Politics 2011

Back in 2008 both Kirsten and I were very vocal about politics on our blogs.  As you may have noticed the issue has not come up yet this year and I think it is safe to say that this is the only post I will do this election year about it.  Why?  Because it frustrates me.

Obama.  I think he is truly a genuine guy and is trying to make good decisions.  I gave him a clean slate and unfortunately when I said that his being elected president could have some big repercussions on me personally I was right.  He has killed Kirsten and me on taxes.  Small business suffers GREATLY with him in office.  Kirsten pays over 40% of everything she makes to the government as a small business owner!  Do you know what we would love to do?  Hire a few employees thus creating jobs but Obama has made this impossible.  We cannot afford it.  I would love to see the aviation industry rebound but President Obama has chosen to tax both the industry and the consumer buying the tickets heavier than ever before.  So in short I do not want him to be my president anymore, but I think he will be for another 5 years.

You probably assume that I am still in favor of Mitt Romney for president.  You would be right.  But, I am frustrated with his campaign.  I think that both he and his campaign have screwed up in a few cases and I have no confidence that he will be the President.  I get annoyed with his lack of talking straight and he does flip flop a bit too often.  The democrats are also being very smart.  They are not attacking Newt at all.  They are salivating at the idea of him being the nominee because there is dirt in Newt that goes back for decades.  New Gingrich will not win.

So I will back away this year and not let the election take control of me.  Good luck to all those involved and to those who sacrifice time and effort into their candidates.  I hope it turns out for the best.  I hope our leaders can figure out how to stop spending money we don't have but in the end there is no other place I would rather live on earth.

Pearl Harbor and my Uncle Conway

Pearl Harbor Today

Last month I was flying with a pilot who shared his life's hobby with me.  He had a collection of aviation/military history that I cannot begin to describe.  He had signatures from every WWII veteran he had ever met.  He also had the signatures of the greatest aces from the U.S, Germany, and Japan and almost everyone that was involved in the Doolittle raid including some from men that died before he was ever born.  He had a collection of pictures and history that is no doubt worth thousands of dollars but that is invaluable to our country.  This pilot spent his days off traveling around the country and world meeting with old chapters of war veterans and writing down their stories.  We in aviation, I imagine, will owe a lot to him one day.


As I was flipping through the names of the American veterans he has met I found on his list Conway Benson, USS Tennessee.  I smiled as I thought of my amazing uncle Conway who had passed away just a couple of years ago.  I said to him,"This man is my uncle."  He grabbed his book from me and made a notation of "Uncle to Joshua Krason that I flew with" and told me my name would be going in a book.  He then proceeded to get any information out of me about my Uncle Conway that I could remember.   Unfortunately, it wasn't much.  Uncle Conway was awesome.  He was hilarious.  He was very proud of his service in the navy and Pearl Harbor.  He was head of a chapter of Pearl Harbor veterans.  He had a Pearl Harbor survivor sticker on the back of his car.  The pilot told me to never ever forget these things about him and to write them down.  He said that their biggest fear (WWII veterans) is that they would be forgotten in time.

I know the war changed my Uncle Conway.  He left the LDS church after his service and demanded that nobody ever talk religion to him.  Until one day about 4 or 5 years before he died when he told my grandma that he had been going to church.  He was reactivated, received a calling, became a faithful home teacher and went through the temple all in the last few years of his life.  It reminds me that we have no idea where people come from and we cannot judge a thing about them.  The effects of the war possibly stayed with him for almost 70 years until he could truly make peace.  He came to my wedding and I am so proud that I got to know him a little better then.  I wish now I could have sat down with him for hours.

So today I think of my 18 year old Uncle Conway at Pearl Harbor.   I hope I never forget what he and the other men and women there went through 70 years ago.  Thanks to that pilot for reminding me how important he was to my family and this country.