WHEN PENGUINS FLEW AND WATER BURNED This is the true memoir of one US Air Force navigator’s journey from the schoolhouses of Air Training Command to the nuclear alerts of the Cold War to combat in a 35-year-old anachronism called the B-52. It is a first-hand account of life during the last days of Strategic Air Command, the early days of Air Combat Command and the ensuing military drawdown of the 1990s. From peacetime training exercises across the globe to combat operations in Desert Storm, Jim Clonts takes the reader inside the cockpit where life and death are seconds apart. Often comical, sometimes heart-pounding, other times tragic, WHEN PENGUINS FLEW AND WATER BURNED takes you into the world of military aviation, a crucible where warriors learn the true nature of character, conscience and mortality.

Friends of Liberty VOL 48
by Jim Clonts, 2010

03/31/2010

Friends of Government,

It's finally happened. We are finally getting the Government we deserve. After eight years of George Bush protecting the wealthy at the expense of the poor, President Obama is finally taking back the Government for the People and by the People. The new healthcare law will finally bring these evil insurance and pharmaceutical companies to their knees. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said Big Pharmaceutical will lose $90 billion in profits over the next ten years. That's $9 billion dollars a year out of the fat cat Wall Street capitalists pockets and put right back into the hands of those who really deserve it---the little guy, the common man, the poor, the downtrodden. The new law will also bring down big insurance within 2-3 years, if we're lucky, finally getting us the single-payer system we so richly deserve. This is true social justice, returning the nation's wealth to its rightful owners.

It's been a long time since we had elected officials willing to go to the mat for the People the way this Congress did. In the face of lying, racist, homophobic, right-wing, Christian, gun-toting, tea bagging conservative opposition, our brave Democratic congressmen and congresswomen took the road less traveled and passed the most significant human rights bill in history. All the talk of this bill being a budget-buster was right-wing propaganda. We all know that the greedy, bloated, consumer-abusing corporations with their multi-billion dollar profits and the equally distasteful uber-wealthy can certainly afford to pay their fair share for decent healthcare for all.

If a family of four can make it just fine on $80,000 a year, why can't the family of four making $300,000 be asked to pay $220,000 towards social justice? Fairness is what it is all about. As individuals we all have differing talents and abilities. Some of us rise to the top, while others either lack the ability or have not had access to the same opportunities. I ask you---if a man does not have the opportunity, if society doesn't give him a chance, then how is it fair that the man with the ability, who had the opportunity, reaps 100% of the benefits? If a man or woman has the ability, it is his or her duty to use that ability for the good of not just a man, but all Mankind. There is no liberty for anyone if our lowliest brother is left behind. This is also why minimum wage must rise to a level on par with the average prevailing wage. This is only fair and ensures those in low-skilled labor can support their families. After all, there is honor in all work.

The bottom line is our Government is finally looking out for us. We have a Government willing to go to bat for the common man---and really who is better suited for that than our elected Congressmen and the President? Greedy corporations that are only concerned with profit? No. Our Progressive Democratic friend in Washington have the best interest of the people at heart, proven by their overwhelming election victories. They have the Mandate of the People and can always be counted onto do what is best for our country. They consult with experts in all fields of science, human nature and sociology and know how we should live. They know how we should travel so we don't destroy our climate. They know what we should eat and how we should exercise. Farming experts know what crops should be grown and industrial experts know what products should be produced. We have such potential as a society and Human Beings if we just allowed those who know better to place controls on our behaviors. We would live longer, more productive and happier lives, in harmony with our brothers, with nature and the planet.

The good news is we as a nation are finally coming around. We are starting to understand that completely unregulated free markets are not free at all, that capitalism is really a form racism, a form of tyranny, of greed and hate. We are developing a social-conscience and we see that if the needs of all aren't met, no one is really free. We see the excesses around us, the pollution, the extravagant life-styles, the private jets, the over-sized homes and vehicles and we are saying STOP. If everyone just traded their extravagances for social justice, it could mean a decent life-style for all Americans regardless of race, or social stature. If Wall Street fat cats rid themselves of corporate jets and retreats, every child could go to college with a Government-guaranteed job waiting for them at graduation.

So what is liberty? Can a man truly experience liberty if he is constantly worried about losing his job, paying the mortgage, paying for medical care, keeping the lights and water turn on, putting food on the table for his children or sending them to college? Our Progressive Democratic friends in the Congress and the White House now have the power and the will to make significant redistributive change, the kind of change that will bring liberty to all Americans. We are on the verge of getting a Government that can free the American soul from the bondage of day to day worries of survival. That is real hope and change. That is the American Dream.

"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."

-Karl Marx

Okay, if this doesn't generate a few responses I don't know what will...

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