November 27, 2009
Hyphens That Come Between Us?
Chuck reporting for duty.
As I’ve more or less written before, my home is what could arguably be called a small yacht, as she is fifty feet long and fairly luxurious, the good part being that while she cost quite a bit of money, I was fortunate, at the time I acquired her, to possess the means with which to pay for her in full.
This was made possible by the U.S. Armed Forces, since after I retired with twenty, entering the private sector, I brought my experience and skills overseas to help some good guys solve some problems with bad guys and made a couple of good scores along the way.
She’s parked among the pleasure craft, at a marina located within the boundaries of Los Angeles County, California, of a number of individuals whose personal assets make mine look like fly specks, but then, friends of mine tell me I’m essentially a “boat bum” (as opposed to a beach one, I suppose), and they’re not far off the mark: it took practically every penny I had at the time to buy and equip her to my specifications, with a permanent and totally mobile home in mind.
My bank balance is anything but impressive, and my modest pension takes care of my month-to-month expenses.
Even so, I’m the original happy camper as what little I have constitutes, in its entirety, everything I want or need.
Having said that, I’ve been all for the modest, quiet life since buying her and going to live aboard; Entertaining friends or neighbors, taking her out for a cruise either down to Coronado or, still further south, to Mexico, or north for a visit to the Bay Area now and then, or wandering around, landlubber style, in questionable neighborhoods like Venice Beach or Hollywood.
Yesterday evening, a friend and I got together for a Thanksgiving feast at a place on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood. Having nothing planned, other than swinging by a couple of local bars I occasionally visit in nearby Venice, I spent the day wandering around and made an observation I thought I’d share.
I was down in the vicinity of Santa Monica Blvd and Western Avenue, which is as Mexican a neighborhood as you’ll find outside Mexico (along with a significant sized sprinkling of South Americans). There must be one “hellified” number of illegals saturating that community.
While practically every place of business in L.A. County that wasn’t selling food, gas or booze was closed for Thanksgiving, every business in that ‘hood was open as though there were no holiday: even the clothing stores, check cashing establishments, electronics businesses (cell phones, stereo equipment, etc), and the locals were going about their normal routines as though it were just another day.
Thanksgiving is an American holiday, one of the most prominent of American holidays, yet the folks in that Mexican enclave could care less, it was nothing to them, just something the gringos celebrate.
Theoretically, most of these happen to be among those people liberals in our society refer to as “Mexican - hyphen - Americans”.
Here at Hard Astarboard we do not believe in hyphenated Americans.
Either someone’s an American or not, they can’t be both an American and something else.
This hyphenating business came along as a liberal Democrat ploy to maintain differences between white and non-white Americans, the ultimate purpose being to exploit those perceived differences, through race-card politics, to get votes.
One of their primary explanations for this pitiful, very desperately conceived precurser of oppressive political correctness is that they “feel” all people of foreign extraction should, the poor wretches, be able to embrace their respective heritages.
If you are an American, you have the same heritage shared by all Americans. If you don’t, why be here? Wouldn’t it just be cozier to return to the land that you feel is the land of your heritage?
Now, here’s what makes me scratch my head:
Mexican-Americans. Most “Mexican-Americans” are here because they want to be able to find work, earn money, eat. Feed their families.
Back next door in the old country, many of them didn’t have those luxuries, couldn’t find ‘em, so they came up here.
By being “Mexican-Americans”, then, they are able to celebrate their “heritage” of poverty and squalor, hunger and disease in a politically corrupt shithole.
“African-Americans”. Hmmmph! How many American born black people with American born grand parents do you know that can tell you which tribe their ancestors came from and the names of those ancestors?
The reality is that American black folks are 100% American, the same as the rest of us, no different, except that their first generation ancestors paid harder than most of the rest of ours on the way to becoming free men in a free country. Granted, those unfortunates back then hadn’t been given a choice as far as coming over here to begin with, but looking at the way life has always been in sub-Saharan Africa, I hardly think the average black American, or white, yellow, red or brown one for that matter, would want to live there, anyway.
Moving on, though, slavery flourished and died long before any American now living was born, and there has not been a human being in this country alive for decades who even knew any slaves, let alone having been slaves themselves.
It’s over, it is the worst black mark on the history of this nation, but it ended, and it ended on fields covered with blood spilled by white boys and white men. It was time to move on a long time ago.
Liberals don’t want to move on, because they gain votes by pimping guilt to whites and resentment to blacks, using both to keep a wedge between false perceptions and reality, because it’s in the best political interests of the Democrats to keep alive the illusion that we are different. Keep the hate in place as best you can, so the differences remain in plain sight as well.
These are the same Democrats who founded and filled the member roles of the Ku Klux Klan, and the same Democrats who voted solidly against the Civil Rights Bill, yet they have run a hell of a good con, making it “a given” that they are the black man’s best friend.
Most of the blacks I know are pretty smart, which causes me some disappointment when I realize that so many of them are gullible enough to be made asses of by the Democrats decade after decade without waking up and smelling the proverbial coffee.
In summation, the hyphen thing seems to be working, if the people in the Mexican neighborhood I mentioned above don’t even take the fact of Thanksgiving seriously. On the other hand, look for lots of liberals to show up for the next Cinco de Mayo celebration.
After all, we American-Americans must be as multicultural as it takes us being in order to stand our own culture aside for the collective heritages of everyone else, mainly so Democrats can get more votes.
Ciau.
http://hardastarboard.mu.nu/wp-trackback.php?p=1101
November 28th, 2009 at 12:40 am
Spot on, Chuck.
Regarding the casualties borne by the Union Army during the Civil War, if you combine deaths from combat, illnesses acquired in the course of fighting the war and all other related causes, the North gave the lives of something like 350,000 of its young men in the cause of freeing the slaves.
Given this sacrifice alone, IMO, the race pimps who try to victimize us by saying we still owe black Americans for their ancestors’ slavery are no more than sleazy, chisling political opportunists who pander shamelessly to black voters by creating some hope for entitlements that simply do not exist.
…they are able to celebrate their “heritage” of poverty and squalor, hunger and disease in a politically corrupt shithole.
ROTFLMAO!!!!
November 28th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
I agree entirely. This sums up exactly why our western democracies are heading straight down the tubes.
November 28th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
And the race-baiters still stir up the crowd while taking absolutely no responsibility for their part in the stirring up of racial hatred…
It’s all about everyone taking responsibility for themselves, and not blaming their own shortcomings on some faux pretense of “I’m being held down by the other guy.”
November 28th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
American-Americans? Used to fish with an Ojibway and worked with a Nez Perce…:)
November 28th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Gray Monk,
The way things only seem to be getting progressively worse in that regard, it seems like it will take a miracle for any kind of sudden attack of perceived reality to prevail.
Especially since the liberal establishment, in the form of both politicians and media, toil ceaselessly at inundating the public with this B.S., and all for the sake of lefties continuing to enjoy minority votes.
Considering that they don’t actually do anything tangible for these minority voters who keep them in office, it’s the ultimate free lunch.
Tom,
If the Democrats ever began endorsing the taking of personal responsibility rather than blaming society at large for the failure of the individual, they would have nothing left to attract votes.
It’s pretty sad that that’s all they have in their product inventory, but then, today’s Dems are a pretty pitiful lot.
BB-Idaho,
I thought they called them Native Americans, and they don’t need a hyphen, anyway, because face it: They are the natives.
Remember, they were the folks who used to worry everyone when they got “restless”.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Seth,
Thanks for the figures. The site I went to to double check said more like 360,000; 110,000 combat losses, the rest diseases and other things incurred in the course of prosecuting the war.
I had known that the northern casualty rate was high in the Civil War, but not that high, we’re talking more than the body counts in any war we’ve fought since.
That said, the people who claim we have any kind of unpaid debt are full of it. 300,000+ young lives = Paid In Full, and then some!
November 28th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Chuck, interesting take (albeit limited in its scope). You forget a few things…not only does our society seem to gravitate towards “labels” but actively embraces them…take for instance the “label” Irish-American, Italian-American, Polish-American, and etc., however, nowhere is the “label” American-American sought or used by the populace (ever wonder why?). I maintain, like many in my generation (translation: OLD PEOPLE) that we, the majority of Americans are no more than “Heinz 57-American”…that is that our roots, when traced back through multiple generations, indicate that our ancestors moved around more than a bit.
As far as those from the “Indian Nations,” the tax payers have been paying ‘guilt’ compensation to every man, woman, and child among them annualy (check for yourself) to the tune of millions (or perhaps the tag is now in the billions) of dollars…I believe under the heading of “reparations” for generations now; and they (the people of the Indian Nations) term themseles, for the most part, as AMERICANS…why is that?…could it be due to the fact that they have seen and understood that this America is a great nation (although governed by blithering, incompetent idiots [and I apologize to the blithering idiots of this world for lumping them together with our corrupt, self serving government officials]).
November 29th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
NH Meri Wido,
Agreed.
However, where ethnic labels are concerned, how many of them are used as a political weapon? Only two that I can think of.
I know that them red injuns have been well paid, as a matter of fact I know quite a few of them; Many of the tribes sent their kids to school to become lawyers, and these lawyers sued the government for lost profits on petroleum/mineral recovery and land use.
The United States has traditionally helped our enemies rebuild their nations after defeating them in war, which is more or less a variation on what we did to the indians, since we conquered them on their home turf and retained their erstwhile property for our own use. We let the Germans and Japanese keep their countries after we handed their asses to them, but since we didn’t do the same for the redskins, we took care of them another way.
I might add that a whole lot of them have fought bravely and well for our country in wartime, though they could just as easily have said, “Me no care about war. War white-eyes’ problem, not ours”.
How.
November 29th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Chuck,
Agreed in so far as those of the Native Nations go…however, we as a society haven’t always embraced the “hyphenation” system of labels. As I re-read your posting the thought that came to mind was that of Nikita Kruschev addressing the UN back in the 50s (probably before your time) and of his comment regarding America destroying itself internally (which it seems we have been doing over the past two or so decades) with great help from our own elected officials (BOTH Republican and Democrat)…most with a far more liberal bent then it seems those that post here on Hard Astarboard have. I can remember watching that telecast and listening to the translator (as my father corrected some of the translation using far different words then were broadcast)…and sad to say, Kruschev was more correct then he was wrong.
November 30th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
NH Meri Wido,
…and sad to say, Kruschev was more correct then he was wrong
I can’t argue with that, sad to say. I suppose that there were citizens of the Roman Empire saying the same things as they watched their nation crumble from within, and that without having had a former enemy forecasting the same on TV.
We have had an “enemy within” lurking around this country for decades, if not longer, such as:
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45959
and the young liberals who joined the American Communist Party back when, many of whom are no doubt firmly entrenched in Congress and the courts today, and all the liberals who support agendas whose ramifications they don’t even understand.
Hate to see it go, having spilled blood for it (not only others’, but my own), but it seems like no matter how you vote or which government policies would be more sensible than others, there is only the same outcome.
Too many voters are too irresponsible to take the time to learn who the candidates are and what they truly represent before going to the polls, and the people we pay to manage the country are far too interested in their own or their parties’ agendas to bother serving those of us who put them where they are.
November 30th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Chuck,
AMEN!!!!
December 9th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Living on a boat is intriguing. Like, does one have a postal address? What sort of mileage does the craft get? The ‘head’ does it run directly into the bay?
Ever get barnacles? Finally, living on a boat seems
a bit ‘unconservative’.
December 9th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
BB-Idaho,
In order of your questions:
Yes, a mail drop.
300 landlubber miles, give or take.
At my discretion.
I give my baby too much TLC for any kind of “barnacle” build-up to occur.
Conservatives believe in living free. If you’re single and have responsibilities to no one except yourself, what could be more free than dwelling aboard and being the captain of your own ’ship’?
December 9th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Aye, aye, Captain. No wonder this blog uses starboard.
My son-in-law is a Navy Cdr currently in Iraq. He throws in mizzen, foc’sle, scupper and foredeck just to confuse me. Gimme credit, though, I walk like a drunken sailor….
December 10th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
BB-Idaho,
Aboard my vessel, I also call ‘em as they are: Decks, bulkheads, overheads, etc.
Thank your son-in-law for his service.
Gimme credit, though, I walk like a drunken sailor…
I’ve been known to do that a time or two.
December 10th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
The causes of this drunken sailor mobility may differ, however.
In some cases, the cause may be the same, old fashioned grog, where in others, we may be talking a few well-guzzled bottles of…
http://www.bigskybrew.com/Our_Beers/Moose_Drool !