Comments by Bobby Tony | Eastern North Carolina Now

You may be correct in that "Thomas Jefferson is probably one of our greatest Founding Fathers, if not the greatest of them all." I have blown hot and cold on him based on his willingness to abandon his own stated beliefs (RE Louisiana Purchase; see quote below) when there were ends that need justification by means.

Jefferson was perhaps in reality an anarchist who had difficulty accepting any form of government. I am not sure that meant he had more faith in individuals than he did in governments, but his instincts made him lean to individuals. Perhaps that lesson has been lost on us in these more modern times.

Truly he was a flawed man but his flaws were the result of him being a human as you point out (judging others is a particularly human flaw) rather than a slave holder. One of my history professors said that Jefferson was chosen to write the Declaration of Independence because he was so full of $hit. Then he would pause and say "But it was really good $hit!" Dr. Sellers was a memorable character when it came to cutting to the chase in history.

“The General Government has no powers but such as the Constitution gives it,” he wrote to John Dickinsonin 1803. “It has not given it power of holding foreign territory, and still less of incorporating it into the Union. An amendment of the Constitution seems necessary for this.”
However, Jefferson had no intention of losing the deal with France. “In the meantime we must ratify and pay our money, as we have treated, for a thing beyond the Constitution, and rely on the nation to sanction an act done for its great good, without its previous authority,” he told Dickinson.
constitutioncenter.org

Commented: Tuesday, March 6th, 2018 @ 9:34 am By: Bobby Tony

This year promises to be an avalanche of 50th Anniversary memories. As my Inbox and Facebook account fills with some of the memories of former Combat Brothers as they remember the battles, pay homage to fallen brothers who did not make it home and pass the word of those who did make it back but are now dying in their 7th decade, I finally came to the realization that we have a marriage made in hell but founded in the love that Shakespeare spoke about in Henry V's St. Crispin's Day speech.

I am fortunate that I can look back on what most would say was a smooth sailing journey. The sea is calm, the waves are gentle, but I am still racing to escape the storm that lies just behind the stern of this ship of life. While I don't see any storm clouds on the horizon, I have noticed that the compass seems to be spinning around like a top. It could be a ride filled with pot holes and crosswinds. Memories and Metaphors mix easily and convert what I thought was a bump in the road into an earthquake or a windy day into a hurricane. (Okay I admit it may be just a few too many metaphors)

Commented: Monday, March 5th, 2018 @ 8:23 am By: Bobby Tony

Apparently Nancy has "a wall of separation" that Jefferson talked about. Her's is between her brain and her mouth.
Here is her clip.

youtu.be

On second thought, maybe she has a point. We could hire the non-documented people to mow the grass on their way to their permanent Lawn Service job at various companies. Naturally we would have to pay them off books (CASH) so they don't have to pay Social Security and Federal or State Income Tax.

Commented: Thursday, March 1st, 2018 @ 10:34 am By: Bobby Tony

Don't worry, I have patience. It is about the only thing left that has not deteriorated.

Commented: Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 @ 8:32 am By: Bobby Tony

While my comment may seem callus, I am trying to point out the fallacy of closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. I'll await more facts regarding the Deputy's actions or lack thereof.

I am not suggesting ignoring the trauma. What I am suggesting is individual student therapy with techniques and professional help that has proven to help in other trauma situations. Tearing down the building, trying to remove any physical reminder of the incident and group "Kum ba yahs" will not help. I don't think media exploitation of the students will help either. They must confront the reality of what happened and begin to deal with it as soon as possible. Fermentation and aging may work with distilled spirits but is does not work with traumatic events.

They must learn to process and channel the traumatic memories into a positive framework.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Prolonged Exposure (PE)
• Cognitive Restructuring
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EDMR)
• Stress Inoculation Training

ptsdspeaksout.org

Commented: Sunday, February 25th, 2018 @ 1:20 pm By: Bobby Tony

As much as I dislike memes, I occasionally find one that is worthy of posting. I used to just throw it on the Occupy Democrats FB page and never go back to see comments, but then I had several friends who apparently follow ODFB send me nasty emails accusing me of being a some sort of Neanderthal. I would have thought they knew that by just being my friend. So far only one defriended me and she was an old girl friend that I personally defriended 50 years ago. She could not take a joke then and apparently can't take one now.

Commented: Sunday, February 25th, 2018 @ 10:19 am By: Bobby Tony

You and I are what my dad used to call “$hit Stirrers;” people who just try to stir up a stink.

I plead guilty.

One of the few promises I made to myself after returning from Vietnam was that I would never touch an M16 or any variation thereof.  I have fortunately been able to keep that promise. I have friends who own them and often they will try to hand them to me to look at. I tell them thanks but no thanks.  That does not make me antigun and I don't believe it gives me the right to prevent others from their own choices; I have owned shot and touched multiple other rifles and pistols over the years but that one variation of rifle holds significant memories for me and I choose not to own one.  I hope to live out the rest of my life fulfilling that promise, but one thing I do know is that if and when I ever have to break that promise, I will not need to own an M16, AR15 or so called "Assault Rifle."  There will be plenty laying around to pick up if needed. You might say that I think I have paid my dues.

The second amendment does not guarantee safety. All the legally owned guns in gun safes, under beds, on the mantel, on the pickup gun rack, in the closet, on the belt or under the shirt are of no good if they stay there when someone of ill intent decides to enter a school or anyplace armed and prepared to do harm to others.

Only people of good intent can ameliorate and prevent the damage of done by a deranged armed person.  They can do that with bats, bricks, rocks, or guns but the weapon of choice is not as important as the willingness to defend oneself.  The choice of weapon merely increases the odds that one will succeed in their own and other's defense.

Commented: Saturday, February 24th, 2018 @ 10:13 am By: Bobby Tony

Not really, I was not an early convert to the Beatles music as I was stuck in the 1950s but I eventually grew to enjoy their music before John started taking himself too seriously and met that gal YO YO.

Thanks for not mentioning the bug in my HTML coding, I don't know how he got in the post.

Here is a simple lesson on the chords from my go to man on YouTube for many of the pop tunes. I can't say much for his voice but his teaching technique with the guitar is simple and easy to follow.

beaufortcountynow.com

Commented: Thursday, February 22nd, 2018 @ 7:00 pm By: Bobby Tony

Here is the latest article I was able to find about the Trial TMc mentions below.

www.wral.com

Commented: Tuesday, February 20th, 2018 @ 9:25 am By: Bobby Tony

I think we are in agreement about the President's ability to adapt. The big test will be the immigration and Gun issue. His seems to have a reasonable approach for DACA immigrants who are here illegally through no fault of their own.There must be a middle ground somewhere between let all illegals vote and deport all illegals. Our system is and has been broke for quite some time and many have taken advantage of it including so called law abiding citizens who hire "Day workers for cash" for landscaping.

The Gun issue will require a reasonable review of background checks instead of a knee jerk ban them all reaction or let em all have one reaction.

It just requires a reasonable discussion without throwing pejoratives around. I also wonder what happened to the Democratic response memo. I have not heard much about it lately.

Commented: Monday, February 19th, 2018 @ 5:59 am By: Bobby Tony

Just off the top of my head without deep research, I have only found three completely transparent people in the National government. Rand Paul, Trey Gowdy and Bernie Sanders. You can pretty much set you clock by what their take will be on almost any issue. I puts most of the rest in the 'Weather Vane' category.

Commented: Sunday, February 18th, 2018 @ 1:01 pm By: Bobby Tony

Looking for heroes in sports figures is fraught with disappointments, but if you are looking for inspiration here are two examples of the highest traditions of perseverance in the face of disappointments. Both have been portrayed in movies, but these two guys did not measure up in the requirements of their sports or times, but they sure as hell proved that limitations are often only in our own mind.

Commented: Tuesday, February 13th, 2018 @ 9:07 am By: Bobby Tony

You lost me at F:I. Most of my grammar school education was spent outside the classroom beating the erasers against the wall to clean out the chalk dust. It looks like this high end math class did not have a BT to keep things in order.

For the youngsters in the crowd. The punishment for acting up in class in the 1950s was cleaning the Chalk Erasers against the school house wall outside. I became an expert by the Second Grade.

Commented: Friday, February 9th, 2018 @ 9:18 am By: Bobby Tony

First I would like to thankTMc for another sleepless night. The Game of Go is somewhat like the infinite loop in computer programming. An infinite loop is a sequence of instructions in a computer program which loops endlessly, either due to the loop having no terminating condition, having one that can never be met, or one that causes the loop to start over.

I am reminded that Ted often creates a sleepless night for me with his articles. His minimalist approach often sends me scurrying around for more information. I have a sneaky suspicion that he does it on purpose just to keep me awake at night.

He sent me an email asking if I wanted to add one of my snarky comments to this article. Ted knows that I do no possess the minimalist gene in my writing and comments so my challenge is always to come up with a comment that is shorter than the article I am commenting on. Ted's original article above contained only 182 words. My comment here contains 248 words. I have once again failed to express myself in a minimalist fashion.

After contemplating his request I could only come up with this.

"I Saw a dog chase it's tail for 10 mins & thought wow dogs are easily entertained. Then realized I just watched a dog chase it's tail for 10 mins." Bill Murray

I could have just posted the quote as my comment but what is the fun of that?

Commented: Thursday, February 8th, 2018 @ 6:55 am By: Bobby Tony

Would it have made a difference if the girls were 17 plus 1 day? The problem was not the parents it was the system that allowed this guy to run roughshod over basic decency. But then again, we send our 18-23 year old kids to colleges which mentally do the same thing without any constraints on off the rail professors.

Commented: Wednesday, February 7th, 2018 @ 2:41 pm By: Bobby Tony

That leaves just enough room for another Olga Valentinovna Korbut who was 17 in 1972.

But your rule would have disqualified 14-year-old Nadia Comaneci who became the first athlete in modern Olympic history to be awarded a perfect 10.

Commented: Tuesday, February 6th, 2018 @ 10:20 am By: Bobby Tony

The last time I watched him was The Man Show with Adam Carolla when they were totally inappropriate. Funny how money and job position can change your perspective. Back in my work career, I used the term "The Prick Machine" that they always ran a new manager through so he could tow the company line. I did not realize it applied to entertainers as well.

Viewers will have to Google "Man Show - Bosom Springs" to see what I mean about totally inappropriate.

And yes, I went through the 'TPM' but it did not take. I was already a "P."

Commented: Monday, February 5th, 2018 @ 12:30 pm By: Bobby Tony