Go and read this. Now.
THE RECLAMATION OF INDEPENDENCE « Taxes, Stupidity, and Death
The Six
30 August 2009
23 August 2009
Gun Toting Protester
By now, you have all seen the various stories on open carry at some of the town hall protests. I've withheld comment because the rest of the conservative and libertarian bloggers have done a great job covering this but I'm moved this morning to make an observation.
As you read the news stories and commentary you may, as I was, be struck by the wording. It runs along the lines of;
Gun toting protester
Armed protester
protesters open carrying
and such.
How about this? Substitute all those names and descriptions with
Citizen.
Just that, nothing more. See, the Second Amendment is a Civil Right. It's a given. It's the default setting. It is not the exception. Saying a Citizen is armed should be like saying water is wet. Well DUH! Is should be assumed that a Citizen will exercise his or her right to be armed wherever and whenever they damn well please.
I see the left and squishy right talking about seeing this as an attempt at violence and intimidation and I laugh. They just don't get it. American Citizens do not get intimidated by anyone and feel no need to try and do so to anyone else. Open carry is exercising a Right, nothing more. A Right we practice only on sufferance isn't a Right at all, it's privelege granted or rescinded by someone else.
Screw that. I'm a police officer and I do not feel fear at the thought or sight of armed Americans and if the reaction to open carry so far is any indication, neither do my brothers and sisters in other departments across this great country.
If the left and squishy right get their panties wadded at this exercise by law abiding Citizens then I for one am glad. It's just another indication that they do not understand what it means to be an American and helps to identify them for what they are.
Fascist news media we should be ignoring or Socialist politicians we should be firing as the case may be.
Do not be afraid. Do not allow yourself to be silenced. Exercise your rights, ALL your rights, confident in the knowledge that you are a Citizen and not a subject.
The Six
As you read the news stories and commentary you may, as I was, be struck by the wording. It runs along the lines of;
Gun toting protester
Armed protester
protesters open carrying
and such.
How about this? Substitute all those names and descriptions with
Citizen.
Just that, nothing more. See, the Second Amendment is a Civil Right. It's a given. It's the default setting. It is not the exception. Saying a Citizen is armed should be like saying water is wet. Well DUH! Is should be assumed that a Citizen will exercise his or her right to be armed wherever and whenever they damn well please.
I see the left and squishy right talking about seeing this as an attempt at violence and intimidation and I laugh. They just don't get it. American Citizens do not get intimidated by anyone and feel no need to try and do so to anyone else. Open carry is exercising a Right, nothing more. A Right we practice only on sufferance isn't a Right at all, it's privelege granted or rescinded by someone else.
Screw that. I'm a police officer and I do not feel fear at the thought or sight of armed Americans and if the reaction to open carry so far is any indication, neither do my brothers and sisters in other departments across this great country.
If the left and squishy right get their panties wadded at this exercise by law abiding Citizens then I for one am glad. It's just another indication that they do not understand what it means to be an American and helps to identify them for what they are.
Fascist news media we should be ignoring or Socialist politicians we should be firing as the case may be.
Do not be afraid. Do not allow yourself to be silenced. Exercise your rights, ALL your rights, confident in the knowledge that you are a Citizen and not a subject.
The Six
18 August 2009
Socialism
Norman Mattoon Thomas , the Socialist Party Candidate for President of the US, said this in a 1944 speech:
The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of " Liberalism," they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform.
If you look at whats happening today and whats happened over the past 65 or so years. It has come to pass. The man knew what he was talking about.
Sarge
The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of " Liberalism," they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform.
If you look at whats happening today and whats happened over the past 65 or so years. It has come to pass. The man knew what he was talking about.
Sarge
17 August 2009
Neal Boortz
Neal Boortz is a Texan, a lawyer, a Texas AGGIE (Texas A&M), and now a nationally syndicated talk show host from Atlanta. His commencement address to the graduates of Texas A&M is far different from what either the students or the faculty expected. His views are thought provoking.
'I am honored by the invitation to address you on this august occasion. It's about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to impress you; you'll have enough smoke blown up your bloomers today. And you can bet your tassels I'm not here to impress the faculty and administration. You may not like much of what I have to say, and that's fine. You will remember it though. Especially after about 10 years out in the real world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those of you who will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees. This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You've heard the old saying that those who can - do. Those who can't - teach. That sounds deliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth in insensitivity, just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies in compassion. Say good-bye to your faculty because now you are getting ready to go out there and do. These folks behind me are going to stay right here and teach. By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diploma doesn't mean the learning is over. When an FAA flight examiner handed me my private pilot's license many years ago, he said, 'Here, this is your ticket to learn.' The same can be said for your diploma. Believe me, the learning has just begun. Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact, you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much. You feel so much. You want to help so much. After all you're a compassionate and caring person, aren't you now? Well, isn't that just so extraordinarily special. Now, at this age, is as good a time as any to be a liberal, as good a time as any to know absolutely everything. You have plenty of time, starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in. Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath of reality down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty fast. including your own assessment of just how much you really know. So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality: Pay attention to the news, and listen to the words and phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Then, compare the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear from those evil, heartless, greedy conservatives. From the Left you will hear 'I feel.' From the Right you will hear 'I think.' From the Liberals you will hear references to groups - The Blacks, the Poor, The Rich, The Disadvantaged, and The Less Fortunate. From the Right you will hear references to individuals. On the Left you hear talk of group rights, on the Right, individual rights. That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They are pack animals whose identity is tied up in-group dynamics. Conservatives and Libertarians think - and, setting aside the theocracy crowd, their identity is centered on the individual. Liberals feel that their favored groups have enforceable rights to the property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives and Libertarians, I among them I might add, think that individuals have the right to protect their lives and their property from the plunder of the masses. In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely at your diplomas you will see that they have your individual names on them. Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity or sorority, but your name. Your group identity is going away. Your recognition and appreciation of your individual identity starts now. If, by the time you reach the age of 30, you do not consider yourself to be a libertarian or a conservative, rush right back here as quickly as you can and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcome you with open arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as you haven't developed an individual identity. Once again you will have to be willing to sign on to the group mentality you embraced during the past four years. Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open your eyes. You're going to actually get a full time job! You're also going to get a lifelong work partner. This partner isn't going to help you do your job. This partner is just going to sit back and wait for payday. This partner doesn't want to share in your effort, but in your earnings. Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent representing a strange and diverse group of people; an agent for every teenager with an illegitimate child; an agent for a research scientist who wanted to make some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeys grind their teeth. An agent for some poor demented hippie who considers herself to be a meaningful and talented artist, but who just can't manage to sell any of her artwork on the open market. Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any, job skills, but who wanted a job at City Hall. An agent for tin-horn dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping for American foreign aid. An agent for multi-million- dollar companies who want someone else to pay for their overseas advertising. An agent for everybody who wants to use the unimaginable power of this agency for their personal enrichment and benefit. That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressive government. Believe me, you will be awed by the unimaginable power this agent has. Power that you do not have. A power that no individual has, or ever will have. This agent has the legal power to use force, deadly force to accomplish its goals. You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up to you, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fill out, and move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one-ton gorilla. It will sleep anywhere it wants to. Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you become successful it>will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I'm sorry, there just isn't any way you can fire this agent of plunder, and you can't decrease its share of your income. That power rests with him, not you. So, here I am saying negative things to you about government. Well, be clear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrong to fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despise government for government is inherently evil. Yes, a necessary evil, but dangerous nonetheless, somewhat like a drug. Just as a drug that in the proper dosage can save your life, an overdose of government can be fatal. Now let's address a few things that have been crammed into your minds at this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge as soon as possible. These ideas may work well in academic environment, but they fail miserably out there in the real world. First is that favorite buzzword of the media, government and academia: Diversity! You have been taught that the real value of any group of people - be it a social group, an employee group, a management group, whatever - is based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal because diversity is based not on an individual's abilities or character, but on a person's identity and status as a member of a group. Yes, it's that liberal group identity thing again. Within the great diversity movement group identification - be it racial, gender based, or some other minority status - means more than the individual's integrity, character or other qualifications. Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmosphere where diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individual achievement and excellence actually count. No matter what your professors have taught you over the last four years, you are about to learn that diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence, ability, and individual hard work. From this day on every single time you hear the word 'diversity' you can rest assured that there is someone close by who is determined to rob you of every vestige of individuality you possess. We also need to address this thing you seem to have about 'rights.' We have witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called 'rights' in the last few decades, usually emanating from college campuses. You know the mantra: You have the right to a job, the right to a place to live, the right to a living wage, the right to health care, and the right to an education. You probably even have your own pet right - the right to a Beemer for instance, or the right to have someone else provide for that child you plan on downloading in a year or so. Forget it. Forget those rights! I'll tell you what your rights are! You have a right to live free, and to the results of 60% -75% of your labor. I'll also tell you have no right to any portion of the life or labor of another. You may, for instance, think that you have a right to health care. After all, Hillary said so, didn't she? But you cannot receive healthcare unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders some of his time - his life - to you. He may be willing to do this for compensation, but that's his choice. You have no 'right' to his time or property. You have no right to his or any other person's life or to any portion thereof. You may also think you have some 'right' to a job, a job with a living wage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a right to force your services on another person, and then the right to demand that this person compensate you with their money? Sorry, forget it. I am sure you would scream if some urban outdoorsmen (that would be 'homeless person' for those of you who don't want to give these less fortunate people a romantic and adventurous title) came to you and demanded his job and your money. The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have are simply exercising one of theirs - the right to be imbeciles. Their bein> imbeciles didn't cost anyone else either property or time. It's their right, and they exercise it brilliantly. By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase 'less fortunate' a bit ago when I was talking about the urban outdoorsmen? That phrase is a favorite of the Left. Think about it, and you'll understand why. To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk, spaced out on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is 'less fortunate' is to imply that a successful person - one with a job, a home and a future - is in that position because he or she was 'fortunate.' The dictionary says that fortunate means 'having derived good from an unexpected place.' There is nothing unexpected about deriving "good" from hard work. There is also nothing unexpected about deriving misery from choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street. If the Liberal Left can create the common perception that success and failure are simple matters of "fortune" or "luck", then it is easy to promote and justify their various income redistribution schemes. After all, we are just evening out the odds a little bit. This 'success equals luck' idea the liberals like to push is seen everywhere. Former Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refers to high-achievers as 'people who have won life's lottery.' He wants you to believe they are making the big bucks because they are lucky. It's not luck, my friends. It's choice. One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in a book by Og Mandino, entitled 'The Greatest Secret in the World.' The lesson? Very simple: "Use wisely your power of choice". That bum sitting on a heating grate and smelling like a wharf rat, he's there by choice. He is there because of the sum total of the choices he has made in his life. This truism is absolutely the hardest thing for some people to accept, especially those who consider themselves to be victims of something or other - victims of discrimination, bad luck, the system, capitalism, whatever. After all, nobody really wants to accept the blame for his or her position in life. Not when it is so much easier to point and say, 'Look! He did this to me!' than it is to look into a mirror and say, 'You S.O.B., you did this to me!' The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept the fact that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorably to either success or failure, however you define those terms. Some of the choices are obvious: Whether or not to stay in school, whether or not to get pregnant, whether or not to hit the bottle, whether or not to keep this job you hate until you get another better-paying job, or whether or not to save some of your money, or saddle yourself with huge payments for that new car. Some of the choices are seemingly insignificant: Whom to go to the movies with, whose car to ride home in, whether to watch the tube tonight, or read a book on investing. But, and you can be sure of this, each choice counts. Each choice is a building block - some large, some small. But each one is a part of the structure of your life. If you make the right choices, or if you make more right choices than wrong ones, something absolutely terrible may happen to you. Something unthinkable. You, my friend, could become one of the hated, the evil, the ugly, the feared, the filthy, the successful, and the rich. The rich basically serve two purposes in this country. First, they provide the investments, the investment capital, and the brains for the formation of new businesses. Businesses that hire people and businesses that send millions of paychecks home each week to the un-rich. Second, the rich are a wonderful object of ridicule, distrust, and hatred. Few things are more valuable to a politician than the envy most Americans feel for the evil rich. Envy is a powerful emotion. Even more powerful than the emotional minefield that surrounded Bill Clinton when he reviewed his last batch of White House interns. Politicians use envy to get votes and power. And they keep that power by promising the envious that the envied will be punished: the rich will pay their fair share of taxes if I have anything to do with it. The truth is that the top 10% of income earners in this country pays almost 50% of all income taxes collected. I shudder to think what these job producers would be paying if our tax system were any more 'fair.' You have heard, no doubt, that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Interestingly enough, our government's own numbers show that many of the poor actually get richer, and that quite a few of the rich actually get poorer. But for the rich who do actually get richer, and the poor who remain poor, there's an explanation - a reason. The rich, you see, keep doing the things that make them rich, while the poor keep doing the things that make them poor. Speaking of the poor, during your adult life you are going to hear an endless string of politicians bemoaning the plight of the poor. So, you need to know that under our government's definition of 'poor' you can have a $5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and a new $90,000 Mercedes, all completely paid for. You can also have a maid, cook, a valet, a million dollars in your checking account, and you can still be officially defined by our government as 'living in poverty.' Now there's something you haven't seen on the evening news. How does the government pull this one off? Very simply, really. To determine whether or not some poor soul is 'living in poverty,' the government measures one thing - just one thing. Income. It doesn't matter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how many cars you drive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated, whether you winter in Aspen and spend the summers in the Bahamas, or how much is in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claim in that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leave of absence from your high-paying job and decide to live off the money in your savings and checking accounts while you write the next great American novel, the government says you are 'living in poverty.' This isn't exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomy statistics, is it? Do you need more convincing? Try this. The government's own statistics show that people who are said to be 'living in'poverty' spend more than $1.50 for each dollar of income they claim. Something is a bit fishy here. Just remember all this the next time Charles Gibson tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics. Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because the government needs an excuse to grow and to expand its social welfare programs, which then translates into an expansion of its power. If the government can convince you, in all your compassion, that the number of 'poor' is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway an electorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-Compulsive Compassion Disorder. I'm about to be stoned by the faculty here. They've already changed their minds about that honorary degree I was going to get. That's OK, though. I>] still have my PhD in Insensitivity from the Neal Boortz Institute for Insensitivity Training. I learned that, in short, sensitivity sucks. It's a trap. Think about it - the truth knows no sensitivity. Life can be insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and you'll be unable to deal with life, or the truth, So, get over it. Now, before the dean has me shackled and hauled off, I have a few random thoughts.
* You need to register to vote, unless you are on welfare. If you are living off the efforts of others, please do us the favor of sitting down and shutting up until you are on your own again.
* When you do vote, your votes for the House and the Senate are more important than your vote for president. The House controls the purse strings, so concentrate your awareness there.
* Liars cannot be trusted, even when the liar is the president of the country. If someone can't deal honestly with you, send he or she packing.
* Don't bow to the temptation to use the government as an instrument of plunder. If it is wrong for you to take money from someone else who earned it - to take their money by force for your own needs - then it is certainly just as wrong for you to demand that the government step forward and do this dirty work for you.
* Don't look in other people's pockets. You have no business there. What they earn is theirs. What you earn is yours, keep it that way. Nobody owes you anything, except to respect your privacy and your rights, and leave you the hell alone.
* Speaking of earning, the revered 40-hour workweek is for losers, forty hours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don't see highly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon at five. The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour. The winners drive home in the dark.
* Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.
* Finally (and aren't you glad to hear that word), as Og Mandino wrote
1. Proclaim your rarity. Each of you is a rare and unique human being.
2. Use wisely your power of choice.
3. Go the extra mile, drive home in the dark.
Oh, and put off buying a television set as long as you can. Now, if you> have any idea at all what's good for you, you will get the hell out of here and never come back.
Class dismissed.
This address should be considered must-reading for every adult in North America. It is extremely rare that anyone speaks the truth like this at any College or High School Commencement Address.
The Sarge
'I am honored by the invitation to address you on this august occasion. It's about time. Be warned, however, that I am not here to impress you; you'll have enough smoke blown up your bloomers today. And you can bet your tassels I'm not here to impress the faculty and administration. You may not like much of what I have to say, and that's fine. You will remember it though. Especially after about 10 years out in the real world. This, it goes without saying, does not apply to those of you who will seek your careers and your fortunes as government employees. This gowned gaggle behind me is your faculty. You've heard the old saying that those who can - do. Those who can't - teach. That sounds deliciously insensitive. But there is often raw truth in insensitivity, just as you often find feel-good falsehoods and lies in compassion. Say good-bye to your faculty because now you are getting ready to go out there and do. These folks behind me are going to stay right here and teach. By the way, just because you are leaving this place with a diploma doesn't mean the learning is over. When an FAA flight examiner handed me my private pilot's license many years ago, he said, 'Here, this is your ticket to learn.' The same can be said for your diploma. Believe me, the learning has just begun. Now, I realize that most of you consider yourselves Liberals. In fact, you are probably very proud of your liberal views. You care so much. You feel so much. You want to help so much. After all you're a compassionate and caring person, aren't you now? Well, isn't that just so extraordinarily special. Now, at this age, is as good a time as any to be a liberal, as good a time as any to know absolutely everything. You have plenty of time, starting tomorrow, for the truth to set in. Over the next few years, as you begin to feel the cold breath of reality down your neck, things are going to start changing pretty fast. including your own assessment of just how much you really know. So here are the first assignments for your initial class in reality: Pay attention to the news, and listen to the words and phrases that proud Liberals use to promote their causes. Then, compare the words of the left to the words and phrases you hear from those evil, heartless, greedy conservatives. From the Left you will hear 'I feel.' From the Right you will hear 'I think.' From the Liberals you will hear references to groups - The Blacks, the Poor, The Rich, The Disadvantaged, and The Less Fortunate. From the Right you will hear references to individuals. On the Left you hear talk of group rights, on the Right, individual rights. That about sums it up, really: Liberals feel. Liberals care. They are pack animals whose identity is tied up in-group dynamics. Conservatives and Libertarians think - and, setting aside the theocracy crowd, their identity is centered on the individual. Liberals feel that their favored groups have enforceable rights to the property and services of productive individuals. Conservatives and Libertarians, I among them I might add, think that individuals have the right to protect their lives and their property from the plunder of the masses. In college you developed a group mentality, but if you look closely at your diplomas you will see that they have your individual names on them. Not the name of your school mascot, or of your fraternity or sorority, but your name. Your group identity is going away. Your recognition and appreciation of your individual identity starts now. If, by the time you reach the age of 30, you do not consider yourself to be a libertarian or a conservative, rush right back here as quickly as you can and apply for a faculty position. These people will welcome you with open arms. They will welcome you, that is, so long as you haven't developed an individual identity. Once again you will have to be willing to sign on to the group mentality you embraced during the past four years. Something is going to happen soon that is going to really open your eyes. You're going to actually get a full time job! You're also going to get a lifelong work partner. This partner isn't going to help you do your job. This partner is just going to sit back and wait for payday. This partner doesn't want to share in your effort, but in your earnings. Your new lifelong partner is actually an agent; an agent representing a strange and diverse group of people; an agent for every teenager with an illegitimate child; an agent for a research scientist who wanted to make some cash answering the age-old question of why monkeys grind their teeth. An agent for some poor demented hippie who considers herself to be a meaningful and talented artist, but who just can't manage to sell any of her artwork on the open market. Your new partner is an agent for every person with limited, if any, job skills, but who wanted a job at City Hall. An agent for tin-horn dictators in fancy military uniforms grasping for American foreign aid. An agent for multi-million- dollar companies who want someone else to pay for their overseas advertising. An agent for everybody who wants to use the unimaginable power of this agency for their personal enrichment and benefit. That agent is our wonderful, caring, compassionate, oppressive government. Believe me, you will be awed by the unimaginable power this agent has. Power that you do not have. A power that no individual has, or ever will have. This agent has the legal power to use force, deadly force to accomplish its goals. You have no choice here. Your new friend is just going to walk up to you, introduce itself rather gruffly, hand you a few forms to fill out, and move right on in. Say hello to your own personal one-ton gorilla. It will sleep anywhere it wants to. Now, let me tell you, this agent is not cheap. As you become successful it>will seize about 40% of everything you earn. And no, I'm sorry, there just isn't any way you can fire this agent of plunder, and you can't decrease its share of your income. That power rests with him, not you. So, here I am saying negative things to you about government. Well, be clear on this: It is not wrong to distrust government. It is not wrong to fear government. In certain cases it is not even wrong to despise government for government is inherently evil. Yes, a necessary evil, but dangerous nonetheless, somewhat like a drug. Just as a drug that in the proper dosage can save your life, an overdose of government can be fatal. Now let's address a few things that have been crammed into your minds at this university. There are some ideas you need to expunge as soon as possible. These ideas may work well in academic environment, but they fail miserably out there in the real world. First is that favorite buzzword of the media, government and academia: Diversity! You have been taught that the real value of any group of people - be it a social group, an employee group, a management group, whatever - is based on diversity. This is a favored liberal ideal because diversity is based not on an individual's abilities or character, but on a person's identity and status as a member of a group. Yes, it's that liberal group identity thing again. Within the great diversity movement group identification - be it racial, gender based, or some other minority status - means more than the individual's integrity, character or other qualifications. Brace yourself. You are about to move from this academic atmosphere where diversity rules, to a workplace and a culture where individual achievement and excellence actually count. No matter what your professors have taught you over the last four years, you are about to learn that diversity is absolutely no replacement for excellence, ability, and individual hard work. From this day on every single time you hear the word 'diversity' you can rest assured that there is someone close by who is determined to rob you of every vestige of individuality you possess. We also need to address this thing you seem to have about 'rights.' We have witnessed an obscene explosion of so-called 'rights' in the last few decades, usually emanating from college campuses. You know the mantra: You have the right to a job, the right to a place to live, the right to a living wage, the right to health care, and the right to an education. You probably even have your own pet right - the right to a Beemer for instance, or the right to have someone else provide for that child you plan on downloading in a year or so. Forget it. Forget those rights! I'll tell you what your rights are! You have a right to live free, and to the results of 60% -75% of your labor. I'll also tell you have no right to any portion of the life or labor of another. You may, for instance, think that you have a right to health care. After all, Hillary said so, didn't she? But you cannot receive healthcare unless some doctor or health practitioner surrenders some of his time - his life - to you. He may be willing to do this for compensation, but that's his choice. You have no 'right' to his time or property. You have no right to his or any other person's life or to any portion thereof. You may also think you have some 'right' to a job, a job with a living wage, whatever that is. Do you mean to tell me that you have a right to force your services on another person, and then the right to demand that this person compensate you with their money? Sorry, forget it. I am sure you would scream if some urban outdoorsmen (that would be 'homeless person' for those of you who don't want to give these less fortunate people a romantic and adventurous title) came to you and demanded his job and your money. The people who have been telling you about all the rights you have are simply exercising one of theirs - the right to be imbeciles. Their bein> imbeciles didn't cost anyone else either property or time. It's their right, and they exercise it brilliantly. By the way, did you catch my use of the phrase 'less fortunate' a bit ago when I was talking about the urban outdoorsmen? That phrase is a favorite of the Left. Think about it, and you'll understand why. To imply that one person is homeless, destitute, dirty, drunk, spaced out on drugs, unemployable, and generally miserable because he is 'less fortunate' is to imply that a successful person - one with a job, a home and a future - is in that position because he or she was 'fortunate.' The dictionary says that fortunate means 'having derived good from an unexpected place.' There is nothing unexpected about deriving "good" from hard work. There is also nothing unexpected about deriving misery from choosing drugs, alcohol, and the street. If the Liberal Left can create the common perception that success and failure are simple matters of "fortune" or "luck", then it is easy to promote and justify their various income redistribution schemes. After all, we are just evening out the odds a little bit. This 'success equals luck' idea the liberals like to push is seen everywhere. Former Democratic presidential candidate Richard Gephardt refers to high-achievers as 'people who have won life's lottery.' He wants you to believe they are making the big bucks because they are lucky. It's not luck, my friends. It's choice. One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was in a book by Og Mandino, entitled 'The Greatest Secret in the World.' The lesson? Very simple: "Use wisely your power of choice". That bum sitting on a heating grate and smelling like a wharf rat, he's there by choice. He is there because of the sum total of the choices he has made in his life. This truism is absolutely the hardest thing for some people to accept, especially those who consider themselves to be victims of something or other - victims of discrimination, bad luck, the system, capitalism, whatever. After all, nobody really wants to accept the blame for his or her position in life. Not when it is so much easier to point and say, 'Look! He did this to me!' than it is to look into a mirror and say, 'You S.O.B., you did this to me!' The key to accepting responsibility for your life is to accept the fact that your choices, every one of them, are leading you inexorably to either success or failure, however you define those terms. Some of the choices are obvious: Whether or not to stay in school, whether or not to get pregnant, whether or not to hit the bottle, whether or not to keep this job you hate until you get another better-paying job, or whether or not to save some of your money, or saddle yourself with huge payments for that new car. Some of the choices are seemingly insignificant: Whom to go to the movies with, whose car to ride home in, whether to watch the tube tonight, or read a book on investing. But, and you can be sure of this, each choice counts. Each choice is a building block - some large, some small. But each one is a part of the structure of your life. If you make the right choices, or if you make more right choices than wrong ones, something absolutely terrible may happen to you. Something unthinkable. You, my friend, could become one of the hated, the evil, the ugly, the feared, the filthy, the successful, and the rich. The rich basically serve two purposes in this country. First, they provide the investments, the investment capital, and the brains for the formation of new businesses. Businesses that hire people and businesses that send millions of paychecks home each week to the un-rich. Second, the rich are a wonderful object of ridicule, distrust, and hatred. Few things are more valuable to a politician than the envy most Americans feel for the evil rich. Envy is a powerful emotion. Even more powerful than the emotional minefield that surrounded Bill Clinton when he reviewed his last batch of White House interns. Politicians use envy to get votes and power. And they keep that power by promising the envious that the envied will be punished: the rich will pay their fair share of taxes if I have anything to do with it. The truth is that the top 10% of income earners in this country pays almost 50% of all income taxes collected. I shudder to think what these job producers would be paying if our tax system were any more 'fair.' You have heard, no doubt, that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Interestingly enough, our government's own numbers show that many of the poor actually get richer, and that quite a few of the rich actually get poorer. But for the rich who do actually get richer, and the poor who remain poor, there's an explanation - a reason. The rich, you see, keep doing the things that make them rich, while the poor keep doing the things that make them poor. Speaking of the poor, during your adult life you are going to hear an endless string of politicians bemoaning the plight of the poor. So, you need to know that under our government's definition of 'poor' you can have a $5 million net worth, a $300,000 home and a new $90,000 Mercedes, all completely paid for. You can also have a maid, cook, a valet, a million dollars in your checking account, and you can still be officially defined by our government as 'living in poverty.' Now there's something you haven't seen on the evening news. How does the government pull this one off? Very simply, really. To determine whether or not some poor soul is 'living in poverty,' the government measures one thing - just one thing. Income. It doesn't matter one bit how much you have, how much you own, how many cars you drive or how big they are, whether or not your pool is heated, whether you winter in Aspen and spend the summers in the Bahamas, or how much is in your savings account. It only matters how much income you claim in that particular year. This means that if you take a one-year leave of absence from your high-paying job and decide to live off the money in your savings and checking accounts while you write the next great American novel, the government says you are 'living in poverty.' This isn't exactly what you had in mind when you heard these gloomy statistics, is it? Do you need more convincing? Try this. The government's own statistics show that people who are said to be 'living in'poverty' spend more than $1.50 for each dollar of income they claim. Something is a bit fishy here. Just remember all this the next time Charles Gibson tells you about some hideous new poverty statistics. Why has the government concocted this phony poverty scam? Because the government needs an excuse to grow and to expand its social welfare programs, which then translates into an expansion of its power. If the government can convince you, in all your compassion, that the number of 'poor' is increasing, it will have all the excuse it needs to sway an electorate suffering from the advanced stages of Obsessive-Compulsive Compassion Disorder. I'm about to be stoned by the faculty here. They've already changed their minds about that honorary degree I was going to get. That's OK, though. I>] still have my PhD in Insensitivity from the Neal Boortz Institute for Insensitivity Training. I learned that, in short, sensitivity sucks. It's a trap. Think about it - the truth knows no sensitivity. Life can be insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and you'll be unable to deal with life, or the truth, So, get over it. Now, before the dean has me shackled and hauled off, I have a few random thoughts.
* You need to register to vote, unless you are on welfare. If you are living off the efforts of others, please do us the favor of sitting down and shutting up until you are on your own again.
* When you do vote, your votes for the House and the Senate are more important than your vote for president. The House controls the purse strings, so concentrate your awareness there.
* Liars cannot be trusted, even when the liar is the president of the country. If someone can't deal honestly with you, send he or she packing.
* Don't bow to the temptation to use the government as an instrument of plunder. If it is wrong for you to take money from someone else who earned it - to take their money by force for your own needs - then it is certainly just as wrong for you to demand that the government step forward and do this dirty work for you.
* Don't look in other people's pockets. You have no business there. What they earn is theirs. What you earn is yours, keep it that way. Nobody owes you anything, except to respect your privacy and your rights, and leave you the hell alone.
* Speaking of earning, the revered 40-hour workweek is for losers, forty hours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don't see highly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon at five. The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour. The winners drive home in the dark.
* Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection.
* Finally (and aren't you glad to hear that word), as Og Mandino wrote
1. Proclaim your rarity. Each of you is a rare and unique human being.
2. Use wisely your power of choice.
3. Go the extra mile, drive home in the dark.
Oh, and put off buying a television set as long as you can. Now, if you> have any idea at all what's good for you, you will get the hell out of here and never come back.
Class dismissed.
This address should be considered must-reading for every adult in North America. It is extremely rare that anyone speaks the truth like this at any College or High School Commencement Address.
The Sarge
16 August 2009
New Link
Listen, I've said this before and I'll say it again. The Women Warriors are out there taking the fight to the enemy.
Between the Beautious Sarah SarahPAC - Sarah Palin's Official PAC, the Fabulous Michelle Michelle Malkin, The Lovely Anna Anna's Clue Tank, our own Gorgeous DO Life, The Universe, and Everything, or the Hot and Dangerous Gunslinger Gunslinger's Journal, we have the very best of libertarian conservatism delivering hammer blows to the enemy. The Weaker sex? I don't think so Skippy. These women are smart, fearless and totally merciless. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.
I'm adding a new Woman Warrior to our Honor Roll. Jenn Of The Jungle at The Political Jungle. Go read her and revel in the fact that so many of the death blows being struck by the right are coming from women like these.
The Afghani's said all that needs to be said centuries ago. Don't fall into the hands of the women.
If you're on the Right, be of good hope. They're on our side.
If you're on the left. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.
The Six
Between the Beautious Sarah SarahPAC - Sarah Palin's Official PAC, the Fabulous Michelle Michelle Malkin, The Lovely Anna Anna's Clue Tank, our own Gorgeous DO Life, The Universe, and Everything, or the Hot and Dangerous Gunslinger Gunslinger's Journal, we have the very best of libertarian conservatism delivering hammer blows to the enemy. The Weaker sex? I don't think so Skippy. These women are smart, fearless and totally merciless. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.
I'm adding a new Woman Warrior to our Honor Roll. Jenn Of The Jungle at The Political Jungle. Go read her and revel in the fact that so many of the death blows being struck by the right are coming from women like these.
The Afghani's said all that needs to be said centuries ago. Don't fall into the hands of the women.
If you're on the Right, be of good hope. They're on our side.
If you're on the left. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.
The Six
Keep Up The Skeer
Obama Dropping Public Health Care Option?
Folks, we're winning. In spite of the name calling from the left and the squishiness from the republicans it is obvious your voices have been heard. Now is exactly the wrong time to sit back and say "we won" though. If we back off even a millimeter we'll be right back to where we started before you can spit.
Never let an enemy up from the ground after you have fought them there. Pummel them until they cry uncle and make damn sure they can never attack you again. The elections are coming next year.
Let's take them down and keep them down.
The Six
Folks, we're winning. In spite of the name calling from the left and the squishiness from the republicans it is obvious your voices have been heard. Now is exactly the wrong time to sit back and say "we won" though. If we back off even a millimeter we'll be right back to where we started before you can spit.
Never let an enemy up from the ground after you have fought them there. Pummel them until they cry uncle and make damn sure they can never attack you again. The elections are coming next year.
Let's take them down and keep them down.
The Six
12 August 2009
Sarge
I take my posting seriously and will try to live up to the lies that have been told about me here.
The Six has given you a little back ground about me and I'd like to expand on that if I might.
I did serve two tours in Vietnam and a total of 7.5 years in the service (army). I attained the rank of Sgt; several times as a matter of fact. Making Sargent was pretty easy, it was keeping it that gave me a problem. I spent the better part of two years in Vietnam scared to death. Some where along the line I figured that millions of little people were trying to kill me. I took that threat very seriously. To this day I still check the perimeter several times a night and I pack a gun everywhere I go. I don't even like to sit in my own home with-out a gun close by and most often on my hip. This doesn't mean I'm expecting trouble but trouble does have a way of finding me and I'm just to damn old to take an ass whipping. I strongly suggest that if you decide to sneak up behind me it might be a good idea to let me know you are there. My kids can attest to the fact that I do get a little jumpy. PTSD is not an issue with me I think it's a way of life always has been always will be. I don't have a problem with it, other people do however. I had some neighbors say that I was crazy simply because they saw me doing the low crawl through the garden late at night.
I am passionate about protecting the 2nd amendment and Veterans issues. I love my country but hate the government. I believe our whole constitution is under attack and we as peace loving Americans have a responsibility to protect it. There should be no changes to the constitution, it is a final document and was written for all time it has not gone out of date we simply need to learn what it was that our founders had in mind when they wrote it. They were inspired by God and he/she is not dead or gone out of date. However with the modern day government I do think that God is not happy with the way things are going. I love my family.
My advice for some time now has been to invest in beans and bullets in equal amounts. I think we are going to need them both.
After the Army I drove truck for a while did a little bar tending and a lot of drinking. Some where along the line I decided I didn't want to work hard for a living so I went into law enforcement. I spent about thirty years working for the state of Arizona as I commercial vehicle enforcement/investigator. I loved police work and I do miss it from time to time, however now I'm retired I feel the need to help this country threw it's time of trouble.
The Six has given you a little back ground about me and I'd like to expand on that if I might.
I did serve two tours in Vietnam and a total of 7.5 years in the service (army). I attained the rank of Sgt; several times as a matter of fact. Making Sargent was pretty easy, it was keeping it that gave me a problem. I spent the better part of two years in Vietnam scared to death. Some where along the line I figured that millions of little people were trying to kill me. I took that threat very seriously. To this day I still check the perimeter several times a night and I pack a gun everywhere I go. I don't even like to sit in my own home with-out a gun close by and most often on my hip. This doesn't mean I'm expecting trouble but trouble does have a way of finding me and I'm just to damn old to take an ass whipping. I strongly suggest that if you decide to sneak up behind me it might be a good idea to let me know you are there. My kids can attest to the fact that I do get a little jumpy. PTSD is not an issue with me I think it's a way of life always has been always will be. I don't have a problem with it, other people do however. I had some neighbors say that I was crazy simply because they saw me doing the low crawl through the garden late at night.
I am passionate about protecting the 2nd amendment and Veterans issues. I love my country but hate the government. I believe our whole constitution is under attack and we as peace loving Americans have a responsibility to protect it. There should be no changes to the constitution, it is a final document and was written for all time it has not gone out of date we simply need to learn what it was that our founders had in mind when they wrote it. They were inspired by God and he/she is not dead or gone out of date. However with the modern day government I do think that God is not happy with the way things are going. I love my family.
My advice for some time now has been to invest in beans and bullets in equal amounts. I think we are going to need them both.
After the Army I drove truck for a while did a little bar tending and a lot of drinking. Some where along the line I decided I didn't want to work hard for a living so I went into law enforcement. I spent about thirty years working for the state of Arizona as I commercial vehicle enforcement/investigator. I loved police work and I do miss it from time to time, however now I'm retired I feel the need to help this country threw it's time of trouble.
11 August 2009
Brave Men Gentle Heros
I found this to be very interesting and some what distressing at the same time. In a book called Brave Men, Gentle Heroes, which is a collection of WWII and Vietnam father and son war stories. On page 441 Michael Takiff wrote.
On each end of the Washington, D.C.'s new World War II Memorial, to be dedicated Memorial Day weekend 2004, will stand an arch forty-three feet high - the one on the north end to represent the war in the Pacific theater, the one on the south end the war in the Atlantic theater. Inside each arch, four bronze columns will be topped by four American eagles that will together support a victory laurel; inlayed in the floor of each arch will be the words "Victory on Land," "Victory at Sea," and "Victory in the Air". Twenty - eight granite pillars, each with its own laurel, will form the semicircle around each arch. The fifty-six pillars --- one for state of the union at the time of the war, plus territories and the District of Columbia--- will, according to the American Battle Monuments Commission, "celebrate the unprecedented unity of the nation during WWII." The already existing Rainbow Pool and its waterworks will be restored to "contribute to the celebratory nature of the memorial"; additional fountains will "complement the waterworks in the Rainbow Pool ." On the western side of the memorial a "commemorative area" will recognize "the sacrifice of America's WWII generation, the Contribution of our allies, and the suffering of all humankind." With in that area the "Freedom Wall" will display four thousand gold stars---"during WWII, the gold star became the symbol of family sacrifice"--- one for every hundred Americans who perished in the war.
The World War II Memorial will stand at the east end of the Reflecting Pool that extends from the front of the Lincoln Memorial. About two hundred yards north pools west end lies the Vietnam Memorial. This structure celebrates nothing--not victory, not unity. No words appear aside from the fifty-eight thousand names--- those of the American men and women who died in Vietnam. Nothing rises from the ground--- no arches, no pillars, no waterworks. Instead, from each end of "The Wall," as Vietnam veterans simply call the memorial, the visitor walks down into the earth, as into a mass grave. At the center of the crevice, where the two halves of the Wall meet, the war's last victim, in panel 1 west, abut the first panel 1 East. No "commemorative area" recognizes sacrifice or suffering; the entire edifice is devoted to the remembering of those who died. Even the names of the memorials are instructive; The world War II Memorial commemorates an event; as part of that commemoration--- not an insignificant part, but not a dominant part either--- if makes reference to the people who perished in that event. The Vietnam Memorial commemorates no event, only people. The Vietnam Wall is not a "Freedom Wall." It is a wall signifying lost lives and lost futures. It makes no reference to what those lives and futures were lost for.
There is only silence, eloquent and deafening.
I would ask that each of you strive to insure that our Veterans of Modern Warfare do not suffer the same as the Vietnam Veterans are. We need to take care of them both physically and mentally.
The Sarge
On each end of the Washington, D.C.'s new World War II Memorial, to be dedicated Memorial Day weekend 2004, will stand an arch forty-three feet high - the one on the north end to represent the war in the Pacific theater, the one on the south end the war in the Atlantic theater. Inside each arch, four bronze columns will be topped by four American eagles that will together support a victory laurel; inlayed in the floor of each arch will be the words "Victory on Land," "Victory at Sea," and "Victory in the Air". Twenty - eight granite pillars, each with its own laurel, will form the semicircle around each arch. The fifty-six pillars --- one for state of the union at the time of the war, plus territories and the District of Columbia--- will, according to the American Battle Monuments Commission, "celebrate the unprecedented unity of the nation during WWII." The already existing Rainbow Pool and its waterworks will be restored to "contribute to the celebratory nature of the memorial"; additional fountains will "complement the waterworks in the Rainbow Pool ." On the western side of the memorial a "commemorative area" will recognize "the sacrifice of America's WWII generation, the Contribution of our allies, and the suffering of all humankind." With in that area the "Freedom Wall" will display four thousand gold stars---"during WWII, the gold star became the symbol of family sacrifice"--- one for every hundred Americans who perished in the war.
The World War II Memorial will stand at the east end of the Reflecting Pool that extends from the front of the Lincoln Memorial. About two hundred yards north pools west end lies the Vietnam Memorial. This structure celebrates nothing--not victory, not unity. No words appear aside from the fifty-eight thousand names--- those of the American men and women who died in Vietnam. Nothing rises from the ground--- no arches, no pillars, no waterworks. Instead, from each end of "The Wall," as Vietnam veterans simply call the memorial, the visitor walks down into the earth, as into a mass grave. At the center of the crevice, where the two halves of the Wall meet, the war's last victim, in panel 1 west, abut the first panel 1 East. No "commemorative area" recognizes sacrifice or suffering; the entire edifice is devoted to the remembering of those who died. Even the names of the memorials are instructive; The world War II Memorial commemorates an event; as part of that commemoration--- not an insignificant part, but not a dominant part either--- if makes reference to the people who perished in that event. The Vietnam Memorial commemorates no event, only people. The Vietnam Wall is not a "Freedom Wall." It is a wall signifying lost lives and lost futures. It makes no reference to what those lives and futures were lost for.
There is only silence, eloquent and deafening.
I would ask that each of you strive to insure that our Veterans of Modern Warfare do not suffer the same as the Vietnam Veterans are. We need to take care of them both physically and mentally.
The Sarge
10 August 2009
A Note
I haven't been doing the Sarge right and it's time to fess up.
I usually post The Sarges' stuff for him. He sends it to me and I post it. The only problem is the man is a fount of energy and I'm lazy as stink. Therefore I've been letting his submissions lag for lack of time. That's a sin because he's one of America's Warriors and what he thinks and has to say is important.
So.
I've discussed this with The Sarge and given him permission and encouragement to post his stuff on here without The Six's oversight. Translation: I begged him to continue and gave him command decision making authority over the blog.
See, The Sarge is a member of what is now, for all intents and purposes, the senior major combat generation in America. Vietnam Veterans.
Let's face it, the WWII generation is mostly gone now. Ditto for Korea. While the Vietnam Vets are passing in depressing numbers (mostly due to the wide variety of really nasty shit they were exposed to) they are still out there in sufficient numbers to take their rightful place as the Senior Spokesmen for The American Warrior Class.
It's time and past time that we recognize that men like The Sarge and Ed Rasimus (Thunder Tales) are already out there and have assumed their role as our elder Warrior Statesmen. We need them to speak to us, to give of their unique wisdom and experience. The Vietnam Vets are a precious resource who's time, alas, will all too soon come to an end as well. When they're gone our Warrior Heritage will be in the hands of the Boomers.
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with my generation or those who came after us but our perspective, our view of history and current events is different. We were raised in totally different cultures. Boomers have more in common with Gen-Xers and Gen-Y though it hurts my mouth to admit that. We Boomers were trained and taught by the Vietnam Vets and we did the same to our descendants. If the current political problems are any indication, we Boomers made a mess of things.
I've heard the WWII and Korea Vets say the same thing about the Vietnam era vets but they were wrong. The Vietnam Vets did their job in the most difficult time in American history and yes, I do include the WWII era in that. These are men and women who did not come home to parades. Did not come home to handshakes and 'good job' at the airport. No one, literally NO ONE spoke for them and yet they did their jobs and died in massive numbers and came home wounded and disabled to scorn and nightmares.
When you consider the conditions under which they fought, the lack of national will to win and get the thing done, the micro-managing from the White House (Fuck You McNamara, may you rot in Hell), the lack of domestic support, the lack of truly effective military leadership at the highest levels, the treatment of returning service members, the protests, ad nauseum it is in no way hyperbole to say the Vietnam era veterans were the finest Soldiers, Airmen, Marines and Sailors this country has ever produced.
Consider. In every other American War you care to name there was one unifying theme, support for the troops even if not for the cause. Oh yes, you can talk about Iraq and the war protests but I lived in the 1960's and I can tell you they bear no resemblance. Our Vietnam Vets were reviled at home and abroad. It was a period of such horrendous national shame that we as a nation shall never be able to completely wash it's stain from our honor. The 1960's and the radicalism it bred and bore changed America in a fundamental way. Evil was allowed to creep in, take root and branch out to all sectors of what was until then a largely unified nation.
The children of those years are now trying hard to become our masters and if we are to fight them successfully then we need the Vietnam Vets to take arms once again. Not physically (but Lord knows that may actually be a possibility) but metaphorically. We need The Sarge, Ed Rasimus and their brothers and sisters at their rightful place at the head of the Warrior Pantheon. A place they deserve and have damn well earned the right to be. I unabashedly respect and love The Sarge and Ed and every Vietnam Vet out there.
I am glad and proud to have The Sarge as my partner on this blog. Not only is he an accomplished Warrior and Vietnam Vet but he's a man who has demonstrated his leadership in peacetime as a Past President of a Vietnam Vets group and a continued voice for all vets. He is also my father-in-law and the only father I've ever had. I want him to speak and opine and give of his heart.
I, no....We need him to.
The Six
I usually post The Sarges' stuff for him. He sends it to me and I post it. The only problem is the man is a fount of energy and I'm lazy as stink. Therefore I've been letting his submissions lag for lack of time. That's a sin because he's one of America's Warriors and what he thinks and has to say is important.
So.
I've discussed this with The Sarge and given him permission and encouragement to post his stuff on here without The Six's oversight. Translation: I begged him to continue and gave him command decision making authority over the blog.
See, The Sarge is a member of what is now, for all intents and purposes, the senior major combat generation in America. Vietnam Veterans.
Let's face it, the WWII generation is mostly gone now. Ditto for Korea. While the Vietnam Vets are passing in depressing numbers (mostly due to the wide variety of really nasty shit they were exposed to) they are still out there in sufficient numbers to take their rightful place as the Senior Spokesmen for The American Warrior Class.
It's time and past time that we recognize that men like The Sarge and Ed Rasimus (Thunder Tales) are already out there and have assumed their role as our elder Warrior Statesmen. We need them to speak to us, to give of their unique wisdom and experience. The Vietnam Vets are a precious resource who's time, alas, will all too soon come to an end as well. When they're gone our Warrior Heritage will be in the hands of the Boomers.
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with my generation or those who came after us but our perspective, our view of history and current events is different. We were raised in totally different cultures. Boomers have more in common with Gen-Xers and Gen-Y though it hurts my mouth to admit that. We Boomers were trained and taught by the Vietnam Vets and we did the same to our descendants. If the current political problems are any indication, we Boomers made a mess of things.
I've heard the WWII and Korea Vets say the same thing about the Vietnam era vets but they were wrong. The Vietnam Vets did their job in the most difficult time in American history and yes, I do include the WWII era in that. These are men and women who did not come home to parades. Did not come home to handshakes and 'good job' at the airport. No one, literally NO ONE spoke for them and yet they did their jobs and died in massive numbers and came home wounded and disabled to scorn and nightmares.
When you consider the conditions under which they fought, the lack of national will to win and get the thing done, the micro-managing from the White House (Fuck You McNamara, may you rot in Hell), the lack of domestic support, the lack of truly effective military leadership at the highest levels, the treatment of returning service members, the protests, ad nauseum it is in no way hyperbole to say the Vietnam era veterans were the finest Soldiers, Airmen, Marines and Sailors this country has ever produced.
Consider. In every other American War you care to name there was one unifying theme, support for the troops even if not for the cause. Oh yes, you can talk about Iraq and the war protests but I lived in the 1960's and I can tell you they bear no resemblance. Our Vietnam Vets were reviled at home and abroad. It was a period of such horrendous national shame that we as a nation shall never be able to completely wash it's stain from our honor. The 1960's and the radicalism it bred and bore changed America in a fundamental way. Evil was allowed to creep in, take root and branch out to all sectors of what was until then a largely unified nation.
The children of those years are now trying hard to become our masters and if we are to fight them successfully then we need the Vietnam Vets to take arms once again. Not physically (but Lord knows that may actually be a possibility) but metaphorically. We need The Sarge, Ed Rasimus and their brothers and sisters at their rightful place at the head of the Warrior Pantheon. A place they deserve and have damn well earned the right to be. I unabashedly respect and love The Sarge and Ed and every Vietnam Vet out there.
I am glad and proud to have The Sarge as my partner on this blog. Not only is he an accomplished Warrior and Vietnam Vet but he's a man who has demonstrated his leadership in peacetime as a Past President of a Vietnam Vets group and a continued voice for all vets. He is also my father-in-law and the only father I've ever had. I want him to speak and opine and give of his heart.
I, no....We need him to.
The Six
Is Gun Control Racist?
Go read this post at Arthur's Hall Of Viking Manliness. Gun Control is Racist
Then go visit Shatner's Hall: A Geeky Libertarian Blog from Arthur's Hall. I've considered myself a Libertarian/Conservative as opposed to strictly a Republican for a while now. Shatner can explain why.
Then go by Arthur's Hall of Viking Manliness: Heavy Metal, Conservative Politics, Viking Pride, and Other Manly Viking Stuff Read the back articles and then go and sign up for the Forum. It will go a long way toward explaining why I am the way I am.
The Six
Then go visit Shatner's Hall: A Geeky Libertarian Blog from Arthur's Hall. I've considered myself a Libertarian/Conservative as opposed to strictly a Republican for a while now. Shatner can explain why.
Then go by Arthur's Hall of Viking Manliness: Heavy Metal, Conservative Politics, Viking Pride, and Other Manly Viking Stuff Read the back articles and then go and sign up for the Forum. It will go a long way toward explaining why I am the way I am.
The Six
06 August 2009
A Friend I've Never Met
You may or may not know that in addition to my many other manly pursuits such, as motorcycles, dogs, big trucks and lots of guns, The Six is an avid bicyclist. I got turned on to a site called Fat Cyclist by the DO a couple of years ago. I'm a fan of his writing, his riding and his passion to find a cure for cancer.
See Fatty's (he goes by the moniker Fatty though in reality he's not fat at all. Well, not as fat as say...me. But that's another story.) wife Susan is waging a moving fight against this vile and evil disease. A fight she's losing.
Why vile and evil? Because this disease is one which recognizes to gender, race, religion or age. Kids, senior citizens, men, women, all are open to attack. It robs one of strength, lucidity, money and ultimately maybe life itself. Even now it is robbing Fatty of his wife and his children of their mother. It is a foul disease. My thoughts and prayers are with them. Say it with me please.
Fatty, through his association with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Lance Armstrong Foundation: LIVESTRONG Challenge - Home, is fighting the good fight to find a cure. This is a fight that crosses all boundaries. One everybody, no matter their political proclivities, can get behind and support. Virtually every person out there has been touched by this disease in some way. This is a fight we simply cannot afford to ignore. Or lose.
I've never personally met Fatty and almost certainly never will but through his moving (and usually quite funny, Fatty is a gifted writer) writing I've come to know him and his family a bit. I consider him a Friend I've Never Met and I'd like for you to do so as well. Susan's fight and Fatty's struggles to care for her are...how else to say it? Heroic. I greatly admire Fatty and his family and circle of close friends.
I know times are difficult. Many of us have suffered financial setbacks. Many are on fixed incomes. But if you can, please click the link above, visit the Lance Armstrong Foundation and make a donation to help in the fight against cancer. Mrs. Six and I have done so and will again. Visit Fatty's site and leave a word of encouragement.
To My Friend Fatty, Susan, their kids, family and friends. The thoughts and prayers of the Warrior family go out to you. May you find peace in this hardest of times and may you succeed in defeating this enemy.
Thank you my friends.
The Six
Note:
Susan died on August 5th at 7:25 PM. Fatty reminds us that she did not lose, her part in the fight is simply over. The fight goes on.
God Speed Susan.
See Fatty's (he goes by the moniker Fatty though in reality he's not fat at all. Well, not as fat as say...me. But that's another story.) wife Susan is waging a moving fight against this vile and evil disease. A fight she's losing.
Why vile and evil? Because this disease is one which recognizes to gender, race, religion or age. Kids, senior citizens, men, women, all are open to attack. It robs one of strength, lucidity, money and ultimately maybe life itself. Even now it is robbing Fatty of his wife and his children of their mother. It is a foul disease. My thoughts and prayers are with them. Say it with me please.
Fatty, through his association with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Lance Armstrong Foundation: LIVESTRONG Challenge - Home, is fighting the good fight to find a cure. This is a fight that crosses all boundaries. One everybody, no matter their political proclivities, can get behind and support. Virtually every person out there has been touched by this disease in some way. This is a fight we simply cannot afford to ignore. Or lose.
I've never personally met Fatty and almost certainly never will but through his moving (and usually quite funny, Fatty is a gifted writer) writing I've come to know him and his family a bit. I consider him a Friend I've Never Met and I'd like for you to do so as well. Susan's fight and Fatty's struggles to care for her are...how else to say it? Heroic. I greatly admire Fatty and his family and circle of close friends.
I know times are difficult. Many of us have suffered financial setbacks. Many are on fixed incomes. But if you can, please click the link above, visit the Lance Armstrong Foundation and make a donation to help in the fight against cancer. Mrs. Six and I have done so and will again. Visit Fatty's site and leave a word of encouragement.
To My Friend Fatty, Susan, their kids, family and friends. The thoughts and prayers of the Warrior family go out to you. May you find peace in this hardest of times and may you succeed in defeating this enemy.
Thank you my friends.
The Six
Note:
Susan died on August 5th at 7:25 PM. Fatty reminds us that she did not lose, her part in the fight is simply over. The fight goes on.
God Speed Susan.
03 August 2009
Mission
Take a look at this image. When you're done pass the link along to everyone you know. We need to make this go viral so it can be copied and put everywhere.
Get on it Warriors.
h/t to Gaius at http://www.magicnegrowatch.blogspot.com/
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/socialism.pdf
The Six
Get on it Warriors.
h/t to Gaius at http://www.magicnegrowatch.blogspot.com/
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/socialism.pdf
The Six
01 August 2009
Wonderfulness
http://magicnegrowatch.blogspot.com/2009/07/great-moments-in-democrat-racist.html
Go visit Gaius and watch all these videos and bask in their brilliant warm glow.
Thanks to Magic Negro Watch and The Black Sphere. They are truly worthy of the admiration of The Warrior Class.
Kevin and Gaius. As The Six I am allowed, nay encouraged, to hand out citations and laudations where deserved and when so moved. I am so moved.
So.
Attention To Orders:
Gaius Lawrenitis Negris and Kevin Jackson.
Be it known that for actions above and beyond the call of duty in direct action against the enemies of America you are hereby awarded the Distinguished Blogging Cross, First Class
And further
I hereby confer upon you the title of True American Warriors.
You may now be suitably impressed. This citation may be framed for the benefit of future descendants that they may know of your awesomeness.
Welcome to The Brotherhood (I know, Gaius was Air Force. But We will not hold that against him for He seems to have risen above his spotty past. Right Ed???)
First beer's on me.
The Six
Go visit Gaius and watch all these videos and bask in their brilliant warm glow.
Thanks to Magic Negro Watch and The Black Sphere. They are truly worthy of the admiration of The Warrior Class.
Kevin and Gaius. As The Six I am allowed, nay encouraged, to hand out citations and laudations where deserved and when so moved. I am so moved.
So.
Attention To Orders:
Gaius Lawrenitis Negris and Kevin Jackson.
Be it known that for actions above and beyond the call of duty in direct action against the enemies of America you are hereby awarded the Distinguished Blogging Cross, First Class
And further
I hereby confer upon you the title of True American Warriors.
You may now be suitably impressed. This citation may be framed for the benefit of future descendants that they may know of your awesomeness.
Welcome to The Brotherhood (I know, Gaius was Air Force. But We will not hold that against him for He seems to have risen above his spotty past. Right Ed???)
First beer's on me.
The Six
Another Great Link
This man is seriously brilliant and pretty dang witty. Go there. Read, watch and be of good hope.
The Black Sphere
Pass the word. If men of this caliber are listened to, BHO will be a one term historical footnote. Lets make sure we do all we can to ensure that wonderful outcome.
The Six
The Black Sphere
Pass the word. If men of this caliber are listened to, BHO will be a one term historical footnote. Lets make sure we do all we can to ensure that wonderful outcome.
The Six
More On Gates Gate
Sgt. Crowley, a Cop in Full
by Patrick J. Buchanan
07/28/2009
Sunday, professor Louis Henry Gates retreated from his threat to sue Sgt. James Crowley. Friday, President Obama retreated from his charge that the Cambridge cops "acted stupidly."
As Crowley has not budged an inch -- his arrest of Gates was correct, and there will be no apology -- there is no doubt who won this face-off. Game, set, match, Crowley and the Cambridge cops. It is, indeed, as Obama said Friday, a "teachable moment."
And those most in need of teaching are the professor, the governor of Massachusetts and President Obama. By charging or suggesting Gates was a victim of racial profiling, all three were guilty of having reflexively reverted to racial stereotypes about white cops.
Here is the chronology. Answering a 911 call about a break-in in progress, Crowley encountered the professor inside the house. According to Crowley's report, his request for Gates' I.D. was initially rebuffed, and he was accused of hassling Gates because he was black.
The professor made a slurring reference to Crowley's "mama." The professor then raised such a ruckus Crowley arrested and cuffed him. Once in the street, Gates bellowed, "This is what happens to a black man in America." Gates then called Crowley a "rogue cop." Gov. Deval Patrick declared Gates' arrest "every black man's nightmare."
Obama said the Cambridge cops had "acted stupidly" and went on to elaborate, on nationwide TV, on the sad history of racial profiling of blacks and Hispanics by police. Thus the two most powerful black elected officials in the U.S., with no hard knowledge of what happened, came down on the side of a black professor, their buddy, against a white cop and his department, implying racial motivation in the arrest of Gates.
Yet there is still not a shred of evidence for their rush to judgment. Crowley's partner in the arrest was a black officer who said he stands "100 percent" behind Crowley and that Gates acted "strange." Sixteen years ago, Crowley gave CPR to an unconscious Boston Celtics star, Reggie Lewis, in an attempt to save his life. The memory of his failure caused Crowley to break down in tears and haunts him to this day. Crowley was selected by a black police lieutenant to teach fellow officers about racial profiling. He has been doing this for five years.
And watching TV coverage for a week, this writer has yet to hear one cop anywhere condemn Crowley's handling of the incident. Outside the fevered imagination of Louis Henry Gates, then, where is the evidence Crowley engaged in racial profiling? The victim here is Sgt. Crowley, not professor Gates.
Crowley is the one defamed as a "racist" and "rogue cop." He is the officer whom Gov. Patrick implied perpetrated "every black man's nightmare." He is the cop on the Cambridge force who, Obama told the nation, "acted stupidly." If anyone has grounds for legal action, it is Crowley.
Indeed, upon what grounds would Gates sue? That he was wrongly arrested, when Crowley, his black partner, the Cambridge P.D., the police union and 1,000 cops would gladly come to Cambridge to testify that Crowley went by the book?
Moreover, no one says Crowley abused Gates in any way. And there were witnesses in the street to the arrest. And Crowley apparently had his mike open, and a recording of the incident exists.
But if Obama's racial reflexes served him badly Wednesday night, his political instincts served him well him on Friday. For he must have sensed that this confrontation was shaping up as three powerful black men coming down hard on a white cop with a stellar record who had only done his conscientious duty.
Obama picked up the phone, called Crowley, regretted his choice of words about him and the Cambridge P.D., walked into the press room and told the nation Crowley was a "good guy," he himself had misspoken, that he and the sergeant had talked about getting together for a beer.
It was a goodly slice of humble pie the president ate there, but it was a class act. To ask more would be churlish. As for Patrick and Gates, they, too, should eat a little crow.
The president's decision to go before the White House press corps also suggests Obama is acutely aware of the political peril here. For while his black support is rock solid, his white support is soft.
And Americans will usually side with an Irish cop over a Harvard don, especially when the professor is pulling rank and the cop is right. "This isn't about me," says Gates.
Sorry, professor, it is about you. You have shown the country why William F. Buckley won laughter all over America when he wittily observed that, rather than be governed by the Harvard faculty, he would prefer to be governed by the first 300 names in the Cambridge telephone directory.
The Sarge
EOTIS
In God We Trust
Just An Old Sheepdog
by Patrick J. Buchanan
07/28/2009
Sunday, professor Louis Henry Gates retreated from his threat to sue Sgt. James Crowley. Friday, President Obama retreated from his charge that the Cambridge cops "acted stupidly."
As Crowley has not budged an inch -- his arrest of Gates was correct, and there will be no apology -- there is no doubt who won this face-off. Game, set, match, Crowley and the Cambridge cops. It is, indeed, as Obama said Friday, a "teachable moment."
And those most in need of teaching are the professor, the governor of Massachusetts and President Obama. By charging or suggesting Gates was a victim of racial profiling, all three were guilty of having reflexively reverted to racial stereotypes about white cops.
Here is the chronology. Answering a 911 call about a break-in in progress, Crowley encountered the professor inside the house. According to Crowley's report, his request for Gates' I.D. was initially rebuffed, and he was accused of hassling Gates because he was black.
The professor made a slurring reference to Crowley's "mama." The professor then raised such a ruckus Crowley arrested and cuffed him. Once in the street, Gates bellowed, "This is what happens to a black man in America." Gates then called Crowley a "rogue cop." Gov. Deval Patrick declared Gates' arrest "every black man's nightmare."
Obama said the Cambridge cops had "acted stupidly" and went on to elaborate, on nationwide TV, on the sad history of racial profiling of blacks and Hispanics by police. Thus the two most powerful black elected officials in the U.S., with no hard knowledge of what happened, came down on the side of a black professor, their buddy, against a white cop and his department, implying racial motivation in the arrest of Gates.
Yet there is still not a shred of evidence for their rush to judgment. Crowley's partner in the arrest was a black officer who said he stands "100 percent" behind Crowley and that Gates acted "strange." Sixteen years ago, Crowley gave CPR to an unconscious Boston Celtics star, Reggie Lewis, in an attempt to save his life. The memory of his failure caused Crowley to break down in tears and haunts him to this day. Crowley was selected by a black police lieutenant to teach fellow officers about racial profiling. He has been doing this for five years.
And watching TV coverage for a week, this writer has yet to hear one cop anywhere condemn Crowley's handling of the incident. Outside the fevered imagination of Louis Henry Gates, then, where is the evidence Crowley engaged in racial profiling? The victim here is Sgt. Crowley, not professor Gates.
Crowley is the one defamed as a "racist" and "rogue cop." He is the officer whom Gov. Patrick implied perpetrated "every black man's nightmare." He is the cop on the Cambridge force who, Obama told the nation, "acted stupidly." If anyone has grounds for legal action, it is Crowley.
Indeed, upon what grounds would Gates sue? That he was wrongly arrested, when Crowley, his black partner, the Cambridge P.D., the police union and 1,000 cops would gladly come to Cambridge to testify that Crowley went by the book?
Moreover, no one says Crowley abused Gates in any way. And there were witnesses in the street to the arrest. And Crowley apparently had his mike open, and a recording of the incident exists.
But if Obama's racial reflexes served him badly Wednesday night, his political instincts served him well him on Friday. For he must have sensed that this confrontation was shaping up as three powerful black men coming down hard on a white cop with a stellar record who had only done his conscientious duty.
Obama picked up the phone, called Crowley, regretted his choice of words about him and the Cambridge P.D., walked into the press room and told the nation Crowley was a "good guy," he himself had misspoken, that he and the sergeant had talked about getting together for a beer.
It was a goodly slice of humble pie the president ate there, but it was a class act. To ask more would be churlish. As for Patrick and Gates, they, too, should eat a little crow.
The president's decision to go before the White House press corps also suggests Obama is acutely aware of the political peril here. For while his black support is rock solid, his white support is soft.
And Americans will usually side with an Irish cop over a Harvard don, especially when the professor is pulling rank and the cop is right. "This isn't about me," says Gates.
Sorry, professor, it is about you. You have shown the country why William F. Buckley won laughter all over America when he wittily observed that, rather than be governed by the Harvard faculty, he would prefer to be governed by the first 300 names in the Cambridge telephone directory.
The Sarge
EOTIS
In God We Trust
Just An Old Sheepdog
Another Warrior Sounds Off
Lately we have been hearing and reading about major legislation being considered by both the House and the Senate,
Where no one has had the opportunity, or the time, to thoroughly read and understand what exactly is in the bill. In one case a speed reader was brought in, and everyone present was expected to fully understand what was being read. This is not only ridiculous, but in my humble opinion, a slap in the face of every voter. Every representative, of the people, should be fully aware of what he/she is signing, and how it will affect their constituency. If one has not read and understood whatever bill they are signing, they are not fulfilling their sworn duty as a representative, and are committing fraud.
Although each representative may be pressured by their political party, and/or their leaders within their party, they should never forget just who they are representing, and even if under heavy pressure should think only about their obligation to the people who put them into office. This type of thinking, on my part, may be naïve, but it is what our political system was founded on, true representation.
At present we do not have term limits for our representatives, except for the President, who, matter of fact, also supposedly works for us. Since many of our Congressmen and Senators seem to think that speed reading is the way to go
They should be obligated, by law, to be proficient in doing just that, which also means they should be able to explain to the people exactly what was in the bill before them.
LCDR Roberto J. Prinselaar, USCG (Ret)
The Sarge
EOTIS
In God We Trust
Just An Old Sheepdog
Where no one has had the opportunity, or the time, to thoroughly read and understand what exactly is in the bill. In one case a speed reader was brought in, and everyone present was expected to fully understand what was being read. This is not only ridiculous, but in my humble opinion, a slap in the face of every voter. Every representative, of the people, should be fully aware of what he/she is signing, and how it will affect their constituency. If one has not read and understood whatever bill they are signing, they are not fulfilling their sworn duty as a representative, and are committing fraud.
Although each representative may be pressured by their political party, and/or their leaders within their party, they should never forget just who they are representing, and even if under heavy pressure should think only about their obligation to the people who put them into office. This type of thinking, on my part, may be naïve, but it is what our political system was founded on, true representation.
At present we do not have term limits for our representatives, except for the President, who, matter of fact, also supposedly works for us. Since many of our Congressmen and Senators seem to think that speed reading is the way to go
They should be obligated, by law, to be proficient in doing just that, which also means they should be able to explain to the people exactly what was in the bill before them.
LCDR Roberto J. Prinselaar, USCG (Ret)
The Sarge
EOTIS
In God We Trust
Just An Old Sheepdog
Lou Pritchett
This letter says it well. Snopes confirms it.....
Lou Pritchett is one of corporate America 's true living legends- an acclaimed author, dynamic teacher and one of the world's highest rated speakers. Successful corporate executives everywhere recognize him as the foremost leader in change management. Lou changed the way America does business by creating an audacious concept that came to be known as "partnering." Pritchett rose from soap salesman to Vice-President, Sales and Customer Development for Procter and Gamble and over the course of 36 years, made corporate history.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
Dear President Obama: You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.
You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.
You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.
You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.
You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.
You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.
You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.
You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.
You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America ' crowd and deliver this message abroad.
You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.
ou scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.
You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.
You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.
You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.
You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.
You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.
You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.
You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.
You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.
You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.
Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.
Lou Pritchett
The Sarge
EOTIS
In God We Trust
Just An Old Sheepdog
Lou Pritchett is one of corporate America 's true living legends- an acclaimed author, dynamic teacher and one of the world's highest rated speakers. Successful corporate executives everywhere recognize him as the foremost leader in change management. Lou changed the way America does business by creating an audacious concept that came to be known as "partnering." Pritchett rose from soap salesman to Vice-President, Sales and Customer Development for Procter and Gamble and over the course of 36 years, made corporate history.
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
Dear President Obama: You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.
You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.
You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.
You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.
You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.
You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.
You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.
You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.
You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America ' crowd and deliver this message abroad.
You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.
ou scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.
You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.
You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.
You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.
You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.
You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.
You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.
You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.
You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.
You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.
Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.
Lou Pritchett
The Sarge
EOTIS
In God We Trust
Just An Old Sheepdog
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