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Archived Issues
July 4, 2007
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THE ADAMANTINE EZINE Issue 007 -
July 4, 2007
Directing Marketers to Motivation and Success
By Jim Kelley - The Kelson Company, LLC
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SPECIAL
INDEPENDENCE DAY EDITION -
2007
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HAPPY JULY 4TH
AMERICA!!!
“The other day I was
reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data
I found rather hard to believe. It must be true
given the source, right?
The Newsweek poll alleges
that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the
direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the
country is unhappy with the performance of the
president.
In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just ain't happy
and want a change.
So being the knuckle
dragger I am, I started thinking, ''What we are so
unhappy about?''
Is it that we have
electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week? Is
our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in
the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that
95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the
ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see
more food in moments than Darfur
has seen in the last year?
Maybe it is the ability to
drive from the Pacific Ocean to
the
Atlantic Ocean without
having to present identification papers as we move
through each state? Or
possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would
find along the way that can provide temporary
shelter?
I guess having thousands
of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the
world is just not good enough. Or could it be
that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up
and provide services to help all and
even send a helicopter to take you to the
hospital.
Perhaps you are one of the
70 percent of Americans who own a home.
You may be upset with
knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group
of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use
top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving
you, your family and your belongings.
Or if, while at home
watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or
prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a
bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your
family against attack or loss. This all in the
backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias
raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where
90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and
computers.
How about the complete
religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that
are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is
what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.
Fact is, we are the
largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has
ever seen.
No wonder the world loves the
U.S.,
yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for
what we are.
The most blessed people in the world who do
nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what
we hate about the country instead of thanking the good
Lord we live here.
I know, I know. What about the
President who took us into war and has no plan to get us
out? The
president who has a measly 31 percent approval
rating? Is
this the same president who guided the nation in the
dark days after
9/11?
The president that cut taxes to bring an economy
out of recession?
Could this be the same guy
who has been called every name in the book for
succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats
safe from terrorist attacks? The commander in chief of
an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you
and me?
Did you hear how bad the
President is on the news or talk show? Did this news
affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't
take a look around for yourself and see all the good
things and be glad?
Think about it...are you
upset at the President because he actually caused you
personal pain OR is it because the "Media" told you he
was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every
day.
Make no mistake about
it. The
troops in
Iraq
and
Afghanistan
have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have
died for your freedom. There is
currently no draft in this country. They didn't have
to go. They
are able to refuse to go and end up with either a
''general'' discharge, an ''other than honorable''
discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable''
discharge after a few days in the brig.
So why then the flat-out
discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of
Americans?
Say what you want but I blame it on the
media. If
it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will
watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will
watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows
this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what
sells, and when criticized, try to defend their actions
by "justifying" them in one way or another. Just ask why
they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to
write a book about how he didn't kill his wife, but if
he did he would have done it this
way...Insane!
Stop buying the negativism
you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV,
burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom
of your bird cage.
Then start being grateful for all we have as a
country.
There is exponentially more good than
bad.
We are among the most
blessed people on Earth and should thank God several
times a day, or at least be thankful and
appreciative.
With hurricanes, tornados,
fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe
thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to
another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist
attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God
out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"
- written by Craig
Smith.
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Subject: Friday
Mornings at the
Pentagon.
By JOSEPH L.
GALLOWAY McClatchy
Newspapers
It's meant to
honor and pay our respects to
those
Americans who've
given their lives in service to our nation, who
stand
in an unbroken
line from
Lexington's
rude bridge to Cemetery Ridge
to
the
Argonne
Forest to the
beaches of
Normandy
to the frozen Chosin
Reservoir to the
Ia Drang Valley to the sands of
Kuwait
to the streets
of
Baghdad.
Over the last 12
months, 1,042 soldiers,
Marines,
Sailors and Air
Force personnel have given their lives in the
terrible
duty that is
war. Thousands more have come home on stretchers,
horribly wounded
and facing months or years in military
hospitals.
This week, I'm
turning my space over to a good
friend
and former
roommate, Army Lt. Col. Robert Bateman , who
recently
completed a
yearlong tour of duty in
Iraq
and is now back at the
Pentagon.
Here's Lt.
Col. Bateman's account of a
little-known
ceremony that
fills the halls of the Army corridor of the Pentagon
with cheers,
applause and many tears every Friday morning. It first
appeared on May 17
on the Weblog of media critic and pundit Eric Alterman
at
the Media
Matters for America Web
site.
"It is 110 yards
from the "E" ring to the "A" ring
of
the
Pentagon.
This section of the Pentagon is newly renovated;
the
floors shine,
the hallway is broad, and the lighting is bright. At
this instant the
entire length of the corridor is packed with officers, a
few sergeants
and some civilians, all crammed tightly three and four
deep
against the
walls. There are thousands
here.
"This hallway,
more than any other, is the
`Army'
hallway. The G3
offices line one side, G2 the other, G8 is around
the
corner. All
Army. Moderate conversations flow in a low buzz. Friends
who may not have
seen each other for a few weeks, or a few years, spot
each other,
cross the way and renew. Everyone shifts
to ensure an open
path remains
down the center. The air conditioning system was not
designed
for this press
of bodies in this area. The temperature is rising already.
Nobody cares.
" 10:36 hours: The
clapping starts at the E-Ring.
That
is the outermost
of the five rings of the Pentagon and it is closest
to the entrance to
the building. This clapping is low, sustained,
hearty.
It is applause
with a deep emotion behind it as it moves forward in
a
wave down the
length of the hallway.
"A steady
rolling wave of sound it is, moving at
the
pace of the
soldier in the wheelchair who marks the forward edge
with
his presence. He
is the first. He is missing the greater part of
one
leg, and some of
his wounds are still suppurating. By his age I
expect
that he is a
private, or perhaps a private first
class.
"Captains,
majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels
meet
his gaze and nod
as they applaud, soldier to soldier. Three years
ago
when I described
one of these events, those lining the hallways
were
somewhat
different. The applause a little wilder, perhaps in
private
guilt for not
having shared in the burden ...
yet.
"Now almost
everyone lining the hallway is, like the
man
in the
wheelchair, also a combat veteran. This steadies the
applause,
but I think
deepens the sentiment. We have all been there now.
The
soldier's chair
is pushed by, I believe, a full
colonel.
"Behind him, and
stretching the length from Rings E
to
A, come more of
his peers, each private, corporal, or sergeant
assisted as need be by a
field grade officer.
" 11:00 hours: Twenty-four
minutes of steady applause.
My hands hurt,
and I laugh to myself at how stupid that sounds in my
own head. `My
hands hurt.' O my goodness. Shut up and clap. For
twenty-four
minutes, soldier
after soldier has come down this hallway - 20, 25,
30.
Fifty-three legs
come with them, and perhaps only 52 hands or arms,
but down this
hall came 30 solid hearts.
"They pass down
this corridor of officers and
applause,
and then meet
for a private lunch, at which they are the guests
of
honor, hosted by
the generals. Some are wheeled along. Some insist
upon getting out of
their chairs, to march as best they can with their
chin
held up, down
this hallway, through this most unique audience. Some
are catching
handshakes and smiling like a politician at a 4th of
July
parade. More
than a couple of them seem amazed and are smiling
shyly.
"There are
families with them as well: the 18-year-old war-bride
pushing
her 19-year-old
husband's wheelchair and not quite
understanding why her
husband is so
affected by this, the boy she grew up with, now a man,
who
had never shed a
tear is crying; the older immigrant Latino parents who
have, perhaps
more than their wounded mid-20's son, an
appreciation
for the emotion
given on their son's behalf. No man in that hallway,
walking or
clapping, is ashamed by the silent
tears on more than a
few cheeks. An
Airborne Ranger wipes his eyes only to better see.
A couple of the
officers in this crowd have themselves been a part of
this parade in
the past.
"These are our
men, broken in body they may be, but
they
are our
brothers, and we welcome them home. This parade has gone
on,
every single
Friday, all year long, for more than four years." Did
you know
that?
The media hasn't
told the story.
(Copyright 2007
by Robert Bateman; reprinted here
by permission.)
FREEDOM IS
NOT FREE!
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Visit my blog at www.adamantineblog.com
for inspirational video.
Happy Independence Day,
Jim Kelley Publisher
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