Sometimes the sheer stupidity of people downright amazes me. Just when I get to the point that I think I've seen it all in my 53 trips around the sun on this blue ball we call home, somebody out there does something so inanely stupid as to defy all imagination, logic, and common sense.
And unfortunately, most of the time these people live in South Carolina.
Such was the case this morning. I'm sitting on the couch watching the local news and drinking my daily cup of coffee with my wife before she has to go to work when they air a story about "racial tensions" in a neighborhood not too far away from Columbia where the TV station is located. Seems that one of the occupants of the neighborhood has pretty much isolated herself from her neighbors because of her insistence on flying the Confederate Battle Flag from the front of her house, and the neighbors don't like that one little bit. So at this point one would imagine that there are some black folks in the neighborhood, since this seems to be the only part of our society that objects to the flying of that particular banner anywhere, anyplace, and anytime. And if you imagined that, then you'd be right.
Kinda. Sorta. Hang on to your hats, because this is where the "stupid" part comes in.
The neighborhood doesn't just have "some black folks" in it, it's a totally black neighborhood. The lady with the flag is not only white, she's the only white person in the entire neighborhood! She just moved into the neighborhood three months ago and immediately started flying the Battle Flag on the front of her house.
Like I said, there's stupid, and then there's stupid.
Several lines of thought cross my mind all at the same time concerning this, and here they are.
First and foremost, what in the bloody hell was this lady thinking?? Not only is it bad enough that she moves into a black neighborhood where she's automatically gonna be an outcast simply because of the color of her skin (and don't you DARE try to tell me that the black people already there didn't hate the idea of "whitey" moving into the neighborhood because you and I both know better!), she compounds the problem by doing the one thing next to hanging a KKK banner from the front of her house that's going to cause her the most problems. And in a sense, she did hang a KKK banner from her house, because that's exactly how the existing residents took it - and with good cause, I might add. While I'm a staunch supporter of and a believer in the right of a person to be proud of their heritage and fly such banners supporting their belief and heritage which includes the Confederate Battle Flag, I'll also say that there's a time to fly the banner and a time not to. Kinda like it's not a really good idea to hang a Japanese flag from your house on December 7th, ya know? And as a newcomer to the neighborhood, I feel it incumbent upon her to become a part of the neighborhood and adapt to it, rather than to expect the prior residents to adapt to her.
Kinda like we expect immigrants to adapt to US rather than the other way around. Any way you look at it, this lady pretty much shot herself in the foot in more ways than one, and I somehow don't think the neighborhood is gonna get over it as long as the Battle Flag is flying from her house.
Right behind that is the thought that the pre-existing neighbors are having a "knee-jerk" reaction towards the situation. They're already lining up voicing their protests at the display of the flag in THEIR neighborhood without even making any attempt at all to get to know the lady and how she feels about them. It should be obvious to anyone with any amount of common sense that this lady is anything but a racist - if she was, I hardly think she'd choose to move into a totally black neighborhood, do you? But the residents aren't seeing this - all they're seeing is the Confederate flag and are having the typical "knee jerk" reaction as they've been trained to have by the past 40 years of the Federal government, the NAACP, Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson telling them how they're supposed to react. And that's not a guess, that's a fact - as stated by one of the black residents who spoke his piece on the news this morning.
They're also missing the vitally important fact that it's not only "their" neighborhood, it's now "her" neighborhood as well. But I don't think this lady can expect the Welcome Wagon to show up at her front door any time soon, do you?
The third thing about this story which catches my attention is what the black people in the neighborhood - and the TV camera crew, as well - either totally missed or totally ignored. You saw a picture of it when the footage showed the front of the lady's house, but nobody - and I mean NOBODY - mentioned it.
And that thing would be the American flag flying on the other side of the door on the front of the house.
When one of the residents was asked by the reporter what he thought when he saw the Confederate flag, his typical, "to be expected" answer in typical "knee jerk" reaction form was "slavery." Never mind the fact that the American flag flew over slavery in the United States from 1776 until 1863, a period of 87 years, while the Confederate Battle Flag flew for only 4 years, 2 of which were while slavery existed; never mind the fact that the only flag to ever fly over a slave ship was not the Stars and Bars but the Stars and Stripes; and never mind the fact that all of the slave-trading companies were all located in the North and not the South. Never mind all that...after all, why clutter up things with the truth?
I just don't think it's fair that the lady didn't get any credit at all for flying the American flag, but the residents of the neighborhood focused on the Confederate flag instead. But then again, that's the way they've been "trained," so why expect anything less?
So is one person "right" in this, and the other "wrong?" No, I don't think so.
While I support this lady's right to fly whatever flag she wants to from the front of her house, I also think it's very foolish, in bad taste, and just asking for trouble to move into a black neighborhood and promptly begin displaying the one flag in all of creation that you just know is gonna piss off the neighbors. This is one of those situations where simply saying, "If they don't like it, screw 'em!" won't work. (Does the name "CUSTER" mean anything to you?)
As for the neighbors, I understand their reactions and the reasons for them about as well as any white man can. I also understand that a lot of them have their thought processes firmly stuck in the 1960s and automatically think that anyone who displays a Confederate Battle Flag is a hood-wearing, cross-burning racist. And truth be told, nothing could be further from the truth. There's been a resurgence of displaying of the Confederate flag in the South in recent years, and that's because we Southerners are tired of taking the blame for a group of hood-wearing, inbred mongrel idiots and are working towards erasing the shame that has tarnished our "national symbol" for so long. We're taking the flag back, and that's all there is to it. So not only are the black residents of the neighborhood obviously selling their new white neighbor short, they're also selling themselves short. This lady could quite possibly be one of the nicest people in the neighborhood, but because they're letting their preconceived notions get in the way they'll never know this.
I can't wait to see how all this turns out. I have a feeling I know how it's gonna turn out, and I sure hope I'm wrong.
Time will tell. I'll keep you posted.
IHC
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Like Rats Fleeing a Sinking Ship
The Good Ship NObama is sinking, and the Demoncratic rats are fleeing in droves.
Today's news brings the announcement that NObama's chief economic advisor will quit at the end of the year, not even halfway through the Great Pretender's term. Sure, there's a smokescreen reason as to why he's leaving the administration, but my common sense and instinct tells me that there's much more to the story. I mean, really, if you had a position on the Cabinet of the President of the United States, would YOU just up and leave because you wanted to "return to the private sector?" No, you wouldn't. I wouldn't - unless I had lost faith in the President, was dissatisfied and/or disgusted with what he was doing, and no longer wanted to be a part of it.
I think this is the real reason behind the resignation, and I have a feeling that as soon as this man is out of the administration and has put a little time and distance between him and NObama, the truth will come out.
But in the mean time, the Good Ship NObama continues to sink, and the Demoncratic rats are fleeing.
There are less than two months until the November elections, and the Demoncrats have finally come to the realization that NObama is a loser, his health care plan is a loser, his stimulus plan is a loser, and that his administration as a whole is a loser. And having realized this they are now trying to put as much distance between him and them as possible so they can cling to their positions in Congress and not lose the election. Several Demoncrats have backed off of their support for the health care plan as well as the stimulus plan, especially after the news story broke from California that the government there spent ELEVEN MILLION DOLLARS of NObama's "stimulus plan" money to save just FIFTY FIVE JOBS. And that story came after NObama's own administration released the news that the much-vaunted health care law was not going to reduce the cost of health care but was, in fact, going to nearly double it.
So the rats have seen the waters rising and are doing their level best to keep from going down with the ship. And what's more, the captain of the ship sees it, too.
Just this week the Great Pretender was out rallying for his Demoncratic cronies and supporting their mid-term election campaigns, and who was he talking to? Why, the same people who elected him - he was out pandering to the black voters. He realizes that he got elected simply because of the color of his skin, and he's now depending on that same kind of racist support to help keep his administration afloat.
Yeah, that's right, I used the "R" word. As the saying on the bumper sticker goes, "Voting for someone because they are black is just as racist as not voting for someone because they are black." If you've been following my blog you know how I feel on this and why, so I won't repeat myself here.
The Demoncrats have also come to realize that the Tea Party is a much bigger threat than they wanted to admit. The Tea Party has been winning mid-term primaries all across the nation, defeating both Demoncratic and Republican candidates alike, and the incumbent Demoncrats are sitting up and taking notice. They, along with the help of the nation's biggest racist organization, the NAACP, are scared to death of the Tea Party and are doing everything they can to smear the party's image and stop the progress of the party.
But it's too little too late. The voice of the Tea Party is the voice of mainstream America, and in case you haven't been paying attention mainstream America is pissed. And they're going to show you just how pissed they are in less than two months.
As for me, I'm gonna go to the polls in November and vote for the Tea Party candidate who is on the ballot in my state, and when I'm done I'm going to sit back and watch the Good Ship NObama sink further into the murky depths. And I'm going to be laughing my ass off, you can count on that.
And in January of 2013 when the Good Ship NObama slips beneath the waves I'm going to be celebrating the end of one of the darkest eras in American history, and hoping that the new President can fix what NObama has screwed up.
IHC
Today's news brings the announcement that NObama's chief economic advisor will quit at the end of the year, not even halfway through the Great Pretender's term. Sure, there's a smokescreen reason as to why he's leaving the administration, but my common sense and instinct tells me that there's much more to the story. I mean, really, if you had a position on the Cabinet of the President of the United States, would YOU just up and leave because you wanted to "return to the private sector?" No, you wouldn't. I wouldn't - unless I had lost faith in the President, was dissatisfied and/or disgusted with what he was doing, and no longer wanted to be a part of it.
I think this is the real reason behind the resignation, and I have a feeling that as soon as this man is out of the administration and has put a little time and distance between him and NObama, the truth will come out.
But in the mean time, the Good Ship NObama continues to sink, and the Demoncratic rats are fleeing.
There are less than two months until the November elections, and the Demoncrats have finally come to the realization that NObama is a loser, his health care plan is a loser, his stimulus plan is a loser, and that his administration as a whole is a loser. And having realized this they are now trying to put as much distance between him and them as possible so they can cling to their positions in Congress and not lose the election. Several Demoncrats have backed off of their support for the health care plan as well as the stimulus plan, especially after the news story broke from California that the government there spent ELEVEN MILLION DOLLARS of NObama's "stimulus plan" money to save just FIFTY FIVE JOBS. And that story came after NObama's own administration released the news that the much-vaunted health care law was not going to reduce the cost of health care but was, in fact, going to nearly double it.
So the rats have seen the waters rising and are doing their level best to keep from going down with the ship. And what's more, the captain of the ship sees it, too.
Just this week the Great Pretender was out rallying for his Demoncratic cronies and supporting their mid-term election campaigns, and who was he talking to? Why, the same people who elected him - he was out pandering to the black voters. He realizes that he got elected simply because of the color of his skin, and he's now depending on that same kind of racist support to help keep his administration afloat.
Yeah, that's right, I used the "R" word. As the saying on the bumper sticker goes, "Voting for someone because they are black is just as racist as not voting for someone because they are black." If you've been following my blog you know how I feel on this and why, so I won't repeat myself here.
The Demoncrats have also come to realize that the Tea Party is a much bigger threat than they wanted to admit. The Tea Party has been winning mid-term primaries all across the nation, defeating both Demoncratic and Republican candidates alike, and the incumbent Demoncrats are sitting up and taking notice. They, along with the help of the nation's biggest racist organization, the NAACP, are scared to death of the Tea Party and are doing everything they can to smear the party's image and stop the progress of the party.
But it's too little too late. The voice of the Tea Party is the voice of mainstream America, and in case you haven't been paying attention mainstream America is pissed. And they're going to show you just how pissed they are in less than two months.
As for me, I'm gonna go to the polls in November and vote for the Tea Party candidate who is on the ballot in my state, and when I'm done I'm going to sit back and watch the Good Ship NObama sink further into the murky depths. And I'm going to be laughing my ass off, you can count on that.
And in January of 2013 when the Good Ship NObama slips beneath the waves I'm going to be celebrating the end of one of the darkest eras in American history, and hoping that the new President can fix what NObama has screwed up.
IHC
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
September 8, 1990
A month into the deployment to Saudi Arabia several things had changed. For one, the operation now had a name, something it didn't have when we deployed. The operation was now known as Operation DESERT SHIELD, and as soon as the name was released the troops began speculating on what the operation was going to be named when the fighting started. (And we all knew in our hearts that it was "when" and not "if" the fighting started.) My guess was "Operation DESERT SWORD," figuring it was only natural since the first operation was named "Shield." You know, shield/sword, that kind of thing. In reality we had no idea, so we played the guessing game for a few weeks after that, but none of us guessed right in the long run.
The other thing that changed, and not for the better in my humble opinion, was the attitude of the people. The longer we stayed there the more relaxed everyone got, and the sense of urgency and alertness to impending attack dissipated. The constant 24 hour a day flow of troops and equipment flooding into the country from the States, Great Britain, and France helped this attitude change a great deal, and after a while people started to think that Saddam would have to be nuts to attack us. So the longer we stayed there the more relaxed things got, and the more relaxed things got the more "organized" things got. Those of us in Security Police and Intelligence knew different, but as for the rest of the base, well, they stopped concentrating on preparing for the attack and started concentrating on getting comfortable.
It got so bad after a while that we started calling Dhahran "Langley East."
The first sign that things were changing for the worse was when the Wing Commander reinstated military customs and courtesies base-wide. That meant that we were back to saluting officers again, and they were back to wearing their insignia. Then the Wing Commander decreed that everyone would have to remain in proper uniform at all times - no more taking off your outer shirt and running around in your t-shirt. And the water bottles sticking out of the cargo pockets on the side of your pants legs had to go, too. You wanted water, carry a canteen or carry the water bottle in your hand. But no more sticking out of the pocket.
"Ranger rags" were the next thing to go. At first the "Wing King" (slang for the Wing Commander, but you figured that one out, I know) said that NO "Ranger rags" were allowed to be worn, period, but the unit commanders got to him and pointed out that they were being used to absorb sweat around people's necks and were used almost constantly, so the Wing King relented and let us wear them - as long as the tails were tucked into the neck of our shirt, that is. And wearing them wrapped around your skull was an absolute "no-no."
The final act of lunacy and "normalization" that came down were the instructions regarding the wear of "boonie hats" and the hat's drawstrings. Each of us had been issued a brimmed floppy hat called a "boonie hat", and the hat had a neck cord or drawstring attached. Some people - like me, for instance - would fold the sides of the hat up and flip the drawstring up so it was sitting on top of the hat, cinching it down so it was holding the sides up. Others would just let the drawstring hang down below their chin so they could let the had hang down behind them if they needed to. The variations of wear were many and varied, and after a month the Wing King got tired of seeing it and issued the decree that boonie hats were to be worn with the brims down all the way around, and the strings were to be either tucked up inside the crown of the hat so they couldn't be seen or cut off altogether.
Kinda defeats the purpose of the drawstrings to begin with, huh? But in any event, that was the decree that came down and we had no choice but to follow it. We weren't happy about it because it was just one more "normalization" of the operation, which did nothing but make it harder to get things done quickly and make people think they were "safe." Which we weren't, but you couldn't get the Wing King and his staff to realize that.
Al that would come to a screeching halt at 0415 hours on January 18, 1991. But that's for later.
In the mean time, the wing was getting comfortable - REALLY comfortable. People were sending their uniforms out to the local Saudi dry cleaners (which the OSI screamed about because they started disappearing, and what easier way to infiltrate the base than in a stolen American uniform), the command staff started going off-base to the local restaurants for meetings and meals, the majority of the Wing settled down into a Monday-Friday, 0700-1600 hour work day (except for us poor souls working the line in Security Police, that is - the Security Police commander and his staff went to 8 hour shifts with the rest of the wing), and the MWR services started arranging off-base tours to local attractions. We also hired hundreds of TCNs (Third Country Nationals, meaning Saudis, Phillipinos, etc) to work on base, and the wing started buying goods from the TCNs - things like food, for example.
And what easier way to kill a couple dozen Americans than to poison the food, right? That's the main reason I ate MREs three times a day for the majority of the time I was there. Until the shooting started and all of the TCNs were banned from the base, I think I ate in the dining hall maybe four times. Maybe.
Just about that time the Tent City that was being built for the deployed troops next to the flight line was finished, and the majority of the Wing moved out of the Saudi barracks and into the new compound. That relieved some of the crowding in the rooms, but that was short-lived because as more Air Force troops arrived at the base they would be billeted in the rooms that had just been vacated. And because "Wambo" wanted his troops to remain in a solid, concrete-fortified building, we stayed in the Saudi barracks while the rest of the Wing moved. And I can't say that I disagree with that decision, either; if I had my druthers, I think I druther stay in a concrete building that gave me some protection from shrapnel during an attack than in a canvas-sided tent surrounded by 50 gallon drums filled with sand.
But that's just me.
So life went on, MUCH more comfortable than it was at first, and the level of comfort gradually increased with each passing week. Did I mention that the MWR services actually found, revamped, and placed into operation a swimming pool and recreation area? It was called "The Oasis," naturally, and became the off-duty hangout for every REMF there. (That's "Rear Echelon Mother Fucker" for you civilians out there.)
And the more comfortable everyone got, the more they forgot why we were there in the first place.
More later.
IHC
The other thing that changed, and not for the better in my humble opinion, was the attitude of the people. The longer we stayed there the more relaxed everyone got, and the sense of urgency and alertness to impending attack dissipated. The constant 24 hour a day flow of troops and equipment flooding into the country from the States, Great Britain, and France helped this attitude change a great deal, and after a while people started to think that Saddam would have to be nuts to attack us. So the longer we stayed there the more relaxed things got, and the more relaxed things got the more "organized" things got. Those of us in Security Police and Intelligence knew different, but as for the rest of the base, well, they stopped concentrating on preparing for the attack and started concentrating on getting comfortable.
It got so bad after a while that we started calling Dhahran "Langley East."
The first sign that things were changing for the worse was when the Wing Commander reinstated military customs and courtesies base-wide. That meant that we were back to saluting officers again, and they were back to wearing their insignia. Then the Wing Commander decreed that everyone would have to remain in proper uniform at all times - no more taking off your outer shirt and running around in your t-shirt. And the water bottles sticking out of the cargo pockets on the side of your pants legs had to go, too. You wanted water, carry a canteen or carry the water bottle in your hand. But no more sticking out of the pocket.
"Ranger rags" were the next thing to go. At first the "Wing King" (slang for the Wing Commander, but you figured that one out, I know) said that NO "Ranger rags" were allowed to be worn, period, but the unit commanders got to him and pointed out that they were being used to absorb sweat around people's necks and were used almost constantly, so the Wing King relented and let us wear them - as long as the tails were tucked into the neck of our shirt, that is. And wearing them wrapped around your skull was an absolute "no-no."
The final act of lunacy and "normalization" that came down were the instructions regarding the wear of "boonie hats" and the hat's drawstrings. Each of us had been issued a brimmed floppy hat called a "boonie hat", and the hat had a neck cord or drawstring attached. Some people - like me, for instance - would fold the sides of the hat up and flip the drawstring up so it was sitting on top of the hat, cinching it down so it was holding the sides up. Others would just let the drawstring hang down below their chin so they could let the had hang down behind them if they needed to. The variations of wear were many and varied, and after a month the Wing King got tired of seeing it and issued the decree that boonie hats were to be worn with the brims down all the way around, and the strings were to be either tucked up inside the crown of the hat so they couldn't be seen or cut off altogether.
Kinda defeats the purpose of the drawstrings to begin with, huh? But in any event, that was the decree that came down and we had no choice but to follow it. We weren't happy about it because it was just one more "normalization" of the operation, which did nothing but make it harder to get things done quickly and make people think they were "safe." Which we weren't, but you couldn't get the Wing King and his staff to realize that.
Al that would come to a screeching halt at 0415 hours on January 18, 1991. But that's for later.
In the mean time, the wing was getting comfortable - REALLY comfortable. People were sending their uniforms out to the local Saudi dry cleaners (which the OSI screamed about because they started disappearing, and what easier way to infiltrate the base than in a stolen American uniform), the command staff started going off-base to the local restaurants for meetings and meals, the majority of the Wing settled down into a Monday-Friday, 0700-1600 hour work day (except for us poor souls working the line in Security Police, that is - the Security Police commander and his staff went to 8 hour shifts with the rest of the wing), and the MWR services started arranging off-base tours to local attractions. We also hired hundreds of TCNs (Third Country Nationals, meaning Saudis, Phillipinos, etc) to work on base, and the wing started buying goods from the TCNs - things like food, for example.
And what easier way to kill a couple dozen Americans than to poison the food, right? That's the main reason I ate MREs three times a day for the majority of the time I was there. Until the shooting started and all of the TCNs were banned from the base, I think I ate in the dining hall maybe four times. Maybe.
Just about that time the Tent City that was being built for the deployed troops next to the flight line was finished, and the majority of the Wing moved out of the Saudi barracks and into the new compound. That relieved some of the crowding in the rooms, but that was short-lived because as more Air Force troops arrived at the base they would be billeted in the rooms that had just been vacated. And because "Wambo" wanted his troops to remain in a solid, concrete-fortified building, we stayed in the Saudi barracks while the rest of the Wing moved. And I can't say that I disagree with that decision, either; if I had my druthers, I think I druther stay in a concrete building that gave me some protection from shrapnel during an attack than in a canvas-sided tent surrounded by 50 gallon drums filled with sand.
But that's just me.
So life went on, MUCH more comfortable than it was at first, and the level of comfort gradually increased with each passing week. Did I mention that the MWR services actually found, revamped, and placed into operation a swimming pool and recreation area? It was called "The Oasis," naturally, and became the off-duty hangout for every REMF there. (That's "Rear Echelon Mother Fucker" for you civilians out there.)
And the more comfortable everyone got, the more they forgot why we were there in the first place.
More later.
IHC
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