That any WWII vet who doesn't critisize Obama is "afraid to speak his mind"...
... How lame!
the elderly gentleman, at an advanced age, still retains the courage he possessed in his youth, to send a missive to the White House displaying his utter displeasure at how Obama is acting as the country's leader. Your attempts at trying to read something between the lines, when there is nothing there, is annoying.
you are killing me, though of course you mean well and your point is clear enough. the gent is sending a letter to POTUS Obama, not to Genralissimo Joe Stalin [why Stalin was ever tagged with a Spanish nickname eludes me]. How much "courage" did it take to do that?
When you write a derogatory letter to the head of a congressional committee, a senator, or the POTUS, it just may backfire on you. Several years ago, I wrote 4 letters to a committee head criticizing, in rather harsh words, his leadership of that committee. In 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, the IRS has audited my tax returns, resulting in me having to pay a ton of money for a tax lawyer to mediate with the IRS. The IRS is fucking ruthless in the way they go after individuals. Did my correspondence with the congressman have anything to do with my being audited? Who knows, no way to prove it, but I have my suspicions. It hasn't stopped me from voicing my opinions. I would especially not want that to happen to a 95 year old WWII vet.
As an aside, when I enlisted in the military, way back when, it was DOD policy that any military member that wrote his/any congressman, and the letter resulted in a congressional investigation, the cover on his personnel records were stamped with the letters, P.I., (Political Influence), 2 inches tall, and using red ink. Try getting promoted after that. That practice was stopped in early 1962.
That is interesting. In your letters, did you write anything that could be construed as a threat, other than i'm not going to vote for you and will try to convince others to do likewise? In which case the info would be turned over to the FBI and/or the US Secret Service, and possibly a file routinely opened on you.
Did any of those audits preceed your letter-writing?
Can you reproduce those letters here, in this forum, so we can take a look at them?
The IRS audits may have had nothing to do with your letter-writing, you may have fallen into some category from which every year folks are randomly audited. Or perhaps some circumstance in your life, reflected in your income, changed drasticaly which causes an audit flag to be raised?
Why not, if you think you have been wronged by the IRS, find some interested party to publicize your grievences? I'm sure there's plenty of orgs who would love to take the case of a retired career soldier, innocently voicing his opinions to his elected political leadership, being ruthlessly investigated and audited by the IRS in "retaliation."
Let me share my own funny story: about 4 years ago i received a bulk mailing from the US Marine Corps soliciting my interest in enlisting. Well, i'm well beyond the age of military recruitment, but what was interesting about the letter was the wording: it described me as someone interested in the Arab world and knowledgeable of Arabic. Well, as youth i was conversant in two foreign languages, but not Arabic. I wondered, idly, if my interests and activities in the Israel-Pally conflict, and my letter to the editors, letters to elected officials, cyberspace presence, petiton-signing, and the like hasn't someway or another been swept up in the anti-terrorist info net, permananetly recorded as some minor entry in some data-base or another, and somehow mistakenly been merged into a USMC recruiting listserv? Far-fetched indeed, but amusing to think about.
No IRS audits though.
"A WWII vet speaks his mind"
the fact is that when you're 95 years old, it doesn't take much courage to do anything.
I'm sure there are a lot of 90+ old WWII vets that write the Presidient every day, some in favor of his policies and some against, and probably many asking him to find a way to keep "those God-damned kids" off his lawn.
It's always interesting to read simple thoughts. Today's world, however, is very complicated. The first two years are as much about "undoing" as "doing". Many people just don't get it. It's still possible for the US to lead the world, but the days of strutting around like a cowboy with a herd of sheep are gone.
and no POTUS is ever going to get the respect of other world leaders by going around the world kissing the asses of his "peers" on the world stage.
We will still be hated by our enemies, but instead of being hated and feared, we will be perceived as weak and impotent. Just what we need in a world as dangerous as ours is today.
the days where we were feared by our enemies were gone long before Obama took office.
Let's face it; we have very few nation-enemies left any more. Korea, yes, China? The only thing they fear about us is that we won't pay them back the trillions of dollars we've borrowed from them. Cuba? I think we hate Cuba more than they hate us, and the people of Cuba don't hate us much if at all, and there's no real reason for them to fear us; they're insignificant in the overall scheme of things.
Who's left? Muslim nations, they certainly hate us, but they don't fear us because their religious beliefs tell them that dying for their cause gets them into heaven.
The thing about Empires, from the days of Rome, is that they all rise, and they all fall. We're at the beginning of the decline and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it.
Thank God ilk like you are in the minority.
The sheep don't put up much of a fight..Easily led as long as they are fed. The strange thing, they think the majority of people are like them..
But it is pragmatic...
Do you really think that our run as an Empire is not coming to an end? REALLY? China has the fastest growing economy in the world and has for many years now... and India is a close second. Some countries in S. America are having significantly higher growth then we are.
Know where the tallest building in the world is? Taipei, soon to be surpassed by Dubai. Know where the world's largest plane is being built? Russia. Know where the richest man in the world is from? Mexico. Know where the biggest publicly traded corporation is from? China. The largest refineries? India. the largest factories? China. Top 10 biggest malls? Only one is in America, the biggest is in Beijing. World's largest ferris wheel? Singapore. World's biggest casino? Macao... also number one in gambling revenue. World's biggest movie industry, both in number of movies made and tickets sold? Bollywood, not Hollywood. Ten years ago... TEN YEARS AGO, we led in almost every one of the above metioned categories.
Call any major company's customer support line and who answers the phone? An Indian who tells you his name is Rodger.
Have you ever heard of Infosys? The foremost company in Information Technology and Business Solutions in the world? Started less than 30 years ago by seven people with the equivilient of about $250 U.S. dollars; guess where? India.
Fareed Zakaira, referring to Antoine van Agtmael, said that the well known fund-manager who coined the term "emerging markets", has identified the 25 companies he feels are most likely to be the world's "next great multi-nationals". Four companies each from Taiwan, South Korea, Brazil and Mexico, three from India, two from China and one each from Argentina, Maylasia, Chile and South Africa.
All these above things aren't defeatest... they're simply facts, and they're irrefutable.
In almost all civilized nations, their middle class is growing.
All of this is in no way defeatest... It's just using one's God given intelligence to recognize the reality of today's world, where it's going and how the U.S. can play a major part in helping to direct that future.
Keep in mind that growing middle classes mean more consumer consumption of goods we produce, more democratic thinking and less chance of war. America can and should prosper in the new financial reality of the near future if it plays it's cards right and stops trying to bully the rest of the world, because guess what? The rest of the world won't be bullied any more.
The main thing that will be different is that we won't be able to swing quite as large a dick. I know that will bother a lot of penile-challanged conservatives out there, but just put away the "we're #1" foam fingers and get used to it... and remember, being number 2 or even number 3 isn't a bad thing, it just doesn't look as good on a bumper sticker. You can even acknowledge that we're number two and still be patriotic.
with a very nervous sheep that he was pushing from behind towards a cliff.
Right wing, what are you thinking???
Cowboys heard sheep, maybe in the ''golden days'' before technology cowboys did it, but not in todays time... Why get off your ass to heard the masses, right??
PS JERSey, Its sad to see the last of a dieing breed leave this country when we need them the most!!!!!
-- Modified on 11/30/2009 4:18:30 AM
If everyone listened to 95 year olds than speed limit on the highways would be 25 MPH, and our national dish would be apple sauce.
I won't bother to debunk this loon, as what would be the point, but I will say this...
Israel is a Jewish nation. Iran is a Muslim nation. We are NOT, nor have we EVER been a Christian nation. If you have any confusion about this, then I refer you to the very first clause of the very first Amendment in the Bill of Rights.
"Congress shall make NO LAW respecting an establishment of religion".
We ARE a Christian nation and always have been. In fact, we are primarily a Protestant Christian nation. EVERY single president we've had has been a Protestant Christian, with the exception of JFK, who was Catholic, and don't think that wasn't a campaign issue brought up by his opponents. Every Vice-president, to the best of my knowledge, was Christian. Joe Liberman was the only Jewish Vice-presidental candidate, if I recall correctly.
I may be wrong, but I don't think there's even been a non-christian candidate for President from the dem's or the GOP.
Our constitution provides for seperation of church and state, but if you think God doesn't figure into much of the way our government is run, you're sadly mistaken. Every single major speech given by a politician in the U.S. ends with "May God bless America".
Many of our major political positions, right or wrong, are based on Christian tenents...
Bush's and congress' decision about Terri Schiavo was based on nothing more than Christian beliefs. Pro-Life politicians base their arguements solely on Christian beliefs. A Christain God influences almost all political discourse in this country.
Of course we're a Christian nation.
Not true. Presidents Washington, Jefferson, and Madison (perhaps others) were not Christians. They were Deists. Many will claim to be Christian, but I highly doubt many of them were. I suspect that Bush Sr. was likely an atheist.
You are quite correct that Christian lunatics do affect the political discourse in this country, and for the worse. Thankfully, they are being increasingly marginalized.
But even if we have a Christian loony President like Bush Jr., that doesn't make us a Christian nation. Our laws have a seperation of church and state. That's what makes us a secular state, unlike places like Iran where all laws have to conform to the Koran.
One of the driving forces behind getting, "In God We Trust", on our currency was a Protestant minister, who's name slips by me right now. He is buried in the cemetary in Pemberton, NJ, with a graveside plaque proclaiming his endeavors in that vein.
TJ...The concept of "God" is a rather all encompassing thing. Hell, even the Declaration of Independence included a reference to "nature's God", reflecting the Deist beliefs of Jefferson. In that context, "nature's God" is one in the same with "the power of nature".
When the Supreme Court was brought a case on the "In God We Trust" bit, they concluded that the phrase was MEANINGLESS.
Our earliest currency didn't have such a phrase on it. It's a rather 20th century thing, just like the "under God" part of the Pledge of Alliegence. The "under God" part was included during the height of McCarthyism in the 1950's, to demonstrate that we were "better" than the Godless commies.
If you want further proof, I refer you to The Treaty of Tripoli, which was written by the Father of our nation, George Washington, and signed into law by John Adams.
Article 11 of that document:
"As the Government of the United States of America is NOT, in ANY sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
TJ.....if we were a Christian nation....then you would NOT have any freedom of religion. Your religion would be DICTATED to you by your GOVERNMENT.
constitutions. Each one has a remark in the preamble referencing the powers given to the people of that state by "God", as does the U.S.constitution. Do you have any 'God given rights', or just 'rights'? If you have 'rights', what makes your's the same, or different than mine? Ever read the prayer Washington said prior to crossing the Delaware River on Christmas Eve to attack the Hessian Barracks at Trenton? He asked God for help and to protect his men. No mention of a 'nature's' God. You are correct, as Washington stated in the treaty. The country was not founded on the Christian religion, but the founding fathers certainly based it on the beliefs of the Christian religion.
Sure, but you also have to understand the thinking behind this. Regardless of whether you take the Deist approach (nature's God) or the Christian approach (just God) the Founders developed their ideas from the men of the Enlightenment. God given rights are no different from Rousseau's The Natural State of Man. Rights are inalienable solely because government cannot exist without the consent of the governed. Those rights are all inclusive, and include anything you can possibly do. We have the natural right of life and liberty, but we also have the natural right to murder, steal, and pillage.
Jersey, you're wrong...this country was not founded on the Christian religion, nor did the Founders base it on any religion at all, and the person who proves you wrong is none other than Thomas Jefferson himself.
Jefferson wrote in a letter on Feb. 10th, 1814 to Dr. Thomas Cooper the following:
"Finally, in answer to Fortescue Aland's question why the Ten Commandments should not now be a part of the common law of England we may say they are not because they never were."
"Sir Matthew Hale [a conservative advocate for church/state "cooperation"] lays it down in these words," wrote Jefferson to Cooper: "'Christianity is parcel of the laws of England.'"
"But Christianity was not introduced till the seventh century; the conversion of the first Christian king of the Heptarchy having taken place about the year 598, and that of the last about 686. Here, then, was a space of two hundred years, during which the common law was in existence, and Christianity no part of it…"
In short, what Jefferson was saying is that the laws that govern the United States has it's founding in English common law, which has no basis in Christianity.
"Jersey, you're wrong...this country was not founded on the Christian religion".
That is what I said in my post. It WAS NOT founded on the Christain religion.
Also, "Rights are inalienable solely because government cannot exist without the consent of the governed".
Tell that to the governed in Cuba, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, China, etc.. We have a natural right to murder, steal, and pillage? Can you show me that on paper?
Finally, the gist of your last 4 paragraphs is confusing to me. Could you try again?
George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.
If you define a “Christian nation,” a Jewish nation, or a Muslim nation in reference to whether the law permits discrimination on the basis of religion, Willy is batting two for three. The United States is certainly not a Christian nation in that sense because of the First Amendment; conversely, Iran clearly is a Muslim nation bc secular is always subject to Islamic law.
But he is wrong about Israel as the Israeli Supreme Court has explained:
“As a general rule, the principle of equality prohibits the State from distinguishing between its citizens on the basis of religion or nationality. The principle also applies to the allocation of State land. This conclusion is derived both from the values of Israel as a Democratic state and from the values of Israel as a Jewish state. The Jewish character of the State does not permit Israel to discriminate between its citizens. In Israel, Jews and non-Jews are citizens with equal rights and responsibilities.”
If you define a Christian, Islamic, or Jewish nation by the number of citizens who consider themselves members of that religion you obviously get a different result, as I ruefully learned when I posted without qualification last month that India – which has the second most Moslems of any country in the world - was an Islamic nation, only to have a poster point out that the majority of Indians are Hindu. How you define the phrase is everything.
-- Modified on 11/30/2009 3:56:15 PM
As much as I wish it were not true, the United States is for all intents and purposes a "Christian Nation" every bit as much as any other western country. Not being a Christian myself and not being espcially fond of the many many religious laws in this country, I don't like the fact, but my opinion changes nothing. Nor does Willy Wonka's
From the words "In God We Trust" to the fact that in many counties and states you can't even buy a beer on Sunday, yes this is a Christian Nation. The only saving grace (pun intended) is that our constitution does give certain proctection to minority rights in this country. That is why we are not officially a Christian Nation, but in every other sense of the word we most certainly are.