Disprespectful Arrogance

[wyntrout]

An email I received:

"Public Housing
The problem with public housing is that the residents are not the owners.
The people that live in the house did not earn the house, but were loaned the property from the true owners, the taxpayers. Because of this, the residents do not have the "pride of ownership" that comes with the hard work necessary. In fact, the opposite happens and the residents resent their benefactors because the very house is a constant reminder that they themselves did not earn the right to live in the house. They do not appreciate the value of the property and see no need to maintain or respect it in any way.

The result is the same whether you are talking about a studio apartment or a magnificent mansion full of priceless antiques. If the people who live there do not feel they earned the privilege, they will make this known through their actions. The picture below illustrates the point…


The Resolute Desk was built from the timbers of the HMS Resolute and was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes. It is considered a national treasure and icon of the presidency.

Mr. Obama, with all due respect, get your f*cking feet off our desk! As a matter of fact, get the hell out of the people's house and take your arrogant staff with you... "

:31:

http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/furn...olute-desk.htm

A neat fact about the Presidential Seal:
"The desk has twice been modified. Franklin Roosevelt requested that the kneehole be fitted with a modesty panel carved with the presidential seal (he preferred people not see his leg braces and often placed a waste basket in front of his desks), but he did not live to see it installed. However, President Truman liked the eagle motif and had it installed when he came into office in 1945. Since this was prior to Truman's decision to turn the head of the eagle in the presidential seal to face the olive branch of peace, the eagle in the Resolute's modesty panel faces the arrows of war."

[mikearc]

Wow... Unbelievable. Sure ruins the start of my day.

[Ol'coot]

Mr. Obama, with all due respect, get your f*cking feet off our desk! As a matter of fact, get the hell out of the people's house and take your arrogant staff with you... "

Wyntrout,

I could not agree more with your statement! +1

[ripley16]

There are also pictures of other past presidents, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, with their feet also propped up on the desk.

Much as I loathe Obama's presidential style, this isn't a big deal to me. He probably farts in the chair too, but then so did the other presidents.

No big deal.

[pm9fan]

Don't blame me, I voted for the AMERICAN!

[jlottmc]

Wynn once again, you know how to put a day to a flame worthy start...

[joje]

i dont like a dem in the whitehouse more than the next guy but seriously, whats the big deal? he's the decider, that is his office, and he gets to use it as he see fit. dont like it? make sure to express that sentiment in 2012. do not forget the reason he is there right now is because too few of people like us did our civic duty in 2008.

[cw45fan]

Yeah, OK, so scroll down and here's a pic of Our Former Respectful (Republican) President, with HIS feet up on that same "our" desk too... I'm curious as to what you're gonna say about THAT?

Photos of President Obama With His Feet on the Resolute Desk-Truth!

[kahrseye]

Feet on the desk, no big deal. Telling us this is the worst financial crisis in our lifetime, then the New York date, the recent vacation by his wife and daughter, the countless trips nationwide as well as worldwide, the wasteless spending of tax dollars, OUR MONEY, is a BIG DEAL :75:
I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm sick of it. I'm not waiting until 2012 to voice my opinion. I can't wait for this fall.

[wyntrout]

Okay, there's a picture of Bush and others with their feet up on the national treasure, too. I would call that disrespectful ignorance. For Obama, though, he was raised by his Muslim father... a while, and grew up in Indonesia where he doubtlessly learned Muslim customs.
To the Muslims and Arabs, showing the bottom of the feet or shoes is one of the MOST EXTREME INSULTS imaginable. Anyone knowing this, as he must, would not insult his friends and advisors in such a way. Remember how the Iraquis threw shoes and beat on Saddam's statues' heads and faces with their shoes?
My first job in the Air Force was to study Arabic for a whole year, 8 hours a day, for 47 school weeks. We lived and breathed the languages we studied from a diverse group of teachers at the Defense Language Institute, West Coast, at the Presidio of Monterey, California. We, of course, wanted to learn the insults and other nice-to-know things that young guys like... the nitty gritty vulgar and "dirty" stuff. We would try to cram as many things into one big insulting exhibition... including rocking back in our chairs and pointing both feet at our victim. Most of us were 18 and 19 years old, and a little unruly. Our class of 18 students was a handful for some of the poor older teachers... not one of my prouder moments, but this was 1964/65.
We lived in WWII-type barracks and this was a post run by the Army. We had classes starting at 08:00 and those a-holes had REVEILLE at so ungodly hour while it was still dark... 06:00... I think. The reveille formations and roll calls really sucked and we rebelled a bit, showing up many times dressed only in our great coats, hats, and shower clogs, then going back to bed for another hour or so.
Wynn

Text accompanying one Internet posting of this photo:

"Does this photo of President Obama in the Oval Office convey anything about his attitude?

Would you speak with the Chief of Staff, your Chief Economics Adviser, your Senior Adviser, or anyone, with your feet up on the Resolute Desk - a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880?

<<see photo below>>

This arrogant, immature, self-centered man has no sense of honor, or simple decency.

While this posture is disrespectful in any culture, it is not appropriate in any executive setting. Further, in over half of the cultures of the world, it is recognized not only as disrespectful, but as an extreme insult.

He thinks of himself as a king, not as a servant of the people, humbly occupying our White House for his term in office.

Electing him was an enormous mistake and will cost us in many ways, for generations. "

[joje]

"My first job in the Air Force was to study Arabic for a whole year, ... but this was 1964/65."

wow, back then it must have been extremely rare to receive training in arabic. were you destined for intelligence work or something?

[wyntrout]

Sort of... intelligence collection was our goal. We have airborne and land-based "listening" stations all over the world, plus the Navy adds ships... like the USS Pueblo (attacked and seized by the North Koreans in 1967) and the USS Liberty (attacked and heavily damaged by the freaking Israelis in 1967! I think they were trying to impress us with their distaste for our spying on them). And you may remember the Navy plane damaged and forced to land in Chinese territory a few years ago.
We had too many Arab linguists and though I had the highest scores, the Air Force took the last half of our class with the most recent training(in actually using the language for intelligence collection) and sent them to Crete. The rest of us were stuck in San Angelo, Texas, as "extras".
I volunteered and volunteered for cross training to another language, and was finally selected for a short course in another language that had become quite important by then... Vietnamese, Northern dialect. I got to use that one a bit, but I missed out on going to Athens for airborne duty following the 6-Day war May '67 that began as I had just arrived in Japan.
Wynn

[wyntrout]

To ramble just a bit more... off topic, but my thread , while in Washington D.C. and going to a civilian contract school to learn Vietnamese, I met President Hubert Humphrey out in the street near our school as we were returning from lunch. We were in civvies and surrounded the "acting" president and his Secret Service team... they were a little excited, but we told them who we were and talked a bit with VP Humphrey. LBJ was incapacitated for a few days after his appendectomy(?) and the VP had the helm... a bit of "history." LBJ made the front page showing his scar to the whole world. A reporterette had asked him what he got out of the presidency.
Wynn

[jlottmc]

Feet on the desk, no big deal. Telling us this is the worst financial crisis in our lifetime, then the New York date, the recent vacation by his wife and daughter, the countless trips nationwide as well as worldwide, the wasteless spending of tax dollars, OUR MONEY, is a BIG DEAL :75:
I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm sick of it. I'm not waiting until 2012 to voice my opinion. I can't wait for this fall.

This is what I mean. Feet on a desk is no big deal, but the butt pipe doesn't stop.

[wyntrout]

Here'a a link that's "a bit profane" in several languages..., but very funny:

The 9 Most Devastating Insults From Around the World | Cracked.com

Wynn