From Olympics to Armaggeddon In 1500 Words or Less

As I set here watching the 2016 Rio Olympics, I’m amazed at the level of competition we show in all our events.  If you listen to the rhetoric that comes from our political leadership and the direction we’ve taken in education, you’d be amazed too. Doesn’t seem like we’re teaching our children to compete, in anything! Then we watch the Olympics, we see our people competing and winning. Now, if you’re one of the “everyone gets a trophy” set, I’m left wondering what, if any, pride you have in our Olympic Team. Sorry, but this kind of goes against everything you preach. What’s with that?

I’ll admit to being skeptical of Michael Phelps entry into the 2016 Rio Olympics. I figured it would be great to go out on top. Coming to the Rio Olympic Games felt like addiction to the spotlight. As I think back now, I suppose Michael may have felt the same way, with one revision. He wasn’t finished in his climb to the top of the Olympian Medalists food chain. (See what I did, bringing in a competition reference? That’s a clever bit.). Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympian in the history of these games. He excels in both team and individual events. However, it’s his competitive “human” nature and not some touchy-feely “everyone’s a winner” approach that gave him his success.

A big shout out to our women’s gymnastics team, Olympic Gold Medalists. That’s two Olympic Golds. We also took the gold in London 2012. We dominate the swimming events and now the women’s gymnastics as well. These are “our” sports. Many countries have a sport or more they dominate. The Chinese dominate diving. And after watching some of their performances, I can see why. The Chinese Olympic diving team is fun to watch.

Of course, there are some disappointments. Our Olympic Teams beach volleyball performance, top of that list. How can you play undefeated through all the beginning games and then lose when it counts? Both the men’s and women’s team losing to Brazil. Our Olympic Teams were favorites for gold, but when it came down to the wire, we couldn’t win. Kerry Jennings-Walsh, the superstar of this Olympic event and undefeated in Olympic play, finally loses one and it knocks us out of gold. Not the time to lose. I’ll give her credit though. She’s 38 years old and the mother of three. Don’t think to rest of us can really compare.

I don’t know enough of the equestrian events to be able to hazard a guess about our medal chances in the Rio Olympics. I’m going to assume we have at least an outside chance. And I can only watch so much running. Maybe they could show some of the other events. They move along faster.

So, how about the equestrian events? Who else thinks the horses are the real athletes? They do the running and jumping. The humans job seems to be to stay on the horse and keep a posture that would make any mother proud. A difficult thing to do, I’m sure. But, considering there’s are human version of this, doing the running and jumping without a horse. Them be athletes.

We, as a country, are a team. We need to remember this fact. Because as a team, we need to work together. Towards what you ask? Winning, on the world stage, of course. Whether it’s in the political arena, economic strength, or military might, we need to win. Winning would fulfil “The Donald's” vision of “make America great again”. And wining should pull us together, covering Hillary’s “bring America together” slogan. See, winning is good. I know that’s not what you’re being taught, but maybe it should be.

Unfortunately, our leadership doesn’t see it that way. This started with “Cowboy Dumbass” and the “bunker” mentality his administration adopted. Give what happened on 9/11 I’m not surprised. Let me make something clear at this point, I thought going to Afghanistan and eliminating their military and political leadership was a good move. We scattered an enemy that had proven their ability to kill us. We even went a step further and attacked Iraq. What? I’m sorry but this one was a huge mistake. Iraq was a belligerent state, but hardly a threat. We could have hit North Korea. I know, what about that.

We had a treaty with North Korea during the Clinton administration. (Just a thought, I suppose if Hillary gets elected President, I’ll have to put some kind of clarifier so readers know which Clinton admin I’m referencing.) President Cowboy Dumbass did recognize the danger this treaty represented. Too bad, he was a little late on pulling out. It seems that helping North Korea’s civilian nuclear program allowed access to technology and procedures that ultimately helped them develop a nuclear weapon. Exactly what was supposed to NOT happen.

Along comes President Professor Dumbass. What does he do? Enters into a treaty with Iran. The same “you promise not to develop an atomic weapon” and “we’ll help you build your civilian nuclear program”. Iran was already getting help from the North Koreans and Pakistan. Both nuclear armed powers. Sure, that help was with weapons programs and not civilian power generation, but why do we need to get involved. Admittedly, I don’t think the North Korean treaty had as many hidden details as the Iran treaty. If your curious, Google it yourself. I’m putting a thought together, not researching my manifesto.

Is it foolish to think we’ll get the same results with Iran that we had with North Korea? The same final results? (Love the Olympics.) North Korea has nuclear weapons and continues to relentlessly pursue advanced missile delivery systems capable of attacking our country. Even as dangerous as this predicament is, it’s nothing compared to the threat a nuclear Iran represents. True, North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un, is nuttier than squirrel poo. It runs in the family. His father, Kim Jong Il was truly ill in the head. In fact, he was a complete “looney-tunes”. But even with congenital insanity running in the dictators’ family, they're still a secular state. The North Korean powers want to stay in power. Not going to be easy if they start using their nuclear weapons.

Their ally China has stated publically any nuclear weapons use in their sphere of influence would be seen as an act of war against them and they would respond appropriately. Much of this bluster was directed toward India and Pakistan, but the sentiment was not lost on the North Koreans. So we continue the status quo. That’s to say, North Korea has nuclear weapons but no way to profit from their use. Iran, while not lead by rulers with insanity running in their bloodlines, are religious extremists. This particular religious extremist sect of Islam is responsible for much of the terrorist bloodshed throughout the world. Yea, let’s help them get a nuclear weapon.

What do you thinks going to happen when Iran gets a nuclear weapon? Day One, they threaten their neighbors. Those neighbors gather to discuss what happens next, now that Iran is a nuclear power? Well, obviously, they start their own preparations for developing nuclear weapons. A new nuclear arms race. Yea racing!!! And that’s just on day one.

It’s not hard to imagine that in just a short time, somehow, a terrorist group associated with the radical elements of Islam will acquire a nuclear weapon and detonate it within Israel’s borders. Most likely, Tel Aviv but can you imagine Jerusalem? I honestly think they’d hit Israel before the U.S. More bang for their buck if they do it in their own back yard. Of course, the Israelis will determine it was a weapon made by Iran or at least the components and materials came from the Iranians. Shortly thereafter, Iran ceases to be a viable country. From there it snowballs out of control. Thus does our civilization end.

Perhaps we shouldn’t have gone down this road again. It didn’t work with North Korea. They have nuclear weapons. It won’t work with the Iranians. They will develop nuclear weapons just as the North Koreans did. They will, unlike the North Koreans, use those weapons. They are acting from religious extremism. Iran's religious extremist leadership isn't concerned with furthering its’ power base. Instead, they’d like to bring on the end of the world, Armageddon. No kidding. That's their definition of winning. They’re like the James Bond villain. It’s conquer and global dominance for their religion and its’ practices or death to all. Bring on the twelfth imam (go on, look it up).

Of course, that’s just my opinion. You could be wrong?

P.S. How did we get from Olympic competition to Armageddon? No idea. Yea to rambling manifestos!

More Dem Nat'l Conv Rants

           Sorry about this one posting rather late. Been Watching the Olympics! I'll have something on them a little later.

             

            Opening speaker for the Dems Sen. Booker said, “individualism didn’t get us to the moon; we did it together”. This said after acknowledging the “rugged individualism this country was built on”. Going so far as to say he admired this “rugged individualism”. Ok, but his next remark challenges what he just said. He’s forgetting that this “we did it together” wasn’t a “group think” but individuals coming together to accomplish something great. There is a difference.

These were individuals with their own unique reasons and motivations for what they did. Again, these accomplishments, Sen. Bookers example was going to the moon, were done by individuals working together. Not some collective “group think”. Human beings are individual by definition. This pandering to Pres. Obamas assertions that great business leaders and company founders didn’t build their business empires themselves. This despite almost all of our history to the contrary. Instead, only succeeded because of the “people”. Make no mistake, he meant the “body politic” or if you prefer, the federal government.

                If you think your job asking “you want fries with that” is in anyway of the same value or importance to the likes of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and such, you sir, are badly mistaken. And if you think you deserve to be rewarded the same, to that, all I can say is WTF.

                Sen. Booker says Clinton has “fought for people and delivered”. This in support of his assertion that it’s “not how many billionaires you create but how many people you have living in poverty”. Ok, I whole heartedly agree with this. So, after almost eight years of Pres. Obama and his administration, which included Hilary Clinton, what have we got? More blacks and Latinos living in poverty than ever before. Thanks Hilary! You may be fighting for the people, but all you’ve delivered is failure with those numbers. Much like your foreign policies that have your hands stained with blood. Good work on that, Pres. Dumbass want-a-be.

                Equal pay for equal work. Sure, but remember, your customer service job taking peoples orders for fries, isn’t equal to the people building roads, bridges and the like. And you certainly don’t deserve the same pay. Sorry, but no matter how hard the job might be compared to another, just because it’s hard, doesn’t mean it’s hard to master and certainly doesn’t mean you deserve equal pay to jobs that, like I just said, build the infrastructure and the future. Again, if you think standing behind a counter ringing up people’s snacks deserves equal pay because for you it’s hard to do, you are mistaken.

                You want an example of group think, well since the Mayor of Baltimore “gaveled” open the convention, after the debacle that was Debbie Wasserman Schultz, just think back to the riots her city hosted. That’s what you get with “group think”. And of course, Nazi’s goose-stepping across Europe. Mustn’t forget them. Great “group think” that was.

                When Michelle Obama’s turn came, I kid you not, she said she “lives in a house built by slaves”. Get your conspiracy straight. The White House was built by the Freemasons to further some nebulous future goal. I get it. You’re the first black First Lady and your place in history his secure. As for your husband, Pres. Professor Dumbass, that’s a bit more difficult to define. I’m a big fan of science fiction and a lot of the books I read refer to this time as the “terror wars” long before we had a war on terror.

                And Pres. Professor Dumbass’s contribution? To completely ignore it. To pretend it’s not happening. To call acts of terrorism “workplace violence” undermines the tragedy of these events and ties our hands in the fight to come. I’m old enough to probably miss most of the bloodshed coming our way, but the millennials are not so fortunate. Their blood will be spilled and it will be on Pres. Obama’s hands. History will not judge Pres. Professor Dumbass’s time as our leader well.

                And now for Sen Elizabeth Warren. She has got to be the most “pie in the sky” dumbass ever to haunt the halls of power. I’m absolutely positive she’s not buying into her own rhetoric. Yet it resonates with the poor and downtrodden. She goes so far as to say Hillary, who has been part of the power structure for decades is her choice for president. So, she can make the changes now? I’m not exactly clear why Hillary Clinton would make any changes if she becomes President. After all, the status quo gave her the White House.

Sen. Warrens narrative differed sharply from First Lady Michelle Obama’s. Sen. Warren goes on to condemn the current economic environment. Subtly hinting that it’s the Republican’s fault. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard Pres. Professor Dumbass say how rosy everything is going with him at the helm. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s, hell, I don’t even have a nickname to sum her up, “ass hat” comes to mind, but is kind of hard on the true ass hats out there. But I digress.

I just know Bill O’Reily's watching Sen. Warrens speech with a grin. It was the very definition of spin. Everything she said was deliberately miss-interpreted and her command of basic economics and history are woefully inadequate to the task at hand. That task, standing upright. How she manages to even dress herself is beyond me. I mean, Sen. Warren said Hillary Clinton will get “big money” out of politics. Where’s she been the last couple of decades? Hillary Clinton is the very definition of big money in politics. All Hillary Clintons campaign funds come from big money. All of it! Wall street and the leeches therein are HRC’s biggest contributors. What planet does Sen. Warren live on? Again, how does she even manage to dress herself.

On another note, I’ve seen a few Facebook posts regarding the absence of American Flags on the stage. What do you expect. These pandering fools don’t see themselves as part of a country. They only see themselves in power. They are ashamed of our flag. Come on, you know they are. We are a country, yet for some reason these Democratic spokespeople refuse to acknowledge this, all the while professing to love their county. I’m beginning to believe it’s not the same country you and I live in. I’m not sure it’s even on the same planet. Bizarro World, maybe? I wonder if Sen. Warren even listens to the things she says? I doubt it. On a positive note, I bet speech writing for her is a breeze. I wonder how ones goes about getting that gig.

Bernie Sanders should be interesting. He knows he was done dirty by the Democratic National Party and the Clinton political machine. Will he, unlike Sen. Cruz, come together for what he believes is the betterment of his party and country?  Well, he said it was an honor to be there, several times and called Sen. Warren a good friend. With friends like that, who needs enemies.

Now personally, I like Bernie Sanders. I truly believe him to be the only politician I’ve ever heard speak I thought actually believed what he was saying. He is or was the leader of a movement. Of course, he calls it a revolution. Hope not, too much bloodshed in revolution. Unfortunately, his ideas for a socialist America just won’t work.

Sure, countries like Demark can manage it. They have a homogenous (look it up) population all with similar hopes and goals. It’s easy to get them to work together. And with a population less than that of the greater Los Angeles area, it can be done. Now, try to imagine getting all Los Angeles to work together toward any goal, any! You can’t imagine it happening. If you can’t imagine one city working together toward a common goal, how do you truly expect all of us to manage it? It can’t be done.

In Bernie’s support, I think he believes it can work. That we can make it work. Delusional maybe, but to me all the Dems seem a bit “out there”. And by out there I mean totally not functioning in the same reality as the rest of us. And yes, I always find it easier to take apart Dems than I do Republicans. I think it’s because whenever the Democrats speak they leave more unasked questions. I find that makes me nuttier than squirrel poo.  And I secretly suspect the Democratic Party elites think I’m stupid. Of course, that’s probably just the paranoid voices in my head.

So, in the end (actually about 13 minutes into his speech) Bernie did in fact, endorse Hillary Clinton for President. However, just like many Republicans support for “The Donald”, it’s this candidate or Armageddon. It’s a rigged system, sure. Hillary Clinton wasn’t going to let another grass roots campaign derail her second bid for President. She’s had eight years to prepare. I truly believe the only people who thought the Democratic Parties system for nominating a Presidential candidate was fair, were Bernie’s supports. Go figure.

As always, that’s just my opinion. You could be wrong?