SINCERE CONCERN FOR VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN

I want to talk about Vice President Biden for a little bit.  I do not want to weigh in on the recent harassment allegations against him except maybe in how his party may approach the situation.  What I want to talk about is the changes that the Vice President has seemed to be going through during this campaign season. It may not be a popular writing with some of my readers because of what is coming to light about the Vice President.  Let's try anyway.

Pre-accusation  feelings  on Mr. Biden.  I respect the man.  I have watched him in the Senate for many years and I feel like he had an air about him as a fair minded, bipartisan politician who tried to sincerely do what was best for our country.

I have been following national politics closely since the Presidential election of 1968 when President Nixon defeated Vice President Humphrey.  With the arrival of cable television and the creation of the C-SPAN network that televised the House of Representative and later expanded to broadcast the Senate live as well, I was able to witness these politicians and decide for myself what kind of people they were instead of taking my grandfather's word for it.  It was eye opening as I grew older and came to understand the working of the government better.

Joe Biden stood out to me.  As I watched the Senate there were many Senators that I just could not bring myself to have much respect for.  Among those were Senator Leahey, Senator Durbin, and Senator Kennedy (Edward) among others on both sides of the aisle.  However there were many Senators that I felt were doing the best they could for their states and their constituents as well as the country.  These Senators also covered both sides of the aisle and one of those was Joe Biden.

Joe Biden had my respect pretty much the whole time that I was aware of him and who he was.  The thing that really won my respect for him though was when he was Chairman of the Judiciary committee.  He presided over the extremely controversial confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas to be placed on the Supreme Court.  Justice Thomas underwent accusations almost parallel to the hearings that we just watched Justice Kavanaugh go through.  There was an accuser.  The Democrats smelled blood in the water and the Republicans wanted the accusations to be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt.  It was ugly.  It was nasty.  It brought out an angry Justice Thomas that accused the process of being a "high tech lynching".  Senator Biden, as I mentioned, was the chairman of the committee.  What I saw Biden do during that 2 weeks of accusations, fighting, arguing presenting to the American people the United States Senate at it's worse, was a man who tried his very best to keep things in order.

Joe Biden tried, and I believe succeeded, in keeping the hearings fair and under control.  He chastised both Republican Senators as well as Democratic Senators during that time. He gave and took on both sides.  It was probably the most fair hearings I have ever seen coming out of the Senate (except for the Soto-Mayor and the John Roberts hearings maybe).  Joe Biden stood tall.  Joe Biden kept to his plan on how to handle the hearings.  Joe Biden came off as a fair and honest man in my mind and he earned my respect during that time.

Since then, I feel like he continued to do an admirable job as a Senator.  When he was chosen by President Obama to be his running mate, I was pleased.  It made my decision on who to vote for in those two elections pretty difficult.  I was not enamored with Mitt Romney and so that was probably the second toughest decision I had ever made in a Presidential election.  The other one was in 1976 When President Ford was challenged by President Carter.  I voted for Carter in 1976 and even though his administration can be seen fairly easily as a failure, he did some very good things as President.  I was not, and still am not questioning myself on voting for Carter that year.

I did not vote for President Obama however.  At the time I felt like Obama was too inexperienced to hold the office of President.  He was a one term Senator with little, if any, other experience in National politics, particularly foreign policy.  That was what threw me over to vote for Romney.  I believe a President's number one responsibility is that of foreign policy and it just wasn't there with Obama.  Even as Obama ran for a second term, his opponent Senator McCain was much more proficient in foreign policy than the President was.  Through all of that though, I still held my respect for Joe Biden.  Biden did know foreign policy.  In my mind Biden was still that hard nosed Senator from years ago who was bi-partisan and honest and sincere.  I still feel that way about the Vice President. (current allegations withstanding).

So that is my background concerning Joe Biden.   I do feel like during his eight years as Vice President he became a little more partisan but over all still a fair, sincere man.  That brings us to what my concern with the former Vice President is and what this entry is meant to be about.  Most important about Biden was that he never seemed to jump on the "Hate President Trump At All Cost" bandwagon.

When we entered the current campaign season it was fairly obvious that the Democrats were going to have some bloody moments on the road.  It seemed that the party was fractured widely between moderates and, well about as far left as you can get on a piece of graph paper ... maybe even off the paper.  But then came Joe Biden into the mix.  Now I can't say I agree with him on policy or really much of anything as it seems that Biden, as well as myself, have changed over the years.  Still, I could see Joe Biden as that same man I saw at the Thomas hearings.  He was an arbitrator early in the campaign.  He would answer questions quick, straight and hard nosed.  You didn't have to wonder where Biden stood on things and it began to appeal to the Democratic party.

Something began to happen though during the primary season.  It wasn't easy to notice at first.  Biden began to hesitate just a little before giving an answer.  The pause began to grow as the weeks went by.  Then Biden began to get words turned around now and again but was quick to correct himself.  After that little anger burst began to come from somewhere deep inside him and a few times he threatened democratic supports and challenged them to what appeared to be fist fights out in the parking lot.  Then it got worse and I began to really get concerned about Joe Biden as a man, as a human being.  Joe was slowing changing into a Joe Biden that I did not recognize.

Over the past few weeks, the Vice President has begun to slur his words a little.  His thought processes have begun to be disjointed.  He forgets words entirely and can not correct himself.  He seems to not be aware of where he is or sometimes what he is doing.  During one campaign speech he announced that he was "Joe Biden and I am running for United States Senator".  This was the point when I was convinced that early onset dementia was starting to effect Joe Biden.

I have no proof of this.  There have not been any medical examinations or anything of the sort to confirm what I feel I see in the man.  But I do see it.  I watched my father slowly slip into dementia and what I saw in Biden was almost a mirror as to what I saw in my father.  It continues to get worse in my eyes as the days go by.  He looks old.  He looks tired.  His wife, Jill, has had to walk him off the platform a few times.  He has wondered off camera.  One night with the camera on him, he turned and talked to the wall with his back to the camera.  He stops mid sentence constantly now trying to remember what his train of thought was.  Personally, I see the dementia growing almost daily.

It is sad.  I am sincere in saying that.  It is sad to see any person slip into dementia especially when you have seen them with a sharp mind and very capable of taking care of themselves.  It truly is sad to see Biden go through this.  What I do not understand, what I can not understand, is how the Democratic Party puts him through this.  It is becoming more obvious by the day that if he were to be elected, he would not be able to serve the country the way we deserve to be served.  He would not be capable of carrying out his duties, of upholding the Constitution without the danger of being led by people who could be of questionable character talking him into making decisions that the Joe Biden of past years would never make.

I feel that the Democratic Party has to find a new candidate to take Biden's place on the ballot and they need to come out of their convention with a viable candidate.  If they put Joe Biden on stage in a debate with President Trump, I do not believe I would be able to watch it.  It would be so sad to see that once great man, not able to formulate a consistent argument or sentence without stumbling all over his words and looking tired and old.  I would not want to see that.  I don't think the American people would want to see that, no matter what your political philosophy is.

Now comes the only time I will bring up the current allegations against Biden.  I truly hope that what I am about to say does not come true.  My fear is that the party that Biden was a part of and loved for all these years may turn on him.  They may use this scandal as the excuse to replace him at the convention putting him and his family through unnecessary turmoil.  I think that this could happen to cover up the fact that the Democratic Party were ready to nominate a man who is so clearly unable to carry out the responsibility of the office if elected.  This would be about the meanest thing that could happen.

I hope, my fervent hope, is that somebody in the leadership of the party, a few of those people, talk to Jill Biden and get her on board before approaching Joe with what everyone is seeing from day to day.  My hope is that they are  able to talk to him and make him understand enough to realize that stepping aside is the right thing to do.  I have no idea or thought on who could or should replace Biden at the top of the ticket.  That is what the convention will be for.  My hope is that they treat Joe Biden gently with all the respect he has earned over the decades of serving his country. As far as the allegations, that can be worked out without a President being hampered as President Trump has been since he was elected.  The situation can be handled in a just way, in quiet and outside of government.

Joe Biden deserves at least this much respect and decency.  I truly believe this.  The last time I felt this bad for a Senator that went down was when George McGovern and the democrats embarrassed and shamed my senator from Missouri, Thomas Eagleton in 1972 because it came to light that he suffered from depression and was seeking help for it.  I feel like the situation with Biden is much worse than the Eagleton situation.

I am asking the leaders and members of the Democratic Party to please, please give Joe Biden some dignity as his political career comes to a close.  He deserves it.

(As an aside, I do not condone any actions that Joe Biden may have done if the allegations are true.  At the time of this writing it is reported that 8 women have made accusations in the past against Mr. Biden.  This of course, changes my attitude toward him as a man in the overall scheme of things.  I also believe he needs to be held accountable after an investigation is conducted)

THE ART OF DEBATE

Full disclosure to begin things.  I have never been a member of a debate team.  I have never participated in a formal debate.  I have never read a book on debate techniques.  My whole debate experience has been with friends, friends of friends, and family members.

Okay, so there are my credentials on this subject.  Absolute zero.  So with that in mind, here's my thoughts on what I have learned over the years.

There basically just two rules to be able to debate at least to a point where you can pull a good debate off.

First you have to know what you, yourself, believe.  You have to know what your philosophy is and how to talk about it.  This may sound easy but it isn't.  If you are human, your philosophy continues to change as you progress in life and it is important to revisit your thoughts every once in a great while so you don't get yourself confused.  Most time when I revisit my philosophy, it takes at least a week to feel comfortable with where I am at and make adjustments in my thinking.

Secondly, you have to know what your opponent believes and what the basics of their philosophy is.  This isn't easy either.  If someone were to look at my library, they would think I am nuts.  I have read the "Communist Manifesto".  I bought my own copy of Mao Tse Tung's little red book when I was young.  I have read the Ku Klux Klan writings of Ben Klassey as well as Mein Kampf.  I have read books on different religions and different philosophies.  I have watched debates, mostly debates of William F. Buckley debating whoever wanted to take him on.  I have read or watched the speeches of Adlai Stevenson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman, John Kennedy and Barack Obama.  I have listened to Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X, Ayn Rand as well as the classic philosophers. I have read writings and histories from our founding fathers including the Federalist papers.  Every American should be required to read the Federalist papers I think, along with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

I learned this lesson one afternoon from my grandfather.  I know I have written about this particular afternoon before because it was really a light bulb in my head going off.  I grew up with a conservative bent on my think.  I am not sure how that happened, but I did.  The whole extended family was very liberal except for myself and my cousin Jerry.  My grandfather was a Roosevelt liberal, an union organizer and president.  He was liberal from domestic policy on through foreign policy.  He use to enjoy talking politics if there wasn't anything else to talk about, i.e. football or baseball.  Grandpa was sharp.  He knew his own thinking and was able to express it very well.

He also knew what to expect me to say and he was always ready with any argument I might come up with and on this particular day, It dawned on me.  I use to visit grandma and grandpa a few times a week.  On a daily basis, grandpa would study the news paper and watch Walter Cronkite.  He knew what the Republicans were saying and he definitely knew what the Democrats were saying.  While he was reading the paper, if an article or editorial caught his imagination, he would clip it and put it in the pocket of his chair.  He would use these clips to remind him of something that he wanted to talk about.  On THE day, I showed up and sat on the couch next to his chair.  He whipped out a newspaper clipping and, I will never forget this, the sound of his voice, he said "Here, read what your buddy Pat Buchanan wrote." and then he sat there and watched me as aI read it.  When I was done I handed it back to him and he asked "Well?, What do you think?"  And as I thought about how to answer him, I looked at him.  He had a sparkle in his eye.  He had me and he knew it and that was when the light bulb came on.  The old man KNOWS what I am going to say!  Why bother?  I had been beat before I even started.

That was the day I figured out the key to debate.  Know what you think, and know how your opponent is going to respond.  It was shortly after that when I began reading about things I didn't really understand.  Most of my reading in my teens up until today is about history and what other points of views that there are out there and I noticed that even if the old man and my uncles were still whipping up on me, at least I could carry on a debate for more than a second or two.

The third part of making a good debate is the toughest one to accomplish.  To make a debate worthwhile instead of just a yelling match, There has to be some listening going on while the other side is making their case.  In entering a debate you have to keep yourself firm in your own thinking while at the same time be willing to listen with an open mind and be able to accept a different idea from your opponent.  This makes your philosophy more complete, makes your thinking clearer.  You must be prepared to make subtle or even large changes in your philosophy.  It is important to realize that you can always learn something new from somebody else.

I am not very good at this third part.  I think I use to be pretty good at it but as I have aged, I think that my thinking has become kind of set in concrete and not willing to change.  Instead of actually listening to an opposing point of view, my mind seems to jump on parts of sentences, take statements out of context and convince myself as to how little logic is being told me.  It is a problem and one that I try to work on, but really I don't succeed much in it.  Friends on social media will verify that about me.  Then again, there are times when I think they don't listen either and when you have two opposing viewpoints with neither side listening, it turns into an excersize as though you both are spinning your wheels on an icy patch of road with dry land just to either side of that ice.  Both sides get frustrated and to restart from before the debate and move on as if it never happened.  That seldom happens either.  Too often we hold on to what someone said and don't let them forget it and soon, what once was a friendship becomes a mind game that never ends.

Right now this country is a mess.  I don't think you can blame it on the current administration or the previous one.  It seems to be an over all society that has hardened the wills and the thinking of those that hold them.  Right now, I think, this country has forgotten how to listen to each other.  Without listening there can be no end to the debate that is raging.  Without each philosophy taking a little from the other and giving a little, things start to spinning terribly out of control and our society is hurt by it.  Our country is hurt by it and when the United States is in a war of words with ourselves, it effects the rest of the world.  This isn't the first time our country was deeply divided, but it seems like it is the deepest divide we have had since the American Civil War.  The art of debate has been lost and has turned into a huge power struggle.

This country needs to come together even if it is just a tiny bit.  We need to start listening to each other.  We need to strive to understand different ideas and thinking.  We need to bring this great social debate that we find ourselves in toward an understanding that can bring respect from each of us to each of us.  Everyone has their own thoughts, that is a truth as old as mankind has been discussing ideas.  That is a given.  You don't have to agree with a person to have respect for them.  Only with a mutual respect that a vibrant debate can bring out in people can this country continue to grow and to lead the world.

I don't know about you, but that is what I want for this country.  I want it to be strong.  I want our allies to follow our lead.  I want our enemies to respect us enough to be able to come to the table and work things out so everyone is safer in the world.

That is what The United States is supposed to be.

IN MY MIND

"I’ll be all around in the dark – I’ll be everywhere. Wherever you can look – wherever there’s a fight, so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad. I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready, and when the people are eatin’ the stuff they raise and livin’ in the houses they build – I’ll be there, too."
(John Steinbeck)

"I've got nothing on my mind,
Nothing to remember,
Nothing to forget.
And I've got nothing to regret.
But I'm all tied up on the inside,
No one knows quite what I've got,
And I know that on the outside
What I used to be
I'm not anymore."
(Don McLean)

"Always give your best, never get discouraged, never be petty; always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself."
(Richard Nixon)

"You can go to church and sing a hymn
You can judge me by the color of my skin
You can live a lie until you die
One thing you can't hide
Is when you're crippled inside"
(John Lennon)

"The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed. And if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn’t share our prejudice toward plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, “Why are we here?” ... PLASTIC!!
(George Carlin)

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
(Declaration of Independence) 

It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.
(Rene Descartes)

"I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes. You’d know what a drag it is to see you."
(Bob Dylan)

"When they knock you down, you not only have to get up, but you have to make it clear that you won't be knocked down a second time."

(Carl Yastrzemski)

Marijuana will be legal someday, because the many law students who now smoke pot will one day be Congressmen and they will legalize it to protect themselves.

(Lenny Bruce)

"I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell
I know right now you can't tell
But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see
A different side of me
I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired
I know right now you don't care
But soon enough you're gonna think of me
And how I used to be"
(Rob Thomas)

"Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours."
(John Locke)

"The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, "Hey, don't worry; don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride." And we … kill those people. "Shut him up! I've got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real." It's just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok … But it doesn't matter, because it's just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace."
(Bill Hicks)

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
(John Adams)

"See the children of the earth
Who wake to find the table bare
See the gentry in the country
Riding off to take the air
See the jailer with his key
Who locks away all trace of sin
See the judge upon the bench
Who tries the case as best he can
See the wise and wicked ones
Who feed upon life's sacred fire
See the soldier with his gun
Who must be dead to be admired
See the man who tips the needle
See the man who buys and sells
See the man who puts the collar
On the ones who dare not tell
See the drunkard in the tavern
Stemming gold to make ends meet
See the youth in ghetto black
Condemned to life upon the street"
(Gordon Lightfoot)

"Books, in all their variety, offer the human intellect the means whereby civilization may be carried triumphantly forward."
(Winston Churchill)

"There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right."
(Martin Luther King, Jr.)

"It is well known that when you do anything, unless you understand its actual circumstances, its nature and its relations to other things, you will not know the laws governing it, or know how to do it, or be able to do it well."
(Mao Tse Tung)

"I've built walls
A fortress, steep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship
Friendship causes pain.
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.
I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room
Safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me
I am a rock
I am an island
And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries"
(Paul Simon)

"Shadows are falling and I'm running out of breath
If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less
When you get up in the morning and you see that crazy sun
There's a train leaving nightly called when all is said and done
Keep me in your heart for awhile
Sometimes when you're doing simple things around the house
Maybe you'll think of me and smile
You know I'm tied to you like the buttons on your blouse
Hold me in your thoughts, take me to your dreams
Touch me as I fall into view
When the winter comes keep the fires lit
And I will be right next to you
Engine driver's headed north to Pleasant Stream
These wheels keep turning but they're running out of steam
Keep me in your heart for awhile"
(Warren Zevon)

Plus lots more ... maybe a "Part II" in the future.

2016 ELECTION DISASTER COMING

Anyone who knew my grandfather and his kids know that it was customary to argue about something, actually almost anything.  There were the big three subjects that dominated most of the arguments.  First was politics, which included religion and philosophy, second was football and third was baseball.  Anytime there was any sort of family gathering an argument would come about and it would be a loud argument as each of my uncles, my mom and aunt June tried to talk over each other as the argument continued.

I was born in mid-October of 1956, less than a month before the election between Ike and Stevenson.  I arrived in this world at about 9:20 on a Saturday morning and I can almost guarantee that by 9:00 that night, I was ready to vote for Stevenson.  As I grew up I would listen to these debates and so when I was four I was a Kennedy man.  When I was eight I was ready to cast my vote for Johnson.  But it was when I turned twelve, in that historic violent year of 1968 that I truly became aware of what politics was about.  For the first time I listened to the candidates and tried to understand what was going on.  Perhaps it was the turmoil in the country that year that pushed me into paying close attention to what was going on.  I remember my city having the Missouri National Guard in the streets and a city wide curfew after Martin Luther King, Jr was gunned down in Memphis.  I was up watching Senator Kennedy claim victory in the California primary from Los Angeles and sat there watching as he was assassinated.  There was a lot going on that year and the Presidential election was just as messed up.  Vice President Humphrey was running against Vice President Nixon and as if that wasn't exciting enough, Governor Wallace from Alabama was making a huge third party run for the nation's highest office.  The governor was running such a strong campaign that he actually won enough states to make a close election into a Nixon win.  From listening to my grandfather I was hoping for Humphrey and I stayed up most of the night watching the returns come in only to arrive at school the next day extremely tired, but with a little more knowledge than I had the day before.

Over the next four years as I grew into my mid-teens, my schoolwork required me to keep up on current events, learn how the government works both on the State as well as Federal level, and I had to pass a test on the Constitution of the United States.  During this time of studying I found my own philosophy of politics and discovered I had a conservative streak embedded with in it.  I found myself moving from the left wing to becoming politically centered with a slight leaning to the right.  Over the years I have more or less held that position as far as philosophy and politics go.  I am a centrist who is not opposed to crossing party lines to vote.  I consider myself as a member of no political party.

Since that time I have followed politics closely.  I have been able to make decisions based on issues, not on where a political party stands.  I have voted for Democrats as well as Republicans.  I watched the Watergate hearings, the Iran Contra scandal and into what I still consider the worse presidential scandal and administration as President Clinton was impeached and then let off the hook by a partisan vote in the Senate.  To me it was the beginning of the grid lock in Washington and has made me very leery of Washington politics.

Over the years, I have felt that the Presidential elections were running okay.  I did not necessarily love all the candidates running but I have seen a certain amount of respect between the two parties for each other as well as the American people.  Even the Bush/Gore Election was civil, if not smoothly run, by either side as the election ended up in the Supreme Court.  I did not agree with the election being decided by the court, but it seemed like it would be the only way the election would be decided in time to get a new administration in place in January.

Now we come to 2016.  This election is going to be a nightmare.  No matter how this election turns out, all I can see is that the country will be deeply troubled and divided for at least the next four years.  Somehow the two major parties in the United States have chosen two of the worse possible candidates they could possibly choose to be President.  My purpose here is not to try to sway the reader one way or the other, just to give my thoughts and how I see things that are happening.

I think it is important that you understand how I look at government and the roles that different branches should play.  Firstly I think that the closer a government is to my home, the more influence it should have on my life.  For example, the City Council of Kansas City should have more influence on me personally and my community.  These people on the council live here and know what is going on here.  Although the laws may be smaller in nature, they should be laws that directly effect Kansas City.  My state representatives in Jefferson City should have laws that may be a little broader and still effect my area of the state in which I live but not as much as the council.  When we get to the federal level of government the effect should be even less direct on my life and my community.  I feel the laws that the United States Congress put into place should be broad enough to cover all fifty States in the Union.

Now, that being said I want to zero in on the role of the Federal Government as Congress in relation the the executive, or President.  I feel that Congresses main concern should be domestic policy.  Congress can not really do foreign policy as they are restricted by the constitution.  If Congress does want to implement domestic laws, it has to go through the President for signing or veto.  On the other side, I feel the main work of the President is foreign policy.  Congress can not implement foreign policy very well but the President can.  But any foreign policy that the President wants to enact has to be approved, for the most part, by the Congress through advice and consent.  So that being said, when I look to a possible President to vote for, the most important thing to me is what his foreign policy will be, what he believes in concerning other nations, the armed forces, and countries that he may negotiate treaties with.  The most important thing to look at when choosing a President ... foreign policy so that is where I will begin my thought process on these two people who want to lead this country.

Unfortunately, foreign policy does not rear its head during the primary season.   Candidates tell the people what they want to hear, and what they want to hear is "What will you do for ME?" and so the vast majority of choosing candidates is based on what they think should be done domestically.  We end up therefore, with two candidates who make wild domestic promises without revealing what kind of foreign policy they may have and that is where this years election becomes one of the must troubling, ugliest, no win election in my lifetime.

The Republicans started out with over fifteen candidates.  Nearly all of them had some sort of government experience either on the State or Federal level.  Most had a lot of domestic policy experience and quite a few had been involved in foreign affairs issues.  The vast majority of them were untouched by any scandal of anything that would impede their ability to be President.  Out of all of these people, somehow the Republicans came to nominate Donald Trump as their candidate.  I have no idea how this happened.  Mr. Trump has absolutely no experience with the internal workings of our government.  He has absolutely no experience with a nationwide domestic policy and has had no experience whatever in foreign policy.  He talks good for the most part.  He is able to read people and tell them what they want to hear.  He does have ideas that could or could not work.  He is smart.  He is very intelligent.  The problem is that he is somewhat too honest in what he says and the bigger problem is that a lot of times he says something without thinking it through.  An idea or thought pops in his head and it comes out of his mouth causing him to back track on a lot of things he has said.  I have noticed that most times he is being sarcastic, but in politics there is no such thing as sarcasm.  Every word muttered is taken seriously and this becomes a problem for Mr. Trump.

The Democrats did not start out with that many candidates.  It was generally assumed that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would be the nominee without hardly any competition.  She did start out strong but it soon became clear that Independent Senator Bernie Sanders was going to push her to the finish line.  As we have come to find out recently, the Democratic Nation Committee saw this happening and set up rules that would guarantee the nomination for Mrs. Clinton.  The Democrats did indeed nominate Mrs. Clinton but the party is divided because of the unethical ways in which the primaries were set up to give her that position.  Mrs. Clinton has a vast knowledge of how the government works with a strong comprehension of domestic as well as foreign policies.  The problem with Mrs. Clinton is that she is terribly untrustworthy.  In a recent poll the majority of Americas do not trust her.  She has proven time and again that she is almost an habitual liar (I will refrain from calling her a thief because the jury is still out on that).  She will lie about anything, be it a major mistake on her part down to matters that don't really matter if she were to tell the truth.  She is a master at working the system and comes off, to me anyway, as being the only person who knows what is best for the country.  As Secretary of State, she carried out President Obama's foreign policy, advising him to make some very poor decisions.  Between her and the President, the last eight years of foreign policy has been a total disaster.  I don't have the time or the energy to go through all of the mishaps that she and President Obama had in the field with our allies but it has been bad.  Very bad.  The American people need a President they can trust.  Looking back over the years, the people of this nation could trust President Nixon to be honest with them ten times over what they can trust Mrs. Clinton to be.  Our Allies have to be able to trust her and they don't.  She is such a compulsive liar with a poor foreign policy philosophy that another eight years of this will have our country knocked out of the spot that we have held for so many years.

So it comes down to these two and how it happened, I will never know.  There is an option of a third party crashing in but it would have to have a good showing and even the chance of a third party is split.  Libertarian Johnson and Green Party Stein both have developed fairly good followings after the conventions took place.  There is only room for one third party though and still have a long shot at keeping either of these two out of the White House.  Based on the past, when John Anderson ran his third party run, he polled about 16% of the vote and did not win any states.  When George Wallace ran his third party he polled about 23% of the vote and took enough states to give the election to Nixon.  I figure for a third party to be successful at making a real run and sending the election to the House of Representatives, they would have to poll at least 30% of the vote and that does not seem likely.

My thinking  for my personal vote has come to this.  If Johnson or Stein can poll at least 30% before election day, they will get my vote, and hopefully many others.  If enough people get fed up with the Republicans or Democrats, a third party could possibly, not probably, win the the election without going through the House of Representatives.  I don't think this will happen though.

Plan two for me is that I will vote for Donald Trump.  The Republican Party will advise strongly to him on who to put in his cabinet as advisors, and there will be plenty of good Republicans available for those positions for example, Senator Jeff Session of Alabama will be available as he is retiring from the Senate and has gained the confidence and friendship of Mr. Trump.  For a Trump Presidency to work, Mr Trump will have to learn to listen before talking.  He will have to set aside his ego and his rapid fire tongue and listen to advisors seriously and keep the country running in a good direction.  I think he can do this and to be honest, I really think he will do this if he is elected.

I can not vote for Mrs. Clinton however.  Listening to her lies and watching her help President Obama totally tear down a middle east that was more stable than it had been in decades does not allow me to do this.  She will surround herself with good advisors, that is a given.  However if her advisors act like people in the Obama administration and become just "yes men" to her, it will not do any good.  She is smart.  VERY smart and she knows it.  She comes off as thinking that she has the best idea in every situation and if things don't work out the way she thinks they should, well just lie about what went on and move on ("What difference does it make at this point?").  I want someone I can trust at least to tell the truth once in awhile and she is not that person.

Mr. Trump, on the other hand, is overly honest when saying what he thinks or what he did.  I would much rather have Mr. Trump surrounded by advisors that he may at least listen to once in a while then Mrs. Clinton who listens to no one.

Either way this election promises to be the absolute worse election in my lifetime and probably for longer than that.  It will be dirty.  It will be nasty.  As a matter of fact it already is.  Personal attack ads from both sides are already hitting the airwaves and it has just begun.  This attack ads are brutal with the promise to get worse as November gets closer.

How bad is it already?  On social media, people are posting extremely mean spirited, ugly memes and ads against each other.  I have witnessed people who have been friends for years become so impassioned with on or the other party that friendships have ended or they are not even talking about everyday things anymore.  They aren't talking to each other at all.  That is just on social media.  What about real people in neighborhoods.  What will happen there?  will neighbors become enemies with each other instead of helping each other keep their neighborhoods clean and safe?  We have citizens calling for the murdering of police officers.  We have police officers offended by how the public perceives them.  Will they get offended enough to walk off the job, just retire?

What we have, over all, is American against American, each thinking that those that oppose them are stupid or unpatriotic and making it know that they feel that way.  We have demonstrations that turn violent between Republicans and Democrats, and between Democrats and Democrats.  These are the kind of demonstrations that use to only be seen when the Nazis would march through Skokie,  Illinois..

We are all turning on each other and the damage that will have been brought about by November will not be able to be fixed by either Mr. Trump or Mrs. Clinton.

America use to stand for a peaceful transfer of power every four to eight years.  Right now these two candidates have the country more divided than I can ever remember and it sickens me.  This is not the America that I grew up in, not anymore.  What will it take to get us back to that place?  All I can say is that it will take time after this election.  We will need a press that is truly ethical in its own right.  Walter Cronkite said once, and I am paraphrasing because I can't remember exactly how he said it but in essence it was "If everyone is upset with me, then I have done my job".  We need a Walter Cronkite in this country badly and we don't have one.  It will mean that this country will have to come together under a strong President who truly believes in this great country and the people who make this country up,  The people will have to have a government that they can trust and believe in.  Personally, I think between the two choices presented to us, that Mr. Trump is more likely to at least get us up to the road where there might be a glimmer of trust and hope far off on the horizon.

TRUMP JUST GOT ANOTHER VOTE

This is a rant.  It is an ugly rant that is filled with disdain for former President Clinton, his wife Hillary, the Democratic Party and liberals ( not your average liberal but your rabid liberal) in general.  The outcome of my feelings bring me to a decision to vote for Mr. Trump.  I had posted on Facebook earlier this year that I was going to write in my vote for the Presidency theorizing that I did not feel that either Clinton, Trump or Sanders were worthy to hold what use to be the most powerful office in the world.  For once, I thought, I would vote for someone that I personally felt held the qualifications to be President.  That has changed over night.  I have returned to voting against a candidate instead of for one.

The problem with Donald Trump is that he actually tells you what he thinks, what he plans on doing, where he has come from and where he expects to go.  People and the press don't like that.  It is scary for someone to tell you the truth instead of what you want to hear.  Trump isn't the first candidate to have this problem.  Adlai Stevenson suffered from being too intelligent and too honest for the American people to feel comfortable throwing their support to and we ended up with two terms of an Eisenhower administration that was basically worthless and accomplished very little. (I don't mean to imply that Trump is "too intelligent" by that statement, just that he says what is on his mind.)

I guess the best place to start this rant is in 1971.  This was the year that Daniel Ellsberg, who worked for the think tank Rand Corporation, leaked top secret documents to the New York Times and the Washington Post concerning the country's involvement in Vietnam.  Rand was working with the Department of Defense at the time on the report giving Ellsberg access to the documents.  Ellsberg was tried and convicted but did not spend anytime in prison for his treasonous actions.  His case was dismissed because the Nixon administration tried, through some questionable means, to find out how the papers were leaked.  This led to the Watergate scandal which eventually forced President Nixon out of office.  It was the actions of the Nixon administration that was used as an excuse for letting Ellsberg go free.  Better to commit an act of treason than to try to find out how to prevent one in the future I guess.  The important thing concerning President Nixon is that he never committed perjury, it was never proven that he lied to the country, and he complied with all subpoenas that were handed to him.  The important thing here is that even though he had done all of this, there came a time when the Republican party could feel like they could no longer support or back him in his quest to clear his name.  On an August afternoon in 1974 led by Senator Barry Goldwater, a group of Republican congressmen walk to the White House to inform President Nixon that he must resign the office.  When you think of bi-partisanship, this should be one of the images that go through your mind.  President Nixon did resign two days later.  Meanwhile Ellsberg was free and the New York Times received the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism for publishing top secret documents.  Makes a persons head spin when you really stop to think about it.

After another honest but mostly inept administration under President Carter with absolutely zero scandals, we go through the Reagan and Bush administration which gave us the Iran/Contra affair.  It was totally investigated and, in one of the last acts of bi-partisanship was found to lead nowhere.  It would be the last time that the parties worked together on ethics issues.  The time of blatant partisanship was ushered in with the election of President Clinton.

The Clintons were a lot like the Reagans as the First Lady in each of these terms took on a larger role than the country was use to.  Nancy Reagan made no bones about the fact the she had some input on issues with her husband and Hillary Clinton was the same.  Both women were extremely intelligent and had a grasp on what the issues of the day were.  During the initial campaign of Mr. Clinton, the country had no idea what kind of ethics the Clintons had, or rather didn't have.  It became clear however as the years passed and scandal after scandal implicated President and Mrs Clinton constantly.  After Whitewater and the Rose Firm scandals, after the "lost FBI files" that were suddenly found in the living quarters of the President just before he left office and after lie upon lie being told to the American people, the President was caught in a sexual scandal.  Many liberals and Democrats don't see why this was such a huge thing.  A person's personal life shouldn't be paraded in public and so forth.  The way I see it, is that when President Clinton had this situation going on in the Oval Office, he was opening himself up to blackmail and putting the country in danger.  I believe it was extremely important.  I think that Linda Tripp may have had blackmail on her mind as she steered the young Lewinsky through the liaisons with the President.  It gets worse though.  President Clinton on numerous times concerning the Lewinsky affair lied to the American people.  Stared straight into the camera and lied.  Told us to trust him.  He talked to us like we were six year olds.  "Listen to me..." he said implying that we should believe him without question.

Then came the part that should have put him out of office as Nixon before him had left.  He was called before a Federal Grand Jury and committed perjury.  He also coached Monica Lewinsky on how to commit perjury during her testimony.  Both are Federal felonies.  Both actions are well past the justification to impeach and to be found guilty.  He was impeached but when it came time to vote at the end of the Senate trial, the Democrats ignored the evidence and voted straight down party lines a not guilty verdict.  Then, as if to shove it in the peoples face, the President, along with all of the democratic members of congress walked out onto the south lawn in a show of solidarity.  In my mind, this was the beginning of deadlock in Washington.  This was the moment in time when a party did what was "good" for the party as opposed to what was good for the country.  It was on that day when a President stood proudly with his fellow Democrats and said "Yes, I am above the law".  It was on that Day when Hillary Clinton saw that power could accomplish anything if wielded in the proper threatening mode and that with power, you could do anything you wanted.  The days of Richard Nixon resigning because his party felt his ethics were not good enough to be President were over.  Bill Clinton along with his wife and the rest of the Democratic party told the American people how stupid they thought we were and we were to accept the fact that power brings a lot of fringe benefits.

Since that sad day in our history, Presidents have had motives questioned but none brought to task.

Now to the present, more or less.  Hillary Clinton has lied to the American people constantly.  She has been caught in her lies and still has enough power to look the American people in the face and tell us it doesn't matter.  She has been running for president for ten years now and the lies continue to come out and continue to be found out.  She landed in Bosnia under sniper fire and had to make a life threatening dash from her plane to the safety of the terminal.  Well, not exactly true.  Film footage of her arrival in Bosnia show her calmly walking off the plane, shaking hands with dignitaries and standing on the tarmac talking before they proceeded indoors.

Could take you back to the Whitewater affair, which has never been cleared up, or the FBI files on a table in the living quarters of the White House but we have already been there.  She has claimed that ALL of her grandparents were immigrants to the United States.  Well, that isn't exactly true either.  Just one of her grandparents immigrated.  The other three were born here.

Her and the former President were dead broke, even in debt, when they left the White House after his second term.  Well, not exactly truthful.  They had assets well into the millions when his term was over.

The lies go on and on and are proven as lies over and over again.  This is without even going into the Benghazi situation or the current email situation where she made available top secret document to an un-secure server that could put the country in danger.  If it is not a big deal to make these top secret emails available to anyone ... by all means release them to the public.  It was okay to release the Pentagon Papers to the public even though they were classified.  If these emails do not warrant a special prosecutor, then release them to the whole world.  I believe that putting those emails on an insecure server could possibly rise to the level of treason ... possibly, not probably.

I mean, this whole email situation.  It just does not make any sense.  Not only did she lie about it several times, but it was basically against protocol or not legal to do so and yet, no charges being brought, even the the FBI acknowledges that it was wrong for her to do so.  After an impromptu meeting between the former President and the head of the DOJ, Secretary Lynch came out and said she would follow the suggestions of the FBI after they had talked to Mrs Clinton.  The FBI director comes out and says that although what she did was careless and wrong, he didn't see any reason to bring charges because he didn't think a prosecutor would take on the case.  So Secretary Lynch says ok... no charges.  Why not give it to a prosecutor and see if they think charges are warranted?   Better yet, why not a Special Prosecutor to look into the affair?  Sure they know that if they gave it to a Special Prosecutor it would drag out well past the November elections and then just fizzle out and go away.  Of all the lies she has told.  Of all the laws she has put herself above. This is one that needs to be looked into.  This is the biggest nose thumbing to the American people since Roosevelt tried to pack the Supreme Court.  I mean, couldn't they at least TRY to make it look like an investigation???

Speaking of the Supreme Court, let's look at a litle more Partisanship that the Democrats are always saying the Republicans are guilty of.  Three names ... Bork... Thomas ... and Sotomayor.  Bork clearly qualified to sit on the bench but was deemed too conservative, so the democrats in congress besmirched his name and forced him to withdraw.  Justice Thomas barely got by when the Democrats did their high tech lynching on the man and he has proved to be more than capable of sitting on the bench.  Sotomayor .... well, listen to her in oral arguments (oyez.org) and what you will hear is a justice who seldom comes to court properly prepared and, in my mind, makes a fool of herself on the bench.  Often times she cites New York law in relation to Federal law and the constitution because that is the only law she is familiar with.  She has said so.  Before her appointment she made racists and sexist remarks in talks that she gave.  Yet the Republicans, my perspective, gave her a pass and saying that it is the Presidents duty to appoint, put her on the court.  When I listen to oral arguments, it stuns me sometimes at her inadequacies.  Bork and Thomas went through a partisan confirmation, Sotomayor got on with a bipartisan confirmation.  That is how I see it anyway.

For me, this is just too much.  It is a slap in the face to every American.  I don't care if you are Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, she and the democratic led department of justice are thumbing their noses at us, letting us know how stupid they think we are.

I think she is a habitual liar.  She has certainly proven to me over the years that she is in no way competent to lead this country.

What do I think or what do I want to help prove that this was all above board (which it wasn't)?  I want to have access to the 3-1/2 hour .. umm what do you call it .. interrogation? .. no.. not even close .... interview? .. closer ... okay the 3-1/2 hour with the FBI that made them determine that she had done nothing worth bringing charges up on her.  I would also like to have full access to all the emails that she didn't delete to see if they could pose a danger to our country or not ... even though they are classified as top secret.  Hey, if they are safe enough to hang out there on a personal server, should be good enough for the American people to read.

I have been told that if I vote write in or not at all, than in reality it is a vote for Mrs Clinton.  I believe that to be true.  This latest affair though, where she doesn't even get a slap on the wrist, makes me feel like as an American, it is my duty to do what I can to keep this unethical person out of the White House and so I will be voting for Mr Trump.  Do I think Trump will make a good president?  No.  Do I agree with most of his philosophy?  No.  But I can say one thing.  I would much rather have a person in that Oval Office that I can trust to tell the truth more times than not than to have Hillary Clinton sitting in there.

It is a shame our country has come to this.  I firmly believe we have hit a new low point in our history.  It is a shame that, with so many worthy people out there to be President, it has come down to Mr Trump or Mrs Clinton.

Now .... keeping in mind that this is a rant, meaning these thoughts are going from my mind to my fingers to the keyboard without really sorting the thinking out and trying to construct good sentences and thoughts that follow along a line of thinking ... take this as you may.  Am I upset?  You bet I am and I think I have a right to be.  I think every American should see through these shenanigans and power plays and be offended by them.

This shows how much power the Clintons have.  This shows how they don't think twice about using and abusing that power.  This shows, to me, how stupid they think the American voter is.

This is criminal.  I will say one other thing.  In the lying department, Richard Nixon doesn't even come close to Hillary Clinton (or her husband for that matter).

She has convinced me how to vote.  No doubt she has convinced you how to vote as well, one way or the other.

Congratulations Mrs Clinton.  You just won another vote for Mr Trump and, in my mind,  the whole country owes President Nixon a HUGE apology.

AMERICAN FLAG OUTLAWED IN SCHOOL?

When I first saw the headline my first thought was "surprise surprise, proud to be an American is not acceptable."  Then I started reading the article and what I read absolutely stunned me.  The article came from the Los Angelas Times (not known for conservative viewpoints at all) and seemed to lay out the facts in a straight forward manner.

The problem arose on May 5, 2010.  The Latino community celebrates this day as Cinco de Mayo.  As part of the teaching of diversity in our world, Cinco de Mayo has become a day that I would wager almost every public school "celebrates".  On the surface this seems like a fairly good idea, at least an idea that I have tried not to slap down except when it gets out of control.  I approve of teaching diversity of ALL cultures.  I think if we are going to teach diversity, it should not be limited to only black culture or latino culture.  I think Irish culture should be taught in March.  St. Patricks Day is as big of an event for the Irish as Cinco de Mayo is for latinos.  Canadian culture should be taught on the second Monday in October to teach Canadian Thanksgiving, or whatever Canadians consider to be their big holiday is.  May Day for Russian Culture, whatever culture has a big day that celebrates the culture in and of itself.  Cinco de Mayo certainly attains that status.

Here is what happened as far as I can understand.  This little school in Northern California decided to hold it's annual Cinco de Mayo parade and celebration in 2009.  The Latino students unfurled a Mexican flag and paraded proudly around the school with it high in the air celebrating what they consider their culture.  In a display that exhibited the need for the teaching of diversity, some non-latino students took offense at the waving of the Mexican flag in their faces and began to shout who knows what at the parading students.  This wasn't right and this would have been a prime time to actually TEACH diversity to some of these kids who took offense at others pride in their heritage.  That may have happened, I am not sure.

Move ahead one year to May 5, 2010.  Once again Cinco de Mayo was on the calender to be celebrated as a tool for showing and teaching the diversity that is the United States.  Some students that weren't Latino decided it would only be fair to display their own pride in the face of a foreign flag being paraded about the school campus and so they donned white t-shirts with the American flag displayed across the chest.  These shirts did not have any racists remarks, American slogans, as a matter of fact they carried no words at all.  Just a simple American flag across the chest.

The latino students were outraged.  They shouted at the kids with the flag shirts calling them racists among other unsavory things.  The school administration anticipating feelings growing to a point of where it could be out of control and possibly bring on some physical confrontations called the kids with the American Flag shirts up to the office and told them to turn their shirts inside out or go home.  Two students decided to stand on principle and go home instead of giving in to crowd that felt this apparently was not a day that being American should be celebrated.

Has anyone heard of the First Amendment?  The Supreme Court has upheld all kinds of cases involving the displaying of the American flag as a First Amendment right.  From hair scarfs displaying the Stars and Stripes to underwear.  It is a right to wear shoes or to make a work of art that displays the American flag with either a positive or a negative message.  When I read this story this morning I was stunned, although I suppose I shouldn't have been.

SCOTUS has allowed the Confederate flag to be displayed freely as a first amendment right although there is an exception.  They would prefer that states do not use the Stars and Bars as part of their state flag in an official manner, which I can understand.  Mississippi got around this ruling by designing a new state flag that included the display, in miniature of all the previous state flag of the state, which happened to include a couple of stars and bars renditions.  The Confederate flag can be argued as being a part of southern heritage, but it is so offensive to a great deal of the American population that it was decided not to allow it as part of State Seals, flags and the sort.  I get that.  I actually agree with it.  However, the average American citizen can display the Confederate flag in any way he wants as often as he wants.

The Nazi flag which displays a swastika can be paraded through the streets by groups of White supremacists through Skokie, Illinois, a highly populated Jewish town outside of Chicago.  Any national flag of any country may be displayed as part of a private display by a citizen of the United States.  Some of these flags do offend certain people and it is understandable that they do.  However part of living and being a citizen in this great country is the fact that you have the right to do so.

When I was young and just a little dimmer than I am now, I came across a basketball jersey that had USSR emblazoned across the front of it.  No surprise it was on sale and so I bought it and wore it to several pick up games that I played in with a church related activity.  I could be told that it wasn't cool and that I should not be proud of it, but it was an Olympic year after Nixon had reach accords with the USSR and I more or less felt it was okay.  No one could tell me NOT to wear it though.  I eventually set it aside and haven't worn it for years.  It sits in the bottom of one of my drawers, just another reminder of my rebellious youth.  In other countries I may have been turned in to the authorities and prosecuted, but not in this country.  This country is special.

The purpose in me writing this is simply to say it is an affront to American history, American culture and The Constitution to strip those kids of their first amendment rights by not allowing them to wear a shirt that simply displayed the flag of their own country because it may offend some kids who are waving a foreign flag around the campus.  If they do not want violence on that school campus, then do away with the parade celebrating the holiday.  Instead focus on teaching the diversity within the classroom forum.  The Latino kids should be able to wear shirts with the Mexican flag on it just as other kids should be able to wear a shirt with the American flag on it.  In my opinion, if you are going to stomp on someones first amendment rights, it should not be the kids who display the American flag.

Right now, SCOTUS is reviewing the case to decide whether to hear oral arguments later in the term or to let the 9th circuits ruling stand and not hear arguments.  I sincerely hope the Supreme Court does decide to hear the case.  It needs to be heard.  It needs to send out a message that the first amendment covers everyone, those who are proud of their foreign history and heritage and those that are simply proud to be an American.

ANOTHER "TOLD YOU SO" NIXON POST

I know that a lot of you out there that check in on this blog once in a while sometimes have reason to think to yourselves, "Nixon again???  How often can we take the truth about President Nixon from this guy?"  Well I do admit I do have somewhat of a fascination with President Nixon.  Oh I have other Presidents that capture my imagination on how they built the public perception of them that history has written.  Those Presidents that I have strong feelings about, one way or the other are John Adams, Wilson, Reagan, Kennedy, Truman, FDR, Carter, the Clintons, Bush 43 and especially Obama.  I don't believe I have ever seen a President get a pass the way President Obama has so far in his time in charge (I use the words "in charge" loosely here).

 Of that list of Presidents the most honest man who held the office has to be President Carter.  I don't think anyone would or could argue with that.  One thing that President Carter did teach us is that being too honest can hurt what you are able to accomplish as President.  Along with Carter but not near on the level he was, I would place President Nixon next on the list along with President Adams.  Yet Nixon has been demonized during his whole political career by opponents, the press, and history in general.  I don't see Nixon that way and most of you know that I don't.  Most of you also know the reason I feel that way about President Nixon.  Lord knows I have written enough blog entries here to let everyone know what I think and examples of how history and the American press and people have based the Nixon with untruths that seem to become fact as time goes on by.

Usually there has been something happen to trigger these Nixon posts and this is no exception.  First though, a quick listing of things that President Nixon has had to suffer under by way of those who like to keep him demonized.  Those that I am referring to consider and call the President such things as "a liar, a crook, dishonest, abused his office and power, " etc .... you all know the list by now.  Nixon was a paranoid, lying crook who misled the American people for close to fifty years.

I won't spend a lot of time once again relating all of the accomplishments of President Nixon, but I will get right to the point and that involves President Clintons and President Obama.  Oh, for get the Clintons, I have already written about the dishonesty and impeachable offenses that they did, like suborned perjury, committed perjury, lied many many times to the American people, set the office of the Presidency up for possible blackmail, removed FBI files and held them in the White House during the Whitewater investigation ... blah blah blah ...you get the idea about the Clintons.

President Obama, however has shown how times have changed from the early seventies up until today.  There have been plenty of situations in the Obama White House that had they happened during Nixonian times, would have been way past impeachable offenses.  But of all of the things that have happened during the Presidents administration, one really jumps out and a direct comparison to the Nixon administration can be made.  I gave long thought before writing this.  Nixon's legacy is burned into the minds of liberals and Democrats alike and into the history books, even though the majority of what is written about the President is false.  Minds will never be changed about President Nixon, so why do I bother pointing out the obvious?  I have not heard one news report make the comparison between the IRS emails, the Whitewater FBI files and the Nixon tapes.  I somehow feel like SOMEONE needs to point it out ... might as well be little read, little old me.  So here goes.

During the Watergate fiasco, Alexander Butterfield testified about a taping system that taped all conversations in the Oval office of President Nixon.  Naturally, the Senate was intrigued by this idea and immediately sent a subpena to the White House asking that the tapes be delivered for review.  President Nixon challenged  the subpena to the Supreme Court and lost.  He then did what would be expected of a man holding the office that he did.  He complied with the Supreme Courts decision and sent the tapes over to the Senate.  Okay, President Nixon did not at first send the actual tapes, but rather a transcript of the tapes with all topics such as National Security and personal family talks redacted out.  Technically it met the requirements of the Supreme Court but wasn't exactly what the Senate wanted.  A few more trips to the Supreme Court and eventually the Senate got what they had asked for.  In other words, President Nixon complied with the law.  As a matter of fact he more than complied with the law.  He sent more tapes than were listed on the subpena listed.  This was typical of the Nixon administration.  Many people wondered why he hadn't destroyed the tapes?  It would have been an easy thing to do and probably would have put an end to the whole Watergate scandal.  That wasn't what Richard Nixon was made of though.  He would not lie to the American people (i.e. the Cambodia and Laos bombings that saved thousands of American lives) he would not buy off the figures in the Watergate scandal, he basically did his job to the best of his ability.  It wasn't good enough though as the press continued to chase him and a truly bipartisan congress (unlike the Clinton impeachment where the Democrats vowed they would never vote against the President no matter what facts were brought out) advised him to resign.  Nixon did not with hold any evidence, did not destroy evidence but rather complied fully with the system that would drive him out of office.

President Obama however, has a very different scenario.  It became known through a whistle blower that the Administration and the IRS had decided to make life hard on any conservative .group that may cause the President problems.  The facts began to come out that the targets were hounded and penalized for not dotting every "i" and crossing every "t" in their tax reports.  The idea was to drive these groups out of the business of standing for what they believed to be right and make a clear path for Democrats now as well as in the future.  The President's appointed hed of the IRS, Lois Lerner, was called to Capitol Hill to testify on the matter.  She gave an opening statement that portrayed her agency as she wanted it to be seen, then refused to answer the tough questions coming from the Senate committee.  That in and of itself was dishonest.  You either take the fifth and keep quiet or you cooperate and testify honestly.  After a few months of wrangling with Ms Lerner, she resigned from her post without having answered any of the accusations against her, the IRS and the President.  A few weeks ago the Senate subpenaed all of Ms Lerners e-mails during the time in question figuring that they would give answers to what really was going on.  After a week or so of waiting, the Senate was told that all of the e-mails were gone.  Apparently the hard drive on her computer crashed, the hard was destroyed and thrown away.  There was no way to get back the emails that would tell the truth about what went on with the IRS targeting certain groups of American society.  Let me say that again ... ALL OF THE EMAILS ARE GONE.  How convenient.

It would be so nice to be able to ask, why didn't they destroy the emails?  We can't do that however.  Why didn't President Nixon burn the tapes?  I think the answer to that is quite obvious.  President Nixon had respect for the law and for the Office of the Presidency.  President Obama, or Clintons for that matter, do not hold that same respect for the law.  I wonder if they have ANY respect for the law.

This is just another example of how President Nixon's whole career was demonized and ruined by the same type of people who would have burned the tapes, and that kind of person is President Obama..

BEING AWARE OF OCCASIONS AND SURROUNDINGS

I use to love going to see a movie on the big screen.  I love movies and like to find myself engaged in the one I am watching that I don't really notice my surroundings.  These days, the only way to watch a movie with undivided attention to get the most out of it is to sit and watch it at home.

It is the same thing when I go out to the theatre to see a play.  I want to be able to get involved in the play without distractions and enjoy it no matter if it is silly and frivolous or serious and deep trying to get a message across.  Unfortunately, I can not bring the play to my house to watch it, I have to endure rude patrons that distract me from the play or movie as the case may be and not get all that I could get from the play.

People are rude at times.  This is the reason I don't go out to movies much anymore.  There are those people who chat amongst themselves during the whole of a movie or make comments on the movie as it is being shown.  It is rude.  I pay good money to see a movie and I should be able to sit and enjoy it, but most of the time I can't.

It isn't any different with a play although much more irritating.  To see a play at a local theatre is usually twice as expensive as seeing a movie and it is a one shot deal.  The play is performed, it is over and it will never be the same as it was on that one night.  Yet people all around sit and talk, often repeating lines that were just spoken on the stage causing the missing of the few lines coming from the stage after the line that was deemed so important it bore repeating it for the rest of those around these people.

Then there are occasions when people can be rude when the whole of the occasion calls for a decorum that is above what is required at a movie or a play.  The best example of this is a funeral or memorial service for a lost loved one who people have gathered together to remember and to celebrate the life that has passed.  As for myself, I can not remember any funeral or memorial service that I have attended where the people were not respectful of the occasion and the surroundings that brought them there.  I need to correct that last statement.  At my Uncle Melvin's funeral I had the feeling that a lot of people there attended because it was seen as an important event and was the place to be and weren't there because they necessarily knew my uncle and what he was like while he was living.  Sure, there is and should be some laughter at a funeral because everyone's life has it's moments that are remembered at such times.  But it is a short laughter and not a distraction from the reason why all of the people had gathered to remember the loved one.

A funeral or memorial service should be held with the highest respect of those attending.  The crowd that gathers are people who knew and loved the person being remembered.  They respect what the life that was had represented when the person was still walking the earth.  There is no constant chit chat during the service.  People gather at these events to remember a life.  The service is not a party and it shouldn't be.  It can be proper to have a party after the service to celebrate the life but during that time when the service is progressing and the life is being remembered in the minds of all those gathered, their thoughts should not be distracted by rude people who talk and act out and makes you wonder why they are even there.

Most of the more somber days of my life have been when I attended a service for someone who had passed.  I was at that service because the person had effected my life in a very real manner and I had great respect for them.  During these services if someone had been sitting and cracking up and making small talk during the service, it would have offended me, hurt me, and made me angry and that one time shot at being in one place with all the people that the service was paying respect to would have been ruined and not remembered as a day of celebration and remembrance.

And so now we come to the Nelson Mandela memorial service earlier this week.  I don't need to go into Mandela's life and who he was and what he accomplished.  Every one should have knowledge of that, and if you don't then educate yourself on the man.  He was a great man.  A man who stood by his beliefs and paid a heavy price for his beliefs.  He was a man who had some effect everywhere around the globe.  He was a man that shows up in history too seldom.  He was a man who deserved all the respect from all of the world.  He was a man that will never be forgotten.

If ever there was a memorial service where the mood should be somber, and reflection on a life and the changes it brought be thoughtfully considered, Mandela was the one.  Thinking over my short amount of history knowledge, I can think of few people that come close to having earned the respect that Mandela did.  Winston Churchill comes to my mind first.  I would feel like Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Lincoln along with possibly Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. would be about on that level.  Tolstoy, Orwell, Dickens, Faulkner and Steinbeck would come close to that level for the social changes that their writings brought about.

I have watched a few state funerals on television.  Funerals and memorial services of men that do not come close to the level that Nelson Mandela set.  Just taking funerals of President's lately here in the United States.  I watched, of course, President Nixon's funeral.  I saw Reagan's and Ford's.  Never have I seen the level of disrespect at any state funeral as was shown by Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and, sadly, the President of the United States Barack Obama.

Photos were taken of the three joking around, laughing, taking photos of themselves at "The Event" during what should have been one of the most somber times in history.  It is, or should be, an embarrassment to all Americans.  I have already documented a few things that this President has done to embarrass the country and to cause us to lose respect and our place in the world.  His domestic policy is destroying the economy and his foreign policy has shifted the world's opinion of who is leading the world politically from the United States to President Putin of Russia, or at least the illusion that Putin is more of a leader than Obama.

There isn't a lot to say about what went on in South Africa.  Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush (42) were all there and apparently they behaved as world leaders should behave.  The current President however acted like a high school kid in an assembly late on a Friday afternoon in spring.  Instead of listening and being serious at a time where it was called for, horseplay became the agenda for the day.  The President should have shown respect to Mandela by showing respect to those who were commemorating his life.  Foreign leaders and dignitaries deserve to be listened to with respect at an event such as this.  Just like he does at home though, the President did not listen to those he should be listening to.

As a citizen of the United States, the President has embarrassed me once again, but more important than all of the other times he has embarrassed me, this time he embarrassed himself.  Well, he should feel embarrassed but I doubt that he does.

The photographer who took the pictures was surprised that they caused such a fuss.  That alone stuns me but he has now moved on to trying to defend the photos that he took as a moment in time that wasn't a bad as the pictures make it appear to be.  The Liberal press , and CNN, have jumped on this story now and no long print the offending photos nor talk about how inappropriate the President's actions were during the service.  Soon we will be expected to just forget this ever happened like so many other events that have happened in this administration.

The President has shown a new low in how the world views him and along with that, how they view the United States.

Mr. President, How many more times are you going to embarrass the country and myself?  How many more situations can we endure before losing all respect from the world?  Mr. President, please grow up, read a civics book and learn how to be the President of the United States, leader of the free world.  It would do every one good if you could do that for just three more years.

RICHARD NIXON TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

This is a portion of President Richard Nixon's statement to the American people concerning his feelings about letting the country down through the Watergate scandal during the David Frost interview sessions.  I believe this tells more about the man, the honesty and sincerity of a man who was broken by outside forces beyond his control.  A man who cared for his friends and for people in general.  History has come around to being just a little bit more lenient to the Nixon Administration and I fell as time goes on, it will continue to do so.  He was a statesman.  He was an expert on foreign policy, which as most of you know I think that should be the President's main concern.  After what we have been through with President Clinton, who did commit perjury to a Federal Grand Jury, who did suborn perjury of witnesses, who did point his finger at the American people and lied to them as boldly as any man has ever done, who did think himself above the law and went through a Senate trial that partisanship allowed him to indeed be above the law, Richard Nixon, in this brief quote ending the Watergate section of the interviews, proves how much greater of a President he was then those that followed him, with the possible exception of Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter.  Read with an open mind, and you will see a small window into Richard Nixon's soul, that he very seldom let people see.

	In one of those moments that you're not thinking, sometimes you say the things that are really in your heart.
	When you're thinking in advance and you say things that, you know, are tailored to the audience.
	I had a lot of difficult meetings those last days before I resigned.
	And the most difficult one, and the only one where I broke into tears.
	Frankly, except for that very brief session with Ehrlichman up at Camp David, it was the first time I cried since Eisenhower died.
	I met with all of my key supporters just a half hour before going on television.
	For 25 minutes we all sat around the oval office: Men that I had come to congress with, democrats and republicans, about half and half, wonderful men.
	And at the very end, after saying, "well, "thank you for all your support "during these tough years.
	"Thank you particularly for what you have done "to help us end the draft, "bring home the P.O.W.s, "And have a chance for building a generation of peace"-- which I could see, the dream that I had possibly being shattered-- "and thank you for your friendship, little acts of friendship " you know, you sort of remember with a birthday card and the rest.
	Then suddenly you haven't got much more to say, and half the people around the table were crying.
	Les Aarons, Illinois, bless him.
	He was just shaking, sobbing.
	And I just can't stand seeing somebody else cry.
	And that ended it for me.
	And I just--well, I must say I sort of cracked up.
	I started to cry, pushed my chair back.
	And then I blurted it out.
	And I said, "I'm sorry.
	I just hope " well, when I said: "I just hope I haven't let you down," that said it all.
	I had.
	I let down my friends.
	..
	The country.
	I let down our system of government and the dreams of all those young people that ought to get into government but will think it's all too corrupt and the rest.
	Most of all, I let down an opportunity that I would have had for 2 1/2 more years to proceed on great projects and programs for building a lasting peace, which has been my dream, as you know from our first interview in 1968 before I had any-- thought I might even win that year.
	I didn't tell you I didn't think I might win, but I wasn't sure.
	Yep, I let the American people down, and I have to carry that burden with me for the rest of my life.
	My political life is over.
	I will never yet, and never again, have an opportunity to serve in any official position.
	Maybe I can give a little advice from time to time.
	And so I can only say that in answer to your question that while technically I did not commit a crime, an impeachable offense-- these are legalisms-- as far as the handling of this matter is concerned, it was so botched up; I made so many bad judgments.
	The worst ones, mistakes of the heart rather than the head, as I pointed out.
	But let me say, a man in that top job, he's got to have a heart, but his head must always rule his heart.  - President Richard M. Nixon

SAVING MEMORIES

I am a pack rat.  A hoarder of sorts if you will.  There, I said it.  It is out.  Everyone knows that I have a problem throwing things away.  However, before you pass judgement on me for holding on to things from my past give me a chance to argue my case.  I save, or hoard for you purists, only special things.  They are things that revive my memory that would otherwise fade.

It started many years ago.  Actually I think it started with books.  I have the hardest time letting go of a book from my grasp.  I have no idea how many books I currently have in my house but there are a lot of them.  The first book I remember getting and reading was a Christmas present from my mom and dad.  It was a children's novel that told the story of a kid trying to get on a basketball team only he isn't quite good enough.  It tells of one summer when he worked non stop on basketball, practicing everyday targeting in on his jump shot until it was as smooth as glass.  When he returned to school the next fall, the coaches and the other players that had made fun of him for even trying out for the team the previous year were astounded at the change in his game.  He made the team, wins the big game with a last second shot ... la-de-da la-de-da .. typical feel good ending as too many books tag on at the end.

Another book I held onto for years was one that was kept in my grandmother's house.  It was an old copy of the original story of Pinocchio.  On the inside of that book was a little very basic rough writing that said simply "Danny Hill".  It was my uncles book when he was little.  I have always assumed it was a book from when he was sick and quarantined within the house.  That book traveled with me as I grew up and got married and moved to an apartment and onto the house.  That was one book I was able to let go of, though it wasn't easy.  My uncle was in town one time and I decided to return the book back to it's proper owner.  I gave it to my uncle and he was absolutely thrilled.  He gave it back to me eventually when he moved back to Kansas City and it was placed back into my collection.

Over the years the collection of books continued to grow.  Most of them were paperback and the majority of them dealt with history.  The collection also grew as Christmas brought books to me once in a while.  The collection has finally reached a point where it has to stop and I have stopped collecting books for the most part.  When my uncle died, he left me his entire book collection which has moved into my house.  No more room for books.  Maxed out.

After the book collection was well established, I began collecting music.  It started innocently enough with cheap 45 RPM records but soon I was shelling it out for full albums.  The record collection grew faster than the book collection had.  I was discovering new music by the week and was immersing myself in the sounds that would become the soundtrack of my life.  Every record that I bought marks a place in time for me and brings back a memory from my past that otherwise would be forgotten.  Led Zeppelin's fourth album brings the memory of a party at one of my girlfriend's friends house.  The Rare Earth In Concert Album brings back the memory of laying down a back patio at Scott's house.  Three Dog Night's Naturally album is marked by one song.  The album is full of great songs but this album contained Three Dog Night's biggest hit, "JOY TO THE WORLD".   That song for some reason pushed a button inside of my mothers head and would send her into spin that was reminiscent of the cartoon Tasmanian Devil going in any undefined direction, or so it seemed.  One thing was for sure and that was that the song did get a reaction from mom, and so I played it often if only for the show.  Later I learned how to play that song on the piano which gave me another avenue to get a reaction from her.  Like my books, I was able to let go of one album and like the book, it wasn't easy to get rid of but it was the right thing to do.  When my niece Kelly was a little girl she was up in my bedroom with me and The Best Of Bread was on my stereo.  She took the tone arm and laid down a scratch on the record that was visible and popped everytime I played the record after that.  I finally let go of that album and gave it to Kelly so the memory would stay with her from that day.  There is no way I am going to forget it after all these years now so it is the right thing that Kelly has it.

The album collection continued to grow and has now turned into a CD collection and moving into an MP3 collection.  Each one of them holds a memory from my life that lives inside the music.

The book and music collections are important and are a big part of my life, but they do not qualify as the most sacred of my collections.  In my basement tucked away against the wall close to the corner is a large cardboard box.  In this box is a collection of various items that truly do define the first thirty years of my life.  I haven't added anything to the box for a very long time as it is close to getting full, but what is in there is a treasure.

There are school projects in that box ranging all the way from probably third grade to graduation.  I can look at those projects and remember the time when it was done and the teacher's reaction to it as well as the letter grade that it received.  There are magazines from numerous historical times.  There is a little plastic record in that box that holds the recording of Neil Armstrong as he stepped onto the moon.  There are newspapers dealing with President Nixon and Watergate on through to the day President Ford was sworn into office.  The newspaper that came out the day after the Kansas City Chiefs won the fourth Super Bowl resides in that box.

Every historical thing that happened while i was growing up went into that box.  The walks on the moon, the space shuttle, a collection of Big Eight Basketball history in the form of game programs from the holiday tourneys are all in there.  It has been with me for years and hasn't worn out.

I do not get into the box very often.  It sits in the basement waiting to be discovered by some generation in the future.  When I pass on, there will be some people going through my stuff.  I know this.  As they are going through my stuff, someone is going to stumble on this old box that seems mysterious.  There are no markings on the box to give a clue as to what is inside.  It is just a simple plain box sitting off by itself not bringing attention to itself.  As they are going through stuff and finding things that make them ask "WHY??" one of their eyes will fall on the unassuming box and their hands will reach out to it and pull it towards them.  Then slowly the flaps on top of the box will slowly open and then eyes will widen and a smile will come across a face as an expression of surprise emits from the mouth of the one lucky enough to have opened it.

They will all sit around on the floor together slowly and carefully pulling one thing after another out of the box and discuss it among themselves.  It will be a gold mine and that box will eventually go home with somebody and my memories, my most important memories will be passed on to a new generation and they will cherish the collection.

The collection will not only be a memory of history passed down, but a history of myself passed down as well.