Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

  Allen Platt was like many bigoted Southern white men in 1954. He would say 'My dad always said Blacks had their place,'' This belief was challenged in October 1954. The Lake County Florida Sheriff Willis McCall paid Platt a visit in his  Mount Dora home. There had been complaints about his children. There were many people who believed the family was Black because of their dark skin color and curly hair. McCall was pretty sure that they had ''nigra'' blood, as he called it. The sheriff told him "You don't belong here. You are trying to mix with white people." Platt told him 'I'm as White as you are and come from better stock." Under the law at that time you were accepted into White society if you only had one-sixteenth black blood. If you had one-eighth you were considered Black. Platt was told to keep his kids out of school until the race issue was settled. He was a fruit picker in Florida and the father of nine children.

  When I was a kid I regularly watched the Academy Awards ceremonies and other award shows. I watched the late night shows like Johnny Carson. The prime time news networks like ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN. I had my favorite prime time shows on TV like ED Sullivan, the Carol Burnett Show, Gunsmoke, Beverly Hillbillies and Andy Griffith, just to name a few. In the early days of Saturday night live I was a big fan. I also liked baseball and football. In recent years professional football has become my favorite sport especially with the advent of the Titans. Since my thirties I have progressively become more conservative in my political opinions. I can no longer watch the awards shows or the late night shows like Jimmy Kimmel or Stephen Colbert. Unless it is something like America's Got Talent or the Voice I watch very little prime time T.V. If I watch a movie I have to research it first in order to determine whether someones liberal political opinions are going to be forced down my throa

  I was having a friendly debate with a female coworker, who happens to be Black, and we were talking about police profiling and recent shootings of Black people. She is the kind of person that I love to talk to. Very intelligent and respectful of my views, regardless of how much we disagree. My point in our debate was that White cops are the least of the dangers facing Black people today. More Blacks are killed by other Blacks, such as the carnage going on in Chicago and other large cities. She countered with the point that this carnage has gone on for years and it has only gained national attention in recent years. This might be true but it doesn't change the fact that Blacks are more likely to die at the hands of other Blacks than White police officers. I also made the point that even in those rare cases where a White police officer is not justified in shooting a Black person it is non compliance that leads to a bad end. No matter if you are White, Black, yellow, brown or

  There is a dangerous idea in America today that is being promulgated by the left wing. Hate speech is not protected by the 1st Amendment. First question. Who in America is qualified to define, in every situation, what hate speech is ? We should all be able to agree that a White  person who refers to a black person as a nigger, or if a black person refers to a White person as a cracker, they are using hate speech. If we are capable of being objective that is. As much as I hate these words I would defend to the death their right to use them because they are protected words under the 1st Amendment.  In a famous supreme court ruling, Schenck v. United States in 1919 Oliver Wendell Holmes stated that there are some limits to free speech, however. Paraphrasing Holmes, he said that you should not be able to shout fire in a crowded theater. In my view that would extend to inciting a riot or other illegal action. This is called "Imminent lawless action" as defined, not only in Sc

  Over the years I have listened in amazement as Democrats have blasted George W. Bush for being so unprepared for the attacks on September 11th. Many even accuse him of allowing the attack to happen in order to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003. There are many historical precedents in history where a country or military leaders have been surprised in spite of the fact that there were obvious signs everywhere. Hessian General Rall was surprised by Washington at Trenton. Hooker was surprised by Lee at Chancellorsville. Rosecrans by Bragg at Stones River. France by Germany on May 10, 1940. The Soviet Union by Germany on June 22, 1941. MacArthur at Clark Field by the Japanese on December 8, 1941, a full day after Pearl Harbor, and again in November 1950 when he allowed the American army to be ambushed by the Chinese and nearly annihilated. Finally, Franklin Roosevelt by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. I could list many more historical examples but the thing that ties these inci

118th Security Police - RAF Mildenhall   On January 17, 1987, Democrat Ned McWherter was sworn in as governor of Tennessee. MP units were deployed from all over the state to help provide security for the inauguration, and ball, later that night at the Opryland hotel. Our unit, the 118th Tactical Airlift Wing, was tasked with providing security for the entertainers at Opryland, and the governor while he was there. My first post that night was in the rear of the hotel along with another security policeman named John Myers.  Our job was to keep a spot open for the governor's car. We were told that his driver was supposed to drop Ned off at the front door of the hotel and from there he would bring the car around to our location and park the vehicle. Nearby was a line of celebrity buses with such names as Hank William's Jr., Waylon Jenning's, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tammy Wynette, Krystal Gayle, and many others painted on their sides.   While standing post Ralph Emery walked past