95yr old Battleship Missouri vet sends Obama letter saying: Shape Up or Ship Out.

Gotta love these Patriots of the Greatest Generation. This venerable and much honored WW II vet is well known in Hawaii for his seventy-plus years of service to patriotic organizations and causesall over the country. A humble man without a political bone in his body,he has never spoken out before about a government official, until now. He dictated this letter to a friend, signed it and mailed it to the president



Harold Estes pic
http://wwwpopblogger.blogspot.com/2009/11/harold-estes-american-hero.html

http://www.forenaftmagazine.com/fna_may2005.pdf

Here is his letter. What do you think?

Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don’t believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.

I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos’n Mate. Now I live in a “rest home” located on the western end of Pearl Harbor, allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.

One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.

So here goes.

I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do, but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.

I can’t figure out what country you are the president of.
You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:
” We’re no longer a Christian nation”
” America is arrogant” - (Your wife even
announced to the world,”America is mean-
spirited. ” Please tell her to try preaching
that nonsense to 23 generations of our
war dead buried all over the globe who
died for no other reason than to free a
whole lot of strangers from tyranny and
hopelessness.)
I’d say shame on the both of you, but I don’t think you like America, nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do, for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.

After 9/11 you said,” America hasn’t lived up to her ideals.”

Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man, that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War? I hope you didn’t mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around, because we stand for freedom.

I don’t think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.

Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.

Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don’t, I’ll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue. You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.

And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don’t want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts, who was putting up a fight? You don’t mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don’t want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.

One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you’re the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you’re not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you’re thinking of.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.
You’re not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That’s not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now.
And I sure as hell don’t want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.

Sincerely,
Harold B. Estes

 

You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:
” We’re no longer a Christian nation”

We're a secular nation, and if he doesn't like it, he can go fuck himself with his religious implements. I won't bother to read the rest. I'll respect his Jesus until he drags that corpse into government and law, at which point I no longer respect and be polite about this Imaginary Friend + Eternal Life 3.0 Fantasy Expansion Pack kind of worldview he's got working for him.

I knew some great WW2 vets, my father and uncle among them, and years ago I took flying lessons from several former WW2 pilots, those guys seemed superhuman to me at times ("... it's okay, I don't need to be able to see the runway to put this plane down!!"). But they were some irreverent crazy cusses too, and they sure weren't into that Christian Nation theocracy bullshit.

Yeah I know, I sound almost as grumpy as he does.

 

the fuckin pilgrims refused to go ashore to plimouth because it was the sabbath and so sailed the next day. Not a christian nation? get a life.

 

I am with you. This smacks of a republican viral campaign to me. Forward it to enough people and they'll all believe it. Thing is the generation that this person belongs to, wouldn't.

 

America is arrogant
America hasn't lived up to it's ideals
America is not a Christian national, i.e. read first amendment of the constitution and all of the founding father's views on separation of church and state and their view on Christianity.

 

Doesnt seem that old Harold realizes that the world does continue to turn and the times they are a changing. God or any religion does not belong in our goverment.

 

it does belong in our morals and our government is based on morals...

 

Hey guess what, Jamestown was settled first and they only came here to make that dollar bill. Or well pound sterling to be specific I guess.

Also, one of the first things the Pilgrims did was build a brewery

 

I developed my morels from my parents and my experience in life. Not everybody needs to learn how to do the right thing or how to be a good, honest person through the teachings of some bias religion. Unless your disturbed or unsound in some way having good morels is kind of common sense.

 

personally I think we're gettin' a bit too caught up on his Christian nation statement. The point of this letter is that Obama is obviously fucking up and this cat told him off. Regardless of his moral, ethical, and or religious background I'll still raise my glass to him and say "HELL FUCKING YEAH!!!" Although on the whole christian nation subject I'll say this, while America is not technically a Christian society most of it's founding fathers were and most other nations recognise us as a christian nation.

 

Personaly I think Obama is doing a fine job, its about time someone tried to portray the USA as a country that respects other nations. Instead of the old democracy at the end of a gun policies of the past.

 

I agree with Sunlion and Gardener this seems like one of those e-rumours, it certainly is all over the right wing forums and blogs.

Although there does seem to be a real Harold Estes
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/25/ln/ln16p.html

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(First a quibble – the US is about 230 years old so he basically seems to think a ‘generation’ is only ten years long?)

Now the main point - A lot of the conflicts US forces have been involved in have been imperial in nature, driven on by the idea of ‘manifest destiny’. Many other interventions in Latin America and elsewhere were in support of tyrants and involved to one extent or the crushing of ‘freedom’.

Here is a list of US interventions in Latin America
http://www.zompist.com/latam.html


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The conflict with Britain was about taxation only later did it get portrayed as liberation.

It was mainly a dispute over economic models it just happened that one involved slavery.

The US public didn’t want to get involved in WWII until they were attacked and even then they didn’t declare war on Germany until after Germany declared war on them.

(As for standing for freedom see above)

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Discrimination - it should be remembered that it wasn’t until the late 1960’s that many black people got the ability to vote.

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But US presidential administrations and officials have been doing that for years.

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lol

 

Thats cool that you can blurt out some random unsubstantiated slogan that sounds like it supports your way of thinking. That doesn't make it true though.

Our government is not based on morals. Sorry, that's just not how it happened. If you disagree then show us the historical proof.

 

I think Mr. Estes' letter can be summed up as follows:

You are a terrible president because you point out things that are wrong with this country. You are wrong to do so because Americans fought and died in wars.

 

you can hear all the Vets stories you want at the VFW or at the VA... pttf, SOS!! tell us something that we dont know, old man.. ..