Tag: Good Guys

End Of An Era

Politics

As I might be unable to vote next Tuesday, I went and did the early-voting thing yesterday, punching the “straight Republican” ticket as usual.  (Not much of a wait, for a change:  only about a hundred people in line ahead of me.)

This time, however, I missed voting for our longtime Republican paisan Sam Johnson, who will be retiring (at age 86, the oldest Republican) at the end of the year.

I cannot say enough good things about Mr. Sam (as we called him):  a Vietnam POW vet, an endless opponent of not only the IRS but of the entire federal tax system (“Abolish the I.R.S.!” was once a feature of his website), a champion of veterans’ affairs (duh) and in short, a tireless hardline conservative who even in suburban TX District 3, usually squeaked by with about 65% of the vote, cycle after cycle.

So when people talk about “public service” (not meaning it as a derogatory term), this is what it’s all about.  And it’s congressmen like Sam Johnson who make a mockery of term limits initiatives — if his health had been good enough to stay in office (it isn’t), I would have continued to vote for him for the next twenty years.  In my entire life, he is the only politician to whose campaign I ever donated money.

Go with God, Mr. Sam, and thank you — thank you — for all your service as a patriot and conservative American.

And a note to Van Taylor (whom I’ve met before and voted for as well), Sam’s likely replacement in the House:  before voting on any piece of legislation, ask yourself “What Would Sam Do?” and vote accordingly.  You will not be disappointed, and most of all, you will continue to get my vote.  Now get in there, and kick Democrat ass.  Just like Sam Johnson did.

Damn it:  I have tears in my eyes.

Killing The Monster

Entertainment

I see that singer Michael Bublé has decided to quit singing and the limelight.  I can quite understand why.  At a time when his beloved son was close to death from cancer, Bublé found himself in a blizzard of “well-meaning” Press attention, with articles sensitively entitled “Michael’s Torment“, “Michael Looks Depressed As He Leaves Hospital” and the always-popular “Will Michael Bublé Ever Be Able To Sing Again?”  (“No” being the eventual answer to this question, as it happens.)

Under those circumstances, Bublé discovered that while his fame sold albums and made him rich, the price he had to pay was the complete loss of privacy and even dignity.  For attention-whores like the Kardashians and their ilk, this celebrity and attention might have been accepted, even welcomed;  for him, facing that most awful and personal of tragedies, the scouring of his anguish and its parade in the tabloids must have been torture — and his desire to quit the spotlight both literally and figuratively is both understandable and even laudable.

And good for him, say I.  His wealth is secure, his family likewise;  but should his young son ever get nailed by cancer again — a horrible possibility — I can only hope that he and his wife can deal with whatever happens in solitude and isolation.  I don’t even want to hear about it, for that matter.  Whatever happens, Michael Bublé deserves his privacy, and I can only hope that the Media Vultures leave him alone from now on.

I for one will refuse to read anything about him and his family ever again.  I can’t escape the future headlines, should they occur, but I don’t have to reward the Jackals Of The Press by reading about the details.  He deserves the anonymity he craves, and I’m happy to grant it to him.

Michael, I wish lasting happiness, health and peace to you and your family;  and thank you for sharing your magnificent talent with us while you did.

Quote Of The Day

QOTD

From Guy Benson at Townhall.com:

“Now that Kavanaugh has been approved, I do not feel happiness.  I’m still appalled by everything that just transpired.  I’m fearful about the zero-sum, say-anything nature of our politics.  I’m furious at an activist media that couldn’t disguise its rooting interests, evidenced by repeated abandonments of core journalistic practices.”

Furious is good.  Keep that fury, everybody:  feed it, nurture it, let it grow and grow, and feel it every time you cast your vote whether now, in November 2018;  in the presidential elections of November 2020, or in every poll to come.

Friday Night Movie

Friday Feature, Movies

I’ve known about Katie Hopkins for many years now, but I was astonished to learn that few people outside the U.K. have any idea who she is.  Whatever you think of her, nobody can deny her courage and guts, and her willingness to say what’s right regardless of whether it’s popular.

Time to rectify all that, so get a cup of coffee or an alcoholic drink or two of your choice, and settle in as she beseeches the U.S. not to become like the U.K.

I have to tell you all, she makes me ashamed that I’ve not been more active and more vocal;  so starting next week you may see a lot more of the Old Kim — more angry, more vocal and more… well, more like the guy who helped start the Nation Of Riflemen and National Ammo Day.

There will be more harsh commentary, more invective, and a LOT more guns.  You have been warned.

Small Ray Of Sunshine

Good Stuff

From Greece comes this tale:

Edward Gibson, 24, and Jessica Frank, 22, were enjoying a getaway in Crete when they found a bag containing 7,000 euros in cash in a street.
They handed the money in to police, who reunited it with its owner, a local shopkeeper who was very relieved to see it again.
‘When police took us to meet the lady she was crying and blessing us. The money was her livelihood.’
She said they were ‘called heroes’ by locals, who gave them free taxi rides and offered them a hotel upgrade.
The shopkeeper, who was in her 60s, is believed to have dropped the bag, which contained the business’s takings, on the way to the bank.

Nice to see that there are at least a couple of decent people in today’s amoral world.  Conversely, that a simple act of honesty should make the newspapers is a comment of a different sort.