Make Him Stand in the Corner

I salute you, the Veterans of the US armed services. Regardless of your age, branch of service or duty, I thank you for keeping us protected and for marching into duty at the command of our country.

A dear friend of mine sent  these posters and I want to share them with you. They bring back many memories of my boyhood, when the United States was considered a great country, and our president did not fly around the world apologizing for our actions. Quite the opposite, it was the rest of the world that was thanking us and our service people for their sacrifice.

When ever we see Obama bowing and apologizing, we the people should make him stand in the corner and read the history of the American Revolution, Spanish-American war, WW I, WWII, the Korean police action, the Viet Nam war, the war to liberate Kuwait, the war to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and the war in Afghanistan to put down the Taliban. When he is done with the history lesson, I would make him watch videos of the Muslim hijacked airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon.

He needs to understand that the millions of US soldiers that died were not dying for gain in those countries, but rather for the liberation of Peoples from tyranny.  He needs to understand that the U.S.A. dropped the bomb on Japan, not to be mean, but to end a war that would have gone on for several more years at the expense of millions of more lives.

What Obama needs to apologize for, is duping the citizenry of this great country into believing his hope and change was something other than socialism.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Grumpa Meets His Match

gran-torinoYesterday, I met my match. I like to refer to myself as “Grumpa” because my disposition is not always cheerful. Peggy and I continued our ‘wild and crazy” days by seeing another movie. That’s two within seven days of each other. The main character in the movie is Walt Kowalski played by Clint Eastwood. Walt clearly owns the title of “Grumpa.”  He’s retired from Ford, and living next to a troubled kid who loves to garden.

The movie is Gran Torino. I thought Slumdog Millionaire was great, but Gran Torino is right next to it. My expectation was to see a car movie. There is a beautiful 1972 Gran Torino in the film, but it is there as a grand possession. It barely moves throughout the film.  Throughout the story, Walt is bugged by a young priest who tells him he should go to confession. The story had me laughing out loud, yet at points it  brought me to tears.  We saw it on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, and it was a beautiful way to begin lent. 

The opening  begins at a funeral mass for Walt’s wife of many years.  Walt moves on to deal with his grief by exhibiting great animosity and hatred for his Hmong-Chinese neighbors whom he mistakes for Koreans. Slowly, Walt, a gook hating veteran of the Korean war evolves into a man who truly loves his neighbor, and is willing to sacrifice greatly for him.

This picture includes all the key elements of a good story. It has drama, intrigue, humor, tension, conflict, love, and compassion. The acting by Eastwood and the supporting cast is  believable and noteworthy. The plot is  a 2009 vintage contemporary drama. The ending is guaranteed to bring one to tears, as it did me.  It is also untypical of what one might expect from today’s society. The symbolism in the final scene was dramatic and thought provoking.

Why wasn’t  this movie nominated for an Oscar? As I watched the credits roll by it became clear to me that Eastwood was being dissed by Hollywood. He is a co-author of the story. He produced, and directed the film. Additionally, he played the  principal role. I believe he bucked the establishment with this performance, and produced a heart warming story with a moral. Another reason might be that the story includes religion in it’s telling. Could it be that the liberal anti-God, hollywood gay loving establishment dissed the Catholic Church too?

Peggy and I have been discussing the film ever since.

We give it four stars.****