Intruder in the midst

I didn't serve in any of our Armed Services. I was a victim of a conspiratorial fluke of calendar and clock. Just a few ticks of father time, who had, apparently been drinking copiously, an and lost track of a few ticks and tocks of the celebratory revolution of New Year's Clicks, and more precisely, clocks.

Thirty-Seven Thousand, four hundred fifty-five of them, not to put too fine a point on it. Well, since we're being mostly brutally honest, it was actually thirty-seven thousand, four hundred fifty-four of them occurring on the first day of January, in the year 1953 AD (Anno Domini), or as they refer to it now, CE for Christian Era.

But the real culprit in this tragic comedy of errors, I suppose, is me. I was due to make my grande entrée sometime of my choosing during the week of on 1st December, 1952. Being rather comfortable right where I was, and seeing no compelling reason to reconsider my living arrangements, I elected to remain and wait for a formal eviction notice.

Which brings us to a little known, but quaint bit of ridiculously non-negotiable Union County, New Jersey law. Which in cooptation with the first thirty-one million, five hundred thirty-five thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine seconds of Nineteen fifty-two, conspired together to change the course of my not yet life technically begun life. You see, when the big glittery ball in Times Square, New York City miraculously feel from Dick Clarke’s Christmas tree without smashing and stopped falling at that final moment when tic number (pardon me while I transition to numerals to save time) 31,535,999 to tock number 31,536,000 and once more to tick number 31,536,001, it simultaneously became tick number 1 of 1953. Precisely 37,454 ticks later, on the 37,455th tick, or 10:14 A.M., 1953 A.D., I sucked in my first belligerent breath of air.

Now that’s all well and good a far as that goes, my mother was glad to have done with me (boy was she in for a shock!) But my series of annoying misadventures was just beginning. To begin with, everything after midnight, December 31st, 1952 required that my January first birthdate placed me in a new school year. That meant that when all my friends headed off to kindergarten, I stayed home where Mom taught me one-on-one for a year little things reading, writing both block and cursive, and how to type on an old Smith-Corona typewriter that weighed more than I did; all of which meant I started Kindergarten with a 5th grade reading level and 4th grade everything else.

So what does this have to do with Veteran’s Day yesterday?  My parents were offered to advance me three different times. Each time they said no. Because of this. I still had 6 months of high school left when I turned 18 and registered for the Vietnam draft. I was given an educational deferment.   That meant I just signed an agreement to be drafted until I was 36. They Neglected to tell me that part. I also drew a very high number. I’m talking over 320 out of 365 high. It only came that close once – It would have hit two weeks after Mr. Nixon signed the papers to end the Vietnam draft. Talk about charmed! Exceedingly, abundantly blessed!

An old hymn comes to mind: 

‟ Be not dismayed whate'er betide,

God will take care of you;

beneath his wings of love abide,

God will take care of you.

Refrain:

‟God will take care of you,

through every day, o'er all the way;

he will take care of you,

God will take care of you.”

For me, Viet Nam came and went. And Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. Now we are waging a war against Islamic terrorists brought to our shores by our own President, and the call to arms has never com. From Day one it would seem God has had a different plan and purpose for me. My brothers are Veterans. My brother in law, sisters in law, step son, son in law, father, uncles, step father, and even my wife are Veterans, and two of my nephews are in the Service. One is Active, one is a Vet. It would appear my job is to support them and thank them.

Last night at Olive Garden and all day yesterday on Facebook, I did just that, today is the day after, and I’m using my blog to tell you about last night. It says tonight because I started that part first. For all of you – my family, my friends, the veterans I was honored to bread with. Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. God Bless you/

I was surrounded by you tonight. Olive Garden had a special deal of dinner entre for free for active duty Servicemen and women and 10% off for their accompanying family members. As the Accompanying Spouse/Family Member, I was given the great honor to dine in the presence of members of every branch of service and every war from WWII to the current conflict, including a former Navy Seal now member of Homeland Security.

 He was a shaved head black man not unlike Sam Hannah (LL Cool J) of NCIS-LA but that was about where the resemblance ended. Well, that and biceps the size of my thigh! I did ask how 'former seal Sam Hannah pull off the part’ and he shrugged his shoulders, waggled his hand and simply said "well, you know - TV". I got to welcome home almost a dozen Nam Vets, and the biggest thrill of all - shaking hands with a WWII Army supply clerk who never left stateside. World War II!

My only regret was not being able to thank each of them who were there tonight individually. Men and women who, as the MEME goes, handed the government of the United States of America a blank check with their signature on it. I sat in the presence of the lucky ones - the ones who got the cancelled check back stamped PAID IN FULL.

They all carried in their pockets the memories of the friends who came home in a box, or didn't come home at all. Yeah. They were there tonight, too. You could sense them singing the regimental marching songs, or whatever was popular - from 1775 to 2015: 240 years of drinking songs and marching songs and don't forget me when I'm gone songs that we'll all sing on ‘til Johnny comes marching home.

And for one night, under a diamond studded milky way when the moon lay low, looking for cover I had the great honor to sit in their midst.

You are the real heroes, each and every one of you.

Thank you and God Bless you, and God Bless America.

It's time for a Tea Party, America

The United States of America was never intended to operate as Government by democracy. The framers always intended that our great nation function as a Constitutional Republic.  Great Britain is a Socialist Parliamentary Democracy with a functional mostly Ceremonial Monarchy.  The Netherlands is much the same. I lived in the Netherlands for some time, and from the practical day to day operation and how it affects people and things, on the surface it’s not much different.  The people elect local parliamentary ministers to the House of Commons. They meet at Parliament to elect the Prime minister. Generally speaking, and in the simplest of terms, because there is, or can be, more to it than this, the party (there are over 400 registered parties in the UK) that wins the most seats in the House of Commons elects the Prime Minister from, generally speaking, their own party. Some circumstances may require a coalition between parties to achieve both the goals of selecting the PM AND spearheading legislation

This is precisely and specifically the format of government that the framers of our Constitution sought to, and worked so carefully and tirelessly to avoid! Think Taxation Without Representation! Think Boston Tea Party! The only voice the average Joe has in the selection of their national leader is to vote his party and hope (1) they win, and (they have enough clout to get their guy elected on the floor of Parliament.

We, on the other hand, are a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC.  The shorthand explanation is we don’t answer to the Government, they answer to us. That means the People have the not just the CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY, but inherent with that AUTHORITY the CONSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITY - and more – the CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATION to TEAR DOWN AND REPLACE ANY ADMINISTRATION THAT PLACES ITAELF ABOVE THE CONSTITUTION!

Our Problem is that we have as a nation become lazy! We expect the very same legislators who have become fat and wealthy writing laws that benefit them and made them rich to now write laws that will effectively take all those wonderful perks and protections away from them! It isn’t going to happen!

It’s time to wake up, America. It’s time to toss the tea in the harbor and take back our America!

Now on eBay - White House Invitations - Just learn to Lie!

Mr. President, I understand the confusion. I really do. You claim to be a Christian, yet when you quote from the Bible, you do so in mockery and out of context. When you do quote scripture reverently, you preface your quotation with the words : "As the Holy Qor'an says...".

You announced almost from your first day in office your intention to make this nation, founded and framed on a Judaeo -Christian ethic, no longer a Christian nation, but one of the largest Muslim nations in the world. It appears unconstitutional sidestepping of existing constitutional law may very well allow that to be the case if your traitorous policies aren't stopped before your term is completed.

Perhaps your most nefarious insult to the people of our country: your regular selective forgetfulness regarding specifically which nation state in this global economy is the one of which you are president, as demonstrated by your persistent bias towards all peoples and things not American. Your preference for Iran over America in treaty talks is treasonous. Likewise your talks with Cuba. You negotiate for a traitorous deserter like Bergdhal in order to release Islamic Terrorists - Yes, Mr. President, even though you refuse to say the words, they are terrorists, and leave Americans held captive in Iran out of your treaty talks there. And your bias towards Islam sickens me. You act like the child who covers its eyes when frightened because of a child's unfounded, immature belief that if he can't see the monster, the monster can't see him. This is reality, Mr. President. That thinking only works for left wing liberal democrats, journalists, politicians, and naive students and entitlement voters who cast their ballot - mostly for you - from the grave. In the real world, covering your eyes doesn't really make the monsters go away. Just look in any mirror, you'll see what I mean. You still cast a reflection! I turn on the TV and you, Eric Holder, Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, John Boehner, John McCain, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Joe Biden - you're all still here, still breaking your campaign promises, still lying to the American people, still breaking your oaths of office, still dismantling the Constitution one line at a time, still trying to start a race war, still giving Good, decent hard working American citizens who happen to be mixed race, white, black, Muslim, and actual Christians look bad. There's even a word for people of color used disparagingly, but face it - it's an insult to them to hang that label on you, too.

Last week a muslim student came to school with a science project that was mistakenly, but properly due to the appearance of the electronics, stopped and taken into custody. It wasn't, but could have been a bomb. Not because the student was Muslim, but because of the configuration of electronics in the case he was carrying. Where our children are concerned, you err on the side of caution and safety.
Unless you're a practitioner of Islam. If a white kid chews a piece of pastry into the vague shape of a pastry gun, he gets expelled. If a Muslim kid brings an extra curricular electronics project to school, hidden in a metal case, is counseled by his science teacher to take it home and not show it to anyone else - because the teacher knows what it could be mistaken for and how other students and teachers predictably could - and did - react, the kid starts flashing it around. Why? He knows he's Islam and all he has to do is start screaming "religious persecution" and your son is suddenly - predictably - Ahmed instead of Trayvon, and you extend the belligerent kid (Hmmm - perhaps he is your son after all) an invitation to the White House. Not because it was such a spectacular electronics project. Radio Shack had electronics kits to make clocks in their stores 40 years ago and sold the clock young Ahmed dismantled and repackaged in that cheap case - repackaged, not invented - 30 years ago. you can buy it on eBay now. It wasn't even an assigned project. You invited him because his name was Ahmed. You invited him because he is Muslim. Period. Ahmed invented that clock in the same sense that Al Gore invented the internet, or Al Sharpton's ever going to be prosecuted for income tax fraud ot the birth certificate bearing your name is genuine.

Thursday, a Florida school bus driver lost control of his bus, which careened on its side into a deep neighborhood lake known to contain 8-10 foot alligators. One of the people on the bus was Nicolas Sierra, a member of the safety patrol. A KID! And his instincts kicked in, too. "I crawled through a window and started pulling kindergartners out," said Sierra told local police who arrived on the scene.
8-10 foot alligators, Mr President. A school bus on its side in a deep lake perilously close to sliding deeper into the lake with 27 kids on the bus. And a middle school safety patrol member has only one thought. Get the kindergartners out! He's not thinking about alligators. He's not watching it on TV screen from a secure bunker as you did Benghazi. He's in the water pulling children put of danger.

When does Nicolas Sierra get his invitation, Mr. President? Or does a kid ignoring the danger to life and limb to himself; putting his own life at risk to save the lives of other children only mean something in the Obama administration if you're an illegal alien, a big contributor, or best of all, MUSLIM? Well, Mr. Christian President who removes his shoes to enter an Islamic mosque to pray?
Well Mr, President? Nicola Sierra? Have your staff contact Charles Billi the WTSP 10News CBS affiliate who covered the near tragedy, The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office or some of the parents from Mary Bryant Elementary school whose children this brave young man saved, and some of whom were there in the water with this heroic child, NOT showing preferential treatment to anyone?

If - A Poem of Remembrance for those brave souls still out there

If

By David Roth

©18 September, 2015

In Honor and Memory of those who went off to serve

But didn’t come Home

If somehow by the grace of God

you came home…

On 8 of March in ‘sixty-five

The Ninth Marine Brigade arrived

An ‘expeditionary’ Force

You came boots dry on China Beach

Just south, Da Nang within your reach

Did anyone survive? Is there one yet alive?

Thirty-five Thousand “Few and Proud”

Their M-14’s and jungle shroud,

Wade through the most surreal crowd

of tourists snapping pictures

while Vietnamese girls string leis

on the symbols of the eve of destruction?

If somehow by the grace of God

you came home…

to see the long black wall

most frightening of all

your name is chiseled there.

 It’s not there in the typical way

Of fingers smudged in charcoal gray

No, there’s no hint of closure,

Nothing you can take away

See, the book says you’re still missing

POW

M

I

A

If it matters, really matters

That you finally made it home

But there’s no one who remembers

But the writer of this tome

Or that thirty years ago they shouted

“Baby killer!” “Go away!”

If things might have been different

From that shower of orange Tox,

If they’d looked a little harder, little longer

If you could see your wife and son from

Outside this flag draped box.

If somehow by the grace of God

you came home…