Mark Knows It All

I have recently had occasion to provide some assistance to an elderly gentleman with no family. He is 88 years old and deaf. I met him for the first time several months ago when his much younger friend and caretaker died leaving him alone. Being somewhat infirm, he was taken to a hospital the day his friend died, and then to a nursing home. He is a sweet, gentle man, who, over his lifetime, spent many untold hours helping others. As is often the case with folks who have no family, he is well fixed. For the first month or so that I knew him, I was able to communicate with him through the use of tablets and a lot of ink. He would read what I wrote out loud, and then respond. We discussed religion, his past, and his friends. He corrected me on my spelling numerous times. Then, he suffered a small stroke. He ceased communicating with people, brushing their hands aside when they touched him and telling people to go away. He shut his eyes and refused to open them. He is still living, but is ...

The question I have is where did Hezbollah get those radar guided missiles? They are expensive, and they had to be transported to southern Lebanon. And the Hezbollah terrorists had to be trained to shoot them, or someone else is shooting them for them. There are two lessons to be learned from the world situation today. 1) Leave the fighting of wars to the military, and the politics in Washington. Patton wanted to march to Moscow. MacArthur wanted to march to Beijing. We had the exclusive use of weaponry at the time to win if we only had the courage to use it. The result of these failures is a Communist China refusing to reign in a nuclear threat from North Korea. Fight to win the war totally and unconditionally, or don't fight the war at all. That threat will not go away, and we are going to have to deal with it eventually. 2) You cannot procrastinate fighting despots or idealogues. The mess in the Middle East today is solely due from our failure to address the problems of Islamist...

Do you have any dirty pleasures? Those are things that you would never in a million years admit to anyone that you enjoy or enjoy doing. Maybe because they are “secret”, they tend to be more satisfying. Here are some of mine. Movies : This is a toss up category. Consider the Porky’s series. If you aren’t familiar with these pieces of intellectual wasteland, rent one and find out for yourself. Yes, they are raunchy. But the proposed lineup to find out who has been sneaking a peek in the girl’s locker room will put any prude on the floor with laughter. Tied with the Porky’s series is The Fast and The Furious series. Filled with urban lingo and “in the ‘hood” justice, the souped up cars and associated choreography are really something to watch, and I can tap to the rap and say “bro” with the best of them. Television : I had to think about this category for awhile, but Bridezillas tops my television dirty pleasure list. This show on the WE Channel deals with over the top brides plannin...

While at a bar on Friday night, I bumped into a friend with whom I have had some, let’s say, heated political discussions over the years. I asked him if he had plans for a fun Fourth of July. His response: “Given the current state of this country, why would I want to celebrate?” How sad an answer, but not unexpected given his left wing political orientation. Don’t get me wrong, we are close and fast friends, and I have enjoyed the dialogue over the years. But this time, he seemed to mean it. What is the current state of the country? 1) Unemployment is at an historic low, right around 4.8%. As the baby boomers retire, the labor market will tighten even more. At the core of the immigration issue is the simple fact there are not enough Americans to do the jobs that our vibrant economy is creating. This will have ramifications that will effect our culture across the board, including language issues, border issues, security issues, minimum wage issues, but isn’t low unemployment a good prob...