One of the most antagonistic and belligerent U S Senators, Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, is still his cranky old self and isn't holding back in his aggressive and confrontational mouthisms. What's a 'mouthism'? Well, it's something intentionally spewed from the mouth of a Harkin; not just any old Harkin. This one is a senator also named Tom from the normally and traditional conservative state of Iowa.
Tom Harkin's recent 'mouthism' was when he spewed that the Tea Party movement in Congress is just as dangerous for America as the Civil War. Now if one word in that statement were changed from 'dangerous' to 'enlightening' I could agree one hundred percent because the Civil War actually freed up and allowed a general advancement in people relations from the bondage of slavery of black people who had been held captive by the Democrat Party. It took a Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, to make that enlightenment happen.
Harkin was partially right that the Civil War was dangerous, especially to slave holders who were mostly Southern Democrats; but when the Northern Republican Army marched through the south winning battle after battle, culminating in a the surrender of Southern Army General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia, it finished their efforts to retain slavery in this country.
So, in that perspective, Harkin's statement was about as erroneous as most of his liberal votes in Congress over the years, yet the Iowans continue to reelect this old maverick who brings little, if anything of substance, to our nation. They should harken back to the days when their ancestors founded a strongly conservative, anti-slavery and religious state with no reason to feel danger when the Civil War occurred.
African Americans should be the first ones to realize and be enlightened to the fact that the Civil War, won by the conservative North, was not a dangerous thing; in fact, to them the Civil War should be looked at as a far cry from dangerous, as Harkin proclaims it to be, but a boon to their salvation and enlightenment.
Funny thing, though, the African Americans still think the Democrats won the Civil War and freed them. Maybe if they had trusted the conservatives who really freed them they would have wound up with more jobs and fewer ingratiating handouts in return for their votes.
But after all that rank discourse by the senator from Iowa, Harkin wasn't quite finished with his harangue; no, he continued un-merrily on his way to more of the same sort of 'mouthing' as reported by Matt Berman of nationaljournal.com online on September 27, 2013, where Harkin pilloried Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX and the Tea Party that he represents calling him and them "a small group of willful men and women who have a certain ideology".
Calling out a freshman Senator is a normal plaything for very senior United States Senators who like to assume their lordliness over the oh-so-junior first termers. But as usual, Harkin has difficulty sticking with the facts, labeling the Tea Party as a "small group", which is a very untrue description of a group that probably represents hundreds of thousands, if not millions.
And also 'mouthing' them as "willful men and women (of) a certain ideology" is another high-handed insult. Of course they are willful, which means deliberate or intentional, and of course they do, and they have a certain ideology every bit as much as a senior Senator from Iowa has the same credentials along with just about any other politico in the world. Harkin just doesn't possess much couth in his ranting, raving and "mouthing."
As for Obama and his position of distaste for the Tea Party, the real meaning for that title has faded with time, being TEA meaning "TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY". Obama had all his spy agencies and cloak-and-dagger spies investigate the Tea Parties until there wasn't much left and found nothing incriminating. I'm sure the feelings are mutual between the Tea Party members and Mr. Obama - general distaste and dislike.
Peggy Noonan speaks up in September 27, 2013, Wall Street Journal article titled "A Small President on the World Stage", where she attended a United Nations General Assembly session in which our friends, "and we have many" Noonan notes, "speak almost poignantly of the dynamism, excellence, exuberance and leadership of the nation they had, for so many years, judged themselves against, been inspired by, attempted to emulate, resented."
"As for those who are not America's friends, some seem still confused, even concussed, by the new power shift. What is their exact place in it? Will it last? Will America come roaring back?"
Reading Noonan's words one gets the impression that America is still very much revered and respected from many other world leaders, but does not expect much in the way of leadership and direction, at least in the near future. In other words, though not said directly by Noonan, can those other nations depend on America to be the same as they had become accustomed to before the Obama "state of disorganized confusion and loyalties"?
Can we ever be trusted again by our world friends after Obama?
Gerald A. “Jerry” McConnell, 92, of Hampton, died Sunday, February 19, 2017, at the Merrimack Valley Hospice House in Haverhill, Mass., surrounded by his loved ones. He was born May 27, 1924 in Altoona, Pa., the fifth son of the late John E. and Grace (Fletcher) McConnell.
Jerry served ten years with the US Marine Corps and participated in the landing against Japanese Army on Guadalcanal and another ten years with the US Air Force. After moving to Hampton in 1957 he started his community activities serving in many capacities.
He shared 72 years of marriage with his wife Betty P. (Hamilton) McConnell. In addition to his wife, family members include nieces and nephews.
