The Old Man and the White Horse

A while back someone made a great point about our lives and how we view them. They said we look at our lives as a series of photographs, gazing at the images during periods of highs and lows. At the time we may be caught up in joy or seized by agony, but we only see that moment. But God doesn’t see things that way. He sees the movie of our life, He knows the beginning, the middle and the end. To Him, everything makes sense, even the moments when we are in agony.

Today I received a letter from a friend in Asia. He knows about the tribulations we are experiencing now and he forwarded me this parable that I want to share with you. I think it describes precisely what we should all keep in mind, whether we are on the top of the mountain, or in the darkest of valleys.

The Old Man and the White Horse

Once there was an old man who lived in a tiny village.  Although poor, he was envied by all, for he owned a beautiful white horse.  Even the king coveted his treasure.  A horse like this had never been seen before – such was its splendor, its majesty, its strength.

People offered fabulous prices for the steed, but the old man always refused.  “This horse is not a horse to me,” he would tell them.  “It is a person.  How could you sell a person?  He is a friend, not a possession.  How could you sell a friend.”  The man was poor and the temptation was great.  But he never sold the horse.

One morning he found that the horse was not in his stable.  All the village came to see him.  “You old fool,” they scoffed, “we told you that someone would steal your horse.  We warned you that you would be robbed.  You are so poor.  How could you ever protect such a valuable animal?  It would have been better to have sold him.  You could have gotten whatever price you wanted.  No amount would have been to high.  Now the horse is gone and you’ve been cursed with misfortune.”

The old man responded, “Don’t speak too quickly.  Say only that the horse is not in the stable.  That is all we know; the rest is judgment.  If I’ve been cursed or not, how can you know? How can you judge?”

The people contested, “Don’t make us out to be fools! We may not be philosophers, but great philosophy is not needed.  The simple fact that your horse is gone is a curse.”

The old man spoke again.  “All I know is that the stable is empty, and the horse is gone.  The rest I don’t know.  Whether it be a curse or a blessing, I can’t say.  All we can see is a fragment.  Who can say what will come next?”

The people of the village laughed.  They thought that the man was crazy.  They had always thought he was a fool; if he wasn’t, he would have sold the horse and lived off the money.  But instead, he was a poor woodcutter, and old man still cutting firewood and dragging it out of the forest and selling it.  He lived hand to mouth in the misery of poverty.  Now he had proven that he was, indeed, a fool.

After fifteen days, the horse returned.  He hadn’t been stolen; he had run away into the forest.  Not only had he returned, he had brought a dozen wild horses with him.  Once again, the village people gathered around the woodcutter and spoke.  “Old man, you were right and we were wrong.  What we thought was a curse was a blessing.  Please forgive us.”

The man responded, “Once again, you go too far.  Say only that the horse is back.  State only that a dozen horses returned with him, but don’t judge.  How do you know if this is a blessing or not?  You see only a fragment.  Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge?  You read only one page of a book.  Can you judge the whole book? You read only one word of one phrase.  Can you understand the entire phrase?”

“Life is so vast, yet you judge all of life with one page or one word.  All you have is one fragment!  Don’t say that this is a blessing.  No one knows.  I am content with what I know.  I am not perturbed by what I don’t.”

“Maybe the old man is right,” they said to one another.  So they said little.  But down deep, they knew he was wrong.  They knew it was a blessing.  Twelve wild horses had returned.  With a little work, the animals could be broken and trained and sold for much money.

The old man had a son, an only son.  The young man began to break the wild horses.  After a few days, he fell from one of the horses and broke both legs.  Once again the villagers gathered around the old man and cast their judgments.

“You were right,” they said.  “You proved you were right.  The dozen horses were not a blessing.  They were a curse.  Your only son has broken both his legs, and now in your old age you have no one to help you.  Now you are poorer than ever.”

The old man spoke again.  “You people are obsessed with judging.  Don’t go so far.  Say only that my son broke his legs.  Who knows if it is a blessing or a curse?  No one knows.  We only have a fragment.  Life comes in fragments.”

It so happened that a few weeks later the country engaged in war against a neighboring country.  All the young men of the village were required to join the army.  Only the son of the old man was excluded, because he was injured.  Once again the people gathered around the old man, crying and screaming because their sons had been taken.  There was little chance that they would return.  The enemy was strong, and the war would be a losing struggle.  They would never see their sons again.

“You were right, old man,” They wept.  “God knows you were right.  This proves it.  Your son’s accident was a blessing.  His legs may be broken, but at least he is with you.  Our sons are gone forever.”

The old man spoke again.  “It is impossible to talk with you.  You always draw conclusions.  No one knows.  Say only this.  Your sons had to go to war, and mine did not.  No one knows if it is a blessing or a curse.  No one is wise enough to know.  Only God knows.”

Unions – The Myth of the White Knight

First, before the bashing begins, let me say that I have been a member of unions for nearly thirty-five years. I am in no way “anti” union but I will say that I think the majority of Americans need to take a step back and begin to use our brains for a little bit more than storing talking-points.

This has been a long time coming. I have heard all the stories, listened to the endless arguments, and watched as both sides engaged in what I consider to be nothing more than chest beating grandstanding.

A while back I listened as the pundits all came down on municipal pensions. Being retired it is an issue that is near and dear to my heart. It amazed me that many seemed to have the skewed viewpoint that these pensions were somehow at the heart of the financial woes facing these cities / states. It is utter hogwash and I truly expected more from them.

The underlying issue, which never seemed to get any real substantive debate, is the term “unfunded liabilities.”

It sounds wonderfully technical but when you break it down it simply means you charged it and are now bitching because the bill is due.

Pensions, like any other benefit, are part of the overall contract negotiations. During these negotiations both sides enter into an agreement that in exchange for the employer giving “A” the unions will give or give-back “B.” You know it’s a good contract when neither side is overly happy.

In the case of pensions, these are serious numbers. Professionals are involved, actuaries come up with tables, and the data is gone over seven ways to Sunday. For the employer to scream foul later on is disingenuous.

“Unfunded liabilities” simply means that the employer agreed to something and never set the money aside to pay for it. Who is at fault? The greedy union members? No, it is the employer who agreed to the deal and then used the money to fund something else.

Does this make sense to you? It is like blaming the bank when they repossess your car after you stopped making payments. They gave you the money in good faith, and you reneged on the contract.

During all of these discussions I never once heard anyone say: “well, if the unions need to renegotiate the pensions, should the employers give back all the concessions that were negotiated in good faith?”

As you can see, I am hardly anti-union.

That being said, I think we need to start looking at things with clear glasses instead of the rose colored ones we seem to enjoy these days.

Unions are at the vanguard of almost every issue we are facing today. Whether that is healthcare, wages, etc. However, just because they are at the forefront doesn’t necessarily mean they are correct.

A zealot is someone who is a fanatically committed person. Zealotry was originally a political movement in 1st century Judaism. It sought to incite the people of the Judean Province to rebel against the Roman Empire. I see a lot of this manifesting itself today.

While it is good to have passion for something, it is almost always a bad thing to be so passionate that you are blinded to everything beyond it.

Lately I have been watching a lot of coverage on the topic of minimum wages. On one occasion there was coverage of workers storming a McDonalds and demanding more money. Another time I heard a person speaking out against the evils of corporate greed. We all know how popular the theme of wealth redistribution has been lately. As the president says “level the playing field to create equal opportunities.”

Sounds very noble and keeping with the whole “White Knight” theme. But is it honest?

As a kid I started working in a supermarket making minimum wage. At the time it was a great deal, I worked and I got paid. I had no real responsibilities other than to take care of my needs. These were generally simple. As time went on I moved from one job to another, each time climbing a bit higher on the employment ladder as my needs changed. It was a conscientious decision but it was not rocket science. I simply took stock of where I was at financially and made changes based upon what my needs were now. This means that when the job could not provide for me financially, I changed jobs.

While I empathize with the kind folks at the local McDonalds, I gotta say……. It’s McDonalds. If you are unhappy with the wages quit and find something better. If you lack the skills to find something better that’s a good indicator that the problem might not be McDonalds and may in fact be you.

It may sound harsh, but it is life and it doesn’t owe you anything.

I know, I know, …….. Somewhere, someone is pulling a friggen’ Harvard graduate, who happens to be the head fry guy at the local Mickey D’s, out of a closet and saying “see he has skills and deserves more……..”

Really? Sounds a bit more like he chose the wrong school or at least the wrong major, to me.

I have no empathy for struggling college grads. I’d like to, I really would, but you see I paid my way through college on my own (as in ZERO grants, loans, etc..), all while working full time and raising a family. Again, life is tough deal with it.

But we live in an age of deniable personal accountability. It’s always someone else’s fault: mommy, daddy, your boss, God, the kids who picked on you in pre-pre-K, the neighbor, the mailman, the dog, and the absolutely greedy corporate CEO.

Then along comes the wonks at the union. He believe that everything is a conspiracy against the American worker. They sit there and blast the employers for not sharing more of the profits with the employees. They demand better pay, and threaten force to achieve it.

It is a tune that resonates well with its audience. But when you get away from all the smoke and mirrors, what is the truth?

The truth is that no one is holding a gun to the head of the American worker and demanding that he work at a particular job.

This may come as a surprise to many but companies exist to make a profit and those who run companies get rewarded by making big salaries. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the workers will share in that. Unfair? Not really.

When an employee takes a job he or she agrees to it at the wage they pay. There is nothing hidden. No one says “well come to work and every other week we will pay you what we think you are worth.” They are hired based on what they provide to the company. If they bring a lot to the plate they might even get promoted. But if they are hired and turn out to be nothing more than oxygen thieves they will most likely piddle along as a burger flipper for their entire career.

Unlike the worker, the head of a company has a bit more on his plate. The company’s bottom line is his judge. For that he is paid very well. When he fails he is most likely kicked out, generally with a very nice severance package. Is it fair? No, but it is just business. These things were worked out well in advance between both sides. Like a typical contract negotiation, except to the best of my knowledge there is no CEO union.

But is it fair to say that just because you started at the bottom that’s where you are destined to stay?

Hell no and that’s my issue. This is America and if we stop listening to the entire BS about having to level the playing field we would see that we make our own opportunities.

In 1971 Jim Skinner started with McDonald's as a restaurant manager trainee. In 2004 he was named CEO of the company. 

Brian Dunn started with Best Buy in 1985 as a sales associate when there were only 12 stores operating. He was named Director and CEO in 2009.

Jim Ziemer started out at Harley-Davidson as a freight elevator operator in 1969. He became President and CEO in April 2005.

Ursula Burns started in the summer of 1980 as a mechanical engineering intern with Xerox.  In July 2009 she was named CEO and then Chairman in May 2010.

You see, my experience is that if you are hard working and show some thought and initiative, most companies don’t want to lose you.

But when you have the union head spewing this vitriol about “us versus them” the waters get really muddy. So here is my advice to my fellow union members. When they start talking about corporate greed and “fair wages” for all, ask yourself if the hard earned money that goes into your union dues should be used for your benefit or the benefit of the union heads?

I’ll leave you with this to chew on.

Michael J. Sullivan, general president of the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association. Salary: $1,043,023.

Robert A. Scardelletti, international president of the Transportation Communications Union. Salary: $748,531.

Newton B. Jones, president of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers.
Salary: $607,022.

Terence M. O’Sullivan, general president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America. Salary: $589,124

John T. Niccollai, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Salary: $532,752.

Paul Rinaldi, president Air Traffic Controllers. Salary: $411,740.

Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers president. Salary: $407,323. 

Walter Wise, Iron Workers president. Salary: $397,684.

Edwin Hill, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Salary: $380,688.

Dennis Van Roeke, National Education Association president. Salary $362,644.

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO president. Salary: $301,932.

Brian Lambert, SEIU vice president. Salary: $296,161.

At some point, you have to ask yourself the question. If I’m struggling to make ends meet, why am I paying the union bosses so much money? Truth is, a strong union means job security for the top people.

In the end there will always be some type of pay disparity, whether it is between workers and workers, workers and management, or even workers and their union representatives. The bottom line is that if the job you are at isn’t cutting it, maybe you need to begin looking elsewhere.

I never thought I would quote Ashton Kutcher, on anything….. Ever! I don’t agree with him on political issues and, to be quite honest, I am not a very big fan of his acting. Yet I find myself compelled to quote him today.  

“I never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job. And every job I had was a stepping stone to my next job, and I never quit my job until I had my next job. And so opportunities look a lot like work.” – Ashton Kutcher, Teen Choice Awards.

Different Styles of Leadership (in Pictures)

I realize that I am potentially running the risk of ever being allowed to become a Rodeo Clown, at least in the state of Missouri, but I think I have to take the risk and lighten things up a bit.

I came across this photo today and I seriously could not stop laughing.

And the man always looks like he "knows" it's going to blow up.....

 Then it reminded me of this interesting little photo and I laughed even harder.

Obama: I'd rather be golfing
Putin: Seriously, this is who's running your country?

 Then, after I stopped laughing I realized how much of a laughing stock we have become.

In the run up to the 2008 election we were sold a bill of goods that said President Obama was going to restore America’s credibility around the world. We were told he was the smartest guy in the room and that he would repair the foreign affairs disasters that had befallen us under the prior administration.

Here we are almost five years later and the world is erupting and our global credibility and foreign affairs portfolio lies in tatters. You wonder why no one seems to take the President of the United States seriously any more?

Tell me who you would take more seriously?

The Formative Years: Choom Gang vs KGB

Does this really need a caption ?

So who are some of the people you hang out with?
To be honest, some of those fund raising events can be down right brutal.......

So how do you spend your vacations ?

What can I say....... at least he's not wearing those bands around his pant legs 

Photo Op picture vs Trained Killer

Views on the Military

At the end of the day I have got to believe that when it comes down it, the reason why no one takes us seriously is obvious.

Any Questions? Nyet....... Good

Humor, it's a nice thing to have when the world seems to be crumbling around you. So lighten up, you know this was funny.

Political Hypocrisy - Which mask do you wear?

I’m tired of the nonsense that seems to have become an entrenched sport in this country. I’m talking about political hypocrisy, that crazy notion that says if you are on the right of an issue and speak out at the other side you are labeled as a racist, a “tea bagger” or some other vile epitaph, while if you are on the left and do the same you are some how an insightful political visionary and your comments are above reproach.

In Missouri, a rodeo clown……. Yes, seriously, I am talking about a real rodeo clown, has been fired and banned for life for having the unmitigated gall of wearing a mask of President Obama at an event and poking fun at him. Not only that, but the president of the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association has also quit and is now worried that the fallout will affect his daily job as a school superintendent. The school system announced that it is hiring an investigator to look into whether any “inappropriate conduct” was involved.

The Daily Kos quoted one spectator who said he had never seen anything “so blatantly racist in his life,” and that the scene was like “an effigy at a Klan rally.” 

Really? I wonder how many Klan rallies said spectator attends?

I wonder whether this individual felt the same disgust when they were hanging effigies of former President Bush?

The NAACP, actually called for the Secret Service and the Justice Department to look into the matter: “The activities at the Missouri State Fair targeting and inciting violence against our President are serious and warrant a full review by both the Secret Service and the Justice Department. Incidents involving individuals acting out with extreme violent behavior….”

Seriously, did anyone miss the part about this was a RODEO CLOWN?

So it has come to this? We are now going to regulate what is acceptable comedy? Hmmm, how’s that going to play out for the likes of Bill Maher, Lewis Black and Janeane Garofalo.

I’m sorry, but this is nothing more than political hypocrisy. Whether you agree with the politics, where was the outcry from the media and those on the left when former President Bush was the subject of far worse? Including those advocating for his death.

Why is it that the current President should be immune from the comedy and satire that has followed the vaunted footsteps of every president before him? The left, with the help of the media and Hollywood, have seated him upon a throne in some sort of quasi political Valhalla and have declared that he is not to be referred to in anything less than reverential tones.

If the Missouri State Fair had opted to simply tell the man that this type of behavior was not in keeping with their standards and he was not hired again that would have been fine to me. But it is the ensuing ground swell movement to make this mole hill into a mountain that bothers me on a fundamental level.

I vividly recall seeing former President Bush: hung in effigy, depicted as Satan, depicted as Hitler, accused of war crimes, and generally decried as the poster child for all things evil. And yet, the outcry from those on the left was non existent.

Heck there were people who were willing to say that they actually supported Saddam Hussein and he was in fact not only evil but guilty of actual war crimes.

Segue to 2008 and 2012. President Obama is elected with a 52.87% popular vote percentage in 2008 and 51.07% in 2012 and yet some how we still live in a “racist” country.

Enough,…. Stop already.

Is there racism? Hell yes there is but lets be honest, 10 out of 10 people are going to DISLIKE something or someone. I don’t have to dislike you because of your skin color, but I also don’t have to like you because of it. Same goes for gender, religion, or any other characteristic and don’t even get me started on professional sports. Hell, for that matter you can be a “political party” hater. But do we honestly live in a country that is wracked with systemic racism when the president is elected by a popular majority? Heck, his numbers actually beat out his predecessor, Ronald Reagan (1980), JFK and the Democratic Party’s darling, Bill Clinton.

This BS has gone on so long people actually believe it, yet it is those so called “civil rights activists” who are the true purveyors of this nonsense and they have turned it into a very lucrative cottage business. It is ironic that their previous use of incendiary race rhetoric is now forgotten and they have been welcome into the main stream with open arms. I guess racist opinions and comments are acceptable by the media, depending on who is hurling the slurs and pejoratives.

This country is not perfect, but I don’t know of any that is. But if you want to talk about racism and direct it at those on the right maybe you need a little bit of a history lesson here. In 1870 Hiram Revels became the first African-American to be elected to the Congress. He was a Republican. This was around the same time that Democrats founded the Ku Klux Klan. As President Obama said during the last campaign: “You are entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts.”

The truth is I do not agree with the President on a majority of issues. This DOES NOT inherently make me a racist. It makes me someone who is fairly well versed in US politics and who holds differing opinions. News flash, I disagreed on a number of issues with President Bush. Does this some how also make me a “RACE TRAITOR”…………

No, and I laughed at some of the skits on SNL when they poked fun at President Bush because I knew it was,…… ok lets all say this together,….. “comedy.”

I remember when I joined the NYPD in 1985. At the time I was told by one of the instructors in the police academy to “grow a thick skin” or it was going to be a really long twenty years.

I think America has to take that advice. Just because I may disagree with someone does not make me a racist.

We live in a Constitutional Republic not a Monarchy, not a Dictatorship. At the end of the day I can mock the President of the United States if I so choose. Many celebrities make a very good living out of it; at least they did under the prior administration. Depending on the comments it might make me crass, but it does not make me a racist.

The people of this country need to start to develop their “thick skin” or at the very least put on their big boy pants…………. Sorry, forgot to include big girl pants for all those who would like to accuse me of political incorrectness.

The beloved cowboy, actor and political satirist Will Rogers, who was also a Democrat, once said about FDR’s “New Deal”: “Lord, the money we do spend on Government and it's not one bit better than the government we got for one-third the money twenty years ago.”

Good thing he died in 1935. He’d have never worked again in Hollywood in 2013.

Funny thing though, the jokes he said seventy-five years ago sound exactly like the situation we are facing today. Maybe we should start paying more attention to our comedians and less to our politicians.

Extortion 17 – Never Forget

Today marks the 2^nd anniversary of Extortion 17. Another anniversary, another series of unanswered questions. It is starting to become the norm.

On 6 August 2011, a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, was shot down while transporting a quick reaction force attempting to reinforce an engaged Army Ranger unit in Wardak province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan.

The resulting crash killed all 38 people on board, including 25 American special operations personnel, five helicopter crewmen, seven Afghan commandos, and one Afghan interpreter, as well as a U.S. military working dog. It is considered the worst loss of U.S Military life in the Afghanistan campaign, surpassing Operation Red Wings in 2005. Of the 25 special ops personnel killed, 22 were US Navy SEAL’s, inlcuing 15 from DEVGRU (SEAL Team 6).

That’s what happened. The question now is: what really happened? Too many unsettling questions remain to close the case on this. Yet, like in so many recent events, the silence is deafening.

If you don’t know about Extortion 17, then you owe it to those brave military men who lost their lives to research it and then ask: What really happened?

• Why was no air support cover provided during the mission into a live fire hot zone, in violation of standard protocol?

• Why were all of the bodies cremated without the families’ permission?

• Why were the seven Afghani troops originally listed on the flight changed at the last minute with seven others yet no changes were made to the flight manifest?

• Who ordered the Afghani troop change and for what reason?

• Why were the two flight data recorders supposedly not recovered from the crash site? A claim that a flash flood washed them away was given to the families. We recover them from the ocean floor, yet we can’t find them in a desert?

• What was the urgency that necessitated this last minute operation? Supposedly this was an urgent mission but no explanation or evidence has been provided to indicate why. Who provided the intelligence for this mission?

• The drone quit working at the time of the crash. The U.S. military also claims it did not know the identity of the helicopter that crashed for ten minutes. What caused the multi-layered surveillance and communications black out?

• After the crash, over one hundred U.S. military troops descended on the area, including pathfinders. Why were they not available before?

The people in this country have been divided into political camps. It is time for us to get our heads out of our collective asses and stop thinking as Republicans or Democrats and start thinking as Americans. We deserve better, and we owe it to the memory of those who have paid the ultimate price.