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Opinion

Some Of My Favorite Things

No, it’s not what you might be thinking. My very favorite things are items that truly need to be corrected and, in my own inimitable way, I try to make a difference.

Heading up the list are members of the United States Congress. They have entirely too much time on their hands. While the “average Joe” works a forty-hour work-week, they don’t. While we little people get the Federal holidays off, they take off for weeks at a time, and they wind up working about half of the year. Now, if they actually got their act together and pushed through the legislation that needed to become law, that would be a miracle. There are SO many things that our country needs, and this is not coming from a political standpoint because these things affect ALL Americans. Do they really need a mini-hospital in their workplace? What about the private barbershop and don’t even get me started on what THEY pay, or don’t pay, for health insurance/healthcare.

You may, or may not, know that I’m retired US Navy, and am very proud to be able to say that. No, I never saw combat, but I served and was ready to obey any lawful order that was given. Oh, did that strike a nerve?

The “modern” Navy seems to be just a shell of what it used to be. They have the unmitigated gall to bring up a Chief Petty Officer on charges that he “posed” with a dead enemy! In the Navy in which I served that would have been a common thing, and everybody would probably have taken a turn.

The Uniform Code of Military Justice(UCMJ) has been around for years, and it’s been given its share of nicknames… none of which can be written down here. Suffice it to say that the UCMJ does NOT favor the innocent, or the lower ranks. It was a common thing to recommend a military career, in any of the armed services, if anyone ever asked me… I wouldn’t do that now. If you do your job, and do it well, you may very well be brought up on some cockamamie out-of-left-field charge. Now, for those that DO volunteer, a hand salute and a thank you.

Since when, and by what logic, is pledging your allegiance to the flag of your country, and what it represents, does that become “offensive”? To whom is it offensive and why? Are the memories of most Americans so short that we forget why there was a sudden surge of patriotism following the horrible event of September 11, 2001? Our flag represents all sorts of things, not the least of which is the star for each state and the stripes for the original thirteen colonies. Speaking of “the colonies”, we recently celebrated the 243rd birthday of the United States and, in creating this new nation, we created something that is rarely, if ever, seen… a Constitutional Republic. America, through this document, put restrictions on the government, something that probably doesn’t exist anywhere else… but I could be wrong about that. Our Constitution says we have certain unalienable rights, and we need to exercise those rights if, or when, the government takes a turn for the worst. As an American citizen you cannot be forced to house troops, or even open the door for them, without a warrant. Now, I understand, there are things called “no-knock raids” in which the doors may be battered down. That is not a good thing, and I’m not in favor of informing bad guys that a raid is coming, either, because in some instances innocent people including one elderly woman, got shot to death by government agents.

We have, because of actions from the 44th occupant of the White House, become a country of groups, and being pitted one group against another. Race relations have been set back decades and agencies, in which we placed a great deal of faith for integrity, became pawns in some sort of master plan to undo the government and set up some sort of benign dictatorship… and, in the end it would not have been benign at all. Had Hillary Clinton been elected, we would have continued down the path laid down by Hussein and his Horde, until the United States became a third-world nation. If you toured some of our major cities today, you would see a small portion of what they had in store for us… and still do. Some of our most beautiful cities are becoming great big piles of excrement, because it’s legal to defecate and urinate in public. The current President is trying his best to turn the ship of state, but like any large ship, it’s a slow process. We owe him our best because he’s doing his best. America, as wonderful as it is, is not perfect. We have made mistakes, but to our everlasting credit, we corrected them, or tried to.

Parting shot: There’s a certain amount of satisfaction that a person can take, as they approach the end of their life, knowing that they did something worthwhile, something others can benefit from.

Larry Usoff

Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired. Articulate. Opinionated. Patriotic. Conservative. Cultured enough so that I can be taken almost anywhere. Makes no excuses for what I say or do, but takes responsibility for them. Duty. Honor. Country. E-mail me at: amafrog@att.net