New Depths

Have you seen the new ad put up by something called the Latino Victory Fund against the Republican challenger for Governor in Virginia?  I've seen some pretty despicable political ads as we are divided even further by those desparately trying to win power.  But this sinks to new depths.  It makes me wonder when people are sitting around a room deciding how to put a message together if they really believe this crap.  And then it makes me wonder when people are sitting around a room deciding whether or not they should actually air this terribly devisive ad, that they go ahead with not much concern.  I don't know if this is the worst that we'll see as the political class decides they can do and say anything to win power, but I hope it is.  Because this is bad enough.

Motivation Monday

Bingo

Seems to me that @MsBlaireWhite has it about right!

Call It What It Is

Something tells me that we have a translation problem here...

Cool Pic

Vacation Spot!

Where Can I Get One?

This sign could be useful in oh so many places!

Creepy!

I hate snakes!!!

George Washington...Slaveowner

I saw a story in the news today that is both infuriating and sad.  But mostly infuriating.  The best article I saw was in 'The Federalist' and posted it over on FB.  You can read it here.  It's about Christ Episcopalian Church in Alexandria, Virginia taking down plaques honoring George Washington and Robert E. Lee in the Sanctuary.  It seems that the church wants to be welcoming to all and since these men were slaveowners it might be threatening to some.  It is just almost beyond belief.  I say almost because unfortuntately this politically correct bullshit has gotten way out of control.

The sad thing is that the article says that the decision was a unanimous one by the Vestry.  I'm on the Vestry at my church and I can tell you with certainty if my church wanted to go down this shameful path during the time of my tenure, it wouldn't be unanimous.  This kind of stuff makes me want to walk away and just sleep in on Sunday mornings!

16 Years Later

We just got back from a great trip to the East coast.  Spent last weekend in the Boston area with our son and his family.  As usual, it was great to reconnect with the ‘East Coast Zoo’.  It was a spectacular New England weekend with cool, crisp days and glorious Fall colors. We got in our share of soccer games and playing with the kids.  Lots of fun.

On Monday we took the train to New York City which was a great experience (very easy) and spent 5 days in the city.  Our hotel was one of the Marriott Vacation Club 'Pulse' properties.  It was very nice and the location was perfect on West 37th Street in mid-town Manhattan.  I've been all around the world.  Have visited many, many countries, big cities, major capitals and have seen a whole lot of this big marble.  But I've never been to New York City so I thought it was about time to fix that.  

It was a great 5 days!  We did all the tourist stuff, walked a ton, soaked in the sites and sounds of the city, and had some great meals.  The Empire State Bldg (which we had a view of from our room), the 9/11 memorial and museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Times Square, Central Park, and just walking around were the highlights.  It really is a spectacular city and it's true that it never sleeps.  No matter what time we ventured out there was a lot going on.  Of course, with so many people packed into such a relatively small space, there are some issues.  But overall, I thought it was pretty clean and it seemed safe enough.  Of course, we were in mid-town and not in the rough parts of town.  As a Westerner, NYC wasn't my cup of tea and at our age not somewhere we'd want to live.  I get the impression though that if it's where you're from, it's the best place in the world.  And if you're of a certain age (much younger than us!) it would be vibrant, stimulating and exciting.  I could see going there as a young person and never leaving.  We did get some taste of the expense associated with living there and it would be pretty daunting just to live.  One expense you wouldn't need though would be a car.  If I lived in the city I couldn't see a need.  

By far the most impactful thing we saw was the 9/11 memorial and museum.  It was so well done!  Whenever I go to places like this, it amazes me how talented some people are in interpreting events and history.  It was just perfectly appropriate.  The flow, the story, the reverence of the visitors, the impact of the displays were all almost overwhelming.  We both came away with such a better understanding of the devastation of 9/11 and how mind numbingly sad it was.  Not to take anything away from Flight 93 or the Pentagon, but the World Trade Center coming down is certainly the defining event of the attack.  When you look at the wall of faces and the display of notes from people looking for loved ones, you can help but get emotional.  We saw all kinds of people from all over the world and to a person they were respectful and reverent in the museum.  It was almost a religious experience.  

There aren't too many places that evoke such emotion in the populace.  I would say the USS Arizona, maybe Gettysburg, certainly Normandy, and now the 9/11 memorial and museum are places that are hugely impactful to Americans in defining what is worth fighting for.  I know that the memory will stay alive.  If you have a chance to visit, don't pass it up.  

Ammo Grrrl

If you’re not reading Powerline on Friday to see the input from Ammo Girrrl you’re missing it.  Here’s today’s post.  Spot on!

THOUGHTS FROM THE AMMO LINE

Ammo Grrrl takes a look in the rearview mirror to give us DILETTANTE DEFINED. She writes:

“I think Barack knew that he had God-given talents that were extraordinary. He knows exactly how smart he is. … . He knows what a good reader of people he is … He’s been bored to death his whole life. He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do.” 

Last week, my wonderful friend Heather included a longer version of the above Valerie Jarrett quote in a comment. And, since ex-President Obama has reappeared to lecture us disappointing deplorables yet one more time, I thought I would return serve.

The original title I preferred for this piece was “Sociopath Defined.” Almost a textbook definition of a sociopath is a “good reader of people.” A sociopath can be or become anything he or she needs to be to fit the occasion and manipulate others: He was Barack Hussein when bowing nearly prostrate to a Muslim bigshot. In front of an all-black crowd, he sported a lilting, halting Southern Black accent that sounded like a bad combination of William Shatner and Hillary Clinton pretending to be a black poet. He was Proud Slacker Barry Soetoro in the Choom Gang in his elite private school in Hawaii. He could morph seamlessly into the Ivy-educated scholar with the creased pants in a roomful of fawning, awestruck white journalists with Tingly Leg Disorder.

If he’s so freaking smart, Valerie, where are his grades? His transcripts? His SAT scores? Still locked in a vault inside a crypt with Jimmy Hoffa. Why? Not a single one of the trolls who wander our Comments Section will tell me why. I know why. It is because those transcripts show he applied to college as a “foreign-born” student from Kenya. Oh, never fear, I believe he was born in Hawaii. He was the original “birther.” He lied to get another leg up in case just being black might not be enough, and he never thought it would come back to bite him. Am I wrong? Prove it. Release the records. What’s he hiding? W’s grades are out there – he was a “C” student who admits he was mostly partying. Nobody cared.

Being “bored to death” is NOT evidence of superior intelligence after, say, the third grade. Life is endlessly fascinating. Do you think that Victor Davis Hanson or Dr. Thomas Sowell has ever been bored? The list of things Barry knows absolutely nothing about is staggering. Hell, my “wicked-smaht” husband has taught himself both Hebrew and Spanish in his adult lifetime. He also studied Latin and Russian in school. Obama speaks no second language; he can’t even say “The black cat is in the tree” in Spanish. And has freely confessed he doesn’t speak a word of “Austrian.”

Can Obama fix a car? Round up cattle? Does he play a musical instrument? Does he know anything about American History other than the one PC diatribe he memorized where everything American is racist, sexist, imperialist and terrible? Did we even learn of any passion or hobby like model railroading or stamp collecting or gun collecting (Gaia forbid!)? He is clearly bored not because he is so smart. He is bored with anything or anyone that is NOT HIM.

But, perhaps my favorite forehead-smacking sentence in Valerie’s Stalinoid effusion is that “He’s just too talented to do what ‘ordinary’ people do.” Like work, I guess. The arrogance on parade there is cringeworthy. Okay, his Rasputin (Rasputina?) said it about him; he didn’t say it. But his every word, thought and gesture in eight years showed me he sure as heck believed it.

Not to mention that he did tell us he was a better writer than his writers, a better everything than any one of his staff, ad nauseam. Lordy! Again, it’s one of those things that, even if you think it, bereft of evidence, why would you say it aloud? 

But the most obnoxious part of that thought was the notion that there are “ordinary” people. You know, the ones that know a lot of stuff about mining and manufacturing and engineering and running a restaurant. The ones who raise your precious arugula and beef cattle and enlist in the Armed Forces so you don’t have to. They go to work every day and pay taxes and start small businesses only to be taxed and regulated until they cry “Uncle” and then are told that “They didn’t build that.”

The older I get, the more I realize that almost nobody is “ordinary,” with the possible exception of the elite who believe they are So Very Special. People are surprising and delightful with interests and talents and knowledge that is a collective priceless resource for America in the aggregate. I play poker every Tuesday with a veteran who knows every single thing there is to know about every single firearm. I have known several brilliant farmers, one an organic farmer from way back when I was a kid, notwithstanding that I hated eating at their house because the food was so weird. Brown bread, seemingly full of twigs and bark? How is THAT going to “build strong bodies 12 ways” like my Wonder Bread, hmmm? If Agriculture were up to me (or Obama), we would all last until our current groceries ran out. Some “ordinary.”

Several years ago in St. Paul on a lake three miles from my house, the Building Trades volunteered to build an Ice Castle on the frozen lake. It was huge and lit up at night. You could walk in it! Not at all ordinary. Yesterday I drove about an hour each way to have a guy fix my husband’s speaker that connects to his keyboard. We couldn’t fix that. Well, probably if he had had time, Mr. AG could have eventually fixed it with a YouTube video and a lot of swearing. But I would have had to just stare at it like a cat staring at a red laser dot, hoping for some kind of miracle like last year’s Cubs win or Hillary’s defeat.

I am just scratching the surface, of course, of the incredible talents of our extraordinary fellow Americans. In addition to their gainful employment skills, you find out that people you never suspected are painters and photographers, singers and dancers. My produce guy is also an actor. Not to go all kumbaya on you here, but America really does possess a wealth of talent and a communal knowledge base probably unequaled in human history. As Venezuela should prove once and for all – as if humanity did not have to learn this lesson anew amid great pain every few years – socialism will destroy a nation’s material wealth in a heartbeat. 

But intellectual wealth can be squandered and disappear too. And it will, unless we stop criminalizing free speech and independent inquiry, and wiping out our history. The 40-year obsession with identity politics and skin-deep “diversity” is a form of slow national suicide by a thousand tiny cuts.owerline’s Friday post featuring Ammo Grrrl you’re missing some good and (usuallyfunny) commentary!  Here’s today’s post.  Spot on!!

Friday Funnies

Trump Support Explained

How do we explain this phenomenon of the Trump Presidency?  Maybe more importantly, how do we reconcile ourselves to it?  I saw a post by one of my favorites, CDR Salamandar today that goes a long way toward achieving that goal.  It's called "Trumpism, Never-Trumpism, and Their Discontents".  He uses some input from another one of my favorites, Victor Davis Hanson, but it is pretty spot on from my perspective.  You can read it here.  

I really, really resonate with this quote at the end.  This is me! 

"In the end, I am content with the following; I am more than happy to apologize to others for a President Trump; I could never forgive myself for a President Hillary.

We may have been hit with a baseball bat, but we missed a load of napalm. Bruises and breaks heal just fine."

Motivation Monday

Bush's Speech

GWB gave a speech on Thursday that most thought was pretty eloquent.  He really captured how coarse our culture has become.  A really interesting thing to me is that the vast, vast, vast majority of the mainstream media has latched onto it as an indictment of President Trump.  Just look at the Politico headline.  I just don't see it that way.  I think it is an indictment of all of them.  There is plenty of blame to go around.  For my money the vitriol and hatred I see on a day to day basis is much more pervasive on the left than on the right.  I see smug hatred routinely coming from the mouths of those on the left who continually attack and block anything that the President wants to accomplish, no matter what.  But maybe that's just me.  You know the old saying...where you stand depends on where you sit.  I think there are two takeaways for me.  First, he's right.  Second, don't be so sure who the speech was aimed at.  I've copied the whole thing below.   Read it and decide for yourself.  And BTW, especially read the highlighted paragraph.  It's sublime!

George W. Bush speech on Trumpism

By POLITICO STAFF 10/19/2017

Below is a transcript of George W. Bush's speech delivered Oct. 19, 2017 at the at the “Spirit of Liberty: At Home, In The World" event in New York.

Thank you all. Thank you. Ok, Padilla gracias. So, I painted Ramon. I wish you were still standing here. It’s a face only a mother could love – no, it’s a fabulous face. (Laughter.) I love you Ramon, thank you very much for being here.

And, Grace Jo thank you for your testimony. And, big Tim. I got to know Tim as a result of Presidential Leadership Scholars at the Bush Center along with the Clinton Foundation, with help from 41 and LBJ’s libraries.

I am thrilled that friends of ours from Afghanistan, China, North Korea, and Venezuela are here as well. These are people who have experienced the absence of freedom and they know what it’s like and they know there is a better alternative to tyranny.

Laura and I are thrilled that the Bush Center supporters are here. Bernie [Tom Bernstein], I want to thank you and your committee. I call him Bernie. (Laughter.)

It’s amazing to have Secretary Albright share the stage with Condi and Ambassador Haley. For those of you that kind of take things for granted, that’s a big deal. (Laughter and Applause.) Thank you.

We are gathered in the cause of liberty this is a unique moment. The great democracies face new and serious threats – yet seem to be losing confidence in their own calling and competence. Economic, political and national security challenges proliferate, and they are made worse by the tendency to turn inward. The health of the democratic spirit itself is at issue. And the renewal of that spirit is the urgent task at hand.

Since World War II, America has encouraged and benefited from the global advance of free markets, from the strength of democratic alliances, and from the advance of free societies. At one level, this has been a raw calculation of interest. The 20th century featured some of the worst horrors of history because dictators committed them. Free nations are less likely to threaten and fight each other.
And free trade helped make America into a global economic power.

For more than 70 years, the presidents of both parties believed that American security and prosperity were directly tied to the success of freedom in the world. And they knew that the success depended, in large part, on U.S. leadership. This mission came naturally, because it expressed the DNA of American idealism.

We know, deep down, that repression is not the wave of the future. We know that the desire for freedom is not confined to, or owned by, any culture; it is the inborn hope of our humanity. We know that free governments are the only way to ensure that the strong are just and the weak are valued. And we know that when we lose sight of our ideals, it is not democracy that has failed. It is the failure of those charged with preserving and protecting democracy.

This is not to underestimate the historical obstacles to the development of democratic institutions and a democratic culture. Such problems nearly destroyed our country – and that should encourage a spirit of humility and a patience with others. Freedom is not merely a political menu option, or a foreign policy fad; it should be the defining commitment of our country, and the hope of the world.

That appeal is proved not just by the content of people’s hopes, but a noteworthy hypocrisy: No democracy pretends to be a tyranny. Most tyrannies pretend they are democracies. Democracy remains the definition of political legitimacy. That has not changed, and that will not change.

Yet for years, challenges have been gathering to the principles we hold dear. And, we must take them seriously. Some of these problems are external and obvious. Here in New York City, you know the threat of terrorism all too well. It is being fought even now on distant frontiers and in the hidden world of intelligence and surveillance. There is the frightening, evolving threat of nuclear proliferation and outlaw regimes. And there is an aggressive challenge by Russia and China to the norms and rules of the global order – proposed revisions that always seem to involve less respect for the rights of free nations and less freedom for the individual.

These matters would be difficult under any circumstances. They are further complicated by a trend in western countries away from global engagement and democratic confidence. Parts of Europe have developed an identity crisis. We have seen insolvency, economic stagnation, youth unemployment, anger about immigration, resurgent ethno-nationalism, and deep questions about the meaning and durability of the European Union.

America is not immune from these trends. In recent decades, public confidence in our institutions has declined. Our governing class has often been paralyzed in the face of obvious and pressing needs. The American dream of upward mobility seems out of reach for some who feel left behind in a changing economy. Discontent deepened and sharpened partisan conflicts. Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.

There are some signs that the intensity of support for democracy itself has waned, especially among the young, who never experienced the galvanizing moral clarity of the Cold War, or never focused on the ruin of entire nations by socialist central planning. Some have called this “democratic deconsolidation.” Really, it seems to be a combination of weariness, frayed tempers, and forgetfulness.

We have seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty. At times, it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates into dehumanization. Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions – forgetting the image of God we should see in each other.

We’ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism – forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America. We see a fading confidence in the value of free markets and international trade – forgetting that conflict, instability, and poverty follow in the wake of protectionism.

We have seen the return of isolationist sentiments – forgetting that American security is directly threatened by the chaos and despair of distant places, where threats such as terrorism, infectious disease, criminal gangs and drug trafficking tend to emerge.

In all these ways, we need to recall and recover our own identity. Americans have a great advantage: To renew our country, we only need to remember our values.

This is part of the reason we meet here today. How do we begin to encourage a new, 21st century American consensus on behalf of democratic freedom and free markets? That’s the question I posed to scholars at the Bush Institute. That is what Pete Wehner and Tom Melia, who are with us today, have answered with “The Spirit of Liberty: At Home, In The World,” a Call to Action paper.

The recommendations come in broad categories. Here they are: First, America must harden its own defenses. Our country must show resolve and resilience in the face of external attacks on our democracy. And that begins with confronting a new era of cyber threats.

America is experiencing the sustained attempt by a hostile power to feed and exploit our country’s divisions. According to our intelligence services, the Russian government has made a project of turning Americans against each other. This effort is broad, systematic and stealthy, it’s conducted across a range of social media platforms. Ultimately, this assault won’t succeed. But foreign aggressions – including cyber-attacks, disinformation and financial influence – should not be downplayed or tolerated. This is a clear case where the strength of our democracy begins at home. We must secure our electoral infrastructure and protect our electoral system from subversion.

The second category of recommendations concerns the projection of American leadership – maintaining America’s role in sustaining and defending an international order rooted in freedom and free markets.

Our security and prosperity are only found in wise, sustained, global engagement: In the cultivation of new markets for American goods. In the confrontation of security challenges before they fully materialize and arrive on our shores. In the fostering of global health and development as alternatives to suffering and resentment. In the attraction of talent, energy and enterprise from all over the world. In serving as a shining hope for refugees and a voice for dissidents, human rights defenders, and the oppressed.

We should not be blind to the economic and social dislocations caused by globalization. People are hurting. They are angry. And, they are frustrated. We must hear them and help them. But we can’t wish globalization away, any more than we could wish away the agricultural revolution or the industrial revolution. One strength of free societies is their ability to adapt to economic and social disruptions.

And that should be our goal: to prepare American workers for new opportunities, to care in practical, empowering ways for those who may feel left behind. The first step should be to enact policies that encourage robust economic growth by unlocking the potential of the private sector, and for unleashing the creativity and compassion of this country.

A third focus of this document is strengthening democratic citizenship. And here we must put particular emphasis on the values and views of the young.

Our identity as a nation – unlike many other nations – is not determined by geography or ethnicity, by soil or blood. Being an American involves the embrace of high ideals and civic responsibility. We become the heirs of Thomas Jefferson by accepting the ideal of human dignity found in the Declaration of Independence. We become the heirs of James Madison by understanding the genius and values of the U.S. Constitution. We become the heirs of Martin Luther King, Jr., by recognizing one another not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

This means that people of every race, religion, and ethnicity can be fully and equally American. It means that bigotry or white supremacy in any form is blasphemy against the American creed.  And it means that the very identity of our nation depends on the passing of civic ideals to the next generation.

We need a renewed emphasis on civic learning in schools. And our young people need positive role models. Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone, provides permission for cruelty and bigotry, and compromises the moral education of children. The only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them.

Finally, the Call to Action calls on the major institutions of our democracy, public and private, to consciously and urgently attend to the problem of declining trust.

For example, our democracy needs a media that is transparent, accurate and fair. Our democracy needs religious institutions that demonstrate integrity and champion civil discourse. Our democracy needs institutions of higher learning that are examples of truth and free expression.

In short, it is time for American institutions to step up and provide cultural and moral leadership for this nation.

Ten years ago, I attended a Conference on Democracy and Security in Prague. The goal was to put human rights and human freedom at the center of our relationships with repressive governments. The Prague Charter, signed by champions of liberty Vaclav Havel, Natan Sharansky, Jose Maria Aznar, called for the isolation and ostracism of regimes that suppress peaceful opponents by threats or violence.

Little did we know that, a decade later, a crisis of confidence would be developing within the core democracies, making the message of freedom more inhibited and wavering. Little did we know that repressive governments would be undertaking a major effort to encourage division in western societies and to undermine the legitimacy of elections.

Repressive rivals, along with skeptics here at home, misunderstand something important. It is the great advantage of free societies that we creatively adapt to challenges, without the direction of some central authority. Self-correction is the secret strength of freedom. We are a nation with a history of resilience and a genius for renewal.

Right now, one of our worst national problems is a deficit of confidence. But the cause of freedom justifies all our faith and effort. It still inspires men and women in the darkest corners of the world, and it will inspire a rising generation. The American spirit does not say, “We shall manage,” or “We shall make the best of it.” It says, “We shall overcome.” And that is exactly what we will do, with the help of God and one another.

Thank you.

Despicable

You've seen the stories in the last few days.  This woman is the lowest of the low.  She is pond scum. I can't even bring myself to name her.

If you somehow don't know what this is about, watch this.

National Security Perspective

I've copied articles by Victor Davis Hanson into other blog posts, but none quite so succinct as the following little summary.  If you've been reading at all you know my interest and experience is in national security matters (besides the obvious fun and frivolity of our current political climate).  My view is that almost irreparable damage was done during the eight years of Obama.  I've been heartened by what I've seen from the Trump administration in the area of national security and VDH's article is a very good summation of where we stand.  It is obviously a dynamic and fluid environment, but for my money we're a hell of a lot better off today than we were a year ago.  Things can blow up overnight, but my faith in the current national security team is immeasurably higher than the crew that did Obama's bidding.

In Defense of ‘the Generals’ 
October 17, 2017 VDHANSON 

Recently there have been a number of quite different critiques from all political sides of Trump’s generals (Kelly/McMaster/Mattis), and also from a variety of angles (too narrow experience, an unhealthy overdose of military thinking, a “sellout” for working for the likes of Trump, etc.). While it is hard to know who exactly is to be praised or faulted for Trump’s foreign policy (e.g., Secretary of State Tillerson and, of course, Trump himself), the record is so far pretty clear — and pretty good. 

Prune away the rumors of cabinet shake-ups, “adult in the room” melodramas, tweets, fake-news accounts, and inter-cabinet spats, and we are left with a once-ascendant ISIS now shattered and in full retreat; a new honesty about NATO and its funding; an unsustainable Iran deal now on hold and sent to the Senate where as a treaty it belonged; honesty in describing the threat of both radical Islamic terrorism and Iranian hegemony; greater security on the southern border; a restored relationship with Israel and the Gulf States, and an improving one with Jordan and Egypt as well; a workable and constitutional immigration scrutiny of would-be entrants from war-torn Middle East countries; a growing deterrent stance toward Russia and China rather than the rhetoric of “reset” and the “Asian pivot”; an active and growing allied response to the North Korean threat; the beginnings of an all-out effort on missile defense (rather than the prior open-mic presidential promises of a “flexible” post-reelection efforts to curb it in Eastern Europe); a determination to rebuild the military (slowly, given the still far too large annual deficits); some recent incremental progress in Afghanistan due to new rules of engagement; the real red line that Assad cannot use WMD against civilians; a far more adult stance toward U.N. hypocrisies; improved autonomy abroad through increasing energy independence and trading in natural gas; an out from a Paris climate accord whose goals the U.S. meets anyway through free-market solutions — and the emerging outlines of a comprehensive doctrine of “principled realism” that restores deterrence. 

Of course, the world is in crisis and scary, current U.S. assets and means do not match our strategic obligations, responsibilities, and would-be agendas, and rhetorically the administration often seems at cross-purposes, but nevertheless American foreign policy is already in an undeniable trajectory of restoration, and much credit is due to the advice and conduct of Trump’s three generals.

Something To Ponder

If Donald Trump deleted all of his emails, wiped his server with Bleachbit, and destroyed all of his phones with a hammer after it came to light that there was classified information on his system, which by the way had no encryption, would the mainstream media suddenly lose all interest in the story and declare him innocent?

Motivation Monday

Something to Ponder

We are almost a year from the election and 9 months since the inaugeral and I'm still perplexed why the media can't figure out Trump.  He seems to have their number.  They don't remotely recognize that he is unlike any other President, and really any other public figure.  He has figured out how to drive them crazy with Twitter.  He has figured out how to keep them off balance by the silliest little remark.  He has proven to be a huge enigma to them and they seem to be continually flumoxed by his actions.  They misunderstand and misinterpret the simplest of things.  They overblow stupid little issues and let things go by the wayside that could be big.  As I've said many, many times in this little blog, he wasn't my guy.  But I've got to admire how he plays the media like a tight drum.  It makes me wonder.  Are they really so caught up in how important they think they are?  Or are they just stupid?

Happy Birthday U.S. Navy

242 years old today.  Still doing extraordinary things and making them look easy!  Proud to have served for 25 years and would do it all again.

Friday Funnies

In honor of the U.S. Navy's 242nd Birthday!

Nightmare Scenario

I hope he bought that seat because I'm not sitting there!

"Boy" Scouts

We hear today that the Boy Scouts are now going to admit girls to their ranks.  This will be true for Cub Scouts all the way to Eagle Scout.   There are a lot of crazy, upside down things happening in society today, but this is, at least for me, pretty close to the top of the list.  Um...to me Boy Scouts are by definition Boys.  And the ranks of Girl Scouts are made up of Girls.

The Boy Scouts have just come through a turbulent time while they grappled with their ban on homosexuals.  They were vilified for a few years until they decided to acquiesce to the pressure and agree to admit gay kids and leaders.  As they were going through it, I always thought that they would at some point to change their tune.  Because here's the deal.  In the last 20 or 30 years we've gone through what is perhaps the most rapid cultural shift in human history.  Across our culture, and this is only true in the Western world (and not even all of that), populations have come to accept gay people as just people who deserve equal rights.  Many, many organizations, including the Boy Scouts, came to the acceptance of that new paradigm at different times and in different ways.  They definitely studied the issue, had a conversation with their members and families, and came down on the side of equal rights.  Good for them.  

But I wonder what they are thinking here?  I checked their website and you can read the news release here

Personally, I thought it was sorta lame.  Upon reading their justification it comes down to there were a lot of requests, they studied the issue, recognized that families (especially minority families) are different and want to do things together, and they thought they could bring all the great qualities of Scouting to more people by doing this.  No mention of the dramatic changes and impacts this will have.

I wasn't a Boy Scout but my son was (and my daughter was a Girl Scout).  He started as a Cub, progressed to Webelo (where I was Den Leader), and went a few years into the Boy Scout world before giving it up for other things.  This seemed to be a natural progression as very few kids make it all the way to Eagle Scout, which is the pinnacle of Scouting.  But here's the thing about the Boy Scouts, no matter where you are in your progression through the program.  It provides a place for boys to come together and develop all the traits that boys need to become productive members of our society as men.  They see role models.  They interact with each other.  They learn life skills.  They can be goofy little boys.  They undergo (whether they know it or not) a metamorphosis in an environment that doesn't have the distractions or pressures of a mixed gender environment.   

And of course, the Girl Scouts are pissed.  They see this as poaching on their territory and I can't say that I blame them.  The Girl Scouts are a wonderful program for girls and, in a similar manner to the Boy Scouts, they get to learn and develop and grow in a safe environment that doesn't include boys.  Because the problem is that when boys and girls are mixed at a certain age, the boys will tend to dominate.  I don't say that as remotely any sort of discrimination against girls.  And in truth there would be some areas where the girls would be better.  But kids (and really all of us) can use places where they can be themselves, where they can be safe and silly and comfortable.   

So this decision isn't going to alter the global balance.  Life will go on.  But I don't think this is similar to the issue with homosexuality.  In that issue they were dealing with a difference among members.  In this one they are fundamentally changing the nature of the organization.   They say change is difficult and it is.  But in any change there is a fundamental question that must be asked.  Why?  I just don't think there's a good answer here and it's hard to see how this change is going to be positive.  The Scout's are a very entrenched part of our society and it's difficult to imagine them disappearing.  But...never say never.

Tattoos

 I don't have any tattoos.  Just never found them that interesting and the permanence was always sort of a reason not to go that way.  But I have to admit that there are some great tattoo artists out there and if I were to indulge I'd want to find one of them.  This one is an example.  I think this is sort of cool.  Of course, maybe not on my forearm, but still sort of cool.

Columbus Day

Today is Columbus Day.  When I was a kid I didn't think much about it.  I'm pretty sure it was never a holiday in California (where I grew up) so we marked the day and moved on.  I did go to school with a lot of Italian kids and remember them having celebrations.  As I progressed through life I don't remember much, if anything, about celebrating Columbus Day.  I know that some enclaves of Italians have parades and celebrate.  I know that my Son and Grand kids in Boston have the day off because it's a holiday there.  But like I said, not much awareness.

But with a lot of things in the digital age, information becomes magnified by access.  I've become aware today that Columbus was a low-life European scum who brought disease and exploited the natives.  He also didn't set foot on the North American continent so celebrating his discovery is just factually wrong.  He sold his services to the highest bidder.  He opened the door to slave trading and oppressed everyone he came in contact with.  Even though thousands of Italians celebrate their heritage through his adventures, they are misguided.  And the wisdom of Government has shown through as many local and State governments have bravely ripped Columbus off his pedestal and replaced the day with "Indigenous Peoples Day".  And for God's sake get rid of the statues.  They are offensive and oppressive and conjure up a hostile environment that so many just can't deal with.

Or maybe, just maybe, he was a brave man who set sail across the Atlantic a little over 500 YEARS AGO to discover what was on the other side of the ocean.  Maybe he was a visionary who believed that there was something out there.  Maybe he wanted to not only find new lands and discover new people, but also seek economic gain for his home through trade and expansion.  Maybe he didn't know he was bringing disease and maybe he brought just as many problems back.  There is no doubt that he faced extraordinary dangers and potentially hostile natives but maybe he was brave enough to discount the dangers in favor of seeking the unknown.

I don't know...I think that as we go deeper into the information age, I think it is sometimes too easy to judge history by today's standards.  We know something to be true today (or think it's true), and decide that it should have been true for all history.  As for me, I sort of like honoring some dude who was living 500 years ago (think about what life was like back then) and decided he would set out to discover an unknown land with unknown people on the other side of the world.  Seems to me that's something worth celebrating.  It's easy to get cynical if we have information that holds that achievement or that man in new light.  But you know what the definition of a cynic is?  Someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.  But I guess I can appreciate all the information that sheds new light on history and our brilliant public servants who spend their time working on the protection of the feelings of our indigenous people.  As for me...Happy Columbus Day!

"The Human Stain"

The Harvey Weinstein implosion just keeps getting worse.  I had a post about this yesterday and didn't really think I'd mention it again.  But it's like a lot of things...peel the onion and it just stinks more and more.  As I said in the other post, this guy is a world class jackass.  But the depth of his oppression of all those who want to curry favor in the entertainment industry is pretty breathtaking.

The Weekly Standard has a story out today called "The Human Stain: Why the Harvey Weinstein Story is Worse Than You Think".  You can read it here.  It's a pretty shocking portrayal of the abuse and cover up that was perpetrated by this guy.  Read it all to get a good picture.

But there was one particular part that caught my attention.  Here's the quote:  "That’s why the story about Harvey Weinstein finally broke now. It’s because the media industry that once protected him has collapsed. The magazines that used to publish the stories Miramax optioned can’t afford to pay for the kind of reporting and storytelling that translates into screenplays. They’re broke because Facebook and Google have swallowed all the digital advertising money that was supposed to save the press as print advertising continued to tank."  Digital (or whatever you want to call it) is having such a huge impact in so many industries and this is just another example.  In this case, the house of cards collapsed as the money dried up.  This is happening in so many industries.  And those that figure it out early and adapt will survive.  Those that don't, won't.

Game of Thrones

For the last several years like anyone else I've heard about this series called Game of Thrones.  Strange name.  I knew it was some sort of fantasy story and that's about it.  Since I didn't have HBO and that's the only place to watch it, well then no sweat.  Since I couldn't watch it I wouldn't miss it.

About 3 weeks ago I got a text from AT&T telling me they were adding HBO to our TV package for no charge.  Sweet.  Of course, after reviewing some of the programming I didn't think I'd been missing much.  But with the state of network TV these days, I figured that having more options couldn't be a bad thing.  And then I remembered that Game of Thrones is on HBO and maybe I could watch it.  But I don't want to just pick up since it's been going for a while, so I did an 'on demand' search and went back to the first episode in the first season.  Turns out that is 2011!  Yikes.  I've got 6 years of programming to catch up on.  But not to worry, I've got time.

So earlier this week I started watching.  It's not something my wife would sit still for so I'm on my own here.  So far I've watch 5 episodes and I've got to admit, it's pretty addictive.  The dialog is such is that it's sometimes difficult to figure out what the hell is going on, who the good guys are and who the bad guys are, and where the thing is going, but it does grip you.  I'm starting to get why so many are gaa gaa over this show.  Since I've got so far to go it's going to take a while, but like I said, I've got time.  And I hope that as I go along I'll start to figure out all the characters in more depth.  I'm also sorta surprised at the sex.  I mean, there's a lot of it.  And there's not much left to the imagination.  So good story, lots of sex, plenty of violence and blood and gore, and set decoration that is pretty impressive.  What's not to like?

Motivation Monday

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Our Outside Fireplace

Great afternoon yesterday sitting around the outdoor fireplace for the first time this Fall.  It really wasn't cold enough, but I was in the mood.  

Harvey Weinstein

I don't know this guy from Adam.  But I've seen a lot of people in my time and from the reports coming from people who knew him, the stories of his personality and demeanor, and the accusations regarding his behavior paint a pretty bad picture.  In short, this guy is an asshole.  Don't know any better way to say it.  Even if I hadn't heard and read some things, just by looking at him you can tell he's a jackass.  Simple as that.

But all of his antics, abuse, slimy activities, and law breaking sort of pales in comparison to the silence from the left and Hollywood.   I don't know what else to say.  They are complicit hypocrites.

Something To Ponder

Today being Sunday and the season is the Fall, the NFL comes to mind.  So what are headlines?  Colin Kaepernick has decided that if someone lets him play, he'll stand for the National Anthem.  The Vice President of the United States goes to see the Colts-49ers game and after some of the thugs, er...players kneel for the National Anthem he and his wife walk out stating that they won't attend an event in which our flag and National Anthem is disrespected.  And all around the country we have players kneeling.  The word from the league office is...crickets.  Nada.

Meanwhile around the country athletic events are consumed with honoring police and first responders in the wake of the horrific shootings in Las Vegas.  So which is it?  Are the police oppressive white supremacists who are bent on beating up and killing blacks and minorities at every chance they get?  Or are they heroes who run to the action to prevent injuries and loss of life?  Of course, that's a rhetorical question.

But here's the bottom line.  The NFL is losing viewers and sponsors.  They need to exert some leadership.  One of their employees disrespecting the flag and national anthem is bothersome and should have been dealt with up front.  But hundreds doing it will impact the league monetarily.  If they don't get a handle on this, they will continue to be hurt.

Friends

We all have acquaintances, neighbors, colleagues, workmates, golf buddy's, or myriad other categories of people we have relationships with.  But the familiar lament of so many people is that they don't have many good friends.  That it's really, really hard to know someone well enough and consistently enough to be true friends.  Someone who you can count on and they can count on you.  I think it's right that it's pretty rare.  And when it happens it's a great thing.

I was thinking about the nature of friendships when we went to dinner tonight with two couples that we've known for years and years and years.  We were all in the Navy together and we've all faced the trials and rewards that that life brings.  One are true and deep friends who we see regularly, know well, go to church with, know each other's kids and their trials and tribulations, socialize with, have traveled with, and can count on when things go down sideways.  They are vitally important to us as friends who we value tremendously!

The other is a couple who we go back with to our early days in the Navy.  We were in our first squadron together.  We were close then and developed a friendship based on a common lifestyle.  We both had kids, we both didn't have much money, and we both experienced all the hardships of the life that the Navy brings.  And all the great things.  As it happened this couple moved on.  And we moved on.  To other duty stations, to other locations, to other relationships.  We all lived our lives, raised our families, and progressed through careers.  And as it happens we came together again in our very last duty station as we worked just down the street from each other.  We were even in the same carpool.  And then we drifted again as they moved to another life as did we.  And then we all retired and socialized again, played golf again, remembered the good times again, and reconnected.  And once again they moved away to another life.  But a couple times a year they come back to SoCal and we get together.  And I swear to you...it's just like we were young Navy couples again.  We laugh, we have fun, we tell lies that we all believe and we revel in the familiarity of a long, well entrenched friendship.  It's different than a continuous and deep friendship, but nonetheless it's pretty sublime.  

So the nature of friendship is wide and varied, but they are all valuable. Our relationships are perhaps the most important part of our lives.  Whether they be family, work, social, professional, or some other category, they are all important.  But some are special.  And I think tonight we all experienced something special.  And for that I'm grateful.

Friday Funnies

Dilbert is always good for a laugh.  This may be pretty applicable to someone I know...

Dogs Are Cool

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Something To Ponder

It's all Las Vegas, all the time.  Which is okay.  If you want an update on injuries and/or fatalities you can get it within 30 minutes of turning on any cable station.  If you want to hear the latest theory about motive, tune in.  If you are interested in the latest human interest story, you can find it.  If you want confirmation that your views on gun control are correct, tune that dial to the station that will cater to your views.  

But there is an interesting phenomenon that I've noticed in watching the national news summaries on the major networks every night.  Maybe it's just me, I don't know.  But all of these talking heads seem so surprised that Americans of all types (everyone!) will do heroic things for each other.  They report on the people running into the action as if they are exhibiting characteristics that somehow they've never noticed.  They are shocked that people in extremis will look to help each other.  They can't believe the stories of the average American who will take risks and even sacrifice themselves for others.  For virtual strangers.  And they report this as if we, their viewers probably are shocked too.  That the average viewer will be amazed at these stories.  

And so this got me to thinking.  About them.  The talking heads.  The reporters.  The network executives.  You know, the people we listen to and are influenced by while we mindlessly sit and watch what is probably the most common information source that we all have.  They've been so busy making us all not like each other very much that I think they've really lost touch with the reality of who we are.  They have taken our environment, our society, our people and have segmented us all into stereotyped buckets so that we will all choose sides.  So that we will want to choose sides.  They want us to hunker down in our beliefs or thoughts and develop anger and distance and, yes hatred of those in other buckets.  They want us to forget our basic humanity.  And in doing this they've forgotten, or maybe they never knew, that people are basically good.  But they can't see it or don't want to see it.  They want us to keep fighting so they have stories to tell.  So they have ratings, advertisers, private jets, access, knowledge, power!  They absolutely don't want to give us facts and let us decide.  And in trying to influence us, they've forgotten who we are.  

I don't have any answers.  But I know one thing.  I'm not one bit surprised that when the chips are down, Americans will rally to help each other.  They will do what is required.  And they won't give up.  Ever.

Subtle...

Motivation Monday