Hate Dipped in Chocolate Still Tastes Like Crap

I was standing in a long line at a pharmacy recently and the family in front of me was Sikh, so the father of the family was wearing a traditional turban. The teen boy that was with the family was wearing an Army ROTC uniform and I noticed that the uniform was immaculate. Before they could check out there was an issue and it took longer than normal. Being a person who is mostly oblivious to most things I didn’t notice what was going on with them because my attention was caught by a stuffed dog sitting on the display next to me that sang “Who Let The Dogs Out” when you pinched its ear. (Side Note, I still love that song and fathers day is coming up so… gift idea!)

Anywho, while the family in front of me was processing their transaction, and over the sounds of the repeating music, I heard the mother of the family in back of me say, “Fucking Muslims… I wish they would get their shit at other stores!” and then the father said “Disgrace to let that kid wear that uniform. He shouldn’t be allowed to wear something like that!” That is when their teenage son said, “I know that kid and he’s pretty cool.” Followed by mom saying, “I’m sure he is good at math.” And then daddy ended with (No shit) “Fucking Obama…”

NOW. What the ever-loving fuck? I turned around to see the delightful family behind me and say “How dare you! First of all, they are NOT Muslim and if they were, it’s obviously not their fault that you are standing in line a little longer so it has nothing to do with their religion or where their nation of origin. And I will also have you know that his uniform is being worn with honor and he is EVERY right to wear it! And Thank YOU little kid for not being a racist fuck like your parents! And “good at math” is the wrong racist stereotype for Muslims, asshole! And OBAMA??? What the hell does OBAMA have to do with ANYTHING???”

But when I turned around I noticed that both parents were demonstrating their 2^nd Amendment rights with guns on their belt, dad had a huge scar on his face and mom was at least 5 inches taller than I am and outweighed me by at least 50 pounds. The kid looked normal but was wearing a “Limp Bizket” sleeveless t-shirt – an obvious psychopath. So instead, I pinched the dog’s ear about 8 more times in an action of defiance and disgust. I showed them!

I actually did walk out of line and came back later. I couldn’t be around that kind of open hate and ignorance and it made me sad. I was sad that I didn’t say anything, sad that that the Sikh family probably deals with this all the time but mostly I was sad for the kid whose parents were teaching him to be exactly the kind of person that I feel is putting this country in the state it where people think they need to “Make America Great Again”. Hate is hate and wrapping your religion, philosophy or opinion around it still makes it hate.

I thought about my own kids. I thought back to stupid comments that I have made in the past (yes, I am not a saint) and wondered if they stuck in their heads and were repeated. I thought about what they hear in school and if because it is coming from their friends, those kinds of comments carry more weight than their own upbringing or beliefs. I made sure to tell them about this encounter and asked them what they thought was wrong about it. To my happy heart, they pointed out exactly what I hoped they would… even saying that nobody even likes that song anymore! Jerks.

This being said, I also thought about that uniform and what that teen was learning by wearing it and participating in ROTC. Honor, Duty, Country, Commitment, Truth. All of those things lost in those comments made by those strangers standing 15 feet behind them. The shame brought to that uniform was by the people who are protected by uniforms like that and the people who volunteer to wear them, who run TO the gunfire and not away from it.

I have had the privilege of touring three places in my life that I think made huge impacts on my life; The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, The Vietnam Memorial and Arlington Cemetery. When you walk on these grounds I dare you to think that this county isn’t great already. I dare you to look at those names carved in stone and judge them based on their religions, color of their skin, creeds, backgrounds or the places of their births. Those people who are so quick to let hate fall out of their mouths most likely have never been to places like that the mean so much to our country and way of life. If they have, they didn’t let it sink in that there are all kinds of names on those stones, names from all around the world who wore the same flag on their shoulders and took the same oath. The names of men and women who gave their lives defending these same people who use their 1^st Amendment Rights like a weapon and then hide behind it. Again, Hate is Hate.

So to the innocent family who stood in front of me at the CVS last week, I apologize. I am sorry for my lack of actions at that time. I am sorry that I didn’t stand up for your because I never ended MY oath to defend this country from enemies foreign AND domestic. I am sorry that I didn’t have the courage to speak my mind and let my heart show at that moment.

I do not apologize for the actions of those other people. I will not lower myself to that. I have a feeling that one day, maybe someday soon, they will need help and the person who comes to their rescue will not be just like them. They will be a different skin color, a different ethnic background, pray from a different text… I bet those words don’t come out of their mouths then.

Welcome to the 2020 Presidential Election – Buckle Up, Folks!

I find myself thinking about the 2020 Presidential Election more than the one that will happen this year. Call me strange (most of you do already) but I fear that the 2020 election is going to change the way that politics happens in the United States. If you think that THIS year is crazy… just wait!

This presidential election season already has had some unprecedented and noteworthy events. One of them that I am fascinated about is the emergence of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. One is a billionaire who says he has used the broken system to his advantage many times and the other rails against billionaires for using the broken system to their advantage. Yet both of these guys are selling the same sandwich... Anti-Establishment Thoughts on rye bread with Say Anything cheese and a side of Crazy Hair chips.  

If you break down these two campaigns, they are remarkably the same in structure but different flavor. Both “The Bern” and “The Don” are telling their supporters what they want to hear. Both have said that the current system is broken and they both have crazy plans to make it better. Both have political backgrounds that back in the day, in my lifetime, would have made them laughing stocks! First you have Bernie who in an Independent and self-identifies as a Democratic Socialist when most Americans liken the term Socialist to Communist or Marxist. Trump is quoted several times saying that he has played both sides of the political arena depending on his needs and has given huge amounts of money and support in order to get his way with no real loyalty to either side. I just can’t imagine that either of those stances would fly even 8 years ago. Both of these guys can say what they want with no real dump in popularity. Bern has thrown some WILD ideas about how he will change American economically without real proof that he can do it and Trump said he could openly kill a person and still not be touched in the polls. I am starting to believe that both of them are true.

Mix in the other people who are running and it is a figurative fruit salad:

Hillary Clinton– Great resume and experience but not likable or charismatic at all. I think that it is time for a woman president and if another woman who had half of her experience and was likable was running; Hillary would have already had to concede.

Ted Cruz – Trying hard to be a political outsider, only because it’s cool. He is so far right that the Tea Party is scared and apparently is disliked by every one of his colleges in the Senate.

Marco Rubio –“The Establishment Candidate from Hell”. “They” want to run him so bad, but “They” can’t get him to put together a cohesive statement about anything that doesn’t get thrown back in his face. He polls well against Hillary, but is getting crushed by Ted and Trump in exit polls from the last 2 caucuses for no apparent reason.

Ben Carson – Holy Shit. On NBC’s Meet the Press in October 2015, Carson compared women who terminate their unwanted pregnancies to slave owners. Back in 2013, he said in a speech that “Obamacare is really I think the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.” In an interview with CNN in October, Carson blamed the Holocaust on the fact that Nazis took guns away from the Jewish people. “I think the likelihood of Hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been greatly diminished if the people had been armed,” Carson said. “There’s a reason these dictatorial people take the guns first.” Carson said in a CNN interview in March that homosexuality is a choice, citing people who “go into prison straight – and when they come out, they’re gay” as proof. He later attempted to apologize for the remarks in which he addressed those who were offended, but reinforced his belief that sexual orientation is chosen. Carson has also called marriage equality a “Marxist plot,” described marriage equality supporters as “enemies of America,” and compared homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality, another statement that led him to similarly “apologize” for his “poorly chosen words.” HOLY SHIT!

Jeb – I won’t use his last name until he does. He came in like gangbusters and then in his first debate came in 8^th in the GOP voters of FLORIDA! The state he was governor! 8^th!!! I wonder if he will ever talk to his brother again. He did have his mom come out and stump for him and then later that night had to ASK FOR PEOPLE TO CLAP FOR HIM! www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYau9SZXn54 His mom must have been SO proud.

So here is where I am going with all of this… If this is now the norm, what is the NEXT election going to look like? It’s not enough to just say you are Pro-Life, like in the past and it’s not going to be enough to just say that you are so Pro-Life that even in the cases of incest, rape or if the mother will die you still think that the woman has no choices but to carry the baby to term. In 2020 you will have to take a woman who has a friend who might have had abortion while driving past Planned Parrenthood and throw her in a pit of lava.

Next election, being a professional fact checker will be a job that doesn’t exist. This year during debates on BOTH side so the fence, “facts” are not the cool thing to use. It was reported by Politifact that in the second GOP debate that 75% of statements that Donald Trump make were either false or “Pants on Fire” yet he was deemed the winner of the debate! 75%! In 2020, you will be able to stand at a podium on live TV and tell the American public that you opponent is an alien who has for sure slept with the wives, daughters and dogs of every one of the men from Iowa and will win that caucus by 95 points, easy.

I sit at home and think about what 2020 will be like if “the people” pick Trump and/or Sanders in this primary/caucus system’s popular vote and low and behold the SUPER DELEGATES come out to play and we end up with Rubio v. Clinton. I promise there will have to be more riot cops deployed around the US than ever before. If you don’t know what a Super Delegate is, look HERE.

So hang tight, folks, it’s going to be bumpy! 2016 ain’t shit on what we are going to see in four years!

Worse than a bad penny… she just never goes away.

This is my real first political rant. I have been holding back to tell the truth. I have been holding back because I really haven't wanted to upset the apple cart in starting a following on this blog and the pending podcast. I just can’t hold my tongue. I can’t and won’t hold back any longer. The straw that broke the camel’s back is Sarah Palin. I warn you now… if you’re a fan of hers, think she is saving America’s values or think that she is a valuable asset to the political process, then stop reading now, unfriend me in all aspects of social media and probably delete my number from your phone. Sorry, but it’s come to that.

It was bad enough flipping through the TV last night when I heard the voice. The voice that makes my soul cringe. The Voice that makes my ears bleed. THE VOICE that means that somebody is willing to do whatever is necessary to win an election. Sarah Palin. FUCK!

At first I thought it was a flash of stupid that I have run into from time to time when I have not been successful in avoiding her lunacy in the media. She shows up in the strangest of places. Travel Channel, Outdoors Chanel, I even caught a quick glimpse on the Game Show Network for some odd reason. Nope… not this time, she was everywhere. Every news station had her on, it wasn’t going away. OF COURSE she was with Donald Trump. No question. I had a flashback to 2008… is “The Donald” announcing her as his running mate? Did she finally decide to walk across her front yard and move to Russia? Holy shit! Nope… not that lucky.

I made the mistake of listening to a part of what she had to say and in literally 30 seconds my blood was boiling. I am sure my best pal Ted could feel the “fire of a thousand suns” from 2500 miles away. She moved from comic book character to enemy number 1. For me, a proud veteran and supporter of many veteran’s causes, she crossed a line that she will never be allowed to uncross.

Her quote was "So when my own son is going through what he goes through coming back, I can certainly relate with other families who kind of feel these ramifications of some PTSD and some of the woundedness that our soldiers do return with. And it makes me realize, more than ever, it is now or never, for the sake of America's finest, that we have that commander-in-chief who will respect them and honor them. You deserve someone who will treat veterans better than illegal immigrants in America”

For those of you who don’t know what she is referring to, she is talking about her son, Track who is an Army veteran who was deployed to Iraq as part of the 25th Infantry Stryker Brigade. What he is “going through” is a domestic violence charge that included him, according to court documents, “allegedly punched his girlfriend in the eye, kicked her in the knee and then held an AR-15 assault rifle near his head, the 22-year-old woman told police who responded to the incident”. At one point, Track was "holding onto a gun, yelling 'do you think I'm a pussy?' and 'do you think I won't do it?”.

He was charged with fourth-degree assault, interfering with the report of a domestic violence crime and possession of a firearm while intoxicated. All the charges are Class A misdemeanors.
He is FAR from the first veteran to do something of this sort. He, unfortunately, is FAR from the last one too. A lot of our men and women who volunteered to go to war for us come home with issues that they don’t understand or can’t deal with and need help controlling. That is NOT news. That also is NOT a political issue.

What made news (and me want to throw my TV out the window) was linking what her son did, what Track decided to do even if it wasn’t in his correct mental state, to President Obama. What she did was wrong. Pandering to her base by standing on the graves of brave young people and saying that ONE PERSON is responsible for her son’s actions is wrong.

Taking the responsibility out of Track’s hands and laying at Obama’s feet DOES NOT HELP HER SON! One of the first things that soldiers with PTSD talk about is feeling blame for what they did. And the first thing they are counseled on is not taking blame but accepting responsibility for their thoughts, feeling and actions. If he did indeed do the things that are in the police report, then they were his actions even if he didn’t have control. Those two things are linked and they should be treated as such. His actions have NOTHING to do with what has happened in our political arena. Typically speaking PTSD causes more than 22 veteran suicides per day and not homicides or other acts of violence.

Track very well might have PTSD. But it in NO WAY offers him a way out of what he may or may not have done nor excuses his mother to use it as a political weapon. It is a community issue not a political one used for getting votes. It is an issue that should be, and is being, dealt with in a lot of different ways. Are we doing everything we can? Nope. Not even close. Are we close to helping all of those in need? Nope. Not even close. Again… not news.

BUT if she wants to go there here are some facts that I would like her to talk about: The war in Iraq began under Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, who was President when Track served in Iraq. And in 2014, the Republican held Senate rejected a $24 billion bill to expand health care for veterans; only two Republicans voted for the legislation.

A second bill, with aid slashed to $16 billion, was passed months later despite the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate for the cost of veterans care at $35 billion through 2017. I’m not a mathalete, but I don’t think $16B will cover $35B.

Just last year, Obama signed a bipartisan bill to improve veterans' access to mental health resources. And the Veterans Affairs budget is at an all-time high

How in the hell do you blame one person when the Washington Political Machine has pillaged any money that was supposed to help the volunteer veterans of our country? How is this Obama’s fault? For those of you who don’t know me, I am not a 100% supporter of President Obama (or any politician for that matter), but this is an issue that I follow very close. An issue that will always be very near to me. I will not let her use this to gain votes for her or anyone else without telling the full story.

This is not one person’s issue. It is all of ours. WE have to do something about this. This issue will cost us more in the future than $35 billion. There is no cost on the lives we will lose in the future by veterans killing themselves in droves. There is no cost to the lives affected. But for some people there is a cost to gain a vote and they will use ANYTHING to get it. I won’t. I hope you won’t either.