Friday, September 26, 2014

Playing at War

Once again Americans are being duped by our leaders. They send million dollar missiles to partially destroy oil refineries so that they can be restarted at some later time assuming friendly people take possession. How long do you think it will take for the terrorists to re-start? In a real war you put aside all considerations about civilian casualties and carpet bomb areas where these thugs are located. The B-52 would be my weapon of choice. We also send million dollar missiles to blow up one of our old Humvees that was abandoned by the Iraqi Army at the first opportunity. I don’t know how the press is able to show videos of columns of vehicles heading down the road to capture another town but there they are. I would pummel them with the Gatling guns of our superb A-10 fighter bombers. You know the one they want to discard on the rubble heap of history. Like in WWII strafe the columns and send them to their God. No plane can do it better at minimal cost. Just food for thought. Jack B. Walters September 26, 2014

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Death of a King- a book report

By; Tavis Smiley (The real story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Final Year) The story of his final year on earth is very sad. Here was a man who dedicated his life to improve the conditions for, not only black people but other minorities as well. He had endured many trials along the way including near death experiences, beatings, stoning, imprisonment and deprivation. As a result, together with President Lyndon Johnson he saw monumental legislation passed including the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. With these two pieces of legislation the groundwork was established to allow Negroes (as they were referred to at that time) to be allowed entrance into schools, restaurants, hotels and employment where before local laws had forced them to accept segregated facilities. It is difficult to believe that this was the country they were living in during the 60’s. That is not to say that all is well and good today. The rage demonstrated recently in Ferguson, Mo. shows that equality still eludes them regardless of legislation passed. This book starts on April 4, 1967. He delivers an impassioned address condemning the Vietnam War and in so doing incurs the wrath of L.B.J. Where before they had been partners, now they were antagonists. It doesn’t clearly state if L.B.J. turned J. Edgar Hoover loose on him but at about this time Hoover had King under constant surveillance including phone taps and later actually committing acts of sabotage to destroy King’s ability to accomplish his objectives. His staff, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, were opposed to him departing from racism to ending the war. They believed it would weaken their progress and alienate the President. They were right but King would not be persuaded. He thought of the Vietnamese as other minorities being killed as being symbolic of America’s continuing to be driven by the white culture which placed all others of color in an inferior position. This is a statement that in my opinion cannot be denied. All through his last year King is increasing left with diminished support for his non-violent crusade. Militant leaders like Jesse Jackson and Adam Clayton Powell wanted to force the issue. As a result riots broke out in a number of cities that summer resulting in death and destruction, everything King had tried to not let happen. Everywhere King went he was heckled and derided as a failure. I found that to be tragic. In my own book entitled “The Last Angry Man” in the article entitled “What If-A Look At History As It Might Have Been” dated March 2003, I wrote “Another man of peace, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. He was making great strides in closing the gap between the races with his policy of non-violence. After his death radical, hate filled black leaders filled the void, and we are as a result fearfully divided today”. He was in constant motion the entire year flying here and there to give speeches. His current goal was to have thousands of poor people of any color descend on Washington in the spring to petition Congress to alleviate the suffering of poor people. He was diverted many times to visit Memphis in support of the striking sanitation workers who were on strike for better wages and benefits which the City leaders were not willing to grant. On his final visit he was struck down by an assassin’s bullet while leaning over the balcony of his room talking to Jackson and others. His last words were “Make sure they play Precious Lord, Take My Hand in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty”. Then the shot rings out. The date was April 4, 1968. His speech the previous night was the most memorable, in my opinion. He ended by saying, “Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I have been to the mountaintop, and I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I am not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people, will get to the promised land! And I am so happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!” What more can be said. Jack B. Walters September 27, 2014

Friday, September 12, 2014

What Money Can't Buy- a book report

The Moral Limits of markets By; Michael J. Sandel This was recommended to me by a friend. When he mentioned the title to me I asked why he thought I should read it, thinking he was stating that I am extravagant in my spending habits. Nothing could be further from the truth. He assured me that was not why he felt it was important. I finished it this morning and while still fresh I will try to explain the contents. It was demoralizing for me to realize how far down the path of commercializing everything has gone. It is not that I don’t already know or for that matter you as well. We see it all around. In movie theatres we see endless commercials as we wait for the movie to start and at the designated time we must first watch 15 minutes of coming attractions. We try to arrive just before the movie but that is hard to do. Watching programs on television includes endless breaks of five minutes or more which ruins the story flow. The same is true for sporting events. The flow of the game is stopped periodically to accommodate commercials. The sweaty players are left to wait and the fans forced to sit and wait just when an action might have happened. It is to the point where I am close to dropping all interest in sports. I can tell you this, when college players are paid salaries there will be no more tickets purchased by me. City buses are painted completely with advertisements. Waiting areas are covered also; our children are forced to see ads prominently placed throughout schools. Our sports arenas are renamed from tradition to corporate. Sometimes schools named for Presidents or Governors are renamed. Once ball players were happy to sign autographs, now they charge exorbitant prices. Who can blame them when professionals are determined to profit at their expense? People place advertisements on their foreheads or other places. These people are usually those who are in dire financial straits. They also are willing to sell body parts i.e. kidneys, blood, etc. There is a multi-billion dollar industry in America betting on the death of celebrities, politicians, and other famous people. They will pay a sick person half the value of their insurance policy by being named the beneficiary. This has progressed to healthy people. The original purpose of life insurance was to protect your family should the bread earner die. 40% of these policies are abandoned when no longer necessary. Now these are being purchased by Corporations who will then keep paying the premiums until eventually you die. The increased cost to insurance companies is forcing them to increase payments. The worst in my opinion are companies like Wal-Mart who will take out a $300,000 policy on the life of all of their employees, without the permission or knowledge of those persons. Then at death the company not the family cashes in. One example was a store clerk murdered in a robbery. The family received nothing. Why our Federal and State governments allow this to occur is beyond my comprehension. To me it is evil. I have always referred to Wal-Mart as an evil company. This is another reason to support my position. They should sell goods not profit from the death of an employee. Nothing is sacred. Doesn’t it diminish the experience for you when the announcers of a sporting event keep referring to the Corporation during their spiel of the game? It does me. We WWII types still alive keep remembering the simple days and hate what has become the new norm. Laugh if you will and point out the good things, but this book shows how we have lost the basic goodness of almost everything by putting a price on it. Read the book, if you have the stomach for it. Jack B. Walters September 12, 2014

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Letter to the editor

Another example of our Federal Government not correcting abuses In today’s addition of the Arizona Daily Star was a Los Angeles Times article entitled “Unemployable senior vets get most of benefit”. As long ago as 1934 the VA created an unemployment benefit. This was before Social Security even existed. No doubt there was a need then but to allow this to continue 80 years later without revising is beyond belief. Currently it is costing us $4 Billion/ year giving these funds to those deemed unemployable including veterans over the age of 90. 56% goes to those over 65 and 11% to those over 80. How difficult would it be to lower the age to 50 or thereabouts or eliminate altogether. What hope do we have of ever getting out of debt with the many giveaway programs like this on the books? Jack B. Walters September 11, 2014

Monday, September 8, 2014

13 Hours-Benghazi

We just finished watching this special report on Fox News. If you haven't you should. It is an interview with three survivors of that attack on our compound and later the CIA complex. At the end they were asked about the politics of it. They refused to comment. They were only willing to tell their personal story. Incredible courage in facing many combatants with their few number. The key things I got out of it were; 1- As soon as they heard gunfire they wanted to drive to the compound but were told not to three times over a period of 25 minutes. In their opinion had they not been delayed they might have reached there in time to save the Ambassador. Whether that stand down order was local or from a higher authority was not revealed to us. 2- In the days and weeks following the attack we were told repeatedly that aircraft could not get there in time to help. These men refute that. A gunship could have done considerable damage to the terrorists. A simple fly over by a jet might have persuaded them to retreat. Rescue teams could have been dispatched and arrived in time to at least aid in the defense of the complex. OK, you might say, how could the Administration know it would last that long. My response is so what. Send help as soon as possible and if too late for the battle, at least help in the aftermath. I, for one, will never forgive Barack and Hillary for not making the attempt to rescue and then covering it all up by begging forgiveness from the Arab world for a video. Some of you think this is just political rhetoric to attack Obama. You are no doubt correct but some of us want the truth because we think it is important. Covering up a debacle like this is unacceptable to me. Jack

Friday, September 5, 2014

Barack (no strategy) Obama

How is this for a novel idea? Send a squadron of B-52s loaded with 1,000 lb. bombs and carpet bomb the airfield in Syria that was taken over by ISIS several weeks ago. They have oil fields, money stolen from banks in Mosul and other conquered cities as well as ransom payments. Do we have to allow them an Air Force as well? I am sure they are busy recruiting Jihad pilots to fly the captured aircraft. I am just sharing a thought that seems to have escaped our illustrious leaders. Jack B. Walters September 12, 2014