Gun magazines, yes; Vanity Fair, no

You can tell a lot about people by a quick look at their bookshelves.

And as of now I know what my high school geometry was for. The famous “If-Then” statement -- meaning that if you state something, then it follows that something else should be true, based on the preceding statement -- has finally come into play. I’ve waited a long time for this.                                                                                                                                        

Here’s my extrapolation: If bookshelves tell you about people, then the books and magazines for sale in that community tell you a lot about the community.

The grocery store where I shop is nice -- lots of hard-to-find items, wide aisles and helpful clerks.

But it has drastically trimmed its magazine selection, mostly women’s magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Elle, Women’s Day, and even Vanity Fair. They’re gone.

There were empty spots on the magazine rack where these periodicals used to be just last week. Left untouched were:

·         Guns & Ammo

·         Gun Collector

·         AR-15

·         Shooting Times

·         Handguns

·         Trigger

·         and Combat Techniques

I asked a clerk what happened to all the other magazines.

 “You don’t like the type to buy Cosmo.”

Judging by the few other magazines that looked out of place next to Guns & Ammo, such as Weddings, I can only conclude that the neighborhood anti-fun crowd complained to the manager to get those other magazines off the shelves.

We had an example of this in Metro Detroit not too long ago. Remember that batty woman who wanted The Metro Times to stop putting its weekly paper in the Grosse Pointes because of the sex ads in the back?

I wonder if she made it up north to Royal Oak and went grocery shopping where I shop. Unlike most places, The Metro Times never had a rack at this store. Metro Parent does, though. Quite a difference. I know someone who worked there, once upon a time. She was … well, I’m sure she found a nice man with no spine to marry.

So this is my community, eh? A bunch of tough-guy magazine readers.

One wonders what they’re reading on the internet, assuming they can put their guns down long enough to work the mouse and keyboard. Takes two hands, you know.

I’m going to go shopping at this store next weekend and see if Cosmo et al have reappeared. If they haven’t, I’m shopping elsewhere.

I’ll follow up here next week.

Vietnam part II?

You don’t need to read yet another person’s opinion on what to do about ISIS.

Instead, let’s talk history, specifically Vietnam’s.

I didn’t fight in Vietnam, so I have no first-hand knowledge to share with you. I only got so far as an Army physical in the Cadillac Tower in downtown Detroit when I was 18. My draft number was never called.

And it’s a good thing my number wasn’t called, too. I’d burned my draft card as soon as it arrived in the mail. With so many people burning their draft cards, a rumor began that the newer cards were printed on asbestos. I had to try it.

But even though I didn’t fight in Vietnam, I could read. I read a lot about the war. There are strong parallels between Vietnam and the war we’re getting drawn into in the Middle East.

Carpet bombing doesn’t work. For those who weren’t around, the United States tried to turn Vietnam into an air war by unloading tons and tons of explosives. It didn’t work, in part, because the foliage was so deep that pilots couldn’t see what, if anything, they were bombing.

Lack of visibility led us to defoliate Vietnam by dusting the countryside with Agent Orange, a highly toxic chemical agent that took out plants and, supposedly, would allow us to see what we were bombing. That didn’t work either, but it made thousands of American troops sick. All told, during the 20 years (1955-75) of the Vietnam War, just over 211,000 American troops were killed.

There isn’t anything to defoliate in the Middle East, so ISIS has taken to hiding in plain sight, just as the Vietnamese did. Our Middle Eastern enemy hides in hospitals, homes and neighborhoods – places we dare not bomb for fear of wiping out civilians.

We are bombing everything we can in the Middle East. Now we have a coalition working alongside us, bombing everything they can, trying to keep the fighting in the air. That’s a problem, because we’ve already proved it doesn’t work.

Why are we pushing the air war? Because no one wants to be the guy who sends troops in, that’s why. We learned, or I thought we learned, the dangers of sending in ground troops.

During a lucid moment, Sen. John McCann said, not too long ago, that we can fight ISIS over there, or here. It just so happens that he’s right.

ISIS has already brought the war here. If we’re learning anything about ISIS, it is that they are a very patient enemy, willing to plot for more than a year to execute one of their terrorist plots, such as San Bernardino. From what I’ve read, the Vietnamese were the same way: Wait ‘em out.

We know who won in Vietnam.

We have two choices: commit to ground troops in the Middle East or get out now and shore up our defenses at home. Ask a United States’ Vietnam veteran if he thinks another prolonged ground war thousands of miles from home, a war of inches, would be a bright thing to do.

P.S. Whether you like him or not, Barack Obama is still our president. GOP candidates for the office Obama holds should stop criticizing everything the president says. It shows everyone who is watching disunity and a splintering of those who would lead the country. Before they can lead, they need to learn to follow.