Another great email:
"Letter To President Tells It Like It Is By 95 Year Old WW II Veteran"
Dear President Obama,
My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don't believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.
I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos'n Mate. Now I live in a "rest home" located on the western end of Pearl Harbor allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.
One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.
So here goes.
I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.
I can't figure out what country you are the president of. You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:
" We're no longer a Christian nation"
" America is arrogant" - (Your wife even announced to the world, "America is mean- spirited." Please tell her to try preaching that nonsense to 23 generations of our war dead buried all over the globe who died for no other reason than to free a whole lot of strangers from tyranny and hopelessness.)
I'd say shame on the both of you but I don't think you like America nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.
After 9/11 you said," America hasn't lived up to her ideals."
Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British ? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War ? I hope you didn't mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers,husbands,and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII,because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around because we stand for freedom.
I don't think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.
Take a little advice from a very old geezer,young man.
Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don't, I'll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue. You were elected to lead, not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.
And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don't want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts who was putting up a fight ? You don't mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don't want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are,terrorists.
One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life but you're the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you're not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you're thinking of.
You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.
You're not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That's not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now. And I sure as hell don't want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.
Sincerely,
Harold B. Estes
This venerable and much honored WW II vet is well known in Hawaii for his seventy-plus years of service to patriotic organizations and causes all over the country. A humble man without a political bone in his body. He has never spoken out before about a government official, until now. He dictated this letter to a friend, signed it and mailed it to the president.
When a 95 year old hero of the the "Greatest Generation" stands up and speaks out like this. Everyone ought to listen.
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6 comments:
With all due respect, exactly why is it we're supposed to listen? Because he was in the Navy? Because he lived to be 95 years of age? What qualifications does he have to be considered such a Font of Information and Guidance? Because he agrees with you?
He shows that he doesn't have a very good grasp of fact, especially when he says that 500,000 men died to end slavery in the Civil War. Most experts pin the casualties of that war to be around 600,000 to 700,000 and that includes Southern losses. I think it's probably a good guess that virtually none of the Sourthern deaths were men who were fighting to eliminate slavery, and a large percentage of Northerners killed could have cared less about slavery. The Union goal was reuniting the Union, not eliminating slavery.
23 generations of our war dead? Really? Is that the new New Math? Even if you peg a "generation" as being 20 years (which is being very charitable to the old guy, being a veteran and all) that means America's been at it for 460 years.. since 1549? When the first permanent British settlement in America was started in 1607 and you can't really refer to any war in America before the French & Indian War in 1754?
Listening to this self-described "old geezer" is probably as silly as suggesting the President follow the "orders" sent up the chain of command from his commander in Afghanistan. It's called a "request", folks. The Army ALWAYS needs more soldiers, to wreak more destruction. But,sometimes, the best course may be to get out before any more young kids are needlessly killed.
On THAT point, I agree with the old geezer.
(BTW: they're still trying to verify that this nonsense is an authentic e-mail from whoever Harold Estes is... or if it's yet another bogus e-mail circulating through the rightwingnut blogosphere because it says things you like to hear. If it's shown, down the road, that it was written by some snot-nosed thirtysomething puke sitting in his bathrobe and boxers in Mommie's basement, can we THEN dismiss it for being rubbish?)
Wel, I'm only a 72 year old retired LCDR, USN, and I agree completely with every word Master Chief Estes said. Diogenes tries to use the standard liberal slander against the Master Chief, including accusing him of living in his Mommie's basement while writing his letter. Grow up A$$Whole.
LMAO at your hypocrisy, Ms. ML. What happens to your "vulgarity" standards when the vulgarity comes from one of your few rightwingnut accomplices? You let it stand, of course! And you delete my reply!
You don't even pretend anymore, do you?
Larry S., I reread the letter from the veteran and found not one vulgarity in the entire letter. Yes, it was hard-hitting, but there was NOTHING inappropriate in it. I understand that you disagree with what the man said, but you have no basis for your complaint.
As to me deleting your past comment, I honestly don't remember it. Apparently, there was something I found inappropriate in it. Try again, and I'll be happy to post it.
That's unfair to accuse me of hypocrisy because I post Diogenes's rants on a daily basis. And I will post yours as well, if appropriate. Give it your best shot.
snopes.com confirmed (sort of) that this e-mail was, in fact, written by Estes and that Estes is indeed a veteran. So that much is clear, now.
And, looking at Larry's comment, he may have been referring not to Estes' e-mail that you posted, but the dimwitted "veteran" who posted here, just after me (the ever-popular "Anonymous") who referred to me as an "ASSWhole".
Doesn't bother me... I just consider the source.
You are right. I apologize for that. Will be more careful in the future.
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