G-d Bless This Country, The Greatest, Freest Place On This Planet

Happy Independence Day!!!

233 years and counting.

It seems like the Centennial was just yesterday. We are going through really tough times today, economically and politically, but I can't beleive that the people of this country will let the sacrifices of all those who fought to get us here will allow us to throw away all the rights handed to us, nor the benefits of those rights.

I speak as someone who didn't enlist because of political reasons, I've covered this before, but now has a son sitting in Korea as a trip wire against the oppression of even the most basic dignities of life.

May your steaks come out grilled to perfection and your beer be cold.

Set your beer down before clicking this link. It starts with the "Star Spangled Banner" so I don't want you spilling anything when you stand proud for the anthem of this country that has given us so much.

Happy Independence Day from GoDaddy.com!

Make sure you are displaying the flag today, just make sure it's far enough away when you light the BBQ (don't want to get people confused about your patriotism or that those last 3 beers you had).

I'm going to spend the 4th watching the aerial display of the fireworks show at the the High School just up the street in a lawn chair in my front yard and thinking about my boy and all the other soldiers away from home this day protecting us so that we can sit in our lawn chairs and truly appreciate what this date signifies.

Whoa...What The Hell???

I wasn't going to post this morning...not enough sleep yesterday and a long boring night at work, but I found this over at Hot Air. It appears to be some unknown life form found in a North Carolina sewer.



I can't say I'm surprised. With the interesting cocktail of drugs and ...the normal stuff that pass through a sewer, it only seems natural that some of these things would get together and find a nice moist temperature consistent crevice to hang out in.

How Much More Are We Going To Take?

This is just the stuff going on right now.

John Boenher Exposes Some of the Trash Crammed into Waxman-Markey Cap & Trade Climate Bill HR2454



So much (again) for the transparency of having a bill posted for at least a week before it gets voted on. This crap sandwich was released at 3 AM on the day it was to be voted on...not only that...there was 300 pages of additional junk crammed in at the last second...and...some of the pages are blank pieces of paper, to be filled in later, AFTER the bill is passed.

Think your house is yours to sell when you want? You can put it on the market and negotiate a price with a buyer as to the fair price? Nope. You will have to have the gov't's permission to sell it.

You are going to have to pay for a inspection of your property to make see if your house is "Green" enough for their standards, and if it isn't, you have to make the improvements before they will let you sell it. No negotiating with the buyer to reduce your price to offset the "lack of greenness", you pay it out first. If someone has to lay out 10 or 15 thou on upgrading windows, electrical hookups for cars,or re-insulating the place up to their standards, the price of the house has just gone up 15 to 25 thou to get your investment back.

That's going to open up the market to first time buyers and the poor.

Politicians are just that...Politicians. They've never held a job in the real world and if they did at one time, they are so insulated from it now that they don't know what it's like to live on a budget.

"Hell! If taxes eat into my lifestyle, I know I'll get a raise next year!!! I'm going to vote myself one!"

Listen to this asshat from my late great state of California:



She is correct in saying that "Living within our means" means nothing...TO HER!

She lays it out during her speech. When gov't has money during good times, they borrow even more, then when times cycle to bad...they still spend more than they have. You little guys are just going to have to suck it up and pay more so we can continue to spend more, and she'll need that raise next year so it doesn't hurt her lifestyle.

The consolidation of gov't over the last few months has scared the hell out of me. I listen to Obama and the Dimicrats tell me that this the the road our forefathers would have wanted us to take to ensure that everyone gets the benifit of living in this wonderful country, but they haven't read history.

[exerts from: Would the Founders Remake America?
by Brion McClanahan

Obama sez:

“At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents….Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”

For his being a "Constitutional Scholar", methinks he slept through the classes.

William Davie of North Carolina, a Revolutionary War hero, member of the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 and proponent of the Constitution

“If there were any seeds in this Constitution which might, one day, produce a consolidation, it would, sir, with me, be an insuperable objection, I am so perfectly convinced that so extensive a country as this can never be managed by one consolidated government.”

Connecticut native and patriot Oliver Wolcott:

“Mankind may become corrupt, and give up the cause of freedom; but I believe that love of liberty which prevails among the people of this country will prevent such a direful calamity.”

Alexander Hamilton:

“Sir, can it be supposed that the state will become the oppressors of the people? Will they combine to destroy the liberties and happiness of their fellow citizens, for the sole purpose of involving themselves in ruin? God forbid! The idea, sir, is shocking. It outrages every feeling of humanity, and every dictate of common sense.”

Patrick Henry:

“Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!”

That we are so rapidly giving up our individual rights and allowing the nanny state to dictate what is ours and what is the states has made me fear that my son may only be able to tell his children what America once was and stood for.

Odds 'N' Ends

Chris is in Korea. He landed just after midnight my time (4:00 pm there).

The kid has spent 36+ hours in airports or on a plane. He had to fly all the way back to Dothan, Al. to meet up with the Army and he figured that he'd just sleep at the terminal, no such luck. They turn out the lights and lock the doors there, so he had to get a cab and rent a motel room to get about 4 hours of sleep.

The good thing about the trip back to Alabama was when the ticket agent at Bob Hope Airport found out he was military, he made sure Chris got the Emergency Exit seat on all three legs of the flight which gave him that little extra room for his 6'3" length.

I've got to go to the post office now and buy combination's of stamps that add up to $0.95, the cost of 1st class mail to S. Korea.

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I've added a widget to the sidebar to help me with the time difference to Korea.

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Did you notice that Micheal Jackson was on the cover of both Newsweek and Time this week? How am I suppose to know who my President is?

Andy Levy (Redeye)

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Top 10 Best States for Personal Freedom
by Human Events

Compiled by the Mercatus Center, a nonprofit public policy research center affiliated with George Mason University, using a wide swath of comparative data to determine personal freedoms, including alcohol and drug laws, asset-forfeiture rules, and education regulations.

1. Alaska

2. Maine

3. New Mexico

4. Arkansas

5. Texas [c'mon Texas whatcha doing down at #5?]

6. Missouri

7. Oregon [Now this one surprises me, must be weighted by the drug laws.]

8. Idaho

9. Virginia

10. Wyoming

Comments are mine.

He's Gone

I dropped the boy off at Bob Hope Airport (Burbank) at 0500 this morning. He's off to Dothan Al (via Salt Lake City and Atlanta) to report back in. He'll get to sleep in the terminal all night before heading to Korea.

I won't be seeing him until May, and even then I doubt I'll see him much as he's coming home for his best friends wedding on a fly in, fly out schedule.

Being he crosses the Date line, it takes three days to get home and back.

I can't explain how good it was to have him home. I'd been here on my own for 6 months and having someone come in and move things was odd. Mainly because we were on opposite schedules.

We did get in a baseball game last week and I took him to his favorite Steak House (Damon's) Friday night, along with a couple of hours of sitting around and just talking. He won't have a phone in Korea, so I'm going to have to crank up the word possessor again and start writing until he gets a computer and internet hookup.

Chris told me the other day that the U.S. is moving their forward bases farther south. I'm not sure what to think about that. My interpretation is that they want a longer time to react to an incursion, and that doesn't make me happy.

Dumbass With A Gun

How many things are wrong with this picture?
(borrowed from the Rott)



The right to keep and bear arms may be in the Constitution, but good G-d Almighty!

I can only assume that when his partner fired it didn't startle him and he pulled his fucking trigger.

* He's wearing an ATF hat (I hope he got it on Ebay)

* He's, like, pointing a gun to his head.

* Finger inside trigger guard...You never, never put your finger inside that space unless your 99% sure you are going to fire the gun.

And just to prove that there are Dumbass guys that even if you take guns away from them will still try to find a way to keep themselves from procreating.

Whoops

Missed one day of blogging because I was just too tired after work.

Missed the next day because I screwed up on paying the damn cable bill, they shut down my internet and was too tired to deal with it after work.

Today is a Friday for me, so I figured I'd deal with it. Igot caught up on the bill and while getting my internet connection back running, I got to talk to a very nice tech guy. My computer is over 7 years old and showing it's age...it's slooowwww. While waiting for my computer to reboot and get the browser going we had a lot of time to chat. Being he had asked me what state I was from at the beginning of our conversation, I asked where he was. He was in Panama.

He was pleasant, polite, knowledgeable, very patient and spoke English with only a hint of accent. I had to go though this same scenario about a year ago and it was not a pleasant experience. That tech was nice enough, but couldn't speak English worth a damn. On top of going through internet withdrawal syndrome and being PO'd at myself for missing the damn bill, I was dealing with a guy that couldn't explain how to correct the problem.

Either Charter is hiring better people, or I just had the luck of a bad draw last time. I just can't trust cable companies since my experience back in '85 when
Sammons Cable insisted I owed them $300 and I showed them all the bills that said that actually they owed me $75 credit. They threatened to sue me, ...then went out of business...I still have their converter box that they insisted I bring into their office sitting in my garage.

Senator....Maam...Bitch

SENATOR Boxer, because she's worked so hard driving California into bankruptcy...Actually she hasn't done a damn thing to drive us into bankruptcy escept vote for her compatriots bills. All her bills have to do with "honoring" some stupid group or event that happened long ago. The "lady" is a cipher.

But she's worked so hard to earn the title of SENATOR and those beneath her don't recognize what a Grand Dame she is.

She's been "employed" by the people of California for 16 years, but has no idea of protocol, most likely because it didn't involve her...or she's just one of those feminazi bitches that will find fault with anything that you say because you have the ulterior motive of dissing her.



This is highlighted by the end of the segment where "Liz" is sooooo upset that someone dared to use a friendly address and she has to take 19 Emails to push her point that she would preferred to be addressed as "Elizabeth".

Hell, I hate to be called "Scottie", but it doesn't grind my gears, and by pointing it out that it annoys me, it just give someone a button to push when they get desperate. (I only admit this because I'm way beyond that, so you can try....then I'll walk away and have another beer and know you were desperate for a rebuttal...and I won.

Times Change

When I was a lad (8 to 16) my parents would send me "up north" to Aunt Lee and Uncle Curt's place in Bayside, Ca.. Bayside was a little town about half way between Eureka and Arcata. This was rural country. I mean rural. People living on a few acres of land raising vegetables, corn, potatoes and berries. There were barns to play in and a "crick" running through the back yard (if you could brave the stinging nettles to get to it).

There were pumps to bring the water up from the crick and they burned their trash in a 55 gallon drum in the back yard. There were no street lights and nobody wanted them.

You had to cross the neighbors sheep pasture to go hiking in the Redwoods across the street.

Being a "city boy" this was my training ground for doing real chores. I could sleep in as late as I wanted, but I was always given something to do the next day. Mow the back section, weed the corn, paint the fence, roto-till the bean patch. When my project was done, I was free to go off on my own (Just remember, suppers at 4:30 and if your more than 15 minutes late...).

At that time, I thought most of the folk up there were ancient, you know in the 40's to 60's, but I loved talking to these "old farts", they were real people, They had jobs, plus they worked their little bit of land because they liked doing it, or they were retired and loved keeping busy. My Uncle Curt was around 70 when I stared going up there, had gone through 2 heart attacks and was still up at dawn (literally) and doing something around the place until Aunt Lee got breakfast cooked.

The reason I'm telling you about this childhood experience is last night I read an article that made me realize that this bit of heaven probably doesn't exist anymore.

Calif. towns challenge feds on military recruiting

Two towns nestled in the rugged coastline and the liberal politics of Northern California have fought the federal government by banning the U.S. military from recruiting minors within their city limits.

Arcata — a town known for taking a stand against the USA Patriot Act and repeatedly passing symbolic measures to impeach President George W. Bush — approved in November an ordinance that would limit Armed Forces recruiters' ability to contact people under 18. And so did nearby Eureka, the Humboldt County seat.

My G-d, the people I knew living there 40 years ago would die all over again if they knew what that area has become.

"We fully expected a challenge, and we got it," said David Meserve, 60, a builder of environmentally friendly homes and former Arcata City Council member who spearheaded the measure. "But more importantly, people are becoming aware there is a problem — and the problem is the recruiting of minors."

The problem is...they don't recruit minors. They offer them a job opportunity to consider when they become adults.

"You will find that establishing trust and credibility with students, even seventh- and eighth-graders, can positively impact your high school and post-secondary school recruiting effort," reads The Recruiter Handbook, published in 2008 by the United States Army Recruiting Command.

The push to reach the young makes sense. A 2007 Department of Defense study found that at 16 years old, more than 25 percent of students considered joining the Armed Forces. By the time they were 21, only 15 percent considered joining.

Gee, going into the Army when you're 16 and getting to play with guns, tanks and other things that go boom sounds great...but a most get older, they realize there are other opportunities available and maybe they don't want to join the military.

My boy was Army from when he was around 8 or 9. Not through my pushing...and certainly not through his Mother's. He cut his hair short, wore camo and joined AFJROTC all on his own. I expected him to just enlist when he graduated, but he waited until he was 20.

So all those talks with recruiters, his paramilitary classes and his natural inclination to join where weighed out. I didn't know he had enlisted until the deal was done.

Meserve said he took up the fight one morning while sitting in a coffee shop and overhearing a National Guard recruiter giving three high school girls a hard sell. The sharply dressed young man bought them fancy coffee drinks and pitched the career opportunities, the scholarships, the camaraderie, while assuring them there was virtually no chance they would end up in a war zone, Meserve said.

This was in 2005, when members of the National Guard were regularly being sent to Iraq, he said.

"Hard Sell", I would guess that would be talking about all the positive aspects of the job. Like "We'll start you out mopping and cleaning, but soon you'll be on the fryer, then, you'll be running the grill and if you develop people skills working the register it's just a small step to Manager. From there you learn the knowledge to open your own franchise and then...Whoa...the money just rolls in".

The lawyer argues the ordinances prevent abuses without interfering with the federal government's ability to fill the ranks of the military. Anyone, independent of age, can still reach out to the military, he said, and recruiters are free to contact adults.

"If they don't contact minors, they can still meet their goals," Yamauchi said. "We believe there are limits to the federal power to recruit children."

They want to make this ordinance legal? Write it so that NO COMPANY can contact minors for jobs. That means no advertising a position unless specifically stated that those under 18 need their parents written permission to apply for the job.

My son chose to join the Army. He had my full support to do so, when he finished High School, and he had his Mom that was dead set against it. He waited until he was sure that he was doing what he wanted in his own time, in spite of the years of "hard sell" by his recruiters.

I can't say it enough. I'm damn proud of him!

He's going to Korea at the end of the month and it scares the hell out of me. It's a tossup whether Korea or the Middle East is the most dangerous place to be right now, but my son is going to be in Korea, so that makes it the most dangerous to me.

To all those anti-military communist assholes that have taken over a part of the country I use to love, FU!!