Another Thought

On 7 Oct 58,  I took the Oath of Enlistment in the U.S. Navy. As part of that Oath, I swore to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

I did not just swear to uphold the Constitution that existed on 7 Oct, but to uphold and defend the Constitution no matter what form it may take in the future.

So, if the constitution changes, I still uphold and defend it.

‘Nuff said on how I feel about that subject.

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But what if we changed the Constitution to overturn or nullify the second amendment?

“Not possible,” you say.  And you are right, it is not possible with this congress.

If Mayor Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Guns and a few other anti-NRA groups get together and elect a Congress that is not beholden to special interests, well, you never can tell what might happen.

Just A Thought

I’ll toss this out to you.  Whaddya  Think ? ? ?

I think the “middle class” started going south (extinct) as the movement to eliminate unions moved inexorably forward.

My evidence that the US of A is well down that slippery slope is the exceedingly high number of young people who cannot even afford a car but have their arms and chest covered with tattoos.

Leading The Ignorant

As per Hardball With Chris Matthews on 11 Apr.

This was attributed to Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) on the Mark Levin radio program on 9 Apr.

A registry is, number one, inconsistent with the second amendment right to keep and bear arms.  But number two, historically, has been the predicate for taxation, regulation and ultimately confiscation.

Senator Cruz, a graduate of the hardest-to-get-into-law-school-in-the-country, Harvard Law, is far to smart a man to believe this poppy-cock.  He knows that is totally false.  He is leading the ignorant.  He is pandering to that part of the population that watches (and believes) Fox News.

First, what makes A registry is, number one, inconsistent with the second amendment having to register your gun(s) of choice inconsistent with the 2nd amendment.  Nothing, unless your are trying to stir up your base.

And the predicate part is just a cheap fear tactic.

Again Sen. Cruz is far too smart.  He knows exactly what he is doing.

Politics ? ? ?

Whenever President Obama puts forth an idea, even re-cycled Republican ideas from the early 1990s, the Republicans will not even discuss them.  The Repubs turn them down out of hand.

And on gun control.  Any measure, no matter if it is even background  checks, has 13 Repub senators threatening a filibuster.

What I really think is going on is outright, overt racism.  If the President was white, no matter which party he was a member of, there would have been legislation already signed with in a month of the massacre in Newtown.

This is racism, pure & simple.

Dignity

Over the years, I have had friends and acquaintances comment on how they would like to meet this or that movie star or sports personality.  I never thought of me meeting anyone of note because, no matter how much I may admire them, I really had nothing in common with them.  I figured that they had seen and done so much that what could I bring to the meeting?

I lived just south of Boston for some of my teenage years.  I remember going to Boston Garden, that drafty old barn on Causeway St.,  to watch the Boston Celtics play.  Hockey was big in Boston.  The Bruins were finishing either 5th or 6th in a six team National Hockey League, and the Garden was sold out (13,909 capacity) for every game.  The Celtics were winning championships and the Garden was half empty.

For a 15 and 16 year old who had a lot of growing to do, I learned an important lesson watching the Celtics.  Or, more specifically, the Celtics 6′ 9″ center, Mr. William Felton Russell.

Mr. Russell played the game with out trying to humiliate or put down any of the players on the opposing team.  Mr. Russell played the game of basketball and his game of life with a quiet dignity.

It took a few years for that lesson to sink in.  The lesson of which I speak is to carry ones self with dignity and to treat your fellow human beings the same way.

I know I will never sit down and have a cup of coffee with Bill Russell, but this now all grown-up teenager wants to thank him for the dignified way in which he conducted himself while he played professional basketball.

N. E. V. E. R.

I was going to say, “Never, until. . .”

Bullshit ! !

This problem was caused in part by greedy banks, i.e. banking executives such as CEOs, CFOs, COOs and so forth.  To big to fail is a term we heard many times each day.

Well here is part of my solution.

1. Break up those two or three of the ‘too big to fail banks’ and pass laws to put a wall between commercial banks and investment banks.

2.  Send some of those Wall Street bank execs to jail.  Those folks making multi-million dollars a year.

Never cut Social Security.  Never reduce the COLA by going to “Chained CPI”

Never cut Medicare.  We do not need doctors turning away seniors.

Have a set of balls.  No compromises with Republicans.

Here is what digby had to say yesterday

I don’t think Obama will be remembered that way. He’s seen as trying to appease them not beat them. He and Clinton are basically the same animals on a policy level — but very different politicians. And when it comes to legacy, politics counts for a lot.

It is time to beat the Repubs so badly that they cease to exist as a national political party.

TRMS 26 Mar Show comment

Rachel Maddow had, as a guest, a Mr. Tom Sowers,  Veteran’s Administration Assistant Secretary.  Below is the comment I left at The Maddow Blog.

Thoughts on the Veteran’s Administration:

Rachel, bravo zulu on your question to Mr. Sowers re: if only 3% of the filers can fill out the claims forms correctly, is what the VA is asking for an unreasonable amount?  Mr. Sowers answered with mumbo-jumbo about electronic filing.

Mr. Sowers seems to blame the senior enlisteds (First Sergeants) for not teaching those junior enlisteds on how to properly fill out the claims forms.  I do not believe that DoD sees it as the military’s responsibility to provide that function.

And  Mr. Sowers is blaming the victim.  He had a pile of dossiers of claims and blamed the veteran for not going on line to fill out the forms instead of using paper forms.

Also, Mr. Sowers never answered your question about how does a veteran with PTSD support her/himself when they cannot work b/c of PTSD and the claims process may take over a year.  How do they feed themselves?

For the record, I am a Senior Chief Petty Officer, USN (Retired).  I served 21 continuous years beginning on 7 Oct 58 and ending on 29 Sep 79.  In all of my 21 years, I never heard a good or kind word about the VA.  I have never used any VA medical services.  I did use the WW2 G.I. Bill for education.

My son-in-law has had horrible experiences with the VA hospital in Indianapolis, IN regarding biopsies on his prostate.