Be careful what you sign

Dear editor,

Once upon a time, back when the earth was green and I was 17, I sat in a Marine Corps recruiting office with wild anticipation, while the recruiter went through his "sales pitch", highlighted by a well-composed color portfolio of potential duty assignments. Of particular interest to a young guy like myself was a photo of a young Marine in France, standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, wearing probably the best dress blues anywhere in the world. By his side stood a breathtaking redhead.

Another page or so later was a photo of another young Marine at the gates of Buckingham Palace, Royal Guards in the background, and THIS young lad had TWO beautiful women on each side of HIM.

"These are just a FEW of the assignments we have available" says the Gunny behind the desk. "Boy, this is for ME! Where do I sign?"

About a year later, I found myself plodding through the rice paddies with an M-14, amidst the stench and humidity, being dined upon by mosquitoes and leeches, and a lot of unfriendly folks on the other side of the dikes with AK-47s. I wasn't wearing dress blues, and NOWHERE was there a breathtaking redhead to be found.

Gee. Somewhere I'd been mis-led. Ya THINK?

Only fools sign contracts without reading them first. I've not done it since, and I tried to warn the rest of this nation about that when Nancy Pelosi was telling America on live television how we needed to "pass this bill so we can find out what's IN it." I sat in our living room with a cup of coffee, pointing at the screen and commanding "Don't buy INTO this, people", while Donna was making dinner and calmly reminding me that "You can yell all you want honey, but they can't hear you!"

But I at least learned something. Because I almost didn't make it back from my first "Nam tour", I didn't RE-enlist, and give them yet a SECOND chance at me, especially in a conflict we never needed to be in to begin with. Once was enough.

Not so with today's voters. Learning NOTHING from a "1st term" that would have seen anyone else IMPEACHED, they went to the ballot boxes and did it AGAIN in 2012! They not only neglected to "read" first, they didn't even recognize basic PICTURES of what all had been lost over the FIRST four years.

Incredibly, many are primed to obey their party's masters once again. Same game; different "Czar."

Obama called Bush "unpatriotic" for having a nine trillion dollar debt. It will be every bit of TWENTY trillion at the end of his 2nd term. We're being overrun by illegals and terrorists, innocent folks are dying in the streets with the wrong people being blamed and prosecuted for it.

This regime has given away everything but grandma's rocking chair.

Come November, we'd better "read" THIS one before we sign off on anything, or WE'LL be plodding through the stench & humidity, once again be dined upon by "leeches" with a lot of unfriendly folks running around with AK-47s, (only BEARDED this time).

Been there. It ain't pretty. Can we actually THINK for ourselves this time, or do we need our parties and the media to think FOR us?

-- Mike Bradbury, Mountain Home