by Barry Hastings
The once popular (now not so much) poet Robert Service wrote (in a short verse preceding his collected works), “I have no doubts at all the Devil grins, /As seas of ink I spatter. /Ye Gods, forgive my ‘literary’ sins – the other kind don’t matter.”
I often use those ‘literary sins’ for effect. I’m certain I’ve invented several. Boring writers, generally speaking, aren’t widely read.
At age 77 I see my style, my tools, my antecedents, are those of the historic Muckrakers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A partial list includes such steadfast servants of the body politic as Jacob Riis, Theodore Dreiser, Upton Sinclair, Jack London, Ida Tarbell, and Lincoln Steffens (to name but a few). I’ve used various modes of writing for various kinds of writing, i.e., sports writing, news writing, commentary.
Writing on sports I try to concentrate on the athletes, coaches, team spirit and togetherness. The wonderful satisfaction of great ‘team’ play, the (almost) unbearable things that can, and do happen in athletic competition.
Writing news, I use history, and some sixty years of political reading, study, activity, and never mislead, or lie to people. I don’t mind apologizing if I screw things up, or make mistakes. I never check our web site (rather, rarely check it) because I’d rather be in Hell than be caught connected, and with my hand glued to my ear and cell phone. I neither own, nor use, your damned “devices,” wherein the devil (NSA) dwells.
With commentary, the same claim (I never…) is made. However, I do go after fools, liars, grafting politico’s, Jamrats and Coarsers, and those who endanger our nation’s safety through believing too firmly in “party” and “philosophy” over the public
weal and the nation’s strength. I’ve also written a great deal of advertising and “publicity” copy, some for artists, some corporate.
To those who don’t like my style, a hearty, “T.S.” Next week it will be different. Versatility is name of the game.
I love, even worship, what this Republic was meant to be in the minds of our founders. They tried their best to prevent the intra-mural religious strife and stress, of which we see so many ugly examples almost every day. Sorrowfully, they failed to lock the back door against religious zealots (those who want to check your bedroom, your bathroom, the top drawer of your dresser, and what you’re doin’ when no one’s around).
They’re taking pictures of you every time you move, all the while you’re out, when you come home, and (more important to them), of who you come home with. Well, I can tell you flatly, that was not what the founders had in mind, a’ tall.
When I write history, and it’s my intention to start writing more of it (for you), I stay away from “the lies commonly agreed upon,” and explain, specifically, what shits we’ve been in relationships with neighbors on our North American continent, those a continent below, and in other areas of the world, specifically Vietnam and Southeast Asia. We stole at least a third of Mexico by force of arms. We killed something like two million Vietnamese in a very calculated way, and I defy anyone to demonstrate anything they did to deserve it. We’ve used our armed might to force our will on any number of Latin and South American states.
And, I have to say, I’m not all that impressed by the complainers, who’ve likely never made a dime writing. I have – since 1963, in half-a-dozen states, doing sports, news, features; political, military, intel, and general commentary. I’ve only been fired once, and if you know the owners of Barry County’s monopoly publishers, you’ll understand why. (I will never bend to the winds of ignorance.)
So, to move right along here, I wonder if Mr. Putin’s Stalin-like psyche caused him to have explosives placed aboard a Russian airliner loaded with Russian citizens, to ramp up support at home for his Syrian adventure. Surely he remembers the rumbles of discontent in the old (decaying) Soviet state, during the 1980s, as Russian casualty lists from Afghanistan grew longer, then longer still. Most Russians are so drunk and ignorant, they’ll buy into most any thing. Too damned many of us are as bad.
Recent Chinese actions in the South China Sea demonstrate a policy as aggressive (politically/militarily) as that of Putin in Crimea and Syria. Difference is, world attention right now is closely focused on the Middle East, and the Chinese have ever been subtle. Russians have long been known to Europeans as “Bears in clothing.” This assessment goes as far back in relations between the two spheres as historians have delved. Believe me, they’ve dug “a fur piece.”
Both have long histories of creating confused weakness and trouble, politically, inside areas where they want to expand, then apply military force to overwhelm and absorb them. Neither truly wants friendly relationships with others, rather want to dominate and control them.
This Dr. Ben Carson is proving to be a lying SOB. If he’ll lie about being offered a West Point scholarship, bet your butt seekers will find much, much more. There has never been a “scholarship” offered at any of our military academies. Academy students receive a great and free education (marred occasionally by pathetic cheaters in the ranks of officers-to-be), plus pocket-money of something just over eight thousand bucks a year. If the lying (light-at-the-end-of-tunnel) Westmoreland offered me anything, I’d spit on his spit-polished (by someone else) shoes – maybe in his face. He’s a disgrace to the U. S. Army, and the nation.