Did anybody watch the House hearings on the obamacare rollout disaster yesterday? Democrats on the committee led by Henry Waxman kept repeating the worn out blather that the system is working, people are getting insurance premiums lowered, and the Republicans are to blame for shutting down the government. Charles Rangel gave a history lesson that is only true in little pea-brained Democrat minds saying Republicans were against Social Security ad nauseum.
Several Democrats made comparisons to the Bush Medicare Part D rollout because it was slow at first also. The difference, of course, is that there was no mandate forcing people to buy Medicare Part D, and they had no expectations or need for millions to sign up in the first few months.
Sebelius, after apologizing for the rollout failure, then went on to blame Verizon for the shutdowns, and said the website had never crashed, even though it had crashed three times over last weekend and was offline at that very moment. When asked about the Obama promise that you can keep your health care plan, period, she said that was three years ago, even though Obama said it again last month. She defended it by saying that the plans people are losing are inferior plans, and when reminded that people are finding the new costs up to 400% higher, she said the website allows them to shop around. She completely ignored the problem that every plan you can shop around for costs more. Obama's lie about keeping your policy got lost in the shuffle and it came down essentially that people have to pay more because it's their own fault. When asked about delaying the individual mandate she said "No," because it's the law. When confronted about single men needing maternity care in their insurance she said, some men need maternity care.
I would say fools are generally irrational, and you can't argue with irrationality. Men, as well as 70 year old women, needing maternity care is pretty irrational. In fact, there was a whole lot of irrationality coming from the Democrat side yesterday. One old codger even got up wanting to fight a Republican. He claimed 17 million children would be uninsured without obamacare and accused the Republicans of not having a plan. The congressman he was arguing with said it was a false choice because there are other ways to cover the children and he held up a bill he planned to introduce today for an alternate plan. Unfortunately the Republicans were all over the place with their questions and they failed to hold Sebelius' nose to the question of what Obama knew and when.
The most focused Republicans were a couple of congresswomen who didn't waste any time with niceties and thanking Sebelius for being there and were pretty much on fire asking their questions. It's too bad the rest of the committee wasn't as forceful as they were. One congressman from Texas tried to get cute referring to the Wizard of Oz and telling Sebelius she wasn't in Kansas anymore. It basically backfired on him from Democrat ridicule.
The hearing finally ended after three and a half hours. I watched about two hours of it, but I had to keep leaving and coming back because some of the things people were saying were so asinine I couldn't stand to listen, and I didn't get all their names either. I'd say I really don't know what they accomplished except to prove that Sebelius can lie as well as the rest of them, and even though at one point she took the blame for the failure, it was only to protect someone she had just fingered as responsible. Just like in all the Obama scandals, no one has yet been held accountable for anything, and Sebelius has no plans to hang anyone.
The Democrats left the hearing with the same fog in their eyes that they came in with, and went back to the Lala Land in which they live. The Republicans walked out having failed to nail Sebelius when she could so easily have been nailed. And Washington goes on in its mad rush to destruction.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Republican Party Relevance
One of the things conservatives worried about when the government partially shut down was that the Republican Party, which had suddenly found some backbone and was standing up to Obama's threats and doomsday predictions, would lose their nerve and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, which they are so successful at doing. They were well founded fears. Just when they had Obama by the short hairs they gave up.
Obama has been in free fall for several months. The IRS scandal had broken and on top of Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the AP phone record scandal, domestic spying, and all the other corruption surrounding the White House he was finding it hard to hide. Syria destroyed him as an international leader, and his refusal to negotiate with Republicans, all the while spewing the lie that he was willing to discuss anything with his political opposition, had even Chris "my legs tingle when he speaks" Matthews moaning that Ronald Reagan, whom he has no love for, was a better president than Obama. Obama's popularity in the polls dropped to 37%.
The shutdown began when the Republicans finally decided it was time to reel in deficit spending, and the place they sought to do it was Obamacare, which 80% of their constituents, and 51% of the country wanted defunded or delayed. Harry "the rat" Reid in the Senate wouldn't even let the Senate vote on the House bill. Over the last weekend in September the Republicans offered at least five compromises, which step-by-step moved away from Obamacare to just cutting spending, but Reid wouldn't even call the Senators in to work. A partial shutdown followed which only closed 17% of the government, but it was basically Obama's choice as to who went home and what stayed open.
Obama chose to punish the American people by closing national parks, including the mall in Washington, D.C., which cost more money to close than to leave open, by refusing to help cancer patients by closing the National Institutes of Health, and by withholding death benefits from the families of soldiers slain in Afghanistan. (Anybody who doesn't believe Obama was behind that is daft.) It was nothing more than the tyrant having a tantrum.
The House began passing bills to refund national parks, the NIH, and other departments they felt should be open, but Obama refused them all. At the same time the million man Muslim march in Washington drew exactly 25, while a million motorcyclists from all across the country paraded around the city waving the American flag. Then World War 2 veterans were blocked from the World War 2 memorial while Obama opened a part of the mall for illegal aliens to demand amnesty. He couldn't have looked more petty and childish, or more condescending to non-Americans over U.S. citizens. The Republicans had Obama on the ropes.
And then they surrendered. To be sure the Obama media blamed it all on the Republicans, and the non discerning public believed them. One thing Democrats are is masters of spin, and one thing Republicans have never learned is how to counter it. Like standing on principle, and continuing to stand regardless of the opposition until you prevail. In the end, Obama got everything he wanted, and more than he was asking for before the shutdown. The Republican stand accomplished absolutely nothing, except to make them look as weak as Obama looked a month before. And now emboldened, Obama is demanding a new look at immigration reform which he has failed to push through in five years. The question is whether Speaker of the House John Boehner will, in full retreat, lead the Republican Party to another defeat.
Rush Limbaugh stated that the Republican Party has become irrelevant. He is right. Until the RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) can be replaced and a strong leadership be found to stand up for the Constitution and against the growing tyranny on the other side of the isle, the Republicans are as big a joke on domestic affairs as Obama is on foreign ones.
There is hope, however, small as it may be. The Democrats, their media allies, and the RINOs continually complain that a small minority of rightwing extremists, the Tea Party representatives, are holding the entire Republican Party hostage. In fact, 144 Republicans in the House, 62% of their delegation, voted against the Senate bill to reopen the government. That is much more than a small minority and if they can replace Boehner with a conservative as the next Speaker of the House, there is still a chance they can be relevant and keep Obama in check.
The only good thing to come out of this, and it's not a good thing really, is that Obamacare is up and stumbling. People are already coming face-to-face with the reality of the "Affordable Care Act," which may go down in history as the greatest misnomer ever. But now it's no longer Bush's fault, neither is it the Tea Party's fault. The Republicans have been defeated on the issue. This is Obama's baby. Let him wallow in it. Midterm elections are only thirteen months away.
Obama has been in free fall for several months. The IRS scandal had broken and on top of Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the AP phone record scandal, domestic spying, and all the other corruption surrounding the White House he was finding it hard to hide. Syria destroyed him as an international leader, and his refusal to negotiate with Republicans, all the while spewing the lie that he was willing to discuss anything with his political opposition, had even Chris "my legs tingle when he speaks" Matthews moaning that Ronald Reagan, whom he has no love for, was a better president than Obama. Obama's popularity in the polls dropped to 37%.
The shutdown began when the Republicans finally decided it was time to reel in deficit spending, and the place they sought to do it was Obamacare, which 80% of their constituents, and 51% of the country wanted defunded or delayed. Harry "the rat" Reid in the Senate wouldn't even let the Senate vote on the House bill. Over the last weekend in September the Republicans offered at least five compromises, which step-by-step moved away from Obamacare to just cutting spending, but Reid wouldn't even call the Senators in to work. A partial shutdown followed which only closed 17% of the government, but it was basically Obama's choice as to who went home and what stayed open.
Obama chose to punish the American people by closing national parks, including the mall in Washington, D.C., which cost more money to close than to leave open, by refusing to help cancer patients by closing the National Institutes of Health, and by withholding death benefits from the families of soldiers slain in Afghanistan. (Anybody who doesn't believe Obama was behind that is daft.) It was nothing more than the tyrant having a tantrum.
The House began passing bills to refund national parks, the NIH, and other departments they felt should be open, but Obama refused them all. At the same time the million man Muslim march in Washington drew exactly 25, while a million motorcyclists from all across the country paraded around the city waving the American flag. Then World War 2 veterans were blocked from the World War 2 memorial while Obama opened a part of the mall for illegal aliens to demand amnesty. He couldn't have looked more petty and childish, or more condescending to non-Americans over U.S. citizens. The Republicans had Obama on the ropes.
And then they surrendered. To be sure the Obama media blamed it all on the Republicans, and the non discerning public believed them. One thing Democrats are is masters of spin, and one thing Republicans have never learned is how to counter it. Like standing on principle, and continuing to stand regardless of the opposition until you prevail. In the end, Obama got everything he wanted, and more than he was asking for before the shutdown. The Republican stand accomplished absolutely nothing, except to make them look as weak as Obama looked a month before. And now emboldened, Obama is demanding a new look at immigration reform which he has failed to push through in five years. The question is whether Speaker of the House John Boehner will, in full retreat, lead the Republican Party to another defeat.
Rush Limbaugh stated that the Republican Party has become irrelevant. He is right. Until the RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) can be replaced and a strong leadership be found to stand up for the Constitution and against the growing tyranny on the other side of the isle, the Republicans are as big a joke on domestic affairs as Obama is on foreign ones.
There is hope, however, small as it may be. The Democrats, their media allies, and the RINOs continually complain that a small minority of rightwing extremists, the Tea Party representatives, are holding the entire Republican Party hostage. In fact, 144 Republicans in the House, 62% of their delegation, voted against the Senate bill to reopen the government. That is much more than a small minority and if they can replace Boehner with a conservative as the next Speaker of the House, there is still a chance they can be relevant and keep Obama in check.
The only good thing to come out of this, and it's not a good thing really, is that Obamacare is up and stumbling. People are already coming face-to-face with the reality of the "Affordable Care Act," which may go down in history as the greatest misnomer ever. But now it's no longer Bush's fault, neither is it the Tea Party's fault. The Republicans have been defeated on the issue. This is Obama's baby. Let him wallow in it. Midterm elections are only thirteen months away.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Defunding Obamacare
Yesterday twenty-seven Republican cowards in the Senate, including Missouri's supposed conservative Roy Blunt, effectively voted to fund Obamacare in the Continuing Resolution to raise the deficit. Obama, due to his own ineptness, has been in free fall for several months and the Republicans had a chance to absolutely crush his agenda. Instead they surrendered and gave him the victory. The Republican Party is led by a herd of spineless wimps afraid to stand up to the greatest threat to American sovereignty since King George III.
This is just incredible. Obama is the perfect Manchurian Candidate. He is so inept he couldn't run a hotdog stand on the corner, he can't give a speech without TelePrompTers, he doesn't have an original thought in his head, socialist puppeteers are playing him while he plays golf, everybody, including his in the pocket unions, knows his signature achievement, Obamacare, is about to completely destroy the economy as well as the health care system, even his supporters are complaining, but we can't find enough conservatives with the brains and the guts to put an end to his socialist overthrow of the Constitution.
We expect the godless, characterless, lapdog left to bow the knee to their messiah, but when in our history has an opposition party been so weak that they automatically throw in the towel without a whimper? Ted Cruz and the few that stood with him and for We the People, were shot in the back by their own party leadership.
What do Mitchell, Cornyn and all the rest of them think? Do they believe that if they compromise and just go along that Obama will work with them later? He's an attack dog that can smell fear and he smells it. He won't be satisfied until there isn't one Republican left standing.
It has well been said that people get the leaders they deserve. We're seeing that now. The stupidity of at least half or more of the American electorate that doesn't understand the government or the economy because they attended a public school system that is more concerned with gay propaganda than education, and greedily votes for shared poverty as long as they get their welfare and food stamps because socialist ideologue hacks in the media who have sold their souls to Obama have convinced their undiscerning minds that it is good for them, has given us this disaster.
John Dewey would be proud. His socialist anti-constitutional government philosophy has prevailed in American society. The dumbing down of America that Bill Clinton warned us about has taken place precisely because we have followed his educational agenda.
The question now is what will the House GOP do when they go into conference with the Senate to negotiate this Continuing Resolution? Boehner was only a last minute convert to allowing a vote on defunding Obamacare in the House. The flood of phone calls, faxes and e-mails against funding Obamacare over the last two weeks gave him no choice. But will the House negotiators stand up to the Senate's determination to fund it? Or will they turn out, after one moment of courage, to be the same spineless wimps that the majority of Republicans are in the Senate?
"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). We have stumbled along with God's blessing for a long time but I'm afraid we are about to reach the end of the rope and find out what this verse really means.
We need to pray for our country as never before.
This is just incredible. Obama is the perfect Manchurian Candidate. He is so inept he couldn't run a hotdog stand on the corner, he can't give a speech without TelePrompTers, he doesn't have an original thought in his head, socialist puppeteers are playing him while he plays golf, everybody, including his in the pocket unions, knows his signature achievement, Obamacare, is about to completely destroy the economy as well as the health care system, even his supporters are complaining, but we can't find enough conservatives with the brains and the guts to put an end to his socialist overthrow of the Constitution.
We expect the godless, characterless, lapdog left to bow the knee to their messiah, but when in our history has an opposition party been so weak that they automatically throw in the towel without a whimper? Ted Cruz and the few that stood with him and for We the People, were shot in the back by their own party leadership.
What do Mitchell, Cornyn and all the rest of them think? Do they believe that if they compromise and just go along that Obama will work with them later? He's an attack dog that can smell fear and he smells it. He won't be satisfied until there isn't one Republican left standing.
It has well been said that people get the leaders they deserve. We're seeing that now. The stupidity of at least half or more of the American electorate that doesn't understand the government or the economy because they attended a public school system that is more concerned with gay propaganda than education, and greedily votes for shared poverty as long as they get their welfare and food stamps because socialist ideologue hacks in the media who have sold their souls to Obama have convinced their undiscerning minds that it is good for them, has given us this disaster.
John Dewey would be proud. His socialist anti-constitutional government philosophy has prevailed in American society. The dumbing down of America that Bill Clinton warned us about has taken place precisely because we have followed his educational agenda.
The question now is what will the House GOP do when they go into conference with the Senate to negotiate this Continuing Resolution? Boehner was only a last minute convert to allowing a vote on defunding Obamacare in the House. The flood of phone calls, faxes and e-mails against funding Obamacare over the last two weeks gave him no choice. But will the House negotiators stand up to the Senate's determination to fund it? Or will they turn out, after one moment of courage, to be the same spineless wimps that the majority of Republicans are in the Senate?
"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). We have stumbled along with God's blessing for a long time but I'm afraid we are about to reach the end of the rope and find out what this verse really means.
We need to pray for our country as never before.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
More Musings
Remember Joe Biden's rant against assault weapons? He suggested buying a shotgun instead. So guess what kind of weapon Aaron Alexis used to murder 12 people at the Navy Yard? A shotgun. And what is the anti Second Amendment crowd response? We need to ban assault weapons. Right, I see the logic.
In another response to the shooting University of Kansas professor David Guth said to NRA members on Twitter, “Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters”…"May God damn you.” Shouldn't this qualify as a hate crime?
Once again a non-NRA member shoots up a crowd and the anti-gun zealots blame the NRA. Of course it makes sense. It's not like the shooter is guilty or anything like that.
So, Pelosi and Reid's argument against defunding Obamacare in the Continuing Resolution was, "It's the law. You can't defund it." I seem to remember that in 2006 Congress passed into law the border fence. As soon as the Democrats got control of Congress they refused to fund it. What's the difference?
Obama's response to the House vote, "There's no serious evidence Obamacare will hurt the economy." Well, in Liberal double-speak that may be true. By the time it's up and running it will already have done so much harm that there's no evidence it will do anything worse in the future than it has already done.
And what was it he said about the Continuing Resolution? Raising the debt limit doesn't raise the debt? Is this guy living in the same world we are living in, or is he in the utopian fantasy land that never existed except in the minds of leftist Peter Pans?
How about Obama's mindless spokesperson, Jay Carney? A couple days ago he called the pending vote to defund Obamacare a "civil war." He might be right. Considering Obama is making war against the will of 70% of the people who are in favor of defunding Obamacare it might just qualify as that.
On the other hand, since he has yet to prove his US citizenship this is less a civil war than it is a foreign invasion.
I'm sure there are more things I could muse on, but I'll let it go for now.
In another response to the shooting University of Kansas professor David Guth said to NRA members on Twitter, “Next time, let it be YOUR sons and daughters”…"May God damn you.” Shouldn't this qualify as a hate crime?
Once again a non-NRA member shoots up a crowd and the anti-gun zealots blame the NRA. Of course it makes sense. It's not like the shooter is guilty or anything like that.
So, Pelosi and Reid's argument against defunding Obamacare in the Continuing Resolution was, "It's the law. You can't defund it." I seem to remember that in 2006 Congress passed into law the border fence. As soon as the Democrats got control of Congress they refused to fund it. What's the difference?
Obama's response to the House vote, "There's no serious evidence Obamacare will hurt the economy." Well, in Liberal double-speak that may be true. By the time it's up and running it will already have done so much harm that there's no evidence it will do anything worse in the future than it has already done.
And what was it he said about the Continuing Resolution? Raising the debt limit doesn't raise the debt? Is this guy living in the same world we are living in, or is he in the utopian fantasy land that never existed except in the minds of leftist Peter Pans?
How about Obama's mindless spokesperson, Jay Carney? A couple days ago he called the pending vote to defund Obamacare a "civil war." He might be right. Considering Obama is making war against the will of 70% of the people who are in favor of defunding Obamacare it might just qualify as that.
On the other hand, since he has yet to prove his US citizenship this is less a civil war than it is a foreign invasion.
I'm sure there are more things I could muse on, but I'll let it go for now.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Iran-Contra/Benghazi-Syria
A couple weeks ago I got into a discussion on a friend of my brother's Facebook page with an arrogant 18 year old snort who had been indoctrinated into liberalese by his public school education. Thinking he was brilliant he mocked and called us names, typical leftist tactics, until we step by step took his arguments apart with the truth and he had nothing to come back with.
What I find most interesting about these conversations is the inevitable attack against Ronald Reagan using Iran-Contra as evidence of his criminal activity. They also like to show his treasonous actions in supporting bin-Laden in Afghanistan's war against Soviet occupation.
Truth, of course, never matters to a liberal. Only the agenda. But the truth is Ronald Reagan was investigated and found innocent of any personal wrong doing in the Iran-Contra affair. As for bin-Laden, he was just another freedom fighter trying to drive out the Soviets. We supplied the freedom fighters with stinger anti-aircraft missiles in order to sting our long time Cold War enemy. There was no way of telling in the mid-1980s that bin-Laden was going to turn on us, or that a terrorist organization like Al Qaida was brewing in his mind.
Liberal double-speak, as we are increasingly seeing with Obama, Biden, and all the rest, is Machiavellian to the core. That is, whatever you do or say to maintain power is justified. So Obama can call Bush unpatriotic and criminal for 450 billion dollar deficits, but when he takes office 1.3 trillion dollar deficits are suddenly necessary and patriotic. Biden can state publicly that he would call for Bush's impeachment if he got involved in any wars without congressional approval (he did not), but it's okay when Obama unilaterally calls for air strikes in Libya without even discussing it with Congress, much less getting its approval. And on and on it goes.
Obama's attempt last weekend to do it again, however, backfired and the whole Syria affair has made him look like a fool world wide. Today, however, he has announced that he is suspending sections 40 and 40A of the 1976 Arms Exports Control Act, which prohibits weapons technology from being exported to terrorist groups, in order to send weapons to the Al Qaida/Muslim Brotherhood led Syrian rebels. If this isn't the height of arrogance. Since when does a president have the right to indiscriminately bypass the law? (As if it's only the first time he's done it!)
What is worse is that after a year of delays and threatening embassy personal to dissuade them from testifying, the truth, which was suggested a year ago already, is beginning to spread that Ambassador Chris Stevens was in Benghazi because the embassy was involved in gun running to the Syrian rebels. Do we hear anything from the media on this? Is any news organization trying to get to the bottom of it? Where are the comparisons to Iran-Contra? How about the accusations of treason for supplying a sworn enemy of the United States with weapons?
The Democrats were talking impeachment for Reagan for something he wasn't even involved in. They would have impeached Nixon for the cover up of a minor break in until he resigned. Obama is not only involved, he sacrificed the lives of four Americans and has spent a year covering it up and now he has openly declared he will bypass the law to do more. This is not minor, and it's not just a cover up. The Benghazi-Syria connection is bigger and reaches into higher places than Iran-Contra ever came close to.
Shouldn't we be hearing "Impeachment" shouted from the highest levels of Congress? It's about time somebody had the guts to stand up to Obama and his leftist thugs before they turn into the next Hitler and his leftist Brown Shirts.
What I find most interesting about these conversations is the inevitable attack against Ronald Reagan using Iran-Contra as evidence of his criminal activity. They also like to show his treasonous actions in supporting bin-Laden in Afghanistan's war against Soviet occupation.
Truth, of course, never matters to a liberal. Only the agenda. But the truth is Ronald Reagan was investigated and found innocent of any personal wrong doing in the Iran-Contra affair. As for bin-Laden, he was just another freedom fighter trying to drive out the Soviets. We supplied the freedom fighters with stinger anti-aircraft missiles in order to sting our long time Cold War enemy. There was no way of telling in the mid-1980s that bin-Laden was going to turn on us, or that a terrorist organization like Al Qaida was brewing in his mind.
Liberal double-speak, as we are increasingly seeing with Obama, Biden, and all the rest, is Machiavellian to the core. That is, whatever you do or say to maintain power is justified. So Obama can call Bush unpatriotic and criminal for 450 billion dollar deficits, but when he takes office 1.3 trillion dollar deficits are suddenly necessary and patriotic. Biden can state publicly that he would call for Bush's impeachment if he got involved in any wars without congressional approval (he did not), but it's okay when Obama unilaterally calls for air strikes in Libya without even discussing it with Congress, much less getting its approval. And on and on it goes.
Obama's attempt last weekend to do it again, however, backfired and the whole Syria affair has made him look like a fool world wide. Today, however, he has announced that he is suspending sections 40 and 40A of the 1976 Arms Exports Control Act, which prohibits weapons technology from being exported to terrorist groups, in order to send weapons to the Al Qaida/Muslim Brotherhood led Syrian rebels. If this isn't the height of arrogance. Since when does a president have the right to indiscriminately bypass the law? (As if it's only the first time he's done it!)
What is worse is that after a year of delays and threatening embassy personal to dissuade them from testifying, the truth, which was suggested a year ago already, is beginning to spread that Ambassador Chris Stevens was in Benghazi because the embassy was involved in gun running to the Syrian rebels. Do we hear anything from the media on this? Is any news organization trying to get to the bottom of it? Where are the comparisons to Iran-Contra? How about the accusations of treason for supplying a sworn enemy of the United States with weapons?
The Democrats were talking impeachment for Reagan for something he wasn't even involved in. They would have impeached Nixon for the cover up of a minor break in until he resigned. Obama is not only involved, he sacrificed the lives of four Americans and has spent a year covering it up and now he has openly declared he will bypass the law to do more. This is not minor, and it's not just a cover up. The Benghazi-Syria connection is bigger and reaches into higher places than Iran-Contra ever came close to.
Shouldn't we be hearing "Impeachment" shouted from the highest levels of Congress? It's about time somebody had the guts to stand up to Obama and his leftist thugs before they turn into the next Hitler and his leftist Brown Shirts.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Go Hogs
Well, so many things are going on in the world it's hard to keep up, but the biggest at the moment I think is that our current non-exceptional, non-American president has just given our victory in the Cold War away to Vladimir Putin. Every president since Truman at least has tried to keep Russian influence out of the Middle East. Now after drawing a red line, then not drawing it, then shamelessly blaming the world for drawing it (at least he didn't blame Bush), he let Putin outmaneuver him and negotiate an apparent deal with Assad in Syria to keep us from getting involved.
I'm not in favor of us jumping into another war, but Obama's ineptitude has just removed the United States from being the world's number one and most respected super power into a subservient client of a former USSR head of the KGB. But that's not all. Since the world no longer fears American might or resolve, Putin sent an anti-aircraft missile defense system to Iran, along with more parts for the development of its nuclear reactor. You know, the one Obama was going to talk them out of with his charm. Now there is a successful foreign policy for you, well deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize. (I wonder if the Nobel committee has realized yet how much egg it has on its face.)
Obama's address to the nation last week was disjointed, rambling, and pointless, and it made Obama look weak, spineless and very unpresidential. Everybody in the world knows now that he is not believable and his influence in foreign policy, whatever little it might have been, is completely gone. Even Chris Matthews, he of the "tingling leg when Obama speaks," is beginning to question Obama's credibility.
But if that's not enough, Putin had the gall to send an op-ed to the New York Times, the most liberal Obama supporting tabloid in the country, lecturing Americans on American Exceptionalism. We aren't exceptional he told us. Obviously not under our current leadership. His article got no response from Obama. Rather, he said that he believes in American Exceptionalism in the same way that the British believe in British Exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek Exceptionalism. The problem is there is no such thing with the Brits, the Greeks, or any other nation. American Exceptionalism is an American ideal that recognizes America's greatness because of our history, our Constitution, and the spiritual and moral roots of our culture. Obama doesn't understand any of this. (Putin's piece, by the way, was full of anti-American claptrap, and even misrepresented Russia's own history under Boris Yeltsin.)
On another front, while Christianity is increasingly under attack in the US by the ACLU, the GLBT, the DOJ, the IRS, and the DOD, as well as the WHO (White House Occupant), a couple of weeks ago Vladimir Putin stood up for Christians in Russia and said they were being unfairly treated and were deserving of the same rights as everyone else. Now there is a switch. When in the history of the world has a Russian leader ever come to the defense of Christianity? And when in the history of the United States has a president ever been so hostile to Christianity, all the while claiming to be one? This is unprecedented and makes one wonder with the world being turned upside down like it is if we aren't close to the end!
There was another eye-popper this weekend. Gene Simmons, remember him? He was the lead singer of the heavy metal rock band KISS. Back in the 70's the rumor floated around Fundamentalist circles that the name stood for "Kings in Satan's Service." I don't know where that came from, but considering the demonic make up they wore and the noise they made (I hesitate to call it music) it wasn't hard to believe. As it turns out, Gene Simmons, who no longer paints his face, has a fairly decent haircut, and says he has never used drugs, is now involved in the Arena Football League. Sunday he came to the defense of Tim Tebow blasting the NFL and the people that don't like him because of his outspoken testimony, and defending his right to be a Christian and speak out about it. Then he invited him to come play in the AFL because it is good family entertainment and they want guys like Tebow. These are strange days we're living in.
Then you may have heard about the lesbian Air Force commander who brought charges against one of her veteran troops because he is a Christian and refused to recognize the gay community as a legitimate lifestyle. Several months ago I had a discussion with one of my former high school students on Facebook who has become gay and argued that God had led her to that decision. She claimed that all the gay community wants in the repeal of DADT is a fair shake and equal recognition for their service to their country. What happened to the Air Force sergeant isn't recognition, it's retribution, which is what the gay community has really wanted all along.
Something else that should be big, but apparently is being ignored by the Lame Stream Media, is the trial of Muhammed Morsi in Egypt. In testimony last week the Muslim Brotherhood defending Morsi claimed that Obama is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Did you ever wonder why Obama was so dead set on overthrowing Mubarak in favor of Morsi, on covering up for the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists that attacked and killed American embassy personnel in Libya, or on supporting the Muslim Brotherhood led rebels in Syria? He has celebrated Ramadan with Muslim Brotherhood leaders in the White House. You would think this story would be huge, but the leftwing media, as well as the Left in general, isn't about truth or anything good for America. They are about covering for their messiah to whom they have sold their souls.
And what about the onslaught of black on white violence since the Trayvon Martin verdict? Where's the outrage? According to Al not-so Sharpton, none of that is fueled by racism. Really? When they shout "Cracker" before they smash the white guys' face what else is it? When a 17 year old black youth rapes a 71 year old white woman what is it? Not to mention the Australian ball player murdered by black youths who were bored, and all the rest. It's an almost weekly occurrence. And now we have another disgruntled black guy murdering twelve people at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. Where is Obama condemning all this? Where is his presidential leadership that was going to end the divide and bring racial peace? He's a bigger instigator of racism than Jesse Jackson.
What was Obama's reaction to this shooting? He tried to use it to reignite a discussion on gun control. What he overlooks again, as do all anti-Second Amendment gun control advocates, is that D.C. has the toughest gun control laws in the country. Didn't stop this murderous rampage. Neither has it prevented some 500 murders this year in Obama's hometown, Chicago, another city with ultra strict gun control laws.
Of course, the scandals don't quit: Benghazi, IRS targeting conservatives, DOJ spying on Americans including media e-mails. There are so many you can't even keep up. A year after Benghazi, no answers, and those who were there being threatened not to testify, and the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, refusing to appoint a select committee with subpoena powers to investigate. You begin to wonder if he's not somehow involved in the scandal. Boehner is also encouraging Republicans not to defund Obamacare in a Continuing Resolution. It's no wonder the Republican Party is collapsing. The leadership is in Obama's pocket as well.
(By the way, for those in Southwest Missouri, Billy Long is NOT voting to defund Obamacare in a Continuing Resolution. His explanation in a nutshell is that it is somehow illegal to do that. From my understanding, Continuing Resolutions, which I believe began under Lyndon Johnson, are unconstitutional themselves, but furthermore, anybody who would vote for a CR to continue spending at the current levels is not concerned about reining in the deficit, and needs to go. There's still time to call his office and tell him what you think before the vote on the CR and the implementation of Obamacare on October 1. I sent him an e-mail today and told him what a pathetic argument he made for not voting to defund Obamacare, especially since he doesn't have to enroll in it. I told him to do something to show he cares about his constituents not just himself.)
Well, I guess there is one piece of good news from this last week. The Million Muslim March on D.C. to protest America's unfair treatment of Muslims and insult Americans on 9/11, drew exactly 25 people. In contrast, over a million motorcyclists from all across the country showed up to declare their patriotism and support for America. Kind of makes me wish I had a hog, a black leather jacket, sunglasses and a bandana to wear on my head. That would have been a fun parade to be involved in.
I'm not in favor of us jumping into another war, but Obama's ineptitude has just removed the United States from being the world's number one and most respected super power into a subservient client of a former USSR head of the KGB. But that's not all. Since the world no longer fears American might or resolve, Putin sent an anti-aircraft missile defense system to Iran, along with more parts for the development of its nuclear reactor. You know, the one Obama was going to talk them out of with his charm. Now there is a successful foreign policy for you, well deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize. (I wonder if the Nobel committee has realized yet how much egg it has on its face.)
Obama's address to the nation last week was disjointed, rambling, and pointless, and it made Obama look weak, spineless and very unpresidential. Everybody in the world knows now that he is not believable and his influence in foreign policy, whatever little it might have been, is completely gone. Even Chris Matthews, he of the "tingling leg when Obama speaks," is beginning to question Obama's credibility.
But if that's not enough, Putin had the gall to send an op-ed to the New York Times, the most liberal Obama supporting tabloid in the country, lecturing Americans on American Exceptionalism. We aren't exceptional he told us. Obviously not under our current leadership. His article got no response from Obama. Rather, he said that he believes in American Exceptionalism in the same way that the British believe in British Exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek Exceptionalism. The problem is there is no such thing with the Brits, the Greeks, or any other nation. American Exceptionalism is an American ideal that recognizes America's greatness because of our history, our Constitution, and the spiritual and moral roots of our culture. Obama doesn't understand any of this. (Putin's piece, by the way, was full of anti-American claptrap, and even misrepresented Russia's own history under Boris Yeltsin.)
On another front, while Christianity is increasingly under attack in the US by the ACLU, the GLBT, the DOJ, the IRS, and the DOD, as well as the WHO (White House Occupant), a couple of weeks ago Vladimir Putin stood up for Christians in Russia and said they were being unfairly treated and were deserving of the same rights as everyone else. Now there is a switch. When in the history of the world has a Russian leader ever come to the defense of Christianity? And when in the history of the United States has a president ever been so hostile to Christianity, all the while claiming to be one? This is unprecedented and makes one wonder with the world being turned upside down like it is if we aren't close to the end!
There was another eye-popper this weekend. Gene Simmons, remember him? He was the lead singer of the heavy metal rock band KISS. Back in the 70's the rumor floated around Fundamentalist circles that the name stood for "Kings in Satan's Service." I don't know where that came from, but considering the demonic make up they wore and the noise they made (I hesitate to call it music) it wasn't hard to believe. As it turns out, Gene Simmons, who no longer paints his face, has a fairly decent haircut, and says he has never used drugs, is now involved in the Arena Football League. Sunday he came to the defense of Tim Tebow blasting the NFL and the people that don't like him because of his outspoken testimony, and defending his right to be a Christian and speak out about it. Then he invited him to come play in the AFL because it is good family entertainment and they want guys like Tebow. These are strange days we're living in.
Then you may have heard about the lesbian Air Force commander who brought charges against one of her veteran troops because he is a Christian and refused to recognize the gay community as a legitimate lifestyle. Several months ago I had a discussion with one of my former high school students on Facebook who has become gay and argued that God had led her to that decision. She claimed that all the gay community wants in the repeal of DADT is a fair shake and equal recognition for their service to their country. What happened to the Air Force sergeant isn't recognition, it's retribution, which is what the gay community has really wanted all along.
Something else that should be big, but apparently is being ignored by the Lame Stream Media, is the trial of Muhammed Morsi in Egypt. In testimony last week the Muslim Brotherhood defending Morsi claimed that Obama is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Did you ever wonder why Obama was so dead set on overthrowing Mubarak in favor of Morsi, on covering up for the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists that attacked and killed American embassy personnel in Libya, or on supporting the Muslim Brotherhood led rebels in Syria? He has celebrated Ramadan with Muslim Brotherhood leaders in the White House. You would think this story would be huge, but the leftwing media, as well as the Left in general, isn't about truth or anything good for America. They are about covering for their messiah to whom they have sold their souls.
And what about the onslaught of black on white violence since the Trayvon Martin verdict? Where's the outrage? According to Al not-so Sharpton, none of that is fueled by racism. Really? When they shout "Cracker" before they smash the white guys' face what else is it? When a 17 year old black youth rapes a 71 year old white woman what is it? Not to mention the Australian ball player murdered by black youths who were bored, and all the rest. It's an almost weekly occurrence. And now we have another disgruntled black guy murdering twelve people at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. Where is Obama condemning all this? Where is his presidential leadership that was going to end the divide and bring racial peace? He's a bigger instigator of racism than Jesse Jackson.
What was Obama's reaction to this shooting? He tried to use it to reignite a discussion on gun control. What he overlooks again, as do all anti-Second Amendment gun control advocates, is that D.C. has the toughest gun control laws in the country. Didn't stop this murderous rampage. Neither has it prevented some 500 murders this year in Obama's hometown, Chicago, another city with ultra strict gun control laws.
Of course, the scandals don't quit: Benghazi, IRS targeting conservatives, DOJ spying on Americans including media e-mails. There are so many you can't even keep up. A year after Benghazi, no answers, and those who were there being threatened not to testify, and the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, refusing to appoint a select committee with subpoena powers to investigate. You begin to wonder if he's not somehow involved in the scandal. Boehner is also encouraging Republicans not to defund Obamacare in a Continuing Resolution. It's no wonder the Republican Party is collapsing. The leadership is in Obama's pocket as well.
(By the way, for those in Southwest Missouri, Billy Long is NOT voting to defund Obamacare in a Continuing Resolution. His explanation in a nutshell is that it is somehow illegal to do that. From my understanding, Continuing Resolutions, which I believe began under Lyndon Johnson, are unconstitutional themselves, but furthermore, anybody who would vote for a CR to continue spending at the current levels is not concerned about reining in the deficit, and needs to go. There's still time to call his office and tell him what you think before the vote on the CR and the implementation of Obamacare on October 1. I sent him an e-mail today and told him what a pathetic argument he made for not voting to defund Obamacare, especially since he doesn't have to enroll in it. I told him to do something to show he cares about his constituents not just himself.)
Well, I guess there is one piece of good news from this last week. The Million Muslim March on D.C. to protest America's unfair treatment of Muslims and insult Americans on 9/11, drew exactly 25 people. In contrast, over a million motorcyclists from all across the country showed up to declare their patriotism and support for America. Kind of makes me wish I had a hog, a black leather jacket, sunglasses and a bandana to wear on my head. That would have been a fun parade to be involved in.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Obama, the Peacemaker
On October 9, 2009, in an extraordinary decision, the Nobel Prize Committee announced that it was awarding its 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to Barak Obama. The committee cited Obama’s push for nuclear nonproliferation as a reason, as well a “new climate” that Obama brought to international relations, especially his attempts to improve relations with the Muslim world. The decision brought praise from Obama supporters and further strengthened his “messiah” status with many, but for others it was an incredibly shortsighted decision based on no accomplishment and only a simplistic hope for the future.
Obama was the man that was going to end America’s “cowboy” shoot from the hip image, and bring about world peace with his brilliant diplomatic skills. He was going to bring Iran to the table and talk them out of their nuclear weapon’s program. He was going to show the Islamic nations they had nothing to fear from the United States. He was going to bring about peace through his soft and compassionate tone.
What has happened since has shown how naïve those expectations were.
Obama campaigned for president condemning President Bush’s war in Iraq and declaring that his own plan of troop reduction would have American forces withdrawn by 2008. Once elected, however, he allowed the troops to be withdrawn on essentially the same time schedule that Bush had laid out, finishing operations in 2011. The War in Afghanistan, the “good war,” which then became Obama’s war, has continued on endlessly with a troop withdrawal not planned until 2014. Seventy-four percent of American casualties in the twelve-year-old war have come under Obama’s watch.
Iran has not come to the table, its nuclear ambitions continue, and the North Koreans have exploded an atomic weapon. Al Qaeda, in spite of Obama’s declaration that it is as good as defeated, is a greater threat today than it has ever been, the Middle East is in flames, and no one fears America anymore. They don’t respect America either.
Obama turned his back on Hosni Mubarak, America’s only solid Muslim ally in the Middle East, encouraged the revolt that overthrew him, and praised the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood for holding “democratic” elections. The winner, Mohammed Morsi, then set about implementing Sharia Law in Egypt, something the Egyptians were not willing to abide under, and in less than a year he was overthrown. So much for that experiment in democracy.
Obama, without the consent of Congress, illegally ordered US forces to participate in the overthrow of Moammar Khadafy in Libya, even though Khadafy had given up his nuclear ambitions and had behaved himself for some time. Ironically, Obama gave the order only after NATO nations had already attacked Libya and Khadafy was on the run leading to late night TV jokes of Obama’s leading from behind.
His only real accomplishment in foreign policy has been that he got bin Laden, a military operation rather than a diplomatic one, and something he has touted over and over again to make sure nobody forgets. As soon as the deed was done Obama and Biden publicly outed Seal Team 6, the Special Forces unit that actually got bin Laden, information that should have remained classified, and the exposure of which led to an ambush of a Chinook helicopter carrying several members of the team resulting in all of their deaths.
A civil war erupted in Syria against the tyrant Assad and has been going on for two years. When he had a chance to help the rebels early on Obama did nothing. Now elements of the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda have gained control of the rebel efforts and the quandary is whether to help an oppressive dictator or the terrorists that oppose him who we are actually at war with ourselves.
A year ago Obama stated that if Assad used chemical weapons against the rebels that would be crossing a “red line” and could not be tolerated. In April when the first use of chemical weapons was revealed Obama downplayed it saying there wasn’t enough proof. But now there is undeniable proof according to the Secretary of State, John Kerry, that sarin gas has been used. Obama’s hand has been forced. In order to maintain any credibility he must act. But that brings to question the logic in Obama’s red line. Over 100,000 people have died in the Syrian civil war, but it was only the use of chemical weapons, which resulted in the deaths of a few hundred, that caused the red line to be crossed. Why? What about all the other tens of thousands killed? Don’t they matter too?
In Russia Vladimir Putin scoffed at the idea that chemical weapons have been used and warned Obama not to interfere. China issued the same warning, but last Saturday Obama decided it was necessary for the United States to take action. Then, while on the verge of starting World War III, he went out to play golf.
Obama’s diplomatic prowess, whatever it may have been, is no longer working as not one single nation signed on to help in an effort against Syria. Not even our closest ally, Great Britain, would step up. Neither would the US Congress, and when Democrats started insisting Obama had to have Congress’s approval, and some Republicans started talking about impeachment, Obama temporarily, at least, backed down, leading to scorn from Assad and the rebels, and leaving the world laughing at his inability to make not only command decisions, but intelligent ones.
Now it comes out that the most recent gas attack, the one Kerry is proclaiming to be the absolute proof, did not come from Assad’s forces. Rebels had been supplied with chemical weapons from a Saudi prince, but not knowing what they were, and not having any training in their use, they wound up gassing themselves. Does this mean that both sides have crossed the red line? And what about the Saudis? Have they crossed the red line as well? Now if Obama decides to reorder an attack the question is who should he strike?
And that brings up still another question. Remember when President Bush was trying to get support for the Iraq war and then Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the evidence showing Iraq developing or possessing weapons of mass destruction? Democrats as well as Republicans, even the United Nations, were convinced and supported the attack on Saddam Hussein. Just before the invasion began, however, long convoys of trucks were seen night after night in satellite imagery moving across the desert and into Syria. When no chemical weapons were found in Iraq, Bush’s opponents immediately began crying foul, but the question has always been whether or not those convoys took all those chemical weapons over the border into Syria.
The follow up question is obvious: Where did Assad get his chemical weapons? If he got them from Iraq then Bush was telling the truth and the Iraq war was justified.
In the meantime, the world is falling apart while Obama plays another round on the links. The messiah who was going to bring about world peace by his mere presence on the stage has utterly failed, but he apparently doesn’t think it’s important enough to interrupt his golf game. Maybe it’s time for the Nobel Prize Committee to make another extraordinary decision and demand Obama give their prize back. The new climate he has brought to international relations is a spreading firestorm with no peace in sight.
Obama was the man that was going to end America’s “cowboy” shoot from the hip image, and bring about world peace with his brilliant diplomatic skills. He was going to bring Iran to the table and talk them out of their nuclear weapon’s program. He was going to show the Islamic nations they had nothing to fear from the United States. He was going to bring about peace through his soft and compassionate tone.
What has happened since has shown how naïve those expectations were.
Obama campaigned for president condemning President Bush’s war in Iraq and declaring that his own plan of troop reduction would have American forces withdrawn by 2008. Once elected, however, he allowed the troops to be withdrawn on essentially the same time schedule that Bush had laid out, finishing operations in 2011. The War in Afghanistan, the “good war,” which then became Obama’s war, has continued on endlessly with a troop withdrawal not planned until 2014. Seventy-four percent of American casualties in the twelve-year-old war have come under Obama’s watch.
Iran has not come to the table, its nuclear ambitions continue, and the North Koreans have exploded an atomic weapon. Al Qaeda, in spite of Obama’s declaration that it is as good as defeated, is a greater threat today than it has ever been, the Middle East is in flames, and no one fears America anymore. They don’t respect America either.
Obama turned his back on Hosni Mubarak, America’s only solid Muslim ally in the Middle East, encouraged the revolt that overthrew him, and praised the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood for holding “democratic” elections. The winner, Mohammed Morsi, then set about implementing Sharia Law in Egypt, something the Egyptians were not willing to abide under, and in less than a year he was overthrown. So much for that experiment in democracy.
Obama, without the consent of Congress, illegally ordered US forces to participate in the overthrow of Moammar Khadafy in Libya, even though Khadafy had given up his nuclear ambitions and had behaved himself for some time. Ironically, Obama gave the order only after NATO nations had already attacked Libya and Khadafy was on the run leading to late night TV jokes of Obama’s leading from behind.
His only real accomplishment in foreign policy has been that he got bin Laden, a military operation rather than a diplomatic one, and something he has touted over and over again to make sure nobody forgets. As soon as the deed was done Obama and Biden publicly outed Seal Team 6, the Special Forces unit that actually got bin Laden, information that should have remained classified, and the exposure of which led to an ambush of a Chinook helicopter carrying several members of the team resulting in all of their deaths.
A civil war erupted in Syria against the tyrant Assad and has been going on for two years. When he had a chance to help the rebels early on Obama did nothing. Now elements of the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda have gained control of the rebel efforts and the quandary is whether to help an oppressive dictator or the terrorists that oppose him who we are actually at war with ourselves.
A year ago Obama stated that if Assad used chemical weapons against the rebels that would be crossing a “red line” and could not be tolerated. In April when the first use of chemical weapons was revealed Obama downplayed it saying there wasn’t enough proof. But now there is undeniable proof according to the Secretary of State, John Kerry, that sarin gas has been used. Obama’s hand has been forced. In order to maintain any credibility he must act. But that brings to question the logic in Obama’s red line. Over 100,000 people have died in the Syrian civil war, but it was only the use of chemical weapons, which resulted in the deaths of a few hundred, that caused the red line to be crossed. Why? What about all the other tens of thousands killed? Don’t they matter too?
In Russia Vladimir Putin scoffed at the idea that chemical weapons have been used and warned Obama not to interfere. China issued the same warning, but last Saturday Obama decided it was necessary for the United States to take action. Then, while on the verge of starting World War III, he went out to play golf.
Obama’s diplomatic prowess, whatever it may have been, is no longer working as not one single nation signed on to help in an effort against Syria. Not even our closest ally, Great Britain, would step up. Neither would the US Congress, and when Democrats started insisting Obama had to have Congress’s approval, and some Republicans started talking about impeachment, Obama temporarily, at least, backed down, leading to scorn from Assad and the rebels, and leaving the world laughing at his inability to make not only command decisions, but intelligent ones.
Now it comes out that the most recent gas attack, the one Kerry is proclaiming to be the absolute proof, did not come from Assad’s forces. Rebels had been supplied with chemical weapons from a Saudi prince, but not knowing what they were, and not having any training in their use, they wound up gassing themselves. Does this mean that both sides have crossed the red line? And what about the Saudis? Have they crossed the red line as well? Now if Obama decides to reorder an attack the question is who should he strike?
And that brings up still another question. Remember when President Bush was trying to get support for the Iraq war and then Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the evidence showing Iraq developing or possessing weapons of mass destruction? Democrats as well as Republicans, even the United Nations, were convinced and supported the attack on Saddam Hussein. Just before the invasion began, however, long convoys of trucks were seen night after night in satellite imagery moving across the desert and into Syria. When no chemical weapons were found in Iraq, Bush’s opponents immediately began crying foul, but the question has always been whether or not those convoys took all those chemical weapons over the border into Syria.
The follow up question is obvious: Where did Assad get his chemical weapons? If he got them from Iraq then Bush was telling the truth and the Iraq war was justified.
In the meantime, the world is falling apart while Obama plays another round on the links. The messiah who was going to bring about world peace by his mere presence on the stage has utterly failed, but he apparently doesn’t think it’s important enough to interrupt his golf game. Maybe it’s time for the Nobel Prize Committee to make another extraordinary decision and demand Obama give their prize back. The new climate he has brought to international relations is a spreading firestorm with no peace in sight.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Cooper's Faults
When speaking of literary classics in fiction the first names that often come to mind are Shakespeare, Dickens, Dumas, Tolstoy, or other great foreign writers, but America has its own share of classical literary genius and it is well worth the reading. Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and others produced a plethora of works that are entertaining to say the least, and brilliant to say it best.
The first great American writer was Washington Irving. Around the turn of the 19th century he wrote a monumental three-volume biography of George Washington that is a couple thousand pages long. It traces Washington’s lineage back to the 1100s in England and follows almost every footstep he made in his life. It’s an interesting but very detailed work. Irving is better known, however, for his short stories about New England folklore such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle.
America’s first great novelist was James Fenimore Cooper. Born to wealth, Cooper lived in a stately mansion on the shores of Lake Otsego in central New York. His father founded the village of Cooperstown, which today is home to the baseball Hall of Fame. Cooper sailed the seas in the Navy and then served as a diplomat in Europe. After writing a well-received history of the U.S. Navy, he complained one day about a poorly written book he was reading and claimed he could do better. His wife laid down the challenge and he took up pen and paper and began to write.
In 1820 he published The Spy. Based on a true story about a man who had spied for George Washington during the revolution, it was an immediate success and Cooper’s literary career was on its way. A year later he produced The Wilderness, in which he introduced the public to an aging frontier scout named Natty Bumppo and his drunken Indian sidekick, Chingachgook, otherwise known as John Mohegan. It was the first in a series of five novels that became known as The Leatherstocking Tales, and earned Cooper his prominent place in American literary history.
Cooper had not planned the five volume series, but The Wilderness was so popular that his readers wanted more and in 1826 he gave them The Last of the Mohicans. This is probably the most well known of all his works, and takes the reader back to the French and Indian War where a younger Natty Bumppo, known then either as Hawkeye, or Le Longue Carabine, fights the Hurons, the French, and renegade Iroquois, along with Chingachgook, who redeems his reputation as a very noble Indian, the last surviving hereditary chief of his tribe. The story is woven around the surrender of the English Fort William Henry to the French in 1756, and the Huron slaughter of the unarmed occupants as they left the fort.
A year later Cooper finished the Leatherstocking’s life at eighty years of age living with Indians in Kansas territory in The Prairie. Thirteen years passed before Cooper decided to fill in the missing parts to the saga and in 1840 he published The Deerslayer, followed in 1841 by The Pathfinder. The Deerslayer takes place during King George’s War in the 1740s where a young Natty, who had been orphaned and raised among the Mohicans, is now about age 20, and has his first adventure with his childhood friend Chingachgook. The Pathfinder then takes place sometime after The Last of the Mohicans during the French and Indian War. In The Pathfinder Natty falls in love for the first time only to be rejected.
Cooper died in 1851 with his legacy as America’s greatest story teller well established and unquestioned, until a satirist from Hannibal, Missouri, full of caustic wit and sarcasm, re-examined his works and found them completely undeserving of the accolades earlier given. Mark Twain did not like Cooper’s efforts.
Cooper wrote in the same style of the contemporary European writers of his day. Dickens, Dumas and Tolstoy were often lengthy, overly descriptive and verbose. Cooper was the same, often boringly long in describing events that were of little significance to the story. For example, in The Deerslayer a young woman named Judith, after the death of her father, finds his old letters to her long dead mother in a trunk, and kneels down to read them. Tears roll down her face as she reads through the night and the candle burns low, and all the while Deerslayer stands silently by out of respect, and Cooper takes nearly a hundred pages to relate the episode. I loved the book when I read it in high school, but it took me several evenings to finish that chapter. I just couldn’t do it without falling asleep.
Mark Twain’s complaints, however, centered on Cooper’s Indians. A nobler race of men was never found than Cooper’s Indians. Apparently neither was a more inept race of men ever found, but it wasn’t just the Indians that upset Twain. Cooper’s creative license had him absolutely livid.
At the beginning of The Deerslayer, a forty-foot barge is being poled upriver into the mouth of the Susquehanna River and onto Lake Otsego, which Cooper calls the “Glimmer Glass.” When Indians appear on the shore, the occupants of the barge retreat into a safe housing enclosure in the middle of the vessel. The barge then continues to move upstream, apparently from momentum, until it reaches the safety of the lake. But before it can get there the Indians climb into the trees and from overhanging branches attempt to leap onto the barge. They all mistime their leaps onto the swift moving unpowered vessel still making progress against the current, however, and land in the water, except for one who hits his head on the roof of the enclosure and knocks himself out.
In The Last of the Mohicans, Hawkeye dons a bear costume and crawling around on all fours and making bear grunting noises, he sneaks into an Indian village in the middle of the night and performs his pretense so well that he completely fools all the Indians. In The Pathfinder he finds himself trapped at the edge of a cliff and takes a gray blanket that he just conveniently happens to have with him, lays down and covers himself with the blanket and does an impression of a rock so well that the Indians can’t find him. Later in a shooting contest the Pathfinder with his sharp eye is able to tell at one hundred yards that the bullet he just shot hit the exact spot of a bullet previously shot by his opponent. He instructs the judges to dig the bullets out of the post that served as a target and sure enough, they find two bullets just as Pathfinder had said. You can tell why Twain was upset. Cooper tells some great stories, but his liberty with the details is frustrating to no end.
Mark Twain was born in 1835. He claimed to have come on Halley’s comet when it passed by earth that same year, and predicted he would leave when it came back in 1910. He did. If he had lived a hundred years later he might have been pleased to see how often his most famous work, Huckleberry Finn, had been made into movies. He might also have been disappointed to see how often The Last of the Mohicans had been given the same honor.
In 1932 a Saturday matinee serial was made starring a miscast Harry Carey as Hawkeye. He was much too old for the role. A later movie version starred Randolph Scott. In 1972 a made for TV serial version was broadcast on PBS starring Steve Forrest. Later in the decade another TV version was broadcast on network TV. More recently Daniel Day Lewis starred in another movie version. Most of these have taken some poetic license with the details of the original story, but all have been successful proving that Cooper’s original idea, in spite of some of the inconsistencies and verbosity of his details, is a worthwhile story.
When I was in the tenth grade we had to read a segment of The Deerslayer in my English class. I was so enamored with what I read that I asked for the book and my grandmother got it for me for Christmas. A year later I read The Last of the Mohicans. It became at the time my favorite book.
So, when I found on I-books on my I-pad a free copy of The Last of the Mohicans, I downloaded it and decided to relive my youth and reread this story that intrigued me so long ago. As it turns out there is more to Cooper than Mark Twain’s frustrations let on.
The first chapter was just as I remembered; a long descriptive account of the mountains, forests and lakes where the story would take place. Except that, forty years on, it was not quite as boring as it was the first time. In fact, Cooper knew the country well, and his description is factual and accurate, and makes for a very informative geographical study of the state of New York.
There is also an enlightening look into the confusing English-Indian, French-Indian, and Indian-Indian relationships of the time. The Indians are not nearly so inept as in The Deerslayer and The Pathfinder, and except for Chingachgook and his son, Uncas, not nearly as noble. It is a good historical drama and if you can overlook the bear costume and wade through some of the lengthy verbiage, as well as some rather stiff dialogue, there is an exciting story in there.
James Fenimore Cooper had his faults, sure, but he was a pioneer in his field. His craft wasn’t perfected yet, and for that he should be given some allowances. Others, Twain included, would prove to be much more skillful writers of the novel, but Cooper opened the door on the genre in America, and for that he should be remembered as America’s first great novelist.
The first great American writer was Washington Irving. Around the turn of the 19th century he wrote a monumental three-volume biography of George Washington that is a couple thousand pages long. It traces Washington’s lineage back to the 1100s in England and follows almost every footstep he made in his life. It’s an interesting but very detailed work. Irving is better known, however, for his short stories about New England folklore such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle.
America’s first great novelist was James Fenimore Cooper. Born to wealth, Cooper lived in a stately mansion on the shores of Lake Otsego in central New York. His father founded the village of Cooperstown, which today is home to the baseball Hall of Fame. Cooper sailed the seas in the Navy and then served as a diplomat in Europe. After writing a well-received history of the U.S. Navy, he complained one day about a poorly written book he was reading and claimed he could do better. His wife laid down the challenge and he took up pen and paper and began to write.
In 1820 he published The Spy. Based on a true story about a man who had spied for George Washington during the revolution, it was an immediate success and Cooper’s literary career was on its way. A year later he produced The Wilderness, in which he introduced the public to an aging frontier scout named Natty Bumppo and his drunken Indian sidekick, Chingachgook, otherwise known as John Mohegan. It was the first in a series of five novels that became known as The Leatherstocking Tales, and earned Cooper his prominent place in American literary history.
Cooper had not planned the five volume series, but The Wilderness was so popular that his readers wanted more and in 1826 he gave them The Last of the Mohicans. This is probably the most well known of all his works, and takes the reader back to the French and Indian War where a younger Natty Bumppo, known then either as Hawkeye, or Le Longue Carabine, fights the Hurons, the French, and renegade Iroquois, along with Chingachgook, who redeems his reputation as a very noble Indian, the last surviving hereditary chief of his tribe. The story is woven around the surrender of the English Fort William Henry to the French in 1756, and the Huron slaughter of the unarmed occupants as they left the fort.
A year later Cooper finished the Leatherstocking’s life at eighty years of age living with Indians in Kansas territory in The Prairie. Thirteen years passed before Cooper decided to fill in the missing parts to the saga and in 1840 he published The Deerslayer, followed in 1841 by The Pathfinder. The Deerslayer takes place during King George’s War in the 1740s where a young Natty, who had been orphaned and raised among the Mohicans, is now about age 20, and has his first adventure with his childhood friend Chingachgook. The Pathfinder then takes place sometime after The Last of the Mohicans during the French and Indian War. In The Pathfinder Natty falls in love for the first time only to be rejected.
Cooper died in 1851 with his legacy as America’s greatest story teller well established and unquestioned, until a satirist from Hannibal, Missouri, full of caustic wit and sarcasm, re-examined his works and found them completely undeserving of the accolades earlier given. Mark Twain did not like Cooper’s efforts.
Cooper wrote in the same style of the contemporary European writers of his day. Dickens, Dumas and Tolstoy were often lengthy, overly descriptive and verbose. Cooper was the same, often boringly long in describing events that were of little significance to the story. For example, in The Deerslayer a young woman named Judith, after the death of her father, finds his old letters to her long dead mother in a trunk, and kneels down to read them. Tears roll down her face as she reads through the night and the candle burns low, and all the while Deerslayer stands silently by out of respect, and Cooper takes nearly a hundred pages to relate the episode. I loved the book when I read it in high school, but it took me several evenings to finish that chapter. I just couldn’t do it without falling asleep.
Mark Twain’s complaints, however, centered on Cooper’s Indians. A nobler race of men was never found than Cooper’s Indians. Apparently neither was a more inept race of men ever found, but it wasn’t just the Indians that upset Twain. Cooper’s creative license had him absolutely livid.
At the beginning of The Deerslayer, a forty-foot barge is being poled upriver into the mouth of the Susquehanna River and onto Lake Otsego, which Cooper calls the “Glimmer Glass.” When Indians appear on the shore, the occupants of the barge retreat into a safe housing enclosure in the middle of the vessel. The barge then continues to move upstream, apparently from momentum, until it reaches the safety of the lake. But before it can get there the Indians climb into the trees and from overhanging branches attempt to leap onto the barge. They all mistime their leaps onto the swift moving unpowered vessel still making progress against the current, however, and land in the water, except for one who hits his head on the roof of the enclosure and knocks himself out.
In The Last of the Mohicans, Hawkeye dons a bear costume and crawling around on all fours and making bear grunting noises, he sneaks into an Indian village in the middle of the night and performs his pretense so well that he completely fools all the Indians. In The Pathfinder he finds himself trapped at the edge of a cliff and takes a gray blanket that he just conveniently happens to have with him, lays down and covers himself with the blanket and does an impression of a rock so well that the Indians can’t find him. Later in a shooting contest the Pathfinder with his sharp eye is able to tell at one hundred yards that the bullet he just shot hit the exact spot of a bullet previously shot by his opponent. He instructs the judges to dig the bullets out of the post that served as a target and sure enough, they find two bullets just as Pathfinder had said. You can tell why Twain was upset. Cooper tells some great stories, but his liberty with the details is frustrating to no end.
Mark Twain was born in 1835. He claimed to have come on Halley’s comet when it passed by earth that same year, and predicted he would leave when it came back in 1910. He did. If he had lived a hundred years later he might have been pleased to see how often his most famous work, Huckleberry Finn, had been made into movies. He might also have been disappointed to see how often The Last of the Mohicans had been given the same honor.
In 1932 a Saturday matinee serial was made starring a miscast Harry Carey as Hawkeye. He was much too old for the role. A later movie version starred Randolph Scott. In 1972 a made for TV serial version was broadcast on PBS starring Steve Forrest. Later in the decade another TV version was broadcast on network TV. More recently Daniel Day Lewis starred in another movie version. Most of these have taken some poetic license with the details of the original story, but all have been successful proving that Cooper’s original idea, in spite of some of the inconsistencies and verbosity of his details, is a worthwhile story.
When I was in the tenth grade we had to read a segment of The Deerslayer in my English class. I was so enamored with what I read that I asked for the book and my grandmother got it for me for Christmas. A year later I read The Last of the Mohicans. It became at the time my favorite book.
So, when I found on I-books on my I-pad a free copy of The Last of the Mohicans, I downloaded it and decided to relive my youth and reread this story that intrigued me so long ago. As it turns out there is more to Cooper than Mark Twain’s frustrations let on.
The first chapter was just as I remembered; a long descriptive account of the mountains, forests and lakes where the story would take place. Except that, forty years on, it was not quite as boring as it was the first time. In fact, Cooper knew the country well, and his description is factual and accurate, and makes for a very informative geographical study of the state of New York.
There is also an enlightening look into the confusing English-Indian, French-Indian, and Indian-Indian relationships of the time. The Indians are not nearly so inept as in The Deerslayer and The Pathfinder, and except for Chingachgook and his son, Uncas, not nearly as noble. It is a good historical drama and if you can overlook the bear costume and wade through some of the lengthy verbiage, as well as some rather stiff dialogue, there is an exciting story in there.
James Fenimore Cooper had his faults, sure, but he was a pioneer in his field. His craft wasn’t perfected yet, and for that he should be given some allowances. Others, Twain included, would prove to be much more skillful writers of the novel, but Cooper opened the door on the genre in America, and for that he should be remembered as America’s first great novelist.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Grunions
The grunions are running. Or so we're told. Grunions are little fish that come up on the beach at night and lay their eggs in the sand. They were scheduled to be there at 9:30 to 11:30 last night, and 11:30 to 1am tonight. I guess some experts figure it out based on the full moon and its position in the sky and past history. Apparently last night the grunions forgot to set their watches. We were out there on the beach watching the breakers roll in on six to eight foot high waves. The water was cold and we were starting to shiver when we finally gave up. By 11:30 we hadn't seen one grunion. But it was so much fun we decided to try it again tonight. Maybe they'll show up at 9:30 instead of 1 am.
Well, there are so many things are happening in the scandal ridden Obama administration that it's hard to keep up. A lot of it is frustrating. The collapsing Obamacare, the signature legislation of the Obama legacy, is so unpopular, as well as a disaster waiting to happen, that even the president is trying to delay parts of its implementation. Well over 60% of the people want it repealed, several states have voted not to allow the exchanges to set up in their states, or are refusing to fund the exchanges, the major unions that helped Obama win election are now against it, and the president keeps getting up and blaming Republicans for being against what the American people want and need. I don't believe there has ever been a president less in tune to the wants and needs of the people, or more enslaved to special interest groups than this one.
Just today the administration said defense spending robs other federal programs of needed funds. Remember the sequester? It gutted defense spending. I'd say the reason for the shortfall is too many federal programs wasting too much borrowed money and accomplishing nothing of real economic value. Certain federal employees are now being furloughed due to the sequester. White House tours had to be suspended, Marines in Afghanistan could no longer have hot lunches, the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds have suspended their air shows, the military was not allowed to have July 4th celebrations, and school lunch programs are suffering all due to the sequester according to Obama. Of course, the shortfall didn't stop Obama from spending 100 million dollars on a family vacation to Africa. I wonder how many Marine hot lunches and school lunches 100 million dollars could provide? Remember when Obama said we needed to tighten our belts and inflate our tires to save money? I suppose he's never heard that the best leadership is leadership by example. Most tyrants are unaware of that. That's why so many of them get overthrown.
Obama said when campaigning in 2007 that he would heal the racial divide in the country. He then began to play the race card trying to goad Americans into voting for him to prove we aren't racist. We proved it, but it wasn't enough. There hasn't been a more racially divisive political figure in America since John C. Calhoun and Roger B. Taney before the Civil War. (If you don't know who they are a review of American history is in order.) The Trayvon Martin case proves the point. Obama praises a 17 year old thug who has been arrested twice and had marijuana in his system when he attacked George Zimmerman, but completely ignores drug-free heroes who have given their lives in Afghanistan for the country.
Although he claims to have created 6 million jobs since coming into office, more people are out of work today than when Obama started. Something is wrong with this picture. It is anything but indicative of a strong recovering economy, but to hear the president talk you would think Americans were enjoying the best days of their lives economically. Just like everything else he tries to sell, the economy he's talking about is the utopia in the socialist mind that has never existed and never will exist. He and Janet Napolitano both are insisting that the border with Mexico is as secure as it has ever been. Only in the fantasy world that they live in.
The Obama foreign policy is an abject failure. Half the Middle East is in flames, North Korea is more belligerent than ever, Al Qaeda is stronger than it's been in years regardless of his campaign speeches, and his influence is so weak that when he asks the Russians to extradite our traitor, Edward Snowden, Putin practically laughs in his face and offers the guy asylum.
And of course there is Benghazi, still unaccounted for nearly eleven months after the attacks that killed the ambassador and three other Americans. But what difference does that make as long as Hilary has resigned so she can distance herself from her own failure as well as the administration's, and run on a clean record in 2016.
So where is Obama now when there is work to do? At Martha's Vineyard, taking another vacation. Just like the grunions last night, he's not where he needs to be or doing what he should be doing when he is needed. But then, what does it really matter? According to the economically astute Barbara Streisand, Obama has been more fiscally conservative than any president in history except for Bill Clinton. You just can't argue with genius like that. Maybe Babs can tell us when the Grunions are going to show up tonight.
Well, there are so many things are happening in the scandal ridden Obama administration that it's hard to keep up. A lot of it is frustrating. The collapsing Obamacare, the signature legislation of the Obama legacy, is so unpopular, as well as a disaster waiting to happen, that even the president is trying to delay parts of its implementation. Well over 60% of the people want it repealed, several states have voted not to allow the exchanges to set up in their states, or are refusing to fund the exchanges, the major unions that helped Obama win election are now against it, and the president keeps getting up and blaming Republicans for being against what the American people want and need. I don't believe there has ever been a president less in tune to the wants and needs of the people, or more enslaved to special interest groups than this one.
Just today the administration said defense spending robs other federal programs of needed funds. Remember the sequester? It gutted defense spending. I'd say the reason for the shortfall is too many federal programs wasting too much borrowed money and accomplishing nothing of real economic value. Certain federal employees are now being furloughed due to the sequester. White House tours had to be suspended, Marines in Afghanistan could no longer have hot lunches, the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds have suspended their air shows, the military was not allowed to have July 4th celebrations, and school lunch programs are suffering all due to the sequester according to Obama. Of course, the shortfall didn't stop Obama from spending 100 million dollars on a family vacation to Africa. I wonder how many Marine hot lunches and school lunches 100 million dollars could provide? Remember when Obama said we needed to tighten our belts and inflate our tires to save money? I suppose he's never heard that the best leadership is leadership by example. Most tyrants are unaware of that. That's why so many of them get overthrown.
Obama said when campaigning in 2007 that he would heal the racial divide in the country. He then began to play the race card trying to goad Americans into voting for him to prove we aren't racist. We proved it, but it wasn't enough. There hasn't been a more racially divisive political figure in America since John C. Calhoun and Roger B. Taney before the Civil War. (If you don't know who they are a review of American history is in order.) The Trayvon Martin case proves the point. Obama praises a 17 year old thug who has been arrested twice and had marijuana in his system when he attacked George Zimmerman, but completely ignores drug-free heroes who have given their lives in Afghanistan for the country.
Although he claims to have created 6 million jobs since coming into office, more people are out of work today than when Obama started. Something is wrong with this picture. It is anything but indicative of a strong recovering economy, but to hear the president talk you would think Americans were enjoying the best days of their lives economically. Just like everything else he tries to sell, the economy he's talking about is the utopia in the socialist mind that has never existed and never will exist. He and Janet Napolitano both are insisting that the border with Mexico is as secure as it has ever been. Only in the fantasy world that they live in.
The Obama foreign policy is an abject failure. Half the Middle East is in flames, North Korea is more belligerent than ever, Al Qaeda is stronger than it's been in years regardless of his campaign speeches, and his influence is so weak that when he asks the Russians to extradite our traitor, Edward Snowden, Putin practically laughs in his face and offers the guy asylum.
And of course there is Benghazi, still unaccounted for nearly eleven months after the attacks that killed the ambassador and three other Americans. But what difference does that make as long as Hilary has resigned so she can distance herself from her own failure as well as the administration's, and run on a clean record in 2016.
So where is Obama now when there is work to do? At Martha's Vineyard, taking another vacation. Just like the grunions last night, he's not where he needs to be or doing what he should be doing when he is needed. But then, what does it really matter? According to the economically astute Barbara Streisand, Obama has been more fiscally conservative than any president in history except for Bill Clinton. You just can't argue with genius like that. Maybe Babs can tell us when the Grunions are going to show up tonight.
Grunions 2
Well, we went out grunion hunting again on Tuesday night but by 11pm they weren't coming and we called it off. Our daughter, Hannah, and my wife Lhey's sister, Rachel, had to work at 7am so we went on home.
Last night was the last night for this cycle and the fish were predicted to hit the beach between midnight and 1:30am. Hannah took off work today and Rachel's schedule is flexible, and Lhey's mother, Norma, didn't have to work until 10:30, so at 8:30pm we went to a Japanese sushi bar near the beach for dinner, then went out to the beach around 10. It was still early so we waited in the car awhile and napped a little, but our young son, Ethan, was restless and Rachel and her boyfriend, Alex, wanted to get out, so Hannah joined them and they ran around the beach.
At about 11:00 or so I checked on them. Alex is a big guy, 230 pounds, and he was goofing off showing how strong he was and tried to hold Rachel and Hannah up on each arm. A challenge a former Marine like me couldn't resist. I held them both up, one on each arm too. No big deal. Then to show I'm not as old as everyone thinks I am, I picked up Alex over my shoulders in a fireman's carry. When I first got under him I didn't think for a moment my knees were going to stand up straight, but they didn't fail me and I carried him about 30 feet across the sand before I had to put him down. (And the Navy turned me down for reenlisting as a chaplain five years ago because they said I was too old!)
There were seven of us and seven more came from the Filipino church in Spring Valley. We were surprised because only five other people that we saw were on the beach and they didn't stay long, and then only two others came later on. We had the entire beach to ourselves.
We caught a few sand crabs for amusement at first. I think Ethan was just as excited about those as the fish. One of the church members set up a small tent and when Ethan and the pastor's son got tired, they went to the tent and played games on iPads.
About 11:45 we saw our first grunion. Soon after Pastor R.J. from the church caught the first one. By midnight we were seeing more and soon entire schools were coming in on the waves together. We were scattered along the beach and whenever someone started to see them we'd be running in that direction to help. Then they'd show up behind us and we'd be running back. Grunions are thin, silver and slippery, and about 4-6 inches long. They ride in on the waves and as the surge flows back to the sea they are left exposed on the beach where they burrow into the sand to lay their eggs. If you shine a light on them they turn to flip-flop their way back to the water, so you have to be quick. Nets are not allowed! You have to catch them with your hands, and if you don't grab them before the next wave comes in they'll wash back out.
Each time a wave came and we saw them we raced to the spot diving to the sand on our hands and knees trying to grab as many as we could before they got away. We probably missed more than we caught. Many times we'd be behind them trying to grab them when the next wave hit and we were soaked from top to bottom before we were through, not to mention all the sand that got into our clothing. The water was cold, but we persevered. Everyone was screaming and laughing. We had two small buckets of fish by the time it started to rain at 2am, so we decided to call it a night. It was just plain fun from beginning to end and worth the first two frustrating nights to reach the grand finale.
While we walked down the beach toward our car Lhey wasn't ready to give up and she caught four more fish before we left the water. Strange as it may seem, one of the church members, Dan, didn't get the word we were leaving. How he didn't figure it out when everyone else was gone I don't know, but when we all got cleaned up and ready to go, he still hadn't reached the cars. I had seen him last down by the pier so we went and looked there, then walked up the beach but didn't see him. Then we drove to the far end of the beach and walked all the way back down and still didn't see him. We didn't know where else to look so we went back to the cars and there he was. He just happened to be wearing a T-shirt with a logo that appropriately said, "I am lost."
We were finally able to head for home and by about 3:30 everyone was in bed except me. Norma had a cup of coffee before she went to bed. I don't know why, but I went ahead and had one with her. With eyes wide open I finished an episode of Matlock and hit the sack at 4. Tonight we're having fried grunions for dinner.
Well, if you're ever bored and looking for something exciting to do, let me recommend coming down to Imperial Beach when the grunions are running. No matter how old you are it will make you feel like a kid again.
Last night was the last night for this cycle and the fish were predicted to hit the beach between midnight and 1:30am. Hannah took off work today and Rachel's schedule is flexible, and Lhey's mother, Norma, didn't have to work until 10:30, so at 8:30pm we went to a Japanese sushi bar near the beach for dinner, then went out to the beach around 10. It was still early so we waited in the car awhile and napped a little, but our young son, Ethan, was restless and Rachel and her boyfriend, Alex, wanted to get out, so Hannah joined them and they ran around the beach.
At about 11:00 or so I checked on them. Alex is a big guy, 230 pounds, and he was goofing off showing how strong he was and tried to hold Rachel and Hannah up on each arm. A challenge a former Marine like me couldn't resist. I held them both up, one on each arm too. No big deal. Then to show I'm not as old as everyone thinks I am, I picked up Alex over my shoulders in a fireman's carry. When I first got under him I didn't think for a moment my knees were going to stand up straight, but they didn't fail me and I carried him about 30 feet across the sand before I had to put him down. (And the Navy turned me down for reenlisting as a chaplain five years ago because they said I was too old!)
There were seven of us and seven more came from the Filipino church in Spring Valley. We were surprised because only five other people that we saw were on the beach and they didn't stay long, and then only two others came later on. We had the entire beach to ourselves.
We caught a few sand crabs for amusement at first. I think Ethan was just as excited about those as the fish. One of the church members set up a small tent and when Ethan and the pastor's son got tired, they went to the tent and played games on iPads.
About 11:45 we saw our first grunion. Soon after Pastor R.J. from the church caught the first one. By midnight we were seeing more and soon entire schools were coming in on the waves together. We were scattered along the beach and whenever someone started to see them we'd be running in that direction to help. Then they'd show up behind us and we'd be running back. Grunions are thin, silver and slippery, and about 4-6 inches long. They ride in on the waves and as the surge flows back to the sea they are left exposed on the beach where they burrow into the sand to lay their eggs. If you shine a light on them they turn to flip-flop their way back to the water, so you have to be quick. Nets are not allowed! You have to catch them with your hands, and if you don't grab them before the next wave comes in they'll wash back out.
Each time a wave came and we saw them we raced to the spot diving to the sand on our hands and knees trying to grab as many as we could before they got away. We probably missed more than we caught. Many times we'd be behind them trying to grab them when the next wave hit and we were soaked from top to bottom before we were through, not to mention all the sand that got into our clothing. The water was cold, but we persevered. Everyone was screaming and laughing. We had two small buckets of fish by the time it started to rain at 2am, so we decided to call it a night. It was just plain fun from beginning to end and worth the first two frustrating nights to reach the grand finale.
While we walked down the beach toward our car Lhey wasn't ready to give up and she caught four more fish before we left the water. Strange as it may seem, one of the church members, Dan, didn't get the word we were leaving. How he didn't figure it out when everyone else was gone I don't know, but when we all got cleaned up and ready to go, he still hadn't reached the cars. I had seen him last down by the pier so we went and looked there, then walked up the beach but didn't see him. Then we drove to the far end of the beach and walked all the way back down and still didn't see him. We didn't know where else to look so we went back to the cars and there he was. He just happened to be wearing a T-shirt with a logo that appropriately said, "I am lost."
We were finally able to head for home and by about 3:30 everyone was in bed except me. Norma had a cup of coffee before she went to bed. I don't know why, but I went ahead and had one with her. With eyes wide open I finished an episode of Matlock and hit the sack at 4. Tonight we're having fried grunions for dinner.
Well, if you're ever bored and looking for something exciting to do, let me recommend coming down to Imperial Beach when the grunions are running. No matter how old you are it will make you feel like a kid again.
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