Replies

>>OIFVeteran wrote: “Wanted to add a follow up comment on what you mention here about Kalamata claim about knowing Marines that think Lincoln was a tyrant. I served almost 21 years in the US Military.”
>>BroJoeK wrote: “I was honorably discharged in 1973, just after the changeover to all-volunteers, so most of my experience is of a military long past.”

It appears I joined a little before you, Joey.

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>>Joey wrote: “We had black troops, NCOs and officers, a black company commander and battalion XO, in the early 1970s. We also had plenty of white southerners in those positions. Some were quite proud of their country & western heritage. In all my years I never met one who said something bad about Lincoln or the Union.”

I don’t recall anyone criticizing Lincoln while I served. I didn’t learn the truth about him until this century.

It appears Joey is confusing our western heritage, created by Christians, with Lincoln, who tried to destroy it. It was the power of Christianity, and the belief in the doctrine of limited government, that helped us partially crawl out the crony-capitalist hell that Lincoln pushed us into (do you recall the warning of Eisenhower?) Hopefully the Trump administration will be able put crony-capitalism to rest, and recover much of the nations resources that have been plundered by the modern-day Marxists-Lincolnites. (Trump doesn’t know it, yet, but he is not a Lincolnite.)

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>>OIFVeteran wrote: “Served both active duty and reserves, enlisted and officer. Over that time I met exactly two people that believed Lincoln was a tyrant and the south was justified in seceding. They were my roommates for awhile when I was lower enlisted in the Marines.”

You are still young.

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>>Joey wrote: “Sure, in Basic Training we had some pretty rough characters and I have vague memories of hearing some racist talk somewhere, but never anyone who drew the connection between their own racism and blaming Lincoln!”

Same here. We were all brainwashed.

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>>Joey wrote: “By the way, I have seen where Kalamata claims to have taken our oath of office to protect & defend the Constitution, but I somehow missed the part, if there was one, where he claimed to have actually served honorably...”

I served honorably, Joey (and I used every dollar of my G. I. Bill, and then some.)

Have you ever noticed that Joey’s arguments are riddled with sanctimony?

Mr. Kalamata

Kalamata: "It appears I joined a little before you, Joey."

I didn't say when I joined, but I promise you that unless you were in the military when President Truman desegregated it in 1948, your memories of military life don't go back further than mine, Olive-boy.
I'll repeat: from the Civil War on the US military was always less racist than the hometowns of most enlistees.

Kalamata: "I don’t recall anyone criticizing Lincoln while I served.
I didn’t learn the truth about him until this century."

So, it turns out you don't claim that many serving marines were fellow Lincoln-loathers, just some after they retired?
And you also claim that having never learned to loathe Lincoln as a child, a man late-in-life can suddenly become insanely obsessed with him?
I don't believe it.

Kalamata: "It appears Joey is confusing our western heritage, created by Christians, with Lincoln, who tried to destroy it"

Nonsense, Lincoln like Washington is part of our heritage.
He tried to destroy nothing except slavery.

Kalamata: "It was the power of Christianity, and the belief in the doctrine of limited government, that helped us partially crawl out the crony-capitalist hell that Lincoln pushed us into (do you recall the warning of Eisenhower?) "

Eisenhower reduced US military spending from about 15% of GDP in 1952 to 10% in 1960.
In 1961 he warned about a "military-industrial complex", not "crony capitalism".
After Eisenhower military spending fell from 10% to ~5% in 1980, Reagan increased it to ~7% by 1984.
After Reagan the military fell to 3% under Clinton, rose to 5% for the War on Terror and then back to 3% under Obama.
President Trump has increased the military back to ~4%, just over half of Reagan's but nearly 1/3 more than Clinton & Obama.

At the same time that military spending was cut in half, then in half again, domestic social spending such as Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" exploded.

Bottom line: while President Eisenhower in 1961 did warn of a "military-industrial complex", he had already reduced it by 1/3 and future administrations would further reduce it by 1/2 and then 1/2 yet again, until defense was barely 3% of GDP.
And no president has talked about "crony capitalism" except in context as defined by law of illegal activities such as bribes & kickbacks.

Indeed, one reason Republicans got elected in 1860 was their promise to end 60 years of previous Democrat government corruption and misspending.
So your claims that "crony capitalism" was somehow invented by Lincoln and that Trump will somehow strike a blow against it are... well, bizarre.

Kalamata: "I served honorably, Joey (and I used every dollar of my G. I. Bill, and then some.)"

Me too.

Kalamata: "Have you ever noticed that Joey’s arguments are riddled with sanctimony?"

Have you ever noticed that Olive-boy's arguments are full of personal insults, mockery & belittlements?
In fact, that's about all he's really got.