July 2, 2008
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HOW TO CALL THE POLICE WHEN YOU’RE OLD AND DON’T MOVE FAST ANYMORE.
George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi, was going up to bed, when his wife told him that he’d left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. George opened the back door to go turn off the light, but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.
He phoned the police, who asked ‘Is someone in your house?’ He said ‘No.’ Then they said ‘All patrols were busy. You should lock your doors and an officer will be along when one is available.’ George said, ‘Okay.’ He hung up the phone and counted to 30.
Then he phoned the police again.
‘Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don’t have to worry about them now because I just shot them.’ and he hung up.
Within five minutes, six Police Cars, a SWAT Team, a Helicopter, two Fire Trucks, a Paramedic, and an Ambulance showed up at the Phillips’ residence, and caught the burglars red-handed.
One of the Policemen said to George, ‘I thought you said that you’d shot them!’
George said, ‘I thought you said there was nobody available!’
(True Story)
I LOVE IT!
Don’t mess with old people.************************************************************************************************
If you carry a Verizon phone onto an airplane, where do all the support staff sit?
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I wonder if St. Peter had an Excederin day when Sybil showed up with all her personalities to be processed through Heaven Land Security?
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Bob Schieffer: Well you, you went so far as to say that you thought John McCain was, quote, and these are your words, “untested and untried,” And I must say I, I had to read that twice, because you’re talking about somebody who was a prisoner of war. He was a squadron commander of the largest squadron in the Navy. He’s been on the Senate Armed Services Committee for lo these many years. How can you say that John McCain is un- untested and untried? General?
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Because in the matters of national security policy making, it’s a matter of understanding risk. It’s a matter of gauging your opponents, and it’s a matter of being held accountable. John McCain’s never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in Armed Forces as a prisoner of war. He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in Air- in the Navy that he commanded, it wasn’t a wartime squadron. He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn’t seen what it’s like when diplomats come in and say, ‘I don’t know whether we’re going to be able to get this point through or not. Do you want to take the risk? What about your reputation? How do we handle it-’
Bob Schieffer: Well-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: ‘ -it publicly.’ He hasn’t made those calls, Bob.
Bob Schieffer: Well, well, General, maybe-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: So-
Bob Schieffer: Could I just interrupt you. If-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Sure.
Bob Schieffer: I have to say, Barack Obama has not had any of those experiences either, nor has he ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. I mean-
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be President.
Bob Schieffer: Really?!
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: But Barack is not, he is not running on the fact that he has made these national security pronouncements. He’s running on his other strengths. He’s running on the strengths of character, on the strengths of his communication skills, on the strengths of his judgment. And those are qualities that we seek in our national leadership.*********************
This is the portion of the June 29, 2008 Face The Nation dialogue that had diverted the media’s attention from real issues, and allowed the McCain bunch to chastise Wesley Clark, rather than to address McCain’s position on real issues.
McCain did graduate from the United States Naval Academy in 1958, and he was Navy pilot, and he did serve in the Viet Nam War, but he was shot down early in the war and spent most of the War as a POW.
In terms of his naval training, it would have been based upon the lessons learned in previous wars – notably the Korean War and WWII, where the air forces of the Army and navy, and later of the USAF, played a significant role. However, Viet Nam provided new challenges and new technology and techniques and strategies. This was the first war where helicopters were used assault weapons rather than as supply craft and medical evacuation vehicles.
McCain wouldn’t have been taught how to conduct jungle warfare at the Academy, and his peace time experiences prior to Viet Nam would not have prepared him, and being forced out of the war by being interred in a POW camp would not have given him wartime instruction in strategy or tactics. McCain retired from the Navy in 1981. What he might have been able to learn from the 1st Iraq war, or any of the conflicts from the Reagan-Bush41 and Clinton Eras become mute because he was no longer in the Navy. His work on the Armed Services Committee has been informative, but not from a command perspective.
Wesley Clark should have kept his mouth shut, but didn’t. What he said of MccCain was true. The man’s military and senate experiences aren’t proving grounds for leadership at POTUS. However, Barrack Obama also lacks those same qualifications, for he has no experience in the military or in combat.
In the final analysis, both men will have an on-the-job learning curve, and one would hope that each have the judgment, the tact, the strength to make critical decisions regarding the security of the United States.
I don’t think McCain’s judgment and temperament makes him suitable to the task of being president, and I don’t really know what his positions are on key issues. He seems to have scan idea of how to address the oil crises, the mortgage crises, the diminishing job market, and he seems less prone to attempt diplomatic solutions be fore he, like GW, shoot from the hip.
I wish Clark had of kept mum because McCain’s tortuous years in the POW camp are relevant to the man and his history, but don’t make him qualified (or not qualified) to hold Executive responsibilities. President Ronald Reagan, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senator George Murphy spent years before the camera, but being on the Silver Screen didn’t guarantee that they would be qualified for the positions they sought.
I was alive in 1942, but that doesn’t mean I am qualified to write a comprehensive history of that era, or am capable of being president based on the fact that I was in diapers for a portion of that era. It is sad that any of our military people had to sustain their existence under such adverse circumstances, but that still doesn’t qualify any of them to become president, in and of itself. John McCain should stop playing the hero card and get down to business – real business.
