The Reawakening

A sign that the people of this country are reawakening and once again standing up and proclaiming their pride in this country.



Hooah!!

Despare And Hope

I caught this video on the tube this afternoon and it sent a shiver down my spine.



While cruising by the Rott this evening, I caught this and I got some stiffness back.



Vote! They haven't destroyed us yet.

4th of July

Y'all have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Celebrate the creation of the greatest country to exist.

America, Why I Love Her

Is This A Surpirise???

I took a "test" today on "The Best Political Quiz" site. I gotta say, I was stunned by the result!

Have We Forgotten?

I'm coming in just under the wire here, and it doesn't make me happy.

I knew that this anniversary of our countries finest moment was here, and yet I almost let it slip past. I forgot to put my flag out this morning, and even though I finally realized what this day was, I put off posting.

I am ashamed!

There was very little on the news today about a day that shaped my entire life.

That D-day could pass with such little acknowledgment of the sacrifices of the generation before mine makes me fear more for the generation that is coming behind mine.

What is this day? What did it mean to those in Europe that where waiting for someone to throw off the oppression of NAZI socialism?

I give you a video of a French citizen who, even though he had to go through an interpreter, needed to express his feelings about what America did for his country.



God bless our soldiers both past and present. May we always stand for right and to free those who are under fascist regimes.

May we not forget what they did, EVER.

Memorial Day 2010

Today is a day to honor our fallen heroes. There are many posts and videos all over the net today doing that, so I decided to do something a little different. I wanted to post something on why we honor these fine young men and women. What it is about these people that deserve our praise and honor?

This video of Oliver North describes why.



God bless our troops!

The Best Of Us

A soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.

Dedicated to My Son

You get 'em Kid!

A Simpler Time?

A friend of mine over on Facebook posted this:



I wish I had a teacher like Red had, and I wish there were more "celebrities" like Mr. Skelton who could broadcast their love of God and Country today.

The F-22 Program Needs To Go Forward

Ran across this last night by Gen. McPeak (ret.), Air Force chief of staff from 1990 to 1994, was a national co-chair of Obama for President.

Notice the bolding there at the end of his credentials.

Why We Need the F-22

It’s been more than half a century since American soldiers were killed by hostile aircraft. Let's keep it that way.

That is a sentiment I can get behind.

The United States relies on the Air Force, and the Air Force has never been the decisive factor in the history of war.

—Saddam Hussein,
before Desert Storm

High-end conventional war is characterized by the clash of industrial forces. It’s armored, mechanized and increasingly air-power centric. Few are equipped by training or temperament to understand the phenomenon, especially as it concerns air warfare, a relatively recent aspect of the human experience. (In this regard, Saddam Hussein had plenty of company.) But the bottom line is that in high-end conventional war, neither our Army nor Navy can be defeated unless someone first defeats our Air Force.

For high-end conventional war we’ve built an Air Force that, for now, is virtually unbeatable. Anyone looking at our air-power capabilities knows there is little hope they can concentrate conventional forces for decisive engagement of our Army or Navy. We will track them and pick them to pieces. When Saddam Hussein tried us on for size in the early-1990s, the ground war was a four-day walkover that followed the initial 39 days of aerial combat.

Any conflict comes down to "boots on the ground", but to protect those "boots", the job is a hell of a lot easier when they aren't having to keep looking up to see if something is falling from the sky on them.

I pointed out earlier that we have Air Superiority right now, but those days may be getting short.

We have forced anyone with a bone to pick with us to find an alternative to high-end, conventional war. We’ve had to invent a vocabulary for this low end: “asymmetrical” conflict, it being another poorly understood activity. But it seems clear that in this sort of war our existence is not threatened, that we can regulate the resource input. It can be expensive in men and material, but we cannot be defeated militarily.

When the enemy succeeds, it is because we do not defeat him and then weary of the fight. This is not a good outcome, but it is better—and much cheaper for us in lives and treasure—than losing a high-end, conventional conflict.

I make no excuses that we don't want a "fair" fight. I want our military to go in, kick ass, take control and then we can consider being magnanimous after our victory.

I have a stake in this and so do a lot of the people I know. Sons, daughters...if not themselves that are on the front lines around the globe, that we would like to come home safely.

You got a Su-27, well we can see you, but you can't see us...but that's not going to last very long.

The future air combat capabilities we should build are based on the F-22, a stealthy, fast, maneuverable fighter that is unmatched by any known or projected combat aircraft. But the F-22’s production run may soon come to an end at just 187 planes, well short of establishing the fleet size we need. After all, it’s expensive, and getting more so as the number contemplated has been repeatedly reduced. In an argument they seem to think makes sense, critics say the aircraft has no worthy opponent—as if we want to create forces that do have peer competitors.

Get that? The fewer we produce, the more expensive each plane is, the more we produce, the less cost per unit. Yeah they still cost a butt-load of money, but when the Russian counterpart gets out, we'll need more that 187 F-22's spread out or sitting in the wrong place is almost as useless as not having them to begin with.

It’s been more than half a century since any American soldier or Marine has been killed, or even wounded, by hostile aircraft, a period roughly coincident with the existence of the Air Force as a separate service. Even during the Korean War—the Air Force’s first engagement wearing new, blue uniforms—enemy air attack was primitive and rare. The main air battle was fought along the Yalu River, just as in Vietnam it was fought over Hanoi, and in Desert Storm, over Baghdad. Our guys on the ground had hard work to do, but when they looked up, they saw only friendly skies.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why we should wish to change this.

We've lost a lot of pilots in those fifty years, but it was always our fighters ruling the sky. Our troops on the ground were left to deal only with their troops on the ground. I'd like to keep it that way.

Bonus Stuff:

I needed another F-22 video to close this off and I found a cool one:



Also, if you are close to L.A. and you've never been to an Air Show I would recommend the Edwards Show Oct. 17 and 18. They WILL have a F-15 and F-22 there so you can marvel both their capabilities and compare something that first flew when I was graduating High School (1972) and what they can do now 36 years on.

I'll be at the Air Show on Saturday, the 17th and I'll wear my Rottie T-shirt. If you see me say hi!

Tea Party Ad

(From the info on You Tube)

This resulted from a Mom in Alabama asking her high school son to help with a commercial for the Tea Party she was involved in organizing. Boy, does it slam the message home. Very impressive.
Here is her note:
"I asked Justin if he could help me make a commercial for my group's Tea Party. He sat down at the laptop for about an hour, and then brought this to me and asked, 'is this okay, Mom?' After I finished watching it, my stomach was in my throat.
Everyone that I have sent it to has really enjoyed it, so I wanted my friends to see it. I am so proud!"
A very powerful video...turn up the sound & sit back...!!!

HT: Nice Deb

Pure Patriotism: A Book Reveiw

Pure Patriotism
by Clayton Thibodeau
98 pgs.

I was contacted by the author about 3 weeks ago and offered a copy of his book "Pure Patriotism" for review. I assured him that I was a fast reader and would enjoy reading it and giving my opinion.

About now I'm sure he's written me off as a flake, but I just finished the book today.

This is not a big book in the number of pages (98), but it is a big book on thoughts and beliefs. If you are like me, you won't want to just sit down and read through this book, you will read a section (or maybe two) and mark your place, set it aside and spend some time thinking through what you've read and how it applies to your life.

The book is not "Conservative" or "Liberal", it is an overview of what patriotism towards the United States entails and he points out the pitfalls of not adhering to the basic principles that were given to us by our founders.

Like me, Clayton's deepest concern is career politicians (royalty) and the lack of interest and action by us, the people of this great country. We were given such an immense gift, but through inattention and laziness are slowly watching our freedoms be stripped slowly away.

A book I will be glad to see on my bookshelf and will pull out just to open to a page and reread and rethink the topics.

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.

Flag Day

Mines up! Is yours?



G-d bless and protect this country and allow us to continue to be that shining city on the hill for those who do not enjoy the benefits that too many of us here take for granted.

Oh Fer Christ's Sake

One of those stories you read and go WTF!? How the hell could displaying the Globe and Anchor and patriotic sentiments on your car with window decals and bumper stickers be considered "advertising"?



Notice that, of course, political, health and other PC-like opinions are not targeted, just the military stickers and expressions of love of freedom. This reminds me of the thugs from the Black Panthers that were deemed not to be intimidating voters at the poles by standing in the doorway dressed in paramilitary uniforms, thumping a baton in there hand and telling people to get use to the country being run by blacks as not being worthy of prosecution. (one rule for thee...)

My parents lived in a HOA run development for a while. They thought they knew what they were getting into when they bought the house. One of the bylaws was that the front of the houses had to have a uniform apperance...no problem, they thought.

Their front door was half way up the side of the house and not visible from the street. There was no screen door originally and living close to the coast they wanted to be able to leave the door open to take advantage of the ocean breeze to cool the house, and couple of houses had been burglarized, so they installed a security screen door. Nice looking. After a couple of months they got a letter from the HOA stating that the screen door was out of compliance and had to be removed. You couldn't see this door unless you walked up the pathway and turned a corner. The reasoning was that it was the "front door" so it was considered part of the front of the house.

Idiots!!

It took another two months to get the bylaws amended to allow security screen doors (only off an approved list of screen doors), all the while my parents were racking up penalties, eventually set aside, for not removing the door.

The person who was trying to enforce this rule was the only one on the board that fought to keep her interpretation of compliance, the rest of the board and the homeowners all were for the change.

Cases of some busybody trying to exercise their supposed power over those they rule.

Blog Burst

I watched the TEA parties and the coverage (or lack thereof) over the last few days and have almost been able to shake off the doldrums that have clouded my soul for the last couple of months.

I ran across this today and can say I'm starting to feel a stirring of political fervor again.

What say you?

Pure Patriotism

I was thinking about posting on a couple of documentaries I caught over the last couple of nights that I wanted to point out, but I was feeling lazy and thought I could do it tomorrow. Then I got a e-mail from a fellow blogger with a truly beautiful film that I had to post right now.

I'll start with my original videos and save the best for last:

“Speed and Angels” is the real “Top Gun”. It covers the last F-14’s to go through the training, also the only female Tomcat pilot. It covers the training for Navy pilots including Carrier landings. After watching this film, I would love to launch off a flattop, but I would be willing to forgo landing on one, especially at night.


"Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag" was an IMAX film, and I don’t care how crappy your monitor is, the photography is phenomenal. It’s got a real good back story and it focuses on my favorite plane (F-15 Eagle, baaybeee!!). The first 30 minutes (of 49) cover dogfights and air command and control… but then it really gets great. They go with a downed pilot exercise that really shows coordination of all the different facets available. They finish with a live bomb exercise that just freaked me out. G-d help anyone that goes against our military is about all I can say.

This last one I just had pop up in my email and I clicked on the attachment..The tears were flowing so bad, that I had to watch it again to pick up the pieces I missed the first time. What a beautiful bird to symbolize such a great nation!

Real Topics Today

I'm working graveyard and it's literally freezing at night and the site is running smooth, so rounds are exceptionally quick. Gives me lots of time for bouncing round the web.

Found these last night:

Video - Political Correctness Vs. Freedom Of Thought
via FOUNDING BLOGGERS




A man's life just about destroyed with no hearing and damn near no recourse. If FIRE hadn't gotten involved Mr. Sampson would have had to deal with being branded a racist for reading a book (available in the college's library) about the Klan being driven out of Illinois.

I wonder if I could file racial harassment charges for finding someone reading a Malcolm X book near me?

The next two are stunners:

First from (OMG) the L.A. Times:

Joel Stein:
Republicans are blinded by love
Lefties just don't have the same feeling about America as the hard right does.

“But I’ve come to believe conservatives are right. They do love America more. Sure, we liberals claim that our love is deeper because we seek to improve the United States by pointing out its flaws. But calling your wife fat isn’t love. True love is the blind belief that your child is the smartest, cutest, most charming person in the world, one you would gladly die for. I’m more in ‘like’ with my country."

Real love is not blindly believing the object of your affection is perfect, but know the flaws and still care deeply anyway. I love my country, without question! Flaws and all. I know we always strive to be better.

I wish I felt such certainty. Sure, it makes life less interesting and nuanced, and absolute conviction can lead to dangerous extremism, but I suspect it makes people happier. I'll never experience the joy of Hannity-level patriotism. I'm the type who always wonders if some other idea or place or system is better and I'm missing out. And, as I figured out shortly after meeting my wife, that is no way to love.

Will Stein change his love of country? I doubt it.

Another revelation that I ran across:

As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God
Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa's biggest problem - the crushing passivity of the people's mindset

Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.

This is coming from someone who grew up in Africa.

Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers - in some ways less so - but more open.

Like Stein above, I have to wonder if Parris after having an epiphany, will change?

No, I don't. They will continue to look for a new way to express love of country or that religion hasn't a proven message that should be heeded. They will go through life unsatisfied. Always feeling that there is an answer just around the corner that will allow them to prove they were right by rejecting the basic ideals that drug mankind into enlightenment. We aren't perfect, never will be, but we strive forward, looking to the past for where we screwed up, so as not to repeat the mistake, but also to remember the things we did that were right and good.

We'll finish this up on a lighter note.

I love hockey....BUT....when they had the lockout, they lost me. I've got football (a post coming on why no football posts this year at the end of the season) which takes up enough of the year, but I stumbled into this video. If there are going to be more plays like this, I may consider getting out my Kings jersey again.

Happy 4th - 232 Years And Still Going

I can't put into words how blessed I feel to have born in this country. I hope I appreciate the blind luck of where I was born with all the freedoms handed to me to the same degree as my friends at the Rott and other blogs that emigrated to this country.

Talk about being born with a silver spoon in your mouth.

It astounds me that these people who've grown up in Britain, Denmark, Russia, Australia, and many, many other countries keep saying "Look, I lived there and did everything I could to get the the U.S.A." They know about the history and laws of my (our) land than I do. It can get downright embarrassing.

I also have to mention the many that are still in far away lands that say that when of if the opportunity arises, they would leave their homeland and come here in a heartbeat.

I have to get up at 3:30 AM to go to work tomorrow, but I'm going to take a lawn chair, "some" beer and sit in my front yard tonight so I can watch the aerial show put on at the High School about 4 blocks above my house. I may fall asleep when they do some of the fancy ground displays, so I'll have my cell phone with me and the alarm set to go off in time to go to work.

A couple of things I ran across today, some may not be attributed because I was at work and bouncing on and off the net, but if I found it at your site...thanks.

Found this at Hot Air. Imagine, the fight in Iraq is going so badly that they managed to get 1,215 troops re-enlist in Baghdad on Independence Day



God bless them all.

This from Penn and Teller:



An excellent point, but when I see someone burn my flag, I know it's just a cloth symbol, but I really want go jihadi on their ass because it is an insult to me. They are saying they reject and renounce everything I believe in. They don't want to change it, they want to destroy it and build something else.

You always here that freedom isn't free LC 0311 crunchie I.M.H. (or just crunch if you're on his good side) posted about what our founders put on the line by signing the Declaration of Independence and what happened to them.

Independence Day, the Cost of Freedom

What these men put on the line and suffered for their commitment to freedom and fairness is more than I could ever imagine.

Finally....Something to remind us of why we still have to fight to maintain our freedoms, our sovereignty, our (maybe) too comfortable way of life.



GOD BLESS AMERICA, LAND THAT I LOVE

Happy 4th of July

Y'all have a happy and safe 4th, and say a prayer for those in the Armed Forces serving around the world protecting "America, the Beautiful."