Category: Politics

Some tunes capture a time and place (or places) perfectly. IMO, this one is such a tune. Even someone who grew up in a different, non-Northern part of the world like myself can see that.

Yeah, it’s dated. But it’s still nice – and for those of us old enough to remember the song’s time and the events the song references, it brings back memories. Enjoy.

The song’s original video can be viewed here. It’s fairly well done, and includes some imagery that simply fits. I used the other version above as it’s a bit rarer, and the sound quality is excellent.

Some 20+ years after the original, a US band (Sugarland) did a remake; you may prefer it. Though it’s nice, I have to say I still prefer the original. YMMV.

Back to our normal TAH programming.

Politico published this story under this headline earlier today, calling Ben Carson a liar

The New York Times joined in;

Politico changed their headline after the internet beat the living crap out of their story

What happened was Carson wrote in his autobiography that he met some Medal of Honor recipients and General William Westmoreland when Carson was with his Junior ROTC unit in Detroit and there was a big parade and a dinner afterward. He says that he was offered an appointment to West Point with a full scholarship. From the Times

Mr. Carson has recounted the episode of being offered a scholarship at various points in telling his triumphant personal story. (Technically, West Point does not offer scholarships; it is free to attend.)

In his recent book, “You Have a Brain,” Mr. Carson described how he decided which college to attend: “I still had the scholarship offer from West Point as a result of my R.O.T.C. achievements.”

More recently, in a Facebook post in August responding to a question, he wrote that he had been “thrilled to get an offer from West Point.”

“But I knew medicine is what I wanted to do. So I applied to only one school. (it was all the money I had). I applied to Yale and thank God they accepted me. I often wonder what might have happened had they said no.”

Since Carson was one of the top students in the city-wide JROTC program, more than likely, folks at the parade and dinner tried to recruit Carson for West Point and in the mind of a high school student it was an “offer”, but, of course, since that’s all they have the media pounced on this, claiming that West Point doesn’t offer scholarships. Yeah, um actually they do – attendance at West Point doesn’t cost the students or their families anything, exactly like a scholarship. In their ads, they even call it a scholarship (thanks to Gabriel Malor for the below photo);

But the bottom line should be that Carson admits that he never applied to West Point, so he was never accepted, so what is the lie, exactly? A paragraph in a book? After all of the lies that we’ve been told in the last seven or eight years, this is the one the media wants to investigate? After the lies Bill Clinton told about dodging the draft when he was in college, they want to look into this story?

If this story was about another candidate of color eight years ago, someone would be called racist for even bringing it up – which is why the media has hardly glanced at the background of the current President.

With increasing forensic evidence pointing to an in-air explosion as the cause of the crash of the Russian airliner over the Sinai, the taunting claim from ISIS that it is responsible for the disaster is becoming ever more convincing. Coming just weeks after the major Russian escalation of its military role in support of the Assad regime in Syria, it is not difficult to understand the motivation for the terrorist event. But it is a different matter when trying to fathom the wisdom of attacking Russian sun-seekers, vacationers returning to their northern motherland from a tropical vacation, innocent citizens far separated from their nation’s geopolitical activities. It is a bloody provocation the instigators well may come to regret.

In the few years that ISIS has been extant, there have been many occasions when its members’ behaviors have been brutally bizarre and unnecessarily provocative – symbolic pokes in the eye of Western sensibilities – but they have thus far refrained from such a terrorist attack on American citizens. Whether or not such an attack would bring any sort of meaningful response from the clueless and neutered puppy in our White House, there should be little doubt that poking the Russian bear in such brutal fashion will draw a disproportionate response that will result in the deaths of far more ISIS followers than the number of Russian civilians blown to dust over the Sinai. And it is quite easy to predict that the Russian response will not be limited in any way as a bow to humane Western sensibilities.

It is glaringly obvious to the world, except perhaps to the wildly unpredictable ISIS leadership, that Vladimir Putin is no Barack Obama. It is not a matter of whether but rather when the Russian leader will take his revenge upon ISIS for those innocent vacationers. It is not difficult to assume that the Russian response will be sufficiently disproportionate so as to provide a memorable lesson, not just to ISIS, but to the myriad terrorist organizations that might consider testing Russian mettle.

If I may be so bold as to offer a suggestion to Colonel Putin, why not bring in Russian strategic bombers and carpet-bomb the entire ISIS operational area until nothing remains except smoking sand, a strategy I have long been urging our own ineptly commanded military to pursue? Such a response might make future terrorist planners consider options other than killing innocent Russian civilians. Let them learn the wisdom of neither poking the Bear nor killing her cubs.

Crossposted at American Thinker

Bacon makes everything taste better. It still tastes good even after the World Health Organization decided this food staple is giving me colorectal cancer. Now I do not eat bacon every day, but on most mornings scrambled eggs with cheese and a few strips of bacon get me going. That and copious amounts of coffee, which I hear is also bad for me but they have lain off that one since walking around with a coffee cup in your hand became a fashion accessory. Yes, even the salad gets some real bacon in it. Lettuce counteracts the effects of the bacon much in the same way that a diet soda pop counteracts the effects of a double cheeseburger and fries.

I have undoubtedly consumed tons of bacon, processed meat and red meat. Just last year I had my periodic colorectal cancer screening. The Doc told me it looks so good up in there that I did not need come back and see him again for ten years. You would think that something calling itself the World Health Organization could find better uses for its time. Apparently I am now 18 percent more likely to get cancer than a vegan. I also like hot dogs with chili and onions, bratwurst, smoked sausage, steak, ribs, cheeseburgers, cheese steaks, and fried bologna sandwiches and now after all of these years I learned I am giving myself cancer. Well dip me in a vat of five alarm chili.

Do you recall some years ago when another of these studies determined that artificial sweeteners used in soda pop also caused cancer. The tests showed it caused cancer in lab rats. Not long after this report came out it was determined that for an equivalent amount of that given to the rats, a human would have to consume about 7 cases of diet soda a day for I do not recall how many years, but it was a bunch. Another dilemma. Diet pop gives you cancer sugary pop gives you diabetes.

It is beginning to look like the only reasonable course of action is a diet of organically grown lettuce and bottled water. But if we all pursue that course the methane levels will become dangerously higher and spontaneous human combustion could become a real problem. Not to mention global warming. Just consider the poor polar bears. I am not taking on the guilt burden for wiping out the polar bear population so I will have to take my chances with bacon. Thick sliced, thin sliced, maple cured, hickory smoked and fried in its own aromatic grease. Ten years from now I will re-visit the roto-rooter doc and see how I am doing.

For those of you that might be in a panic about this and have probably thrown out the bacon and made your cancer screening appointments I want you to think about some things. The possibilities that you might die in your sleep increases a hundred fold every night when you go to bed. Do you know the staggering amount of people who are seriously injured by falling at home? Well, you certainly increase your chances of being one of them just by getting out of bed every morning. By venturing outside the likelihood that you will be run over by a garbage truck or bus increases tremendously. And in your car? My goodness what if the seatbelt fails or the air bag explodes in your face while you are driving down the interstate at 70 miles per hour! Maybe you should not get out of bed or get into it for that matter and stay in the house. Never leave it.

I think I will have a double bacon cheeseburger, chili cheese fries and a large diet pop. Then I will partake of the next thing most certainly to kill me. The presidential debates.

© 2015 J. D. Pendry American Journal All Rights Reserved.

On 16 April 2015, PVT Joshua Daniel Phillips traveled to the JRTC at Fort Polk, LA. Along with about 2,000 others from the 82nd Airborne Division, he participated in a night mass-tactical jump.

PVT Phillips didn’t make it. His parachute was damaged during the jump; he did not deploy his reserve. He died on impact.

The Army Times has an article detailing the findings of the official Report of Investigation concerning the incident. It appears to reveal errors by the personnel running the jump, as well as some judgement regarding the jump on the part of senior leadership that might be second-guessed.

But in the main, absent cancelling the jump entirely my take is that this unfortunate incident appears to be something that was not reasonably foreseeable, and beyond reasonable control. Another jumper became towed. That jumper’s rucksack came loose, and struck Phillips’ parachute as Phillips exited, severely damaging it (and possibly knocking Phillips unconscious). It was Phillips’ first night jump; either inexperience or being knocked out caused Phillips not to deploy his reserve. Hell, even an experienced jumper might conceivably have missed the fact that they had a badly damaged parachute during a particularly dark night jump. And if you’ve been knocked unconscious, well, . . . .

The Army has instituted some new control measures, intended to ensure jumpers get more experience before making their first night mass tactical jump. Even so, I’m not sure those new control measures would have made much difference here. Sometimes, reality bites – hard – and things simply go badly wrong in a way nobody foresaw. And even experienced jumpers sometimes make mistakes.

It’s sad that a fine young man died. But there’s a good reason that being on jump status qualifies an individual for hazardous duty pay. It’s inherently dangerous. While the dangers involved can be reduced, they can’t be completely removed.

Rest in peace, PVT Phillips. Rest in peace.

I hate politicians almost as much as I hate the Mets and I don’t even know a Met. It is a friendly kind of sports hatred. It started in 1969. That is when the Cubs went from a 9 game lead in September to finishing 8 games behind the Mets. They were so sure of themselves, they even had their own song, Hey Hey Holy Mackerel. Now, it is the Mets again. Just proving there are no sure things. It is just baseball and I do hate politicians more.

Suzie-Q saved her mums from the first frost of the season. With a short warming trend, they have at best another week or two. Then they will take up residence in the compost pit. I wished I could say the same about the presidential campaign season which seems never ending these days. Everything is so politicized that anything a person says or does is evaluated for its political impact. Nothing is looked upon for its value to solving any of our country’s problems. If it was not so disheartening and dangerous, it would be funny. Saturday Night Live does politics. It is never ending. Just step back and take a look and be honest about what you see. There seems little interest in righting the ship of state and much interest in getting your guy or gal into the Whitehouse. And it matters little if they are proven liars and charlatans. It is a sad state.

We hear it all of the time. That is the expressed trust that when Election Day rolls around the American people will do the right thing. When it comes to national politics sadly, most Americans are ignorant. Ignorance can be corrected over time by educating people or on the other hand the same education system can breed ignorance of our history, government, and political system. When you add ignorance to a healthy percentage of stupid people, the problem is compounded. And you cannot fix stupid. One can be informed and still stupid. So if a real candidate presents him or herself to the American people, he or she must overcome the politically ignorant, the hopelessly stupid and the one thing that is never talked about seriously – vote fraud. Also, you must add the media. Among them you also find ignorance and stupidity, but in these times they are guided by ideology rather than journalistic integrity. Lastly, there is the most pitiful hurdle to overcome – dereliction of duty by the 50 percent of Americans who do not vote.

The tree rodents are digging up my yard. You can see little potholes all over the landscape. They seem to be forever in search of their buried nuts. They just cannot seem to remember where they buried them. There were some nut shells lying on the front porch steps. It rained on them and left walnut stains on the concrete. I was trying to clean that off and Suzie-Q asked me what it was. I told her it appears a squirrel was sitting on our front steps playing with his nuts. Yes men, I got the look. To which I responded with a, “what?” That is the kind of plain talk that would nowadays undoubtedly disqualify me from public life.

If there is any single entity that is the most harmful to our country, I would have to say that it is career politicians. They all sing the same tune, but it lacks rhythm. It is robotic and without sprit. It is the save the middle class good paying jobs jingle. Television political ads are juvenile at best. Here in Wild and Wonderful, politicians want to be seen hugging a coal miner these days. It is just getting tougher for them to locate one that actually has a job. But, there is that promise to fight for those good paying coal jobs even when the politicians are the prime reason those jobs went away. Pure politicians do not care about the middle class. They are focused on the donor class and hoping they can rely on ignorance, stupidity and a little fraud tossed in for good measure to pull them over the finish line. But, this time around save the victory song. There are no sure things.

© 2015 J. D. Pendry American Journal All Rights Reserved