Great Generations

[Ketzer]

Being retired, I probably watch more TV than I should, but I’ve been watching some great new shows on the National Geographic Channel: “No Man Left Behind,” “Battleground Afghanistan,” and “Eyewitness War,” all concerning the War on Terror. Most of the soldiers are, from my perspective, just kids. They look so young, most being late Gen-Xers or Millennials, but, man, are they impressive: brave, intelligent, honorable, quick witted, well spoken, modest…you just can’t say enough about them. They are the best of America, and many return home to join another dicey profession: law enforcement. We need to give them and their families everything they need, both while at war and when they return.

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

Being retired, I probably watch more TV than I should, but I’ve been watching some great new shows on the National Geographic Channel: “No Man Left Behind,” “Battleground Afghanistan,” and “Eyewitness War,” all concerning the War on Terror. Most of the soldiers are, from my perspective, just kids. They look so young, most being late Gen-Xers or Millennials, but, man, are they impressive: brave, intelligent, honorable, quick witted, well spoken, modest…you just can’t say enough about them. They are the best of America, and many return home to join another dicey profession: law enforcement. We need to give them and their families everything they need, both while at war and when they return.
Watched "No Man Left Behind" & "Eyewitness War" last night with my 8 year old grandson. They were great shows.

[Original Looper 1]

A War on Terror with open borders ?

http://www.bushstole04.com/Obama_Presidency.htm/obama_oil_gas.htm

[Original Looper 1]

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/preplanned.html

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Everyone needs to see "Hillary's America" before it's too late. Do it this week. In the middle of the day if you have to. Limited theaters, limited times, no ads, the powers that be try to limit the public access and viewing. Debbie and I watched it last weekend. Leaves you not even wanting to talk politics. Normally, when you see a film exposing the corruption of someone you want taken down, you come away with a very positive high. Now they are exposed to the public, and they can be brought down. Maybe so with this film, but the corruption is so embedded and goes so deeply, you leave depressed. Maybe even that an accident will happen to Donald Trump prior to the elections. After a day or so, the depression can go away and you can get into action, but you have to see the movie!

[Ketzer]

Thanks for that, Wayne. I, for one, will watch the movie. Vicki and I just returned from Ecuador where we didn't attend any boat races (Smitty), because then we never got out of the mountains (being from Florida, we were just looking to escape the heat, which the highlands provided). Here's a copy from an email I sent earlier in the day to my buddy, Conover:

Just got back yesterday afternoon. Boy, were the dogs happy to see us. Gertie was doing backflips. On the drive home, Vicki and I did our harmony howl together several times, and Gertie joins in with hers. Pinky, hound that she is, hasn't learned how to howl, but her lips were moving, and her tail was thumping the side of the car so hard we could hear it. Good to be home; looks like a rainy weekend. Tell you what, if I were ten or fifteen years younger, I'd move to Ecuador: beautiful country, friendly people without being fawning or obsequious, low cost of living, low property prices and taxes, no terrorism, fairly good healthcare, and a fairly stable government (if Peru didn't keep taking their land, they'd be perfect).

Speaking of healthcare, we had a letter from our Long Term Care insurer that we got through the government while I was in the government and have been carrying for fifteen years: our rate is going up 95%. Thank you, Mr. Obama; thank you, Mrs. Clinton. While we would like to pay for others who have no means, and thus, along with the Hollywood rich, feel good about ourselves, we find that we can no longer afford this coverage for ourselves, so that now we will end up in one of your nasty, state rest homes, which is where you probably wanted us all along, our assets being depleted, our home being sold, and our social security being given back to our wonderful government. What we need is single-payer insurance for everything! (Good luck with that falking excrement.) I only wish we had saved for emergencies all the money we payed out for Long Term Care in the last fifteen years, which is what we plan to do now, but at the ages of 66 and 60, we start at zero. Welcome home.

And another thing (and I think I may have wrote of this before, as it happens every time we travel outside the United States)! Before we even left the United States, before we boarded the plane in Atlanta, we had to present our passports. (May we leave our country?) En route, we completed customs forms to present to Ecuador. Once in Quito, we stood in line and went through immigration. (May we enter your country?) They stamped, yes, you may stay for thirty days, and then we went through customs. (Here is our luggage; search it if you like.) Then, when we checked into our first hotel, we again had to show our passports. (Yes, we are in your country legally, and have not overstayed the time allotted.) When we boarded the plane from Quito to Cuenca, we again had to show our passports for the same reasons, and for the remainder of the trip, every time we boarded a plane, bus, or checked into a hotel, we again showed our passports. (Yes, yes, we are in your country legally and have not overstayed the allotted time.) Before we boarded the plane back to the United States, we had to show our passports, go through security, and have our belongings screened. When we landed back in Atlanta, we went through immigration and yet again showed our passports. (We are American citizens. May we return to our country?) At that point, Vicki chastised me for being snarly with the immigration official. Well, he made me take off my glasses and Razorback cap, and I'm thinking, "F him! I'm an American citizen! I'm tired of this crap! Go down to the Mexican border and do some some good, and quit f-ing with your own people!" But...

I have no problem going through such scrutiny in Ecuador, Korea, China, or any other foreign country we've been to and only wish the United States would do likewise instead of crying, "Racist!" on "Xenophobe!" whenever someone mentions securing our borders or tracking down people who have overstayed their allotted time, i.e., visas. Oh, but what about the Statue of Liberty? We are a nation of immigrants! Only the Native Americans weren't immigrants! (Well, in fact, yes they were, and they didn't arrive all at once, but in waves, and carved out territory and fought and died for land and resources, not to mention sacrificing thousands by cutting out their beating hearts and holding them up to the Sun God in order to dedicate temples in Mexico and Central America.) What the Statue of Liberty says is, "We got land, jobs, and we need workers." I'm not sure that's the case in 2016. As always, I could, and probably am, wrong.

[Ketzer]

Vicki and I just watched D'Souza's documentary, which, of course, was panned by Hollywood, the same folks who gave Oscars to Michael Moore and Al Gore. (Funny how that works.) I was familiar with most of it, except for the Haitians demonstrating outside Clinton Headquarters in NYC. Somehow, I missed that on the news. The theatre was about half-full with people of our age or older, but absolutely no one under forty. Pity, but D'Souza is preaching to the choir. Those who should watch it, won't; and if they did, they wouldn't believe it, or be hopping on Huff-Post for arguments to refute. Tsk-tsk.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Vicki and I just watched D'Souza's documentary, which, of course, was panned by Hollywood, the same folks who gave Oscars to Michael Moore and Al Gore. (Funny how that works.) I was familiar with most of it, except for the Haitians demonstrating outside Clinton Headquarters in NYC. Somehow, I missed that on the news. The theatre was about half-full with people of our age or older, but absolutely no one under forty. Pity, but D'Souza is preaching to the choir. Those who should watch it, won't; and if they did, they wouldn't believe it, or be hopping on Huff-Post for arguments to refute. Tsk-tsk.


Stevie:

Re your comments in post #6:

In the 70's and 80's when Eileen and I were doing a lot of traveling to overseas destinations like England, Holland, Germany, Fiji, Tahiti, Japan, Hong Kong, etc., that was the passport procedure EVERYPLACE we went. I remember being stopped by security in Schipol airport in Amsterdam just walking thru after arrival and going thru all the passport procedures, and having both our bags looked thru. Looks like those countries/possessions were a lot more interested in who came in and then if they tried to stay that we have been, at least since WWII.

Eileen and I are planning on attending the Hillary movie this next Tuesday afternoon. Like your and Wayne's observations, not much advance publicity except on Fox News about the movie, but the local paper (which is more liberal than she is) did publish the schedule in the movie section but you had to hunt for it. It seems to be pretty widely distributed insofar as all over the city of STL, but like you am interested in the demographics of the persons that go see it.

Eileen and I have decided to enjoy it at the matinee (don't jump to conclusions) and then dinner afterwards, so hope it does not give us both indigestion so we are not able to enjoy our meal..

Take Care and glad you enjoyed your trip. I have not flown since 9/11 because of all the hassles, increased cost because of the deregulation of the airlines and many fewer carriers. To try to fly space available is a real pain these days because of the fewer amount of flights since the airlines are trying to maximize their profits. Another one of Eileens benefits that is gone now in addition to half her retirement from OZARK and TWA courtesy of Carl Icahn. Hope you had a better experience than many of our airline friends.

[Ketzer]

Bill Van, I would be interested to hear your report on demographics at movie. Here in Florida's Citrus County seems like everyone is old, so you can't go by us. As for the travel, we only manage it these days after building up miles. The wife has been traveling back and forth to Fairbanks, working on contract, so they build up quickly, but that's going away.

FAA inspectors, like yours truly, never had the benefit of free airline travel or reduced fares (it would be a conflict of interest--could have got fired for that--only big dog politicians can get away with such actions). No, if we were riding, we were working, usually riding the jump seat in the cockpit and doing en route inspections, or, less frequently, doing "cabin" en route inspections that Eileen no doubt suffered. On those, after inspecting the cabin and all its associated equipment, we'd take a seat in the back of the cabin, review the flight attendant manuals for currency, and then observe the "stews" (just kidding) perform their duties per their manual.

As far as federal retirement goes, after 23 years (military and FAA), it ain't fabulous, being around one fifth of what I earned while working, but better than a kick in the axx, as my old man would say (and no doubt give me if he heard me complain like this), and much, much better than had I worked for an airline that went down in flames, so to speak, due to government policy and/or bad management. I reckon I just got lucky.