I'm with the Master Chief

     Subject: 95 yr. old sailor tells it like it is!
     
     WW II Battleship sailor tells Obama to shape up or ship out !
     
     This venerable and much honored WW II vet is well known in Hawaii
     for his seventy-plus years of service to patriotic organizations and causes
     all over the country. A humble man without a political bone in his body,
     he has never spoken out before about a government official, until now.
     He dictated this letter to a friend, signed it and mailed it to the president.
     
     Dear President Obama,      
            
         My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don't believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.
     
     I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos'n Mate. Now I live in a "rest home" located on the western end of Pearl Harbor, allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.
     
     One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.
     
     So here goes.
     
     I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do, but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.
     
     I can't figure out what country you are the president of.
     You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:
                  " We're no longer a Christian nation"
                  " America is arrogant" - (Your wife even
                      announced to the world,"America is mean-
                      spirited. " Please tell her to try preaching
                      that nonsense to 23 generations of our
                      war dead buried all over the globe who
                      died for no other reason than to free a
                      whole lot of strangers from tyranny and
                      hopelessness..)
     I'd say shame on the both of you, but I don't think you like America, nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do, for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.
     
     After 9/11 you said," America hasn't lived up to her ideals."
     
     Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man, that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War? I hope you didn't mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around, because we stand for freedom.
     
     I don't think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.
     
     Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.
     
     Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don't, I'll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue. You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.
     
     And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don't want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts, who was putting up a fight? You don't mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don't want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.
     
     One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you're the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you're not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you're thinking of.
     
     You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.    You're not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That's not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now. And I sure as hell don't want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.
     
     Sincerely,
     Harold B. Estes
     
     When a 95 year old hero of the "the Greatest Generation"
     stands up and speaks out like this, I think we owe it
     to him to send his words to as many Americans as
     we can.

definitely dragged his feet on the 40,000   one good sign is unemployment dipped,
you know ive been thinking about this for quite some time, you could put God in his shoes and he couldnt get us out of the jack pot were in, how in the world can you create new jobs when an economy was built on manufacturing? it all has left oversea's, computers are 50 bucks a piece. we need a product to sell that originates from our raw materials and ends in our raw materials, we have to put money in our pockets to stimulate the economy. giving money to banks so they can lend it back out is not the answer, its merely a band-aid to jump start a dead battery that wont take a charge. import tax laws need to be re-evaluated and the economy starts at everyday choices we make...you cant look to someone to fix something we broke, the repairs start at me and you. I havnt seen a made in USA tag in along time, and i do check but it is becoming quite impossible to find something made in this country that is affordable

We need manufacturing jobs in this country, we will have to create them here. Small businesses, big businesses, we need to be an exporter, that will take time, and will, that sadly lacking in our system.

It used to be that the "financiers of capitalism" existed to raise the capital needed to expand our industrial and manufacturing economy, today wall street "games the system" with invented financial instruments that do nothing to add value to the system, but seek to strip out the very capital previously invested.

"Unemployment" has dipped, meaning that many more thousands of people have run out of unemployment benefits, or have simply given up looking for work. We are still losing hundreds of thousands of jobs a month, and large parts of the workforce is working short weeks.

Commercial real estate is about to hit the fan...


Yes, DO something President Obama. I don't care what you think, or how strongly you feel about our position, Your speeches are littered with your thoughts and feelings, Leaders lead with action, what have you done?

Show the world that we fight terrorists with strong will, commitment, and fierce and deadly determination to finish the job, we fight in Afghanistan because that is where our enemies breed, we call terrorist on our own shores what they are, we will work with our allies to further strengthen OUR position. We will not cower to our enemies threats, implied or insinuated.

Howard Estes' generation saw the danger of their day, acted with total commitment, retooled our entire nation, sent millions of its most able men into harms way and won not one, but two wars in the span of four years. Then returned home to build the country.

Our leaders today can't get a bridge on I-75 planned in the same amount of time, let alone get anything done.

Lead, President Obama, now is the time...

Waterdog wrote: The "United States" NEEDS to lookout for it self. become much more independent and strong, only then can we help the rest of the world and "them" be grateful for the help.

Dog,
Good reading in your first post.

But, on this one, you got me thinking. I'm due for a tour in Afganistan in a few months... And I'm proud to do my little part over there alongside my fellow allies... Hope you guys are also greatful to the nations that fight together with you ("them" ).

BTW, got a few minutes to post this, for I am on a training exercise till next wednesday to prepare for the mission at hand. See you all back on thursday next week.

Kristof,
"Them" are people, countries, situations around the world that need "our"(the United States and our ALLIES) help in times of crisis.
I've said it before that I DO appreciate your service AND value you as an allie.
But; when the sun comes up TODAY my only son will roll out of his rack - in Afganistan.