Comments by Bobby Tony | Eastern NC Now

Ted, A good article but I would suggest a better holster. If needed, speed will be a prime factor.

Commented: Wednesday, March 23rd, 2016 @ 10:44 am By: Bobby Tony

Ted, thanks for this good article. These are some very thought provoking observations. Because Salvation is always a solitary conversion, I wonder if the mass communication model is more effective than the individual call to the altar in front of your friends and family that was in my old Baptist Church. Some of my best Christian role models were not found in the church but in daily life, but the small church was a great reinforcement environment for keeping the faith.

Commented: Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016 @ 7:24 am By: Bobby Tony

I just uploaded a post on the maps of Vietnam. Surveying today I suspect is helped by GPS but still would require the good skills. One of my friends from Georgia Tech said the surveying final was a survey of the campus that the professor had been using for years. He gave you the start location and waypoints. If you ended up at his stop location, you passed. My friend said the system was flawed since the expressway next to GT had changed some of the points. He submitted his final point at the Varsity Drive in, which was just on the other side of the expressway and the professor gave him a passing grade since the test was so outdated. Here is crude example of the joke.

Commented: Sunday, March 20th, 2016 @ 10:40 am By: Bobby Tony

Thanks for keeping this article and video in the high rotation queue. It is important in this election year that we distinguish the difference between Capitalism and the perverted version that we have allowed our Government to create: i.e. Crony Capitalism. Any preference from the government is a direct subsidy taken from taxpayers and given to business or individuals.

This is true if it is the Mortgage interest deduction, the $50,000 small business credit that was eliminated, or the favorable tax treatment used to encourage business relocation.

In a system where there is a balanced budget required, any preferential treatment to one entity is paid for by the rest of the taxpayers. Most states require a balanced budget. In the absence of a balanced budget requirement, the price is paid by the society as a whole with increased debt used to finances government efforts to select winners and losers.

Commented: Friday, March 18th, 2016 @ 5:14 pm By: Bobby Tony

Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm had a contentious relationship after the breakup of the Band. Robbie was the creative seed and Levon probably resented it. When someone asked Robbie about the break of up of the band much later, he made the following comments:

---on whether fame was a contributing factor to his breaking up with The Band -----"It's hard to be clairvoyant enough to see if things would've been different. In the beginning, you're all single and in it together. You mature in different directions. Everybody grows in their own way. And so you start seeing things through different lenses".

---on making music in the late seventies----"A lot of people at that time went into this tunnel of insanity and decadence and self-abuse, and didn't come out the other end. It was a rugged and ragged journey". IDMB MOVIE DATABASE

Commented: Sunday, March 13th, 2016 @ 6:46 pm By: Bobby Tony

I think we are all in favor of people getting their fair share of the pie. I am just concerned how they get it from those who make the pie.

beaufortcountynow.com

Commented: Sunday, March 13th, 2016 @ 11:30 am By: Bobby Tony

My current home is about 45 miles up I85 northeast of Atlanta and I guess would be considered as a growth area. Two exits up I 85 to the north from mine is still rural Jackson County with population density was 178.1 inhabitants per square mile and two exits down I85 South is the Mall of Georgia with congestion and Gwinnett County with a population density of 1,871.2 inhabitants per square mile

The political mix is about 80% Republican based on the 2012 election results. I also have a condo in Decatur, Ga which is the melting pot of Liberalism and is about 80% Democratic based on the 2012 election.

My circle of acquaintances is not too political active without any big axes to grind but mostly lean toward conservative. I think it is fair to say that many do not like Obama based on a mix of policies and some simmering bigotry. Decatur on the other hand is just the opposite with most loving the President's policies and accusing everyone who does not as bigots. The difference being that my conservative friends usually believe in the "live and let live philosophy" while my liberal friends believe that you are brain damaged and dangerous if you don't subscribe to their "circle of tolerance" for all things liberal.

Given our history of oppression of blacks and gays, I think the pendulum has swung to the far left in today's political climate. It just proves human nature is content with their prejudices as long as they have an adequate support group. Our College campuses and enclave neighborhoods are divided into groups of like minded people. It seems we have never learned to just tolerate others opinions. If you use the definition of bigot as a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions, both sides are about equal in their disdain for opposing views.

Similar to the segregation and Jim Crow laws of the 1950s, now the progressives (i.e. Liberal =same) want to use the same power of government to force their opinion and laws on others. Human Nature has not changed a bit since the beginning of time.

I fault the breakdown of the family unit for most of this lack of respect for others but I freely admit that our higher learning institutions are populated and controlled by far left leaning professors who are more interested in indoctrination than education.

Interestingly enough these Universities exist under the protection of non-profit entities, which abuse the students with higher, and higher tuition while amassing large grants and endowments that are used for everything but education. The entire student loan program is a rip-off to transfer money from the students to the universities and then blame the working society for the problems of overburdened debt.

Sorry, I need to get back to my minimalist primer before I continue with this comment.

Commented: Saturday, March 12th, 2016 @ 7:21 am By: Bobby Tony

TMAC, I remember now, the only way I could have said less was to talk longer. Thanks for the reminder. Based on last night results, I should to stick to something besides politics. I have been rejected by some very fine members of the fairer gender but Stan is correct, the less said the better but I am a slow learner.

Commented: Wednesday, March 9th, 2016 @ 9:39 am By: Bobby Tony

I am resisting the temptation to psychoanalyze anyone who would support Trump during this primary, but it obviously points up the fact that I am terribly out of touch with what appears to me to be a gullible public willing to buy anything this snake oil salesman offers.

Pardon the consecutive cliche' comments and links.

beaufortcountynow.com

Commented: Tuesday, March 8th, 2016 @ 2:10 pm By: Bobby Tony

Here is a circa 1946 picture of Ivy Street Garage which was later converted to Classrooms and renamed Kell Hall. The Georgia State Yearbook was named Rampway in honor of the unique hallways between floors.

Commented: Monday, March 7th, 2016 @ 3:50 am By: Bobby Tony

John Locke Foundation post about Donald Trump

beaufortcountynow.com

Commented: Friday, March 4th, 2016 @ 7:37 am By: Bobby Tony

Great Link Christopher, Thanks for the perspective.

Commented: Thursday, March 3rd, 2016 @ 10:41 am By: Bobby Tony

There is apparently a legal way to obtain the information from this IPhone but I have my concerns on the basic premise of the government forcing the manufacturer to provide a mechanism to defeat one of its features. That makes the manufacturer responsible for the use of something that is nothing more than a tool. Many will interpreted my opinion as opposed to breaking into the phone. That would be incorrect; I am more concerned about the principal. If there is data on that phone that is relevant to future actions, I am sure it will have been altered or changed by the potential terrorist because it is compromised.

What would be next, knifes, scissors, or rocks. There is a parallel to the torture of prisoners to gain information. No matter how important the information is the end may not justify the means without full due process under the law.

It is not a small step after that to require the gun and ammunition manufactures to be responsible for the use of their product. I am in 100% percent support of cracking the IPhone but it should not be the responsibility of the manufacturer to provide the mechanism.

I am sure there is enough hackers around who could jailbreak this phone and like I mentioned below, the Chinese may already have methods at hand defeat any encryption.
I pay close attention to the legal arguments regarding this as opposed to the emotional appeals about the possible outcome. We are on slippery ground when we bend any constitutional prohibitions in the name of safety.

Maybe we can get Diane Rufino to weigh in on this matter.

Commented: Wednesday, March 2nd, 2016 @ 6:52 am By: Bobby Tony

I also saw this film (Ain’t in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm), and I recommend it to any who had a love of the Band. I do not know what the lessons of the documentary are. I do know it is well worth watching if for no other reason to gain a better understanding of the man and his music. He had a great life and lived it to the fullest, but I doubt if he ever found peace with the fact that he and the others could live it but it took Robbie Robertson to write it. It was truly a sad commentary on a life of excess but it was his choice and that is as it should be.

Here are some quotes from a review of the film:

"Rock ’n’ roll takes a lot out of those in the profession, few more so than the members of the legendary group the Band. Their first releases “Music From Big Pink” and “The Band” rank 34th and 45th, respectively, in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 best rock ’n’ roll albums of all time, and the Martin Scorsese documentary “The Last Waltz”, about their final performance, is among the best concert films ever made.

"But tragedy has been the lot of most of them. Richard Manuel committed suicide in 1986 at the age of 42; Rick Danko died of heart failure in 1999 at the age of 56. And Levon Helm, shrunken and ghost like in the bittersweet, frustratingly impressionistic documentary has, over the years, battled bankruptcy, illness, and heartbreak".

www.bostonglobe.com

Commented: Sunday, February 28th, 2016 @ 11:05 am By: Bobby Tony

For those who enjoy short quizzes to pick a candidate, here is a fairly unbiased quiz to help. Be sure to check the show more questions under each heading. It expands to a more detailed in depth analysis of your views.

But, I caution the results are based on the questions asked and your answers. Like all polls and surveys, it is the questions not asked that can affect the outcome dramatically

www.isidewith.com

Commented: Saturday, February 27th, 2016 @ 6:29 pm By: Bobby Tony

For a while, I was a partner in a loan business after retirement. We placed liens on the Auto loan title. Once a week we had to go to the tag office in Dekalb County Georgia to file the liens. We completed the paper work before going. All the clerks had to do was just to stamp the receipt date and time with a time clock and accept the check for the lien fee.

There was a large computer generated sign that said something to the effect of:
"Do not talk on your cell phone while we are processing your paperwork".

Inevitable the clerks would be talking on their cell phone the whole time they processed the lien paperwork. We did not dare complain because your lien would be mysteriously lost during processing which required you to resubmit. Our policy was to have three signed copies of the lien agreement from the customer in case the paperwork was lost. I do not think the back of the sign had the same wording.

No smiles, no thank you, no kiss my grits. Just take a number and wait for your number to be called.

Commented: Friday, February 26th, 2016 @ 4:54 pm By: Bobby Tony

All the friendly people work at the post office or tag office now. Our only option is to make all potential new hires work for Chick-fil-A for a month. It is without a doubt the most friendly service oriented company I know.

Commented: Thursday, February 25th, 2016 @ 5:35 am By: Bobby Tony