My opinion....

I'm a relative newcomer to this world of Conservative Blogging and the Patriot Movement.  I've been reading a few of the blogs for a couple of years and posting on this blog for about 6 months.  Not a very long time....

I'll be the first to admit that the America we know today is not the America that I was born and raised in and it is not the America that I want for my children (all grown up now) and my grandchildren.

The Liberalization and Socialization of this country is destroying her from the inside out.  American exceptionalism is a dirty word.  It doesn't fit with the standards of Political Correctness that have slowly taken over our society.  PC is a smokescreen for creating a Socialist society here.  It has made us afraid to call out the people who do things that are not in the best interests of our country.  It affects everything we do.  It determines how local governments and businesses work.  It determines how we interact with every person that we come into contact with.  It is an artificial set of rules designed to prevent anyone from having hurt feelings.  I can't see it having any other purpose.  Well, it does prevent us from speaking up or acting when we know that we should.  It allows those who are willing to use it against us to control the outcome of the game.

I can remember taking my bat and glove and walking the mile or so to my school yard one summer day to "try out" for the local Optimist baseball league.  I was probably 10 years old.  I can remember walking home after tryouts with tears in my eyes because I failed to make the team.  I was devastated.  I thought the world was going to end.  When I told my Dad what had happened he told me that I'd have to try harder next year.  The 1960s were a tough time to be a kid :)

He was right, of course.  No one owed me a spot on the team.  I had to earn that on my own or I had to find something else to occupy my time.  I could complain and cry that it wasn't fair but what would that change?  The best ball players made the team.  I wasn't one of them.  I learned something from that.

It isn't unusual today for a parent to get up off the couch and call a coach or a team organizer to complain that their child should be allowed to do this or that.  That their child is being treated unfairly.  That their child is the best player on the team and should be treated as such.  Most often the coach will comply with the complaining parents wishes simply to avoid further confrontation.  How wrong is that?  Why doesn't that coach just say "Mr. Smith, Bobby isn't a good player.  He doesn't come to practice regularly and he doesn't listen to me nor does he put in a good effort when he does come to practice.  Therefore, Mr. Smith, Bobby will not be a starter.  He may not even dress for the game.  His future is in his own hands, Mr. Smith.  Whether he plays or not is up to him."

Parents run every aspect of their children's lives without putting much thought into what they are doing.  When those kids get older the same parents question why their kids can't make decisions on their own.  Especially good decisions.

It carries over into adult life, too.  When you apply for a job as a firefighter you must pass a written test and a physical agility test in order to be considered.  Unless you are a minority or female.  The tests are modified for them in order to allow more of these desired classes to pass and to be accepted.  Think of it what you will.  It's wrong and we've allowed it to happen.

There was a time in this country when her citizens took an active role in governing her.  People understood that they had to take that role or the politicians that they elected would take advantage of them.  When a mayor or congressmen did something that the people disapproved of, the people let him know, in no uncertain terms, that it was unacceptable.  Leaders listened.  They tried to do what was best for their constituents and the people as a whole.  If they didn't, they were fired at the next election.

We don't go to city council meetings or county board of supervisors meetings anymore.  That would interfere with our TV time.  We don't read the paper or keep up with current events anymore.  We don't go to the polls and vote anymore.  When we do vote, we are either uninformed or misinformed and we don't know who or what we are voting for.

Our public education system is a shambles.  We are a joke when compared to the rest of the modern world.  We have stopped teaching our kids the things that they need to know in order to be productive members of our society.  The basics.  Instead, we teach them multi-culturalism, multi-sexualism, entitlement, feel good measures.  If the coursework is too hard we simply lower the standards. 

As parents, we don't teach responsibility.  We don't teach accountability.  As educators, we no longer teach reading, writing, and arithmetic.  We teach entitlement, whether it's government money or a place on the basketball team.  And we're ok with that because our stupid fat kids feel good about themselves.

We have aborted 50 million unborn babies since Roe v. Wade.  There's a statistic to be proud of.

The nation's debt has finally surpassed the total income of all of the citizens of this country.  We owe more than we earn.  Wow.

47% of the people in this country who were required to file a Federal 1040 in 2009 owed no taxes for the year.  A large number of those people received refunds greater than what they paid in.  That is a form of government welfare, plain and simple.  I have an employee who made $42,000.00 last year.  He has 5 kids and a wife.  Zero witholding during the year.  After filing taxes he received a check from the Fed for over $6000.00.  Remember that he didn't pay any Federal taxes during the year at all.  None.

What does all of this have to do with anything?  Everything.

We have allowed this to happen.  We were too busy with our boats and 4 wheelers and camping and fishing and hunting and screwing our neighbor's wife to be bothered with paying attention to what our government was doing.  We were watching the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and NASCAR rather than paying attention to what was going on in our schools and our government.  We certainly couldn't find the time to go to a school board meeting to say "No!  I don't want 'Homesexuality as an Alternative Lifestyle' taught to my kids".  We didn't do anything to stop the birth control clinics from being placed in our schools.  Condoms and birth control pills along with free and reduced price lunches.  Rather than us teaching our kids responsibility and accountability, we allowed someone else to put clinics in the schools so the kids could "do what comes natural" and we held our breath and hoped for the best.  We turned the responsibility of teaching responsibility to our kids over to someone else and they failed miserably.

We didn't do anything when the law enforcement agencies started putting up cameras to watch our every move.  We accept the TSA and it's blatant 4th ammendment violations.  A few of us are offended  pissed off at the killing of Jose Guerena in Tucson.  A few of us think that SWAT teams and the militarization of our police forces is an over-reach of their authority.  What are we doing about it?  Remember that most of your fellow citizens don't care.  They don't care either because it hasn't directly affected them yet or because the media hasn't covered it.

Our government, and our society in general, are out of control.  We may grouse about it but, in the end, if it doesn't affect us directly, we don't care. 

What should we do about it?  That's a difficult question.  Half of the population are Socialists.  They want the handouts that the government gives them.  Our public schools were taken over by the Socialists in the early 70s.  Today's teachers were taught in that system.  It's all they know.   It's self perpetuating.  We allowed it to happen. 

"Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted." ~~Vladimir Lenin

There is plenty of talk of "revolution" or "civil war".  Talk of taking our country back "by any means necessary". 

We stock up on guns and ammo, we stockpile food and supplies.  For what?  It may help get us through (a temporary) governmental and economic collapse and it may help us defend ourselves momentarily if the PoPo come banging on our doors in the middle of the night.  (We'll come up on the short end of that altercation, BTW.  It's the way it works.)  Believe me, the people in power aren't going to be part of the "die off" of those who haven't prepared.  They'll still be there to rule govern us.  They aren't going away.  They are organized.  The "resistance" is not.

I read plenty of thoughts on operating within one's personal A.O. and I hear a lot of anger, but what about the "Big Picture"?   Who is going to run the show?  Where's the strategic planning?
There is a lot of tactical planning but there doesn't appear to be any thought toward "what comes after".  Who takes over the governance of the country?  Surely not those in government today?  They are the ones we have allowed to create the problems we are suffering today.

Do we just devolve into anarchy?  That appears to be the course we would take.  Perhaps in a hundred years or so a new government would develop.  In the meantime we just step back to the pre-industrial era and start over.  Perhaps that isn't such a bad idea, though I think the Globalists have different plans for us.

How do we get to where we want to be?

Hmmmmm.....  How did the civil rights movement of the 60s succeed?  Participation.  People getting off their couches and hitting the streets.  They didn't stop until they got what they were after.  They made the compromises they needed to but they never quit.  In fact, they were successful because they had a plan.  They had a vision.

How did the hippies of the 60s and early 70s get Nixon to end the draft war in Viet Nam?  They (loosely) organized.  They hit the streets every day until Nixon announced that the draft would end.  (The war ended shortly thereafter)  They were never really protesting the war.  They were all of draft age and that's what they were protesting.  The draft.  The war was inconvenient as long as the draft existed.  Those same people are now running the businesses that got the bailouts and the government that gave the bailouts to them.  Funny how that works.

It takes people getting off their asses and hitting the streets.  Do you think that 10,000 people demonstrating every weekend in Tucson would get Sheriff Dupnik to rethink the need for SWAT in that city? 

Would 100,000 people on the mall in Washington every weekend get the PTB to rethink the current violations of our constitutional rights?  Or in Des Moines or Springfield or any other state capitol?  Perhaps the focus should be on States Rights?

How have the unions been so successful in getting what they want?  They get people off their asses and hit the streets.  They get loud and in your face until their demands (or an acceptable compromise) are met.

T.L. Davis had the right idea last year with The Guardians of Liberty.  I know Mr. Davis only through his blog and a few personal emails that were sent back and forth between us, but I respect him greatly.  He believed in what he was doing and he sacrificed greatly to follow through on his beliefs.  Sadly, it didn't work out.  That certainly doesn't mean that it can't work out.  The question is whether or not it's too late.

The problem, as I see it, is that we're a bunch of Conservatives.  We are different than the Liberals who have taken this country over.  Liberals want to know about and control every facet of your life.  They want to take your money to create an impossible Utopia.  They will get in your face, they will belittle you and call you names, they will do whatever is necessary to have the last word.  They don't think.  They are emotional and everything that they say or do is based on that emotion.  The mentality of the herd rules their lives.

Conservatives just want to be left alone to live their lives quietly.  They want to be able to elect their leaders and trust that things will be taken care of properly and honestly.  They want to keep most of what they earn and they want to decide for themselves who, if anyone, to give the spoils of their labor to.  They want to be fair and honest and they expect the same from those they meet.  They believe in individual responsibility and individual accountability. 

Our government is doing everything in it's power to keep the two sides apart.  The Conservatives and the Liberals will not even sit down and talk to each other.  Compromise isn't in the vocabulary anymore.  Uncontrolled immigration and "multiculturism" are destroying our identity.  No one has the balls to demand that coming to America requires becoming an American.  Globalism will fail.  Socialism has failed everywhere that it's been tried.  Multiculturism is failing all over Europe.  National identities are falling by the wayside.

So, how do we fix the mess we've allowed ourselves to be drug into?  I still believe that it can be done.  I still believe that Americans are different than other people.  I still believe that Americans are exceptional.  America is more than a country on a map.  America is a state of mind, an idea.  We will have failed when we all believe the Socialists, the Globalists, the Statists....   They are wrong.

I still believe in the goodness of America and Americans.  Tell me, is it too late to fix it without widespread violence and upheaval?

My rant is over.  Words on a screen.

Stay safe.

Think about it....

Stay safe.

What do you think....?

"We are witnessing the unprecedented takeover of the mass psyche of not only this country, but the world in general. Any part of the world that has access to the mass media, propagated of course and injected into the subconscious by television primarily. I believe now that the mass media combine in this country, whether it be people magazine in print, whether it be MTV and all rest of the visual media, whether it be audio through the music, it doesn’t matter. I believe that combine of media is now to a large degree the actual virtual consciousness and brain of the majority of the masses of this country. I believe it thinks for them, I believe it decides for them, I believe they are hopelessly and irrevocably consulting with it 24 hours a day without even knowing it, because of the ability to project into the subconscious and the conscious mind all the time the imagery, the thoughts, the processes, the boundaries. I believe we are living now with people in a secondary role to a virtual consciousness and brain that has been created with utter and full intent."   ~~Jeff Rense

Of course Rense is a crazy man.  Radical Liberal or crazy Conservative.  Both, perhaps?  Neither?  Perhaps non-definable.  Perhaps correct.  :)  Scary, eh?  Whoa!  Maybe he's the only one who is sane?

Possibly 5% of the population question the government/media/industrial/business establishment.  That isn't very many questioners.  The balance, the other 95%, meekly follow along.  Why would that be?  Why would so few question the blatantly obvious criminality that occurs at all levels of life in Amerika?  How can it be possible that so few are willing to think in this country?  Perhaps they aren't capable of thought, especially original thought?  What percentage of the 5% who do think are willing to speak up?  What percentage are willing to take action?  You will have to use your own deductive reasoning and critical thinking ability to solve that one.  Ya gotta love it, eh?

I admit that the stated 5% statistic, like most statistics, is an arbitrary number.  I made it up.  It is, though, made up based loosely on my day to day interaction with the 200 or so people who are employed by the company that I manage.  If anything, the 5% estimate is probably on the generous side.  I'm a bit of an optimist.  LOL.

While you're enjoying your beers and picnics and the recreational activities that you will be participating in this weekend, take a moment to consider the men and women who have given their lives for you so that you can continue to enjoy these freedoms.  Take a moment to consider also, that these freedoms are rapidly disappearing.  Understand that the vast majority of your fellow citizens are oblivious to this.  They don't know and they don't care.

Stay safe.

Unusual request....

Dear President Obama:

I am writing today with a somewhat unusual request. First and foremost, I will be asking that you return America to its August 20th, 1959 borders so that Hawaii is no longer a state and you are no longer a citizen.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Lest anyone believe this is a real note from Bibi to obama let me assure you that it is satire.

Stay safe.

Yo!

Am I the only one having trouble commenting on some of the other blogspot blogs?

It's been a  pain in the ass for the past couple days.

I don't think I have a 'puter issue....  I suspect a Blogger issue.  Or a Google issue.  Perhaps it's an obama issue?  :)

Next topic:

The Patriot Act extensions passed today. 

The biggest threat to Amerika today is our own government. 

Harry Reid is a creep.  He acts like a terrorist.  A lot of them act like terrorists.  Reid has no class.  None.  He disgusts me.

Tyrants.

Stay safe.

Conflicting stories....

Read this.

They are only 3 weeks late in picking the story up.  I can forgive that.  Wonder if they'll pick up Gunwalker now?

Stay safe.

Hmmm....

Stay safe.

Perhaps it isn't Soros....

Kurt over at Trainwreck made a comment to a previous blog post regarding the young first female as she was growing up on the south side of Chicago.  I had to find an old article I had saved because I had a vague recollection that things in her formative years weren't quite as she had portrayed them during obama's campaign. 

As I re-read the article from The Daily Mail, the thought crossed my my mind that perhaps it isn't Soros or some high powered globalist pulling obama's strings.  Perhaps it's michelle.  Perhaps she dictates his every move.

She's obviously a radical.  She's obviously a control freak.  She's obviously a social climber.  She worships money.  She appears to be a racist. 

There are any number of articles out there detailing her youth.  They all say pretty much the same thing.  There is no doubt that she isn't the person she portrayed herself to be as her husband was campaigning to be POTUS.  She's a typical person who uses whatever power and influence that are available to her to get what she wants.  Her motives and actions have appeared to be to benefit herself rather than the "common good".  Typical Socialist.  Typical Elitist.  Typical racist.  "I think I'll just get on the Big Bird and fly to Europe for a few days with several of my closest friends to shove it in Whitey's face"  Nothing unique.  Nothing special.

Perhaps she's as crazy as he is?

"For the first time in my adult life I'm proud of my country"

Just a thought. 

Enjoy the Rapture.

Stay safe.

Newt vs. Newt....

From an email I received from a friend out east....

"I agree that all of us have a responsibility to help pay for health care. And I think that there are ways to do it that make most libertarians relatively happy. I've said consistently, where there's some requirement you either have health insurance or you post a bond or in some way you indicate you're going to be held accountable." --Newt Gingrich on "Meet the Press" Sunday

"I am completely opposed to the ObamaCare mandate on individuals. I fought it for two and a half years. ... I am against any effort to impose a mandate on anyone because I believe it is fundamentally wrong and unconstitutional." -- Newt Gingrich in a campaign video Monday

This would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Stay safe.

As an aside....

It's good to see that the people of this country are beginning to realize that the money their government spends so freely doesn't really come from some secret grove of money trees.  They are beginning to finally realize that it comes from THEM.  Duh!  The masses are beginning to grumble :)  It's pretty simple in my house:  If I can't afford it I don't buy it.

And obama threw Israel under the bus.  Anyone who didn't see that one coming is an idiot too stupid for words.  I think that the criminal in chief has a few more nasty tricks up his sleeve.  Who is watching this clown?  He's crazy, ya know.  Certifiable.

The first female can't dance and, in my opinion, she shouldn't try.  She looks very un-first female-ish.  "Your momma don't dance and your daddy don't rock and roll"....  The dress with one sleeve doesn't do it for me either.  Looks like something that would be worn by a woman on the prowl on the south side.

I read an article in the local newspaper tonight comparing Romneycare and obamacare.  The writer proposes that the difference between the two is that the people of Massachussets helped draft and then voted on Romneycare.  obamacare?  That's an all-together different story.  Crafted by statists and then shoved up our collective arses in the middle of the night.  I can't believe that Nan and Harry along with the rest of the clowns haven't been put in jail.  Robbery by any other name is still robbery, and half of us are getting robbed.

Stay safe.

New to the hood....

                                                               New to the hood....

Not new to the hood....

There has been some construction going on about a half mile from my house for about a year.  Never knew what it was.  Figured it was another new medical speciality office or lawyer office.  I was wrong.  It does appear to be in compliance with ADA requirements.

I hope they're peaceful Muslims.

Stay safe.

An email I received....

We will never see this again

Thought you'd enjoy this one!
This one you want your Children and Grandchildren to read.

They won’t believe this happened, but it DID.
Harry & Bess
This seems unreal.....



Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 42 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence, Missouri . His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.

When he retired from office in 1952, his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an 'allowance' and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them.

When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating,"You don't want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale.."Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, "I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise."

As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale. (sic. Illinois )

Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, "My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!

I say dig him up and clone him!!

This is not sent for discussion.

Enjoy life now-it has an expiration

 date!

Stay Safe.

If you....

Stay safe.

The 4th Amendment died today....

Supreme Court rules that the 4th can be turned off and on at will by the police....

Read it here.

8-1 with Ginsburg being the only dissenting vote.

Sad day in Amerika.

Indiana ruled last week that you have no right to defend yourself against the cops.  You get to take it to court after the fact (assuming you survive) and hope for a remedy in your favor there.

Pima County, Arizona Sheriff's SWAT Deputies said that they pulled up to Jose Guerena's house with lights and sirens blaring to do a drug investigation.  That statement defies logic.  He grabbed his AR to defend his family.  Never even got the safety off.  71 rounds fired by the police in approximately 7 seconds.  They left him lying for over an hour while he bled out.  Para-Medics were on the scene within 2 minutes but weren't allowed to help him for "security" reasons.  He had served two tours in Iraq and one in A'Stan with the Marines.  Google his name and start reading.  It'll make you sick.  Oh yeah, his wife and 4 year old son were present.   Something fishy here.

Does anyone else see a problem with any of this?  This is fucked up.

Stay safe.

Health tip....

Mini Rant....

Used to be that we heard about the TSA violating our 4th Amendment rights nearly every day.   Not so much anymore.  They still do it.  Every day.  In fact, they're expanding their illegal activities.

The controversy over the "phony" long form birth certificate disappeared almost as soon as it was presented.  Is it still "phony"?  Either it is, or it isn't.  I say it's phony.

Osama Bin Laden is almost forgotten.  obama is a hero.  Disgusting.

You hear about the Ground Zero Mosque about once a.....  Well.  You hardly ever hear about that anymore.  Must be that it's no longer an issue.  It's kinda like the New Nazi Party setting up a recruiting booth outside the gates of Dachau.

Gunwalker was a non-starter with the public.  It's still alive on the Conservative blogs, but you have to know where to look to find it.  I'm sure that Grassley and Issa plan to keep going with it, but whatever happens with it, it won't see the light of day with the public in general.  The current administration allowed guns to be "walked" from American soil to the drug cartels in Mexico from whence they made it back into the U.S. and were used in the murder of at least one American law enforcement officer.  Who knows how many other Americans have been killed by these weapons that the American government gave to the Mexican drug cartels?

Unemployment?  The unemployed are apparently suffering in silence.  A few jobs are added each month but the overall rate keeps rising.  It's rarely mentioned anymore.

The economy?  We're bored with it.  Milk is up a dollar a gallon from a year ago.  Gas is almost double what it was then.  No one cares.  It's just the way it is.

The Marxist in the White house has us right where he wants us.  We don't care.  The daily dose of corruption and bad news has overloaded our senses and we don't even hear it anymore.

Apathy.

The corrupt criminals in government win.

Have a nice day.  :)

Stay safe.

http://blog.usni.org/2011/05/12/and-then-i-think-of-brian-blonder/

Just one week after the killing of our most sought after enemy by our country’s premiere assaultmen the headlines have turned predictably back to what (sadly) matters most to far too many Americans…back to National Football League infighting, and reality television, and 5 dollar gas and Lindsay Lohan, and on and on and on.

Just one week after history has altered course into an irreconcilable unknown with our most lethal enemy since World War II – the Islamist – more attention is spent in the collective daily consciousness on meaningless self-indulgence than on asking the question our grandparents so circumspectly posed after Hitler fell and Hirohito’s Japan remained: What now?

The times are indeed grim when our violent land wars are fought by less than 1% of a population that cannot even identify where their fellow countrymen are doing the fighting and killing and bleeding and winning on their behalf.  This sort of thing makes me sad.

And then I think of Brian Blonder.

On the tenth of this May there was no more magnificent stage in all the world than the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.  Though this sacred place holds only nominal natural elevation, it seems high enough, I think, to peer into our national soul.  And so when a man goes there, his heart races.  And his breath shortens.  And his muscles tighten.  And his eyes water because this is our American Everest.

It was on this stage – at the foot of our nation’s highest moral terrain – that Brian Blonder received the second highest award given for valor in the face of danger for his actions during an all-day firefight against Taliban insurgents Aug. 8, 2008, during the battle of Shewan, Afghanistan in which he led Marines and Sailors and innovated and persevered and dealt death to more than 50 Taliban fighters and drove the rest from that terrible village in the southern Farah province.

It was aside our American Everest  that those attending were reminded, if only for the duration of the ceremony itself, why this nation will endure after all – not because of Yankee versus Red Sox baseball, or free speech, or an independent judiciary (though all of that is quite important, indeed) – but because of the United States Marine Corps, and the weight carried by a few words displayed on a large sign in the foreground of the ceremony concerning the title, Marine…

Earned.  Never Given.

The victory in Shewan that day by an out-gunned Marine platoon had everything to do with ‘earning it’ and this incredible defeat of a fierce enemy was not only a function of the tremendous leadership of Captain Byron Owen and Gunnery Sergeant Brian Blonder but also of their men’s unbridled courage and lethality.  It was a day that required extraordinary Marines perform extraordinarily.  And so they did.  And so they won.

Brian Blonder will tell you he just did his job.  But that he could have done better here.  Here.  And here.  And he’ll tell you his Marines just did their job as well.  Then he’d just assume have a sip of black coffee and a pinch of Copenhagen…and set out on a long run with a heavy ruck into the mountains.  Alone.

That sort of quiet-professionalism might just be expected from one of Tennessee’s native sons.  Tennessee, a state which produced more soldiers for the Confederate Army than any other state, and more soldiers for the Union Army than any other Southern state, has a reputation for producing hard men built for war…but more than this, Gunny Blonder, who would no doubt rather be training in sweaty utilities than standing at attention in sweaty dress blues, understands that the 10^th of May wasn’t about him at all.  The 10^th of May was about what he represented so well in battle: The United States Marine Corps.

And so these days when the thought of how few Americans have ever heard of Farah Province, Afghanistan or seen Arlington for themselves makes me sad…

I think of Brian Blonder.

CITATION

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy while serving as Platoon Sergeant, Force Reconnaissance Platoon, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Marine Corps Forces Central Command (Forward) on 8 August 2008 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Gunnery Sergeant Blonder was leading a dismounted patrol through the city of Shewan when his platoon came under intense rocket propelled grenade, mortar and machinegun fire that destroyed a vehicle and trapped several Marines in the kill zone 150 meters away from the enemy. Gunnery Sergeant Blonder exposed himself time and again to heavy fire as he coordinated the suppression of the enemy so that the Marines could be recovered.  Later in the battle, Gunnery Sergeant Blonder personally led a flanking attack on the enemy trench system through countless volleys of machinegun and rocket propelled grenade fire. He continued to press the attack as the platoon penetrated further into the trenches in order to defeat the enemy.  Gunnery Sergeant Blonder’s tactical ability, superior marksmanship and aggressive fighting spirit inspired the platoon to continually advance on the enemy despite being highly outnumbered.  He was a driving force during the eight hour battle and pushed the platoon to gain and maintain the momentum against the enemy until they were destroyed. Gunnery Sergeant Blonder’s valorous actions helped reduce a major enemy stronghold as his platoon killed over fifty enemy fighters, destroying several Taliban cells and opening the highway in Shewan to coalition convoys. By his bold leadership, wise judgment, and complete dedication to duty, Gunnery Sergeant Blonder reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

This story brings a tear to my eye knowing that some folks just do what's right because it's just who they are.  Some will never get it.

Stay safe.

LSU....

Updated: Wednesday, 11 May 2011, 10:09 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 11 May 2011, 1:22 PM EDT

NEWSCORE - A mob of angry protesters chased a would-be flag burner at Louisiana State University (LSU) off campus Wednesday to chants of "USA, USA."
Graduate communications student Benjamin Haas had earlier been given permission by the school to burn the flag. But because he lacked a local burn permit, he agreed instead to read a statement in an area of the university known as free speech alley.

As Haas read the statement, a crowd around him erupted into cheers and jeers, many shouting "Go to hell, hippie, go to hell."

"You had a lot of people on both sides of the debate getting into a lot of fights," said James Haralson, manager of Tiger TV, the university television station. "The students started yelling obscenities at him. People started throwing bottles at him."

Fox News reports that Haas' actions were in response to the arrest of another student, who was charged with taking and burning the American flag once posted at LSU's War Memorial. That incident came just hours after Osama bin Laden's killing by US Navy SEALS last week.

Haralson, who filmed the protest, said Haas was surrounded by police officers on horseback and as they protest swelled, they moved him to a safer location.
"At that point, all the students began rushing him, continuing to throw trash at him," he said. "He was finally escorted into a cop car in the street and students were banging on the cop car."
LSU spokesman Ernie Ballard said the school endorsed neither Haas' actions, nor those of the crowd around him.

Word of the potential burning had sparked pockets of anger throughout the campus.
"It's time that my generation stand up for what they believe in and exercise their freedom of speech and let people know that we are not OK with this," said Cody Wells, the student government association president. "I am angry that an individual would want to do this at a public higher education institution."

Stay safe.

Action....

The Barack Obama SEAL Team Six Action Figure

Herobuilders.com

After the excitement of hearing that President Obama orchestrated the strike and kill against Osama bin Laden, it didn't take long to put out an action figure of the Commander in Chief.
Oxford, Conn.-based toymaker Herobuilders, who last brought you action figures of the Old Spice Guy, Dos Equis Beer's "The Most Interesting Man in the World" and Allstate Insurance's "Mayhem," have created a super-bad SEAL Team Six replica of the 44th President in full urban fatigue gear, wearing a "Punisher" t-shirt with the numeral 6 printed on it, and carrying a military issue M4A1 rifle.

Stay safe.

Dirty jobs....

Mike Rowe's Testimony Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and TransportationMay 11, 2011

Chairman Rockefeller, Ranking Member Hutchison and members of this committee, my name is Mike Rowe, and I want to thank you all very much for the opportunity to testify before you today.

I'm here today because of my grandfather. His name was Carl Knobel, and he made his living in Baltimore as a master electrician. He was also a plumber, a mechanic, a mason, and a carpenter. Everyone knew him as a jack-of-all-trades. I knew him as a magician.

For most of his life, my grandfather woke up clean and came home dirty. In between, he accomplished things that were nothing short of miraculous. Some days he might re-shingle a roof. Or rebuild a motor. Or maybe run electricity out to our barn. He helped build the church I went to as a kid, and the farmhouse my brothers and I grew up in. He could fix or build anything, but to my knowledge he never once read the directions. He just knew how stuff worked.

I remember one Saturday morning when I was 12. I flushed the toilet in the same way I always had. The toilet however, responded in a way that was completely out of character. There was a rumbling sound, followed by a distant gurgle. Then, everything that had gone down reappeared in a rather violent and spectacular fashion.

Naturally, my grandfather was called in to investigate, and within the hour I was invited to join he and my dad in the front yard with picks and shovels.

By lunch, the lawn was littered with fragments of old pipe and mounds of dirt. There was welding and pipe-fitting, blisters and laughter, and maybe some questionable language. By sunset we were completely filthy. But a new pipe was installed, the dirt was back in the hole, and our toilet was back on its best behavior. It was one of my favorite days ever.

Thirty years later in San Francisco when my toilet blew up again. This time, I didn't participate in the repair process. I just called my landlord, left a check on the kitchen counter, and went to work. When I got home, the mess was cleaned up and the problem was solved. As for the actual plumber who did the work, I never even met him.

It occurred to me that I had become disconnected from a lot of things that used to fascinate me. I no longer thought about where my food came from, or how my electricity worked, or who fixed my pipes, or who made my clothes. There was no reason to. I had become less interested in how things got made, and more interested in how things got bought.

At this point my grandfather was well into his 80s, and after a long visit with him one weekend, I decided to do a TV show in his honor. Today, Dirty Jobs is still on the air, and I am here before this committee, hoping to say something useful. So, here it is.


I believe we need a national PR Campaign for Skilled Labor. A big one. Something that addresses the widening skills gap head on, and reconnects the country with the most important part of our workforce.

Right now, American manufacturing is struggling to fill 200,000 vacant positions. There are 450,000 openings in trades, transportation and utilities. The skills gap is real, and it's getting wider. In Alabama, a third of all skilled tradesmen are over 55. They're retiring fast, and no one is there to replace them.

Alabama's not alone. A few months ago in Atlanta I ran into Tom Vilsack, our Secretary of Agriculture. Tom told me about a governor who was unable to move forward on the construction of a power plant. The reason was telling. It wasn't a lack of funds. It wasn't a lack of support. It was a lack of qualified welders.

In general, we're surprised that high unemployment can exist at the same time as a skilled labor shortage. We shouldn't be. We've pretty much guaranteed it.

In high schools, the vocational arts have all but vanished. We've elevated the importance of "higher education" to such a lofty perch that all other forms of knowledge are now labeled "alternative." Millions of parents and kids see apprenticeships and on-the-job-training opportunities as "vocational consolation prizes," best suited for those not cut out for a four-year degree. And still, we talk about millions of "shovel ready" jobs for a society that doesn't encourage people to pick up a shovel.

In a hundred different ways, we have slowly marginalized an entire category of critical professions, reshaping our expectations of a "good job" into something that no longer looks like work. A few years from now, an hour with a good plumber if you can find one is going to cost more than an hour with a good psychiatrist. At which point we'll all be in need of both.


I came here today because guys like my grandfather are no less important to civilized life than they were 50 years ago. Maybe they're in short supply because we don't acknowledge them they way we used to. We leave our check on the kitchen counter, and hope the work gets done. That needs to change.


My written testimony includes the details of several initiatives designed to close the skills gap, all of which I've had the privilege to participate in. Go Build Alabama, I Make America, and my own modest efforts through Dirty Jobs and mikeroweWORKS. I'm especially proud to announce "Discover Your Skills," a broad-based initiative from Discovery Communications that I believe can change perceptions in a meaningful way.

I encourage you to support these efforts, because closing the skills gap doesn't just benefit future tradesmen and the companies desperate to hire them. It benefits people like me, and anyone else who shares my addiction to paved roads, reliable bridges, heating, air conditioning, and indoor plumbing.


The skills gap is a reflection of what we value. To close the gap, we need to change the way the country feels about work.


Stay safe.

Whatever....

"WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's approval rating has hit its highest point in two years – 60 percent – and more than half of Americans now say he deserves to be re-elected, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll taken after U.S. forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
In worrisome signs for Republicans, the president's standing improved not just on foreign policy but also on the economy, and independent Americans – a key voting bloc in the November 2012 presidential election – caused the overall uptick in support by sliding back to Obama after fleeing for much of the past two years."

Read it all here....

All I can say is "Bullshit".

When you own the media they will say whatever you want them to.

We've got problems.

Stay safe.

Friends, and such....

http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/08/malik-gives-zardaris-message-to-saudi-king.html

By Syed Rashid Husain

The unscheduled visit and presence of the cream of Saudi leadership at the meeting between Mr Malik and King Abdullah set off a wave of speculations in Riyadh. Some observers saw the occasion as an aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s killing while some others linked it to, what they said, was an effort by Washington to reset its ties with Islamabad and Riyadh in the wake of the Arab uprising. The Saudi leaders who attended the meeting included Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal, Chief of General Intelligence Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, Secretary General of the National Security Council Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Minister of State and Commander of the National Guard Prince Miteb bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Adviser to the King, Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Abdulaziz bin Ibrahim Al Ghadir.
Mr Malik was accompanied by Ayaz Mohammad Khan, Pakistan’s charge d’ affaires in Riyadh.
According to sources, the post-Osama scenario and recent developments were examined at length. The two sides pledged to stand by each other in times of need. They agreed to continue consulting and coordinating with each other on every major development.According to political analysts, an exchange of high-level visits in the weeks ahead cannot be ruled out.
The interior minister’s visit came at a time when fingers are increasingly being pointed in Washington towards Islamabad and its security apparatus over the presence of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. Some press reports over the past few days have indicated that Saudi Arabia and Turkey had tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to persuade Pakistan to hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States.

So....  To summarize:  "Some press reports over the past few days have indicated that Saudi Arabia and Turkey had tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to persuade Pakistan to hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States."

Hmmmm....  So our allies, Turkey and The House of Saud,  knew where Osama was at and didn't tell us?

Hmmmmm.........

Stay safe

Schooled....

Wanna see Lawrence O'Donnell get schooled by Condi Rice?  It's pretty good :)

Surf on over to Little Miss Atilla's site and check it out.

You can't use logic (or facts) with a Liberal.

Another link to interesting things is here.  The best part, of course, is the comments.  Read the comments and you'll understand why Liberals are called Moonbats.  Their maturity level is astounding.  All I can do is shake my head.  I know that Liberals consider themselves highly educated and sophisticated.  I suspect they have no idea how stupid they sound when they open their mouths....  (or hit their keyboards)

Anyway....

Stay safe.

Something different....

Earlville Truck Show....

The annual Earlville Truck Show and drag races.  All proceeds go to cancer research.  The wife and I met our #2 manchild over there and spent a couple of hours looking at trucks and watching the drag races.  (He drove the gray Peterbilt cabover in pic #1 over yesterday) 

A (barely) sub 20 run on the 1/8 mile Tri State Dragway seems pretty impressive.  65 mph range for top speed :)  Like I said, something different.  Good people there. 

Should have gone over last night and watched the truck rodeo and truck pulls....  The manchild says that a bit of beer was downed :)  Ahhh well.....

Stay safe.

Saturday....

"Often has a man lost his all because he would not submit to hazard all in defending it."~~Edmund Burke

"Liberty means responsibility, that's why most men dread it"
~~George Bernard Shaw

"Any worker in any field who believes that he'll benefit if the boss suffers business reverse is, quite simply, too stupid for continued employment." ~~Michael Medved

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." ~~ George Orwell

"Technology is a wonderful thing, eh? I'm not sure that we can believe anything anymore, as everything can be manipulated to be whatever anyone wants it to be." ~~Paul Buchanan


On another topic:

The first female is coming to our little town today.  She is giving a commencement speech (written by a gentlemen from Strawberry Point, a small town just down the road a piece)  at the local university.  I'm underwhelmed. 

Me?  I'm getting ready to leave town to go to Earlville to see a truck show.  My middle son is showing a Peterbilt cabover this weekend.  Should be fun.

Stay safe.

Interesting article over at Free North Carolina.  Brock seems to have a way of finding the most interesting and relevant pieces.

Our European friends (?) seem to be experiencing some delayed righteous indignation after the "killing" of Osama Bin Laden.  None of them have come right out and said that it was a political move to bolster the sagging poll numbers of obama, but thats what they are getting at.  Well DUH!!!!  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.  P.S. They've never really, except for a few exceptions, been our friends.

Looks like everyone in the world realizes that obama is just another politician without morals or ethics.  He is out of touch with the majority of Americans.  His worshipers in the media scream loud and long to make it seem like he has more support than he, in reality, does.  The facade will crumble.

I'll say again, Osama needed to be removed.

I'll also repeat that I believe the aftermath of his assassination was a very poorly run circus led by the consumate amateur trying to stay in power and to jump start his reelection bid.  I find that to be pathetic.

Anyway....

Stay safe.   

Truth....

Perhaps it's true that al Qaeda was (is?) planning to attack a U.S. train on the anniversary of 9-11.  Who knows?

Sadly, I don't believe anything that comes from the mouth of the current administration.   I trust them about as far as I can throw them.  They lost all credibility long ago.  Probably before the 2008 election.  It was a sham.  Its still a sham.

I believe that any "information" gleaned from Osama Bin Laden's computers will be used for one thing only....  The reelection campaign of barack hussein obama.

Call me jaded.

Stay safe.

Liars....

So, Mikey Moore is pissed that obama is lying about the circumstances of Osama's death.  Liberals upset with their leader over semantics.  That's good stuff.  Read it here.  Osama is dead.  It doesn't matter how he died.  Lets go get some  more al Qaeda leaders in the same fashion.  Make them afraid to even go out to the outhouse to take a dump.  The Liberals are getting ready to eat their young.  Love it!  Next story....

 I'm sitting here wondering why the MSM hasn't picked up and ran with the Gunwalker hearings?  They've ignored the investigative process up to this point.  They Crucified Nixon over Watergate and tried to crucify Reagan over Iran-Contra, neither of which were of the magnitude of Gunwalker.  This administration's dirty deals make Nixon look like a choirboy and Reagan look like a saint in comparison.  This is the biggest government corruption story of the past decade.  Just sayin'....

There will come a point in time when the media realizes that they are accomplices to the criminal acts of this administration.   Will they be held accountable? 

Oh well....

Stay safe.

Backpedaling....

I've been getting a kick out of watching the White House backpedal on what happened in Bin Laden's "mansion".

Was he using a woman as a human shield?  Yes?  No? 

Did he fire on U.S. troops?  Yes?  No?

Did he even have a weapon in his hand?  Yes?  No?

Did he resist?  Yes?  No?

Advice:  Watch the video again before you go on the air or do an interview.  Get your story straight.  Stick as close to the truth as you can.  If you lie you'll get caught.  When you get caught you lose even more credibility.

More thoughts on this topic later.  Maybe.

Stay safe.

1997....

"The U.S. wants to occupy our countries, steal our resources, impose agents on us to rule us and then wants us to agree to all this. If we refuse to do so, it says we are terrorists... Wherever we look, we find the U.S. as the leader of terrorism and crime in the world."  ~~Osama Bin Laden  1997

Bothering me....

Do I believe that Osama Bin Laden is dead?  Yes, definitely.  Why?  Because saying he is if he isn't is too big a lie even for the obama administration.

I watched obama's speech last night.  I can't say that I was in shock or even surprised that he was reporting the death of Bin Laden..  It had to happen sooner or later.  I was trying to take it all in, to understand the details of what obama was reading off the teleprompter.... 

He said that Bin Laden was killed after a firefight in his compound in Pakistan.  After a firefight.  Surely he meant during a firefight.  He thumped his chest several times and said "I" authorized it, always accentuating the "I".  obama said that we went in there with the intention of killing Osama.  Sounded like a stump speech where the speaker was attempting to make the point to his audience that he is a leader.  "Look what I did..."  "Look at the decision I made...."

I spent quite a few years in the Army and I am certainly not naive' enough to believe that we always play fair.  I am not naive' enough to believe that we wouldn't neutralize a target then take that target aside and execute it.  Sometimes it's the best way.  It's ugly, no doubt.  Sometimes it's justified, like in this case.  It certainly doesn't compare to what he did to America on September 11th, 2001.

What I wouldn't expect to happen is to hear the President of the United States brag to the world that we had gone into a bad guy's compound with the express purpose of assassinating him.  I wouldn't expect him to emphasize the "I" when talking about who was responsible for giving the order.  It makes one appear to have a confidence problem that he's trying to hide.  "I gave the order..." as opposed to "I gave the order...."  There is a difference.

Assassination is the kind of thing you don't talk about in polite company.  There are details you don't share with the world.  Assassination is a nasty business.   It is frowned upon by nearly the entire civilized world, at least publicly.  It's one of those things that we know happens, but we don't brag about it.  We participate in it but we don't talk about it.

obama's security chief has spent the day today gently letting the media know that capture was an option, even after obama said last night that it wasn't..  It appears to me that obama made a mistake (by telling the truth) in his speech and he knows it.  Now they have to fix it.  They can't be too loud about it or people will realize that they are trying to cover something up.

Osama was a bad man.  He deserved to die.  I have no qualms whatever about that.  None.

I do have a problem with an American President, any American President, using it to further his political career or to boost his reelection chances.

For a moment or two last night I almost saw obama as being "Presidential" for the very first time.  Just for a moment.

I thought of all the people who died on September 11th, 2001, and those who have died since then in the attempt to make things right.  Osama Bin Laden got what he deserved.  I have no doubt about that.  I'm glad that some young Seal was able to look him in the eye and then pull the trigger to dispatch him from this world.

Last night's speech is going to motivate al Qaeda.  More so than killing Osama and protecting the details of how he died would have.  Americans will forget about this in a week or so.  Something else will come along to distract us.  We have short attention spans.  al Qaeda won't forget.  I'm not saying that's right or wrong.  It's just the way it is.

Perhaps I'm reading too much into this.  Perhaps my lack of respect for obama is coloring my judgement. 

Bin Laden is dead.  Why do I care how it was handled after the fact?  Why do I care how it was presented to the world?  Justice is served.  I should just be satisfied with that.

I care because I believe that al Qaeda will respond with a vengeance.  I think more people, more Americans, are going to die unnecessarily because of this speech.  I hope that I'm wrong.  I hope al Qaeda believes that all is lost and that they walk away and end the madness. 

Not likely.

Stay safe.

The fight goes on....

"The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done."  ~~George W. Bush  1 MAY 11

Stay safe.

Dead....

Osama Bin Laden is dead through American military action.

The United States is in posession of his body.

Not to nit-pik, but obama probably should have said that Bin Laden was killed during a firefight rather than after a firefight.... 

Navy Seals, as the story goes.

Stay safe.

Associations....

Here is a link to a very interesting article about "Billy Ayers", a Chicago associate of barack obama.  None of this is new information, just information that the MSM tried to quash during the campaign for the 2008 Presidential election.  It was all out there then, we simply failed to read it or, if it was read, it wasn't taken seriously enough.

Ayers and his group The Weather Underground weren't original thinkers.  Their Manifesto and all of their plans were adopted from other "revolutionaries" and blended together to make something they called their own.  People like Karl Marx and Che Guevara.

I don't have a particular opinion on what is written in the essay that the link will take you to.  It's typical revolutionary philosophy.  It could be used in many situations.  Ayers wanted to take over the government of the United States and replace it with what he called a Communist government.  It could just as easily be used to remove a Communist government and replace it with another form of government. I think that what Billy discovered was that you have to have a very large following of like minded thinkers who are willing to step up and do whatever is required in order to make the revolution work, a following that he didn't have. 

The people that Billy Ayers thought he could bring into his fold were the thousands upon thousands of "war protestors" that were hitting the streets of America every day.  He thought they were kindred souls.  On the surface they may have appeared to have the potential to be true revolutionaries.  What he didn't realize was the fact that they weren't really protesting the Viet Nam war.  They were protesting the draft.  They were protesting the possibility that they may be called to serve.  When Nixon proclaimed that the draft would end, the protests ended.  How ironic that these same people are the people in power in the United States today.  (I do realize that to be an oversimplification of the present situation)

I wonder if Billy ever considered the possibility that his "revolution" could be successful if it could be accomplished from within.  Perhaps find some bright young guy with sympathies similar to his own and groom him.  Perhaps if this person could become President....

If the American economy had become an entitlement economy, if enough people depended on the government for their livelihood, if enough people believed that they were entitled to a share of the wealth that the businesses and the producers created, perhaps communism in America would have a chance.....

Wait!  This is America!  That could never happen here.  We are responsible people, accountable to each other and to God.  We believe that if we want a better life we must simply work hard and we will be able to provide for ourselves and our families and our communities.  We can create any life that we desire.  We are a mighty, moral nation with a strong sense of integrity.  We can differentiate between right and wrong.  We always fight on the side of right.

It would be impossible to turn America into a Communist nation.  We'd have to first remove God from our society.  That could never happen.  We'd have to revise the history taught in our schools so that our children wouldn't know their proud heritage.  We'd have to teach them that their ancestors and The Founders had it all wrong.  That they had done it on the backs of the poor and downtrodden....  We'd have to make them believe that hard work isn't necessary for success.  We'd have to teach them, and make them believe, that responsibility and accountability aren't the foundation that everything else is built upon.  We wouldn't allow their feelings to be hurt because that could screw up their delicate little psyche....  If they were unable to pass the tests that measure success, we'd just lower the standards of the tests.... 

You see, Bill Ayers had it all wrong.  Look at what would have to transpire to turn America, the greatest nation in the world, into a communist country.  It could never happen here.

Stay safe.

Imagine....

Stay safe.