VFW

With all the commentary and activity associated with the failure of Obama to lower the White House national flag immeditately in the aftermath of the killing of four Marines and a sailor, why did the VFW allow Obama to speak to them?  Doing so allowed Obama to misrepresent facts.  It also implied VFW endorsement.  VFW let down my fellow veterans.  

It took too long

It took too long for POTUS to lower the flag at the White House.  And it only happened after public outrage and the belated lowering of the flag at the Capital.

That it wasn't immediately done speaks all too loudly to the low (if any) value POTUS puts on the lives of our service members.

Absoutely shameful, but revealing behavior of POTUS.

Biker display of patriotism #Noogastrong

On Sunday, it was reported hundreds of bikers "flooded" Chattanooga in a display of patriotism and visible condolence for the four Marines and one sailor killed there last week.  Pray for Chattanooga Ride

It what was named the Pray for Chattanooga Ride, with American flags flying, bikers demonstrated their love of country and the associated anguish for the five service members who were gunned down.  Where, I wonder, are similarly visible examples of liberal patriotism, anguish, and condolence?  

Why isn't the White House flag flying at half-staff?  

Why isn't the White House ablaze in red, white, and blue lights?

Where are the Al Sharptons and other activists who rail against gun violence?

Where is MSNBC?

Where is the liberal outrage?

As written about previously, we bikers love our country.  We proudly display the American flag.  We willingly come together to honor our military and veterans.  Many of us are veterans.

I'll not hold my breath waiting for the liberals.  I'll line up with my fellow bikers and veterans.

   

I wonder

Nine innocent people were killed in Columbia, South Carolina on 18 June, allegedly by a lone gunman.

POTUS attended and participated in the memorial service in Columbia, South Carolina on 26 June, delivering  a eulogy and singing "Amazing Grace."

Four Marines and a sailor were killed in Chattanooga, Tennessee on 16 July, allegedly by a lone gunman.

Will POTUS attend the anticipated memorial service in Chattanooga, Tennessee?

I wonder.

Bikers and patriotism (part 2)

Scott Walker's first campaign event was at a Harley Davidson dealership.

What does that say about bikers and patriotism?  As written previously, it is a safe bet you will not see Clinton, Sanders, or O'Malley hold a campaign event at a biker location.  It is also a safe bet you will not see bikers at a Clinton, Sanders, or O'Malley campaign event.

Breaking the law is breaking the law

Much has been written and said of late regarding so-called sanctuary cities, in which some local governments deliberately and intentionally choose not to enforce federal immigration law.  The killing of a young woman in San Francisco, allegedly by an illegal immigrant reportedly deported five times, has fueled the discussion.  From my perspective, most (if not all) of this discussion has been off target.

Simply stated, breaking the law is breaking the law.  By not enforcing the law, the local governments are breaking federal law.  And make no mistake, any level of government that deliberately and intentionally fails to enforce a law is breaking the law.  Regardless of the motivation, local governments failing to enforce federal law is exactly the wrong action.  Wrong in incomprehensible ways, because a major function of government is to provide for equal application of the law.

In the current context, the subject happens to be immigration.  But what about the next time?  Once demonstrating a willingness to break the law, where does it end?  What if a locality decides to break federal voting laws by lack of enforcement?  What if localities decide to break federal tax laws by lack of enforcement?  If a locality can decide which federal laws it will enforce, then what stops that locality from failing to enforce any laws (federal, state, or local)?  Could it be, ridiculous as it may sound, that a locality deliberately decides to cease enforcing laws against sex crimes, or tax evasion, or weapons, or burglary, or speeding in residential neighborhoods, or underage drinking, or embezzlement?  Deliberately and intentionally choosing not to enforce laws makes no sense, in part because we are a nation of laws and expect all entities to respect and obey them, or face the consequences.  

Why can a locality break federal law, apparently without legal or other consequence?  And if a locality can willingly and deliberately break the law, why then can not a private citizen do the same on the same basis of an individual decision?  Again, it makes no sense.

In our three part form of government, the executive branch (at all levels) is chartered with enforcement of the law.  Pure and simple.

If the law is wrong, change the law.  Either challenge it successfully in the courts or work with the appropriate legislative body to change or repeal it.  Any other approach tears at the fabric of our country.

Today it is immigration, tomorrow it could be anything else.       

Graduating from Marine Corps boot camp

A Marine buddy and I attended today's recruit graduation at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.  Joining thousands family members and friends, as roughly 360 of America's finest young men marched across the parade deck (aka the grinder).

The band played at the beginning.

The Recruit Training Battalion staff and some of the graduating Marines.

Some of the Marines pass in review before the Reviewing Officer (R), Lieutenant General Gaskin, U. S. Marine Corps (Retired).

12,000 Miles to Say Thank You (Update)

The original post about Howard Phillips' amazing journey around these United States was last month (http://graybeardviews.blogspot.com/2015/06/12000-miles-to-say-thank-you.html) after his visit to San Diego.  This weekend he will be in Boston, starting the local ride from Boston Harley Davidson on Sunday, an event worth checking into and joining.

Since departing San Diego, the ride has made stops in Houston, Texas, Naples, Florida, and Columbia, South Carolina as part of his initiative to raise awareness and funds for the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP).  One regular guy and patriot working hard to make a difference.

Along the way, Howard is meeting great folks, like at Stubbs Harley-Davidson in Houston, Texas.

And in Naples, Florida.

And members of Combat Vets Association as they raise the national colors.

Of course, most of the time, Howard is on his bike, logging mile after mile. 

Apart from the 12,000 miles he will log, it is the people he meets that are helping to raise awareness of our wounded warriors.

Why is rising awareness about our wounded warriors necessary?

In the mind of this retired Marine, the conclusion of the recent wars has been bittersweet.  As our Armed Forces returned home to their loved ones, many came back wounded, visibly and invisibly.  And they will always be the wounded.  As a friend, an Army officer who lost part of a leg in Iraq, told an audience once, he'll never be "unwounded."  He'll not wake up one morning to find that his leg grew back overnight.

That he and others will always be wounded illustrates that we must not permit the tolls of war to slip from our national consciousness.  Unfortunately, an analysis of post war history paints a rather bleak picture.  And this is why Howard's amazing journey is so important.  Without patriots like him constantly reminding us of the costs of war, our wounded will continue to suffer.  Suffering that continues, even as we see the Veterans Administration (VA) struggle.  (For example, recent reports indicate the wait times have actually increased by 50% since the scandal broke a year ago.)  So it is left up to organizations like WWP to fill the gap.   

And it is the sole individual, the one man, who makes a difference.  A patriot like Howard Phillips.  

Help get the word out, so he can be supported as he finishes the remainder of the 12,000 miles saying thank you.  Coming up are rides in Boston, Cleveland, Minneapolis, and Wall, South Dakota.

   

Similar maps of the United States

Here are two maps of the United States that favorably compare to one another.  

The first, taken from the Washington Post, depicts the relative value of $100.  States colored yellow are less value and magenta colored states have more value.

A first view of the map called to mind recent maps of red (conservative/republican) and blue (liberal/democrat) states.  Here's a version of such a map from Wikipedia.

Dang, but don't the maps have amazing similarity?

What should you conclude from this similarity?

A profound difference

Ferguson, Baltimore, and Charleston.  Three different cities that experienced deaths of blacks. In one case, by a white police officer later exonerated of wrongdoing.  In another, allegedly by black and white police officers currently under indictment.  In the last, allegedly (probably indisputably) by an apparently deranged young white man.  Again, the cities share the experience of violent deaths of blacks.  That is where these cities are the same.  How are they different?

The differences are profoundly startling.  Riots, property damage, and civil unrest in the first two cities.  No riots or property damage, but exceptional, perhaps unheard of statements of forgiveness by relatives of the killed.  Why the profound difference?

In the first and second incidents, there was but one dead individual, while in the third there were nine dead.  So scale or numbers do not appear to be the reason.

In the first incident, rioting and civil unrest began almost immediately, in part because of a now thoroughly debunked urban myth of an unarmed individual with hands in the air being shot by a police officer.  In the second incident, riots likewise began almost immediately, in part inflamed by the maladroit actions of the mayor, even before the investigation was completed.  So in neither case was the civil unrest precipitated by a finding of guilt.  Strangely, in the third case, with overwhelming, indisputable evidence that a white man entered a church and gunned down nine people, the city's citizens neither burned, rioted, confronted police, destroyed property, nor called for uprisings, as occurred in the other two cities.  Why the difference?

Could the sole difference be that white police officers were involved in the first two cases, and thus seen by some as justification for the illegal reactions?  In the first case, a single police officer was involved.  In the second, a half-dozen police officers of different races are being investigated for their involvement.  Do those points of police involvement justify lawlessness?  Does destroying businesses and property in one's neighborhood stand for rational protest?  Does burning cars and assaulting police officers comport with the philosophy of the 1960s non-violent protests that changed our nation?  If deemed appropriate, even required by some in the first two cases, why did almost the exact opposite happen in Charleston? 

Answers do not come readily or easily. As observers, we see wanton violence by some, balanced against forgiveness by others. We see some (not even relatives of the victims) choosing to inflame, such as the professor in Memphis who declared, “whiteness is most certainly and inevitably terror.”  Yet, a sister of the reverend killed in Charleston told the suspect, “We have no room for hate, so we have to forgive.”

Strangers to the victims in Ferguson and Baltimore chose violence, lawlessness, and inflammatory rhetoric.  Family members of the victims in Charleston chose faith and forgiveness.

A profound difference in reaction.

Country most confident in the military

In a recent Gallup poll (see below), our fellow citizens rated the military highest of American institutions on a confidence scale (% great deal of confidence and % quite a lot of confidence.  As a retired Marine, I would have responded similarly.  No surprise, right?

But what is surprising is that (unless only conservative, veteran, bikers were polled) the results reveal our nation as a whole holds the military in high esteem (liberals and independents; blacks and whites; male and female; young and old; urbanites and farmers; west coast and east coast; etc.).  This is crucially important, especially in view of the fact that less than one-half of one percent of our people are serving in the military and less than 10 are military veterans.

Leaves me a proud American and retired Marine.

Proud American

During the ten years I spent overseas in my 30 years of active duty with the United States Marine Corps, each and every time I came back to the states and saw the American flag, I was filled with pride.

No matter from what part of the world I was returning, as soon as I saw our flag flying, I knew I was home in the greatest country on earth.  It could have been the small flag flying at an airport, one flying at a public school, or one waving from the back of a motorcycle or pick-up truck.  It was our flag and represented the nation I was serving.

To those, both then and now, who criticize our country, stop and think for a moment.  First, it still looks like more people want to come here than leave (personally, if you think it's really bad here, don't let the door hit you in the butt as your leave).  Second, if we are not the best nation on earth, why do so many want to attack us?  Third, to those here in America who criticize our nation, only our freedoms provide you the right and safety to complain (try doing the same thing in Syria, Iran, North Korea, or ISIS controlled Iraq).  And finally, be thankful for all the men and women who wear the uniforms of our Armed Forces, because they serve the nation and honor the flag.

Even today, when traveling by motorcycle or pick-up truck around the neighborhood or along the freeways, the sight of the flag is stirring.  Riding the Harley through our small town today, en route to a BBQ at the local Harley dealer, I couldn't count all the flags flying at houses, businesses, and government offices.  From trucks and bikes.  The stars and stripes were flying.

American pride present and on display.