It’s know as the “Two Santas Strategy” by which the Republicans offer tax breaks so as to deliberately raise the debt in order to justify calling for the termination of social programs. If you check your historical media sources, you will find that since Reagan, when Jude Wanninski came out with this strategy, Republicans consistently run up deficits, then whine about them as soon as Democrats get in power. Democrats bring spending down & get our financial house in order, then, when republicans get in power, it’s lather, rinse, repeat. More for the rich, at the expense of everyone else.
Patrick, you lead. We read. This post accomplished a rare combination by providing important information, context and optimism because the writer shows that we can have a stronger, more inclusive, sensible country.
This isn't simply a graduation speech - it is a "Listen up, America!Take off the blinders and remove the ear plugs!"It is a call to action - to octogenarians, retirees, mid-lifers and Gen Z" - ALL OF US!THIS IS O-U-R COUNTRY and we either STAND UP and SPEAK OUT IN ONE UNITED VOICE or we are reduced to the unfortunate, indifferent/indifferent category of mere "spectators"!! This article SHOULD BE in all major newspapers and magazines throughout the entire U.S
Patrick, I began this comment telling you about my life and with a stroke of something the comment I was preparing has vanished. Long story short, I was a military dependent. My dad served in the Berlin Airlift, served under Gen George S Patton, actually saw the interior of the bunker in which Hitler committed suicide and his life was not easy. He never finished high school but almost became a warrant officer when I was an infant. But didn't get his GED until I was in 6th grade in 1968 when I was at Our Lady Star of the Sea in Long Branch New Jersey.
My life was kinda normal as a kid until I turned 5 in 1961 though that was February. In May or June and it was probably June, my mom and younger brother and I were at St Veronica's Catholic Church in the Cherry Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, MD. No it was not the crime ridden place you hear about today. We were in church during a high mass and I remember seeing the beginning of the procession of the gifts, complete with incense etc. But even as I stood next to my mom, I felt to look up in the ceiling the church. There I had an experience that changed my life for ever. I knew I was in the presence of God. I knew in that moment I loved God and wanted to serve God. After that I was looking back at the altar and the part of the Mass where the priest washes their hands was happening. So that whole part from the periphery procession to that point was not experienced by me. But the calling had happened. I didn't question it but it was real. The Mass in those days was in Latin and there were Mass cards for the people to follow along. I picked one of them up and not doing it in imitation but actually following with the responses and saying them understanding what I was saying and what the priest was saying.. I knew I could be an altar boy because I was a kid. I never told my mom about it. But that calling was always present.
I eventually went to Catholic High School by choice to Red Bank Catholic High School. I took the entrance exam, the PSAT test and was accepted. My folks made a deal with me. I would get a job bagging groceries to pay for my clothes and books and keep my grades, they would get the tuition covered. My first venture into charting my future with my folks, a contract I made with them at 14. At 16, our principal, Sr Marylee Hart took our religious class and told us about her experience growing up with a calling, going to high school doing the normal stuff but feeling this calling and as I sat listening to her I though, 'finally, someone talking about what I'm experiencing, someone i can relate to. She was 30 then. She brought in a guest speaker a Franciscan Priest to speak to us. He began by describing that experience that a person who sent to a concentration camp with go through. He explained the procedures and the tattoo a prisoner would get. Then he rolled up his left sleeve and we saw the tattoo he was talking about. This priest had lived in 3 concentration camps as a priest. That calling was not just its normal level but I was asking God if this was the community I was supposed to join interiorly. That is what and impact this was on me I began to rise cautiously but just before I was exiting I heard in myself 'Sit down, it is not your time yet,' I was done! I had been this close to the fire and I told God 'look, I know I am called to serve you, leave home and go with You but I need a vacation from my vocation! Just a break to lead a normal life, I know You will come for Me and I will go to where I'm supposed to but just a break for now.' Yes I talked to God like that as I physically forced myself to sit back down. So I had a vacation from April 1972 to May 1976. Not long but a breather.
We moved to Security Widefield, Colorado in May 1972 as my dad retied from the Army. I went to public school again. I made the honor roll in 1970 but was all A's and a B from 1971 through the end of my high school year in May 1974. I figured out that though I may have had offers from colleges all over this country that I was to go to the University of Colorado at Boulder. I applied for a NROTC scholarship and was accepted to the university of Colorado at Boulder. I got a Pell Gant and went to college. My independence began with that bagging grocery job. I got a job actually part time in August of 1973 at Fort Carson working in the cafeteria washing dishes working the summer then reducing my hours in senior year to 4 hours after school and fulltime on Saturdays. I worked my senior year until a year to the day in August 1974. I went though two years on the scholarship and then an incident in class in May 1976 made me understand that I had to stop my connection with the NROTC so I resigned at the end of semester. Then I found the calling back in full force. I declared a Modern Dance Major as I knew as well I had a talent for dance since 3rd grade. But my days of freedom were over. I was taking dance class before I left the NROTC program but at the end of semester Dec1976, my dance professor Nancy Spanier offered me a spot in her professional company which I really dearly loved but the calling had to be first. So I left college and went to Chicago to join a non denominational religious community Feb1977.
I eventually ended up San Francisco and after suffering for years of being in the closet came out in my final vow interview in Sept 1985 as in all religious communities you have to be able to know who you are before being accepted fully. No it definitely was not freedom to live a ay life but to acknowledge who I was really. I lived in that community until June 1990 when the community was making the move to become Eastern Orthodox. I moved to a small orthodox community in Washington DC. which was a break as the community priest was under the Romanian Patriarch and it was still connected to communist party. The priest had me state that I renounced my allegiance to the Pope. No one had ever asked me to do that. I was very hesitant but did it and felt a deep cut in my soul since I was baptized Catholic at age two. I left that community in Nov 1990 and felt myself drawn back yet again to religious life in May 1991. This time to a Catholic community, I had already rejoined the Catholic church as my parish priests when I told them what I had recently been through just said' You're back in the church.' I understood that people can go through their lives going and doing things that put them outside the church even though they may not mean to.
In Oct 1991 I went to Italy to the Marian Community Oasis of Peace. But trust me God wasn't done..I learned Italian, spoke to people in Italian about my experience at 5 years old. I had told the story in English but the Italian people understood what I really went through and when I said it in Italian I understood that I physically stood by my mom but left my body and my consciousness encountered God for that time. I came back into my body and was seeing the washing of the hands. But only then did I know and began to appreciate the depths of communion with God that I had. That communion never left. In Feb 1996 I felt again time to leave and did, leaving the last community and coming back home. My priests helped me process it and as I was 40, it was my last community. I was told I could serve God in the world no matter what. and that is what I have done since. You are correct not everyone makes it through the ROTC training. Not everyone is called to serve in the military, But we have an obligation to our young people. Though you could not say exactly what you wanted at the graduation, you have said what you wanted here. The military is apolitical. I learned that from growing up as a military dependent which makes me shake my head seeing things some folks have done while wearing the uniform to this day. We must support what is right and in the right platform say what is not correct with things. Keep up your work. I appreciate your ability to balance what you do.
Did you tell them that, in a time when SecDef and BoneSpurs have erased the history of Black, Yellow, Hispanic, and Women with and without color served in the armed services, and extols the necessity and superiority of an all-white, all-male military system in which racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia are expected, will characterize them by conformity rather than their character? Did you prepare them for that modern reality? I am a former USMC officer who, when I was commissioned in 1979 following training during a two-year period during which female candidates completed the same grueling program as the males. That, among other professional achievements, was an accomplishment I valued. It's pity that a draft dodger and a drunk talking head are erasing our contributions.
Mr. Murphy..by reading carefully, you have referred a lot to debts, benefits..I agree, but generations of the military before this generation did not create that..You did not create that debt when you also contributed through the military..You talk about obesity, about the internet, and there is a real problem there..But an even bigger problem lies ahead.."smart intelligence"...for God's sake it is intended for the right purpose and unfortunately it is also abused..You said a lot..There are fewer and fewer military cadets..You are right that you need to stand by the American flag 🇺🇸, be honorable, and the country really needs leaders to raise morale...Think about it, why so many suicides? Families are wounded..You can't apologize to you as an individual..Here we need the foundation of history and the victims who gave their lives..You need to put together strong shoulders..strong steps and build the trust that has been shaken in the country..The country needs a captain to hold the mast..A difficult challenge for the next generations..Forgive me if you didn't understand me..Once again, we need to collect the tiles and put them in place..In any case, I sincerely thank you for your consideration and for what you shared..Be Supportive...God bless you🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸💪💪💪
It’s know as the “Two Santas Strategy” by which the Republicans offer tax breaks so as to deliberately raise the debt in order to justify calling for the termination of social programs. If you check your historical media sources, you will find that since Reagan, when Jude Wanninski came out with this strategy, Republicans consistently run up deficits, then whine about them as soon as Democrats get in power. Democrats bring spending down & get our financial house in order, then, when republicans get in power, it’s lather, rinse, repeat. More for the rich, at the expense of everyone else.
Patrick, you lead. We read. This post accomplished a rare combination by providing important information, context and optimism because the writer shows that we can have a stronger, more inclusive, sensible country.
Thanks for the insights and perspective.
Thanks brother
This isn't simply a graduation speech - it is a "Listen up, America!Take off the blinders and remove the ear plugs!"It is a call to action - to octogenarians, retirees, mid-lifers and Gen Z" - ALL OF US!THIS IS O-U-R COUNTRY and we either STAND UP and SPEAK OUT IN ONE UNITED VOICE or we are reduced to the unfortunate, indifferent/indifferent category of mere "spectators"!! This article SHOULD BE in all major newspapers and magazines throughout the entire U.S
Thank you Mary Lou!!!
Heartfelt, sincere, and above all - honest! He is the kind of leader this country desperately needs!👏🏽👍🏽
wonderful, heartfelt and worthy of being read over and ovee
Great read, love this: failure is the tax of success.
Patrick, I began this comment telling you about my life and with a stroke of something the comment I was preparing has vanished. Long story short, I was a military dependent. My dad served in the Berlin Airlift, served under Gen George S Patton, actually saw the interior of the bunker in which Hitler committed suicide and his life was not easy. He never finished high school but almost became a warrant officer when I was an infant. But didn't get his GED until I was in 6th grade in 1968 when I was at Our Lady Star of the Sea in Long Branch New Jersey.
My life was kinda normal as a kid until I turned 5 in 1961 though that was February. In May or June and it was probably June, my mom and younger brother and I were at St Veronica's Catholic Church in the Cherry Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, MD. No it was not the crime ridden place you hear about today. We were in church during a high mass and I remember seeing the beginning of the procession of the gifts, complete with incense etc. But even as I stood next to my mom, I felt to look up in the ceiling the church. There I had an experience that changed my life for ever. I knew I was in the presence of God. I knew in that moment I loved God and wanted to serve God. After that I was looking back at the altar and the part of the Mass where the priest washes their hands was happening. So that whole part from the periphery procession to that point was not experienced by me. But the calling had happened. I didn't question it but it was real. The Mass in those days was in Latin and there were Mass cards for the people to follow along. I picked one of them up and not doing it in imitation but actually following with the responses and saying them understanding what I was saying and what the priest was saying.. I knew I could be an altar boy because I was a kid. I never told my mom about it. But that calling was always present.
I eventually went to Catholic High School by choice to Red Bank Catholic High School. I took the entrance exam, the PSAT test and was accepted. My folks made a deal with me. I would get a job bagging groceries to pay for my clothes and books and keep my grades, they would get the tuition covered. My first venture into charting my future with my folks, a contract I made with them at 14. At 16, our principal, Sr Marylee Hart took our religious class and told us about her experience growing up with a calling, going to high school doing the normal stuff but feeling this calling and as I sat listening to her I though, 'finally, someone talking about what I'm experiencing, someone i can relate to. She was 30 then. She brought in a guest speaker a Franciscan Priest to speak to us. He began by describing that experience that a person who sent to a concentration camp with go through. He explained the procedures and the tattoo a prisoner would get. Then he rolled up his left sleeve and we saw the tattoo he was talking about. This priest had lived in 3 concentration camps as a priest. That calling was not just its normal level but I was asking God if this was the community I was supposed to join interiorly. That is what and impact this was on me I began to rise cautiously but just before I was exiting I heard in myself 'Sit down, it is not your time yet,' I was done! I had been this close to the fire and I told God 'look, I know I am called to serve you, leave home and go with You but I need a vacation from my vocation! Just a break to lead a normal life, I know You will come for Me and I will go to where I'm supposed to but just a break for now.' Yes I talked to God like that as I physically forced myself to sit back down. So I had a vacation from April 1972 to May 1976. Not long but a breather.
We moved to Security Widefield, Colorado in May 1972 as my dad retied from the Army. I went to public school again. I made the honor roll in 1970 but was all A's and a B from 1971 through the end of my high school year in May 1974. I figured out that though I may have had offers from colleges all over this country that I was to go to the University of Colorado at Boulder. I applied for a NROTC scholarship and was accepted to the university of Colorado at Boulder. I got a Pell Gant and went to college. My independence began with that bagging grocery job. I got a job actually part time in August of 1973 at Fort Carson working in the cafeteria washing dishes working the summer then reducing my hours in senior year to 4 hours after school and fulltime on Saturdays. I worked my senior year until a year to the day in August 1974. I went though two years on the scholarship and then an incident in class in May 1976 made me understand that I had to stop my connection with the NROTC so I resigned at the end of semester. Then I found the calling back in full force. I declared a Modern Dance Major as I knew as well I had a talent for dance since 3rd grade. But my days of freedom were over. I was taking dance class before I left the NROTC program but at the end of semester Dec1976, my dance professor Nancy Spanier offered me a spot in her professional company which I really dearly loved but the calling had to be first. So I left college and went to Chicago to join a non denominational religious community Feb1977.
I eventually ended up San Francisco and after suffering for years of being in the closet came out in my final vow interview in Sept 1985 as in all religious communities you have to be able to know who you are before being accepted fully. No it definitely was not freedom to live a ay life but to acknowledge who I was really. I lived in that community until June 1990 when the community was making the move to become Eastern Orthodox. I moved to a small orthodox community in Washington DC. which was a break as the community priest was under the Romanian Patriarch and it was still connected to communist party. The priest had me state that I renounced my allegiance to the Pope. No one had ever asked me to do that. I was very hesitant but did it and felt a deep cut in my soul since I was baptized Catholic at age two. I left that community in Nov 1990 and felt myself drawn back yet again to religious life in May 1991. This time to a Catholic community, I had already rejoined the Catholic church as my parish priests when I told them what I had recently been through just said' You're back in the church.' I understood that people can go through their lives going and doing things that put them outside the church even though they may not mean to.
In Oct 1991 I went to Italy to the Marian Community Oasis of Peace. But trust me God wasn't done..I learned Italian, spoke to people in Italian about my experience at 5 years old. I had told the story in English but the Italian people understood what I really went through and when I said it in Italian I understood that I physically stood by my mom but left my body and my consciousness encountered God for that time. I came back into my body and was seeing the washing of the hands. But only then did I know and began to appreciate the depths of communion with God that I had. That communion never left. In Feb 1996 I felt again time to leave and did, leaving the last community and coming back home. My priests helped me process it and as I was 40, it was my last community. I was told I could serve God in the world no matter what. and that is what I have done since. You are correct not everyone makes it through the ROTC training. Not everyone is called to serve in the military, But we have an obligation to our young people. Though you could not say exactly what you wanted at the graduation, you have said what you wanted here. The military is apolitical. I learned that from growing up as a military dependent which makes me shake my head seeing things some folks have done while wearing the uniform to this day. We must support what is right and in the right platform say what is not correct with things. Keep up your work. I appreciate your ability to balance what you do.
Did you tell them that, in a time when SecDef and BoneSpurs have erased the history of Black, Yellow, Hispanic, and Women with and without color served in the armed services, and extols the necessity and superiority of an all-white, all-male military system in which racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia are expected, will characterize them by conformity rather than their character? Did you prepare them for that modern reality? I am a former USMC officer who, when I was commissioned in 1979 following training during a two-year period during which female candidates completed the same grueling program as the males. That, among other professional achievements, was an accomplishment I valued. It's pity that a draft dodger and a drunk talking head are erasing our contributions.
Whoops! Should have proofed that before sending it. Know that I know...
Mr. Murphy..by reading carefully, you have referred a lot to debts, benefits..I agree, but generations of the military before this generation did not create that..You did not create that debt when you also contributed through the military..You talk about obesity, about the internet, and there is a real problem there..But an even bigger problem lies ahead.."smart intelligence"...for God's sake it is intended for the right purpose and unfortunately it is also abused..You said a lot..There are fewer and fewer military cadets..You are right that you need to stand by the American flag 🇺🇸, be honorable, and the country really needs leaders to raise morale...Think about it, why so many suicides? Families are wounded..You can't apologize to you as an individual..Here we need the foundation of history and the victims who gave their lives..You need to put together strong shoulders..strong steps and build the trust that has been shaken in the country..The country needs a captain to hold the mast..A difficult challenge for the next generations..Forgive me if you didn't understand me..Once again, we need to collect the tiles and put them in place..In any case, I sincerely thank you for your consideration and for what you shared..Be Supportive...God bless you🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏⚖️⚖️⚖️⚖️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸💪💪💪