Author: Poetrooper

Those conservatives and Republicans reading the cautious confessions of Democrat players that they may have actually been wrong about Bill Clinton’s sexual crimes, could be forgiven if they wrongly believe the scales have fallen at last from the eyes of the left and they can now see how mistaken they once were. While it is tempting to read these mea culpas from liberal pundits and power players within the party, one would be well advised to not go getting all dewy eyed and sentimental over the turkey table with the mistaken belief that perhaps our Democratic brethren aren’t so morally misguided as we’ve long believed. Before lowering your guard and toasting your liberal family members on their belated awakening to the devil in their midst, you should remember that these are Democrats, both operatives and media flunkies writing at the behest of those operatives, and Democrat operatives always have an ulterior motive.

In this case, and in this current heated environment of feminine outrage against male sexual predators, it’s not hard to puzzle out why the Democrat Party would seize on this opportunity to divest themselves of this finally recognized as well as some now all-too-vocal political baggage: Hillary Clinton. Yep, that’s right folks, I didn’t say Bill; I said Hill and that is precisely who is the true target of this supposedly surprise divestiture of the only real living lion of the party. It’s not about Bill or his soulless sexual predations and any sudden awakening to the reality of Republican claims of long ago; it’s that a bunch of lightbulbs went on over a bunch of Democrat heads who all suddenly came to see that in this current political atmosphere, Bill’s past predatory practices were the perfect tool for leveraging the noisy, past-her-sell-date Hillary out of the way for future elections. Their hope is that if prominent Democrats are finally acknowledging the criminality of her husband’s past acts, even the hard headed Hillary has to know that she’s done.

It doesn’t even have to be the entire party turning against Hillary because of Bill’s bad behaviors, but simply enough key Democrats speaking up with their words being expanded upon in the media by their handpicked hand puppets to convince Hillary that it’s all over for the Clinton brand, likely even Chelsea. These Democrat operators must have seen this as pure political gold to be able to finally do the right thing after all these years and acknowledge that their long time party leader is a predatory rat, doing so in a public and political atmosphere that makes their doing it perfectly safe, even laudatory, while at the same time allowing them to rid their party of this hang-around, haranguing, old has-been who refuses to shut up and fade into what will surely be her dubious history.

You know, if I were a conspiracy buff like Hillary, I might think this was all a huge left-wing plot to get her that started with throwing Harvey Weinstein under the bus. Nah, it was just pure good luck.

Crossposted at American Thinker

As some of you may know I’ve been dealing with illness for the past few months with symptoms that frequently include debilitating headaches when I become too active, physically or mentally, even something as simple as writing and organizing a few short paragraphs. That’s why you’ve been spared my usual diatribes. I’m wondering if it would be okay with Jonn and you readers for me to periodically send some of my better old reruns from my early writing days at Old War Dogs and American Thinker. Going back and reading some of them, I’m amazed at how timely some still are. For those who are unfamiliar with the now deceased Pat Conroy, check him out for while he may have been a lefty but he wrote some damned good novels about military life. I wrote this in 2006 when Conroy published an essay in which he related the soul searching he had done one night, long after the war, while staying in the home of a fellow Citadel graduate who had served as a Marine Aviator and been a wounded POW. His confession confirmed a truth that I had long asserted about the motivation of many Vietnam War protestors–they were afraid to serve in combat. His essay is definitely worth reading, especially if you’re a Vietnam vet like many here at TAH.

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Good Enough to Die For

I have just read a mea culpa by Vietnam War protestor, novelist and poet, Pat Conroy, who possesses the literary skills to express what I am willing to bet many other older American males, his former brothers at the barricades, also feel, but lack the skills and the honesty to articulate. It is left to men like the politically born again David Horowitz and novelist Conroy to speak for these old troupers of the Left’s long-haired legions, to reveal their long hidden recognition that they were possibly misguided in their protesting but more often than most will ever admit, motivated more by fear of serving in combat than by any sense of moral/political rectitude.

For that reason this is an issue that reverberates only within the ranks of male protestors of that era. For the braless, hygiene and make-up challenged young women of the movement, there existed no threat of death or disfigurement in combat, so the purity of their motives is questionable only in the intellectual, not the moral sense. They may have been naïve fools but they weren’t hiding a blushing personal cowardice behind the skirts of world socialism. This then, is an issue of character only for these now old, greying men who, like Conroy, must eventually face the moral consequences of their actions in those turbulent days.

As someone who, like most of us, has experienced events in my life where I now wish that I had shown more moral and physical courage, more honesty, and most importantly, more unquestioning love and understanding of family, I know how those failures live with you long after the memories of trying to do so many things right have dimmed. Many of my lapses involved nothing more than minor events where I failed to speak up, or stand up and be counted, or even stand up and be knocked down; but regardless of their minor nature, it is these life events that forever remain active in my psyche. In my mid-sixties now, I have learned all too well that it’s not the fights you won or even the fights you lost that keep niggling away at the edges of your conscience: it’s the fights you failed to fight when you knew damned well that you should.

Deceased author John D. MacDonald, who wrote the wonderful Travis McGee mystery series, once explained through his fictional hero, McGee, the way to make correct moral decisions and it is a simple wisdom that has stayed in my brain, but not always exemplified by my behavior, through the remainder of my life. It is nothing more than this: do the hard thing. When faced with tough choices, look to that course of action which is the one you want least to follow because it appears to be the most difficult for you; it may hurt personally, but almost always, it is the right course for you to follow for the good of others.

My belief is that a lot of Vietnam War protestors were rightfully fearful of the physical perils of combat, as were all those of us who chose to serve there; but where we tamped down those fears and continued the mission, they wrongfully used a contrived moral outrage against the war as convenient cover to conceal their cowardice. To buttress that theory one simply has to look at how the huge, angry protests diminished, and ultimately disappeared in a remarkably short time once Congress ended the military draft. As young, draft-age men, all those angry protestors were able at the time to righteously rationalize away their true motivation until Congress stole their alibi, and only now, with the awareness and self-accounting that comes with age, are they, like Pat Conroy, facing the truth of their personal cowardice. Sadly, too late, they have come to realize the truth of Conroy’s most perceptive quote:

“America is good enough to die for even when she is wrong.”

I believe those are words worthy of being carved into every war memorial in America. And I am thankful that I and all my brothers and sisters at arms who served then, and those who serve now, possessed then and now, but even in our callow youth, the intrinsic wisdom to recognize that truth. All Americans must die, but those who understand this fundamental reality about this very unique nation will die with their chins held just a few degrees higher than those who didn’t realize it when they should have, but now do, like Conroy and his legions, and sadly, those young people of today who still do not.

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* Old War Dogs

The Republican Party got its butt kicked Tuesday night in the Virginia governor’s race and to hear the Democrat media tell it, it was the bell tolling for thee, you disgusting deplorable dullards who are supporters of that revolting MAGAtt in the White House. But mind you now, we are seeing all these demonstrations of extravagant electoral glee from the very same folks who were all but suicidal a year ago this time when their shoo-in winner got a very unexpected shoe in her wide electoral fanny. Just as they were excessively overwrought then so are they now far too giddily optimistic regarding the portents of these recent results. To hear them tell it, one could easily believe that the 2018 elections are all but a done deal for the Dems and that we deplorables may as well stay home on Election Day 2018.

Actually, I believe that’s what happened in Virginia yesterday: the Republican establishment ran one of their favorites, an unfortunately lackluster lobbyist who was so uninspiring he couldn’t manage a simple majority in the party primary, pulling in only 43% percent of that vote. What percentage of that other 57% do you suppose stayed home yesterday rather than bother to go vote for this unexceptional party hack they had already rejected in the earlier race?

The Democrats, on the other hand, fielded a candidate of considerable accomplishment, a graduate of Virginia Military Institute who then went on to medical school and service as an Army doctor for eight years. He then became a practicing physician, medical professor and a hospice medical director. That last would be enough to make me consider crossing over and voting for him simply because I know it requires a special kind of medical empathy to manage the end of life medical care of terminally ill patients. Mind you, that military service counted as well. Virginia has one of the largest active military and retiree populations in the nation. I’d wager many of those usual Republican military voters either crossed over and voted for the former military doctor or stayed home.

Consider the folly of running a Washington lobbyist who’s spent his entire life in politics as a fence-sitting, moderate Republican against a formidable candidate possessing a quite admirable curriculum vitae. You probably couldn’t find a better example of Elite Republican Establishment stupidity than in that particular example of candidate selection. Unfortunately it not only cost the party a governorship, the down-ballot effects were significant as well, likely giving the Dems control of the Virginia legislature. This is a not unexpected political shift, it’s been coming for some time as the burgeoning wealthy Virginia suburbs abutting the nation’s capital expand their influence over the state’s governance. If you look at a county voting map it is evident that urban Virginia is increasingly blue while the vast majority of rural Virginia remains conservative. Considering that population concentration around D.C., it shouldn’t be surprising if Virginia becomes another Blue State lining America’s eastern shores, joining Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and so forth.

As I write this I’m hearing some television pundit pronouncing that this election was a profound rejection of Donald Trump and everything he stands for. No, it wasn’t. It was a classic example of piss poor politicking by the inept, elite, establishment leadership. So buck up and get back out there all you deplorables and let’s see if we can kick some damned sense into this Stupid Party that is the only hope we have to stop the madness of political correctness and racial pandering.

Crossposted at American Thinker

As a fifty-year follower of the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys being my team, and someone who waits eagerly each year for the season to start, I really thought it would be like going cold turkey on a booze addiction to ever give up my favorite sport. This year, adding to the anticipation, there was a brand new 65-inch Sony sitting just a few feet from the recliners and the waiting fireplace. I was set for the season.

And then those foolish young black players decided imprudently to follow the league’s biggest loser in his flag- and anthem-disrespecting protest against supposed oppression of blacks in America. Like many in the NFL fan base, I was initially angered but unsure what to do about it. My uncertainty didn’t last long – on week three, when my Boys linked arms and knelt prior to the game, with owner, Jerry Jones, right in the middle, this ol’ Cowboy fan changed channels and hasn’t watched anything from the NFL since.

I confess that there have been times when I was tempted, like the boozer in rehab, to take just one little taste, but I have managed to remain steadfast. Now, as we are treated to weekly images of evermore empty NFL stadiums and declining television ratings, I no longer have to fear falling off the wagon, for just this very morning I read this:

“Well, I think it’s deeply troubling that the president would be attacking black athletes for expressing their opinions peacefully,” [Hillary] Clinton told Sirius XM host Zerlina Maxwell. “Protest is a part of the American way of life and it’s something that I’m very proud of whether I agree or disagree peaceful protest is part of what has helped us make progress, learn more, be a better country over time.”

“I just couldn’t help thinking that he has attacked these black athletes for peacefully protesting, but he doesn’t really attack white supremacists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klanners, or Vladimir Putin, who interfered in our election and I think it’s all part of his political calculation and I really think it’s bad for the country. He wants to set people against each other, he wants to divide us,” she added.

Yep, that Clinton, hateful Hillary, the despised doyenne of defeat, the lame, lying lioness of losing, that selfsame, swamp-side elitist who last year looked me square in the eye through my television screen and contemptuously sneered that I, me, a poor kid, combat veteran, college graduate on the G.I. Bill with a successful career and retirement, an American success story, am a deplorable human being, has just given her blessing to this Democrat-induced racial cancer growing within the bowels of the NFL.

Well, folks, that’s good enough for me. If Cankles is for it, then it goes without saying that I am dead-set against. If liberals wanted to inject progressive politics into football, they just did so with a partisan turkey baster, and in a way that firms up this conservative patriot’s resolve like nothing before. If Hillary supports anything political, I’m viscerally opposed – a response, I suspect, is widespread among the largely conservative white male fan base, her weakest demographic. So if any of you need additional resolve in turning your back on the NFL and its gutless owners, remember that Hillary is in full support of those players kneeling while our national anthem is played.

Once again, twice in less than a year, Hillary has made decision-making easier for me.

Crossposted at American Thinker

One of the huge problems in fighting asymmetric wars such as America has been doing now for decades is that the advantage a major power has in expensive, sophisticated weaponry can be negated in seconds with an inexpensive, primitive weapon, with the rocket-propelled grenade being the classic example. RPGs have taken out everything from helicopters to heavy tanks. Now, according to Global Security.org, the Army is doing something about it by doing a test refitting its main battle tank, the M1A2 Abrams, with a new advanced Israeli defensive system.

The US military will be installing the Israeli-built Trophy Active Protection System (APS) meant to intercept and destroy incoming missiles or rockets on their M1A2 Abrams tanks. This will make the US military the only other besides the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to use the defensive system.

The Trophy system consists of a quartet of radar antennae and fire-control radars that detects incoming projectiles, such as anti-tank guided missiles and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), and then destroys them with a blast like that from a shotgun.

It is a “hard kill” system, meaning it protects the vehicle by destroying the projectile; this is opposed to a “soft kill” system that interferes with the missile’s guidance and redirects it. Soft kill devices are useless against the simple RPGs popular with militant groups such as Daesh.

Jointly developed by two Israeli-owned state corporations, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the Trophy is the only combat-proven APS in the world.

The Pentagon made this decision after an “urgent material” request, they said in a press release on Thursday. Each system costs an estimated $350,000, and it will be first deployed to one of the US Army’s 14 Armor Brigade Combat Team’s squadron of 28 M1A2 SEPv2 variants, a nearly $10 million contract. It may then be added to other squadrons later on if it impresses, the Pentagon said.

Anti-materiel weapons such as RPGs have been a perennial thorn in the side of the US military and its allies. A $2,000 RPG launcher firing a $500 grenade can destroy or disable a $9 million Abrams tank. Over the course of 2014, the Iraqi Army lost 100 of the 140 Abrams the Americans had sold them in the fight against Daesh.

That last paragraph explains exactly why this is a good economical move by the Army. Even a disabled tank can cost millions to retrieve from the battle area and return to a maintenance depot capable of making the necessary repairs, so just a few such “saves” can more than justify the cost of this program. Other active protection systems, like the Iron Curtain, are being used to protect other military vehicles. Let us hope more and better protection systems are in the works to protect these vehicles and their crews.

Crossposted at American Thinker