Re:OT RayGun- Additional perspective

Dan,

    No offense taken. To a large extent I've tried to live by the motto of my maternal grandfather who had the "priviledge" of fighting in both world wars:

    "Remember every man has a right to his opinion. And also remember that opinions are like backsides, we all have them & they all stink."

Dick Goulet

____________________Reply Separator____________________
Author: "Dan Mills" <mills.dan_at_home.com>
Date:       2/16/2001 4:00 PM

Not intended to prolong such a controversial thread, merely to add additional perspective to a viewpoint expressed by another former member of our armed services. We all have our touchy issues so please forgive my disgression from this list's focus.

I was a private in the 82nd Airborne Division, (a paratrooper in the trenches, not in the rear with the gear) when I attended Ronald Reagan's second presidential inauguration in 1985. With wife and child at the time, I lived as this military's lowest paid soldier. I also had a close family memeber in the Army in East Berlin when the wall came down.

Our country, (native americans, immigrants, and future citizens, ALL who live here), owes its wealth and status to the generation of Americans who fought and died in WWII. Period.

The liberals and conservatives who have followed have merely towed the line to 1) win and end (RayGun) the cold war, and 2) facilitate the only growth industry in a post-industrialized world. Baby boomers give themselves far too much credit for the real and hard sacrifices of their fathers and mothers. Reagan not only towed the line but pushed the envelope with PR savvy and a happy, confident face, and convinced the world that we really were the best alternative to the STERN faced, oppresive, Soviet block. Forgive me if I offend Eastern Europeans here but I think you'd have to admit, Russia did not appear to the world as happy campers. Whatever money and sacrifice it took to nail that coffin shut, once and for all, has since been repaid to US(A) all, a million times over.

Another military perspective,
dgm

PS Dick, Nothing personal, but you guys put us out over the trees far too often ;-)

• Original Message ----- To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com> Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 1:01 PM

> OHHH, bad subject matter for mail lists. Politics & Religion should
remain
> prohibited subjects, just because the "FLAME:ON, HIGH" gets set so often.
BUT,
> Was Clinton such a bad president? Well I guess we'll have to leave that
to
> history, cause that's what it is now like it or not. Will George Bush JR
be a
> good or bad president, that's to be seen. Talk is cheap, action is more
> expensive & can have some very long term consequences. My only dislike of
> George Bush the senior was that he flubbed the gulf situation. We should
have
> gone on to clobber Sadam while we had the chance & eliminated the mess
over
> there that is now the case. My vote for the worst president remains
RayGun.
> Here was a person who spoke the speak and took the action to
overwhelmingly
> increase the military's spending, but where did it all go? Not to the
folks in
> the trenches that's for sure. We had the worst military pay increases
ever.
> Carter was much more generous. And to add insult to injury the flow of
spare
> parts for existing stuff, fuel, and ammo just about stopped all together.
At
> the same time his "friends" in CA were accumulating billions of $$$ on
StarWars
> research. The guy, & his wife as it turns out, user fortune tellers to
make
> decisions. My GOD, just imagine what would have happen had one of them
foreseen
> the "end of the world". We might have gone there!! At the present moment
my
> only gripe is all of the partisan politics going on. We're all American's
first
> & foremost. I really wish when a politician walked into his/her office,
the
> Congress, or the Supreme Court that they would leave their political party
hats
> outside. We the voters after all voted the individual into his/her
office, not
> the party. I see no reason why we should not disband the national
political
> party mechanisms. No more party committees, no more grand conferences (or
> whatever they call them), and no more primaries. Let's just have the
election,
> everyone interested in a particular office has their name on the ballot
without
> their party affiliation. He/she with the majority wins, the one who comes
in
> second can take the 'vice' office if there is one. Might make an
interesting
> mix, President Bush with a Vice President Gore!!! Think about it!
>
> Dick Goulet, MSgt, USAF(ret)
> --
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> Author:
> INET: dgoulet_at_vicr.com
>
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-- 
Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
-- 
Author: Dan Mills
  INET: mills.dan_at_home.com

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  INET: dgoulet_at_vicr.com

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