An Indoor Pool

I swam in an indoor pool for the first time a couple of days back. It was over eighty degrees Fahrenheit outside when I jumped in the deep end. Talk about a shock to the system, that water could not have been warmer than 55. I turned blue. I have to say this: that indoor pool needs a heater for the water. If that water is not heated before winter, the owners are going to find they own an indoor ice skating rink.

Beginning of End

The cult of Hitler that had devoured Continental Europe started to fall seventy-one years ago today. On June 6, 1944, the forces of liberty began the invasion of France. Forces from the United States, the United Kingdom including Canada, Free Poles, and Free French began to push the Nazis back. Rommel had helped Hitler create what seemed and was a formidable defense to stop and Allied landing. Fortress Europe was not impregnable. Raw courage led to successful landings at all five beaches the Allied command had selected. On beaches code named Juno, Sword, Gold, Utah, and Omaha Beaches, thousand of young men who loved freedom more than life gave the last full measure of devotion so that Europe could be free. The Nazis clung on until May 8, 1945 but liberation began in earnest with the successful parachute drops, glider landings, and the great beach invasion of D-Day.

The Jenner Hype

I do not care if the former athlete becomes a woman or a Missouri mule for that matter, so long as he does not do either on the taxpayer dime. What concerns me is that I seem to remember a few short months ago that Jenner was involved in a wreck that killed a woman. No one seems to mention that now. I would bet more people than not can not name a single other decathlon gold medal winner. Off the top of my head I can only name two others and I used to avidly follow sport. Those two decathletes are American Dan O'Brien and the UK's Daley Thompson. I will hand Jenner this- he has found a way to renew his fame- that manages to obscure a motor vehicle death that should be the major story.

If Greece Leaves

If Greece exits the Euro, the world will not come to an end. The impact on many nations in the Euro-zone will be minimal. Even Germany, which has been spending the most to keep Greece afloat, will not collapse if the Greeks walk. Many nations will be reluctant to do business with the "new Greece" as it emerges. Ironically, at least in the short run, the country that will suffer most with a Greek exit from the Euro, will be Greece itself. The rest of Europe will be unburdened by not having to carry Greece, who has been acting as a "weak sister" pulling the rest down. The world economy did not collapse with Iceland or Cyprus and although Greece is larger, and more economically significant, the global economy will survive this too.

A Foreign Flavor

No American President has ever welcomed aliens like our current misleader. Previous US Presidents thought our border meant something. They stood for a sovereign nations with real borders. Now, we have a one-worlder in office who wants to let millions more in on top of the many millions of scofflaws who have already entered America illegally. The dumbest people on the planet must be foreigners who go through the rigmarole of trying to enter our country legally. Maybe those poor folks are the real "Dreamers".

Tearing Us Apart

It is extremely sad that a black man died in police custody in Baltimore. It is much sadder that since his death, dozens of blacks have been murdered by other blacks in that city with no great hue and cry from politicians or the media. There is a pervasive attitude in some communities not to cooperate with police, even when talking to law enforcement might stop a murderer. Now, Baltimore has descended to a place where black civilians not only do not "rat", but actively mock and harass officers trying to process locations where murders have occurred. When this happens, the murder rate soars. When people oppose all policing, anarchy naturally ensues.

The Grave Robbers

The death tax is a moral obscenity. People have been subjected to tax all their lives. Their earnings are subject to income tax. If these earnings are invested and make money, they may be subjected to capital gains tax when shares or even homes are sold. Citizens are forced to pay sales tax when they purchase most goods and some services. They are taxed separately at the local, state, and Federal levels. Their real estate is taxed and that property tax is higher than rent was when my Father moved to Nashville in the late 1930s. When you take your last breath, do you not think government has reached into your wallet enough? Why should your survivors have to forfeit what you earned to strangers? Why should families of the recently deceased have to lose businesses or farms that have been in families for generations because they must sell to satisfy the demands of the government?