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A Day to Remember

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The day of which I speak  is of no significance to anyone but me. However, as I grow older each year, I feel this undying urge to recognize it. So if you aren’t interested in my day to remember, just skip it.

As Franklin D. Roosevelt speaking of December 7th 1941 coined the phrase, “A date which will live in infamy,” my date lives in my memory as though it was just yesterday, not sixty-four years ago! I am certain many of you have a similar date as well. My high school friend—Teddy Wood—and I had left school before the report cards came out during our senior year and enlisted in the Corps.

What follows is an excerpt from Chapter #2 of The Book:

On March 6, 1958, after completing all the paperwork and physicals at Fort Holabird, Maryland, I said goodbye to Mom and Dad. Woody and I then boarded a train at the Baltimore station, along with several others, bound for Parris Island, South Carolina, where the Marine Corps’s East Coast recruit training facility was located. The recruiter entrusted to me a large, sealed manila envelope. I was to deliver it to someone in command when we arrived at our destination. He informed the group that I was in charge—my first responsibility as a future Marine.

The train ride remains a vague memory to me except that we were assigned to a specific car where we were told to remain for the entire trip. I recall that some of the boys brought along a considerable amount of beer smuggled in their baggage. They shared with some of the others, but I was much too nervous to do any drinking. I remember one of the boys boasting as to how he was going to breeze through this training—he wasn’t going to take any guff from the drill sergeants.

With each stop along the way, our car became more crowded with more boys on their way to this infamous place with an exotic-sounding name—Parris Island.

Most of us were asleep when the conductor shouted out that this was our stop—Yemassee, South Carolina. I stepped off the train into total darkness with a cigarette in my mouth. Suddenly it flew off somewhere into space with what I thought were a few of my teeth. This cantankerous fellow, wearing a hat I’d last seen on a bear with a shovel in his paw on U.S. Forest Service posters, was screaming for us to do something. I had no idea then how symbolic that hat was nor that I myself would someday wear it.

Everyone was running in circles, bumping into each other, falling down. The greeting Marine was screaming, “Move! Move! Move!” which we were certainly doing but had no idea where to. I heard someone crying out for his mother. Another boy was screaming for help—surprisingly, he was the one who bragged about not taking any guff from the drill sergeants.

Absolute chaos ensued. Finally, after several minutes of the Marine shouting at us, he pointed to a building. We all ran towards it, jamming the doorway, attempting to get through it and out of the way of this insane person’s wrath.

Inside the building were steel beds stacked two high with a bare mattress lying on them and bright lights in the ceiling with shades hanging over them. The Marine thundered, “Get in a rack!” What the hell is a rack? we wondered. I didn’t recognize anything that might be a rack, so sheer chaos returned as we all tried to figure out what exactly this fellow was directing us to get into.

Finally, someone jumped into one of the steel beds whereupon we all followed suit; some beds even had two boys squeezed together. The Marine yelled, “Freeze!” Immediately the room fell into total silence except for the springs of the steel beds squeaking slightly as we all lay very still. He turned out the lights, and slowly paced up and down the center of the room while telling us we were shit, slimy civilian shit. We were in for one hell of a time when morning came, he warned, so we had better get some sleep since it would be the last time sleep would come for the next four months.

Welcome to boot camp!

As I lay there, I could hear the muffled sounds of several boys sobbing, probably wondering like the rest of us, What the hell have I gotten myself into?

 I don’t know how long I slept or if I even slept at all, but suddenly the lights came on and a loud banging sound awoke everyone as a Marine was screaming at us to stand in front of our racks. The large metal trash can he’d thrown was still rolling around the floor as we scrambled from our supremely uncomfortable beds—now to be known as “racks.” We were then herded outside onto a greyhound-type bus. I had no idea of the time except it was pitch black and cold.

As I was boarding the bus, I remembered the manila envelope still lying on my rack. I was to have surrendered it to the appropriate person upon arrival—my first responsibility as a Marine and I’d blown it. I really did not want to approach this crazed Marine, but I had to retrieve that envelope. I reluctantly began, “S…S…Sir…I need to go back into the building to—” I never finished the sentence. He was screaming and spitting saliva all over my face. I had no idea what he was saying, but I sure wasn’t going to ask him to repeat it. He shoved me towards the building. I ran in, grabbed the envelope, and bolted back outside.

By the time I returned to the bus, I was the last one to board thereby forcing me to sit next to the ill-tempered, Smokey Bear-hatted Marine. I developed goose bumps as I took my seat, so close to this fearsome devil that I was expecting him to chew my head off just for kicks.

I distinctly remember the bus passing through a gate and seeing the Marine sentry smiling as we drove past. Other than swamps on both sides of the road, I could see nothing out the window—no lights—nothing that gave a hint of civilization.

We finally came to some buildings whereupon we were herded off the bus into a classroom filled with school chairs, the types that have a small desk attached to them. There were several other Marines waiting there for us.

After much shouting for us to find a seat and sit our slimy civilian asses in it, we were required to fill out a post card addressed to our parents. We were told to write them that we arrived safe and would write again later. Then they hurried us into another part of the building where we went through a line holding a metal tray out in front of us while someone piled food onto it. We ate in total silence. When we finished—mind you, this was not as leisurely a breakfast as we were accustomed to at home—we were herded back into the classroom.

The sun was just rising on our first morning as recruits—literally as well as symbolically.

The story continues . . . . . . .

Little did I realize it then, but that day changed my entire life forever, and thirty-five years, six months, and twenty-two days later I took off the uniform and became Jim Bathurst, USMC (Ret).

Oh what a trip it was, What’s say we do it all over again guys?

Semper Fi Brothers; Jim

 

 

 

 

 

 

                       March 1958                                         October 1993

Originally posted 2022-03-06 09:29:24.

Current Events

Black History Month

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Truer words were never spoken. Parents be aware of of what your child is learning in school; ask questions of them. I remember being stationed at Fort Bragg with the Army. This was in the early 70’s and Fayetteville, NC was still somewhat of a segregated town even then. My son went to a school out in town. We were at the dinner table talking about the kids learned that day in school. My son started talking about the “War of Northern Aggression.” Needless to say, he and I had a talk.  Our children today are fed so much BS by left-wing progressives hell bent on spewing their own demented personal; beliefs. Look at you child’s text books, homework, required papers, etc. parents need to really ask questions and get them talking.  You may be shocked regardless of what grade they are in.

By Larry Elder

 

When will Black History Month be … history?

Apart from the bizarre notion that educators should set aside one month to salute the historical achievements of one race apart from and above the historical achievements of other races, Black History Month appears to omit a lot of Black history.

About slavery, do our mostly left-wing educators teach that slavery was not unique to America and is as old as humankind? As economist and author Thomas Sowell says: “More whites were brought as slaves to North Africa than Blacks brought as slaves to the United States or to the 13 colonies from which it was formed. White slaves were still being bought and sold in the Ottoman Empire, decades after Blacks were freed in the United States.”

Are students taught that “race-based preferences,” sometimes called “affirmative action,” were opposed by several civil rights leaders? While National Urban League Executive Director Whitney Young supported a type of “Marshall Plan” for a period of 10 years to make up for historical discrimination, his board of directors refused to endorse the plan. In rejecting it, the president of the Urban League in Pittsburgh said the public would ask, “What in blazes are these guys up to? They tell us for years that we must buy (nondiscrimination) and then they say, ‘It isn’t what we want.’”

Do our left-wing educators, during Black History Month, note that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s celebrated New Deal actually “hurt” Blacks? According to Cato Institute’s Jim Powell, Blacks lost as many as 500,000 jobs as a result of anti-competitive, job-killing regulations of the New Deal. Powell writes: “The minimum wage regulations made it illegal for employers to hire people who weren’t worth the minimum because they lacked skills. As a result, some 500,000 blacks, particularly in the South, were estimated to have lost their jobs.”

Are students taught that gun control began as a means to deny free Blacks the right to own guns? In ruling that Blacks were chattel property in the Dred Scott case, Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney warned that ruling otherwise would mean that Blacks could legally own guns. If Blacks were “entitled to the privileges and immunities of citizens,” said Taney, “it would give persons of the Negro race, who were recognized as citizens in any one state of the union, the right … to keep and carry arms wherever they went … endangering the peace and safety of the state.”

Are students taught that generations of civil rights leaders opposed illegal immigration and raised questions about legal immigration? After the Civil War, Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass implored employers to hire Blacks over new immigrants. Twenty-five years later, Booker T. Washington pleaded with Southern industrialists to hire Blacks over new immigrants: “One third of the population of the South is of the Negro race. … To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the prosperity of the South: Cast down your bucket where you are. Cast it down among the eight millions of Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you have tested in days when to have proved treacherous meant the ruin of your fireside.”

About illegal immigration, Coretta Scott King signed a letter urging Congress to retain harsh sanctions against employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. The letter said: “We are concerned … that … the elimination of employer sanctions will cause another problem — the revival of the pre-1986 discrimination against black and brown U.S. and documented workers, in favor of cheap labor — the undocumented workers.”

These are just a few historical and inconvenient notes left on the cutting room floor during Black History Month.

Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk show host. His latest book, “The New Trump Standard,” is available in paperback from Amazon.com and for Nook, Kindle, iBook’s and GooglePlay. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @LarryElder.

Copyright 2021 LAURENCE A. ELDER

POSTCRIPT: Some of you may have seen the live interview where Morgan Freeman said the following. It is true, I personally saw the interview:

“Black history month needs to go away. How would you like it if we dedicate one month out of the year as white history month?  American history is our history.  So I’ll ask you to stop calling me a black man and I’ll stop calling you a white man.  The issue of race only exists because we talk about it.  Let it go and die in the past so we can build a future where we aren’t black/white.  We are fellow humans.”

Amen. He’s also a great actor. 

 

Originally posted 2021-02-23 12:15:30.

Current Events

America’s War on its Children

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Taking a break from the political fiasco of our country, here is another subject Mustang takes on with common sense, which as we all know, is a rare attribute in America, and much of that is caused by this subject. This is a topic about which I have some personal knowledge. A female teacher friend of mine was a longtime teacher in what was  a good school in a Cook County, IL HS. In fact, her children went there. Then  things suddenly changed when they decided to include other parts of the district in this HS. They received Jr HS students from different schools in an attempt to do what I shall call “leveling the playing field” for all students. The things she had to put up with would make the average educated, caring parent cringe with disgust. Administrators who never stood in a classroom. Students who refused to pay attention, would not shut up so she could teach, and constantly told her to, “Go F**k herself.” When her and her fellow teachers tried to send them to the office, oftentimes they had call security to have them physically removed. while fighting and screaming vulgarities. The principal’s answer was and I quote, “Do not send your discipline problems to me, you are the teacher and are responsible for disciplining your own students.” Life in that school district became overnight a war zone; teachers against students and the administrators Unions youy ask? Come on don ‘t be that gullible; they are a major part of the problem. How much do you have to pay a teacher to put up with that every weekday for nine months? 

She is now teaching in  Catholic school in FL and absolutely loves her job and her students. For her it is a joy to wake up in the morning looking forward to going to her school. I fervently believe our education system is so broken and believe there is no light at the end of the tunnel to fix it, but we shall still continue throwing money at it because that what our government does.

Personally, I believe the downfall of our education system started with Bush’s “no child left behind.” I have some experience giving talks at these “Alternative Schools” where they send those who should be left behind, but aren’t. Trust me, go visit some of them in your area and see for yourself. There may be good ones, but what I saw was an inability to tell the difference between the students and the teachers. When I asked the principal why the teachers were wearing trashy clothes, earrings and tattoos  like the students; his reply was “It’s important for the teachers to identify with the students.” Leadership at its finest right?

The Failure of Education

by Mustang

If (fill in the blank) isn’t working out to your expectations, then all you have to do is throw more money at it. That’s the message we regularly receive from people who make their money from selling “education.” But, is it true?  Of course not.

The American education system is an utter failure and has been for decades, and there is no more significant proof of that than observing today’s young adults.  They have no academic skills beyond cheating on tests; they lack essential knowledge about our nation’s history or even their own states. They are unable to comprehend cause and effect relationships, and they cannot reason.  If our education system is the doctor, then we’ve killed the patient.

Educationalist (a term I use in the most disparaging manner possible) Kate Barrington wants us to know about the American education system’s top fifteen failures.  None of her “failures” represent the underlying problem of American schools, but here’s what she identified as her most significant concerns:

    1. Insufficient government funding
    2. Charter schools siphon away money from public schools
    3. Teachers aren’t making enough money
    4. Too many teachers are fired for political reasons
    5. There is too much bullying going on in schools
    6. Students are “too poor” to learn
    7. Schools are over-crowded
    8. Students are too anxious and hyper-active to learn
    9. Insufficient parental involvement

She never once mentioned political brainwashing imposed on every child in public schools, never said anything about the costly athletic programs that take away time and money from academic curricula, never mentioned the dismal results of “high stakes” testing, or the fact that students receive no training in civics education, are taught revisionist history, or that they are bored to the point of tears in the classroom.

Ms. Barrington didn’t say that our children cannot construct a proper sentence, much less a paragraph, or that an average first-year high school student can only read at the fifth-grade level and cannot perform algebraic computations or has no interest in the wonder of science.

She also never mentioned that the United States (federal and state expenditures) spends, on average, $800-billion on educational programs EACH YEAR.  That figure approximates $15,000.00 annually for each child in elementary and secondary schools.  Maybe we shouldn’t focus so much on what we spend on American education — perhaps we should be asking what we’re getting as a return on that investment.  Are we getting smarter kids who, within a few years, are knocking them dead in the corporate structure, on Wall Street, as engineers, as scientists?

No — actually, American kids (including those graduating from college with a four-year degree) are mediocre compared to the rest of the civilized world.  Forty years after the publication of A Nation at Risk, a ground-breaking report by the National Commission on Excellence, America’s kids are dumber than ever despite the doubling of our expenditures on education.

Constructing more schools does not equate to better education — it only means more children per year are less competitive globally.  What other conclusions can a rational person make when more than two-thirds of the student population cannot demonstrate mastery in grade-level mathematics and science, reading, or even understanding the history of their own ancestors?

Here’s an interesting statistic: 85% of our nation’s high school graduates each year are unqualified to enter college as freshmen without substantial remediation.

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the average expenditure worldwide is around $9,800 per student annually.  Around the world, then, nations who spend far less educating their children are producing young adults who can (and do) read, who can communicate well in writing, who understand complex mathematics, and are geared toward careers in science and engineering.

Equally important, we must address the question of whether America’s young adults are as well-adjusted psychologically as their “other world” cohorts.  There does not appear to be any evidence to support such a claim.  Considering high incidents of violence in schools and throughout local communities, the opposite seems right. America’s young adult is maladjusted, and if there is not a trend toward psychopathic abnormality, it certainly seems that way.

What, then, should we deduce?  Should we conclude that in exchange for $800-billion annually, we are getting psychologically damaged young adults?  As young adults, our children not only do not know who they are but also don’t care.

Our young adults do not understand that the rights they enjoy extend to every other citizen, as well — so supporting such notions that they must silence a citizen who has different views from their own — forcibly, if necessary — tells us that our education system has grown at least two (maybe three) generations of dangerously maladjusted human beings.  Moreover, they are irrational in thinking that such behavior benefits a healthy society.

America is getting no bang for its buck.  Rather than demanding more money (to waste), perhaps reduced spending is a better plan.  Pay teachers less money, not more.  Stop pretending that high school football programs are equal in importance to science and mathematics.  Stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars on textbooks that facilitate revisionist brainwashing or communicate anti-white racial biases.

When compared to the children raised in third-world countries, our children are stupid, psychotic, and socially inept.  Is this our return on our ever-increasing investment in the American education system?  One notable scientist suggested, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”  We attribute this quotation to Albert Einstein’s Parable of Quantum Insanity.  Perhaps the educationalists should make a note of it.

Mustang also blogs at Fix Bayonets and Thoughts From Afar

Here’s Sleepy Joe’s answer to the severe problem

Originally posted 2021-01-26 11:51:27.