March 21, 2008

You Ain't Gonna Like Losing

This picture reminds me of a couple of aunts, now deceased for several years.

The reason, I guess, is that they were both pretty strong women, and both did their part during the second World War.

They were different in many ways. They had different life styles. They lived in different parts of the country. Aunt Lillian in Washington D.C. worked as a secretary at the Pentagon, and Aunt Lois worked at a ship yard in New Orleans.

Aunt Lillian, and my mother's brother, Uncle William, became millionaires before their lives were over.

Aunt Lois, my mother's sister, married a happy-go-lucky, motorcycle riding dude, and they were pretty well off, but never became millionaires.

As different as their lives were, they were much alike in a very special way. They were all very patriotic, and had a real love for their country. They all contributed to the well-being of it, in some way, and they were grateful for what they had

Neither couple ever had children of their own, and my Aunt Lillian and Uncle William left most of their wealth and property to the Children's Home in Georgia, and their residence now shelters homeless children.

I have very fond memories of that home, having spent a summer or two there with them as a little girl, dressing up in Aunt Lillian's fancy dresses, listening to her "Washington Tales," while eating her fancy cooking.

It was a different time then--not only during the war days that they told me about, but in the years afterwards, too.

It is a different world, now.

I said all of the above, to preface the following:

"You Ain't Gonna Like Losing"

President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq.

Bush's mistake came in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII.

It is not.

Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders, so it was the people's duty to back those leaders.

Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not or whether the war was going badly or not.

And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty. Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war.

Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old pitched in. Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort.

Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap, to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining.

You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President. Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our President. Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted.

And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our troops!

Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies.

A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or did not have air conditioning.

There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crack heads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.

No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve.

It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorrah and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11, but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices.

We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. Europe will be essentially a Muslim theocracy in 50 years with Shira Law governing the people. Included in Shira Law are stoning, beheading, and chopping off the left hand of thieves. It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred million Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorists cause...Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits.

So....we either win it, or lose it -- and YOU AIN'T GONNA LIKE LOSING.

Here's the link to the essay.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

To “Unknown” who wrote the original article here. You left out some important pieces of history in order to get your square fantasy to fit into the round hole of reality. War broke out between Japan and China in 1937. The Nazi began their assault on Europe in 1938. In 1940, after the Nazis invaded France, Norway and Sweden, they then attacked Britain. During all this time the United States declared itself neutral although this country did sell supplies to the Allies and also put an embargo on goods going to Japan. During this time, two separate wars became one as Germany, Italy and Japan signed a pact and became known as the Axis powers. In the aftermath of WWI, this country was in no hurry to enter another war. It was not until the end of 1941 – the now infamous attack on Pearl Harbor, that the United States entered the war. I grow weary of the endless attacks on my patriotism by those who believe that disagreement and asking pointed questions is somehow un-American. If, as a decent human being, I am horrified and appalled by the torture and mistreatment of prisoners under our power, fine, then I’m un-American. If the same acts were committed against our own people, what would you be saying, ”Oh, well, that’s the price of war?” I find your flippant and inaccurate remarks about torture and mistreatment an affront to my American ideals. You’re right, this is not the America of WW2. Back then, no soldier would have lowered himself to act in such a disgraceful manner. No commander would have issued such orders. Was force used to extract information? Probably, but it was flouted and crowed about. And, we certainly were not committing degrading sexual acts upon prisoners. This country stood for strength and decency and honor. Call me what you will, but blindly supporting national acts that I believe are detrimental to the well being of my country is never going to be a part of my life. We did "all come together" in support of the administration's invasion on Iraq - when it was believed that they had WOMDs.now there's more questions than answers about who knew what when.
I find it ironic that promoting this blind faith in government is exactly what led to the meteoric rise of the Nazis and look what happened to the people after that. No thanks.

Jan said...

"I grow weary of the endless attacks on my patriotism by those who believe that disagreement and asking pointed questions is somehow un-American. If, as a decent human being, I am horrified and appalled by the torture and mistreatment of prisoners under our power, fine, then I’m un-American.If the same acts were committed against our own people, what would you be saying, ”Oh, well, that’s the price of war?” I find your flippant and inaccurate remarks about torture and mistreatment an affront to my American ideals."

rockny..unfortunately, horrible acts have been perpetrateed against American troops, and torture and mistreatment is horrifying where ever it is found.

The truth is, the American public doesn't know all that went on in that war, just as we don't know for a fact what is going on now, on either side. War is never pretty, viewed from any perspective.

I'm sorry that you took this as a personal attack against your beliefs, or patriotism..it was not intended as such.

Unfortunately, the racial divide is not the only one that exists in this country, and it is not good. People do feel passionately about things, but the good thing is, that they are still able to voice their opinions, pro or con.

Anonymous said...

Author of "You ain't gonna like losing" is not unknown. An internet search yields the info at http://www.upstatetoday.com/news/2007/oct/11/bill-croghan-you-aint-gonna-losing/

Jan said...

Anonymous..thanks for bringing that to my attention.

I'll be sure to give credit where credit's due! :)

Anonymous said...

Are you morally corrupt or just stupid?? This is some of the most ridiculous shit I have ever read!
George W. Bush is a fucking puppet for all the powerful neo-conservative politicians, and he had very little to do with deciding to go to war. As president he allowed it to happen, yes, but without the string-pulling of his administration, we would never be involved in the genocide going on in the Middle East. Get your shit right!
The war in Iraq was THE biggest mistake our government has made in a long time. WHY are we there?? Iraqis did not attack us. I doubt the 9-11 attacks were even the plots of Afghans.
Have you ever heard of a false flag operation? It's a fake attack enacted by a government on it's own country that appears to be the work of an enemy state. Once the people are lied to and scared, they support the government's decision to go to war. Sound familiar??
9-11 was the work of our government. The buildings collapsed like CONTROLLED DEMOLITIONS. Steel structures do not collapse from fire. So why did a near-by steel building that WAS NOT EVEN HIT BY A PLANE "collapse from fire"?? Metal in the basements of the twin towers melted. A plane crashing into the UPPER floors cannot generate enough heat to melt metal. Explosives CAN generate heat like that. And is it a coincidence that millions of pages of top-secret government data was destroyed a day before the attacks? There is just too much bullshit surrounding 9-11 and too many unanswered questions.
Our government MURDERED Americans so that it could have an excuse to invade Iraq, murder MORE innocent people, impose our ideals on another country, set up fake exploitable democracies, and reap the benefits of invasion.
And don't take my word for it, go read Project for a New American Century. It was written by neo-conservative devils of the Bush administration, like Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, John Bolton, Richard Armitage, and Elliott Abrams. You know, all those guys that ignorant imperialists like yourself fantasize? Well they support American global domination. Kinda sounds like a bunch of Hitlers. And, according to them, there would need to be some kind of attack on American soil - "a new Pearl Harbor" - in order to go to war. Hmm. 9-11 was just what they needed, huh??
And how can you even compare this war to WWII?? You expect the American people to blindly back up their government no matter what?? That is the stupidest most anti-American thing I have ever heard. Our fore-fathers made it very clear, that if we don't agree with what our government is doing, IT IS OUR DUTY AS AMERICANS TO CHANGE THE GOVERNMENT. Know why they added that little piece in the creation of our country? SO THAT THE GOVERNMENT CAN'T GAIN TOO MUCH POWER AND GET AWAY WITH SHIT LIKE UNNECESSARY WARS! Newspapers are doing their job when they make the public aware of all the bullshit our government pulling.
Also, what the hell do things like porn and drugs have to do with war?? Both have been around long before the founding of our country, and during WWII they were less restricted than they are today!
We are in great danger? You have GOT to be kidding me. Muslims DO NOT believe that it is their duty to kill anyone who won't convert to Islam. You think that 300 million Muslim civilians are going to put their lives on pause to attack America? You think that the "Muslim terrorists" attacked us on 9-11 because we won't convert to Islam?? Hah, that's the funniest thing I've ever heard! But wait, didn't the government also say that we were invading to "free" these people from dictators like Saddam Hussein? Why would we want to free people if they wanted to kill us?
Even if that claim of being in danger were remotely true, we have more nuclear weapons and military strength than any other country, WAY more than all of the countries in the Middle East put together. The only danger to the American people is our own government.
Innocent people are being murdered by our government and our military. It is totally ridiculous and I cannot believe some of the shit that we are doing to those people. CIVILIANS, MOTHERS, AND CHILDREN ARE DYING because of us! Babies are being born with horrible deformities as a result of our use of DU in the Middle East! How on Earth can you commend our military presence there??
And I cannot believe the last paragraph. Seriously? You didn't learn this shit in elementary school? The only true RACE of Americans are the Native Americans that Europeans slaughtered when they first came to America. Since then, people of every ethnic background have immigrated to this country. In the beginning, it were the Irish and ITALIANS that weren't considered Americans. SO WHO THE FUCK CARES IF THEIR ARE "HYPHENATED AMERICANS"??? Terms like "African American" are used to distinguish an AMERICAN of AFRICAN descent! Yeah, 60 years ago they weren't called African Americans, they were called NIGGERS! Those were the good ol' days, huh? These hyphenated terms can be applied to EVERYONE in this country because NONE of us have an AMERICAN ethnic background except the Native Americans! The diversity and mixture of cultures in this country is what makes it so great anyways. Not the government, the PEOPLE.
I have never read anything so fucking ignorant in my life. How the fuck can you think shit like this?? What is wrong with you?? Do you actually believe this shit? Pull your head out of your ass! Seriously, you're either stupid or just evil! It's people like you that are destroying our country, and it's people like you that make me ashamed to be an American.

Richard said...

[this post was from 3-08 so I had a hard time connecting what Jade was talking about and the actual posting]

Jade, I was offended by this article as well; and, like ROCKNY, I thought that the author was questioning my patriotism and that of a great many who have served their country and who objected to the way in which our country was taken into battle unnecessarily. But Jade, because of the way you came on here, I don't think too many folks read more than a sentence or two of what you wrote. You wasted a lot of electrons.
This site has some good folks who come to visit it, and they'll never get to understand what you think if your comments are too obnoxious to read.
You're not in your own home here friend. You're visiting. Much of what you said could be worthy of discussion, and is a view of world events that doesn't get talked about on this site, but who's going to ever engage you in that discussion if you attack the people on the other side of the discussion? Things pretty much come to a stop.
Jan writes and posts some wonderful stories about things other than politics. You'll find that she is engaging, hospitable, and civil to everyone who visits.....even to me.

R.Green

Anonymous said...

A very good comment, Jade !
Thank you,
Eva

Jan said...

Well, Eva..Olivia Kroft, you showed your true colors a long time ago, so I am not at all surprised that you have approved of this deranged person's rant.

I started to just delete your comment, but then I thought that I would be sinking to your despicable level of editing and/or deleting any comment which doesn't stroke your very big ego.

On second thought, if you should ever comment here again you WILL be deleted.

Aren't you ashamed that one of the sweetest people in the world who happens to be a friend of yours will see your hateful words here? She reads and comments here, too.

Maybe she will see that you are not the very genteel person that you portray yourself to be..on your blog, and hers. You know, the one from whose site you clicked on to get here?

Now..go have yourself a nice day. Oh, I forgot..it is evening there in Germany, isn't ?

Hmm..I'm wondering how it is that you decided to comment on this very old post, anyway?

It doesn't matter..you won't be commenting here, again