Memo To the Media: United States law does not recognize hyphenated Americans. “Israeli-American, Mexican-American, British-American citizens are not legally recognized in American jurisprudence. Read the Oath of Allegiance taken by every legal immigrant who becomes a U.S. citizen.
“The people who say they have not time to attend to politics are simply saying that they are unfit to live in a free community.” – President “Teddy” Roosevelt; http://www.artofmanliness.com/duties-of-american-citizenship-by-theodore-roosevelt/
It is supremely ironic and oxymoronic to have Joe Biden sitting in the Oval Office at a desk named “Resolute”
I’m no currency expert – but what’s the difference between the Brics considering a currency alternative to the U.S. Federal Reserve dollar and Trump being the “first crypto president“? Aren’t they both alternatives to the dollar?
Instead of the alarmist media cowering in fear of Putin‘s nuclear posturing, why don’t they investigate how the Russian people feel about Putin putting them at nuclear risk? There’s been absolutely no effort by any U.S. media to investigate the Russian population’s attitude about their leader getting them involved in another Afghanistan.
– Ligon
Reagan tried returning education back to the states – and they didn’t want it. Neither the responsibility nor the accountability. – Burning Money: The Waste of Your Tax Dollars by J. Peter Grace, Chairman of the President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, 1984
Coming Soon to WWF! The Trump Ram vs. The Civil Service Dam! – Ligon
“I’m going to let him [RFK, Jr.] go wild on health!. I’m going to let him go wild on vaccines!” to thundering applause – Trump at his post-election Mar a Lago banquet. Exactly what Biden let Fauci do. Unbridled rhetoric reminiscent of Mussolini on the balcony of the Palazzo. – Ligon
“Think not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.” – Hemingway
Never underestimate the legacy GOP‘s proclivity for snatching Republicans’ defeat out of the jaws of victory. – Ligon
Josh Monson on Brian Kilmead November 13, 2024 said offhandedly if it weren’t for GOP infighting the Republicans would have a 20-30 seat majority in the House of Representatives. Monson also said “All wars end in negotiation” in reference to Trump forcing negotiations to end the Russo-Ukraine war. Tell that to Hitler, Hirohito, and Ho Chi Minh.
BTW, Hirohito did not surrender unconditionally until Truman promised the third atomic bomb would be dropped on Tokyo – where Hirohito lived. Unlike the State Department then and now, Truman did not negotiate by granting our enemies pre-negotiation concessions. – Ligon
The Old Guard / RINO GOP elite and their minions are as anachronistic as the British monarchy. Trump was not elected by them – but in spite of them. – Ligon
Brian Kilmead demonstrates on a daily basis he is not a subject matter expert on anything – because he’s never done anything but speak into a can. – Ligon
Memo to Laura Ingraham: Democrats are not the only “War Hawks.” Remember Bush, Jr‘s two twenty-year wars? – Ligon
For a show titled The View its’ panelists are monumentally myopic. Rather than viewers receiving a panorama of public issues they’re given a hamster wheel of witches. – Ligon
RFK, Jr. claiming “You can choose your vaccines” sounds eerily like Obama promising us “You can keep your physician” and Kamallah avowing “My values haven’t changed.”
– Ligon
Kamallah is and always has been an ideological hologram of the Left – an Icon of Solipsism.
Based on her professed policies, I believe VP Harris’ first name should be spelled K.a.m.a.l.l.a.h. – Kamallah.
Congress: an entrenched bastion of buff00ns where atrophied shame becomes paralyzed; where patriotism becomes prostitution; and where politicians audition for Dante’s 9th Circle of Hell – the City of Dis. – Ligon
Kamala’s Campaign Catchphrase: “Otro dia mas sin verte!” – Jon Secada (literally “One day more without Truth” or, colloquially, “Another day, another lie”)
Who issued the gag order to all the allegedly “conservative” talk show hosts preventing them from using the legally correct term illegal “Aliens” rather than the term granting them legal status – “immigrants”? Or are they revealing their true political bent by consciously granting them legal status by intentionally using the word “Immigrant”? Is it the New York liberal squeamishness to tell the Truth? Either way it is the height of hypocrisy for “conservative” bobbing heads to “rage” against the Dems for the border crisis when they participate in the Big Lie by using the Left’s vocabulary. – Ligon
I’ve never seen a “comfort” dog who looks happy. I’ve seen the same look on the faces of Secret Service agents assigned to protect Hillary Clinton. – Ligon
In addition to her obvious avoidance of substantive thinking, Kamala’s biometrics indicate deception. Her head nodding, emotive voice pitch, up facing hand gestures, her entire body language all reveal she is lying but begging everyone to believe her. – Ligon
RE: City officials’ denial of Venezuelan gangs taking over: A city manager – or any elected official – is the last person to ask to verify whether illegal aliens are committing crimes in their communities. Remember the mayor of Amityville in the movie Jaws? – Ligon
Human nature often justifies “License”- as in licentious – under the mask of “Libertarian” License and licentious come from the same root word in Latin: licentia whose meanings range from “freedom to act” to “unruly behavior, wantonness.” – Ligon
The GOP’s emphasis on Kamala as co-pilot of failed policies is doomed to fail because everyone in America has always considered the office of Vice President as just a figurehead – like Pence. – Ligon Law
Political Parties, Politicians and Dictators who are in complete control of the government don’t have to do interviews or answer questions – but they do take names.
– Ligon Law
“Democrats, Socialists, Communists and Nazis always campaign to the middle but govern to the Left. It’s the core of their Big Lie.” – anon
Classical liberal Democrats vs. Socialist Utopias:
“In an article titled “Utopie” by Hippolyte Passy, which summed up the thinking of the liberal political economists on this topic just two years after Bastiat’s death, Passy stated that Bastiat had provided key insight into the difference between the socialists’ vision and the economists’ vision of the future of society; the Socialist vision was a “factice,” or artificial one, with an order imposed by a ruling elite, Party, or Priesthood; while the liberal vision was a “natural,” or spontaneous one that flowed “harmoniously” from the voluntary actions of individuals in the marketplace.” – Frederic Bastiat “The Law,” “The State,” and Other Political Writings, 1843-1850; Bastiat’s Political Writings: Anecdotes and Reflections; p. 401
For:
For every citizen who hates to read, falls asleep at the first printed word;
For every American who prefers to “live in their own little bubble” and not be pestered by politics;
For every Party member who blindly follows their elites’ dictatorship;
For every member of the electorate who gives up and doesn’t vote;
For every consumer who fraudulently exaggerates their aches and pains to suck Social Security benefits from other taxpayers;
For every member of society who shuns military service on one pretext or another – or made choices precluding military service;
For every mother or father who praises all servicemembers far beyond what they deserve – but adamantly proclaims not my son or daughter;
For every media icon through guilt at not having served due to monetary or political selfishness, exaggerated medical exemption (Rush Limbaugh), or just downright cowardice;
For every veteran who laughingly boasts of gaming the system and fraudulently increasing the percentage of their “disability;”
For every reservist or national guardsman who has sought refuge in the “shallow end” of military service in their “good ‘ol boy club” who then abandons their comrades when the balloon goes up;
The nation spirals exponentially toward the Tyranny prophesied by de Tocqueville’s demise of democracy through apathy and self-interest.
And they shit on the graves of those who made these ingrates’ freedom possible.
Their “patriotism” rings hollow and are bigger hypocrites than those honest radicals who burn the American flag in protest.
– Ligon Law
D.E.I. – The Truth Behind the Lie:
Diversity: basing government’s special considerations and privileges on race, religion, and political affiliation rather than merit, ability or competence.
Equality: the government taking property from someone who earned it and giving it to another person who wants it but didn’t work for it. synonym: legal plunder.
Inclusion: Everyone wants something, and everyone expects the government to provide it. As it is used today, inclusion means nothing more than citizens trying to despoil each other through the costly intervention of the State. Once the spirit of mendacity becomes systematized, imagination knows no bounds with regard to ruinous institutions.” – Bastiat, p. 312
Elon Musk’s idea that AI will make everyone jobless and work will become a hobby is nothing new. It is described in detail in Sir Thomas More’s book Utopia (1516). The word itself is an ironic oxymoron meaning both “a place of ideal perfection” and from the Greek “ou” meaning “no, not,” and topos ” meaning “place” – ergo: no such place exists.
The Secret to Life:
Cows do not give milk – as any dairy farmer will tell you.
Communism v. the Kingdom of God on Earth:
“Between 1690 and their expulsion from Latin America in 1767, the Jesuits organized among the native people of Paraguay [what they thought was] a community based on Christian and communist principles [an oxymoron if ever there was one!]. The Jesuits‘ aim was to Christianize the native people, organize the social and economic life of the communities, and create “the Kingdom of God on earth.” (see: The Law by Frederic Bastiat, (1843-1850), page 128). Marx would be the first to tell the Jesuits that “Religion is the opium of the people. It is the sigh of the oppressed, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of a soulless condition.” Lenin would tell the Jesuits religion and communism cannot coexist. Even a blind man can see Christianity and communism are diametrically opposed ideologies – socially, economically and spiritually. Communism is Satan’s alternative to God’s Plan of Salvation – his Big Lie to draw God’s children away from returning to His presence for eternity. So is any “religion” which takes away free agency.
Those who mistakenly believe communism is a higher way of living God’s economic law are confusing communism with the United Order practiced by Melchizedek and those living in the City of Melchizedek (see: Genesis 14: 18-22 and Josephus Antiquities 1:181). The most significant difference being the United Order (having all things in common) is voluntary (as opposed to communism which is INvoluntary). The United Order worked so well the whole city was “taken up to heaven” by God.
Communism works so badly. . . well, read The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror and Repression by Courtois, Paczkowski, Werth, Margolin, and several others – all reformed communists who compiled this work to convince French voters not to elect a Socialist as president of France.
Similar efforts in England and America in the 19th century failed as well – not due to communism but to their unwillingness to give up their natural Human inclinations.
As in so many cases of neurotic projection,
Trump can use the ditzy Dems’ labeling
as a winning campaign slogan:
– “Win with Weird!”
– “WEIRD and WINNING!”
– “I’m MAGA and I’m WEIRD!”
– “MAGA WEIRD!”
– “WOMEN for WEIRD!”
– “Make WEIRD Great Again!”
– “Weird: suggesting something SUPERNATURAL!”
– “Weird: archaic; connected with FATE!”
– “Weird: archaic Scottish – a person’s DESTINY!”
from Oxford Languages.
I wonder how so many Americans can
attribute the survival of Trump
to intervention by God when
as a nation we have been worshipping
Mammon, Alcohol, Sports,
Gambling, and Pornography
for so many decades?
When otherwise zealous clerics
and “worshippers” are so quick to
heap vitriol and calumny on
anyone who doesn’t believe
exactly as they do – and have
exerted no effort in discovering
for themselves the Truth
about others or sincerely
followed the admonition of James?
How can anyone believe we deserve
the intervention of Almighty God? – Ligon
I grew up thinking Hans Christian Anderson’s fable The Emperor’s New Clothes was a fable. It wasn’t until the Trump and Biden Administration that I realized fact became stranger than fiction.
Joe Biden Adminstration’s Buncombe: “Asses playing the lyre” (Erasmus‘ In Praise of Folly); “surrounded by thick mental darkness” (Robert Owen, p.61); “blinded by believing nothing but what is proportionate to their reason.” (Baynes, Art, or the Logic of Thinking, 1350 AD; p. 349); suffering the dementia of absolute power. “The funeral procession of a still living man.” –Durant VII:391. Professors of Peculation. Icons of Incompetence. Arguing like people proving it is night at noon. People of paralyzing stupidity – a mass of imbecilic enthusiasms. “Firm friends of arbitrary government” (Plutarch, p. 785); Cozen Cousins.
Donald Trump, Jr. “poses as if he were his own monument and lacks the modest man’s ability to mask his own vanity.” – Durant, IX:30, 583; “He ha[s] character without morals and intellect without wisdom.” Durant VI:919
Hillary Clinton: A twaddling, venal virago in a constant state of hysterical spite, screeching like God dragging His nails across His celestial blackboard; soaked in sophistry; sounding grotesquely irrelevant, like the mirth of a half-wit, emoting the sincerity of the dishonest; High Priestess of Vagina Voodoo.
The GOP: A Potemkin majority. Congress: a towering Babel of cacophony; a collection of the catatonic; the gibbering swamp of mediocrity, the dead fog of the meaningless; the odor of people on the public payroll, protected from the world around them by that last armor: indifference; sons and daughters of sophistry; petrified in their own putrescence; speaking the language of fog. Experiencing Damascene Conversions on a Daily basis; Patriots of Psychogenic Blindness; hiding in the camouflage provided by networks; worshipped by Pavlovian patriots;
Biden’s ’24 Victory
Biden could be bedridden
in a deep state coma
(and many think he is)
from now ’til Nov. 4th
and still win.
Because that’s basically
how he won in 2020.
Americans throughout society
from media pundits to those
who watch them
still haven’t let it sink in
the impact of what
happened in 2020.
The Germans called it
The North Pole Syndrome–
refusing to believe the obvious.
“The more we do to them,
The less they believe we’re doing it.”
– Goebbels.
“Remember, it’s not how many
votes are counted that’s important.
What’s important is
who counts the votes.” – Stalin
Texas is America’s Dunkirk
November 4th is America’s
Bastille Day.
The Caucus
Democrats say Iowa doesn’t matter
because it’s a Caucus process.
What they’re protesting is
the preservation of the power
of direct, individual voter choice.
And notice the GOP isn’t
demanding it replace
ballot harvesting and
voting centers.
– Ligon
“It is better to give with warm hands
than with cold.”
– TV show Northern Exposure, Season 5,
Episode 10, First Snow
Trump the American Novalny?
Is Trump America’s Novalny?
History says he will be.
Insurgency paradigms ensure it.
God IS – and He’s everywhere:
Raton Pass
Driving back from Sturgis
2016 (the “Hangover” Rally)
climbing the interstate’s curve
around the Colorado
side of the mountain
and down the other side
into New Mexico.
Looking to my right
onto a vast, low-hanging,
gray-clouded pasture
was a thick column
of brilliant, golden sunlight
shining straight down onto
the green grass
and contentedly grazing cattle.
Looking ahead I saw raindrops
on my windshield
and looked left for
the anticipated rainbow.
I saw it completely
from end to end about a mile away
against the white granite of the hills.
But as I gazed in wonder
it suddenly moved toward me
and settled on the guardrail
bordering the opposite lanes.
And stayed there for minutes
glistening so brilliantly
I could see each droplet of rain
coursing downward through
each band of color
almost alive with motion.
It was as if He was declaring
I Am!
I have rarely felt so close
to God.
Moses had his burning bush.
I have my Raton Rainbow.
Noah in Africa
I’ve walked this earth
in many climes and places
The Sahara, the Sudan,
jungles and mountains,
the Nile and Vietnam.
Lying on the ground
on the Kenya – Tanzania
border one night
nervous and anticipating
waiting, waiting…
I imagined I could smell
the creation of Man in the soil.
As morning rose and
we made our way back
through Hell’s Gate pass,
I looked back and saw the back of
the Rock of Gibralter –
the broad, grassy plain
climbing to the narrowed top.
And saw a parade of African animals
going two by two up to
the storm clouded pinnacle.
It’s biblical beauty was spellbinding.
The only thing missing was the Ark
(and maybe it was in the clouds?)
No one else saw the animals
but me.
Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for President
2024 (just in case) but definitely 2028.
Words I want to hear from the President:
My first executive order as
President of the United States will be
to abolish the government office
that tells Americans when and for whom
the American flag should be lowered
to half staff.
Our enemies exult in seeing our flag constantly
lowered.
Brave Americans died by the thousands
to raise that Flag throughout our History.
To honor them that flag will never be lowered
to half staff.
There is a proper procedure for flag saluting
others who deserve national respect.
Lowering it and keeping it at half staff
for days, weeks and months is not it.
Mother Nature’s Warning
On June 8, 1794, Robispierre presided
over a “Feast of the Supreme Being” –
an attempt to establish a Rousseau-style, secular
religion during the French Revolution.
Before 100,000 men, women, and children
assembled at the Champ de Mars (a Roman god),
Robispierre, the mostly self-proclaimed embodiment
of Virtue, applied a torch to the statue of Atheism
but an “ill wind” diverted the flame to the
statue of Wisdom.” – Durant, XI:79
[It was about this time the American Congress
discovered its’ authority to get rich off
the people who elected them.]
Blinkin the Mouse
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s
manner is reminiscent of Topo Gigio,
the big-eared, mouse who appeared
on the Ed Sullivan show.
(see YouTube, Topo Gigio “Topo’s
Chicken Friends” on the Ed Sullivan
Show).
Not only does Blinken look like Topo
but their personalities and deferential
demeanors are a perfect match. – Ligon
Seeing the Light
Physicists affirm that “light”
is not a naturally occurring
state in Nature.
Darkness is.
Light must be Created.
Doesn’t that end the debate?
One might also avow
with equal veracity
that darkness is the
natural state of Mankind,
and that Light in him
must also be created
(or accepted). – Ligon
[read Darwin’s Doubt by Stephen Meyer, June 3, 2014]
“Civilization”? Really?
In the Introduction to Volume VIII,
Will Durant, author of the epochal
eleven-volume Story of Civilization,
defines “civilization” as “social order
promoting cultural creation.”
That is not what happens
in Volumes 5,6,and 7
by any stretch of the imagination.
As I read the Durants’ Story of Civilization
I shake my head in bewilderment,
sadness, and repugnance at the
unimaginable brutality
humans commit against one another.
How can such enduring and pervasive
barbarity be ascribed
the honorable title of “Humanity“?
How macabre to call such mayhem
“Civilization”!
What depth of Love the Savior
has to suffer the anguish of an Atonement
for such undeserving souls as we. – Ligon
Love Hurts
“It is far, far better to have loved and lost
than to have never loved at all.”
– Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H.
Puppy Love (to Sandra Key of Midwest City)
It was the first recess of the first day of school – ever.
Kindergarten was a new and lonely world to me.
Already bullied by older and bigger boys;
A pretty girl approached me on the playground
She said her best friend wanted me to play
“Wild Horses” with her “herd.”
Tanned Sandra was the lead mare, dark brown eyes,
long, golden brown mane and a shy smile convinced me
I was her cowboy.
Catching the “horses” meant a kiss for a brand
On the cheek cuz she hid her face
thwarting my best effort for a real kiss.
I chased only Sandra.
I kissed only her.
I took the beatings from the jealous bullies;
Recess was heaven compared to home.
I carried her Girl Scout cookies home for her.
It was the last time we saw each other. – Ligon
To Kathleen P.
“There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I’ve loved one woman with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.” – Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook
Truth Eternal
Regarding my 3-Volume Collectanea of Conservative Concepts, I have been asked how I determine facts stated in my discoveries of literary archaeology (the 5-Foot Bookshelf and other antiquities) are as True today – if not more so- as when they were written:
1. I do not believe Truth is “relative” or “situational.” Those who claim Truth is “relative” are like mariners who only sail coastal waters and never venture out into the depths of the oceans; like explorers who tread only the edges of unknown lands and rely on second hand tales for their opinions and perceptions of what lies deep into unexplored territory (like the Pilgrims disastrous dependence on Columbus‘ pamphlet).
2. Truth – like Freedom – has a “ring” to it. The sound of Truth rings in the heart and soul through eyes that see and ears that hear.
3. Anyone who listens with “an open heart and a contrite spirit” can know Truth when they read, hear, or see it. This is what the Savior meant in James 1:5 “If any of ye lack wisdom,… .” If God’s children trusted in this scripture and asked God, there would be no need for over 500 different “versions” of the King James Bible or the obscene plethora of commercialized scriptural “aids” -many, as Erasmus declared- horribly wrong and totally absent the Holy Ghost.
4. Truth, like music, conveys a feeling that words cannot describe.
5. Recognizing Truth is a universal God-given gift at birth that can be nurtured or starved according to each person’s choices – literally “Livin’ and dyin’ by the choices we make.”- George Jones
6. From the responses of my readers who see the application of my selections to current events, they agree. – Ligon
Karl Rove: GOP’s Biden; saturated in the status quo of Party politics; Gold merchant capitalizing on consumers’ fears. – Ligon
Hope
Some say “As long as there is Life
there is Hope.”
That is a tenuous assumption.
The sign above Dante’s Gate
reads “Abandon Hope
All Ye who enter here!”
There are many Hells
on this side of the Gate.
Standing at any one of them
it is usually better to choose Life
than apply a permanent solution
to a temporary Hell. – Ligon
Political Justice
“About 664 B.C., Zaleucus gave to the Locri
their first written code of laws
in the history of Greece.
The Locrians liked it so well
that they required any man
who wished to propose a new Law
to speak with a rope around his neck,
so that, if his motion failed
he might be hanged with
a minimum of public inconvenience.”
– Durant, II:167
This is one law that has not outlived
its usefulness. – Ligon
Choices
Should I steadily pursue the
path of Truth and Loyalty, or
follow in the wake of a
corrupt government?
Should I court danger
with outspoken words, or
fawn in false tones upon the
rich and great?
Should I be pure and clean-handed
in my rectitude, or
an oil-mouthed, slippery,
time-serving sycophant?” – Ch’u P’ing, Durant, I:694
Cruelty
One of the cruelest things
a person can do
is to destroy the Hope
of a better, happier Life
in an innocent and
trusting child.
The next worse thing
is to teach them things
that will guarantee
that despair. – Ligon
Biden: America’s Brutus
“The day after Caesar was assassinated,
Marc Antony convened the Senate
and astonished all by his amiability and calm.
He accepted Cicero’s proposal for a general amnesty,
and agreed that Brutus should receive a
provincial governorship.
The Senate, convinced of Antony’s sincerity,
acclaimed Antony as a statesman
who had snatched peace out of the jaws of war.” – Durant, III; 199
So what does our Senate call
their Brutus who repeatedly
snatches War out of the jaws of Peace?
God give us an American Antony
to wreak vengeance on the corrupt
and restore our freedom
and our Republic! – Ligon
The Boy
Classical music has long
been a source of therapy
against my travails in Life.
Classic FM, a British station
is a beacon of emotional salve
that makes Life just a bit more tolerable.
Today I read and listened to their Music News
article about a 9 year old boy’s response
to an symphony’s performance.
It made me weep. It still does.
It was such a pure, poignant moment.
In a world filled with ugliness,
His simple, innocent outburst of appreciation and joy;
and I sorrowed for the monumental Lack
of parents’ exposing their
children to the beauty of classical music.
What a better family, society we would be
if all our children were soothed to sleep
by Brahms, Chopin or Lily’s Lullabye.
If their days were nourished with
Mozart or Beethoven.
If their studies were accompanied
by Tchaikovsky or Grieg.
Against the cacophony of sewage
killing their tender brain cells with
hate, discord, rebellion and salaciousness. – Ligon
Ideas
Ideas drive me nuts.
Especially when they wake me
in the middle of the night.
First one, and I have to rise to
write it down.
Then another, and another
until the drip becomes
a deluge
And I sit there knowing
I have to stay up
and write it all down
before the sun rises.
Because a.m. is an abbreviation
for amnesia.
Oh, to sleep through the night! – Ligon
I’m FOUR!
Seen on a precocious, 4 year-old boy’s T-shirt:
“I do all my own stunts!”
I bet he does!
God bless his sainted mother.
Golda Meir on Peace
Gold Meir once said “There will be no
Peace in the Middle East until the
Arabs love their children more than
they hate the Jews.”
America will continue to be a war-based
economy until Americans love their children
more than their defense contract paychecks;
And stop swallowing the political-military-industrial
swill justifying using a “Golden Sledgehammer”
instead of a stainless, steel scalpel against
threats that pose no danger of destroying America. – Ligon Law
Rush Lembaugh and the U.N.
I lost a lot of respect for Rush Lembaugh
several decades ago after discovering he
avoided the military draft with a medical
exemption for a pilonidal cyst.
A pilonidal cyst is “an abnormal skin
growth located at the tailbone that contains
hair and skin. It forms from lack of hygiene
and physical activity. It is easily resolved
with a local anesthesia, incision, drainage
and packed with gauze for up to four weeks.
Rush Lembaugh, through his cowardice, has
more in common with the United Nations
than the United States: 1. The U.N. is also cowardly
in all its’ military virtue signaling, money-Making
“peacekeeping” missions around the world; 2. the U.N.
can be removed from the ass crack of America by some
brave President of the U.S. administering his political
scalpel and excising the U.N. from its comfortable
quarters in New York City; and draining it by removing
it to Paris or some other equally-minded, politically and
militarily timid European Union country.
Peace on Earth
Golda Meir once said
“There will be no peace
in the Middle East
until the Arabs
Love their children
More than they hate us.”
True. But I believe
if we could discover
how doves remain
monogamous for Life
without arguing
there would be
Peace on Earth –
or is that
why they’re mourning?
Mike and Mike
“Hi, Mike! Whatcha reading?”
“It’s a horror story written by an
author known for his horror stories.
I don’t really like it because it has
a really horrible plot.”
“That’s a really colorful shirt
you’re wearing.”
“Thanks, Mike!”
“Where’d you find
a shirt like that?”
“I found it on the Internet.”
“So you intentionally sought
it out and bought it on purpose?”
“Yeah!, I just like cats
that eat sushi!”
“I don’t like either one
of those.”
“You must be a dog
and steak guy.
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
And the world kept turning.
PTSD
The book Stolen Valor.
Says it all. Read it.
Clinging to memories
many made up
fantasies of Walter Middys
Holding on to
the naive public’s pity.
What would those who died
say to those imposters?
SHAME!
And to the real warriors
who suffer in stoic silence?
“Get over it!” “Let it go!” Get on with Life!”
“Cowboy Up!” “Ranger On!” “All the Way, Airborne!”
“Return [and live] with honor!”
It’s the only cure. – Ligon
“Any man who is willing to risk his life for his country deserves an even break. Nothing more, nothing less.” – Teddy Roosevelt.
Guilty Conscience?
I don’t want – nor do I need – your thanks for paying my debt as a citizen for serving in the military. I didn’t do it for you. Only the dead have the right to thank me. It is to them I owe being a good citizen. But I will accept your apology on their behalf for you not paying yours. – Ligon
MCRD
Years ago I attended my oldest son’s
Marine boot camp graduation.
A few short years later
I attended my youngest son’s
Even fewer years later
I attended my middle son’s
They ask the folks in the grandstands
if they are current or former Marines
to stand and be recognized.
The first time I stood.
The second time
I and my oldest stood.
The third time I, my oldest
and youngest stood.
And I couldn’t help wonder two things
as the platoons passed in review:
Where do we still get
such fine young men?
And will I live long enough
to stand with my sons again?
The answer to the first
is from the ones who stand.
The answer to the second
is in the clock of sand.
Love
If some genius in physics
could harness the Love
a man has for his children
and their children.
If some enterprising soul
could bottle the pride
he feels hearing “Dad!”
or “Grandpa!”
uttered from those he lived
his life for
and lived to see them blossom
into good citizens
and loving parents of the sweet,
innocent children
they once were;
that man would harness
more energy than the Sun
has produced
in its’ entire existence
and still fall short. – Ligon
Few, Fewer, Fewest
Few there are who seek the Truth
Fewer there are who recognize the Truth
Fewest there are who choose to live it.
Few there are who seek Knowledge
Fewer there are who know its’ value
Fewest there are who use it for Good.
Few there are who love Music
Fewer there are who know good Music.
Fewest there are who appreciate what it takes.
Even fewer there are who try to make it.
Few there are who know Love
Fewer there are who give Love
Fewest there are who Love
in the face of Hurt and Hate.
Few there are who know Gratitude
Fewer there are who show Gratitude
Fewest there are who are Grateful
in the face of Ingratitude.
Few there are who know Respect.
Fewer there are who show Respect.
Fewest there are who earn Respect.
Few there are who know Reverence.
Fewer there are who Revere.
Fewest there are who know
How and Whom to Revere.
Few there are who Worship.
Fewer there are who know the difference
between Worship and popularity.
Fewest there are who sacrifice to Worship.
Fewest there are
who will use all these things
To obey God’s will
and reap the blessings
Promised to those
seeking all these things. – Ligon
- Exiting the Ft. Huachuca, AZ Health Center, I encountered an old codger slowly using a walker up the sidewalk to the front door. He was wearing a black baseball cap with “USS Forrestal” emblazoned across the front. “Were you on the Forrestal?” I asked. “Yes, I was. 1967-68.” he answered. “Were you there when it caught fire?” I asked. “Yes, I was.” he said seriously. He began describing in detail how a 2.75 air-to-ground rocket had been armed on an aircraft “at the apron – which is wrong six ways from Sunday” and how it fell off and shot across the flight deck into the engine running A-6 Attack fighter piloted by John McCain. The rocket penetrated the fully loaded fuel pod beneath his aircraft resulting in an immediate inferno. McCain’s fighter jet also had a 500lb bomb attached beneath. “I’ve seen the video of McCain jumping off the nose of his fighter seconds before it blew up” I said. “Yeah, I saw him do that.” he said. “How many were killed or injured from that fire?” I asked. “134 sailors died fighting that fire.” he said sadly. “The video I saw showed a lot of sailors running toward the fire to help their comrades.” I said. Like the old mariner he is he said “There’s a book you should read “Sailors to the End“. I’m mentioned in it twice. There were pallets of 500 lb. bombs sitting on the flight deck beside the aircraft and the fire was getting close to them. I jumped on a forklift but the battery was dead. I got it started somehow and got a pallet of the 500 pounders up and away from the fire. A Chief told me to dump it over the side. I drove the forklift to the edge of the deck as fast as it would go and jumped off just before it went over the edge of the deck into the ocean.” he said. All I could do was shake his hand and ask his name -“Ashton” he said. “Thank you, Ashton.” Go Navy. (see also: The United States Navy in World War II by S.E. Smith, 1967; for inspiring, personal accounts from Pearl Harbor to the deck of the Missouri. A retired CPO loaned me his worn copy. The book is simply stories told by sailors who were there. It gave this Marine a much deeper respect and admiration for the Navy.)
- I often feel the more I learn about human nature the more I envy the catatonic. Then I see a youth baseball team flood into a fast food restaurant like they’re taking the field. I watch them running about getting food and drink as if they hadn’t already played nine innings. The only girl on the team is, of course, taller than the others. She has beautiful long brown locks and by her posture is clearly more mature than her fellow male teammates – and secretly adored by most of them. Boys of all sizes and colors sit side by side practicing high fives and cram to make room for more of their teammates at the tables. Their exuberance recharges me somehow. Perhaps there is hope for America.
