born and raised in coney island and brooklyn, mid to late 30's, living in everything with my brother
and mother, father was in show business and usually on the road,from a rented room in a house where we all shared the the kitchen and toilet to one of my uncles rented apartment and having a place to live without paying rent.

family got lucky and we got an apartment in one of the first projects in queens, a two bedroom apartment for $10.00 a week, welfare, and milk stamps.

lived with all kinds of people, different colors, different relegions.

moved to military housing outside of red bank, NJ when i was 13. father was in some special air force corp for men that were to old to draft, but had some expertise, his was radar big change. same diversity of people, but the whole place was a big park.

fast forward through a few years of college, usaf, stationed on guam in the early 50's. celebrated
my 21st birthday crossing the equater in some kind of ship, the sailors hated it when i called it a boat,
"a boat is on a ship." slept four on top of each other in something like banana racks. ate crackers for the ten day crossing in this f'n boat that rocked from side to side, and when we turned towards guam,
started to go up and down and side to side.

finished my tour and was shipped to mcguire afb. on guam we slept in quonset huts, but mcguire had brick barracks with real two men rooms with doors that closed.

my first interview with the company comander, much decorated from WWII, a full bird col. i was responsible for officers records so he took an interest in me, at least for the moment. then he asked
me the question in his southern voice, "do you mind rooming with a colored man?" this is 1951 where i came from, and i guess because i was jewish, i would be more open. of course being the smart ass that i was at 22, and wearing one stripe, many article 15's, i asked what color. the only other time he and i talked was when the sports car rage hit the base. i had a 55 mgtf, one of my buddies a healy, and i can't remember the other cars, but the two seater t-bird had hit the market.

when i reported for payroll, he asked me if i had waved at him when we passed in opposite direction on
one of the roads and i told him, MG's don't wave at fords. i don't ever remember him talking to me again, the personell officer handled the rest of my article 15's.

my roomate was a sgt hughes who was married, and really lived close enough with his wife and kids, to go home about every night. because i wasn't cool, he taught me how to dress correctly in civvies, and i became cool.

one day 3 of my friends and i decided to go to dc for a concert by oscar peterson. i believe i was invited because at the time i still had my 1950 hudson hornet, black with a white top and sunvisor. more symbolic then i realized at the time.

two of the guys really wanted a ride to dc to visit their family, but i didn't care, so one of my buddies and i went to the concert or got loaded, i can't remember anything about that night except i slept in the front and he slept in the back of the car.

somewhere in dc, we picked up the con artists who had no interest in oscar, but wanted a ride up and back.

on the way back to the base some of us got hungry, and being used to gi mess, we stopped at some skanky old diner on the road. they might have been called cafe's then. went in and i ordered my usual bacon and eggs on white toast and went to the bathroom. when i came out the guys said we would take our food to go and eat on the way back to the base. like now, i wasn't in a hurry. one of my buddies whispered they won't serve us with HIM, and why.

i was and still am barely over 5', by maybe 1/2 inch, had a temper that i was never afraid to use, because i learned early on no one that i have ever met wanted to hit someone my size, and i used the temper and yelling a lot. i asked them what the f*** was the matter with them letting a buddy get insulted like that, and started to go tell the manager off. lucky for all of us, i was escorted out by my buddies and we ate in the car.

i guess i had lead a sheltered life because the only prejudice i knew about was my mother wore a cross when she interviewed for a job. coming face to face with real prejudice shocked me. i couldn't understand why my buddy took that kind of crap from a fry cook. sadly, i have come to know.

one of the nice things about this board is it's color blind and except for a few guys who have mentioned native american blood, we are all white. well maybe not all white. but because we are invisible except for the occassionall picture of "look at me", we communicate on an equal basis, except of course some of the BOTL are really dumb asses.


i post these two sites in reverse order for anyone interested:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/76/76_guest_blake_bush.html 

http://www.blackcommentator.com/index.html 

My road was much shorter,I met a Republican,LOL. X

Very interesting story, Rick.

So Rick, that explains your being a liberal in terms of ethnic equality. Interestingly, most of the celebrated public racists were Democrats, Lester Maddox, George Wallace; etc. Why aren't you a Republican? You know, Lincoln's party, the one that actually did something about slavery. Jim Crow has mostly Dems in his family tree. It seems to me that Democrats have profited greatly by pretending to care.

I can't become a liberal. I don't believe that any government has entitlement over me. I don't believe that "sins of the father" need to be paid generation after generation. I don't equate party line to income. I don't need to be ramrodded every waking moment that being rich is a crime. If liberals REALLY cared they would've done SOMETHING during the Clinton administration.

Your story isn't about being a liberal Rick. Your story is how you dealt with and continue to see your fellow man. Your story doesn't describe how or why you believe that hard work should be replaced with a government that levels the playing field and doesn't reward the person that goes the extra mile. You told us how you perceived you fellow soldiers as what they were. Human beings. You told us how you dealt with it, not how you were forced to deal with it.

C'mon, tell us the real reason you became a filthy rotten liberal!

Hey Doctor Madman....

"Filthy Rotten Liberal??" What are you, a Neo-con artist, Neo-Nazi fascist?? (whoops I forgot the filthy rotten adjective..)

COULD YOU DO US A FAVOR AND STOP POLLUTING THIS BOARD WITH INSULTS!!

In the last 20 years, it is the continual intolerant comments, labeling, name calling and insults from neo-cons typified by your insult to Rick that has changed me from a fairly conservative Republican in the early 80s to a progessive democrat at the current time. The more the neo-cons continue this insulting behavior the more they alienate people away from them. Hey keep it up... you may just make us more liberal.....

Got another insulting name or label to inspire me to me more liberal, more activist and more determined to make poltical mincemeat of you conservative types???

Or we can be respectful, civil and accepting of our differences and perhaps find common ground on where we can be friends...

I encourage you to consider the latter alternative.

LMAO at DMV comments. X

"COULD YOU DO US A FAVOR AND STOP POLLUTING THIS BOARD WITH INSULTS!!" - "Hey Doctor Madman"

Quitters? We don't need no stinking quitters!

Lead by example, and get off your knees when you beg and whine. It's demeaning to real liberals. They hate posers too!

"it is the continual intolerant comments, labeling, name calling and insults from neo-cons typified by your insult to Rick that has changed me from a fairly conservative Republican in the early 80s to a progessive democrat at the current time."

What a crock... I have no center, I have no convictions, I don't feel strongly about the issues, but I only believe in my philosophy because somebody else called somebody else names LOL!

And also, "What THL said".

p.s., let's face it guys, there's just not that big a difference anymore... The big difference IMO is the military and our defense. Other than that, there's not a lot of light between the two parties. Other than the fact that the dems will raise your taxes a bit more so they can take more of their constituents off the federal tax role. Bush and the republicans are spending money like drunken sailors. Legalizing and turning a blind eye to illegal immigration and other things I’m not too pleased with. It’s just a mater of time before we (this country) spins down the bowl… I can already hear the whooshing sound, sad but true.

Rick,
You lived in a time when racism was considered the "norm" and it was not only acceptable, but also strictly enforced by those of lesser intelligence. I applaud your forward thinking social standards.

HOWEVER.
Nowadays, the only racism that is not illegal, is the racism of quotas and preferential treatment.
Designed BY white men, AGAINST white men.
Because somehow, someway, some day, it might make up for our past indescretions.
Or at least the GUILT.

And it might stop the heart from bleeding.

Or so the liberals claim...

Your story is a perfect example.
"I'm a liberal NOW because of something that happened over 50 years ago."

Look around and you'll see that the vast majority of citizens in this country are NOT bigots.
No matter what the left claims.

Robby, If you are accusing me of having no center or convictions...you just don't know who you are dealing with.

This thread is about Why Rick became liberal and its pertinent for me state why I became liberal as well. And it comes down to continued hypocritical, deceiving, lying and insulting behavior on the part of many conservatives including those like you infesting this board.

As far as conviction, I just finished 2 months in which I did over 80 hours of volunteer work for the John Kerry campaign here in WA state, helped to activate well over 600 attendees at the caucuses and probably over 150 of the 8000 Kerry deletages in Washington state's County level conventions. Thats almost 2% of Kerrys support statewide which I can take personal credit for and I am just one of WA state's 6 million residents.

I spent several days at campaign headquartes working contributing to the cause. Seems to be a lot more effective than calling people names, which is common tactics for the neo-cons. Action does speak loader than words, right?

Comments like yours will double my efforts in November. I don't need to waste my time trading insults with you and those that think like you. My cause is only that we act civil and respectful on this board and tolerate differences. I certainly tolerate your views but not your insults.

Through my own personal efforts and the efforts of several other passionate Democrats and Independents supporting John Kerry, his momentum is surging and we will put this guy in the office of the President of the United states. So keep up the insults, you'll just inspire me more to bring voters to our cause.

If that's not conviction backed with action......

WHAT IS????

Your insults in responding to this post are welcome inpiration.

pardon my mispelling....Guess its really true for me that action speaks louder than words ... especially when I mispell.

I just spent 80 hours promoting not voting at all and taking large amounts of LSD.

guru, grow some nads man, I wasn't insulting you, I was laughing at you! There is a difference and the last time I checked, I have an equal right to infest the boards as do you?

You cannot in all seriousness expect any thinking people here to accept that drivel that you're a democrat because someone called someone else names? That's what you said, I merely repeated it and shown the light of logic on an illogical statement.

It doesn't wash. If you're a lib, that's fine, go for it man! Just don't try to pee down my back and tell me it's raining. Stand up for your convictions, but don’t expect us to believe that garbage! I’m a conservative because I believe more in self-sufficiency, I believe in lower taxes, I believe there is a homosexual agenda and they are pushing it in our face, I believe in a strong defense, I don’t believe in racism in any form and I believe that quotas are just that, “racism”. I’m not going to tell you I’m a conservative because some liberal kicked my dog and therefore I don’t like liberals, that’s just crazy!

dbguru

Ain't life strange? I became a conservative for the same reasons you became a liberal.
Name calling and insults are rampant,(no, make that traditional), in politics and it would be damn dull without them. Every faction participates fully and for you to say that this is de facto domain of the neo-con or even the paleo-con is in itself slanderous. You perpetuate the very thing you claim to abhor and that's why I became conservative!

Good, maybe you should start a new thread on why you became conservative. I'd really be interested in understanding not only your reasons but others who think like you.... in a separate thread.

Listen, we all grow up with philosphies passed down by our parents and family, and then later mature our own views based on our personal experiences and observations. I've just observed over the years that conservatives tend to resort to character assasination, labeling, insults, and name-calling a a hell of a lot more than liberals do. That's my primary inspiration for turning to more liberal views. I listen avidly to right wing talk radio hosts like Savage, Hannity, Medved and occassionally Rush and I hear the rhetoric. The tactic is now being more adopted by the left in reaction...

My main point is that this behavior is polarizing our country and even polarizing our relationships on this board. That is the main thing I'm upset about. We come together here because we enjoy cigars.

When it comes to politics I'd just like to see some respect for opposing points of views. Unfortunately, this respectfulness has all but disappear from most neo-conservatives. And there is much evidence for that on this board.

DB

oh and Robby...
My cahones are well grown...

YOU'RE A POO POO HEAD!

That's what my 5 year old daughter called me last night. My 8 year old son knows better.