A Retrospective Against GOP Revisionism

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

A Retrospective Against GOP Revisionism

I hate to base an entire article on an ad hominem, but the GOP is proving to be such an manipulative, disingenuous, and petulent bunch that it’s virtually impossible to discuss their machinations without using terms like plot, un-American, and collusion. Any attempt to describe their politics without doing so renders the writer disingenuous as well. A good rule of thumb when trying to understand GOP motives, therefore, is to always remember that whatever they accuse their opponent of, is more often than not, exactly what they’re engaged in.

One of the founding fathers of conservative thought was Alexander Hamilton. He was an aristocrat who advocated that poor and middle-class Americans should be relegated to second-class citizenship, and the GOP has fully embraced his agenda. Hamilton said the following:

“All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and wellborn, the other the mass of the people.... The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share in government. They will check the unsteadiness of the second, and as they cannot receive any advantage by a change, they therefore will ever maintain good government.”
Debates of the Federalist Convention (May 14-September 17, 1787).

While Hamilton’s position was resoundingly rejected by the vast majority of the founding fathers - whose primary reason for coming to America in the first place was to get away from the European class system - there were many of Hamilton’s ilk who chose not to recognize the American ideal that “All men [and women] are created equal.” Then they were later joined by Southern Dixiecrats, or social bigots, who also rejected the ideal of human equality.

These are the people who currently run the modern day GOP - corporatists and social bigots who tend to believe that America belongs to them, and the rest of us are simply tolerated due to their “good will and Christian charity.” This is the primary reason that the Republican party’s platform is fiercely hostile to education (‘elitistism’), labor unions, and ‘big government.’ That’s also why they’re such strong advocates of state’s rights.

The corporatists within the GOP are hostile to education because they don’t want the “lower-class” social bigots within in their ranks to realize that they’re being duped into working against their own interests - like healthcare reform, for example. They’re hostile to organized labor and big government because both institutions also tend to protect the rights of the poor and middle class. And they’re strong advocates of state’s rights because the social bigots within their ranks blame big government for usurping the rights of the Southern states by ushering in integration and civil rights.

Thus, the GOP is a party that’s made up of oil and water. The corporatist agenda of those who control the party is diametrically opposed to the interests of their lower-class soldiers who they depend on to stay in power.

The corporatists, for example, want to import as many undocumented workers into the country as possible in order to lower the wages of the American middle class, while many of their socially bigoted soldiers don’t even want legal Hispanics in the country, much less undocumented.

So for many years, in order for the corporatists to make their extremely unpopular agenda palatable to the American people they have had to constantly engage in campaigns of disinformation, conflation, the ‘isms’ (convincing the people that anything that doesn’t cater to the rich and ‘wellborn’ constitutes the un-American‘evil of socialism’), and other divisive tactics that keep the American people engaged in knee-jerk emotionalism instead of logical thought.

Their tactics are clearly transparent. Take the term ‘Obamacare’ for example. The term was coined to keep those who hate that we have a Black president focused on Obama rather than the merits of the program. And the same is true of the term ‘Islamofascists.’ The term was coined in order to promote endless war (and war profits) because it suggests that the war is not just about terrorists, but all Muslems.

If we carried that rationale to its logical conclusion, however, we would have to also condemn all Christians, since those who lynched Blacks in the South and committed genocide against Native Americans were of the Christian faith.

In my article, Ode to a Bleeding Heart , I point out how they used conflation to demonize liberalism:

“When you consider how methodically the conservatives went about mounting their assault on the liberal agenda you can't help but recognize that it was a stroke of genius. Ironically, the conservatives took the Democratic Party's strength and made it a political liability. First they took the party's penchant for being concern with the plight of the downtrodden and coined phrases such as ‘bleeding heart liberals’ and ‘tax and spend Democrats.’ They then played on the frustration of the middle class by tying civil rights legislation, welfare, and crime into one neat bundle as the source of middle class woes; then they attributed all of these problems to what they called the Democrat's tendency to be ‘bleeding heart liberals.’ Once the connection was made between minorities, welfare, crime, and the liberal agenda, it was just a matter of repeatedly hammering the message home.

“In addition, conservatives used such tactics as spitting out the word ‘liberal’ as though they were saying rapist. In that way they not only implanted a negative attitude toward liberalism in the mind of the voter, but it was said in such a way that the implication was made that it went without saying that all the negative stereotyping of liberalism was true. In other words, their attitude seemed to suggest, ‘I could substantiate what I'm saying about liberals, but I don't think it's necessary, since we all know what they're like.’ And in the election that spawned the ‘Republican revolution’ the voters said, yes, we do."

But now the GOP has come upon interesting times. Now, in order to finalize their ultimate objective - to transfer what’s left of the nation’s wealth to the rich, and lower the standard of living of the American middle class - they’re going to have to show their true colors, just like they’re currently doing in Wisconsin.

Injustice and hunger has a way of opening the people’s eyes, however.  So it won’t be long before the people begin to see that the GOP, in collusion with the corporatists, purposely drove America into a ditch by using the Iraq war to ravage the treasury. They then sent our jobs overseas to purposely create high unemployment to restore the GOP to power and depress incoming tax revenue to give themselves an excuse to attack the poor and middle-class safety net.

Eventually the people are going to ask themselves a couple of questions. First, if the GOP is truly concerned about the national debt, why did they give a tax cut to the top 2% of the population that will add an additional $3.7 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years? And secondly, why didn’t we hear a peep about the debt, while we were losing our homes and jobs, and congress was voting themselves a $93,000 raise, over and above their salaries, in ‘petty cash?’



Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Is Our Competitive Spirit Helping or Hurting America?

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Is Our Competitive Spirit Helping or Hurting America?

We accept a lot of so-called truisms simply because we've been told that they're true all of our lives. Take competition for example. From the day we start school most Americans are taught that our competitive spirit is what makes America great. But is that really true? Is competition really the most productive model for promoting human progress? I don't think so. While recently discussing this issue one gentleman said the following:

“Personally I don’t mind competition. It has brought us better roads, better cars, better airplanes, better vacations, better medicines, longer life spans, and in many cases, except for us damaged Vets, better health.. I don’t see honest competition as dysfunctional at all. Profiteering is okay also, as long as it is honest and based on productivity, job creation and boosting the human spirit. Why shouldn’t I be motivated by money, a bigger house, a nicer restaurant, to create the next Penicillin, the next Salk vaccine, the next aspirin, and all the jobs and opportunities these inventions have provided.”

I’ve heard this argument a million times, but we have absolutely no evidence that any of the things mentioned above are a result of competition. Neither do we have any evidence that suggests that competition is a more powerful motivator than the simple pursuit of excellence. The fact is, competition caters to the very worst in human nature - selfishness, hostility, and greed. Competition is only truly productive when we compete against our last best personal effort.

It's more likely, therefore, that human accomplishment has actually been stifled rather than enhanced by our childish need to be competitive. How much more might we have accomplished if instead of duplicating their efforts in pursuit of competitive greed, drug companies shared their knowledge in an effort to cure disease, or instead of the nations of the world spending trillions of dollars in global competition, that money was being used in a cooperative effort to enhance the plight of mankind?

The mere thought that man's primary imperative is in pursuit of conflict and greed - and that's essentially what competition is - is counterintuitive. The fact is, our tendency to be competitive rather than cooperative is man's primary dysfunction.

It would be interesting to see the results of an experiment where they took two footballs teams and trained one in the traditional way, and trained each member of the other team to focus on nothing but improving on their last best effort. I'm virtually certain that the latter team would prevail if all other things were equal.

And consider what life would be like if as a society we rewarded ourselves on character and intellect instead of how many “things” we could accumulate; if we rewarded our young people for creativity and scholarship instead of how often they could get a ball to go through a hoop; if teachers and scientists were the superstars in our society instead of self-absorbed dysfunctionals. Try to imagine the benefits to our society if young men aspired to getting into the best universities with the passion that they currently dream of getting into the NBA or NFL.

One of the immediate benefits of such a society would be a more informed citizenry. We would also neutralize the negative impact that money is having on our political system, because no matter how much money a corporation spent they wouldn't be able to pull the wool over our eyes by appealing to our emotions over our intellect. We would also have far less crime, since there would be no motive to obtain “things” to gain stature in society. And since character would be the coin of the realm, it would promote family values, because a father who abandoned his children would lose stature in the community. In such a society he would be looked upon with the kind of disdain that we currently look upon shiftless bums.

Another positive impact that such a philosophy would have on our politics would be, in a society that valued character over wealth a politician wouldn’t be assessed based on his longevity or on his ability to obstruct the opposing party. He or she would only be able to gain stature by what he was able to accomplish during his time in office. And the kind of destructive rhetoric that Limbaugh, Beck, and Palin engage in would be nonexistent. Instead of Democrats and Republicans arguing over what’s wrong with one another, each party would be engaged in showing how and why their respective positions would be more beneficial to the people. The fact is, with corporate profit removed from our politics, political differences would be far less pronounced.

Our need to compete is a misguided attempt to raise our personal feelings of self-worth by impressing others with superficial accomplishments, often in connection with some group or organization that we use as an extension of ourselves. That's why people like Dick Cheney, Limbaugh, and Beck are so fixated on the concept of American Exceptionalism, race, and "us against them." You can literally draw a profile of these kind of individuals. The lower their feelings of self-worth, the greater their need to feel a part of something "special" - a race, team, country, etc. They try to use it as an extension of themselves.

That's also why people of this ilk hate Barack Obama so intensely. Obama's character and natural intellect is a direct challenge to their delusions of grandeur, so they've dedicated their lives to trying to prove that he's just as flawed as they are.

Thus, in our misguided attempt to find personal self-esteem, we’ve collectively incorporated competition into our body politic, a flaw in our character that has become a direct threat to human survival. The only thing competition is good for is administering to our delusion of grandeur. And no matter how often we claim to be the best, or how loudly we proclaim American exceptionalism, both our collective and individual inner-selves will always know who we really are beneath our strutting veneer - just another group of flawed individuals, though, a little more arrogant than most.


Eric L. Wattree

http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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The Corpo-Political Scamming of America

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

The Corpo-Political Scamming of America

Our political class is failing us miserably - both Democrats and Republicans. The Republicans are leaving no stone unturned to further enrich those who are already filthy rich, and the Democrats are throwing us crumbs while the middle-class standard of living is being aggressively chipped away to conform to the standards of the new global economy.

The GOP calls any program that helps the poor and middle-class socialist in nature and an intolerable waste of public funds. Yet when it comes to helping the rich and corporate class, no expenditure is too great. Now, I'm generally not one to buy into conspiracy theories, but there comes a time when if you fail to take council from your lying eyes you're simply a fool, and I think we've reached that point.

I have a friend and fellow vet in Texas who's a confirmed teabagger. The only thing we agree upon is that we like and respect each other, but other than that, we come from two different planets. Previously, I could simply write off Teabaggers as ignorant and insincere racists. But I happen to know for a fact that Tom is neither ignorant, insincere, nor a racist, so he represents a profound philosophical problem. What box am I supposed to drop him into? I haven't been able to find one. So since I have no box to conveniently dispose of his position, I have no choice but to seriously examine his concerns.

After agonizing over the dilemma for several months, I've come to the conclusion that both the left and the right - at least, the rank and file liberals and conservatives - are correct in their anger, because both are being manipulated by the political class system.

The answer is quite simple. The corporatists and their political cronies have us so busy hating one another that we're too distracted by that hatred to see what's being done to us all. And since liberals and conservatives have been led to believe that our respective miseries are a direct result of the other, it's become self-perpetuating. We've come to hate one another so much that we eagerly embrace anything negative placed in the mix by our manipulators.

So when Tom and I get into a debate, it rarely comes down to assessing the facts. It invaribly degenerates into who's worse, liberals or conservatives, and that what's going on across America.  But the fact is, this country is engaged in a struggle that has nothing to do with liberalism or conservatism. We're engaged in a class war, the corporate class against the poor and the middle class. So while they have us busy fighting the last war - racism on the left, and communism on the right - the corporatists are busy cutting all of our throats.

And while we've been distracted, our politicians who are supposed to be protecting our interest, have become a class unto themselves. They've become the political class, which is an essential part of the corporate class, and I'll be further addressing below. When viewed from that perspective, there's no wonder the nation is so divided. The bottom line is, we're depending on those who are exploiting us to protect us from exploitation. So like Houdini, they have us looking at their left hand, each other, while we should be looking at their right hand, them.

Clear evidence of that is while both political parties agree that bringing down the deficit must be one of the nation's top priorities, they both also seem to agree that the only way to address the problem is by placing the burden of sacrifice on the backs of the poor and middle class, while they continue to live high on the hog.

In addtiton, in spite of the "dire effects" of our national deficit, neither party seems to be the least bit concerned about the two billion dollars a month that we're paying for the nonproductive wars that we're engaged in?  No expense is too great in that regard. The reason for that is because they're so profitable to the corporate class.  They're forcing the poor and middle class to both fight the wars, and pay for them. But of course, their families are not impacted. The rich are no longer expected to die for this country - that's the job of the "little people." Ask Dick Cheney.

Yet they claim that the deficit is so severe that they're "forced" to cut part of the safety net from under poor and middle-class Americans, programs like medicare and social security, while at the same time they insisted on giving the top 2% of the population a tax cut, which, according to the Congressional Budget Office, is the least efficient use of the nation's revenue.

According to the Center for American Progress, "The Congressional Budget Office evaluated a variety policies earlier this year based on their ability to boost overall economic growth and employment. The number one thing Congress can do, according to the report, is to increase aid to the unemployed. Other efficient ways to give the economy a jolt include additional investments in infrastructure and more aid to states. The least efficient? Extending the tax cuts."

CAP goes on to point out, "In its January report, 'The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2010 to 2020,' the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] projects that a full extension of the Bush tax cuts, plus a permanent fix to the Alternative minimum tax, will cost $3.7 trillion over 10 years, not including debt service costs."

Thus, our political class has convinced us that if we give Gucci enough money we can get him to hire workers to produce Gucci bags that he's limited to selling in a homeless shelter. That's counterintuitive. Why would Gucci throw away perfectly good money to produce a product that he can't sell? He's only going to take that money overseas and produce his bags in a market where people have the money to purchase them. Thus, the only way to stimulate the economy is to put money in the pockets of the people in the homeless shelter. That's the only way we can provide Gucci with a market of people with the resources to purchase his goods.

Another glaring example of gross political hypocrisy took place just last year. While this nation was drowning in the second worst economic crisis in its history, and American citizens were losing their homes and jobs, congress voted themselves a $93,000 a year raise, each - and not a raise in salary, but in "petty cash," to spend anyway they see fit. And then, of course, there's Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.). He should go down in history as the quintessential example political hypocrisy. Rep. Harris is the newly elected, Tea Party supported congressman who ran on the abolishment of "Obamacare." But in spite of that, he began demanding his governmet run health care before he was even sworn into office.

So I'd like to address this to my good friend, Tom. Let's lay that socialist thing to rest. The entire socialist controversy is nothing but conflated politispeak designed to get you to work against your own interests. If we ever want to control our own destiny, it's incombent upon us not to allow ourselves to be manipulated through knee-jerk emotionalism. While you might say that rabid socialism is bad because it led to communism, I could just as easily argue that rabid capitalism is bad because it led to slavery. So we've got to learn to engage in nuanced thinking.

Social Security and Medicare are both socialist programs, yet I don't know of any average citizen - either Democrat or Republican - who want to give either ofthem up. So Tom, it's true. We do need to take our country back, but not from one another. We need to take our country back from those who are manipulating us both.

So I have a suggestion, instead of fighting one another, let's make a deal - you handle your hypocrites on the right, and I'll handle mine on the left. Then let's all come together and handle the corporatists who are pulling all of our strings. After all, these are not Americans - they're globalists, with a vested interest in making us hate one another.

We're bein' played by the oldest political ploy in the book - divide and conquer.

This is the one who's dangerous 

 

Eric L. Wattree

http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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The Old-School Hipster

*

POETIC

BEBOP FOR LATTER-DAY BEATNIKS

AND OTHER SUNDRY SUBTERRANEANS

Old School Hipster

Pass The Bongos, Ginsberg,

as this scrapple from my Apple

takes a whack at Kerouac

and the Hip Hipster of Hipness

hiply hip you unhip lames

to what it truly is to be hip to the

very hip hipness of that which is truly hip:

To be hip is to embrace that which is hip

based purely on its hipness

rather than merely because

it is hip for a hipster

to be hip.

Hip is the essence

of that which is hip.

Therefore, the hip

don’t Be hip, they Are hip.

Thus, a true hipster is hip

to the very hip fact that hipness

is hip in its own hip regard,

and not merely hip

for those unhip,

who would be hip,

simply to embrace the hipness

of what they think is hip,

for the sole unhip purpose

of being hip to what's hip,

you dig?

So, to a very hip extent,

hip is the intrinsic hipness

of that which is actually hip.

Therefore, one cannot

be hip without being hip

to the fundamentally hip fact

that it is unquestionably

unhip to try to

become hip, or be hip--

since an effort to be hip

is the exceedingly

unhip antithesis of that which

is hip within the realm of hipness itself.

Thus, in the hippest

of the most glibly hip fashion,

allow the Hip Hipster of Hippness

to hereby hiply hip you to

the inescapably hip fact

that so hiply follows:

To Be Hip Ain’t Hip.

Thus, to be hip, or not to be hip

is definitely not the question.

For there is no question

about what is hip.

Simply put,

Hip Simply Is . . .

you hip?

Eric L. Wattree

http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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In President Obama's Own Words, the U.S. Postal Service is Guilty of Human Rights Abuse

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

In President Obama's Own Words, the U.S. Postal Service is Guilty of Human Rights Abuse

President Obama is undoubtedly a very intelligent man, so I'm sure it wasn't lost on him why he found himself walking on eggshells when the Egyptian people rose up against the corruption and human rights abuses of President Hosni Mubarak. The incident demonstrates two points unequivocally. First, we need to stop trying to talk out of both sides of our mouths, because nobody is fooled by it; and secondly, while compromise is generally a very good thing, compromising with the Devil is not compromise at all. It's collusion, regardless to whether we're talking about dictators abroad, or corporatists here at home.

It was embarrassing having to watch the president struggle to find just the right tone for his response, especially after the way we're always foaming at the mouth about freedom, justice, and democracy. Because the fact is, truth has no tone. It's simply truth. So if the United States government is truly in support of justice and democracy as we claim to be, why couldn't the president just say so instead of tap dancing around the issue in order to give cover to a tyrant?  I know that sounds simplistic, but truth tends to cater to simplicity.

The reason for his tepid response is clear. While we love to pay lip service to freedom, justice, and democracy when the spotlight is upon us, we have a long history of playing footsie with people like President Mubarak, and many other dictators around the world, when the lights are out. We've been in collusion with dictators who subjugate their people throughout our history, and now we're in collusion with international corporations in the subjugation of our own people.

Clear evidence of that collusion can be found in the fact that in spite of record profits by major corporations in this country, unemployment remains high. The primary reason for the continuing high unemployment rate is that the corporations are purposely sending our jobs overseas and the banks are refusing to make loans to small businesses in order to get the American middle class accustomed to accepting a lower standard of living. The tactic is also used to restore the GOP to power, and thus, the status quo.

If the American people would simply take a moment to think instead allowing the corporate noise machine to think for them, they would recognize the fallacy in the GOP claim that pampering the top 2% of the population will create jobs and enhance the lives of the middle class. The GOP had thirty years to prove that theory, yet every Republican administration since, and including, Ronald Reagan's have been an abject failure in managing the economy. President Obama has created more jobs in his first two years than Bush did during his entire presidency.

That's why Obama's base is so frustrated. They're disgusted by his accommodationist attitude. While the GOP is aggressively destroying the country by chipping away at the middle class, sending our jobs overseas, passing ridiculous rulings like Citizens United, assaulting our educational system, polluting our environment, and taking over our media, he's talking about compromise. He doesn't seem to understand that some issues are worth fighting for - like the rule of law, for example.

The American people need to wake up, face reality, and stop being blinded by GOP public relations manuals. Here's one example of the gross hypocrisy that's serving to open my eyes. In a speech given in Cairo in June of 2009 President Obama said the following:

But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. These are not just American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere.

"Everywhere," Mr. President? Why don't we simply start right here in your very own United States Postal Service? Unless President Mubarak is physically torturing his citizens, he couldn't possibly be treating his people any worse than your agency is treating its employees. If what's currently going on in the postal service wasn't so tragic, your words would be absolutely laughable.

In your Cairo speech you said, all people yearn for confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice, yet you improperly intervened in the administration of justice by preventing your attorney general from holding Bush and Cheney accountable for their war crimes, rendering them a class above the law. And in your very own postal service, while you have craft employees being fired for accepting one coupon from a customer, you have executives falsifying governments documents to steal millions of dollars a day in wages from gainfully employed workers with complete impunity. In addition, the failed postmaster who reigned over the employee abuse walked away from a nearly bankrupted postal service as a multimillionaire. How does that differ from what President Mubarak is engaged in?

There are those who say you must not know what's going on. I find that hard to believe. I think the United States has simply embraced a new business model in order to accommodate corporate greed. That's why the poor and middle class are suffering while the top 10% are living higher on the hog than at any other time in our history - they no longer even feel obliged to help defend the nation. Dying for our country is a job for the "little people."

Listen to an objective view of what you're allowing to happen on your watch. In his book, Beyond Going, Postal Dr. Steve Musacco, a therapist and organizational psychologist with thirty years experience in the postal service, said the following:

"On the morning of June 2, 2009, a city letter carrier went to work and reportedly fatally shot himself in the head in the locker room at a postal facility in Gastonia, North Carolina . . . Prior to my retirement from the USPS, at a former district I worked for, there were three suicides within a two year period that I concluded were contributed to in significant part by how these employees were treated in the workplace. The third employee, a city letter carrier, fatally shot himself in a postal jeep and left a letter stating that he could no longer take the job. The night before he committed suicide he told his wife he did not know if he would be able to handle his job anymore. How do I know? His wife told me this one day after his suicide.

"In order for the U.S Postal Service to become a safe and healthy organization and thereby prevent future workplace tragedies, which have been at an epidemic level over the past three decades, there is an urgent need for congressional intervention and legislation to address its toxic postal culture. Dr. Gary Namie and his wife, Dr. Ruth Namie, along with their colleague Dr. David Yamada, have for years pushed for such legislation at the state and federal level. In order for national legislation for the prevention of workplace bullying to have the intended impact, it would require sanctions to employers or their representatives who are in violation of a new workplace statute that defines workplace bullying as a harmful and illegal activity."


In another case addressing the postal service's routine practice of falsifying documents to steal pay from its employees, Arbitrator Sherrie Rose Talmadge said in her December 2, 2009 decision that “Management’s violations were so egregious over a period of many years that punitive damages were awarded to deter the service from further clock ring violations.”

So, Mr. President, we need to start practicing the virtue of defending human rights here at home before we start lecturing others abroad, because the only thing that rivals the horror of what this United States Government agency is doing to its employees is what it's doing to your stature and credibility in the eyes of people who want very much to respect you.

I suggest that you get out in front of this issue before the GOP propaganda machine latches on to it, because it's an outrageous scandal with the potential to bring you down - and please remember, you heard it here first.


Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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POPPY’S DREAM

POPPY’S DREAM

.

Well, Taylor,

Well, Trey,

You’re on your way,

To add to the Wattree Clan

It’s my conviction, not hope, you will surely both,

Add a page to the sojourn of man.

.

You’ll be loved and nurtured to take your place,

In a world you do not yet belong,

But when we’re through, we trust both of you,

Will help make our people be strong.

.

You’ll be taught that knowledge is the key to life,

And to harvest its essence you’ll strive,

Then combine that knowledge with the wisdom of Solomon,

To help see our people survive.

.

Think not of what is politically correct,

Seek to be independent of thought,

For group-think, indeed, is not thought at all,

But that of which fools are wrought.

.

Embrace truth over all as your clarion call,

Make integrity your moral code,

And when life’s so tough you think it’s too much,

Allow God to relieve your load.

.

Make the God you trust the God of your heart,

And not the God of man,

For the God of man is man himself,

And only just when it suits his plan.

.

And look to the note that your poppy once wrote,

A withered vine ignored as benign;

Make my words come true, what I said of you,

Make my legacy whisper through time:

.

"Neither scholar nor the head of state,

The most common of men seems to be my fate;

A life blistered with struggle and constant need,

As my legacy to man I bequeath my seed.

.

More fertile, more sturdy, these ones than I,

This withered old vine left fallow and dry;

The nectar of their roots lie dormant still,

But through their fruit I’ll be revealed."

.

Love,

Poppy

.

Eric L. Wattree

January 28, 1998

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The Messenger

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

The Messenger

He stepped from the mist,

eloquent and bold,

a message from our forefathers

and the dreams they foretold.

He spoke of honor and courage,

and the ideals we embrace,

the trials left before us

that he assured us we'd face.

Poised for greatness
against enemies of yond,

but oblivious to within

from those we were warned.

Peace and civility

is his motto and plan,

convinced that such tactics

will appeal to all men.

But brilliance aside,

and with respect to his creed,

he's not fighting mere men,

and corporations don't bleed.

Eric L. Wattree

http://wattree.blogspot.com/

Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Obama Supporters vs. Cheerleaders

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Obama Supporters vs. Cheerleaders

There are two types of people who support President Obama. There are his supporters who want to see him be a success, and then there are the cheerleaders who simply go along with everything that he does and deeply resent his supporters who don't.

The president's supporters understand the importance of remembering that in a representative democracy the president, and all politicians, are elected to serve the people, and not vice versa. They understand that all politicians are employees, and their primary job is to represent and protect the interest and principles of those who hired them. Thus, when we place the importance of any one man above our own principles, we create a dangerous situation by corrupting the intent of our founding fathers, and turning the democratic process on its head.

Cheerleaders on the other hand, tend to be followers - or loyal subjects, as it were. Instead of thinking for themselves, they tend to fall so deeply in love with individual politicians that they depend on those politicians to think for them. That's exactly what the founding fathers sought to avoid, because it creates a political class free to wheel-and-deal without any oversight. It also sets the people up to be demagogued, where politicians cease acting in the people's best interest, and begin to place their own interests before that of the people who elected them.

That's exactly why this country is dysfunctional today. We've embraced a cheerleader mentality that's made it much easier for the people to be exploited by special interests. Under the current paradigm, instead of special interests having to con an entire population, they simply have to corrupt a small handful of men. That explains why money is the life's blood of our political system.

Thus independent thinking Obama supporters play an important role in Obama's presidency. Much like the checks and balances of our three branches of government, actively vigilant Obama supporters prevent him from straying too far off track. Cheerleaders, on the other hand, tend to forget that no matter how well-meaning, Obama is isolated in Washington. He can't simply go out on the street and get a feel for what the people are thinking like we can. He has to rely on the advice of the political establishment, and much of that advice is tainted to meet the establishment's agenda.

As important and as brilliant as President Obama is, in Washington, D.C. he's in the position of a billionaire confined to a harlot's den. He's getting a lot of advice from a lot of  very seductive people, but much of that advice is designed to enrich those who are giving him the advice. It is up to those who truly support him, therefore, to keep him focused, and help him to navigate a totally corrupt environment.

George W. Bush's more sensible supporters found that out the hard way. Had they not allowed themselves to become cheerleaders and completely drowned out by Washington's special interest groups, vice-president and military/industrial lobbyist, Dick Cheney, wouldn't have been able to destroy Bush's presidency. Bush himself seemed to recognize that in the end. That's why he refused to pardon Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, and became estranged from Cheney toward the end of his presidency.

So it's very important that Obama supporters speak out loud and clear, so they won't be drowned out by Washington's special interests. In the final analysis, we're the only ones he can depend on to tell him what he needs to hear, as oppose to what's convenient for him to hear.

As Edward R. Murrow pointed out during the McCarthy era, "A citizenry of sheep begets a government of wolves." That's as true for presidents as it is the public at large. It is incumbent upon all Obama supporters, therefore, to speak out when they see him veering off course. By doing so, we protect our president from Washington's wolves, and prevent him from becoming a part of the flock.

As we've mentioned before, sometimes with even the greatest of men, we must drag them up Mt. Rushmore kicking and screaming.

Eric L. Wattree

wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Is Sarah Palin More Dangerous than the Average Guy in the Hood?

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Is Sarah Palin More Dangerous than the Average Guy in the

Hood?

Date: January 15th, 2011

Name: Caroline Miniscule

Subject: Is Sarah Palin more dangerous than the average guy in the hood?

Comment: I don't think so.

"If you read all the information that is coming out about the loon who attempted to murder Giffords, you find out he was mentally unstable for some time. He could just have easily been set off by watching a WWF wrestling commercial, that shows steroid-pumped guys stomping people on the ground, breaking chairs over peoplels' backs, and so on. Or he could have been lstening to rap music which disses women and advocates the killing of police officers."

Writer's response:

Caroline,

You're either being disingenuous or you're incredibly naive. The fiscal conservatives (the corporatists) are using their army, the social conservatives (social bigots), to gain control over this country by any means necessary - and that includes insurrection. So by failing to speak out against this tactic Obama is allowing these factions to insert fascist rhetoric into the national debate, a tactic designed to both desensitize the American people to the thought of political violence, and to provide the GOP with plausible deniability.

You indicated that the "loon" who committed the shooting was mentally unstable so he could have gone after anyone. But he didn't. He was stopped by a police officer on the way to commit his crime who he could have killed, but he didn't. He passed by several locations closer to his home where he could have killed people, but he didn't. He went directly to a Democratic function to commit this crime.

Yes, he was unstable, but that's exactly who the corporatists are trying to incite with their inflammatory rhetoric to commit their crimes. Just since your comment California  governor, Jerry Brown, has been threatened with a specific day that he's going to be killed, and in Spokane, Washington a bomb was planted along the path of the Martin Luther King Day parade route. Coincident? I don't think so.

I'd also like to take a moment to debunk the myth being widely spread by the corporate media that merely mentioning the Nazis in response to what's currently going on in America is irresponsible and beyond the pale. That's total nonsense and is in direct contradiction to another adage that states that a crazy person is one who does the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. Thus, the corporate media is literally asking us to embrace insanity.

Demanding that we never mention Nazi tactics in relation to current conditions in this country not only demands that we totally ignore the experience that we gained from the most horrific period in world history, but also assume that there will never be another group comparable to the Nazis in the future.

So what if the comparison is valid and some contemporary faction in the nation is, in fact, comparable to the Nazis? What should we do, simply ignore them just to adhere to some arbitrary maxim? I'm sure they'd love that. Thus, on its face, the adage is a stupid rule of thumb  - and the only reason we've accepted it is because we're being reprogrammed out of our common sense, and our ability to be independent thinkers.

So we should actually be asking ourselves the following: 1). Who's promoting this nonsense? 2). What is their motive? And 3), what methods are they using to get us to so sheepishly buy into it?

But let me save you the trouble by answering those questions for you. It's being promoted by international corporatists in order to completely takeover the United States political system. They are systemically reprogramming us by destroying our educational system, and then using their corporatemedia to whisper in our ear from the time we wake up in the morning until the second we go to bed at night - and not only through the news media, but through televison programming, commercials, the entertainment media, our politicians, and even our brainwashed peers.

Less than a week after the FCC approved the Comcast takerover of MSNBC Keith Olbermann, one of the strongest advocates of progressive views left in broadcasting was fired. Could this be the beginning of the FOXification of MSNBC under Comcast?

*

*

Clear evidence of the insidious impact that the corporate media has had on our thinking is, I was told by many in response to my previous article, President Obama's Flowery Arizona Speech, that it would have been inappropriate for the president to voice political views at a memorial service. That's another adage that's mysteriously crept into our collective psyche. How did it get there?  It's certainly not a part of our history.

During the memorial services for the children killed in the Alabama church-place bombing Dr. Martin Luther King's said,"These children - unoffending, innocent, and beautiful - were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity."  I'd call that a pretty forceful political indictment.

So in answer to the question posed, yes, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and many others are very much more dangerous than the average guy in the hood, and  President Obama's reluctance to speak out against them is clear evidence of that. 

*

Eric L. Wattree

wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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President Obama's Flowery Arizona Speech

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE 

President Obama's Flowery Arizona Speech 

It is indeed interesting to see how all of a sudden the corporate media and the GOP have come together to praise the president's Arizona speech - even FOX News. After two years of calling him a communist, a friend to terrorists, a fraud, and a liar, the GOP has finally found a reason to praise him. The reason they're praising him, however, is because, yet again, he's allowed GOP criminals off the hook.

Now the GOP says this is no time for partisan politics, but when have we ever known any situation in the past, regardless of its gravity, that the GOP considered beyond partisan politics? They didn't consider the threatened collapse of the world's financial system above partisan politics, neither do they consider the loss of homes and the unemployment of millions of American citizen above partisan politics - and we still have Republicans riding 9/11 for political gain nine years after the fact.

So the true reason that Republicans want to hold the Arizona shooting up as being above partisan politics is because they know full well that they're guilty of creating the inflamed political environment that led directly to the tragedy taking place. Thus, what there's actually no time for is flowery sentimental speeches in lieu of decisive action.

This tragedy should be used to weed out a national cancer. That would be the greatest tribute that we could pay to it's victims. But President Obama's speech - as touching as it was - was an attempt to treat that cancer with an over-the-counter antiseptic, when what we need is radical surgery.

The president needs to recognize that the GOP is run by corporatists. These very same people are responsible for killing over a million Iraqi citizens, so they could care less about flowery speeches, nor, do they care about the life of one 9-year-old little girl. They have a corporate and political agenda to promote, so the life of one little girl is meaningless to them. They look upon her death as merely collateral damage. So the minute this uproar subsides it will be business as usual.

But President Obama doesn't seem to recognize that. He insists on adding sugar to strychnine so it won't taste so bad going down, then bringing us together in a rousing chorus of Kumbaya to ensure it's administered in a civil manner. He seems to be completely oblivious to the fact that the poison is still going to kill us in the end.

It's beginning to look like President Obama's not going to see the light until these people are goosestepping through Times Square - and I'm saying that as a moderate progressive. Recently elected GOP local chairman, Anthony Miller, on the other hand, could see the writing on the wall. He saw it so clearly, in fact, that he resigned his post - and he was in the GOP inner circle. So why can't the president see the light?

According to The Arizona Republic, Anthony Miller, "a 43-year-old Ahwatukee Foothills resident and former campaign worker for U.S. Sen. John McCain, was re-elected to a second one-year term last month. He said constant verbal attacks after that election and internet blog posts by some local members with Tea Party ties made him worry about his family's safety." The article goes on to say, "Miller told state Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen he was quitting: 'Today my wife of 20 yrs ask (sic) me do I think that my PCs (Precinct Committee members) will shoot at our home? So with this being said I am stepping down from LD20GOP Chairman...I will make a full statement on Monday.'" Three other party officials also resigned.

In addition, The Telegraph reported as far back as November 2008 that "The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks. Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: 'Why would they try to make people hate us?"' The article indicated that, "[Palin's] attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric" (Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over death threats against Barack Obama ).

So wake up, Mr. President. Part of being an effective leader is knowing when the time for talking is over and it's time to take decisive action - and being an apologists for domestic enemies of the state doesn't meet that test. You're inaction is allowing fascist rhetoric to become a routine part of the political debate, and that's not a good thing. This nation needs to confront the issue of inflammatory and insurrectionist rhetoric head on.

This kind of behavior simply cannot be tolerated in a free society. While the United States Constitution guarantees the freedom of speech, along with that freedom comes responsibility. Thus, nowhere in the Constitution does it guarantee the right to be criminally negligent.

At times like this I wish you'd spent more time in the 'hood. Then you would have immediately recognized these people as classic bullies, and understand that appeasement is not going to work. The more you give a bully, the more emboldened they become - ask Neville Chamberlain. So stop making excuses for these people and step up to the plate, because the very last thing we need in this recklessly hostile environment is a president trying to be a nice guy - and you can ask Jimmy Carter about that one.

Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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Anyone Who can't See that the GOP is Purposely Provoking violence is an Idiot

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Anyone Who can't See that the GOP is Purposely Provoking violence is an Idiot

It was my intent to do part IV of my Common-Sense Plan to Save the Postal Service, but in light of the senseless shooting committed by Jared Loughner in Arizona on Saturday, January 8, and the grossly disingenuous response by the GOP, I felt that I would be unforgivably remiss if I joined much of the weak-kneed press in failing to point out that anyone who doesn't recognize that this shooting is a direct result of the GOP's irresponsible and concerted campaign of violent rhetoric is either a fool, complicit, or blind.

Let us look at the facts. Every since President entered office the GOP has been engaged in rhetoric specifically designed to provoke the unstable, feeble-minded, and radical elements of this society. In spite of the fact that President Obama has a birth certificate on file in Hawaii, and a Hawaiian newspaper carried an announcement of his birth, right-wing birthers insisted that Obama was not a United States citizen, and thus, held the office of the presidency illegally (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DlTgrMCxPg&feature=related).

In addition, the New York Post even went so far as to publish an assassination cartoon of Obama, portrayed as a monkey, being shot by a policeman. I pointed out the following in my article, The Assassination Cartoon:

"I'm all for freedom of speech, but there are limits. Along with freedom comes responsibility, and the New York Post demonstrated the complete absence of responsibility with the publication of their cartoon depicting the assassination of the President of the United States.

"While freedom of speech and expression are indeed a cornerstone of American democracy, it is against the law to shout "fire" in a crowded theater - and with good reason. It is necessary for a free society to protect itself from those who don't have the common sense to recognize that what they consider funny, or a practical joke, can get people killed. Thus, even in a free society it is sometimes necessary to jail a free citizen for behavior that amounts to criminal stupidity. While I'm not an attorney, I think they call it criminal negligence.

"That is exactly the rationale that should be used to prosecute, and jail, all those responsible for the publication of this criminally ill-considered cartoon. Most of the criticism that's being lodged against this cartoon seems to have more to do with its incredibly poor taste. But it's one thing to be petulant, immature, and bigoted - we expect that from ultraconservative extremists. But when you begin to advocate the assassination of the President of the United States, you've crossed the line - a line that separates the merely stupid, from that which is criminal.

"That cartoon literally sent a message out to every deadbeat, bigoted loser in the country that they can finally make something of themselves. They can finally find purpose in their previously miserable and lackluster lives by assassinating the President of the United States. Thus, what the New York Post is calling a meaningless joke is actually a clarion call to every bigoted fool in the United States. It says that there are people in this country who will consider you a hero if you bring violence against the president - and they know it. Can you imagine the hue and cry coming from Republicans if the New York Times had run a cartoon depicting the assassination of Ronald Reagan?

"The mere thought of perpetrating violence against the President of the United States shouldn't even be a part of the public discourse. It serves to desensitize the public to a possibility that should be unthinkable in a civilized society. But history has clearly demonstrated that one of the most lethal weapons in the conservative arsenal is subliminal suggestion - along with suggestions that aren't so subliminal - such as, liberals are aligned with drug dealers, criminals, and welfare cheats; Obama sympathizes with people who hate America and "pals around with terrorists"; and anyone who is against spying on American citizens, torture, or the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent people is un-American. Now we have this, and they're complaining, "What's all the uproar about? It was just an innocent joke."

Since I wrote that article in February of 2009, the Republican rhetoric has only heated up, with Republican congressman, Joe Wilson, of South Carolina calling the president a lie during a presidential address to a joint session of congress, Republican governor, Rick Perry, of Texas alluding to seceding from the union, clearly a statement designed to whip up revolutionary sentiment.

In addition, during the 2010 midterm election, Sharron Angle, Republican candidate for the U.S. senate from Nevada, suggested to her supporters the possibility of relying on "Second Amendment remedies," and allusion to armed insurrection against the government. Sarah Palin told her supporters, "Don't retreat, instead, reload." Palin also put up a "crosshair map," and one of the targets on that map was Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the congressperson who was shot in the head critically wounded during last Saturday's shooting. Eighteen people were wounded and six are dead, including U.S. District Judge John Roll, and 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, the granddaughter of former pro baseball manager Dallas Green.

Now the Republicans are asking, what did we do?  Well, I'd like to answer that question, and without any of the wobbly-kneed equivocation that I'm hearing in the corporate media.

You and your corporate cronies are doing everything you can to keep the American people undereducated, miserable, frustrated, and divided.  And to insure that condition, in spite of record corporate profits, you're sending American jobs overseas, threatening to starve the unemployed, and obstructing everything that president Obama and the few responsible politicians are trying to do to provide relief. Then you're stirring the pot with inflammatory language in an attempt to incite insurrection in order to promote your own selfish political agenda. That's what you're doing, and it should be clear to anyone with eyeballs.

These people need to be held accountable.

Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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A Father's Pride

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Raising Your Children is the Most Important Thing You Do in This Life

*

A Father's Pride

*

Eric L. Wattree, Jr.
*

HOWLING WINDS
.

As I watched my son, dapper as they come, walk down our walkway and into manhood,

what I remember most was the howling winds. I'd seen such winds before, but never like this - my old foe was pulling up trees by the roots,

.

So I watched, but I watched alone.

.

As the winds raged on and the mighty palms bowed, a single leaf from our Winter-bare ficus tree

held tough against the ferocious storm. It fought valiantly against the angry gale, as though hanging tough Just to witness the changing of the guard,

.

So I stood, but I stood alone.

.

Like that solitary leaf, all my life I've fought the ferocious winds, and now they’ve returned, this mighty foe, poised to seize the hopes and dreams of my only son,

.

So I cringed, but I cringed alone.

.

Then, posterity glanced back, squared its shoulders, and beat back hopelessness as it

trudged through fields of ivy. Then it spread its wings and rode those howling winds

over yonder mountaintop,

.

So I wept, but I wept with a crowd . . .

*

"DADDY, MOMMIE SAID YOU BEAT UP THE BOGEYMAN.

DID YOU REALLY BEAT HIM UP?"
.

"YEAH, TWICE. THAT'S WHY HE'S SCARED TO COME

IN OUR HOUSE."

*

23 April 2002

MEMORANDUM FOR OFFICER TRAINING SCHOOL SELECTION COMMITTEE

FROM: 92 SFS/SFO
2 E. ARNOLD STREET
FAIRCHILD AFB, WA 99011

SUBJECT: Recommendation for Staff Sergeant Eric L. Wattree

1. I wholeheartedly concur with Staff Sergeant Wattree’s request to attend Officer Training School. He represents the enlisted ranks with the highest standard and will bring that dedication and professionalism to the officer corps.

2. Eric continues to lead a stellar military career; his enlisted performance reports speak for themselves. His leadership and experience, especially in contingency environments, remains a vital asset to our unit and wing. As one of my primary Phoenix Raven team leaders, he’s propelled to the forefront of all major deployments throughout the world. He’s repeatedly secured aircraft and crews, supporting a wide variety of missions, in the most austere and terrorist-ridden environments where security is severely inadequate. The diversity of these missions never limited SSgt Wattree’s capacity to adapt to each situation. For this reason, Eric was selected as our 2000 Outstanding Phoenix Raven Member of the Year and the 2001 Air Force Reserve Component Airman of the Year for the 92d Security Forces Squadron.

3. Whether operating under peacetime or contingency operations, Eric easily assumes control and tackles every situation with meticulous tenacity, a quality highly desired in our Air Force officers. Requested by name, Sergeant Wattree, provided security for presidential Banner missions throughout Greece, Peru and Viet Nam. While deployed to Afghanistan, he flew numerous combat missions in our nation’s pursuit to eradicate terrorism through Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. Additionally, he provided round-the-clock force protection for aircraft in other high-threat environments including Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Oman.

4. Sergeant Wattree motivated his personnel during the worst conditions and raised the level of esprit de corps to integrate personnel from other Air Force specialties into a cohesive team. His leadership, integrity and devotion to our Air Force play an integral part in our future leadership. Eric has what it takes to become a commissioned officer and earns my full support to attend Officer Training School.

FRANK HELLSTERN, JR., Captain, USAF
Operations Officer

*

Kai and Eric, Jr.

*

I NOW STAND FIRM

.

I now stand firm. My conviction of the power of knowledge is the platform upon which my podium rests. I stand firm, strong, and now free. Free of anger. Free of self-delusion. Free of the folly of empty vanity, and free of the pernicious bane of meaningless pride without substance.

.

I stand free to look upon the eyes of other men, reflecting dignity over sorrow, and accomplishment over pain; I stand with a burning passion, fueled by the very flame that forged ancestral shackles,with a deep sense of pride and a pride that flows deep.

.

I now stand erect. The steel that once degraded my father, that chained him in bondage to this bitter Earth, now reinforce my character, making me more, rather than less; and the blood and sweat that once drenched his brow, now rage with resolve and a sense of purpose within my burning breast.

.

I now stand as a new being - neither simply African, nor simply American, but a hybrid forced to transcend the sum of my parts; no longer simply African, since being torn away from the African motherland to suffer and toil in the fields of America, and more than simply American, after being forced to be more than simply American just to survive within the bowels of this prosperous land.

.

Thus, I stand now armed - armed with the wisdom of deprivation, the courage of my conviction, and a deep conviction of my courage; and fortified - with the confidence of a survivor, the empowerment of knowledge, and a ravishing hunger for greatness.

.

I now stand the product of love, struggle, and sacrifice; a witness to man's inhumanity to man, and a monument to the hopes and dreams of a million slaves.

.

I now stand embraced by my creator, as God now smiles upon my people.

.

Yes, I Now Stand Firm.

Firm, Black, and Free.

*

The Grandbabies
*

POPPI'S DREAM

*

.

Well, Taylor,

Well, Trey,

You’re on your way,

To add to the Wattree Clan;

It’s my conviction, not hope, you will surely both,

Add a page to the sojourn of man.

.

You’ll be loved and nurtured to take your place,

In this world that you now belong;

And when we’re through, we trust both of you,

Will help make our people be strong.

.

You’ll be taught that knowledge is the key to life,

And to harvest its essence you’ll strive;

Then combine that knowledge with the wisdom of Solomon,

To help see our people survive.

.

Think not of what is politically correct,

Seek to be independent of thought;

For group-think, indeed, is not thought at all,

But that of which fools are wrought.

.

Embrace truth over all as your clarion call,

Make integrity your moral code;

And when life’s so tough you think it’s too much,

Allow God to relieve your load.

.

Make the God you trust the God of your heart,

And not the God of man;

For the God of man is man himself,

And only just when it suits his plan.

.

And look to the note that your poppi once wrote,

A withered vine ignored as benign;

Make my words come true, what I said of you,

And make my legacy whisper through time:

.

“Neither scholar nor the head of state,

The most common of men seems to be my fate;

A life blistered with struggle and constant need,

As my legacy to man I present my seed.

.

More fertile, more sturdy, they both than I,

This withered old vine left fallow and dry;

The nectar of their roots lie dormant still,

But through their fruit I’ll be revealed.”

.

Love,

Poppi

*

TAYLOR WATTREE-JACKSON
THE BILL CLINTON AWARD FOR SCHOLARSHIP
OUTSTANDING STUDENT OF THE YEAR 
KIWANIS CLUB OF RIALTO 

 *

JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY

*

Taylor Wattree-Jackson

Who is Nani?

She is a wonderful, god given blessing to my life. Without this woman I probably wouldn't be the successful young lady I am to this day. She is one of the main people who motivates me to do my absolute best at everything I do. I think about her every second of the day and she will never leave my memory. I must thank her for the endless love she's given me, and for watching over me all these years... Rest In Paradise Nani and Happy Mother's Day ♥

Your Grandaughter,
TayTay ♥
*

ERIC L. WATTREE III

I recently graduated from Oklahoma City University with a BBA - Economics (Minor in Marketing).

While at OCU I obtained many certifications, an example being the Bloomberg Market Concepts (BMC) Certification. I've also been a member of the Investment Club where we managed a portfolio of actual securities initially worth $100,000 - profits going towards OCU scholarships. Throughout my 4 years, my ability to establish and maintain relationships has been my biggest asset. Being able to think critically, analyze data and relay information effectively have been critical to my success.

I also had the pleasure of being a 4-year student-athlete, spending two years as Team Captain. As a captain, the importance of taking necessary sacrifices for overall team success as well as effective time management as it relates to workload efficiencies are vital. I served 4 years as a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) in which we created a vehicle for student-athlete representation, organized community service efforts and promoted a positive student-athlete image on campus. I was selected on numerous occasions to speak publicly at various high schools, as well as at OCU's Sports Spectacular, the end-of-year sports banquet.

I love to learn, build relationships and WIN!

Eric L. Wattree III

.
ERIC L. WATTREE III

TAYLOR WATTREE-JACKSON

*

ELIJAH WATTREE

SAILOR OF THE QUARTER 

UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

,
“Sailor of the Quarter” is an honor voted on by the personnel at the station and recognizes the contributions of individual service members for outstanding performance and support of the Coast Guard and its missions at the station level. The first “Sailor of the Quarter” for fiscal year 2019 is Fireman Elijah L. Wattree — high praise for a newly arrived station member with just over a year in the Coast Guard. A native of Bremerton, Washington, Fireman Wattree is the first in his family to join the Coast Guard and he’s finding it a good fit.
.
The “Sailor of the Quarter” citation reads in summation, “Your compassion, hard work, and extreme commitment to the U. S. Coast Guard and Station Boothbay Harbor is evident and exemplifies the Coast Guard’s Core Values of Honor, Respect, Devotion to Duty. I greatly appreciate your dedication to duty and continued fine performance.” Signed: Adam P. Smart, Officer in Charge, Coast Guard Station Boothbay Harbor.
,
ELI IS NOW INVOLVED IN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE

 *
GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER

AUBRI

*

THE CREW

Look what we did, baby!
*
Eric and Valdie Wattree

UNTIL DEATH DO US PART -
AND BEYOND.

WE DID IT, BABY!

*

Rita - My very dear friend.

Val would have loved you, and I'm sure she's smiling upon you now.
Thank you for all the beauty and happiness you've brought 

into my life.

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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