What I see in this photograph?

Okay, I admit that Scottie is my favorite golfer these days. When I was 20 my fav was Arnie, now at 86 its Scottie. When I heard that Scottie was going to Paris to play on the USA Olympic Golf Team, I thought wow, this is going to be probably one of the most fantastic tournaments I may ever watch (getting on in years), and I can’t miss a minute of it. Well needless to say, the tournament didn’t disappoint.

The things I understand about Scottie Scheffler, from what I have seen and heard are;
1. Scottie firmly understands that he has received a God given gift of an amazing ability to play golf extremely well. He is aware of this gift, and cherishes it every time he enters a competition. This means he is committed to being prepared, committed to excellence and blesses the opportunity to use his gifts to compete and to win and honor his God.
2. Scottie shuns the limelight. An early story about Scottie after his first wins, he told his wife that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to dive into the zany world of tournament golf, with all the TV interviews, newscasts and public appearances that are required in this day and age. She must have eased his mind, because off he ventured. You can see in every interview that he is courteous, pleasant, and always smiling.
3. Scottie will not involve himself in the negatives of the sport. We all know what they are and I truly respect him for his avoidance.

What I see in the picture above is an individual who has worked hard within himself, believing in himself and wanting to win. No letting down. No holding back. No blaming others, or the course, or the gallery, or the noise. All the golfers wanted to win the Gold. Scottie believed could win Gold, and he did.

With an adoring smile, the first thing Scottie noticed at the Medal Ceremony was his loving wife and child. A little later the second thing he really noticed was the Stars and Stripes being raised as the National Anthem. With his hand on his heart and softly mouthing the words Scottie began to weep and embrace all of the blessings he has been given.

So, what do I see in this photograph? this man is the real deal folks. He is a gentleman, a man of conviction and a man of honor, and one hell of a Golfer. Bravo Scottie.

Back Again – I Miss You

 

It has been awhile since we last visited. This morning I was doing my usual Social Media stuff, and decided to visit my website http://dickjacobsen.com , and read through the last ten or so posts and had several realizations. One…….man it has been a long time since I posted (November 20, 2021); Two…….man I really enjoyed what I read; and Three……..man I had an epiphany (a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something;  an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking;an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure). I really liked what I had written.

OK, so now you are probably thinking ‘What a pompus ass this guy is’. Well maybe so/maybe not, but this is where the epiphany kicks in.

More years ago than I’m willing to admit, I took a couple of night Literature Courses at Ventura JC in Southern California, I was stationed at a nearby Naval Airbase – Point Mugu, where I was an Aviation Guidedmissleman Third Class, testing Sidewinders, Sparrow 111’s and Bullpup’s. I really enjoyed the Lit Courses. The Courses broke the boredom of my military incarceration, and gave me a chance to express myself.

When Final Exam time came, I walked into the classroom, and there was a sentence written on the blackboard;

“Bubbles I blow, Beads I Twist, all the rest is darkness and conjecture.” With the verbal instruction “Write about this, you have one hour.”

Hmmmm, I thought, and then it hit me. I sat down and wrote feverishly for the full hour. The gist of what I wrote was; “as an author, you write and write and write and yet when all is said, written and done, you never know what your reader will read.” In other words how will the reader interpret what you have written and did you get across what you wanted to get across, i.e. Did your reader get it?

Todays epiphany was………when writing, I smirk when I am writing smirk, I smile when I am writing funny, cry when I am writing sad, and mad as hell when I am writing rant. When I re-read my old posts I immediately smirked, smiled, cried, and got mad as hell in all the right places and enjoyed the read immensely………BUT what does the average reader do?…..there is the epiphany.

I’m thinking that I should preface each post with “Smile when you read this, or cry when you read this, smirk, or get mad as hell when you read this. What do you think?

OH, by the way……..I got the only A+ on the exam and the course.

Ulterior Motives – Certainly not Justice

Nadler and Friend

After the Rittenhouse Trial, our esteemed member of the House Judiciary Committee ranted that he would seek a retrial on Federal charges, because he was unhappy with the verdict, or for Second Amendment issues, or some other lame excuse or another. I kept thinking, why would he do this, and how could he do this. Isn’t there something like “Double Jeopardy” in the mix, or “the Decision of his Peers”, or , oh yeah, “Justice” to be consider here? As I considered the situation, it suddenly occurred to me that there can be only one reason for Nadler to say what he said…..and that is “Rock the Boat”, “Raise the Rabble” or just plain “Undermine the Legal System”.

Nadlers Support Group

Nadler has many friends and supporters in the (Mad)House, all of whom are of the highest character (in fact all of them are characters), morality (the strangest form of morality) and love of country (Just not this Country). It is easy to tell when Nadler and his Friends are Rabble Rousing…… their lips are moving.

It is really time we label this person and his buddies for who he and they are and that is “enemies of the Constitution of the United States”. All of them have sworn an oath to protect the Constitution, all of them have failed in their oaths, it is time for them to go. Please vote responsibly. If we don’t, the Biden’s, Nadler’s, AOC’s, Waters’, Schumer’s and Pelosi’s (Newsom’s In-law) will drag this country into the abyss.

Memorial Day – Who, What, When, Where and Why

Colleville-sur-Mer, France

 

Pretend you are a cub reporter for your local newspaper and your editor told you to write a piece that would help all of your readers to understand what was the true meaning of Memorial Day. What do you think you would say to your readers that would make them better understand the need for a holiday to commemorate such a day. Here is my shot at that assignment.

Every event, every different happening has a different meaning to different people. I realize fully that my understandings about things are rooted in my experiences and my experiences only. I was born near the end of July in 1938. One year and one month later a man by the name of Adolph Hitler decided to invade a country I had no idea of, for a reason I had no understanding of, in a place that I had no idea existed. For the next 7 years I experienced WWII, but it wasn’t until some 33 years later that the full impact of WWII really hit home.

I wanted to see the Normandy Beaches first hand so my wife and I traveled to Colleville-sur-Mer, France for the experience. I remember being stunned by the number of headstone crosses that covered that hallowed site in stark, orderly, military fashion. I remember having a inexplicable urge to film the site with my “Super-Eight” camera. As I pushed the record button and began panning my lens across that awesome sight I began to weep, and then to sob, and then finally to fall to my knees in sorrow, grief, and reverence. “My God, My God”, I said to myself over and over again as I viewed that sanctified plot. 9,000 brave, scared and heroic soles were interred in that vast expanse of lush green earth, in memory of that day in June 1944. “My God, My God”.

If the defeat of Fascism, and the saving of our American way of life was important enough to those 9,000 marvelous young men and women to give their lives, “My God, My God”, the memory of that day, that gift, those souls must be preserved forever, I thought, to myself, at that moment.

It is fitting that Memorial Day is a day when we realize our gift of freedom by joining with friends and family, going to the lakes, oceansides, mountains, theme parks, picnics and  bar-b-ques, and celebrating our free, American way of life, not as fully enjoyed by anyother nation in the world. It is also fitting to take a few moments today to remember the 9,000 and the thousands before and since that have given it all for you and me.

 

Voters!!! We Just Aren’t That Supid

When each election is over I say to myself, “How can we as voters be so stupid as to reelect the same idiots, over and over again?” I mean we continue to reelect the likes of Maxine Waters, who ranted on national television “If you see them in a restaurant, confront them and tell them we don’t want them here”, referring to any Republican, but mainly President Trumps appointees, an obviously seditious act. Chuck Schumer, who pounded a podium and screamed, “Dump Trump, Dump Trump,” over and over again, an act that I thought to be very seditious as well, considering he is a United States Senator. Nancy Pelosi, who acts coquettish and bored and then tears up President Trumps State of the Union speech, which, by the way was one of the best ever given. AOC who tried to tell us we could wean our world off of fossil fuels in ten years, teach cows not to fart, and go all Electric even though Tesla says the world is incapable of producing enough electricity to power that many vehicles. Premier-racist Obama who consorted with Farrakhan, The Rev and Al Sharpton more than he did his own cabinet. Turn-coat, Never-Trumper Mitch McConnell, Bible Thumping, Never-Trumper turn-coat Mitt Romney, how do all these wastes of voters ink get reelected over and over again. I could name at least 50 more like; Omar, Warren and Hirono, but I try to keep my stories under 450 words.

I scratch my head and say it can’t possibly be voter stupidity. We just ain’t that dumb. I finally realized that it has to be voting fraud. It is the only possible answer. Somehow, someway the vote is being rigged. It became patently obvious to me when I went to bed with President Trump having the vote in the bag, and woke up to find Sleepy Joe caused a landslide in a bunker. Now everything is coming clear, thanks to the persistence of President Trump and many others that are trying to get to the bottom of the issue.

In the past, minor efforts were required to swing votes in one direction or another. Hence the beginning of the mail-in-ballot. One or two thousand votes here and there would propel a Representative, Senator or President into office unnoticed. But this one was different, way different. The cheaters knew that President Trump was going to win, and win by a large margin, after all he worked his ass off for it. Hence an extra helping of mail-in-ballots was required, 50 million or more.

If this is allowed to go on, we have lost the America we fought and died for. We can’t let this happen.

Pelosi Gets Pigged, We Pay The Price

PELOSI GETS PIGGED, WE PAY THE PRICE

Lets just say, for arguments sake, that my neighbor (one person) buys a bunch of hens and a Rooster. He doesn’t need the Rooster but he gets it anyway just to piss me off. To get back at him, I go over to his house in the dead of night and throw rotten eggs at his garage door. (I have to say that this wouldn’t happen because my driveway is 330 feet long, so at my age he’d nail me halfway home.) Anyway, lets just say I did that and got away with it. I can guarantee that if my neighbor called the police, he would end up cleaning it all up himself, fuming and , cussing, and the cops would toss his complaint in the round file. It’s the way things are if you are one of the little people, which my neighbor and I are.

No compare that to the Elite, someone like Nancy Pelosi, (Goddess of all she surveys). She pisses off 70 or 80 Million people and one of them does a number on her garage door, and she calls the police, guess what happens. They come, investigate and clean up, bow and scrape and probably put the FBI on the case, capture the poor soul and toss him or her in the clink for life. Oh yeah, I forgot, and the Media makes it a “Breaking News”, Mainline, Prime Time Event. There is a glaring difference in the treatment of those two situations isn’t there.

I don’t know about you folks, but this upsets me to the core. What are the old sayings? “Mess with the crab, you get the claw”, “What’s good for the Goose is good for the Gander”, “Do unto others”, “What goes around, comes around”,  “Judge not lest ye be judged”; there’s gotta be a million adages fitting this situation. We little people live by them every day, but for some reason, Pelosi gets to sit up there on her “High Horse” and command the skies to open and make all things right in her world, no matter what she does to screw it up. Oh yeah, I forgot, she gets to do that at our expense. The little folks always pay the price, don’t you know.

It is time to make things right. Enact Term Limits and get rid of career politicians that are only in it for what they alone can get out of it. She’ll get her Millions, We, The People will get jail time.

Concern, Albeit Cautionary

Today, on Facebook,  there was another article that spoke of a local police drug bust. This particular bust was made based on the need for police to conduct a “parole search”. “Parole is the early release of a prisoner who agrees to abide by certain conditions”, in other words, agrees to behave himself. When the police showed up, the 31 year old couple was seen throwing things out of a window, which were later recovered and found to be drugs and drug paraphernalia. Obviously they were not in parole compliance, it was a good bust, all is well. The article ended, however, with “Do you suspect there is a drug house in your neighborhood? Click here to report it.” This is where my concern begins.

I lived through WWII and as an 5 to 10 year old, lived through the infamous Gestapo and all its dastardly dirty dealings. As an impressionable young boy it affected me deeply, still does to this day. I was appalled by their brutal actions so much that once on a vacation train ride from Munich to Lucerne two German Police burst into my closed compartment shouting “Achtung”, which scared me half to death, requiring minutes to recover, (True Story).

I believe that we have the right and obligation to call police if we suspect drug dealings or other nefarious activities are going on in our neighborhood. I also strongly believe that the police then have the responsibility to prove that there is a legal reason to enter and search the neighbors home and not just act on the suspicions of the reporting neighbor. I’m relatively sure this is the case, but more and more of these posts are showing up on Facebook, and I sure would hate to have them become common place and abused and have Heinrich Himmler bounce through my front door unannounced based on a vindictive complaint from a neighbor I might have pissed-off somehow.

As Americans we take all this for granted, because we fought for it and defend it every day.

EEEeeeeK A Mouse, In This Case A Yorkie

I have planted fruit trees on my rural property hoping for the occasional pear or an apple. This year 10 apples appeared on my new apple tree. I went on a weeks vacation and when I returned they were gone, and four other fruits that I planted were broken and stripped of their leaves. Those pesky deer were at it again. I decided I would try and run them off every time I saw them, I had to do something to make them feel unwelcome.

One morning I walked by my front bay window, and there were two brazen deer, a mother and her yearling, standing on my front lawn, as if they owned the place. I burst out my front door, along with my seven pound Yorkshire Terrier, and began shouting. My Yorkie Ike, (named after Dwight David Eisenhower) took off like a shot yapping after my two, now frightened out of their skins, cervine intruders. It was a site to watch, two hundred plus pounds of forest denizens scurrying away from a seven pound deerstalker. When it was over the deer, in fast retreat, had hopped the fence and Ike strolled triumphantly home from his latest enemy encounter.

It started me thinking. Two, one hundred pound plus wild beasts fear-stricken by an admittedly aggressive seven-pounder. How does that happen? The large animal afraid of everything, the midget afraid of nothing. Ike’s eyes are on the front of his head, the sure sign of a predator. Deer’s eyes are on the sides of their heads which is typical of prey. Is it a predator/prey thing? Is that it? Yorkies were bred to keep the mines of England rat free. They never came out of the mines. Is it a survival thing? When Ike sees something he instinctively runs at it with the intent to kill, my Border Collie, on the other hand, runs from danger until he has had enough time to stop and assess his situation and plan his next course of action. Is it a fight or flight thing?

This two hundred and forty pound human is scared to death of a two gram arachnid. Maybe I should try and figure that out first.

Independence Day

Independence is defined as “the fact of being independent”. The definition of independent is someone or something that is free from the influence or control of another. An example of independent is someone who lives on their own and supports them self.

Of course Independence Day was the name we gave the day we fought for and won our independence from British Rule. Starting in 1773 with the Boston Tea Party, America’s first major act of defiance against the all powerful British King George III, the Thirteen Colonies began their ten year battle for self rule, ending in the Treaty of Paris, on September 3, 1883. The story of that ten year period defines who we are as Americans. Thirteen individual Colonies, with their individual alliances and allegiances, had to first come together, then fight a unified war for American soil, and then finish off all ties fighting battles on the high seas before independence was finally achieved.

Some 6,800 Americans were killed in action, 6,100 wounded, and upwards of 20,000 were taken prisoner. It is believed that at least an additional 17,000 deaths were as the result of disease, including about 8,000–12,000 who died while prisoners of war. There was a definite price paid for Independence.

Since  that time many Americans have fought and died to insure that we maintain our independence from all tyranny. Any threat to independence is a threat to the United States, because we stand for independence, we are the poster child for freedom from tyranny. The American flag is the symbol for that awesome, world wide responsibility, and as Americans we strongheartedly and willingly shoulder that responsibility.

Cherish your freedom and independence, revere the Flag, and all it stands for, and remember those who paid the price.

Now you see it… Now you don’t. What are we……the Taliban?

The Budda of Bayan

The Buddas of Bayan in Afghanistan were crafted between 507 and 554 AD. The smaller was Shamama (“Queen Mother”) and stood 35 meters (115 Feet) tall; and the larger, Salsal (“light that shines through the universe”) stood 53 meters (174 Feet) high. These were magnificent examples of  the Gandhara style of statue construction. In 2001 the Taliban blew them to smithereens. They first used aircraft and tanks, to no avail, and finally a truck load of TNT did the job. POOF! Priceless history gone to mankind for eternity, all because one dumb-ass Mullah decided to do it. Mullah Omar spread his hatred through Islam.

We are tearing down statues all across the United States for reasons no wiser or convincing than dumb-ass Mullah Omar used. Today I read that the indigenous community is very upset with President Trump for wanting to hold a rally at Mount Rushmore, where similar edifices to the Buddas of Bayan reside. Rushmore eulogizes four great Presidents. One of those Presidents fought to free us from British Rule. One of those Presidents wrote our Declaration of Independence, the foundation of life in America. One of those Presidents fought to end slavery. One of those Presidents was the leader of the then Progressive Movement and a Conservationist who championed National Parks and the eternal preservation of our native lands. The indigenous community labels those Presidents as “Disgusting Images of White Supremacy”.

It doesn’t take much of a genius to understand the magnificence of statuary, but it does take a major dumb-ass to tear a statue down for fear it is a current threat to our society.