Comments by Bobby Tony | Eastern NC Now

This almost make me ashamed that I at one time early in my life I sold magazines. I was required to register each buyer. Some of the buyers may not have realized that the contract included an "AUTOMATIC" renewal clause, but I had their name and signature on the registration form. The form had their address and as I recall there was no background check, just a check, but my memory is faded on that point.

I never knew then, that selling large numbers of magazines would be so contentious in 2016.

beaufortcountynow.com

Commented: Thursday, August 25th, 2016 @ 11:35 am By: Bobby Tony

Stan, I had written another overly long article on politicians vs business leaders but decided no one cared what the Old Rooster thought. However, in true BT tradition, I have reversed my decision and put the article in the queue once again proving that I have no shame in self-promotion of my ideas. I am sure you can add some perspective on how swimming upstream is not for the faint of heart when the current is strong in the other direction. Here is the premise of the article.

A politician who wants to survive must surf the waves of the voting public's opinion or at the very least of his voting constituency. We must remember that the practice of politicians is the art of winning. In that respect, it is not much different from the practice of business. The main difference may be in the way we judge the results of each. Everyone seems to disdain the politician for having a nuanced stance on the issue and wish for the plain spoken tell it like it is era of Harry Truman. Then along comes a 2016 "Truman Stylist candidate" and immediately a whole cadre of people are offended and angry about the presentation rather than the underlying basis of Donald's pontificates.

Here is a link to that article.
beaufortcountynow.com

Commented: Thursday, August 25th, 2016 @ 9:26 am By: Bobby Tony

If you contact your local paper they may accuse you of misreading or possibly even misinterpreting what they were saying.

Back in my day and yours too I think misbehavior was punishable by either an Article 15 or perhaps a severe A$$chewing.

But I could be mistaken.

grammarpartyblog.com

Commented: Wednesday, August 24th, 2016 @ 11:31 am By: Bobby Tony

In the absence of the government infringing our rights, the next best step is to shame or scorn people into not exercising their rights. The technique has been around long before The Scarlet Letter of 1850. The whole political correct effort is an attempt to accomplish through shame or scorn what cannot be accomplished in the strict legal sense. That is why such terms as racist & ????Phobic are used to impede debate.

I think that the encroachment on our "constitutionally defined rights" is a gradual metamorphosis rather than a dramatic single event. There is an old myth about the best way to cook a frog is to put them in a pot of cold water and gradually build up the heat. By the time they realize they are in hot water, they are cooked. While this is not true, it is illustrative of the technique of chipping away at rights not by using a hammer and chisel but a gradual flow of water. Over time, the original structure of any rock will become smooth and so dissimilar to the original rock that it is not recognizable as the same initial rock.

Commented: Monday, August 22nd, 2016 @ 2:02 pm By: Bobby Tony

I was with you Tom, up until the 4th and 5th paragraph, where I think you may have confused reporters with commentators. It is obvious to any "reasonable person" (forgive me) that those mentioned are biased. I guess you felt you just had to include Trump in your analysis.

I agree that "the bedrock foundation of journalism has always been to uncover the "who, what, when, where, why and how" of a story. However, the first four words are facts and the last two words are opinion or conjecture. It is the mixing of the facts and opinions that concerns me. Journalism has never been a pristine profession; an all efforts to appear to be are disingenuous at best. That is the purpose of the 1st amendment.

My concern is that we have now reached the point where we argue over the facts and rely on Snopes, FactCheck, PolitiFact and others to tell us the nuance of what should be easily discernible truth. I have bookmarked your No Spin site and look forward to the discussions there. (And I honestly mean no sarcasm by that.)
FACT:
The sun rose in Washington, NC at 6:33:03 AM
sunrise-sunset.org

Commented: Sunday, August 21st, 2016 @ 11:30 am By: Bobby Tony

No danger there, Athens, Greece is about 310 miles from the heel of Italy, but I am keeping an eye out over my shoulder in case someone is trying to sneak up behind me.

Commented: Sunday, August 21st, 2016 @ 10:57 am By: Bobby Tony

Poorly cropped. Just Saying (cha-king)
I have to be careful, I have been told that too many cliches will get you banned from BCN.

Commented: Wednesday, August 17th, 2016 @ 10:26 am By: Bobby Tony

I am properly chastised, I surrender to Stan's and Ted's taste. Just saying.



Good sense (and censor) prevented me from submitting the picture I originally picked.

Commented: Tuesday, August 16th, 2016 @ 2:45 pm By: Bobby Tony

At one time, I emailed Ted McD one of my articles for proof reading. His response:

DON'T BOTHER

Commented: Tuesday, August 16th, 2016 @ 9:38 am By: Bobby Tony

I am great. I was wondering where I could get a hat like that.


www.columbia.com

Commented: Tuesday, August 16th, 2016 @ 5:00 am By: Bobby Tony

In the Army, the biggest fear was getting RECYCLED.

"Recycling, or getting set back, is by far the most feared punishment in military basic training. Recycling simply means being moved to a different military basic training unit that is in an earlier part of basic training than you are current in, which means you have to repeat training and spend additional time in basic."

I often thought it was the military version of Purgatory. I have no idea how many of those who did not make the cut in the Navy or Air Force ended up in the Army to complete their military service. Being booted out of the Army was difficult at best and took a long time. Remember the Group W bench from Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant.

Here is a link to Military dot com with a short description on the various punishments.

www.military.com

Commented: Monday, August 15th, 2016 @ 7:53 am By: Bobby Tony

Ted,
One of the eerie things about the boonies, is that you never saw any lights on the horizon. For the most part there was no electricity except in the cities. It would get so dark you could not actually see your hand in front of your face. That is when every sound is magnified in your imagination. It is as close as I could imagine to being blind. Without a full moon you could see the B52 tracing across the sky at night. Naturally, I have a funny story about my buddy Dale pulling guard duty facing the wrong way because of the dark.

Commented: Sunday, August 14th, 2016 @ 7:35 pm By: Bobby Tony

Peaceful Protest for or against current affairs is a valuable way to make one's concern known as long as it is peaceful. Unfortunately youth and over exuberance quite often cause the young to cross the line with disastrous results. We seemed to have lost the Peaceful part of that social discourse.

Here is part of Uncle Walter's closing statement on CBS news.

"But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.
This is Walter Cronkite. Good night." February 27, 1968

Though there is some dispute about it. Persistent Rumor has it that LBJ said “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” – Lyndon Johnson, February 27, 1968.

Commented: Sunday, August 14th, 2016 @ 1:59 pm By: Bobby Tony

Just got back from a neighborhood Get together. One of the guys is a Commander in the Navy and a current Submariner. I ask him about the food between carrier and sub. He says the carriers had good food because of the large storage areas, but subs had much better food because everyone ate the same meals and the groups were much smaller due to limited dining space. The cooks on a sub were better Chefs than the carrier. It seems that the inter unit rivalry is still alive and well in our military.

During the discussion I ask him about which movie was the most realistic about Submarine duty. Not Red October, Not Crimson Tide. And the answer is.......

Down Periscope

Commented: Saturday, August 13th, 2016 @ 8:25 pm By: Bobby Tony

Ted,
Perhaps you are correct, I just noticed the rifles are M14 and this appears to be National Guard which were issued M1 Garand for most of the early sixties. It is not important except in the context that the protest movement morphed into an anarchy movement somewhere along the way.

Commented: Saturday, August 13th, 2016 @ 12:13 pm By: Bobby Tony

Perhaps Vietnam was a lost cause as far back as Genius 4 about the same time that the human race began to have problems. Do you have the time frame for the picture. I notice the side burns without beards which indicates an Ivy League nursery to me.

Commented: Saturday, August 13th, 2016 @ 9:03 am By: Bobby Tony

Commented: Friday, August 12th, 2016 @ 7:30 am By: Bobby Tony