Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
I Can’t Stop This Feeling - A Democrat shares his thoughts on the RNC -- and makes an intriguing prediction.
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Donald J Trump
Front Page Magazine : I watched the second night of the Republican National Convention
the same way you fall in love or go bankrupt: gradually, but then
suddenly stricken by a strange and somewhat inexplicable premonition. It
was this: Donald John Trump is going to win in November, and win big.
Yeah, I know all about the polls. I understand the deep distaste
many Americans, including some traditional Republican voters, feel for
the president. I am well aware of the criticism of his conduct in
handling COVID-19, or the riots following George Floyd’s death, or any
number of issues. And yet, as Trump’s first surprise election ought to
have taught us by now, when it comes to modern American politics, the
only principle that truly matters is the Ooga Chaka principle: We vote
for the candidate who gets us hooked on a feeling and high on believing.
Last week, the Democrats used their convention to deliver three
key messages: Joe Biden is a very decent person; Joe Biden is not Donald
Trump, who is not a very decent person; and, being both a very decent
person and not-Donald-Trump, Joe Biden is passionate about amplifying
the voices of women and minorities, which is one important way to prove
both your decency and your not-Trumpiness.
Who, precisely, might get hooked by these messages, and on what
feeling? That Biden is a decent person is indisputable anywhere outside
the airless quarters of the most quarrelsome partisans. That he shares
little with the man he hopes to defeat is obvious—by now, Trump’s fans
and detractors alike have very few misconceptions about the man’s
character. That leaves us with the DNC’s heavy schmear of identity
politics, a sentiment that doubtless resonates with the party’s
educated, affluent base but says very little to those weary Americans
who wonder why their cities are burning and why on earth anyone would
ever want to defund the police.
The RNC, on the other hand, had a much more hearty offering on
hand. It had no actors, singers, comedians, billionaires, academics, or
former presidents present to offer perfectly polished paeans to
character. Instead, it had people of faith affirming the singular
importance of safeguarding the freedom of religion; immigrants affirming
the notion, not controversial until very recently, that an American
citizenship was an exceptional honor, not a universal right; blue-collar
workers affirming the all-American reliance on small businesses, not
tech behemoths; law enforcement officials affirming the foundational
truth that, in America, when we disagree, we talk things over, not burn
things down; and African Americans affirming the belief, central to the
thinking of Martin Luther King Jr. and entirely alien to the current
crop of race hustlers, that it’s the content of one’s character, not the
color of one’s skin, that ought to matter.
