Tuesday, December 29, 2015

A Most Joyful, Prosperous, and Happy New Year to My Readers!

Your favorite Peasant wants to wish you, my absolutely
fantastic, wonderful, and delightful readers a truly Happy
New Year filled with love, joy, and prosperity for you and
your dear ones! We'll assemble here after the festivities
and get back to more examination and deliberation of
and about the political and economic news and the people
who make it all happen.

Thank you all for your company throughout another exciting
year! See you all in 2016!


MEM

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Christmas Tidings of Comfort and Joy!

Your jolly Peasant wishes you, my beloved readers,
a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic Happy New Year!
Let us be merry and bright, and may this Christmas and
all our Christmases be bright!

Love and yuletide joy to you and yours from The Peasant!


MEM

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Sen. Fred Thompson, R.I.P.

A man of many talents, a man of many
accomplishments, and a man of boundless
love for our country, Fred Dalton Thompson,
passed away on November 1 after a heroic
12-year battle with Lymphoma. The dynamic
conservative from Tennessee was 73.

Thompson, an attorney, actor, author, radio
show host (he would substitute for the late
Paul Harvey on the latter's show while Harvey
himself was ailing), senator, and presidential
candidate, first came to notoriety as a young
federal prosecutor when he drew out the public
admission from a White House aide that President
Richard Nixon had a secret taping system in
the White House at the time of Watergate.

He later tried his hand at acting and again found
bountiful success, appearing in over 30 films,
most notably "In The Line of Duty" alongside
Clint Eastwood, and appeared in over a dozen
television series, the best known role being that
of fictional New York DA Arthur Branch on
the highly popular TV show "Law and Order".
Thompson left the show when he decided to
run for the presidency. Sadly for those of us
who would have loved to see him be nominated
by the Republican Party and elected president,
Thompson dropped out of the GOP side of the race
after a short, lackluster campaign in which some
thought that his heart wasn't really in it.

Next, Thompson was in radio and later returned
to acting, all the while quietly fighting the lymphoma
cancer which would ultimately claim victory. While
this larger-than-life, six-foot-six charismatic southern
gentleman may have left this world, he left us with a
legacy of warmth, humor, candor, joy, patriotism,
and country wisdom. Thank you, Senator Thompson,
for your many contributions to our body politic, our
culture, and our country. And now you have taken
your final bow on this mortal stage. Godspeed. R.I.P.



MEM



Thursday, December 10, 2015

Is Donald Trump Presidential Material?

My friends, your troubled Peasant is seeing
more and more conservatives, both in the
Republican Party and not, flocking to
Donald Trump. Although I understand why,
I want to state my case here and now for
reconsidering supporting his presidential
campaign.

I realize that the billionaire candidate
says many things that sound quite refreshing
in contrast to the noncommittal, passionless,
politically correct statements on the issues
most on the minds of Americans and conserva-
tives in particular. Trump has said things that
people have longed to hear from the other
presidential candidates from both parties but
have not and are not likely to (especially from
the Democrats). Trump has called for action
regarding securing our borders and expelling
immigrants who have engaged in criminal
behavior after illegally arriving in our country.
He has spoken out against bad trade pacts,
especially the Trans-Pacific Partnership
agreement which President Obama is trying
to have passed and enacted with alacrity.
And Trump has blasted the nuclear arms
pact with Iran, which would only delay
for a very short time Iran's ability to arm
itself with nuclear weaponry, which it would
LOVE to use against our only true ally
in the Middle East, Israel, as well as to threaten
doing so along with other atrocities if the West
doesn't cave in to Iranian demands on other
issues. But Donald Trump's conservatism is
only quite new, and is about a mile wide while
only an inch deep.

All you have to do is examine Trump's political
history, and you needn't go back many years.
Trump has openly supported and given money
to many Democrat candidates for public office,
including the presidency. He not only donated
money to Hillary Clinton's successful Senate
campaign but hosted a fundraising party for her,
at which he mugged for photographs with her and
her ex-president hubby Bill. Trump had been quite
complimentary to President Obama upon his winning
the presidency and in his governance during his
first term. Trump also took the liberal side on many
social issues including abortion. And Trump supported
increasing taxes on businesses and business owners
and investors (now here's an old ploy used by many
wealthy business tycoons and investors that they
make to stifle rival businesses in their industries while
either paying the higher taxes without even a wince,
as they have the cash and the income to afford to do so
with little if any hardship, while other businesses would
be rendered unable to innovate, expand, or in some
cases, simply maintain their positions and remain
operational) to shore up the nation's deficit and debt
levels.

But now that he has declared himself a republican and a
candidate for that party's presidential nomination Trump
has done an about face on all of the aforementioned,
including engaging in a limited war of words and potshots
with Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton. And to some
in the GOP and their voters, as well as to conservative
independents, it all rings hollow. Your detail-minded
Peasant has commented here not long ago about Trump's
past presidential campaigns which he quickly launched
and even more quickly ended when it got to the point where
he would have to get serious about the issues and begin
staking out his positions and starting his campaign in earnest.
Well, this time he has stuck with it for more than a few weeks,
but along the way he has shown bombast, braggadocio,
petulance, and made childish verbal attacks on detractors and
debate moderators, as well as on a disabled reporter for the
New York Times, whom Trump had mimicked by
imitating his stature and movements affected by the man's
disability. All this following his suggesting that Megyn
Kelly, moderator of the first Republican candidates' debate,
was behaving aggressively toward Trump because it was
her womanly "time of the month". Yes, he really did say that.

And as for how he'd handle our economic difficulties and how
he'd manage our national budget, Trump has had four businesses
in his holdings go bankrupt with Trump pocketing millions
of dollars while leaving investors, creditors, vendors, and
employees holding empty bags.

In summation, Donald Trump has not been behaving in a
manner appropriate for a presidential candidate --- or a
president. And with his opportunistic 180s on some key
issues, along with his self-congratulatory musings on
his business activities and his handling of the biggest
political issues of the day, Donald Trump is fit not for
the highest elected office in the land, but rather for another
TV show, one in which he is the star, the main or only
act, and his biggest fan. As for his enthusiastic supporters,
some of whom are prominent, nationally known conservatives
(including some radio talk show hosts), please, please, PLEASE
do your homework on Trump and any other candidate that may
appeal to you before giving them your allegiance and support!
Research a candidate like you would a political issue; get all
the background, marshal all the facts, weigh everything on
your inner scale and then make your selection. One must be
thorough and methodical in choosing a presidential candidate,
for so much is at stake when you're helping to elect our nation's
top governmental official, as he or she will also be the face of
our government to the nation and to the world.


MEM









Thursday, December 3, 2015

Maureen O'Hara, R.I.P.

A great Irish lady, a beloved film actress in her native
land and here in the United States as well as all around
the world, a fine singer of the songs of land of her birth,
and a gleaming icon, Maureen O'Hara, passed away on
October 24 at the age of 95. She had blazed an indelible
trail from Dublin to Hollywood, leaving a grand legacy
as an entertainer, a businesswoman, and as a person who
gave back to the arts which made her a star.

Your ever-lovin' Peasant being a big film fan, Maureen
O'Hara was my very favorite actress, having made cinematic
magic with my very favorite actor, John Wayne, giving me
as they did millions of other movie lovers adventurous and
romantic thrills to last many lifetimes; ever since I first
saw this gorgeous red-haired spitfire in a movie during
my boyhood I had a huge crush on her! Before Diana
Rigg, Lynda Carter, Elizabeth Hurley and Lucy Lawless,
Maureen O'Hara was the gold standard for stunningly
gorgeous actresses! Even in her final years she still
commanded attention for her exquisite features!

Born Maureen FitzSimons on August 17, 1920, she caught
the acting bug early in life; her mother was a noted stage
actress and had been a great influence. After taking acting
lessons, O'Hara went for a screen test. Although it was not
successful, famed British actor Charles Laughton saw some-
thing in the fiery red-head and arranged for her to appear
with him in the 1939 film Jamaica Inn, directed by Alfred
Hitchcock. O'Hara would later join her benefactor in
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which was released that same
year. From there, O'Hara would receive many film offers, and
went on to build her incredible career.

Having been in movies with the other greats of the day, such
as Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Douglas
Fairbanks, Jr., and a very young Natalie Wood (appearing
together in the charming Christmas story A Miracle on 34th Street),
O'Hara is most closely associated with iconic American
actor John Wayne, having co-starred in Irish classic
The Quiet Man (1952) as well as several fine westerns,
many made by legendary Irish-American director John Ford
(who also directed The Quiet Man). O'Hara loved her adopted
country as much as her native one, and she especially loved
appearing in movies with Wayne, the actor who most closely
represented American strength, determination, decency, and
promise.

O'Hara would also receive an honorary Oscar in 2014, only the
second actress (after Myrna Loy) to receive one having never
been nominated for an Oscar. A slight beautifully rectified by
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences!

Married three times, her third marriage was her happiest, her
husband being retired Air Force General Charles F. Blair Jr.
who was a noted pioneer of transatlantic aviation and CEO of
the U.S. Virgin islands-based airline Antilles Air Boats.
Upon his death in a plane crash due to engine failure, O'Hara
was elected to succeed her husband as the CEO and President
of the airline, making her the first woman to be the president of
a scheduled airline in the U.S.


When her long-time colleague and close friend John Wayne died
in 1979, O'Hara addressed Congress urging them to honor Wayne
with a Congressional medal awarded to American civilians for
their endeavors in a field which benefit the country and her people.
Wayne's movies exemplified the American spirit which helped make
our country and our way of life, and O'Hara pointed this out with
great pride and love. The medal was soon after cast.

In her eighties O'Hara wrote her autobiography, " 'Tis Herself",
in which she shared events and other tidbits about herself that
even her most die-hard fans (like your favorite Peasant) never
had an inkling of. A wonderful book for fans, both of Maureen
O'Hara and of movies!

A remarkable actress, a remarkable woman with fiery passions both
on and off the silver screen, Maureen O'Hara made her native Ireland
and her adopted country the United States proud to claim her as their
own. This dual citizen of these great countries, this queen of the
big screen, this unforgettable lady is now reunited with her husband,
with her old friend John Wayne, and with many other relations,
friends, and colleagues in perfect peace. Rest in peace, lovely
Irish rose, in the Land of Peace Unending.


MEM