So I'm A Race-Relations Expert?

Ha.
Emphatically... NOT!

But in a way we're all students, aren't we? Most of us want our lives to get better, and realize if it gets better for our neighbor it will, by osmosis, get better for us too. Some, as has been made very, very obvious in the last week, profit from racial tension and are perfectly happy with racial discord.
Some have been profiting from it all their lives.
When Obama was elected President, one of the few things that gave me a glimmer of hope about the future was his promise to "be a uniter".
Well he sure dropped the ball during the clutch play, didn't he?!

Two things happened to me almost simultaneously several years back...
I got a telephone call from a prospective helicopter student. From the outset of the call it was obvious the guy was a black man... cadence, accent, word usage, sentence structure... all indicated "I'm a black man".
Okay, I have no problem with that... his money was green and he wanted to share it with me. He sounded like an intelligent dude. Let's go flying...
We did, and he was... black, and intelligent.

Almost the same night I happened upon a British movie titled "Secrets and Lies". It portrays a black English woman who knows she is adopted and is searching for her birth mother.
This is a wonderful movie, well written, directed, and acted, and I recommend it to you. But one thing struck me about it... at their first meeting, after several telephone conversations, the woman's birth mother is surprised that the daughter is Black...
Apparently in Great Britain, Blacks don't have their own "talk". (This was verified by my lead pilot, who was born and raised in Bristol, England.)

So what's the advantage of "Black English" here in the U.S.?
Some Blacks in the U.S. make fun of others for "talking White".
Bill Cosby, trying to point out how counterproductive this is for job seekers, has been called an "Uncle Tom".
Blacks want to maintain a "Black culture", and that's fine...
It's been a long, ugly road for Blacks to reach this point in history, where an African-American can be elected to the highest office in the land. Black folks have a right to be proud.
But even the term "African-American" is a divider, isn't it?

As a White man I bristle at some things:
The NAACP,
The Congressional Black Caucus,
Black Entertainment Television,
Miss "Black America",
The National Association of Black Journalists,
The Urban League,
The National Association of Black Law Enforcement Executives...
And on and on and on.
Let's talk about true equality here...
Where are the similar "White" organizations?
...Oh, I see... that would be RACIST, wouldn't it? Then why aren't these Black organizations racist?
My simple answer? In my opinion they are, and yet we tolerate,
no... cultivate them.

Are you familiar with Brown Vs. The Board of Education?
(I took just enough Law in college to be dangerous.)
In that decision, the Supremes decided that "Separate", by definition, meant "Unequal".
So by separating themselves with all these "Black" organizations...
Separating themselves even by their easily identifiable manner of speaking, for whatever reason, many Blacks seem to prefer this inequality.

And now comes Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr...
A man who, as a Harvard Professor, has reached a pinnacle few of us can hope to achieve, and he's claiming discrimination because of color. Horribly, when Barack Obama had a chance to make this a "Teachable moment" he failed miserably, because his entire life had been devoted to fortifying the "separateness" of Blacks by reinforcing organizations like those listed above.
Tragic.

Here's my open letter to the man who got the most votes for POTUS in the last election:

Mr. Obama-
You now have the chance to truly lead.
You can, as you promised, be a "uniter". You have a moment in history and a pulpit from which to give us the "Change" you promised. You now can make a bigger impact on our society than even the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..
Let's move away from the racial profiteering and divisiveness of the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
Let's move away from "Separate but equal".

Because as an Attorney you know better than most...
Separate, by definition, is NOT equal.
Please, don't waste this moment.

UPDATE: 1738 hours-
Fellow Harvard Professor Ruth R. Wisse, in "An open letter to Henry Louis Gates" asks the Professor what advantage he thought he'd gain by "talking black".

Kenya Plans Tribute To Their Native Son

Obama's Friend Skippy

Are you the wheel that gets the grease...
Or the nail that gets the hammer?
Professor Gates may wish he'd not drawn attention to himself.
Obama sure has strange friends!

Help, Police!

Look over there in the upper-right corner of the blog, where it says "About Me".
See where it says "Ex- Dogcatcher, Ex-Cop. Ex-County Civil Defense Director"?
I did all those jobs for a County that was adjacent to a major U.S. city. I was a fully commissioned Deputy Sheriff, flying as the Department's helicopter pilot, part-time. I did that job for three years. So I could make enough money to put beans and biscuits on the table, the County Executive, a personal friend, gave me other jobs that overlapped my tenure as a Deputy...
As a Dogcatcher I was promoted to Chief Rabies Control Officer overseeing 28 Animal Control Officers. I apparently impressed the boss with my performance because he later gave me the job of Civil Defense Director where I wrote the County's first Emergency Operations Plan.
But I flew the helicopter as a Deputy Sheriff for three years, and I want to focus on that duty in this post.

What an eye-opener that was! Looking around at my fellow Deputies I was surprised...
Some of them were just kids, 21-22 years old. Of course, some were older. Some were quite intelligent, some were of average intelligence. All were underpaid for the risks they faced everyday. (A city within the county lost an officer in a shooting during a routine traffic stop during my first year of employment there.)

One or two were held in scorn by all the others...
One in particular made no bones about the fact that he loved going "Code Three"...
Lights and siren blazing, scorching the pavement for whatever reason.
One of the others obviously had a "Little Man Complex", and had joined just because the gun and badge gave him the ability to push others around.
Neither of these Officers lasted long in our department.

But for three years I flew overhead and provided aerial support for these brave folks...
An overhead perch to search, or watch what was happening on the ground during daylight hours...
An "artificial sun" to turn night into day with my "Nightsun" during darkness when they were searching for victims ejected from an auto accident in that wheat field, or when the odd perp. was trying to escape. I listened to radio calls and experienced near first-hand what these guys had to deal with in order to do their jobs well. They continually deal with people you and I don't want to share a bus seat with...
"Underbelly of the world" types.
They are spat upon, subjected to the vilest of language, and sometimes assaulted.
Few can do the job well.

So when a Police Officer shows up at your door because there is a report that someone is attempting to break in to your home...
Having to be aware and prepared to face deadly force...
Apprised of the fact that this same address experienced an attempted break-in earlier that very week...
It's not good form to shout at the Officer who is trying to protect your property.

...And anyone who thinks that Officer is "stupid" is beneath contempt.

UPDATE, Friday afternoon:
Ha ! President "Stupidly"!
Did I hear an apology in that 5 minutes of rambling? Is this self-absorbed dweeb capable of admitting he made a mistake?

Colonoscopy, 21 July 2009.

This is my second time at this rodeo. (Previous post here.)
It's a little less stressful the second time around, but drinking the gallon of "GoLytley" was still an anxiety producer.

I got home from flying with a student at 10 P.M. the day before the procedure and started drinking the vile stuff at 11 P.M. figuring I could force it down in a couple hours. I was wrong. I was adding a little lemonade to each 8 ounce glass of GoLytely to make the taste more palatable. That means I had to get slightly more than sixteen 8-ounce glasses of the stuff down before I could go to bed. Writing about it now doesn't make it seem so bad, but lemme tell ya...
You get bloated after the first couple glasses and you simply cannot bang 'em down, one glass after another. Added to the time-consumption factor is that you are, of course, heading to the toilet every few minutes to experience a disgusting explosion, and you have an idea of how time consuming it was to drink this gallon of ugly tasting stuff.
I finished drinking it at 3 A.M., complete with the chills that are a possible side-effect of GoLytely.
Off to bed finally to sleep fitfully, I get up a couple more times for "mini-explosions". I woke at 9 A.M. and showered, then headed to the hospital, bleary-eyed.

All went like clockwork...
Through admitting to register and get my armband...
Walk to surgery and get escorted to my bed. Disrobe and put on the gown. They start an I.V. and ask once again if I'm allergic to anything. I'm wheeled into the O.R. where I meet "Jerry", my anesthetist. Jerry is a big ol' good humored southern boy...
We discuss my employment and talk about flying helicopters in Viet Nam and some of my more interesting EMS flights.

The big difference between this time and my last colonoscopy is that this time they'll be KNOCKING ME OUT COMPLETELY. I ask "What drug will you be using?"
With his southern accent Jerry says, "Diprivan"
I laugh. "Now Michael Jackson and I will have something in common."

I'm also getting an endoscope done this time to check for damage from acid reflux to my esophagus, so they make me bite on and install a device that will give them easy access to my oral cavity.

Jerry says, "This may burn a little bit for a few seconds as I start it", when he starts the Diprivan drip, but it doesn't.
"Can you turn on your left side for me so we'll have access to where we need to go?"
"Let me fluff your pillow and make you more comfortable."
...And the next thing I remember is having my head elevated in the recovery room and the nurse announcing "You're done."

Sara Jean now at my side, I drink a glass of grape juice to prove I won't vomit.
"Get dressed and we'll wheel you outta here."
And they do.
After the last procedure I walked the mile home rather than trouble anyone to come get me. There'll be none of that this time...
My gait is unsteady due to whatever it was they pumped into me. Sara Jean chauffers me home, where I sleep for four hours.

So now it's the day after, and other than a slightly irritated larynx and a mysterious minor pain on my left jaw, which they probably manhandled trying to insert the 'scope, I feel fine. I even have an appetite.

They found two polyps and removed them. The Doc says, "I'm 99% sure they're benign, but we'll check and let ya know." And this is the big reason for getting this procedure done, folks...
Removing these things early prevents them from becoming life-threatening later.
I now have a prescription for Prilosec because my esophagus was slightly inflamed and we want to get the acid reflux under control, lest I get CA there.

So there you have it...
One day of slight discomfort and I'm now confident that I won't be having problems with one of the major diseases killing folks today. That's a trade... that assurance, that I'll make again and again in the future.

If you're over 50, you should too.
Get it done so you have one less thing to worry about.
ASAP.

Humorist Dave Barry's column on his colonoscopy experience is here, and is a much funnier version of my account.

YES...YOU...CAN!

Own the Commander In Ch-Ch-Ch-Chief "Chia Pet"!
Would you like the (pre-election) "Happy" Obama, or the- gotta get this health care reform bill passed- "Determined" Obama?
(And I'm not gonna tell you why I HAVE to own one, except that it involves the dogs.)

Those That Don't Know History...

Rush Limbaugh no longer conducts business in New York City.
Why?
Because taxes there were increased to the point it was worthwhile for him to move. (Some lefty idiot in a comment at the link says "Leave the country. I'd be glad to get rid of a TRAITOR like You!")
Typical lefty...
Obviously no student of history.

For those of you too young to remember, or for those of you that have forgotten, ask yourself this...
Why did the Beatles end up residing in the United States?

If you think Rush Limbaugh can't/won't leave the country with his money, just continue raising taxes. Then ask yourself-
How's that workin' for me?

"How Obama Lost Me"

Althouse, (by way of met-via-her-blog fiance Meade), finally admits she made a mistake.
I suspect there are many Obama voters feeling the same way who don't have the courage to admit it.
As usual, the comments there are more interesting than the post itself.

Gadgets- Again

You're lookin' at an original "Palm Pilot". My son, one of those folks that likes to be on the cutting-edge, gadget-wise, bought one shortly after they came out. When it came time to jot down a note or add an address, he'd do it with a flourish that drew attention to himself and the fact that he was "with it". I'd smile, and when I needed to remember a name, phone number, or email address, I'd draw out my "Day-by-Day" pocket secretary and pen and do it manually. The only time I ever envied him his PDA was once when we were confused about which direction to turn in an unfamiliar city and he was able to bring up maps to give me directions.
Still, I always knew he could suffer a power failure or maybe be exposed to a powerful magnetic force that would instantly send his electronically stored information to the place where all lost electronic information goes, while the scribblings entered manually on my pocket secretary would be there when I needed it.

When the original "Kindle" came out I thought, "What an interesting idea. I'll watch and see how this technology unfolds." I like reading books and the possibility of having access to thousands of them in addition to newspapers and blogs via this paperbook-size instrument was worth my attention. But reviews of the original Kindle indicated it had a poor display, and function keys needed to be more user friendly.

Then came the Kindle II. Folks who had used both devices sang its praises, saying it had a much improved display and the device was more easy to use. I was just about ready to fork over the $$$$$ when this George Orwell fiasco hit the news. Imagine being one of the customers who was in the middle of reading "1984", finding the book you had bought via the Kindle had suddenly disappeared from your library!
What a PR disaster for Amazon! It's gonna be interesting to see how they try to recover the confidence of present customers and those of us considering the purchase of the Kindle II. For the time being I'll use my dollars to buy books I can smell and feel while I turn the pages.

My concerns about the original PDA still apply to the Kindle... original or new and improved. It's neat stuff, but are the potential problems worth the cost and the difficulty of learning how to use it properly? This incident just adds more doubt to the Luddites among us.

Of course, regular readers know the old way of storing information isn't foolproof either...
Data entered manually in my pocket secretary was also pretty effectively erased!

The New "Jackie O"

I've always admired self-confidence...
She certainly is a trend-setter, isn't she?

Bumper Sticker Seen Today:

Free Speech?

It's become so obvious, few even expend the energy to argue the point...
Our media leans dramatically to the left. Dan Rather's lies were accepted at face value until Charles Johnson exposed them, thank God.

Obama's thugs show up at radio stations to threaten those that opposed him.

Black Panthers with night sticks "maintain order" in front of polling booths.

Now there's this.
At what point do we start considering a conspiracy?
(Just a joke folks... I think.)

If you're having trouble with the link above, try this one.

Weird Al, Just For Fun

Fun? Definitely.
Ingenious? Yes.
Spelling? Not so good.
Still, if this doesn't make ya smile, there's sumpin' wrong with ya!

Heh.

Found at Theo's.

Universal Health Care

As a lifetime member of the NRA I have always said I'd be in favor of gun control, so long as I was the one in charge of the program. I do not want Nancy Pelosi to be "The Decider". Current trends seem to indicate we've gotten over the hump insofar as guns are concerned...
Seems more folks now realize the truth in the saying, "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."

Now we see the big push for Universal Health Care. And time is of the essence...
We MUST pass this bill before the end of August, no matter how terrible the details might prove to be.

Bruce McQuain of QandO states my fears exactly...
Do you want Madame Speaker deciding whether you are worthy of a kidney transplant?
I don't.
Go read Bruce's post and see what you think.

Christians And Michael Jackson

Yeah you're right, I said I wouldn't do it.
I'm gonna renege on my "No comment on Michael Jackson" statement.
So sue me.

As a Viet Nam Veteran and member of the "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy", I get lots of forwards from fellow conspirators. Sometimes that's good. Most of the time it's irritating because it means I'll get the same ^&$@#% message from nine different people. For the last few days the "Forward Du Jour" has been one that compared five of our brave warriors named "Jackson" and the way their combat deaths have been handled by our news media to the reportage of everything MJ. There is no question we must honor our brave warriors who have given all to preserve our freedoms... that is not my intention and is not the point here.
There also can be no justification for the way we have been force-fed Michael Jackson 24/7 over the last several days. But remember, the news has not been good for President(?) Obama and his administration, and his huge cheering section wants no part of having to tell us the truth, which would reveal what a bunch of fools we were to believe in their faulty investigative reporting...
(I'm sorry... WHAT INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING?!)

This week I received the Jackson Soldiers/Michael Jackson comparison via email from a number of friends, some of which were Christian Brothers and Sisters. I'm at once surprised and saddened by anyone complaining about the media coverage...
Don't like it? Turn the damned TV/Radio off for heaven's sake!
But I realized, with my Christian friends, it might be a good moment for us to re-focus on "WWJD"?
To that extent I sent this note via email to one of my friends, the title of this post in the subject line:

"They call me Legion, for I am many."

I've been pretty amazed at the reaction of many to Michael Jackson's death.
I'm glad I wasn't Michael Jackson, aren't you? Mentally and possibly physically abused as a child, he apparently wasn't allowed to play with others his age because he "might hurt himself" and be unable to perform. Once famous, much like Elvis, he was trapped in a "Twilight Zone" world by his celebrity. Surrounded by folks desirous of catering to his every need, he had no true friends to stand up and tell him he was headed down a dangerous path. I have no argument with those that claim he was imperfect...
We all fall short of the goals Christ set before us.

I too have made unkind jokes about MJ in the past. Still, I'm now saddened by his death and by the loss of "what might have been". The loss of every fighting man and woman saddens me...
It's easy to see how their deaths are due to them having taken a righteous path...
Did Michael Jackson even have that option?

I'd like to gently nudge those calling him a "Villain" to reconsider their thoughts. He was consumed by demons we cannot even imagine. We should be thanking God for our health daily, both physical and mental.

Rest in peace Michael Jackson.
As this email correspondence indicates, you brought me DECADES of pleasure during your too-short life!
And (Christian Sister), don't take this nudge wrong...
It's my gentle way of "standing up" and being a friend.

(Greybeard)

The Birth Certificate, AGAIN!

Seems to me, this would be so easy to resolve...
This is what, the third time this has happened? Fourth? Fifth?
Why not make it go away?
(Answer... SOMETHING STINKS HERE.)

Andrea also has a little fun with the subject.

UPDATE: 15 July, 0100 hours-
There are now 265 comments at the "Just One Minute" post, some of them quite penetrating. If you have the time, it's educational.
(307 Comments at 1100 hours!)

Oldies Radio

I enjoy old-time radio, to include shows like "Fibber Magee and Molly, "The Whistler", "The Fred Allen Show" and other shows from that era.
You too?
Put this link to good use.

So You Are... ?

Dan Quayle was an idiot.
George W. Bush was a buffoon.
Sarah Palin was incompetent and an airhead.
Republican leaders at the national level are all stupid, aren't they?!!

Can you think of a democrat that has similarly been "given the treatment" by our liberal media?
(And Joe Biden doesn't count. After all, that's "Just Joe bein' Joe... Ha Ha Ha!")

You allowed the media to spoon-feed you this "Hope and Change" mush without questioning the huge gaps in BHO's resume.
So if Dan Quayle's an idiot, GWB is a buffoon, and Sarah Palin is a lightweight, that makes you...
What?

It's 3 O'Clock In The Morning

We never answer our telephone.
If you call us, expect to suffer through directions given by our answering machine about how to leave your message. We have been screening our calls this way since Big Bubba was a pup, and he's now 26. We tired long ago of saying NO! to telemarketers, and the proof is in the pudding...
Now most of the time the phone rings the caller hangs up as soon as the message starts playing.

When the phone rings at 3 A.M., there is little chance it will bring good news. Seems to me most calls at that hour fall into three categories-
It's a wrong number.
It's a drunk friend wanting to irritate you... (successfully)!
Someone in your life is hurting, or worse.

The phone rang in the wee hours and I was glad the machine was there to give us time to clear our heads...
"Leave us a message at the tone and we'll return your call as soon as possible. Beeeeep."
And I nearly sat bolt upright in bed when the first thing I heard was the sound of another beep...
The beep you hear on the phone when the call is being recorded.
"This is Trooper ******* with the State Police. Your mail carrier suggested I call you. "
I picked up the phone and sleepily said "This is Greybeard."

"Your neighbor, Doug ********* was killed on his way to work this morning and we have been trying to contact his wife, unsuccessfully. Do you have any idea how we can contact her?"

Oh my.
It's the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Doug and Cheryl have just had a baby and she had to take a part-time job at Wal-Mart.
"I think Cheryl may be working at Wal-Mart, putting out merchandise for Christmas sales."

"Can you accompany the Trooper to give her this news?"

My head says "NO, NO, NO... I don't want to do this."
But I know I must.

"Send the Trooper to pick me up. Call the manager at the Wal-Mart to let them know what is going on and to watch for us at the front door. I'll accompany the officer, but I won't give Cheryl this news... that'll be up to the Trooper."

The Trooper is a female and that is somehow comforting. We arrive at the store and find the manager at the door to give us entry. I ask about Cheryl's location and as the manager points in her direction I see Cheryl look up at the Trooper and me from a distance of 50 feet or so.
Like the 3 A.M. phone call, she knows no good can be coming her way, and before we reach her she slumps to the floor, sobbing.

Doug worked as a Guard at one of our State Correctional facilities. In the early hours he apparently fell asleep at the wheel and hit an abutment at highway speed. He was killed instantly.
Adding insult to injury, his wallet and watch were stolen before first responders arrived. So their jobs were made more difficult, trying to insure which next of kin to notify.

Who would do such a thing? Wouldn't you love to catch someone in the act of robbing a corpse?
Where's my Tazer?

Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep!

Note to my fellow employee:
Your popcorn may actually be done before the smoke alarm sounds!

Yes, It's Still The Economy, Stupid!

Every objective study I have seen has come to the conclusion the economy would now be in better shape had Bozama done nothing.
Please, Mr. President(?)...
DO NOTHING!

F.O.D.

"F.O.D." stands for "Foreign Object Damage".
You may have seen videos of Sailors lined up shoulder to shoulder walking the deck of an aircraft carrier, searching for the tiniest scrap of F.O.D.
Although the typical flight line is too large to do that, Soldiers and Marines are constantly on the lookout for F.O.D. and are reminded that the tiniest scrap of metal can result in expensive and disastrous results on aircraft, and sometimes cause loss of life or limb.
Want to see F.O.D. in action? Take a look...

Hopeless Change

I've tried.
And I mean, REALLY tried.
But I failed.

I've been going to a Liberal Blogger's site frequently, reading and trying to see through her eyes. And in spite of the fact that I am confused, disgusted, and mostly angered by what I read there I have soldiered on, trying to get a glimpse of how "the other side" thinks.
It's impossible.

Black is white.
Day is night.
There is a "Bizzaro World" answer for any argument you present and the problem is, those on the left truly believe what they are saying.
I can't take it anymore. The contortions it takes to try to understand that kind of thought are just too fatiguing.
But ya know what troubles me most?
Rewarding failure...
Rewarding the negative.

I'm beginning to think we're irreconcilable, left and right.
And I'm amazed when I know they cannot do without us, those of us who are right, and they don't even realize it.
Where will the money they want to "spread around" come from if we decide we can't take this anymore? If we dig in our heels and say "ABSOLUTELY NO MORE!", who will pay Peggy Joseph's mortgage? Who'll put gasoline in her car's tank? Who will feed her children?

For what it's worth, liberals, this is the only way you survive the coming chaos:
Come to the realization that drug and alcohol detoxification programs work for one reason-
They force those with a problem to see it for what it is, and remove them from the source of their problem. They separate addicts from co-dependents.
They quit rewarding bad behavior.

Can we as a country do that?
I've tried logic. I've tried historical references. So far, nothing has worked, so I'm fearful for our future.
And I'm sorry to say, more and more I'm planning for a catastrophe.

So Jews, How's That Workin' For Ya?