Louis Roney: This, that, and whatcha may call it

• I was born in everybody's way, and I’ve been getting out of the way ever since. For some reason, people don’t want me hanging around, which in fact entices me to stay around to find out what all the commotion is about. I get the feeling that I missed out on the times when I should have been smartening myself up. So let me explain a few incidentals…

• A dear friend surprised me with a beautiful dinner for 10 for my birthday at the Orlando Country Club. This very generous gift made this the best birthday I have ever had! Being 93 may be a scary event, but my friends made this party for me a time of pure happiness.

• It scares me plenty when I hear of the kind of “diplomacy” Obama has been handing out to the leaders of Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. Obama is also troublesome with his “Obamacare” — whatever that may be — and his flaccid way of decision-making (or non-making) or just working (or not working) with members of Congress… How long are we going to let him flout the Bill of Rights without corrective measures?

• When Eisenhower was president, I didn’t worry about getting into a war because I knew he’d be in it with us and we’d win. Can you imagine being in Obama’s war and following him into battle? After the Benghazi embassy episode was clarified, we now know that Obama was told immediately of the situation, but he vamoosed and headed for Las Vegas. What did Hillary do? (After all, the State Department is responsible for the safety of U.S. citizens and especially for embassies.) On Hillary’s watch, our first Ambassador in years was killed and an embassy demolished. This fact is not what you want on your credentials if you’re planning a run for the presidency! Somewhere Hillary said publicly re: what triggered Benghazi, “What difference does it make?” Those words may follow her and haunt her in the forever after —and they rightfully should!

• As a kid, I never liked Florida in the wintertime. Shivering under a palm tree is an uncomfortable contradiction in terms. On the days when it was too cold to swim, I often went fishing with good results — I found speckled perch and bream, which live down deep, much better to eat than bass, which like shallower waters and often have a muddy taste.

• “Come pizza with me and be my love, and we shall all the pleasures prove...” Isn’t pizza a handy snack, one that can even be built into a complete meal!

• Our president tells us that he was a “marijuana user” in his youth and that it did him no harm. Oh yeah?! That’s a great thing to tell the kids in the U.S., isn’t it? Maybe if he had “used” less, he would be able to make decisions! And how much better off would we be, if we had gotten this president before he had dulled his senses with pot.

• My good friend Cleveland Amory, writer, and unabashed animal lover who founded the Fund for Animals, asked me once over coffee what I treasured most about my own person. My answer was: to be blessed with an unashamed acute self-critical faculty, and, concomitantly, to possess the mentality able to achieve all requisite alterations. Change is surely the way of life by which I live. Life is like walking through woods where you do not know where you are going, but where you must see clearly every step you take.

• Are we just plain nuts? If we exempt one half of the population from paying taxes, we are turning over the government to those who pay nothing but can vote anything they wish, and we tax payers will pick up the check. Well, who then will remain to make a majority to vote against them and end their giveaway gravy-train? If they want a bridge to the moon, they can vote for it all right, and I guess the rest of us had better accept the fact that we are trapped on a crazy planet. Hadn’t we best better fix this “wacko” misalignment before it’s too late?