The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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This is my favorite line from my all-time favorite movie, The Blue Max. In this 1966 movie that my dad took me to watch when I was all of five years-old, George Peppard plays a German World War I fighter pilot, Bruno Stachel. After being denied his first aerial victory and being dismissed by his snobby, upper-crust squadron mates, Bruno shoots down a British airplane over his own airfield. When confronted by his angry commanding officer, Stachel walks over to the downed airplane, cuts the regist...
Today every other man (and still more so during war-time) is an amateur strategist and tactician; the House of Commons is full of such folk. No politician would be considered sane if he told a chemist or an astronomer what to do, but he considers it his right to tell the soldier, sailor, and airman what to do, and even how to do it; and if his words are not based on a true understanding of war they are based on a false understanding, for there can be no middle course. J.F.C. Fuller Did you hear...
Election night 2016 was a beautiful thing to watch. Tears flowing, heads exploding, pundits demonstrating that they know absolutely nothing about anything, you name it. Obviously, I am happy that “she” did not win, but watching all of the crazed people crying and being on the verge of suicide was a thing to behold. Reports that Hillary had a profanity laden meltdown while overturning tables and launching objects around the room easily explains exactly why she did not come out to greet her sup...
All I can say is that by the time this Robservation hits the streets, the election, for better or worse, will be over and done with. It has been a long, drawn out embarrassment for the entire United States. Whether the winner is a clear political outsider who has said some questionable things in the past and had an up and down business career or whether the winner is a pathological liar who hates the Constitution, who will do and say anything for political gain, has broken the law, violated...
Deplorable: Causing or being a subject for grief or regret; lamentable; causing or being a subject for censure, reproach, or disapproval; wretched; very bad. Irredeemable: Not able to be saved, improved, or corrected. “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic --you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them u...
Sitting here on vacation, there are so many things going on but today I only want to cover two items for now. There are sunny beaches to see so here goes. 1. The Olympics: First of all, after all the negative press about Rio before the games began, I did enjoy watching the Olympics on television for the past two weeks; for the most part. After all, during the games only one severed arm washed up in the Olympic bay, only one mugger was shot dead by a Russian diplomat and after only a week, the gr...
Last week after the mass murders in Nice, France, I called into a local talk radio show. When beginning to discuss the topic, I was asked if I “had the answer” to the attacks and threats that are coming at us at an increasing pace. My answer was “no.” Without having all the requisite intelligence information, nobody can. It is impossible. The area of operational planning is far too complex and detailed to come up with an answer in a 30 second bite. When pressed for an answer, I again refused...
I am admittedly frustrated as I write this (these) Robservation(s). This first part is something I wrote over 3 years ago in February 2013. It is still relevant and after the Orlando shootings and the new calls for more gun control, I felt compelled to readdress this with an earlier Robservation and follow up with a more current assessment of the gun control debate. As a rule of thumb, I know that you should never write when you are angry. I kinda broke that rule with part 2. I apologize in...
Of course I had to. I had absolutely no choice in the matter. After the killings in Orlando, my government went out of its way once again to show that they are in fact the real JV team on the field of play right now. Literally, and you cannot make this crap up. The 49 bodies of those slain in the nightclub were still on the floor, their cell phones ringing from the calls of loved ones that would never get an answer, and our President was on national television blaming guns and calling for more...
There is an old adage that says, "The customer is always right." I will be one of the first ones to say that is total nonsense. On paper, that sounds like a socially righteous attitude to take, but reality tells me something totally different. When a passenger intentionally urinates on the floor of the airplane because he won't be served more alcohol, when a passenger drops the tray table while we are taxiing into our gate in Denver and he starts snorting cocaine, when a passenger fondles a...
When and where is it all going to end? Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved Germany and the German people. When I was five years old, my father took my brother and me to see the movie, The Blue Max, starring George Peppard and Ursula Andress. It is the story of a brutal, callous, cold blooded killer named Bruno Stachel who flew for the Germans in World War One. I still watch this movie at least once or twice every year. But as a little kid, the aviation scenes and the cool German...
A nervous tension hangs heavily over the upcoming press conference. As usual, something major in the world occurs and the President of the United States is expected to step up to the podium and give not only his ideas of the event but will hopefully spell out exactly how his administration plans on reacting. Today is no exception. 80 members of the press corps huddles around waiting for the POTUS to step onto the stage. Over the din and confusion in the room, questions can be heard wondering...
First of all, I have to apologize for this column. I first wrote this way back in early 2011 but as I read over it, I felt it remained current in its scope and thought. The reason I am not adding a new column is that I am currently recovering from surgery I recently had and to be honest, at the moment writing is among the last things on my mind to do. I do think, however, for my next Robservation I will discuss my surgery. But here is my column with a few editorial additions and I am looking...
Hey, folks. Happy New Year to all. I hope everybody had a great Christmas season. But a lot has happened already this year so let’s get started. Let’s talk about. . . 1. Sexual Assaults in Germany: Okay, I admit. This one really angers me. Since this news broke, I have asked a couple of dozen people about this story and almost none of them had heard about it. Apparently, on New Year’s Eve, in six German cities, groups of “refugees” and “asylum seekers” thought it would be nice to pester, annoy...
Here I sit, shaking my head. Next year cannot come too soon for me. That is, next year’s presidential election. It has hard for me to fathom the level of mediocrity that emanates from within this administration. It has become a continuous procession of buffoonery that is only topped by the sheer impossibility that such actions should ever occur. I am not even going to talk about Benghazi because there is still too much information that has been hidden, covered, expunged or whatever you want t...
A lot has happened since my last Robservation. The Paris terrorist attacks, the Russian airline shoot down, the increasing concern over Syrian refugees coming to the States, President Obama's pathetic, sad and disgusting speech in Turkey, Rhonda Rousey getting knocked out, you name it. I want to touch on them just a little. 1. Russian airliner shot down: Not much to say here. Russia has finally admitted that their plane was brought down by a terrorist attack and yes, Vladmir Putin is pretty...
Over two years ago I first penned this column and not surprisingly since then there have been an increasingly number of senseless gun attacks reported. Just this year we had the South Carolina church shooting, the television reporter and cameraman in Roanoke, Virginia and just the other day a shooting at the Fort Meyers, Florida Zombie convention. And as usual, out come the knuckleheads insisting on complete gun control and the dismantling of the Second Amendment. I figured now might be a good...
Okay, I get it. I really do. The Syrian refugee crisis is a tragedy on a monumental scale. The picture of the dead child on the beach, the long lines, barbed wire fences and all the scenes reminiscent of the worst of WWII movies and documentaries, all work to pull and tear at our collective heart strings. But as with almost any story, there is always more than meets the eye. It is a little difficult writing about this but alas, I feel the need to. Before someone reading this opines that I am a...
I have to admit, it takes a lot to impress me. I generally do not go all ga-ga over people or things, but every now and then I am taken by surprise. In my world, I have flown with all types of men and women. Good pilots and not-so good ones. I have met many athletes, celebrities, combat vets, you name it. Although many have been incredibly interesting, few have knocked my socks off. I have flown with Thunderbird pilots, a Canadian Snowbird pilot, a Blue Angel, an Italian Frecci Tricolori pilot,...
Those who love Your law have great peace and nothing offends them. Psalm 119:165 Okay, this is not going to be a religious rant of any kind because I fully understand a large percentage of people out there reading this may not be believers. That is okay. It is what it is. At the same time, however, there comes a time when all people, regardless of their beliefs need to take a step back and get off of this ridiculous notion that everything "offends" them. In fact, most of the time we need to...
My father had been sick for a while. He had recently lost both of his legs due to injuries he sustained while serving in the Army during and after the Korean War. The injuries never fully healed and as he got older, poor circulation took its toll on his legs. I used to call my dad every day, sometimes three or more times, just to check on him and talk. I loved hearing his voice and discussing life in general. I always asked him how he was feeling and his usually annoying answer was, “The same a...
Because of the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash where the copilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally crashed his Airbus 320-200 into the French Alps killing all 150 people onboard, my previous Robservation focused on the aviation industry's need to develop and maintain robust selection and training programs. In addition to these two aspects, however, any organization that wants to succeed must also implement training's evil twin, Standardization/Evaluation. I say evil with tongue in cheek, but...
On 24 March 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525, an Airbus A320-200 crashed into the French Alps killing all 150 people onboard. Things instantly didn't seem right and almost immediately authorities knew for sure that the 27 year-old German copilot, Andreas Lubitz, intentionally flew the airplane into the mountains. Having flown for Delta for 18 years and 12 years before that in the Air Force, I know a little about the subject of flight safety. I know many of you have questions because I am...
On July 16, 2014 under the leadership of the US Department of Treasury Secretary, Jacob J. Lew, in an apparent response to Russia's attempts to destabilize the eastern Ukraine as well as its advances in and occupation of the Crimea, broad-based sanctions were levied against Vladmir Putin's government. These sanctions targeted financial services, the energy sector, select areas of the Russian arms industry and identified institutions directly related to the undermining of the Ukrainian...
Over the past several months, I have become increasingly embarrassed, and to be quite honest, ashamed of the majority of people running this great country of ours, Democrat and Republican. With every passing day, another item makes its way to the forefront of the news to further anger and disillusion most of us who pay attention to what is going on in the world around us. With that in mind, here is a not-so-complete list of some items that bug me right now. – I am ashamed that we have an ad...
