Author Archives: bfrhodes99

The Forgotten Option

Posted in Abuse of Power, Biden, Border wall, Christian values, Communism, Crazy Nuts, Crime, Drill Baby, Drill, Going Green, Lawyers and Representation, Price of Oil, Uncategorized by

Everyday I see stories about the disaster called Ukraine. I hate to see it. I hate to see how it lingers on. Everyday I see them discuss the options. One man says we need to do this. Another says we need to do that. Then there is the really “smart” reporter that says we need to just do it this way. Then, from time to time, there is the remark, “It’s on the other side of the world for crying out loud. Let’s just leave it alone. I’m tired of playing the police for the world.”

I really don’t understand it. No one, including the Republicans ever suggest the one method that has been tied and true. It worked with Reagan and virtually ended the cold war. It worked with Trump, until the know nothing Old Joe got in there and messed up everything. You want to stop the Russians from making war, drive the price of oil down just as far as you can. It eliminates the money that the Russians have for making war. If maintained, it will bankrupt the country to the point they won’t be able to raise substantial battle against Poland.

I am beginning to think that everyone wants to overlook the oil aspect.

  1. Drive the price of oil down as much as possible, at least 30 dollars a barrel.
  2. Supply oil and natural gas to our allies in abundance so that Russia will not be able to sell to anyone but China. Who knows? At 15 dollars a barrel, maybe even China will abandon the Russian supply.
  3. Stop buying anything from Russia and China. The stuff we make is better anyway and it doesn’t need to be shipped in.
  4. Stop the Opioids from China, especially the Fentanyl. We don’t need it. Nothing good comes from it and it only helps the criminal elements south of the border. We certainly don’t need that nor do the people of Mexico.

It is just that simple. I know why Old Joe doesn’t want it brought up. What about the rest. What about the Republicans. I haven’t even heard a peep from the conservatives including Sean Hannity.

There’s Another Way

Posted in Abortions by

Please, let me apologize in advance if I am miss quoting Gov Nikki Haley. I was listening to the radio and I thought I heard a quote by her about military paying for transportation for abortions. When it was suggested that the Senate hold up promotions she just may have said that there must be another way.

I don’t like that at all. It is worse than an incomplete sentence. It is certainly an incomplete thought. She says there is another way and drops it. First, there might not be another way. Secondly, it sounds like it is a very effective idea. Third, if she really does have another idea, even if not as good, let’s hear it. My ears are ready to hear her idea(s).

Fact is… she should not make such a statement and drop it. She should think ahead and make the suggestion instead of arbitrarily shooting down the one idea that just might work. At the very least, if tax payers are going to foot the bill, the pregnant woman should at least be required to look at an ultrasound before destroying a life. I wonder if Governor Haley has given that any thought.

The Pardon

Posted in Christian values, Uncategorized by

Imagine, if you will, a man who has been convicted of a very bad crime. He is unlikely to ever be released from prison. Then, one day he is called to the warden’s office and he is notified that he can go free. A pardon has just been issued by the governor and it will be just as if he never committed the crime.

Can you imagine the man saying, “No thanks. I don’t need it.”

I suppose it might be possible such a thing might happen. Maybe the prisoner thinks he is going to get out on his own. Perhaps he has his lawyer working on something. However, I would suspect that most men, given the chance to go free would jump at the chance. I mean most of us would rather not remain in prison for forty or fifty years. Most people with a head on their shoulders would say it would be a really dumb thing to walk away from a total pardon. Most folks given the offer would say thank you very much and gladly leave the prison life behind them.

Yet, every day, thousands of people are offered a much greater pardon and the vast majority flat turn it down, often without giving it a thought. Even more, the pardon is far better. It not only forgives all past offenses but future ones as well. And yet thousands say, “No thanks. I don’t want it.”

Salvation is a type of pardon offered by Jesus. He paid the price of your offenses to set you and I free. Who is so foolish as to reply “No thanks.” Yet people do it every day. They reject Jesus and His salvation. They make the choice to remain imprisoned, not just for a lifetime, but eternity. He will not force you to take the pardon. He has determined to give everyone the choice. Don’t you think it would be a horrible idea to make the wrong choice? Eternity is a long time. Better be sure you chose right.

What to do When I don’t Know Who to Vote for

Posted in Elections, News media, Politcal Opinion by

I try to keep up with the politics and the politicians. The fact is that, even a retired person like me can’t totally keep up. This is especially bad here in Desoto County, which is so close to Memphis. The local stations are too expensive for many of the Mississippi elections and, well, very frequently I might not know if a person is advertising for Tennessee, Desoto County or even Arkansas. Oddly, many of the advertisers seem think I know. They tell the office they are running for, but never the state. Best I can do in a situation such as that is just look the name up on the internet. More often than not, he’s from Tennessee.

However, I always have a fallback I can rely on. It’s rarely wrong. Whoever it is that the media is in favor of, he’s the one I vote against.

Then too, there is one more thing that helps. If he has an R after his name. That works well too.

Wanted: More Money

Posted in Education by

It’s the thick and the thin of another battle between the dems and the not-dems.  Ever since I first set foot in this area back in, I guess it was 1967 or 68.  Not sure.  At any rate, I was stationed at NAS Memphis.  I entered the place as a private and left as a lance corporal.

I did follow the politics here and I did find it interesting.  I guess, because I started following it almost since the beginning, I likely know something more about it than people who are citizens of Shelby Country.  I have something of an advantage.  I watched it as an outside observer.  By the way, what a mess it has been from the very start.

It has been a battle of egos, power, with a whole bunch of racism and anti-racism mixed in.  Then too, almost at the beginning of it all, someone went and shot Martin Luther King.  It was like pouring gasoline on a fire in an effort to put it out.  For a while, it was downright dangerous to walk many of the streets of Memphis after dark, regardless of the color of your skin.  There were parts of Memphis that were off limits for those of us in uniform.  Walking down Beale Street in uniform was something inadvisable for anyone, especially those with the paler skin.

Those who were Black were rightfully angry but there was some righteous anger on the other side too.  The fact that they never really determined who killed Mr. King didn’t help matters at all.  The man was told, sign on the dotted line and you won’t die.  He never had a trial.  No evidence was ever presented in a public trial.  They never proved the rifle shot the bullet and even went to great extremes to keep from finding out one way or the other.  Moreover, the one they incarcerated, we don’t know if he was guilty or if he just didn’t want to die.

Nowadays, many consider it water under the bridge and don’t like revisiting those days, but I believe it is one place where the deal got in the way of finding out what happened.  It might have gotten in the way of justice as well.  At the very least, they should have checked the weapon… before making the guy confess.

At any rate, it has been one big problem after the other.  If I were a good writer, I could write a book or two about it.  There was a lot that happened before, during, and after the assassination.

I will briefly go through a small part of the aftermath.  It would take far too long to cover it all.

  1. The city of Memphis went from very slightly Republican to substantially Democrat.
  2. After the Supreme Court came down with the bussing decision, it aggravated the situation.  The white populace in Memphis drastically dropped.  The white populace in the areas around Memphis increased drastically.  It was called white flight.  What it was; was doing what they could to insure their children went to good schools.  Oddly, it is no longer just whites deserting Memphis.  The cities and communities surrounding Memphis have become pretty integrated.  It would seem the Black people decided they don’t like the schools that are run by Democrats either.  I’d guess that they are also seeking a place where the taxes are more reasonable.
  3. The Memphis city schools failed.  Despite the enormous amounts of money poured into them, they just were not getting the job done.  Hence, they dissolved the Memphis city schools and let the county take them over, which sounded like a good idea.  It didn’t work.
  4. Some left the county; south, north, east and west.  I think my property value went up about 10 or 15 percent after that fiasco.  Some put their kids in private schools, those who could afford it.  Some of the cities in the county formed their own schools.  This really hit a sore spot with the now county schools.  Much of the money going into the county schools is now going into the little cities.  As another problem, some of the little city schools are in the county.
  5. More than that it didn’t work.  After a couple of elections, those who were causing a disaster with the city schools are now causing worse problems with the county schools.  Moreover, they renamed Shelby County Schools to Memphis Shelby County Schools.  Hence, as one might figure, the city is now running the county schools.  Now, I ask you, who could have foreseen that one?
  6. So.  After all is said and done.  They have the same problem as with Memphis schools.  Only, now the problems have grown to include the whole county.  They are, more or less where they started, but worse.

Now there are power struggles between the little city schools and the county schools.  It’s a mess.  It would take a long time to explain it all but it’s a mess.  There is fighting between the little cities and the county and the state and feds are getting involved.  That can’t be good.  Well.  It is just fine for me.  My house value just might go up another ten or fifteen percent.  Who knows?  If they continue to mess things up as they are, my house might turn into a really good investment.

However, the real disasters are the county schools.  Just as the city schools before them, they are failing.  15% of the third grade students are reading at third grade level.  90% or more of the students in the little cities are reading pretty well.  I don’t know about y’ll, but to me that spells failure for the schools far more than for the students.  I suspect, at the end of this year, when they test this year’s students, the reading levels might even be worse.

Now, after all this, they don’t seem to be able to find a superintendant.  They have been looking for one, I guess about a year now.

As I look the whole situation over, if I were qualified, I don’t think I would want the job.  Right now, it is starting to look like Mission Impossible.  I simply would not want to have my name and reputation attached to that nightmare.  Even if I had the qualifications, I simply would have no idea where to start to straighten out the mess.  However, my first best guess is start by firing some teachers and rewarding others.  It’s sort-of the thing that works in the private sector.  It always has.  It always will.  While the leadership continues to be too blind to see that, as long as they continue to bow down and worship the National Education Association, no one will fix anything.  This is true, no matter how much money they have.  It will only get worse as you throw money at the problem instead of fixing it.

A More Betterer Idea

Posted in Biden, Crime, law enforcement, Lawyers and Representation, Uncategorized by

Please excuse the horrid grammar. Had a friend that really went wild when I used language so badly. Just is that sometimes it is needed to draw attention to the facts.

At any rate the better Idea is simple. I hope if you read this you pass it on.

How about instead of less police we have less criminals. If we are successful at getting the criminals off the street, we would not need so many police. Still, it’s a small price to pay for our safety. Let’s face it, they are willing to pay the much greater price so we don’t have to.

I kind of like that idea. Obviously, the dems don’t. If I were to post this on social media, it would never be read, other than by their socialist censors. It would seem they like crime. Police, not so much. You see, police decrease crime, which, as I have said, they like.

So. let’s do it right. Let’s have more police and less crime and, of course less censorship by the dems. We can do that. We should do that. It’s a more betterer idea, even if it is bad grammar.

How Many

Posted in Abuse of Power, Truth, Uncategorized by

The balloon will pop. I have no idea when but it will pop. The dems keep telling lies. Those who support them continue to believe or pretend to believe. I really don’t know which. Either way, the leadership in the democrat party will tell one lie too many and the balloon will pop. Very possibly to late.

My question is how many lies will it take before the truth persists. At what point will the limits be exceeded. When will those in the party finally put their feet down and say enough!

It has amazed me at how many lies they have already gotten away with. Then again, I shouldn’t be so surprised, not with the main stream media helping. Since I gave up cable TV, I have had to settle for main stream media. Guess what. They lie too, in support of the leadership in the party. It would seem that everyone who is anyone is required to take an oath, not to support the nation but the party line, no matter what that lie might be.

Oddly, there are still those in the country, indeed vary many that still believe in the collusion idea. It has been years since that has been totally and objectively debunked. Even the dems don’t try to make us swallow that one anymore. However, it has served its purpose. As long as no one tells the truth about it, many still believe it.

Then, of course there is the letter from the so-called intelligence folks. You know, the ones who are not so intelligent. Because of that lie, there are still those that believe that the laptop was not from Old Joe’s son. If you ask them, it is just another Russian plot.

The lies have taken hold and so very many are reluctant to let go of them.

However, suddenly, like the popping of a balloon, it will become plain that they were lied to. I do wonder if it will be too late to do any good. But even more, I wonder just how many lies they will tell before the truth becomes apparent to one and to all.

Times Past

Posted in Abuse of Power, Computers, Elections, Lawyers and Representation by

The wife and I went to a Baskin and Robins ice cream place a while ago. Across the street was a sizable post office. Compared to the one it replaced, it’s huge. The one replaced only had about a dozen or so parking places and the building was only a little larger than the parking lot. The replacement opened ten or twelve years ago. I don’t quite remember when. I don’t know for sure, but I’d guess it has close to a hundred places to park.

As I looked at the reasonably new building, the question came to mind. Just when last was it that I put a stamp on something and dropped it in the mail. In the old days, I made car and house payments by mail. I suppose I still can. However, most of my payments are made my internet. Communications with friends and family is generally by phone, voice or text. Occasionally I send an email, but not often.

It’s sort of odd. The post office is the one department that I know of that is specifically established by The Constitution. Could it be that it just might fade away. Will we reach a time when it will no longer be practical to open the doors of the post offices. 20 or 30 years ago, who would have figured that?

It does show, however what happens when something is run by the government. This was not something that came on us suddenly. If someone in the hierarchy saw what was happening, plans and methods could have been made. When things started to be sent by computer, the postal service did have the option of getting in on the ground floor. Indeed they had the advantage of having the infrastructure in place. Documents could have been sent electronically just as securely and much faster. This was especially true for commercial users of the mail system.

Federal Express popped up to fill the void left by the post office. There were those who needed documents and such things sent other places overnight. Indeed Federal Express invented the new verb, “overnight,” as in “Please overnight that contract to the Chicago office.”

Nowadays, many things such as contracts are sent at the speed of computer. They can be sent either by internet or phone. For all practical purposes, it is instantaneous.

So. What happens to the USPS? I certainly don’t know. I suppose it could just fade away. On the other hand, one day someone might decide to do away with it. In either case, how will I ever be able to survive without all those circulars.

On the other hand, some really forward thinking individual just might figure out a way to modernize the mail service. I’m not sure what a modern post office system would look like, but in the hands of the government, it would likely be worse than today. If turned over to some private company(s), it just might surprise a bunch of dems. Who knows? It might even start turning a profit.

As an aside. We just might could have secure elections all in one day. Don’t think the dems would like that. First they don’t like elections in one day and they certainly don’t like them to be secure.

They Just Don’t Care

Posted in Alcoholism, Uncategorized by

The man gets drunk and starts to go home. On the way, he hits a car. About 6 hours later, he wakes up in a hospital room. He will be okay after a year of so. The two children in the car he hit will live, hardly any injuries. The same can’t be said about the mother and father. One died right away. They other died in the hospital an hour later.

One child, eighteen months, will likely remember very little of her mother. The other child, five will remember the crash for the rest of his life. Both will go into into the system and will likely be adopted into different homes, if they are adopted at all.

The alcoholic who caused the crash, might actually feel really bad about, but not likely. The man is determined to have his liquor and he doesn’t care what it causes or what gets in the way. Before it’s all over, he will be arrested two more times for drunk driving. He might even kill more before it’s over.

The above story, I just made up on the spur of the moment. However, I have seen similarities. In some cases, it is the parents that die. In other cases, it’s the kids. I personally know of one woman who lost two of her three kids in an accident and spent a while in the hospital. Then about a year later, she lost the third child. All were lost to people driving under the influence.

Apparently, they don’t learn and apparently, they don’t care. Even when their driving privileges are revoked, they continue to drive and they continue to drink and they continue to kill. The only conclusion that I can draw is that they just don’t care. Apparently, nothing short of locking them up for a while will stop them from getting into a car and converting it into a weapon.

My guess is to head it off. The first time they are caught, they need to spend serous time in jail, that is besides any other laws they are guilty of breaking. Perhaps a six month stint in a jail will change their might about driving drunk. The second time, make it two years.

When they don’t care, we have to do something to keep them off the road, at least for a while. Apparently, revoking their license is not enough. Maybe, if the penalties are stiff enough, we can keep them from killing someone the first time. After all, as near as I can tell, right now all they get is a warning the first time. They need to get the first warning when they are issued the license and each time it is renewed. They need to know better before ever getting behind the wheel.

Then, maybe, just maybe, there won’t be so many parents without their children and children without their parents. We really ought not excuse crime as a sickness called alcoholism.

Shall We Call it a Conflict

Posted in Alcoholism by

In the Marines, one thing you learn is the process of checking in or out of a duty station. This is where I was handed a paper with a bunch of stuff on it. When checking in, I was given three days to visit each of these places and check in there. There was admin (S1), intel (S2), supply, barracks, armory. As a said, it was a full page of stuff. No since going through it all here. Oddly, religious or not, we all had to check in or out with the chaplain. I’m not sure why that is but, every duty station, I did have to see the chaplain or his representative. Generally, it is a simple formality. I hand someone my paper and he signs me off and away I go.

When I checked into Iwakuni, Japan in 1975, it was a little different. It seems that the base commanding general had noticed an increase in the rate of alcoholism and he wanted to slow it down. Hence, all those checking in were required to watch a film about 40 minutes to decrease alcoholism and its associated problems.

I had a little bit of a laugh. Speaking to the chaplain, himself, I explained that I never did and never would touch the stuff. I also went into a little of why. Nonetheless, to placate the base CG, I was required to see the film, which I considered a waste of time. I did have one advantage. Because I was an E6, he sat up the projector and I was able to watch the film by myself. Those with lower ranks were required to see it in groups. It seems a small thing, but it did save me quite a bit of time.

To be honest with you, the film was good and I did learn a few things from it, though I could have told them a few things they left out.

The fact is that I spent 9 years in the Marines, and there was not one year that went by where a person or organization within the Corps didn’t try to get me to drink, many times it was official. Had I stayed in the Marines, it would have become a problem. Everyone within certain commands were expected to attend parties, which some called bear bashes. I tried to stay away from them. Each time I was promoted it became more difficult to avoid them. As an E6, I would have been required to attend. If somehow I picked up another promotion to E7, it certainly would have definitely been required. I also suspect that if I didn’t drink, it would not have gone well on my fitness reports, you know, “works well with others,” category.

I simply do not know if a person could ever spend 20 years in the Marines without ever taking a drink. It would seem to be an unofficial requirement.

Besides my not drinking, I am uncomfortable being around those who do. I have seen firsthand what drinking can lead to. To be sure, that base CG was right. Drinking does cause problems. He was in a position to see it so he tried to do something about it, or at least he tried to make look like it. I doubt there are any marine generals that don’t drink. It is part of the political part of the service and one I don’t like. However, it does seem to be required. It is sort of how things get done. Without it, the gears just don’t seem to mesh well.

However, while they are trying to “solve” the problems caused by drinking, they are also encouraging it. Indeed, they are making the nondrinker pay for for their stand, even to the point some nondrinkers start their drinking in the armed forces. Those of us who didn’t want to drink always, and I mean always pay the price. This is especially true among the higher ranks.

I have said before, and I will say it many more times. All alcoholics have one thing in common; their first drink. and it would seem the military is determined that everyone will get their first drink. Then, when they become alcoholics, they boot them out of the military for becoming what the military made of them.

It is a conflict. No one advances unless they drink. If they start drinking too much, they get tossed out on their ear as undesirable.

When I was in the Marines, I thought the problem was just a military problem. However, the private sector has those who encourage alcoholism too. There are the Christmas and New Year’s parties. And of course, if you don’t go, you better have a really good excuse. While a person is at the parties, they are encouraged to drink, or at least carry a drink around. It really does ‘not look good’ to be at a party where almost everyone gets drunk. I mean the one who remains sober has a tendency of making the rest feel guilty.

Therefore, those who make it up the ladder of success, play golf, have the little martini lunches and the go to the costume bashes on Halloween or whatever they can think of for a reason for everyone to get drunk. And then, when the former teetotaler starts showing up to work because he is now a problem drinker, he gets called into the office and tossed out on his ear.

Seems to me like a lousy way to run a railroad, or regiment or corporation. It’s a conflict that I don’t think will go away soon… or at all.