ANTOINETTE TUFF - AMERICAN HEROINE...

The young woman, Antoinette Tuff,  who convinced a disturbed young man to keep his powder dry is a genuine American champion. Showing empathy, firmness, and clarity she masked her own fears, and saved the lives of school children and teachers. She bravely responded to a situation which many would have avoided.

Antoinette Tuff will be briefly acclaimed in the media, and recognized by political leaders needing a handy and heroic prop. However, in my opinion, the qualities behind her motivations and actions speak of a value system alive and well in our nation. Whether an individual is courageous on a battlefield or in a classroom, we are a better country because the majority of our citizens are heroes. Folks who act from a background strengthened by family, religious, or strong moral values easily out number the bad people. I believe Ms. Tuff acted from the principles of a strong moral compass. Unfortunately, the arts and media community tend to popularize the misdeeds of criminals, and inspire disturbed people lacking a moral code to perform evil acts.

Her actions deserve more attention than the slime balls who randomly shot babies or innocent joggers. As we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream " speech we need to consider Ms. Tuff as a modern day King. She didn't use violence or the threat of violence to disable a potential tragedy. Rather, she used logic, calmness, and understanding.  Dr. King would celebrate the actions of this brave young heroine.

We are a blessed nation for Antoinette Tuff and the millions of other good people who keep our country a more civilized place. Hopefully, more Americans will unleash their heroism, and keep the barbarians from taking control of our homeland. Hopefully, the managers of media and political opportunists will tone down their apologetic and glorification of evil people.            

REMEMBERING JOE FOULKES

Whenever there is a whisper of snow or a hurricane around here I remember Joe Foulkes. He passed about twenty years ago and we lost an original and entertaining weatherman. For natives and residents of Tidewater (Hampton Roads/Coastal Virginia ) he was the television voice of local weather in the 60's and 70's. At the time, he was an icon of local television.

He was a veteran of Naval forecasting, and always ended his broadcast with a snappy military salute. The most impressive part of his weather prognostications was his guttural delivery. When Joe told the weather it was delivered with the deep voiced authority of  god or at least Charlton Heston. Also, he was one of the last weathermen using a real map and black marker to scratch out the wind directions, highs and lows.

At the time the science of meteorology was still sketchy, and many children of the time will remember the snowstorms he predicted that never arrived. Based on his dire predictions, I fondly recall bedding down knowing his blizzard would allow me a few "snow days".  However, very often upon waking to sunshine and dry ground I would hate Joe, at least,  for the day. Late in his career because of age or an extra sip of spirits, Joe would sometimes miss jabbing his large black marker into his suit coat at the close of his broadcast.

Also, during the fierce hurricanes Hazel, Donna, and frequent northeast storms of the time, Joe was the man to watch before the power went out.  All in all,  he was a most likable television personality, and brought humor and a sense of gravitas to weather forecasting.

Remembering Joe Foulkes and his unique weather forecasting is a fond memory as we await the tomorrows climate change, global warming or new ice age.

RACIST

To many liberals, black leaders, and the mass hysteria media you might be a racist IF:

1. You are Caucasian, or your ancestors came from England or Europe.
2. Your grandfather or other ancestors ever used the "n" word.
3. You thought the Amos n' Andy sitcoms were funny.
4. You drive a white car, enjoy your white picket fence, or wear white under garments.
5. You believe Barrack Obama was one of our worst presidents because of his poor  performance in managing the domestic and international business of the USA.
6. You believe Al Sharpton is a race baiter, consummate liar, and does it all for personal financial gain.
7. You believe anyone making fun of Obama is funny, and an expression of free speech.

8. You believe Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson were great military leaders despite their misguided allegiance to the Confederacy.
9. You are weary of some liberals using the race card to excuse criminal and poor behavior.
10.You are fed up with the need of segregated black organizations such as the The Congressional Black Caucus, Black Miss America, Black History Month, etc.
11.You are puzzled that the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) might be offended if you referred to their members as "colored ".
12. You believe the "cradle to grave " socialism begun by Roosevelt, and sustained by Johnson and Obama Administrations have done more to destroy black families, perpetuate generational welfare, and increased poverty rates.

13. You believe the descendants of African slaves, and all minorities in America enjoy a greater standard of living, the most liberty, and more opportunities in the United States of America than in any other world country.
14. You realize that slavery was a dark chapter in American history, but it was not an American invention. It existed far longer in many countries, and still exists in Africa, the Mid East, Asia, and South America.
15. You are angry some black leaders acting unconstitutionally are guilty of corruption, lying, or using the civil rights movement as a cash cow and means of personal enrichment.

16. You oppose tearing down certain historical statues and monuments to erase bad history.
17. You oppose reparations to anyone other than living slaves.

18. You think BLM doesn't give a hoot about black people and is only dedicated to making radical political change to America.  

19. You respect real black heroes, Dr, Martin Luther King, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas, Washington Carver, Medgar Evers, Thurgood Marshall, Malcolm X, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and many others who fought for a united country of freemen. 

20. You reject those in the entertainment world that celebrate the "n" word, violence, drugs, and the degradation of women in their songs and performances. 

21. You are underwhelmed that extremists on the left quickly proclaim someone a "racist" when they cannot when an argument, continue a conversation or accept a differing opinion.       

TEARS OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING

A few days ago I visited the impressive shrine of cherry colored stone dedicated to Dr. King. It was a slightly rainy day. Just enough precipitation to cool things down, but not enough to keep one indoors. Two things struck me as I enjoyed my visit.

First, the light rain effected the statue of Dr. King in such a way as to show dampness beneath his eyes. The stains under both eyes clearly resembled running tears. This phenomena was noticed by many visitors. Second, parts of the monument were covered to obscure the removal of a quote, and the presence of the Chinese sculptor working on the changes.

Do the tears represent a heavenly sign that perhaps Dr. King has been disappointed with the direction of his historic movement ?  Seems his beautiful message of equality and inclusion by peaceful means has been wrecked in a world of exclusion preached by contemporary black leaders. So many people have used his cause to gain personal fame and fortune. To me it seems pretenders to his lofty goals have actually divided rather than unite people along racial and economic lines.

Despite all the bluster and laws from Washington DC, I wonder if  Dr. King would look kindly on the present state of black family's, inner city crime, and black youth employment in our nation's huge black communities ?  Would he demand more personal responsibility from his followers, and less dependence on government ? While he would surely be proud of a black president, would he be impressed that this historic figure has demonstrated little ability to unite and has instead taken many opportunities to divide Americans along racial and economic lines ?

To me, the temporary shrouding of sections of the monument symbolize parts of  Dr. King's messages hidden amid all the noise from poor civil rights and political leaders. Where is his dream ? While his message was profound and simple, has it become more profitable for politicians and black leaders to maintain a state of crisis and separation in racial relations ? Like Ghandi or The Christ, the tone and message of Dr. King was one of making great change without violence or retribution. No one in the scores of popular black leaders since his untimely demise have continued his profound  cause. To many operate as if a cash settlement or new bundle of government handouts will bring equality or justice.

In August 2013 we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Doctor Martin Luther King's historic "I Have A Dream" speech. How many white republican leaders were invited to this grand event ? Will anyone seriously recount the strong segregationist history of the democrat party prior to the Civil War or the many republicans from Lincoln forward who have lead and voted in favor of civil rights improvements ? Why is the world of drama news attracted to confrontation, street violence, and the rare cases when a white cop kills a black person ? Where is the media outrage and in depth news reportage behind the thousands of black on black homicides in Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans and other major urban areas ?

As a southern child of the fifties I lived in a racially segregated society and I believe the peaceful and profound message of Doctor King touched all Americans. Societal change is difficult but Dr. King was the rare leader with the heart and reason to make lasting changes. He truly deserved his Nobel Peace Prize at a time when it indicated great achievement. Sadly, his dream of racial equality and justice has been lost by an assassins bullet and a gaggle of truly incompetent black leaders.

Obama, Jackson, Lewis, Sharpton, Maxine Waters and many others have failed black America and taken many of them to a new place of resentment and violence. Their leadership has been spiritually discouraging and even encourages more segregation. They have been satisfied to trumpet a simple message that government dependence is OK and violence is a legitimate agent of change. Black leaders such as Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell, Ben Carson are consistently shouted down as "uncle tom's" by many with cheer leading from a fourth estate always ready to create grisly headlines at any cost.

In my opinion, Doctor Martin Luther King would be sad and ashamed of the self serving twists and ignorance spewed over black America by scores of faux civil rights leaders who have dominated for far too long. Their service has been a disservice and injured the cause of racial harmony and true equality for all Americans.

AFRAID OF AL QAEDA & THE TALIBAN ?

Has our nation become a giant quivering bowl of jello lead by a cast of  incredibly incompetent politicians ?

Our intelligence agencies report terrible plans by Al Qaeda & the Taliban  for our destruction. However, we quickly surrender our sovereignty in many diplomatic outposts and as usual our President seems to be leading from behind.  Despite her reputed political pedigree, and acclimation by the loony left wing media, Hillary Clinton was a lousy Secretary of State. Kerry is proving to be equally ineffective. Chuck Hagel is an incompetent appointed to weaken our armed forces in numbers and effective weaponry. Many of our best military leaders have resigned or been fired. None of this should be surprising because their boss is more comfortable bowing to foreign potentates than manning up, and being a leader.

It was Obama who haughtily poo pooed terrorists after Navy seals assassinated Bin Laden. It was Obama cowering in the presence of Russia's Putin. It was Obama lying to the world when he promised to nail the Benghazi terrorists. It was Obama threatening retaliations if Assad used poison gas and doing absolutely nothing when the use of chemical agents was proven.  It was Obama pledging to halt Iran's march to nuclear power status and doing nothing but assembling worthless paper agreements. It is obama consistently dis respecting our greatest Mid east ally - Israel. Obama has proven to be an inexperienced, ineffective, lying, and chicken shit shadow leader in foreign affairs. Obama like past pacifist leaders is punishing America because he believes kind words and gestures will smooth a troubled world of despots. Meanwhile, our young military men and women are being slaughtered and maimed in theaters of war sadly reminiscent of Vietnam.

Our greatest fear should not be Al Qaeda or the Taliban, our greatest fear should be our weak president and his clueless gang of diplomats.  Our enemies are scattered bands of terrorists reliving the Crusades and ideas from the sixteenth century. Sadly, these savages must be destroyed with overwhelming force. We have the military and intelligence resources to eliminate our enemies, but we lack effective leadership.

Our greatest fear should be Obama and his supporting cast of incompetents.