Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Hillary

Yesterday Hillary Clinton was nominated at the Democrat Convention as the person they chose to become President of the United States. The same day I went to a theater to see the movie Hillary which was produced by Dinesh D’Souza. He is the same person who produced 2016-Obama’s America which was released just before the election in 2012. That one was devastating for Obama. I urged friends and family to see it but am sure no one did. I will ask again for you to see this one. Mr. D’Souza was convicted of contributing more money to a candidate than the law allowed at the time. How ridiculous that was with the billions being spent today. He was sentenced to eight months in prison and required to perform community service for five years thereafter. He is convinced it was retribution for producing that film. The movie opens with the court case, his time in prison and what he learned from being with criminals. After that he documents the racist history of the Democratic Party from its inception. I believe it was factual. The part I didn’t agree with was his portrayal of Andrew Jackson as a mean slave holder who punished slaves viciously and took slave girls to bed. I have read a number of books about him and that was never brought to light. Jackson was, of course, responsible for the “Trail of Tears” episode which was shameful. We all must agree there were any number of things that occurred which we cannot be proud of as our country grew to its present size. I am adding an attachment to this letter. In my last published book, “An American History Lesson and a Wake Up Call for America”, there is a book report “Setting the Record Straight- American History in Black and White” I urge you to re-read. It could have been the basis for the movie as it covers much of the same material. Interesting that the NRA tried to give blacks the right to own guns when the Democratic Legislatures prohibited blacks from ownership. Not one Democrat voted for the XIV Amendment. In 1893 under Democrat Grover Cleveland his Democratic majority attempted to repeal the XIII and XIV Amendments. There were enough Republicans to prevent it. The KKK was synonymous with the Democrat Party. They also were responsible for Jim Crow Laws. Truman desegregated the military; as a result many Southern Democrats revolted forming the Dixiecrat Party. Eisenhower tried to pass civil rights legislation but faced stiff opposition from Democrats. Kennedy tried but was assassinated before he could help black Americans. Johnson did but reluctantly. To listen to the speakers professing their love and support for blacks is outrageous to me after their several hundred years of doing everything possible to keep them in their place. Finally he gets to Hillary and Bill. He follows them as young college people till today. The nefarious schemes and cover-ups are so distasteful that it left me in disbelief that so many of my friends and family still believe a vote for her is the right thing to do. Just to complete this effort I am also attaching my book report which was printed in my third book “Still Angry” entitled “Her Way” The hopes and dreams of Hillary Rodman Clinton. I request you go to the theater and learn for yourself. Jack B. Walters July 27, 2016

Monday, July 25, 2016

Letter to the editor-Arizona Daily Star

You guys are working too hard to defeat Trump and get us to vote for Clinton. I don’t know about others but your strategy is not hard to detect. Just today the Editorial page was completely full of condemnation of Trump, the cartoon, Joel Mathis, Ben Boychuck and Leonard Pitts. This follows day after day and I assume you will not stop trying to scare the voters until the November elections. This time I am confident that Americans are savvy enough not to be indoctrinated by you or all the rest of the Liberal leaning media. We have had it with a system that just doesn’t work anymore for the rank and file of our country. That is the reason that no matter what Trump says that may offend us under no circumstances can we allow Clinton back into the White House. She is corrupt in so many ways it is impossible to count. Just as the British people did recently in taking the step to get out from under the dictates of the European Union, we are desperate to regain our rights as tax paying citizens. Jack B. Walters July 25, 2016

Friday, July 22, 2016

Eisenhower A Soldier's Life by;Carlo D'este

This is a thorough review of his life. It is over 700 pages of well researched information starting with his immigrant grandparents through the end of the war. You no doubt have read many accounts of WWII. This one concentrated on Eisenhower. The disturbing part to me was the constant pressure from Churchill, Montgomery and others from England to have a greater footprint on the war to the detriment of the American Army. This created great pressure on him and was uncalled for. Once the war was on in earnest with the invasion of Europe from Britain as each day went by the burden from a numbers standpoint was overwhelmingly American. After the battle of the Bulge he did transfer part of Bradley’s forces to Montgomery with him directing the forces north of the Bulge. Later as we advanced into Germany the forces were returned to Bradley. Each commander wanted his group to have preference. I believe that Eisenhower stayed with his broad front stategy to keep the peace. I am one, who in hindsight still believes that Patton was on the verge of entering Germany when his supplies were cut off so Montgomery could advance along the coast with the goal of stopping the V-1 and V-2 rockets from hitting England. As a result the war did not end in 1944 but continued until May 1945. A lot has been written about the decision Eisenhower made to stop his forces at the Elbe River. He did it to save American lives. At that point of time the Nazis were defeated. All that remained was their unconditional surrender. Patton wanted to end in Czechoslovakia at Prague. He was ordered to stop fifty miles short. The tragic thing was the uprising of the people. Just as Russia did for Warsaw, here again they paused their forces until the patriots were wiped out. How tragic. The author doesn’t put blame on Ike. After all he was told Russia was our ally. The author did not hesitate to criticize Ike when warranted but overall it was a tribute to one of our greatest Generals and later President which is not a topic for this book. Ike graduated from West Point in 1915. When WWI broke out he, of course, wanted to be in action as Patton was. He had become so accomplished at training civilians to become soldiers that the Army kept him in the States till the war was over. After the war the Army was drastically cut. From a peak of 3.7 million men the Army by June 1921 was reduced to 150,000 enlisted men and 12,000 officers. It stayed this low until 1936. Very few officers or enlisted men stuck it out for the next twenty years or so. The pay was low. Accommodations for wives and children were dismal at best. Those that did were to become the top leaders during WWII like MacArthur, Patton, Bradley, Clark and others. Ike was second in command to MacArthur when President Hoover ordered the removal of the veterans during their bonus sit-in. He resented MacArthur’s handling of it. Later in his career he again served under him in the Philippines. In 1919 he led a convoy of Army trucks across the country. The roads were abysmal. It took 62 days and showed how important good highways were. As President he started the Interstate Highway System that we take for granted today. His first born son was nicknamed Ikky. He died tragically at the age of three. Later Ike and Mamie had another son John. He graduated from West Point just as the war was ending and though shipped to Europe did not get into combat. If you are a WWII nut like me I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy reading this book. I found it at our Public Library. Jack B. Walters July 22, 2016

Friday, July 15, 2016

Radicalized

I went to my old copy of Webster’s Dictionary to see what they said it was. There are a number of ways to describe radical but none were called radicalized. As to radical, it mentions reaching to the principles, fundamental, extreme, etc. I am writing this out of disgust with the news media that are afraid of offending a religious sect, i.e. Islam. Hundreds mowed down by a 31 year old Muslim from Tunisia. They search for some connection to ISIS or al Qaeda so that they can make us all agree to destroy these radicals, after which the world will be safe from harm. While I am one who believes these groups should be dealt with as harshly as possible, none-the-less I am convinced that these groups are only the most visible and that believing Muslims as a group are dedicated to the overthrow of secular governments like ours and other Western Countries. This is a long time war. The most radical are those who do as this man did. The rest do their part by pumping out babies knowing that sooner or later they will be in control of the whole world. By the way Wikipedia defines al Qaeda as a Sunni Islamic Global Organization which believes that killing non-combatants is religiously sanctioned with the goal to destroy secular governments and replace with Sharia Law. Obama and Clinton refuse to accept, in fact neither did Bush, the President who allowed Bin Laden’s huge family to fly out of our country when none of the rest of us could get on an airplane after 9/11. He, as well as the other two keep preaching the falsehood that Islam is a peaceful belief system. How many more tragedies like we are witnessing on an increasing frequency, will it take for the World Leaders to face up to the challenge and destroy those like ISIS and re-educate Muslims to accept that theirs is not the only belief system to be allowed to exist. As Americans we believe in freedom of religion. Muslims are dedicated to destroy all who believe otherwise. They cannot be allowed to use our Constitution to force their system onto the rest of us. Jack B. Walters July 15, 2016

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Republic Lost by Lawrence Lessig

This book was originally published in 2011. This revised 2015 edition added the “Citizen’s United” issue which has dramatically increased the funds pouring into political campaigns which has distorted the process so dramatically that the idea of a government of, by and for the people no longer exists. The money from the few means that Congress ignores the will of the people and provides benefits for the few. This money process goes both ways, sometimes from the lobbyists to Congress and other times a demand from Congress. Both should be illegal, in my thinking and punishable by fines and jail time. I added that last sentence. It of course is off the table. On page 102 he states the following, “The lobbying industry has exploded over the past 25 years. In 1971… there were just 175 firms with registered lobbyists. Eleven years later, there were almost 2,500. In 2009, there were 13,700 registered lobbyists. They spent more than $3.5 billion-twice the amount spent in 2002. On page 107 he points out how Congress and their staff have come to look at political service like being on a sport farm team, being willing to work for less money while aiming for the payoff on K Street after leaving office. They can expect to receive exorbitant incomes for the influence they can have on current members and staff. Between 1998 and 2004, more than 50 percent of Senators and 42 percent of House members made that career transition. As of June 2011, 195 former members of Congress were registered lobbyists. Chapter 9, I found of particular interest. It concerns the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. He came in with his party in the majority of the House and Senate. People were ecstatic about the changes he promised i.e., health care for all, global warming, attack Wall Street and take on corruption. While it is true the Republicans were opposed to nearly everything he proposed, it is equally true that for the first two years he did not need their support. The author was a colleague of Obama at the University of Chicago and supported him in his political journey. Obama said all the right things. He convinced me (Jack Walters) to vote for him. After his election I actually wrote to him a number of times with my thoughts on how he could accomplish his goals. I soon realized that my effort was in vain. Rather than attack the system, he bought into it by striking bargains with the most powerful lobbyists as a way to get a bill through Congress. The author said he could not believe it. As he sees it even with majorities he still had to curry favor with the lobbyists to have any chance to achieve the goals he had promised which confirms that our government is broken with little chance for recovery. On health care the ‘public option” had been his promise. In actual fact it was never considered. He promised to curtail the influence of the drug companies. Instead right off the bat he struck a deal with them continuing to forbid Medicare from using its size to negotiate drug cost which means Americans continue to pay the highest cost of most other nations. For those of you who continue to be supporters of Obama, you will be pleased to note that the author, as he concludes this chapter gives Obama high praise for accomplishments. After lengthy writing about the money problem which I will not discuss, as you should know as well as I, his final Chapters address Constitutional Conventions as the only real hope our country can have to resolve and return to being the government of the people. He reviews the history from the beginning pointing out that it could be done without jeopardizing the basic Constitution we now have. He believes it will never start in Congress, that only three quarters of the States (38) need to request and the Congress must authorize. It can be limited in scope. I will not try to describe the process, I only hope to put this thought in your mind and perhaps mention to others. In my opinion, it is almost too late but I do like to have a sliver of hope for continuing this great country. Jack B. Walters July 12, 2016

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Patricia McKnight’s Response to my Benghazi article of 7/2/2016 “Setting the record straight on Benghazi”

Her letter was well written. It showed she had attempted to do research. It did not however set the record straight as you titled her letter. I typed in to Google “Why no response at Benghazi.” There were reports from many sources; Wikipedia, AND Magazine, Judicial Watch, Politico and many others. You certainly have staff capable of checking as easy as I did. The sum total is wrapped around the e-mail from a Mr. Bash which stated assets were ready to go on confirmation. The order was never given. WHY ???? Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf stated firmly that it was a planned attack not a response to the video. The why Stevens was even in Benghazi seems to be to co-ordinate shipment of arms to Syrian rebels. This was never confirmed. Contrary to Mrs. McKnight conclusion that assets were too far away doesn’t jibe with comments from these articles. Gunships or Jet fighters could have been sent and would have stopped the continuing attack. I never stated that anything could have been done from Washington to save Ambassador Stevens but could have stopped the attack on the annex where many Americans were under attack. Jack B. Walters July 9, 2016

Friday, July 8, 2016

Obama did it again

I listened to Obama’s concerned speech from Warsaw yesterday and predicted to myself the probable outcome. It occurred yesterday in Dallas with five police officers dead. There was a demonstration by blacks about police killings’ in Minnesota and Louisiana. I contend that he has fanned the flame of racism throughout his tenure as President starting with the Black Professor trying to enter his own home. Obama said something to the effect that police can be stupid. The policeman was there after receiving a concerned call by a neighbor that people were breaking into a home. His reaction after Fergusson triggered a massive review of police departments all across the country, do doubt costing millions and diverting police from fighting crime to being re-educated whether they needed it or not. Two days ago he called on American law enforcement to root out bias in its ranks and said all Americans should be troubled by frequent shootings of blacks and Hispanics, insisting that fatal incidents in Minnesota and Louisiana are not isolated. He said all this while out of the country. He could not have had information on what triggered the shootings since investigations are being conducted. It was his typical knee jerk reaction whenever something like this occurs. Therefore I hold him directly responsible for the loss of lives of these five policemen in Dallas who just happened to be white. Jack B. Walters July 8, 2016

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

The Mantle of Command (FDR at War, 1941-1942) By; Nigel Hamilton

Over my lifetime I have read countless books on the WWII years, biographies, action on the seas, in the air and on the ground. Many books have been written about FDR and Churchill. This one puts it all in perspective for me. You need to know that I have worshiped FDR as a young boy and still today. No one will ever be able to change my mind that he was one of our greatest Presidents. The author’s purpose was his attempt to retell the story of the military direction of the Second World War from a different perspective: that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his role as U.S. Commander in Chief. This book starts with the meeting of FDR and Churchill at a place called Placentia Bay which was one of the bases ceded to us by England in exchange for Lend Lease. It was manned by Americans. This was part of his strategy. He didn’t want to meet on British soil. The date was August 8 to 10, 1941. Churchill, of course, hoped that America would declare war with Germany. He was disappointed to learn that FDR’s goal was to make a statement that amounted to freedom for all the peoples on earth. It was called the Atlantic Charter. Its objective was to provide four freedoms (of speech and worship, from want and fear). Churchill was determined to keep his colonies intact after the war and signed on reluctantly so as not to create a problem between our two countries. He knew then that without America, they had little chance to defeat Germany. Before Pearl Harbor the British were defeated overwhelmingly by the Japanese. Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma were all surrendered to much smaller Japanese forces. Two Battleships were sunk and many other cruisers, destroyers, etc. The Japanese fought with high energy. India would have been next if America had not entered the war. Contrast that to MacArthur’s American and Philippine forces on Bataan and Corregidor. They held out until May 6, 1942 Various episodes are covered. It was FDR that pressured his military to find a way to hit back at Japan. Out of that came the Doolittle raid on Tokyo by B-25’s taking off from an aircraft carrier on April 18, 2041. That was followed by the sinking of four Japanese carriers in the battle of Midway on June 4th which stopped the expansion of Japan and put them somewhat on defense. Those of you too young to remember America was overwhelmingly Isolationist. There was no enthusiasm to enter the conflict in Europe. FDR believed that sooner or later it would happen and he took what steps he could to increase military production and training of soldiers, sailors and airmen. Most of the book is about the ideas of how we could best attack Germany. Early on it was agreed that it had to be Germany first and Japan second. The American military including General Marshall and Secretary of War Stimson pushed for a second front into France from England. FDR was convinced that it would be a blood bath which we would lose to the hardened soldiers of Germany. This was proven when the Dieppe raid was conducted by Canadian soldiers on August 19, 2042. It was completely routed with heavy loss of life and prisoners. He had the idea as early as December 1941 that the best way to initiate war in Europe would be through the French colonies in Western Africa and that it would be 100 % American since there was great hatred for the British after their raid on French warships. The ending chapter is the report that the landings in November 1942 were successful and that the French had capitulated and were in agreement to fight with us to defeat Germany. The author’s next book covered 1943. I wrote a book report on that one. After reading these two books I shudder to think what our world might be like if Japan and Germany had won. With our isolationist feelings, we could not have declared war on either country. They had to initiate it. Hitler’s mistake was breaking the pact with Russia. Japans mistake was attacking Pearl Harbor. Looking at a world map, if you start at the Western coast of France go East through Russia to Japan and go South from there through China all the way to Burma. All of that could have been theirs. It is doubtful that we would have interfered with Japan if they by-passed the Philippines and only attacked the British, Dutch and French colonies. Once that was accomplished our Hemisphere would be all alone. Very doubtful we could have prevailed. A scary thought that I added just to give you something to consider. Jack B. Walters July 5, 2016