In Memory of Carol Ann

Dedicated to Erin Elizabeth and Deanna Carol


Any society that would give up a little liberty for a little security deserves neither and will lose both.

Benjamin Franklin.













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Friday, June 7, 2019

Pass the Guacamole Please

President Trump announced he will impose new sanction tariff against Mexico this week. The response from Mexico was immediate. Mexico sent their envoy to the White House to negotiate, sadly nobody was home. The Trump was busy rubbing elbows overseas in Europe with the Queen and her kids. The celebrations was of our Allied Victory in 1945 and D- Day where Hitler was put on notice to start packing. I suppose D-Day and WW 2 has different meaning to different Americans. For me I was not there, but I know lots of people who were there. I was working as a carpenter in 1972 and at lunch we would all gather in a large empty room to brown bag. Everyday there was this guy who would always dominate conversations with war stories of Vietnam. Day after day until another fellow spoke and asked the guy" I was in Nam what unit were you in? Turns out the guy with all the war stories was in Saigon printing checks at a typewriter. The silence was deafening. The usual follow up was ,where were you. The second guy said "infantry." There was another guy, older, seasoned and he began to smirk. Not Laugh. The man was in extremely good shape in his forties, chewed a cigar, played a lot of Golf. I personally had known this man for 8 years. He was very quite but not introverted.  Civil to all and friendly to some. As our conversations turned to him he was asked"were you in the war". He said "YES"  Turns out this guy who I had been friends with was in the first wave on Omaha Beach June 6th 1944. Without emotion he briefly recounted the days events in a stunned room of younger men. Just a few words followed by several questions, then silent. I never knew!! From that afternoon on there were no further mentions of the Vietnam Conflict. I am very proud to say that I never served in Vietnam. I extremely proud of those who did serve. And I am proud of those who went to Canada. And those who died are just as dead as those crosses at Normandy. All these years later I have not changed my thoughts on Vietnam. Those boys who went to Vietnam were my friends. not headlines on the news. A different war and a different generation. When I think back as a young boy I remember the Veterans of W.W.2. were common. Walk into a neighbors garage and you would see German souvenirs, Japanese Flags, German Lugars remnants reminders of the days of sacrifice. Like my friend from Omaha Beach there was never much talk. When they spoke it was in monotone solemn whisper and ended with a shake of the head and a pat on the back. Just to hard to talk about very long. This display was not for the benefit of myself or others. These exchanges were not all that common but very similar to witness. In that strangest of ways World War Two was very real and equally as close to me. There is  a saying among all veterans " That if you weren't there you will never understand, If you were there you needn't ask". The school of adversity requires no tuition and will always produce the best America has to offer. Their responsibilities never ended as civilians. They were custodians of the culture and administered what was acceptable conduct of the Boomer Generation. They did so out of respect of those who died and the enormous debt they left as their legacy. You misbehaved and you would very quickly find yourself on your ass looking up. As time goes on we get farther and farther away from that world. New generations follow without the adversity of Nazi Germany. Japan and Germany are our allies now and very difficult to imagine trying to kill them. As a result of our environmental cultures the new generations have very different solutions to today's challenges. President John F Kennedy said " Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what can you do for your country. The difference to me is the difference between a Great Country who put Men on the Moon while they led the world in virtually every category or a polarized nation of organizations with their hands out claiming entitlements along with rights. It really once bothered me to watch the senseless greed of other generations take unfair shares of our economy in the name of politics, banking, healthcare and medicine. This is their turn by virtue of the US Constitution. They may run this country as they wish. They may run it in the ground but it's still their turn. They will reap the rewards of those actions regardless. The Great American Experiment continues. I do ask myself. These people today, would they stand in line to join the Army to defeat Hitler? Would these people storm the beaches of Omaha and raise a Flag on a barren Iwo Jima? If the answer is yes. then we have nothing to fear. Answer No and all things are possible. Back to President Trump and his Tariffs. I voted for Trump because I thought he would be best for our economy. I was right. Trump is using the Bully Pulpit to rattle our adversaries with a combination of accelerated  military spending and the strength of the new Trump Economy around the World. The Sanctions and Tariffs imposed and executed makes the world a safer place. Imposed but not executed are just the same empty threats ignored for decades. The same with Trump's Economy. We have tried all these tax tricks in the past without much success. The Trump Tariffs will either way cause the American worker to benefit. Countries can either forfeit their market shares or build new factories and new jobs in the US. Either way we win. America is becoming Great Again We can see it and feel it. We are getting stronger. Now is the time to give Trump the ball and end run. Stop all the pointless investigation of the Mueller Report and give the ball to Attorney John Durham and Lawyer Warrior Bill Barr Attorney General. Expose who is responsible for the phony information at the FBI. If people within the FBI are breaking the law go after them. Pursue, Pursue, Pursue until we have the whole truth, not the Mueller Truth.......... Happy Trails Tom