What, me take responsibility?

In yet another example of the Stolen Valor that we see every day in 3,500 counties around America, Four Star General (and Sheriff) Scott Israel of Broward County is whining about how he is not responsible for four of his deputies hiding like, well, er, school children, while actual school children were being murdered.

Take a look at the picture.  Yes, this utter buffoon was not content to self-award himself the rank of Colonel, which would have been bad enough.  A rank of Colonel would have indicated that Scott was such a man among men that he could recruit and provide for - out of his own pocket - 500 men to secure the peace of Broward County.  

But no, Scott, like all the other Sheriffs, isn't content to be a Colonel, as honorable as that rank is.  No, he must pretend to be a General.  And like every half-man who knows the shame of having an unfulfilled wife who knows the schedule of the mailman, he can't just leave it at one star.  Or two.  Or three.

No, when your wife has more Danielle Steel novels than the Pope has funny hats, only FOUR whole stars will do.  On each side, of course, so it looks like he's a real soldier.  As opposed to the civilian politician chasing after votes that he is.

Am I too hard on these strutting peacocks who - in a perfect example of Stolen Valor - dress up as soldiers?  And not just soldiers, but as Generals?  And not just as Generals, but Generals who outrank even the revered Founder of our entire Nation?

No.

The defense of this "General" in the wake of numerous calls for his resignation would be laughable, if it wasn't so utterly bizarre.  "Listen, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, O.J. Simpson would still be in the record books.", was what the man who believes he is worthy of more rank the President George Washington said.

What does that mean?  Hard to say - as for one, O.J. still is in the record books.  But you know me, this Amicable Anarchist, while I might use such individuals as Scott as examples, I speak more to the over all problem.

And in this case, it's not how badly this one loser flubbed things - though he did.  It's not about his stupid "O.J" line, which meant nothing more than he being confused by the cameras and lights he usually loves.  It's not about the 25 - or 50 - calls that came in about this mass murderer that were ignored or handled poorly.  It's not even about how responsible a "General" is for the desertion of one or four of his troops.  Though the Sheriff literally referred to himself as like a General.

No, it's about two main over-riding things.  

One, about the dirty little secret that those deputies were not flaunting procedure out of cowardice, but instead following exact procedure.  Out of institutional cowardice.

Surprise.

Yeah, see, they weren't actually supposed to go in.  Oh, sure, morally they were supposed to.  If they were men first, before being deputies.  If they cared more about kids than cashing their paycheck.  If they really joined to "serve and protect".  Yeah, in those cases, sure, they could of and would have gone in.

But just as Deputies?  Deputies making 75k and more a year while you eat Top Ramen?  Deputies who got the job because checking to see if warehouses are locked, pulling over drunks and breaking up the random domestic is 100 times easier than real work?  Deputies who were the bullies in your high school, or worse, the nerds who swore that one day everyone would rue the day?  Deputies who buy into the hype of "Blue Lives Matter" and "The only important thing is that YOU get home safely!"?

Ahh, then those deputies followed procedure to the letter.  Set up around the area.  Take cover so you don't die and the State has to go to the bother of training another.  If something comes out, make sure it complies or dies, while you yell and shoot from behind a safe barricade.  

This is hardly the best keep secret in the world.  I'm aware of it.  Any who, like me, used to be a policeman are aware of it.  Any instructor at a Police Academy will tell you.  It's allowed - I mean, the police love to play like they are soldiers, and we civilians, but in truth, they are civilians, and nothing they learn is "classified".  You need hardly take my word for this.

Those deputies waited outside while the kids were slaughtered.  And the only problem the State has with that is that they do not wish you to know that this was as it should be.  As they had taught those deputies.  As they had trained them.

So the politicians are making a big sound and fury now, trying to throw this deputy under the bus, or that deputy, or all deputies, or to toss even the Big Boy himself, Four Star General Israel under that bus.  And if we can muddy it up with NRA this and Liberals that, and talks and what did Trump say, and then this and how about that - anything, ANYTHING to get you to fail to realize that yeah, those kids died because our government cares more about protecting their protectors than saving your kids.

And the second thing?

Well, it has little to do with that first thing, but I think it makes the first thing more likely.  It "sets the tone" so to speak.

That second thing is, oh, yeah, this over-militarization of the police.  They were to be little more than just one of us randomly chose to stand watch for a night.  Now they don't see themselves as civilians protecting other civilians, they see themselves as soldiers occupying us.  People in nations our Army occupy get treated with more gentleness - and more ability to have grievances redressed - then we here at home.

And you can tell this by the fact that what used to be called a "chief" or a "sheriff" now wears the rank of "General".  A Four star General.  I mean, I'll honestly have a heart attack the day I see one of these press conference chasing pretenders show up with only three stars.  "Yeah, I've only three stars, but only because I've only just been elected!  After I've six weeks experience in redecorating my office, making sure my portrait is hanging everywhere, and giving a press conference, then I'll be ready to award myself that fourth star, so that if Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant come back to life I'll outrank those junior officers!"

Stolen Valor.  It's real, and it has jack all to do with some loser holding a Will Work For Food sign while falsely claiming he was in 'Nam.  It has everything to do with civilians trying to set themselves up as our masters and acting like those tinhorn dictators in Central America and Central Africa who dress up the more the less moral authority they have.

It needs to stop.  You reading this need to start advocating for this, and laughing at these posers in the meanwhile.  They are NOT Generals.  They are NOT soldiers.  They are little boys trying to hide that they are little boys, the same as that guy in Accounting who drives his $65,000 SUV to the convenience store to pick up his wife's hygiene products.    

It's time for the stars to come off.  And it's long past time that we started electing men who don't need such.  Remember Sheriff Andy Taylor?  The fictitious version of what used to be America's ideal of a Sheriff?

Let's close with a pic of how many stars he had.  

Respect what I respect!

Might be important to note here that "disrespecting the flag" would ordinarily involve doing something to it. Burning it. Wiping one's bottom with it. Standing on it. Spitting on it.

That's "disrespecting the flag".

On the other hand, there's failing to stand for it. Failing to salute it. These are not actions, but a person simply refraining from an action. It is "failing to give the flag respect" not actively "disrespecting the flag".

Think of it like Islamic Mosques. There's probably one in your town. You've never gone over and disrespected it by vandalizing it but you've never gone and kissed it or prayed in it either.

So you've not "disrespected the mosque" but you have "failed to respect the Mosque".

Care to know the difference between a Jihadi and an American Patriot?

Jihadists do not typically care that you "failed to respect a Mosque" they wait till you do something disrespectful to it before getting angry.

American Patriots? Apparently nowadays "failing to respect the flag" is an anger worthy offense. In need of name calling and punishment.

Pictured: Respect what he respects the way he respects it, or you are disrespectful!

Since you ask...

As a veteran, I think the usual line is that we were fighting for freedom. And to uphold the Constitution. I'm not as sure of that at 48 as I was at 18, but let's go with that.

Apparently the President, and some of my friends, are now imagining that what I was really serving for was to make sure that our nation was safe for conformity, and to make sure that sportsmen would be forced to stand and honor the flag against their will.

Um, no. That wasn't what I was serving for. Sorry for the confusion. I was serving because I honestly believed back then that we had freedom, and that it was worth preserving.

"Freedom" meaning that it was okay for people to think or worship or vote or speak or sit or stand differently than I or others.

Let us pause and consider something - how often do we hear criticism of BLM or Antifa for their "violent" protests? And justly so, if and when they are violent, as violence is not a freedom.

But here are some few ball players simply kneeling in peace. Is our democracy too fragile to withstand that? If it is, then golly, we've already lost and have no further use for that flag anyway. Call up Rocketman, we give up.

I also would sharply question - as a veteran - how many complaining actually stand at attention in their living room giving the civilian salute to the flag during that anthem. We used to do that.

I doubt most complaining on facebook do that any more, if they've ever done it a day in their lives.

Let's also remember the story in the Book of Daniel, where King Nebuchadnezzar tried to force everyone to give honor and respect to the image he erected. That - like a flag - was a symbol not of God, but of the Nation-State.

Daniel and his friends were correct to resist being forced to acknowledge State authority then, and Colin and his friends are correct to resist being forced to acknowledge State authority now.

It doesn't matter if you agree with them - heck, I'm not even saying whether I agree with them. But it is their right.

A Talk in the Park

An African American father and his son are walking through a park.  They see a statue of General Robert E. Lee.

Son:  Who's that, Dad?

Father:  General Robert E. Lee.

Son:  Teacher said that statues are for great men, was he a great man?

Father:  Many think so.

Son:  What did he do?

Father:  Remember that Civil War you learned about?

Son:  Where our ancestors got their freedom?

Father:  Yes, that one.  This man fought in it.

Son:  So he helped us get our freedom?

Father:  No, he wanted us to stay slaves.

Son:  I don't understand.  He fought against the United States?

Father:  Yes.  He had been an officer in the U.S. Army, and he turned traitor and betrayed his oath.  He helped his home state secede and rebel against the Constitution he had sworn to uphold and defend.

Son:  But this is the United States, why is there a statue of him?  What did he do that was so great?

Father:  His only greatness lies in how well he fought for the right for he and his friends to keep our ancestors in chains.  He did nothing else of note besides that.

Son:  No inventions, no discoveries?

Father:  No.

Son:  Maybe it's for how great an officer he was on the side of the U.S.?

Father:  No, the only thing he did of note as a U.S. citizen was betray his country.

Son:  Then I don't understand.  Do we put up statues of all men who betray and fight against our nation?

Father:  No, son, just those who fought for the right to own you and I.  British, Germans, Iraqis - we erect no statues to the valor of their Generals.  Just the Generals who fought and killed to keep us slaves.

Son:  Does this mean that America is still racist, like Uncle Jim always says at Thanksgiving?

Father:  That's hard to say.  On the one hand, most who like these statues would never dream of whipping or owning or discriminating against any of us.  They seem to identify the statues, and that Confederate flag you see on bumperstickers, with a "Screw you" to their own government.  It makes them feel rebellious and naughty, like maybe they are the freer for being able to do something that the government of the U.S. might not like.

Son:  But on the other hand?

Father:  The majority who feel that way have overlooked that the racists - the real racists, in the KKK and other white supremacy groups - use the Confederate flag and the Confederate statues as symbols of hope, hope in a day in which you and I and mom will be at the least second class citizens, if not out and out slaves.  They overlook that those statues were put up, not in honor of those men's achievements, but to make our people in your granddad's time know our place.  This one, for instance, was erected in the nineteen sixties, during the Civil Rights riots.

Son:  So these statues are so we know our place?

Father:  Regrettably, no matter how ignorant of that many are, or how kind and good they may well be, that is why these statues exist.  The statues are not of great philosophers or inventors from this state, or from the United States, but of men who used to whip and beat and rape and kill us, and find it good and Christian to do so.

Son:  I'm going to spray paint it tonight!

Father:  *sharply*  You'll do no such thing!  We've more burdens than a stupid statue to overcome.  You leave all that to the liberal white college students, they can afford to be arrested, you can't!  Your granddad paid taxes to maintain this, I'm paying taxes to maintain this, but hopefully, one day, with enough education, you won't have to pay taxes to maintain this perpetual symbol of our misery.

Son:  Okay, Dad.  But one way or another, I'll never pay that tax.

Father:  Oh, hush, it's almost dinner time.  You'll pay it because it's just the property tax and the sales tax that goes to a million things, including this shameful monument.  Or are you planning on being homeless and never buying food?

Son:  *laughing*  No, I guess not!  But still...

Celebrate the Process?

Are we truly being told that we should at least celebrate "the peaceful transition of power"?

Really?

Because all that means is that there is no violence on the stage, and that's a darn low bar for us to then be celebrating,

Most every transfer of power is peaceful.  The picture displayed is Hitler receiving power from President von Hindenburg.  Looks pretty peaceful to me.

"I promise to make Germany great again!"
(Yes, that's actually what he promised.)

Does this mean I say Donald is Adolf?  Oh, not at all.  For one, I think Adolf was more sincere.  For two, Adolf wasn't a misogynistic adulterer.  For three, Adolf made it on his own, without money from his dad.  For four, Adolf actually served in the military.

Of course, Adolf did fail at many ventures before unexpectedly snagging a position no one thought he could attain, so there's at least that commonality.

But no, my point is only to show that citing a celebration of a "peaceful transition of power" is naive at best.  There is nothing to celebrate, per se, in a transfer of power, UNLESS it is going from what one believes is worse hands into better hands.

In other words, it can only be a celebration of the man involved, the process - be it in Germany, the United States, Great Britain, France or Sri Lanka - can only be a neutral process, and wholly unworthy of celebration.

If now you then wish to celebrate having a man with the morals of an alley cat (sorry, alley cats) and brains so lacking that if they were dynamite he could not blow his nose, then you have at it.

That's freedom.  He states he wishes to ditch our treaty obligations, build a Berlin Wall to keep us in - er, keep others out - and to round up those who think and look different than him, but hey, he has panache and he's not Hillary, so there's that, huh?

But don't go on about "celebrating the process".  You will note - or perhaps you'll avoid noting - that 8 years ago, no one was speaking of celebrating "the process".

No, for better or worse, they were openly and honestly celebrating the man.  Which is all that a presence there ever means.  Which is all that celebrating it can ever mean.

And all it can ever mean.

(However, that said, those elected officials making a big show of sitting it out can get over themselves.  Donald is the result of the same system that put them in power, so they need to go welcome their mental and spiritual brother.  Because from where I'm sitting, their own swearing in ceremonies were no cause of celebration either.)

Standing or Sitting Alone is NOT a crime

Colin Kaepernick refused to stand and place his hand over his heart and show his allegiance to the playing of the National Anthem. For this he is feeling considerable heat, as those who do enjoy such displays are very angry at him.

Others have felt such heat in the past - including literal heat as a punishment for not giving a public display of fealty to a patriotic image.

In the Book of Daniel, Chapter 3, verses 1-7 we read:

1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

3 Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

4 Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,

5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:

6 And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

In every age and nation, there are rituals of obedience to the ruler or ruling class. Be it Pope or People, Dictator or Democracy, President or Premier, King or Congress.

And there are some who - like Daniel and Colin Kaepernick - do not wish to give such fealty, obedience, worship, respect, or anything else you care to call it. Many knelt in the plains when they heard the music, but as the accompanying picture shows, three stood instead.

Some times it is a golden image of the current King. Sometimes a standard with SPQR (in the name of the Senate and People of Rome), often nowadays a flag. And while most in America stand when they hear the music of the Anthem, one - Colin - sat instead.

But in each case, it is not enough for us to see the image or flag, we are commanded by law or by custom, to show that outward sign of allegiance to the symbol, or suffer punishment from ostracism to prison to - in Bible times - that fiery furnace.

If others sit, we must sit. If they kneel we must kneel. And for Colin it is said, that when others stand - he MUST stand.

The outward signs are not relevant. Except that they must be shown. It could be standing up with your right arm stretched out in a Romish or Nazi salute. Or it could be ritualistically singing the praises of your King or your Country. It could be placing a hand over your heart, signifying that you do love Big Brother, or the Queen, or the Party or the Nation.

In all cases, those most in favor of it are those most insistent on it being mandatory. The fear is if some do not, then later still more may not. Soon, perhaps, none will. And where will that leave the few then laying in the dirt or trying to sing a two century old song?

Yet mandatory allegiance, mandatory worship, mandatory respect, are all oxymorons. There can be no allegiance, worship or respect where force or pressure is exerted to compel it.

Such things may only exist in an environment where it is possible to say "no" without suffering harmful consequences. Because where harmful consequences exist, how are we to know if the people are on their knees - or on their feet - out of true respect and homage, or fear of the mob or government?

So when we insult those who refuse to pledge allegiance to that which we feel they should, we're only confessing then that we do not think it is worth pledging to voluntarily. If we punish those who do not contort their bodies as we choose to or mouth the words that we enjoy, we prove our own lack of confidence in our ideals being voluntarily accepted.

Jehovah's Witnesses, a minor off-shoot faith of the 19th century American Restorationist movement won the right for everyone, quite some time ago, to NOT Pledge Allegiance to the Flag. The Supreme Court of the United States so ruled. The precedence stands.

It is in no way required to give allegiance, or to show a public display of submission or respect, to anyone or any thing except that which you choose.

Jehovah's Witnesses choose to reserve such for God. So do various others, usually of even less popular faiths. So do some few, not for religious reasons, but for not agreeing with various social, economic or political situations that they feel the nation they are in is not addressing appropriately.

At one point, many refused to stand or revere the anthem or flag while 58,000 teens were being sacrificed in a pointless undeclared war in Vietnam. They were vilified for that, yet history has shown them to have been correct.

Do not care then, at a football game of all things, if you see someone refuse to chant "Big Brother" or sing "God Save the Queen" or "Seig Heil" or place their hand over their heart. Give such allegiance and in such a matter as you care to, and be glad that none are stopping you.

Take that as enough, and don't force others to do as you do, for you'd sure not like them to force you to sit, or mock or jeer you for it.