Columnist.
I was busy all day so I didn't get to watch the two GOP debates from South Carolina until late at night. As a result, I didn't get to sleep until nearly 3 a.m. That's how seriously I take my responsibility to those of you who are already so sick and tired of the primaries that you have literally tuned out. Overall, I thought that the early debate, the one that consisted of Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and the ghost of Rand Paul, was the more bearable of the two. For one thing, it was over in an hour. For another thing, none of the debaters carried on as if either of the other two was toxic and would be a greater catastrophe, if elected, than Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.
As a rule, I like to use my bully pulpit to put liberals in their place because they just keep asking for it and someone needs to slap them down. But this time out, I'd like to share what others have said on behalf of dogs. After all, they are our best pals and our boon companions, ready to protect our homes and loved ones no matter how small they are. I know for a fact that even our Angel will rip the postman to shreds if he even thinks about setting one foot inside our house. Okay, perhaps she wouldn't exactly rip him apart, but she would certainly bark at him until he caved in and scratched behind her ears.
I'm not sure who will be elected in November, but I hope that whoever it turns out to be keeps one thing in mind: His or her legacy should be to leave the nation stronger, more prosperous and more in line with the Constitution than the day they moved into the Oval Office. The last few presidents, although each was elected to a second term, have done a really lousy job. Clinton, who reaped the benefits of a phony dot.com economy, gave up a fortune in gifts of coal and wheat to North Korea in exchange for a meaningless piece of paper promising to end their nuclear program.
Because I tend to be so judgmental in my writings and, if truth be told, in my daily life, doesn't mean I'm blind to my own shortcomings. And I'm not just referring to my shortage of hair and height. For openers, I am not the most patient of men, but keep in mind I am quite old and don't have a lot of time to squander on all those videos, trips down Nostalgia Lane and other people's articles, some of you insist on sending me. But I also own up to a lack of a visual sense. Whereas my wife can tell you what everyone at a party or even in a movie was wearing, I'd probably only notice if they weren't wearing anything. The operative word is "probably."
Although I have been a lifelong movie fan, the truth is the love affair has clearly cooled off in recent years. In 2015, for instance, I only saw a handful of movies in a theater, the best of which was "The Woman in Gold," a work of non-fiction which starred Helen Mirren. It is the story of a Jewish woman whose entire family was not only exterminated by Hitler, but had had their priceless art collection confiscated by the Nazis and their partners in crime, the Swiss. Ryan Reynolds portrays the lawyer who fought her legal battles.
I'm the first to acknowledge that when I conduct one of my infrequent polls, there is nothing even slightly scientific about it. After all, I'm not seeking a cross-section of voters based on age, race, job or profession, income, religion or any of the other factors that the folks at Gallop and Pew put such store by. On the other hand, I do have readers all over the country and I suspect that 99% of them are Republicans and that 100% of the 99% actually vote on Election Day. So they shouldn't be too casually dismissed, even if I'm not licensed to practice.
For those unfamiliar with the word in the title, it is defined as a spicy fish stew or a mixture of incongruous things. It is that second meaning I generally aim for in my articles, although I expect that liberals, were they ever to read me, would think the first definition with its emphasis on fishy is more appropriate. The reason that I can't usually devote an article to a single issue is that there simply isn't time. Even as often as I write, I can't keep up with all the madness. Instead, as is always the case with those engaged in guerrilla warfare, I have to hit and run.
So far as I can recall, I had never heard of Susan Rice before Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton handed Benghazi off to her and told her to go out on five Sunday news shows and take one for the team. Her assignment was to pretend that a well-planned terrorist attack that left four Americans dead was a spontaneous response to an inconsequential video. Needless to say, she didn't exactly carry the ball across the goal line. What she did was the equivalent of fumbling on the two yard line and watching the opposition run it back for a 98-yard touchdown.
In case you haven't noticed, this administration, which has prided itself on getting tens of millions of us on food stamps, has recently decided that we all need additional baloney in our daily diet. You would have thought that Nanny Michelle would have put her foot down, but of course she's fine with it so long as we finish our veggies.
For seven years, I have stated that in my opinion Barack Obama isn't a Muslim. For one thing, it matters less to me what someone believes than what he does. For another, he attended a racist "Christian" church in Chicago where, week after week, he and Michelle listened politely as Rev. Jeremiah Wright ravaged America, whites and Israel, in obscene diatribes he passed off as sermons. Finally, although Obama has stated that the Muslim call to prayer is the sweetest sound he has ever heard, he not only smokes and drinks, but he doesn't prostrate himself in the direction of Mecca five times a day.
I think I have at least a partial solution to the reduced defense budget. I think that along with an all-volunteer military, we should have an all-voluntary support system. After all, something like six out of seven people in the military will never engage in combat. Today, with this reluctance to have "boots on the ground" or, in other words, doing the job our tax dollars are supposed to pay for, why not get old people to take over those essential tasks that don't call for toting 70-pound packs, climbing walls and marching?
When I was in grammar school, come May, I would begin scratching off the days until summer vacation. As the time drew nearer, I would start scratching off the hours. That is what I and, I wager, millions of others are now doing as we finally see the end of the Obama nightmare on the horizon. Hardly a day passes that the worst president in history doesn't further tarnish the office. Who but Obama would dare say that the Paris conference on climate control is an act of defiance against terrorism? Is it possible that even he believes such crapola? Does he actually picture terrorists around the world cowering in fear, saying to one another: "Oh, no, I think he really means business this time. If he actually goes ahead and holds his breath until his face turns blue, we're goners. Even Allah can't save us."
The fact is that I write so much that there are times even I lose track. One such occasion occurred recently when I opened my copy of Written By, the monthly magazine published by the Writers Guild for the sole purpose of allowing hacks to pretend that the schlock that most of them churn out is great art that will live on through the ages.
I suspect I'm not the only person who assumed Muslims were behind the massacre at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino as soon as the first reports went out. When later in the day, the media began to act coy when it came to naming the killers, we knew our first instinct was correct. No way would they have held back if the names had been Jimmy Jones or Susie Smith, but God forbid they report that 14 people had just been massacred by the usual suspects.
I understand that for someone like Rand Paul, who has pretty much based his primary campaign on leading the fight in Congress to shut down the government's ability to gather intelligence, the recent surge in Islamic terrorism is an inconvenient truth. He probably suspects that Donald Trump is somehow behind it. I also know that those who think the NSA is the worst of the alphabet departments in Washington like to refer to Benjamin Franklin's line about those who would sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither. If it were as simple as that, it would be hard to disagree. But it is a stretch of gargantuan proportions to pretend that the mere gathering of phone numbers infringes on anyone's freedom, except perhaps those engaged in terrorist activities.
The Democrats keep insisting we have to let everyone into the country who wants to come in, but, as I'm sure you've noticed, the ones they're referring to are those most likely to vote for Democrats. The fact is whenever anyone starts quoting the inscription at the base of the Statue of Liberty, "The Modern Colossus" by Emma Lazarus, with its open invitation to the huddled masses and wretched refuse, I am reminded that we are already filled to the brim with welfare recipients who answer to that description. I would also like to point out that bad poetry is a lousy basis for national policy.
When I went to the supermarket today, I was waylaid near the entrance by a guy sitting at one of those card tables that have become omnipresent here in L.A. You can hardly go anywhere without being hit up by do-gooders collecting for some charity or other. I am personally reluctant to contribute to anything unless I know the recipients or know someone who can vouch for them. In this case, however, one of the two guys seated at the table got up and walked towards me, holding their brochure.
There are things that seem inevitable in retrospect, but if the people running things at the time happened to be a different group of individuals, there would have been nothing inevitable about it. For instance, if Ronald Reagan had won the GOP nomination in 1976 instead of 1980, and defeated Jimmy Carter, as he most likely would have done, the Shah of Iran would not have been overthrown by the Ayatollah Khomeini, American hostages would not have been held for over 400 days and the Islamic reign of terror would not have been ushered in by the feckless goober in the White House.
I often find myself wondering what Rip Van Winkle would make of America if he suddenly awoke from an especially long snooze. I hardly know what to make of it and I've been wide awake all along. For instance, in recent weeks, we have seen an assistant high school football coach, Joe Kennedy of Bremerton (WA) High School, suspended, albeit with pay, for having the audacity of kneeling on the field after a game and praying. I don't know the nature of his prayers, but since it was after the game ended, I imagine he was either giving thanks that nobody was injured or perhaps that they'd won.
We in the West continue to pretend that the violence committed by Muslims are all isolated events, whether it was Iran's holding hostages for over 400 days; the attack on the USS Cole; 9/11; the massacre at Charlie Hebdo; the slaughter at the French deli; the burnings and beheadings in the Middle East; Benghazi; the blowing up of the Russian jet; the recent blood-letting in Paris that left 150 dead.
