapidly.
One of the iron laws of economics is that when behavior is
rewarded economically, you get more of it, and when it is punished
economically, you get less of it. Which is why parents, even liberals, give
their kids financial rewards for things like good grades and withhold money for
things like not picking up their rooms. And why a perverse incentive system at
the VA, giving administrators bonuses for lying, produced lying. So if illegal
immigrants get the message that they will get amnesty, citizenship, food
stamps, healthcare, education and other benefits by coming here illegally, many
more will come, and the system will be overwhelmed to the point of collapse,
and we will not be able to help immigrants or our own poor and working class. You
could probably take two or three illegals into your home and support them (but
you don't, I bet), but a hundred? Five hundred? Your fiscal situation would
collapse and they and your family would be destitute. The country is a much
bigger system, but not infinitely bigger. Eventually the influx will go beyond
our ability to provide even the basics, and everyone will suffer.
The constitution guarantees "equal protection under the
law." Liberals think it also reads, "...unless equal protection interferes
with something that makes us feel good, like diversity."
The government has to set a minimum wage because so many
people have failed to acquire the skills, education, work ethic and/or
experience that would make them worth more money on their own merits in the
market place. It's just another way to buy votes by giving people something for
nothing and making someone else pay for it. Of course, the real losers are
unemployed black teens, who will never develop entry-level job skills because
the jobs aren't there. But tough for them--there's an election to win.
We have stuff in our fridge that says, "Best if used
during the Truman Administration."
However things go for me with the lung transplant
complications or for our country with the slow-motion disasters of debt,
illegal immigration, the Islamist offensive against civilization, the rise of
China determined to dominate Asia, the efforts by Putin to reestablish the
Soviet Union's control over eastern Europe, and the growing pathologies of the
underclass--white, black and Hispanic--decaying society in not only the US but
throughout western civilization, I will not be whimpering on the sidelines. I
want to be in the ring, throwing punches as long as I can force myself back to
my feet.
Live so that your life is a reproach to a corrupt and venal
world. But maintain your humility--you are not without flaws and
self-righteousness is not an attractive trait.
If you are out of work and voted for Obama, you should not
be able to collect unemployment on the grounds that you are voluntarily
unemployed.
I was saddened to read of the death of James Garner at 86. Bret
Maverick and his brother, Bart, were my favorite TV characters. In 1965, I
found a used paperback, Poker According
to Maverick, in a bookstore for a quarter. (Used copies on Amazon are $10
now.) And for the next year, I made about 25% of my income from poker. Of
course, with what they were paying PFCs that was in a nickel game, quarter
limit.
I think the most common problem in western civilization is
that everyone is time starved. Even a retired sick guy like me.
Being vague is not the same as being wise. See "hope
and Change," or "We are the ones we've been waiting for." Too
many learn this too late.
Those of us worried about the establishment of a new
caliphate can take comfort in the historical fact that three of the four
"rightly guided" caliphs, the immediate successors of Mohammad, were
assassinated in 29 years. If that is Islam's "golden age," we can
expect the same from the new one.
We should fund caring for illegals by a special 25% tax on
lawyers' fees and professors' salaries. That should change a few minds on the
left.
On Memorial day, I almost became a Democrat. But they put me
on a breathing ventilator and I pulled through.
Despite zero evidence of religious violence from them,
secular liberals tend to look at Christians the way many people look at
moderate Muslims. They are fine, but bear watching as they could "go
jihad" at any time.
Given the results in western civilization over the past 20
years, where the "best and brightest" no longer seek public office
and we have a civilization in decline, I'm inclined to think that democracy is no
longer worth the lives of our best young men and women fighting for it. But it
is worth fighting, either militarily against the armed jihad or politically at
home, to protect our people from oppression by religious fanatics who want to
impose their beliefs on us by force or by the every-more-coercive, growing
statist government advocated by communists, socialists and progressives.
Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not has now franchised locations in Iran, Syria
and Iraq.
The local branches will be called, Mohammad's Believe-It-Or-I-Kill-You.
You join the Army, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard for a
temporary period. You join the Marines for life. Done right, it's a life style.
A liberal is someone who believes in diversity of ethnicity,
gender, national origin and sexual orientation, but absolute conformity on
thought and world views. Or else.
Sure, I'd like to live forever, but unfortunately it turns
out I come from a long line of dead people--everyone of my ancestors has already
died. Guess I'm next in line at the checkout counter. but at the store I always
get the slow line, so...
Obama comparing himself to Lincoln is like the late Senator Robert Byrd
(D-KKK) comparing himself to Republican Martin Luther King.
The mantra in schools and throughout our modern, declining society,
is "don't judge," and "don't be judgmental." But people who
are not judgmental are the natural prey of sociopaths and evil-doers. If you
can't make good judgments about people, you are likely to be a victim. Maybe even
an accessory
Most democracies in the world do not live up to America
ideals--including ours. Institutions run by flawed people are always flawed.
Which is why the checks and balances, like the separation of powers, established
by the founders, were so important--before the growth of the imperial
presidency, now in its full flowering.
When I was a kid during the summer, I left the house in the
morning, had lunch at whatever house we happened to be at, and usually obeyed
the rule, "Be home by dinner." (That was when families ate together
in the evening.) After dinner, it was, "Be home by dark." Kids today
are monitored like criminals in a half-way house, less they stray too far.
Q: If retirees who paid in are taxed on Social Security
benefits, why shouldn't welfare benefits also be taxed? A: Because the Democrats
would then hire bureaucrats to collect the tax, and increase the benefits to
cover it.
A job is not done until you clean up the mess you made.
Someone tell Obama--and he's not the only one, on both sides of the political
fence.
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