Comments by Bobby Tony | Eastern NC Now

I was not aware of the AFEM award for the Pueblo incident until Ted told me about it. It has a long history of awards for military operations including the Cuban Missile crisis and the Berlin Airlift. For the non military people. The awards are like a walking Resume that show a personal history and it is more than just an atta-boy. It shows a service persons history in a compact ribbon display.

"During the early years of the Vietnam War, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal was issued for initial operations in South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal was intended to replace the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal and Navy Expeditionary Medal. In 1965, with the creation of the Vietnam Service Medal, the AFEM was discontinued for Vietnam War service. As the Vietnam Service Medal was retroactively authorized, those personnel who had previously received the AFEM were granted the option to exchange the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for the Vietnam Service Medal

In 1968, the AFEM was awarded for Naval operations in defense of the USS Pueblo (AGER-2), which was seized by North Korea, as well as for Korean Service, and awarded for Thailand and Cambodia operations in 1973. Because of these awards during the Vietnam war period, some military personnel have been awarded both the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal & the Vietnam Service Medal." Above from Wikipedia

Commented: Friday, October 28th, 2016 @ 6:40 pm By: Bobby Tony

Thank you Stan, This is part of my Grandpa's Diary series of articles I have and continue to write about my life and childhood. Since my Grandson is only one year old, I don't know if I will be around to astound him with my remarkable life and times . I figured that someday he may read some of these stories and wonder how in the hell he turned out normal.

Commented: Monday, October 24th, 2016 @ 12:32 pm By: Bobby Tony

You are dead on target with this. If education was the main goal, then sports, research and all the other distractions would be outside the non-profit sector and be on a GAAP paying basis. I had a rant on public education when I was trying to see if free tuition was a feasible idea. A quick look at any University shows it is a jobs program for professors and administrators and not necessarily an educational endeavor. 2012 was the last data from the UNC site. Revenue and Expenses shown below from their annual report. Tuition does not pay for the salaries and benefits, so for the most part it is already pretty much free or at least heavily subsidized with grants, research and various other revenue. I'm not picking on UNC but was looking at the University of Georgia. However, UNC is not much different than UGA.


Click on picture for a larger view

I must admit thought that if you follow the link in the picture you will see a very professional advertising brochure before the financials.

It does appear that Beaufort County Community College is a much better skills institution based on the articles here. As usual local institutions almost always Trump (sorry) mega universities in delivering useful education. If I were a resident there that would be my choice of schools.

I am a big supporter and contributor to MIKEROWEWORKS. He is the Dirty Jobs guy and has a foundation that offers scholarships for craft skills training. Google it it is worth the look.

Commented: Monday, October 24th, 2016 @ 5:54 am By: Bobby Tony

When Jerry, one of my friends from high school, graduated his parents moved into a two bedroom apartment. He had a younger brother still in school. After they got finished moving in he asked his dad where he was going to sleep and his dad replied, "Son this if fine for your mom, me and Ronnie, you are on your own now."

Here is another twist on the story. When my brother was about 34 years old, his company transferred him back to Atlanta from Florida but told him not to buy a house, as he would be transferred to Phillips 66 headquarters in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Jim moved back in with mom and dad. About a year later, he was transferred to OK. For years, he told everybody he was not going to treat his kids the way his parents treated him and kicked him out when he was 35.

As Paul Harvey would say."Here's the rest of the story:. My brother's 26 year old son is living over his three car garage in the bonus room man cave. My son recently built a house on 10 acres in Carroll County. First thing I asked when I saw it was "where is my room". He said "Dad this is fine for Millie and I, you are on your own." I guess he had heard Jerry's story a few times over the years.

When my mother died in 1999 I was 54 years old but my old room was just the way it was when I graduated from High School. That is not a millennial thing, it is an Italian thing. I will be the first to tell you that knowing I had a home base if needed allowed me to take a few chances in my career.

Commented: Sunday, October 23rd, 2016 @ 12:26 pm By: Bobby Tony

Commented: Sunday, October 23rd, 2016 @ 7:54 am By: Bobby Tony

This almost makes me want to start drinking alcohol again but a deal is a deal. I can almost taste this nectar and I am in hopes that my memory does not trigger any past flashback to those days of yesteryear when I did partake. But when you possess a compulsive personality, sometimes memories are better than U-Turns at this age.

Commented: Saturday, October 22nd, 2016 @ 4:45 pm By: Bobby Tony

All the singing in the movie was by Jerry Lee himself with Dennis lip-synching.

Like most southern boys, Jerry Lee had a fascination with guns. He always carried one on stage as well in his touring bus and car. When filming the movie Dennis Quaid disliked the notion of lip-synching the lyrics and wanted to record the music himself with his own band.

Jerry Lee said " you can forget it. I'm not giving up the soundtrack. Dennis can never sing and cut these songs the way I did it. You can forget about that or it ain't gon' work.

He took Quaid for a walk down by the Mississippi River.

"Jerry lee told me that if he didn't do the songs, only one of us was coming back up that bank," Quaid told the Austin American Statesman.

"That boy came to his senses" said Jerry Lee (Page 438 )

Jerry Lee was disappointed in the final movie but said "I was hooked on the thing. And I'd been paid for it you know? What can you do?"

Now He says if the ever made another movie about him, "I want all my wives in it. It would be about piano playin' and singing' and women....Women, the one thing I might change."

Commented: Friday, October 21st, 2016 @ 5:51 am By: Bobby Tony

I like Alec in the Hunt for Red October. I must admit he does a mean Trump on SNL too. We have to laugh at ourselves from time to time.

Commented: Thursday, October 20th, 2016 @ 3:43 pm By: Bobby Tony

Let's not forget that Trump and the Clintons have run in the same social circles for years. They socialized together and Bill and Donald played golf together. They both know secrets about the other that neither want to disclose. However, in the world of politics, all is fair in love and war so they are now engaged in the "Battle Royale" of all battles.

Chelsea and Ivanka were friends and both claim to remain so after the election. That would be a real accomplishment if it holds.

www.nationalreview.com

Commented: Thursday, October 20th, 2016 @ 10:02 am By: Bobby Tony

Talking about variety and spice, I just finished reading the autobiography of Jerry Lee Lewis and variety is an understatement. He was married seven times some of which were overlapping. I have a book report in the works for my files, maybe I can clean it up for BCN.

Commented: Thursday, October 20th, 2016 @ 8:25 am By: Bobby Tony

I guess most liberals do not understand the the entire submerged nuclear submarines are populated with enlisted dummies who maintain and drill for deploying of those weapons.

I think I remember a saying about it taking a college degree to fly fighter jets but only a high school equivalency to maintain and repair them.

My best line was from Jaws when Quint and Hooper got into the argument. Hooper aske what does that prove. Quint replies,~~ "It proves that you wealthy college boys don't have enough education to admit when your are wrong."~~

beaufortcountynow.com

Commented: Sunday, October 16th, 2016 @ 1:53 pm By: Bobby Tony

The United States has along history of meddling in other country elections under both parties. It is common practice in the international espionage business. That is why each country should have procedures in place (voter ID?, no dead voters, legitimate address & etc) to insure that its elections are honestly reflective of those eligible to vote.

Now, while it is important for the authorities to know the source of a 911 call for help, that is secondary to the call for help. This blame the Russians is merely a deflection away from the contents of the leaked emails. To be fair the source of information is a legitimate area for skepticism but most normal people can hold two ideas in their head at the same time. When the sun rises in the east, do you really need to study the resume of the weatherman?

If you are old enough to remember the McCarthy hearings, the whole progressive backlash then was that any self-respecting Communist citizen had the right to voice his opinions. There is a ditch on both sides of the road. The free flow of information is all that an INFORMED electorate needs to make its decisions. In today's internet environment, unfortunately the burden of truth rest with the recipient and not the originator of the information. Just for the record, everyone is trying to influence the Democratic Process, that is what a Democratic Process is.

Commented: Sunday, October 16th, 2016 @ 10:47 am By: Bobby Tony

Thanks, but I suspect that you and most of the rest of those called would show up, saddle up, and do their duty. The proof is in the numbers of those who did. The proof is there today among those who have done the same without the threat of a draft.

I did nothing more than most children of the 1950s did. I was not an eager participant but having been raised on honor and duty as part of the landscape of being an American, I saw no other option.

It is my hope that we still have a majority of youths with the same sense of citizenship and whenever I am in doubt or a bit discouraged, I look to those currently serving and I have a renewed faith in our future.

Maturity does not come with youth but with age and I feel confident that many of the current malcontents will one day wake up and realize that this country is still our best hope for individual freedom which is what almost all rebellious youth really want. Just the chance to make our own mistakes and perhaps flaunt the rules a bit. Churchill may have been right.

Commented: Friday, October 14th, 2016 @ 9:06 am By: Bobby Tony

The Nobel Prize comes with a $900,000 check. I started out with his save the world verses "Blowing", "Don't Think Twice", and eventually move into the rest. I just spent the morning on the treadmill listening his playlist on the Iphone. Boy, he did speak to our generation and perhaps some will be introduced to him with this prize.

Of course, when wrote it, he probably did not have any idea that we would still be seeing "The times they are a changing". Or would he. (forgive me smartfella, I could not help it.)

Commented: Thursday, October 13th, 2016 @ 11:41 am By: Bobby Tony

That is a good perspective. Just for fun, go to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trumps' Facebook pages (The official one) and then look how many of your own friends have liked the page. That will give you an indication of how varied your group is. You can also do this with Occupy Democrats and other political pages. It will show up as how many of your friends have liked the page.

On the other hand see below.

Commented: Wednesday, October 12th, 2016 @ 4:33 pm By: Bobby Tony

It is interesting that some people will follow the advice of people who make their living creating a fantasy world. It takes talent to reflect the depth of your caring when you are speaking lines written by someone else and using all the tricks of the trade, you learned to make you a star.

It is also interesting that I did not recognize any of the people in the second parody version of save the day. But, they all apparently had the same talent and presentation qualities as the famous actors.

My point being that we should not be swayed by the persona and performance but by the content of what they say. Thanks for the side by side, or top and bottom comparison, it fits right in with my warped sense of humor.

Commented: Wednesday, October 12th, 2016 @ 7:09 am By: Bobby Tony

My thoughts are with the good people in North Carolina and elsewhere as this event proves that in the blink of an eye, your perspective can change. Hopefully it will bring out the best of a diverse population to recover and help each other out.

Commented: Sunday, October 9th, 2016 @ 12:37 pm By: Bobby Tony