Suck Less

Yesterday was Veterans Day, and I was driving down the road from the Land of Livermush to fetch yet another dose of poison at the "Bleed 'em with leeches" Baptist hospital, and I noticed that traffic was lighter than usual.  Odd, I thought, until reminded why by an elementary school sitting dark and unused.

I suppose I already knew that schools were closed for Veterans Day, but I have to admit that the proof just chapped my hide.

If I get elected king (and it ain't that bad an idea), but if I get elected king only Veterans and their immediate family members get to take Veterans Day off work.  If you're some sucking-the-community-tit gubmint employee like a public school teacher, and you "have to" take the day off because the school is closed, at least have the compunction to take the money you received for sitting on your duff all day and donate it (without fanfare, thankeeverymuch) to something far worthier.  Like VALOUR-IT (h/t to my friend Kate, whose Team Marine is kicking ass, btw).

Or take those funds and send them to the Warrior Legacy Foundation.

Not that you get to feel particularly good about yourself...you'll just suck a little less.

Hooray, by God, For Oath Keepers

"It doesn't matter if we're 'allowed or not', that's wrong." -SSgt. Joshua May

Allow me, please, just a few pertinent points, and then enjoy the video.  During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, some National Guardsmen were ordered to confiscate firearms (all kinds of firearms) from citizens in New Orleans.  Stewart Rhodes founded Oath Keepers, in part, because of those actions, but also as a manner of reinforcing the foundation that a U.S. Serviceperson's Oath is to defend the Constitution.

S.Sgt. May wasn't in Oath Keepers during Katrina (because it hadn't been invented yet, duh), but his actions embody the very essence of what Oath Keepers is.

S.Sgt. May did a couple of things worth celebrating.  He joined, and represents, the National Guard for the right reason: to help protect his neighbors.  He understands and embraces the Constitution.  He has the balls, regardless of whether his CO agrees (and with some perceived risk to his security clearance, being in Military Intel), to stand up and declare that disarming citizens is wrong.  It's a great thing that his fellow soldiers knew enough to agree and support him, and that's why I'm a big fan of Oath Keepers.  This is why we now have such a thing as Oath Keepers, to give a foundation of support and knowledge of the Constitution to those soldiers such that they can feel confident and secure in doing the right thing.  Oh, but if there'd have been a few more Sgt. May's there in Louisiana...

Here's you a feel-good video for the day:

"We're not just going to shoot the bastards...

...we're going to cut out their living guts. And use them to grease the treads of our tanks." -General George Patton

In an update to the previous, but which deserves its own space, allow me to present The Warrior Song.

Y'all no doubt recall how supportive I am of the Warrior Legacy Foundation.



It's a video-heavy kinda day at the Livermush Command Center! Happy Veterans' Day!

Hoo-ahh, indeed!

Thanks to my friends at Blackfive.

It's war, candy-ass, not tiddlywinks

Very briefly, because I'm busy with trying to shake some new clients off the new-client tree, I'd like to relay a measure of rememberance. Today is the 26th Anniversary of those terrorist murders of 241 of our Marines and Sailors in Beirut. To those who gave their lives that day, and those friends and family members who grieve, my eternal gratitude for your willingness to stand in the way of those who wish harm upon my country.

I'm feeling a sadness today, brought on by that memory and the very real fear that our country is being led down a path of vulnerability from which we will not return, or even survive.

For those who would like a photo essay on the difference between a Commander in Chief and a Coward in Chief, please see my friends at Flopping Aces. If you've come to grasp the concept of cause and effect, that is, that leadership (and of course, the lack thereof) has its rewards and consequences, then you'll join me in a prayer of thanks for those in our Military and for effective leadership like President Bush, and another prayer that we survive the current state of our exposed underbelly. Very enlightening, and poignant. It'd be funny if it weren't so sad.

Anybody else sick of the fact that the current adminstration can orchestrate an effective war on Fox News, but can't man up on the job for which they were elected?

Because of these men

While the Obamination is pulling down the pants of America, and embracing weakness and shame, revisit with me the words of a man who loved his country. President Reagan stands on the cliff of Point Du Hoc, gushing respect for those men of those countries who were there with ours, and basking in the glory of being the leader of the country whose men and women are the best and brightest and bravest, the shining example of what is good and true in the world. I've seen this video on at least six other sites yesterday and today.

As President Reagan says in closing, "Let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died."



Our nation, as the strongest nation and the best, has a responsibility to remain as such. In the time before our full involvement in WWII, the enemies of freedom and liberty took advantage of our absence, expanding their aggression and conquest and their threat. The same is happening now, and will only worsen, so long as the fools who pretend to leadership in this country continue their systematic submission. When our country shuns the responsibility that comes with being the mightiest and best, the despots and tyrants and thugs rush in to fill that void. Without men like Ronald Reagan, the brave men of this country like you and me will sit like swords rusting in their scabbards, sheathed and disregarded.

Welcome home: Bangor, ME

Aye Chihuahua, over at Flopping Aces, said yesterday that, "it'll be the best two minutes you spend on the internet." I concur.


The Way We Get By - Trailer from The Way We Get By on Vimeo.

I piss & moan a lot, but I truly enjoy every opportunity to report on, and link to, good stuff and good people.

Reliable Sources

First things I read this morning were the sports sections of the Charlotte Obscurer and Raleigh News & Obfuscator, two McClatchy (sp?) papers. McClatchy is also the publisher of a book that seems to actually celebrate Barack Obama, and professed their collective support of that candidate during the campaign. That support strikes me as a conflict of interest, because the printed word carries the implication as being from those who know to inform those who do not. And if you the reader are going there to glean anything more than the sports scores and voting results for the All-American team, you are likely to be victimized by systemic misleading rhetoric disguised as information.

This post was going to be a mild cry of disgust at the fact that anyone not named Tyler Hansbrough could be considered Player of the Year. Truly, fans of Oklahoma, Arizona State, Davidson, UConn, Notre Dame, Kentucky, Marquette, Louisville, Kansas, Florida State, and Duke, all having a player who received at least one number-one vote, would gladly swap their best player for Hansbrough. Anyone who says different is smoking crack. Don't give me that, "he has the athletic game suited to the pros" nonsense about Griffen, because it ain't the NBA he's playing in. I'd concede that he (Griffen) will certainly be a better pro, because the NBA game is exactly what that guy exhibited most of on Sunday: not doing much for great stretches of gametime until an opportunity presents itself to do something spectacular. He obviously wasn't very well conditioned to maintain any sustained excellence. Did everyone else see him gasping for air in the first half, and refusing to run back downcourt to play defense with his teammates? Must be the comparative League of Weaklings that is the Big 12. That smack doesn't go to the KU fans...just those pansies from Greater Mexico. Ooo, that reminds me of an old joke...paraphrasing... Know why Oklahoma doesn't have a basketball program? Answer: Because then, Texas would want one too.

But like I said, that was what this post was going to be about, but it ain't...College basketball is a fun diversion from everyday struggles but there are things infinitely more important.

In spite of the sliminess I got from doing the McClatchy thing, I still held out hope that better and brighter subjects might land on my reading plate this morning. And, clicking on the BlackFive link served up two such morsels to rescue my disposition for this day.

If you haven't stored the sites from my blogroll in your IE favorites files, the obvious question is, "Why the monkey-spank not?"

Seriously, before you read anything else, you'll be better off checking for updated content from any/all of these: Blatherings, No Feet, The Sister, BlackFive, Flopping Aces, the JLF, and the Wild West (in no particular order) and even to include Pam at Atlas and Ace of Spades. These folks can be counted on to dish out the straight poop regularly. And, like I said, MacQ and Uncle Jimbo (who I've quoted here before) fed us some gems today. Those authors, respectively, gave us the story of welcoming home the remains of a US Paratrooper who gave the ultimate sacrifice, Cpl. Jonathan Ayers, and a politically unifying community you should at least be aware of, if not heartily subscribe to, Simon Jester. Regarding Cpl. Ayers, his hometown, and his comrades:

Probably the most gratifying moment for me, besides the award, took place as everyone was leaving. The family had been escorted off the stage, and other members of the family in the audience were allowed to leave before anyone else left. Then Cpl Ayer's platoon mates stood and began to file out from the front of the auditorium. The entire crowd, unbidden, stood and gave them a standing ovation as they left, many patting them on the back and shoulders as they passed by. I saw a few glistening eyes in both the crowd and among the platoon members.

And regarding Uncle Jimbo's I am Simon Jester:

We are not Far-Right or Far-Left. We are the seventy percent in the middle.
We are not Capital “L” libertarians, although we do have sympathies with their platform.

We are neither bitter clingers nor conspiracy nuts.

What we are is a group of folks that think we see liberty and freedom eroding in our beloved United States. We see the policies and agendas of the hirelings in Washington D.C. heading toward an abbreviation if not outright abrogation of the Bill of Rights.

Since each post is not an independent link, you'll have to scroll down to each article. Small effort considering the reward. Go there, now. Feel better about yourself and your world. And consider it good advice to rid your life of mind-numbing things like Oprah Winfrey, MSNBC, and McClatchy "newspapers".

You had me at Bullet-Proof Character

I considered adding my two cents, but in comparison to the original article, it wouldn't have been worth that much.

When I tried enlisting (Seabees, Army Corps of Combat Engineers) following 9/11, and they told me I was already passed the age of consideration (I was 37 then), my letter to Congressman Cass Ballenger pleaded that we needed men like me in this fight.

It's a fight I believe in, and vowed to undertake if I was the only one who would go. I said it then, and I'll say it again now: If there is no other man who will take the fight to the terrorists and those who support and assist them, then I will go.

I also lamented my perceived worry over the state of our military, that perhaps given the weaknesses of the Clinton years, we'd cultivated a crop of softies. I am here to tell you that I stand corrected and reassured! Meet General David Petraeus (again).

Hat tip to Flopping Aces, for this magnificent article. Warrior-Monk, indeed!

I confess that I am on board with comment #4 on that post. I'd be happy to know what you guys think.