Jun 4, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Excerpted from WND: By Michael Thompson
WASHINGTON – Though it’s been nine years since he threw his last pitch in Major League Baseball, former Atlanta Braves reliever John Rocker is still known for a single incident that happened back in 1999.
Rocker isn’t known for a memorable pitch in Game 7 of the World Series; or for a blown save that cost the home team a shot at the pennant. Rocker’s life was radically altered after an interview with notorious sports journalist Jeff Pearlman from Sports Illustrated.
The politically incorrect statements Rocker said in the interview resulted in a media firestorm. Rocker was suspended by Commissioner Bud Selig, given the highest fine ever in Major League Baseball history, and assigned to mandatory “sensitivity” training.
The worst aspect of this public hanging by the respectable media was his tarnished reputation. Rocker referred to the entire affair as equivalent to “dying” in his new book “Rocker: Scars and Strikes.”
Rocker was the first victim of many shots in the politically correct war waged against patriotic Americans.
In an exclusive interview with WND, Rocker opened up about life after baseball, the current state of the game, as well as his second passion: politics. In true Rocker fashion, he lets loose with candid straight forward commentary on immigration reform, the national debt crisis, the Trayvon Martin affair. Rocker also took the current administration headon with a disturbing account of the country’s general direction under Barack Obama, and the desperate need for regime change in the coming election.
“I think people in America on both sides of the political spectrum are growing weary of political correctness,” he says. “I think people are tired of wearing the ‘speech muzzle’ all the time never knowing what comment may offend what person or group. It’s exhausting. Instead of everyone bending over backwards attempting to accept everything about everyone we all just need to accept one clear simple fact. We are all not always going to accept every difference that people have one from another. That is the only thing which should be universally accepted and understood.”
Rocker does have his opinions, and there is no easy way to sugarcoat them. To some, they are politically incorrect. To others, they are simply common sense. Regardless, he likes to express them.
Rocker still wants immigrants – legal immigrants – to succeed in America, but he wants them to speak English in the process: “I don’t care if you speak two, five or even 10 languages; if you plan on living, raising a family and prospering in this country one of those languages should be English. There is no white collar job one can have in America where knowing the English language will not be required. I can’t speak for everyone, but I doubt the ideal scenario for the young immigrant involves digging ditches or changing dirty hotel sheets for the next 50 years. America has much more to offer than that.”
Rocker goes on to state, “As typical with most media, a general effort has been made by many journalists to frame my ‘Speak English Campaign’ in the vein of racism. And why wouldn’t they? Stirring the propaganda pot is what most of them do best instead of taking an opportunity to engage in authentic debate for purposes of gaining an understanding. Most media have chosen to apply a simplistic definition that creates the greatest level of sensationalism. This campaign is about much more than simply speaking English. In one part it is an effort to encourage Americans to support one of the most basic aspects of our unique heritage which is the language we speak. In a second part, but equally as important, it seeks to encourage the new American immigrant who wishes to take advantage of all that this great country has to offer to assimilate to the culture and heritage of the new land they find themselves at the most elementary level, the language they speak.”
He’s also got plenty to say about the current administration and the 2012 election: “Like hopefully a majority of Americans out there, I’ll be voting against President Obama this year. I won’t necessarily be voting for the Republican candidate as much as I will be voting against Obama. America has been the greatest nation this earth has ever known over the last 150 plus years. In my strong opinion Barack Obama does not hold a single core value or belief consistent with the principles that created this amazing country we call the United States of America. His belief system could not be more foreign from those of the ‘Greatest Generation,’ from the beliefs of a Truman, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, or Reagan. This country cannot sustain four more years of his cancerous ideology. I have always been a big fan of Newt Gingrich. He is one of the most brilliant people I have ever listened to. Unfortunately things didn’t work out for him, but such is our democratic process and a large reason America is the great nation it is. It seems that Governor Romney will be getting my vote, although be it somewhat by default. I would vote for the devil himself over Barack Obama which would actually be tough though as he seems to already be a supporter.”
He continues in an interview with WND: “This country cannot take four more years of Obama’s class warfare, internal strife-inciting rhetoric and politics. In every country there will always be a much larger lower and middle class than upper class. That’s common sense. Since the inauguration of Obama those in that normal majority have negatively cast themselves as the 99 percent, as if in some way they feel they are victims of something and thus have adopted an Obama-derived mindset that seems to discourage the improvement of oneself while demonizing those that have fulfilled the American dream and grasped success. Following the harmony of Obama, as if he’s the pied piper, the 99 percent have turned their focus on the destruction of the 1 percent instead of pursing their own accomplishment. It’s class warfare at the most basic level. Those are not the values and principles that made this country great, yet this is what Obama and his administration largely creates and supports.”
Here’s Rocker speaking his mind on some other issues:
On diversity and the erosion of freedoms in America: “To turn an age-old cliché on its ear, I think the phrase commonly used to describe the good ol’ US of A should be slightly altered. As most of us are familiar, the United States is commonly referred to as the ‘Land of the free and home of the brave.’ Based on the erosion of many of our most basic freedoms over the past decade I feel we need to more accurately describe ourselves as the ‘Land of the somewhat free and mostly brave.’ In ‘Scars and Strikes,’ I devote an entire chapter to the freedoms and dignities once taken for granted, which are being severely altered and threatened. Many of these freedoms, which in large part set the United States in stark contrast from the overwhelming majority of countries on the planet, have been and are being compromised on an ongoing basis. For example, it is now possible for the FBI as well as other law enforcement to search a person’s home without permission or even the owner’s knowledge. It’s also legal to tap into a citizen’s email, and phone, along with other personal internet based information without court order. Part of me says, ‘If you’re not doing anything wrong, then no harm no foul.’ But another part is also for due process and staying away from the slippery slope that may lead to a glorified Soviet Union-style Gestapo in our near future. That’s how rights and freedoms eventually evaporate. A frog will not jump into a pot of boiling water, but if the heat is slowly turned up; he’ll finally boil to death. I think we’rre starting to get to a nice simmer in this country.”
