Author: JD Pendry

(From deep out of the Bunker Archive – understanding fake news 2004)

Don’t believe anything you hear and only about half of what you actually see. – My Dad (and other wise people)

Wise man, my Dad.

I’ve been doing some more research.  I know.  Stop yawning.  I intended to provide you with an extensive list of examples to support my argument but I won’t.  Instead, I’ll equip you with what’s needed to do your own brain exercise.  Besides, those of you inclined to agree with me will do so without references.  Those of you who aren’t so inclined have probably already switched the channel.  But, wait…  You may want to stick around for a few minutes.  If you do, I promise to give you something useful that’ll help you to dissect before digesting that which you hear and see each day.

I hauled out my dictionary.  I needed us to understand the actual definitions for propaganda and journalism.  Since we are busy rewriting definitions these days, I thought this was important for the discussion.

Propaganda – ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause.  Journalism –writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation.

In our world of 24/7, instant worldwide news coverage, we have a problem separating propaganda from journalism. Is propaganda too harsh a word for you?  Hey, I didn’t write the definition for it, but if it makes it a little more palatable for you, we’ll discuss it as the difference between an opinion commentary and a newscast presentation of events or facts without interpretation.  Just remember what Willie Shakespeare said, “You can call manure a rose if you want to, but it’ll still stink…” or something like that.

I read and listen to quite a bit of news and listen to many of the popular radio and television commentators.  If I want the liberal slant to the actual news, I watch CNN, listen to NPR (your tax dollars at work) or one of the networks – ABC, NBC or CBS.  If I want the conservative perspective, I’ll tune in to Fox.  Although considered by most as conservative, the actual Fox newscasts (not the Fox talk shows) provide, in my opinion, more facts without interpretation than do the others.  But, that’s a judgment you can make for yourself once armed with my rules for news dissection.  When it comes to listening to commentators, I prefer the conservative perspective.  I listen to the liberal commentators too.  I like to hear both sides of the debate, but I do not like the extreme position on either the left or the right.  Considering both helps round out my perspective.  However, I’d as soon gouge my eye out with a stick as to listen to some of them.  James Carvel and Pat Buchanan come to mind.

Last year in April, I was out of the country for a while.  The only English speaking newscasts that I could get were CNN International and the BBC.  Al Jazeera has nothing over these guys.  Listening to what passed for actual news was interesting, but frightening.  The BBC for example, could always produce one American opposed to the war and present them as the representative voice for all Americans.  There wasn’t one single success to report according to their spin and America was clearly the bad guy bully.  Their opposition to America was obvious in how they presented (slanted) the news for world consumption.  Following two weeks of that, I too was concerned about how we were doing.   When I returned home, I was much more observant of what was presented to me as news by alleged newscasters.  What I discovered is that we have our own little BBCs and CNN Internationals filling America’s airwaves.  To get at the real news, I started mining the facts for myself.  In doing so, I developed three simple rules that have helped me see the world and the news, a little more clearly.  Here are my rules.  Feel free to use them, they’re free and they work.

• Peel away the commentary.  Focus on the facts.

Example: “Job growth was a major disappointment this month with only 21,000 new jobs created.

The commentary: “Job growth was a major disappointment this month with only…

The fact:  …21,000 new jobs created.

Focus on the facts and form your own opinion about what’s good or bad.

• Apply JD’s bovine scatology detection formula to all statements made by alleged newscasters.  If the number of descriptive terms in a statement from a newscaster equals or exceeds the number of facts in the statement, then it’s commentary and not a presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation.

Our Example Again:  “Job growth was a major disappointment this month with only 21,000 new jobs created.

This statement activates the BS-ometer.  The opening statement, Job growth…disappointment is descriptive.  The words with only appearing just before the one fact, is the second descriptor.  Both have a purpose of telling us our opinion (or how we should think).  Two descriptive phrases used to present one fact.  Does this more closely fit the definition of propaganda or journalism?  Time to flip channels.

• There is something positive that comes out of every story.

If you listen to a newscast and you never hear a positive point reported about (or as in our example positive facts consistently reported in a negative vein), for example, the economy, the government, the war… your BS-ometer should go off as well.  This also works in reverse, everything isn’t always rosy either.

Our quandary is this.  Too many of us focus on the commentary while skimming past the facts.  We do that, because our most prominent and trusted newscasters are actually commentators and because we are a bit lazy at times.  Our “newscasters” subtly infuse their opinions into the news giving us ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause more often than they give us direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation.

There are only a couple of conclusions I can draw from this.

• They believe that I (and you) am too stupid to consider facts and decide for myself their significance or:
• They have a motive.  The only motive I can think of is to cause me (and you) to think a certain way – their way.

If the first is true, it tells me much about many of the people who claim to present the news.  If the second is true, that’s simply propaganda.

A truth that’s told with bad intent Beats all the lies you can invent. – William Blake, 1803

Copyright© JD Pendry, 2004

We are hear a lot these days from people who live inside of bubbles wholly shielded from the everyday challenges of the forgotten men and women who are the overwhelming majority of Americans.  I refuse to refer to these groups of people as elite.  From my background and upbringing, referring to someone or a group as elite was reserved for the best of us.  These people certainly do not make the cut.  Privileged they certainly are, but they fall well short of being the best of America – or the best of people for that matter.  At the end of their road is self-preservation and maintenance of their perceived exalted stature.

We refer to the media elite, the Washington elite, the Hollywood elite and elitists in general based on personal wealth and its accompanying influence.  It is these collectives who work every day to drive the conversational narrative attempting to steer the minds of the forgotten population in the direction of their ideologies and political aims.  They divide people into groups of victims blaming their lot on a straw man enemy.  The people – elitists – and their groups of useful idiots are an insignificant percentage of our population.  Those who try each day to set the tone or drive the narrative attempt to make them appear the majority.  It is a mirage, a potentially volatile and deadly one, but a mirage all the same.

They are failing.  They have failed over the past decade and have experienced a steady decline in political power and influence.  The forgotten of our country that largely exist paycheck to paycheck finally said enough.  This is not their America.  The social justice leveling of the playing field is a fallacy that serves to move middle class farther out of their reach.  No longer are they influenced by these self-titled groups of elites who are losing their influence over the Middle America psyche daily and in great chunks.

The more our vaunted elitists fail the more extreme they become and will become.  They refer to anyone who does not agree with them as fascists.  It shows a level of ignorance amongst these people and their indoctrinated “protestors” that is nothing short of breathtaking.  Fascism wants to silence opposing voices.  It wants to control who has the ability to do business and sale their wares in the public market place.  This is what we see every day.  It is the narrative driven by the “elites” who refer to those disagreeing with them as brownshirts.  Just for the uneducated Hollywood actors and faux journalists making these accusations, understand that it was the Nazis who sent their brownshirts to shut down opposing voices and destroy businesses and property.  This is exactly what the paid for rent-a-thugs are doing almost daily.  The day will come when a business owner or someone wearing the wrong kind of hat will declare enough.  On that sad day for America you may just get the fight you think you want.

Peaceful dissent and protest is a hallmark of American freedom.  Rioting, destroying business, and attacking people who disagree with you are hallmarks of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Communist China, North Korea… .  If you are either too stupid to understand that or you actually embrace this approach, then you are not American.  Not even close.

There is another group.  These are the subversives inside our government agencies.  These are not Presidential appointees, but career federal employees who are selected and promoted into sensitive positions because of their political connections and leanings.  These are the people who willingly commit felonies by releasing transcripts of telephone conversations captured on classified signal intelligence networks.  These are the people inside Congressional offices, NSA, DOJ, FBI, CIA, Homeland… who want to bring down our democratically elected government.  These, not the useful idiots in the streets, are the people most dangerous to our country.  These are the people who must be found and fully prosecuted under Title 18 US Code Chapter 115 Treason, Sedition and Subversive Activities.

But it is all connected.  The elitists drive the media narrative and put the punks in the streets.  The subversives inside the government give meat to the false narrative that “the Russians did it” then it just becomes a loop.  A snowball rolling down the mountain until something pops.  At least that is their hope and aim. Fortunately the indications are that they are losing this fight and will continue to lose as long as our President stands firm and takes the fight to them.

© J. D. Pendry 2017

JD’s Bunker is the ancestor of JDPendry.com.  The Bunker began in late 1997 on a free web hosting platform named Geocities.  It remained there until Geocities faded away into cyber space.  At that point the transition in my aged cranial hard drive is a little fuzzy, but Command Sergeant Major (Retired) Dan Elder offered to host the Bunker on one of his activities named Virtual Battalion Headquarters (vbnhq.com).  JD’s Bunker continued there and additionally Dan provided me a forum for JD’s Bunker on his popular NCO Website.  Circa 2005, Dan chopped his websites (minus the often politically incorrect Bunker)and much accumulated knowledge and expertise to the Army (I believe that is a correct characterization of it) as they were forming Army Knowledge Base communities which were in their infancy. Fortunately for the Army, Dan had a significant head start was an important part of that.  Dan is a pioneer in that arena.

Following all of that, I started JDPendry.com and continued JD’s Bunker.  That was going full speed with a reasonable amount of subscribers and traffic until December 23, 2008 when I was involved in a serious automobile accident.  From then through 2009, there was no activity at JDPendry.com.  Subscriber base, web traffic, etc all dwindled to nothing.  While I was about to give up on the pursuit altogether, Dan again offered to host JDPendry.com on his webhosting service at Topsarge.com now MILMEDIA.  We began anew in 2010.  Since then JDPendry.com has existed as a place for me to write some when time, my demanding day job, and life in general permitted.  Goes without saying that it was sporadic. There has never been an attempt to commercialize the site, but the times they are a changin’.  On June 30, 2016, I retired from my second career and now hope to embark on a third in the written media and maybe into other platforms as well.  Who knows? Doc tells me I have to keep the cranial hard drive busy otherwise they’ll be fitting me with a drool bib or for a coffin.

As you might imagine from 1998 to 2008 there was a large volume of material posted in JD’s Bunker addressing Army issues, social issues, politics, and Americana.  From this page, I hope to reconstruct and open a door to the old Bunker with the original archived material (except for what might have resided on some long lost floppy disc).  It provides quite a commentary on the times and offers some decent leadership lessons for those interested.

You may find the html coding amateurish and shockingly simple by today’s standards, but in the days these pages were created you were mostly self-taught and hand jammed every page.

As I complete reconstruction of each of the old Bunker Pages, I will put links here. Maybe you will find something you like. Keep an eye out, more to come. Bunker Chapel | Bunker Poetry | NCO Duties and Responsibilities

Dear President-Elect Trump:

In a few days, you will become the most powerful human on the planet, the President of the United States of America, the Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces and the uncontested leader of the free world.  Whether I like it or not, just as your predecessor was, you will be my President.  I do not believe I have to remind you of the world chaos resulting from the recent years’ lack of American leadership.  That may sound biased coming from the mouth of an American, but facts speak for themselves.  You are charged with the safety of Americans – all of us even the stupid ones – not only at home, but around the world.  There is an old military adage that says an army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep.  Be the lion you promised to be.

You were bold and bombastic in your challenge to the status quo or rather quid pro quo that exists between America’s corporate world and Washington’s political establishment.  I admit my concerns as through your life you have been quite the successful player in that world.  The real world exists outside that bubble.  The real world elected you.  Your challenges to the media are certainly long past due, but kicked dogs do bark the loudest and some bite but, do not let lies or fake news as they call it now go unchallenged.

You, “the” deal maker, have promised us big league or is it bigly?  Not sure if anyone has figured that out yet.  You promised to make us great again.  We are already great but sorely lacking America centered leadership.  That is why ideology prevalent in our own land including inside our Whitehouse believe we need to be taken down a peg or two – that we need, on a world scale, to level the socialist playing field.  It is an expression used ad nauseum during the past decade.  We do not need to level a doggoned thing. You cannot build prosperity by bringing everyone down.  Instead, we need to pull everyone up.  Everyone is potential winner waiting for arrival of good leadership.  General George Patton correctly assessed “Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser.  Americans play to win all the time. … The very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.”  No one remembers who lost the Super Bowl.  So do not worry Mr. President.  If you deliver as promised, Americans will never tire of winning and our friends around the world will never tire of it either.

You put terrorism, defense, immigration and border security, trade, medical care, education, the courts, energy, tax reform, jobs and economy onto your plate along with some things I probably failed to mention.  Most assuredly all of that is broken, but that is a big plate brother.  A promise to make America great again by fixing those issues is what got you elected.  Those are your deliverables, your personal contract with Americans.  You have to deliver big or bigly or big league.  Just remember what General Patton said, Americans will not tolerate a loser.  Ask the Democrats.

You are unquestionably a successful man albeit one who badly needs a haircut.  I am sure you faced great challenges before, but in none of them were you solely responsible for the safety and security of a nation.  On January 20, 2017 when you walk into the Oval Office as “the man”, I am certain the enormity of that will hit you like a ton of steel. I am also quite sure that you do not need any business or leadership tips from me, but that never stopped me before.

You can’t fix something that happened hundreds of years ago, a few years ago, or even a few days ago.  What happened is written into the books.  You cannot plead ignorance of it or pretend it did not happen, but you cannot fix it.  You can’t fix yesterday any more than you can predict tomorrow or ten minutes from now for that matter.  Do not refight yesterday’s battles.  That is where some would like to keep you focused.  They are losers and hope to make you one also.  So leave them behind and do not spend valuable time focused on the past.  Focus on getting it right today and going forward every day.  Or in language you may prefer.  Win.  Start fresh.  Aim to win every day.  Do that and America wins every day and just maybe we will get to see again what winning and greatness look like.

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  – James 4:13-14

Mr. President, you are but a mist.  Do not dawdle.

© 2017 J. D. Pendry

Views concerning Israel and Jews vary from person to person, culture to culture, country to country and most certainly religion to religion. My view is the Biblical one. If it ever comes down to choosing, it will be my choice to stand with Israel and defend along with Jews and Christians, our kindred faiths and shared holy land. This is a centuries old battle driven by forces and a level of pure hatred men cannot begin to comprehend. It is a war, as foretold in scripture, where the world stands aligned against Israel and now most interestingly displayed for us at the United Nations. In the Bible, there is no mention of a United States of America. There exists no accepted Biblical interpretation that I know of that identifies an entity recognized as the USA. Biblically the USA does not exist. Is it remarkable then that in the United Nations vote condemning Israel that the United States of America was silent – non-existent? If you are Christian, you are Biblically bound to Israel. Ultimately it is the people, not countries or tyrants, who will ultimately choose where to make their stand.

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:1-3

In my life, never have I seen a man who has laid bare his soul like Barack Obama. He has peeled back all layers of the facade fully exposing the true man inside. He began his flirtation with gullible Americans by declaring there is only one America, “a red, white and blue” America. Then he proceeded to divide our country so much one would have to search the pre-civil war era to find anything comparable. He declared his “Christian” faith countless times only later to mock scripture. Since there has been no election on the horizon, he has not even tried to fake it. Only God knows a person’s heart for certain, but actions are the language that usually defines what is in a man’s heart. He also, up until after his re-election, declared his support for Israel. However, his actions never supported that declaration either. I do not believe he sets much store in God’s covenant with Abraham. Someday he will have to answer up. In his actions, he has been no more faithful to Christians than he has to the Jews. For him, that leaves but few “faith” options.

It was a cowardly act waiting until the final days of a failed presidency to turn his back on Israel. When your foreign policy sets the Middle East ablaze and increases the breadth and width of Islamic terrorism, what else is left except to set them all against Israel and ultimately the USA? It is disdain magnified by an administration filled by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, bringing willy nilly Middle East “refugees” into the country, and opening our borders to all comers. This president will certainly have a legacy as will both of his Secretaries of State, one a power and money hungry hustler the other a life-long demonstrated anti-American who has now solidified his anti Israel world view by declaring in his speech, “Israel can either be Jewish or democratic, it cannot be both.” I do believe Israel is a democracy not a theocracy

Years will pass undoing the damage done by this president and his minions to our country, the entirety of the Middle East and much of the world. As a nation we are weaker than anytime I can recall – in my lifetime. That makes it our most vulnerable and dangerous time. We better be on the side of God.

© 2016 J. D. Pendry

It is not yet Christmas and here I am thinking of New Year’s resolutions. The subject was not on my mind until I saw MTV’s New Year’s resolutions for white men. To quote Dave Barry, “I swear, I ain’t making this up.” Go check it for yourself.

When you choose one group or another as the reason for your perceived failures without so much as a peek into the mirror might it be that those reasons reside within. Is it not within the realm of possibility that our failures are a product of our works? History shows for any society to lay their problems on the doorstep of a particular group of people is a precariously tread path.

“To find the cause of our ills in something outside ourselves, something specific that can be spotted and eliminated, is a diagnosis that cannot fail to appeal. To say that the cause of our troubles is not in us but in the Jews, and pass immediately to the extermination of the Jews, is a prescription likely to find wide acceptance.” – Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind

I do not imagine that an attempt at exterminating white men would be very successful, but if you listen to some of these rabid haters it is clear that if some thought they had the power they would certainly give it a try. Christians are another story. It seems we offend a lot of people these days also. For many years, there has been a concerted effort to strike us and what we believe from the American psyche and to the extent that business owners are sued and fined because they do not support homosexual marriage. Exterminating Christians? It is already being allowed across the Middle East and North Africa. Here? If we are the perceived root of problems?

I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how we turned into such a whiny, self-absorbed society. A real wuss society. I believe we have turned many of our children into neurotic messes. I read the news and look at the cover of a National Geographic magazine picturing a 9 year-old transgender. I am at a loss as to how that happens. Most certainly the child was coached up by a parent. We turn out masses of partially educated “college” graduates who are convinced that the world’s problems rest on the shoulders of white men. Did they arrive at their institution of higher education with this preconceived notion? Or, was it pumped into their partially filled brains at one of our universities few of which require any study of Western Civilization? Students arrive at these institutions largely illiterate of US history and civics and leave there not much better off. They are offended by everything, they need safe spaces, free speech zones and when the reality that much of America does not think as they do hits them they require crying rooms and counseling. Men who want to be men cannot. Masculinity is frowned upon. Women who want to be women cannot. Feminism outweighs femininity. Anyone who endorses the natural order things is scorned as a bigot – an ist or a phobic.

How about we arrive at some American resolutions? Let us be a country once again. A people united with a commonality, an allegiance to the ideals that made us great in the first place. Not divided groups vying for superiority. And make no mistake that is where we stand. That is where we allowed career politicians and activists to bring us. Right on the brink of self-destruction. Right to the point where some half-educated, half raised, brainwashed, participation trophy recipients feel the need to come up with resolutions for my life. Go to hell. Geeze, does that make me an angry white man?

Take a look in your mirror. A long hard look. Physician, heal yourself! – From Luke 4:23

© 2016 J. D. Pendry

The Cubs won the World Series, Army beat Navy, and some semblance of sanity may be creeping into Washington. Altogether it was a decent second half for 2016. My morale is high and I aim to keep it that way. It does not matter to me what holiday if any you celebrate or what deity if any you worship. None of it offends me unless your idea of celebrating includes preventing anyone else from celebrating. So have yourself a grand old time. My main concern is that the Russians may have hacked Santa’s naughty and nice list and Wikileaked it leaving lump of coal recipients across the land demanding investigations and flailing for excuses.

In our tiny house on the hill last year, we had 2 Granddaughters, a Son and Daughter-in-law, a Sister-in-law, a Niece, and Grand Niece and Grand Nephew. Pendry manor was bursting at the seams with happy noise coming from all directions. We filled practically an entire pew for the candlelight service. And Santa visited the kids, young and old, right after. My Granddaughters were hoping for a white Christmas, unfortunately the temperatures were around 70. Still, it was a special Christmas, the best in many years. The day after Christmas we took everyone to Washington DC touring . On December 27th, the temperature there was 76. There were more people at the Smithsonian and on the Mall than you would encounter there on a summer day.

I remember Christmas from my youth. My brother Jerry, may he rest in peace, and I would trudge further up the hill from our house and roam through the woods until we found a decent looking tree to take down with a crosscut saw. He generally did the work and carried the heavy end of the tree back to the house. He did not need me to tag along and slow him down, but I am sure Mom convinced him that he did and I am grateful for the memory. Not long after he was in the Army and ultimately off to Vietnam. Not so long ago, he stood final muster. Merry Christmas brother.

I also remember my Mother’s molasses stack cake with applesauce between the thin layers. Does anyone make those anymore? Then there was the first thing I always looked for beneath the tree on Christmas morning, a bag of hard candy with my name on it. Our Christmas tree always sported candy canes that disappeared a few each day as they did when our Son was home and growing up. It was something revisited when our Granddaughters were here. Although these well mannered young ladies were hesitant to take one from the tree, Grandpa talked them into it. Unfortunately they did not share my childlike passion for peppermint candy canes, but they humored me.

I was the Lone Ranger, Red Rider and Zorro. I took my six-shooters, sword and mask to school. No one called the swat team. Had they, practically every boy at Wyoming grade school would have been carted off to the pokey for toy guns and pocket knives. Along with the other half dozen boys who got the same thing bought from the same coal company store, I thought I looked rather snazzy in my Zorro hat and cape. If we were not having cap buster gunfights or playing mumbley peg we were playing tackle with a new football someone got for Christmas. Those were different times – grand but very different.

Train tracks primarily used by coal trains formed a border between our school and the rest of the neighborhood. It was from those very tracks that my little league baseball coach announced to our principle and the rest of us down on the outdoor basketball court that President Kennedy had been shot. One day a train was stopped on the tracks. During school recess, Sammy, Bucky and me crawled between and under the stopped coal cars and went to the coal company’s store to look at the toys. The result was one of my frequent visits with Mr. Stoneman’s board of education. Not sure if it was the thrill of climbing through or under the rail cars or the following whoopin that helps the memory remain clear. Certainly it is a Christmas memory worth keeping. May you recall your good times.

From Suzie-Q and me and our family to you and yours, have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

© 2016

For an extraordinarily uninformed and angry section of our country, straight white men are the scourge.

In a rambling and incoherent profanity laced social media post, a Lynchburg, Virginia female school board member laid out her straight white man theory of all that is wrong with America. Her bottom line, straight white men are the source of all evil, which if placed up front would have saved my reviewing all of her f-bomb laced and borderline psychotic offering. If you desire, you may go read the pathetic and vulgar twaddle yourself. If you have children in the Lynchburg school system, you may want to consider who you have in charge of educating your children. That goes for the remainder of our country too.

I am not exactly sure what message she is communicating by disparaging “straight white men.” But I will assure you that if the target of her rant was any group other than white men, she would be in hiding for fear of her life. To see one group singled out in society and blamed for all that is wrong is eerily reminiscent of Nazi treatment of Jews. As a product of their ignorance, it is these people who so readily label straight white men as Nazis. Do they want to march us off to concentration camps? Eradicate us from the face of the earth? From her dissertation, it appears she would enjoy turning on the showers. I am no angel and I have greatly disliked some people, but I have never felt the level of hatred for anyone or group that this woman expresses. Sadly, she is not the lone ranger. The same faux “rage” is fermenting across our media platforms and stoked by players who want to see America destroyed – straight white men and everyone else.

I am straight which means, I presume, that I align with the social and cultural norms that established the foundation of our country and which have been under constant assault for decades. I am also Christian and white. I live in redneck country, although I am not sure if rednecks and straight white men are the same evil. I respect the flag of our country and the sacrifice of the men and women who, from our beginning, have kept it flying and the rest of us free. I stand and face my flag or the music when I hear the Star Spangled Banner. I stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. I also stand for the Army Song. I believe in the right to keep and bear arms and I do. I read the Bible most days. Might I recommend it to you? The Founder’s Bible and The American Patriot’s Bible are laced with historical articles showing the influence of Judeo-Christian values on the founding of our country and our government. If you are a former member of the Lynchburg School Board I also recommend this item in case while reading your head explodes. I do not support abortion. I do believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. I believe the Ten Commandments are not the ten suggestions. I believe in our Constitutional Republic. I believe in following the law. I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic. The oath has no expiration date. In some minds, I alone make up a whole basket full of deplorables.

I served much of my life in the Army. I served with straight white men and probably some not so straight, but who chose to keep their sex lives private. What a novelty that is these days. I also served with straight white women, straight Black men and women, straight Hispanic men and women, straight Asian men and women, straight American Indian men and women and likely some not so straight from all of those groups, Atheists, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists….and probably some categories I left out. Most of them were apolitical. As serving members and Veterans, they comprise a tiny, tiny minority of Americans.

“’Never in the history of mankind has so much been owed by so many to so few.” – Winston Churchill.

Very few of the people I served with gave a rat’s rear end about your color, gender, sexual persuasion, religion or any other identifier of the day. What they cared about was a common purpose and whether or not they could depend on you when it counted. Some of them could out cuss a Lynchburg School Board member but rarely directed it at one of their brotherhood or sisterhood. I actually lived in the tolerant and accepting utopia liberals like our school board member seem to pine for. Maybe the brotherhood and sisterhood utopia I knew has been harmed by recent year’s social engineering intending to add the same divisions into the Armed Services, but I offer that you will not walk into any US military unit and find a mindset that says to improve we must eradicate some group or another unless they are a threat to what they vowed in their oaths to defend. It is a mindset that continues when one leaves the service.

Our country began losing its common purpose many years ago. Sadly, our school board member and many like her have another common purpose in mind. To achieve it, they apparently believe they need to rid the place of straight white men. Her spoken desire is for a society is actually the bigoted and intolerant one she professes to deplore. She is just too filled with hatred and stupidity to realize it.

© 2016 J. D. Pendry