Legacy

The death of a close friend has inspired these musings:

When I’m gone and buried, why should I care if I am lauded or mocked? I doubt if I will know of such feelings ... or, if I might, I would be able to fix things ... obviously it’ll be much, much too late.

However, a good life does benefit those you leave behind ... enough reason to be honorable. It’s your legacy ... not to your possible afterlife ... but to your friends and family ... to enable them to remember you fondly ... proud of their relationship with you ... and to use it as a model to play it all forward.

You lived such a good life. It’s your legacy. RIP, David.

Obvious Truth #12

Nothing has helped John McCain's legacy more than his choice of enemies. -- Anon.

Ink Blot

It i is up to history to write your legacy. Attempting to pen your own amounts to nothing more than a vain and silly ink blot on the annals. -- Anon.

Today's Cartoon

Moonbeam's Legacy

Current Napa Valley wildfire

California's mis-governor, Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown is leaving his state in a pretty mess:

- perennial out-of-control wildfires

- thousands of illegal alien felons protected by his sanctuary state

- unsustainable fiscal insanity

- upward spiraling taxes and regulations

- the middle class being driven out of state

- an adversarial relationship with our federal government

- myopic and anti-agriculture water-resource regulations

- narrowly-focused environmental planning

- well-advertised and ill-advised open borders

- political correctness running amok

- standing by for the loss of free speech

- dumbing down of an once-exemplar higher education system

- rampant homelessness befouling the state's major cities

Landmines

President Obummer promised Trump a smooth transition to his inauguration on January 20th. Well, once again, he lied. Surprise, surprise! He and his band of desperadoes are doing everything their puny pea brains can conger up to sabotage Trump's upcoming administration. Here is a list of seven of these landmines they have planted ... see: Breitbart Article. I would also add the last-minute packing in of immigrants, the pardoning of large numbers of drug dealers (just what we need with the current epidemic of drug overdoses), a barrage of new regulations and the continued mass releasing of criminal alien felons. And I'm sure that there is more mischief to come. Charles Krauthammer calls these actions  adolescent ... which of course they are. I think I would add spiteful, mean-spirited, un-American and petty. Go to Words for the President to find some more gems that apply.

Of late, our current president (I've already suppressed his name) has gone out of his way to burnish his legacy. I suspect that these current actions will tarnish what little luster is left. So, not only will he be regarded by history as a failed president, but will be remembered as having left a turd in the transition punch bowl.

Afterthought: And like Al Capone, who arranged to be in Florida when the St. Valentine's massacre took place in Chicago, our nudnik president is doing many of these dastardly deeds from far away in sunny Hawaii.

His Royal Smugness

I'm conflicted. Barack Obummer has graciously offered to aid in the smooth transition to a Trump presidency but with a characteristic smugness. I would like to think that his effort is genuine but deep down I suspect it derives from the fact that Obummer was hailed, when first elected, as the second coming (or the twelfth Imam) ... whereas Trump is being greeted with ugly protests in numerous blue cities. This, to Obummer, justifies his continued feeling of superiority despite the crumbling walls of his presidential legacy. For, after all, the only valid judge of Obummer's worth is Obummer.

Or,to put it another way, Trump is often right but seldom loved, whereas Obummer is often loved but seldom right.

Bigoted Anti-bigots

Many streets across America are awash with Soros-funded protesters writhing in agony over the Trump election, Their hysterical histrionics often border on the comical as they denounce our president-elect for the litany of his PC sins ... often devoid of rhyme or reason. One champion of these ragtag groups of savages is the original poseur ... Elizabeth Warren who is on her own private warpath with Trump ... see: CNBC Story.

As he often does, Trump cannot ignore these fulminating discontents as he tweeted that they are protesting the fair results of our democratic process. In truth, as they protest their fancied bigotry of Trump, they are displaying their own dangerous form of bigotry ... for which the only cure seems to be some serious reflection on the meaning of full and fair elections. Anarchists are sustained on raw emotion posing as logic and need some reeducation of what reality brings.

Even that liberal overtalker, Chris Matthews, has noted the futility of these unwashed thugs ... see: Real Clear Politics Commentary. These hooligans need to realize that the nation has spoken and "they lost."

Even President Obummer is trying to put a shine on a sneaker as he sees his legacy spiraling down the drain ... see: The Hill Article. This man-child governed for eight years against the will of the people and now sees the results of his "change" about to be changed. But he will still have one legacy likely to survive the Trump steamroller -- Cuban cigars.

See also: The Diplomad's Comments.

MLK Jr.

We as a nation have just extended last weekend to honor the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and have heard much of his moving Lincoln Memorial sermon played in the media.  But most of us don’t recollect the true motivations of Reverend King and how these motivations have been distorted since his dastardly demise. Yes, I have seen my recall clouded by the events and historical rewrites of the last forty-six years.  But thank heavens that there is one among us who can cut through this media fog and place Dr. King in a more realistic perspective … a perspective that doesn’t diminish him but, I think, elevates him from the cardboard cut-out he has become.

The Diplomad’s real name is W. Lewis Amselem and he has elegantly re-framed for me the true legacy of MLK Jr. and portrayed him as he was at age thirty-nine when he tragically strode out on that motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee.  Please read the following in its entirety: The Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

Obama’s Legacy

Heads of state are aptly remembered for what they had accomplished while in office … their legacy if you will.  There are big legacies and not-so-big legacies.  Clearly those Presidents who are memorialized on Mt. Rushmore have left big legacies … winning important wars, freeing the slaves, establishing for posterity firm democratic guidelines, ridding our nation of malignant structural forces, curing economic malaise, setting high ethical and moral standards, etc. According to the Associated Press, Obama wants his legacy from his second terms as President to be the following:

 - “an immigration law that would deal firmly but compassionately with millions of illegal residents”;

-  “an economic model that demands more money from the rich to shrink the debt;”

- “a tax system that is fairer and simpler for families;”

- “a bigger emphasis on education,”

- “more made-in-America energy,” and

- solving our “old problem of gun violence.”

See: A.P. Story

If one actually believes these pronouncements, our current White House occupant has not carved out for himself the loftiest of goals.  These stated objectives, to me, seem short-term and opportunistic … ignoring many of the gigantic economic, social, cultural, infrastructure, and geo-political conundrums that we face as a nation. And, truth be told, he has not, in the first half of his tenure, accomplished very much even toward his previous picayune pronouncements … other than through his rhetoric (which is all too often hollow and divisive).

So, seeing that we have to live with this man for the next four years, it sure would be nice if his upcoming inaugural address on Monday were to set a higher standard for his next four year than what we are being shown in the quoted Associated Press piece.  And it would be even nicer, were he to do so, I and the rest of the country would find ourselves nodding our heads in belief and enthusiastic agreement.