Never Forget...

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground.
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Debating Liberals

I enjoy debating liberals. They're more fun than a pull toy duck.
But sometimes while they're spouting drivel that they read in the New York Times (as though anything in that rag had real credence), I'm overwhelmed with the blizzard of commie propaganda to the point of brain freeze.
So while waiting for the sharp pain behind my right eye to subside, I try to ask some general questions to make them take a breath.
It also makes them think I really give a rat's patooty about their opinions.
Yeah, right.
Like that's gonna happen.

General questions I like to ask liberals while composing my thoughts:


1. So, did you ever learn anything in school besides hemp macrame?

2. So, what are your "crystals" telling you to feel about this?

3. So I see your yoga instructor is in the news again. I thought that girl was going to drop the charges?

4. Whoa! I guess I know who had beans and broccoli today! So does this count as part of your masters in "Aroma Therapy" dissertation?

5. Relax and breath! Did you forget how to swallow again?

Never Forget

If you are a Democrat...

...you should read this post immediately.

If you are a Democrat and don't read this post over at mean ol' meany's place, you're stupid and in danger of Hell Fire.


Disclaimer: Reading this post will not guarantee that you escape damnation, or your even growing smarter. But it could well retard the inevitable odds of you slipping into a coma and swallowing your own tongue because you were too stupid to breath. And it does happen to Democrats all the time. What? You thought that Alan Grayson has always looked that way?



P.S. Ha! Take that, Sarah Palin! I said "retard"!

Is being "moral" old fashioned ?

So I'm surfing over at iOwntheworld.com, and I come across an article about teenage girls exposing themselves, excuse me, flashing in public and a 30 something male is arrested for taking pictures of them. The question posed by an admin was: what's your opinion of this?
The arguments get hot and heavy concerning the law, whether 15 year olds are really children, etc. About 100 comments in I'm wondering why the idea of morality and "common" decency hasn't been brought up?
I made this comment:

We started this country as a nation of laws. But there was also an unwritten, but generally agreed upon standard of decency and moral obligation. For better or for worse, the laws have become relaxed, and decency and morality have been relegated to the ash-heap in favor of modernity.
Am I some kind of standard bearer for this decency?
Nope. I was a child of the 60's, and I stood warming my hands at the bonfire of "old fashioned values" like so many others.
But I think we lost something in our rush to free ourselves from antiquated notions like God, and shame, and modesty. We "progressed". We progressed to talking about 15 year old girls baring themselves in public. We're smarter, more hip, more sophisticated. We are a progressive nation.
And we are a poorer country for it.


I got mainly favorable votes for the comment, but this morning I had to ask myself: Did I come off as being a pompous ass? Am I just a kill-joy?

But I was truly bothered by the fact that no one seemed to think that this was unusual, and that no one seemed concerned about the very act of these girls, or the 30 something's response. Most were just concerned with whether the man should be charged as a sex offender. (And whether the girls had nice boobs.) Not whether the whole incident should be thought of as shameful and indecent.

I'm really feeling old today. Like a man who's time has passed...

Missouri is my home...

I’m from Missouri, and this morning to paraphrase the FLOTUS: “For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my state, because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.”

You can quote me on that.

"Missouri voters reject key provision of ObamaCare in ballot measure..." 

"We did it before, and we can do it again..."

Big hattip to BigFurHat and Iowntheworld.com

Well, I just found my new theme song...

Ruminations on an Independence Day

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." Matthew 5:14



So last night I was watching "Ice Station Zebra".
Yeah, I know - not exactly an Independence Day film.
But I'm a fan of John Sturges, Alistair Maclean, and the Cold War genre in general, so this movie gives me a 3 for 1.
But I digress, and this isn't a review of the film anyway.

Watching the film got me to thinking about the Cold War with the USSR.
The Cold War got me to thinking about the Reagan era and the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Pretty convoluted, eh? Try and stick with me - I ain't done yet...

That got me wondering: what was it like for people of the satellite countries, and Mother Russia herself, AFTER it all came down.
Sure, from our point of view (the USA, that is), we were happy that it was all over. Our greatest enemy had been defeated without any big mushroom clouds sprouting, no need to see if those "Duck and Cover" videos would really, really work.
Dad could turn the bomb shelter out in the back yard into a wine cellar / cigar humidor and have the boys over on the weekend so they could smoke and joke and laugh about how silly they all felt now for building one in the first place.

But what must it have been like for the average citizen of some of those little eastern European nations that were told that the new order of the day was "Root Hog, or Die"?
No more military protection from Big Momma - Momma had problems of her own. No more subsidies, no more grain shipments, and don't try to cash that check from home - insufficient funds.

Security is, to paraphrase our current VP, a "big f-ing deal". Knowing that you have a roof over your head, the ability to feed you and yours, and that you have the means to do it again tomorrow is something that for the majority of us in the USA, taken completely for granted. And I thank G-d for it.
Even if I loose my job tomorrow, I have an excellent chance of finding another one. Sure, if worse comes to worse, I may have to switch from a cushy desk job, to flipping burgers, but I have a fighting chance to not only continue, but with the proper application of "skull sweat" and "elbow grease", I can not only survive, but maybe, just maybe, I can exceed.

But what about some of those little former satellite nations? To some, no doubt, The Bombs might as well have fallen in Moscow. They were suddenly cut off from the socialist teat that they had been originally forced to feed from, and later grew to expect and depend on.
The thought of me being trapped in that situation sends my mind into panic attack mode. G-d knows what it must have been like for them...


So what does all of that have to do with me watching a cold war thriller last night?
Well, my mind is full of nasty, tricksy hobbitses sneaking their way to Mordor, and they finally led me to that dark, spider filled cave of "What If ?"

Could something happen here in the United States?
Something that could crack the very foundation of this bright and "Shining City on a Hill"?

The sad truth is: Yes.

Even this brilliant invention created by the true geniuses of our Founding Fathers is neither invulnerable or eternal.
Is it strong? Absolutely.
I think history has shown and will continue to show that this "Grand Experiment" is the closest example to a perfect society that has ever been, and ever will be created by men.

But the sad truth is that our Republic's greatest strengths have also become our greatest weakness.
That of freedom itself.
The same freedoms that made us what we are, are being used against us today.
Freedom of thought, freedom of religion, and freedom of expression have been slowly twisted into a perverse mirror of it's original intent.

Can we fix it before it's too late?
Absolutely.
But it's not going to be easy, and it's going to take strong measures to reverse the damage done.
Vigilance is hard. 


Today we celebrate Independence Day.

But the War for Independence didn't end with the defeat of the British in 1783.
It was fought then, and we continue to fight now for our Liberty every day.

May G-d grant us many, many more.


July 4, 2010


Post Script: Maybe for today, I'll sit back, give my fevered brain a rest, and just watch the musical "1776"
That ought to get my mind off this stuff...

Should McChrystal run for President?

Soon after the Rolling Stone article on General McChrystal caused the resignation/retirement/firing of the same, I was asked, "Should McChrystal run for President?"

After the inner monologue of snarky Obama jokes subsided in my head, I considered an honest answer to that question.
For better or worse, this was the answer I gave:




Bottom line. EVERY soldier, from newly enlisted on up take an oath:

“I, (MY NAME), do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

That’s a hard pill to swallow.

But notice that the President is SECONDARY to the Constitution.
If there is a conflict of the two, a soldier’s PRIMARY mission is to defend the Constitution over the orders of the POTUS.

Now, that having been said, should McChrystal have said the things he said? Yes – right AFTER he resigned his commission – not before. As citizen McChrystal – not as a general under the President’s command.

Would I vote for him if he ran for President?
Hell no.

Being a general is HARD.
But if he can’t do that properly and by the book, how could he properly run this country?
Being the President is HARDER.

But hey, that’s just me…

Endeavor to persevere

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Tennyson

Memorial Day

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

General George S. Patton

Lest I forget...

The Necessity of Force

When I was teenager, I was a liberal.
Actually, I was a pot smoking, foul mouthed, Marxist spouting little twerp of a hippy.
I got better.

Not all at once, but gradually, I found myself at odds with everything I had once put my secular "faith" in.
My new faith was in Someone and something outside of myself.
But along side of that, I found a world that was full of real heroes.
Those men and women who put their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor above their personal comfort.
When talks broke down, when reason was scorned, when pleas of mercy fell on deaf ears, these heroes sought freedom from oppression with that final choice left to people desperate to choose their own destiny.
Some would call it applied force.
Others, physical resistance.
Or more honestly: violence.

We hear that word today, and many cringe at the term.
But ask any soldier that has met the enemy on the field of battle, and they will tell you that you can use those earlier, prettier terms for it, but violence is still it's name.
And many have paid the ultimate price in it's application.



An excerpt from Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein:

History and Moral Philosophy.
H. & M. P. was different from other courses in that everybody had to take it but nobody had to pass it – and Mr. Dubois never seemed to care whether he got through to us or not. He would just point at you with the stump of his left arm (he never bothered with names) and snap a question. Then the argument would start.
But on the last day he seemed to be trying to find out what we had learned. One girl told him bluntly: “My mother says that violence never settles anything.”
“So?” Mr. Dubois looked at her bleakly. “I'm sure the city fathers of Carthage would be glad to know that. Why doesn't your mother tell them so? Or why don't you?”
They had tangled before – since you couldn't flunk the course, it wasn't necessary to keep Mr. Dubois buttered up. She said shrilly, “You're making fun of me! Everybody knows that Carthage was destroyed!”
“You seemed to be unaware of it,” he said grimly. “Since you do know it, wouldn't you say that violence had settled their destinies rather thoroughly? However, I was not making fun of you personally; I was heaping scorn on an inexcusably silly idea – a practice I shall always follow. Anyone who clings to the historically untrue – and thoroughly immoral – doctrine that `violence never settles anything' I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and of the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee, and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms.”

Lest I forget...

"I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day.  I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it.  We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did." 

Benjamin Harrison

Food for thought on a Sunday...

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

Clive Staples Lewis

Yes, it's an old one - but it still makes me smile...

Happy Vladimir Lenin's birthday !

Or as the hippies call it, Earth Day...

Garbo Talks

Hat tip to Illustr8r and iOwntheWorld

Just realized I aint the Old Spice guy...

Hello ladies.
Look at your man, now back to me, now back to your man, now back to me.
Luckily, he isn't me.
Now please appreciate your man.

Wow! These Guys Must Really Believe In Their Product!

Wow! These Guys Must Really Believe In Their Product!

Posted using ShareThis

Obama Wont' Use Nukes

So Obama has stated that he won't use nuclear weapons against those who don't already have them.
Is this his way of again telling the world, "See? The US aren't bad or evil people. We're like really civilized now that I'm in charge. The rest of the world will now love us 'cause we're all warm and cuddly and stuff."?

If this is what he's going for, and if this has always been his philosophy in life, it kinda begs the question: How often did little girls beat him up in school, pants him, magic marker his weenie, stuff him naked in his locker, and steal his lunch money?

I'm betting the answer is: Every single day.

2nd Chapter of Acts - Easter Song

Easter

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

C.S.Lewis


For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Romans 5:19

Just a quick Question

Who is John Galt?

Because I feel like it, that's why......

The Second Coming

TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

William Butler Yeats

Hi, I'm from the Government and I'm here...

Sure, the last four years of George W had it's down side, and financially, it wasn't the greatest time.

We were looking for greener grass, and we suffered the consequences. 

But now the Democrats are in charge!

And they're going to help us out of this tight spot, right?

Right???

Fight Club

[Source: Day by Day by Chris Muir]

Teach Your Children Well

Teach Your Children Well 

[Source: iOwnTheWorld.com]

Sound familiar?

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. - The Declaration of Independence

(Hat tip to Sissy Willis on twitter)


 Actually, while re-reading the Declaration today, I'm finding that the many of the crazy changes that Obama has been trying to bring about since taking office can be found in mirror form within the Declaration.
If I were as paranoid as I feel right now, I'd almost say that his playbook is to simply to repeal every item the founding fathers set out to free us from.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent


But that's just crazy talk . . . right?

Education is cool!

I learned a new word today from SarahK today. I'm pretty sure she's a girl, but different somehow. Kinda grown up an' stuff. I know there's a word for that, but it fails me at the moment. Guess that will be my word for tomorrow. Anyway she's pretty nice for someone that's online. A rare quality nowadays.
In the mean time, my new word:


"Slattern"

slat·tern 

Pronunciation: \ˈsla-tərn\

Function: noun

Etymology: probably from German schlottern to hang loosely, slouch; akin to Dutch slodderen to hang loosely, slodder slut

Date: circa 1639

: an untidy slovenly woman; also : slut, prostitute

It doesn't sound as naughty as those other words, or leave a nasty taste in my mouth after saying it. I now vow this to use in place of those others...

"Get those slatterns off the street! There's a politician coming to town!"

"Don't drive down that street at night where the kids can see - the slatterns come out and just stand there."

"Nancy Pelosi wanted to be a slattern when she grew up, but wasn't qualified. She then turned to her second choice..."


"Bill Clinton's in town! Hide the slatterns!"

Yep, I can see this word becoming a regular part of my vocabulary.
Thanks, SarahK.

Things I tweeted, random thoughts, or maybe just fever dreams. I get those confused...

"You can change your Levi's, but you can't change your genes." - me

"Why do you think they call it dope?"  Because the name markos was already taken.

If you're a Christian, you don't have to like me - you gotta love me. Like it or not, I'm family...

Lest I forget...

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God."

That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice.

Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.

You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.

But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher.
He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.


C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity

Cartoon, or my next job?

Sunday...

Hebr 11:13 (KJS) These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

PJTV's Andrew Klavan: Find God in 60 Days

Depression...

You ever wake up feeling pretty good? Then you read and watch the news, you wonder how these idiots got into power,  and 15 minutes later you say to yourself, "Why oh why didn't I take the BLUE pill ?"

As Grandma used to say, "Sometimes I really hate reality. It harshes my buzz."

Max Headroom finally coming to DVD!

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Max-Headroom-DVDs-Planned/13399

W channels Aragorn

Pay no attention to the idiot who owns this...

Let me be clear. This isn't really a blog. That would mean that I actually work at making it something that other people would want to read. It's not. It's a placeholder for ME. I say something that I may want to remember for myself - I put it here. I'm getting senile now, and I can't remember where I put my car keys, let alone what I may have said on some forum, so I copy and paste it here. It may save me from being sued. But then again it might be used for evidence too. But at least if I am sued, it'll be for something I actually said, and not something that was just made up about me. If I'm going to jail, I'm going happy in the knowledge that I did it all by myself - not by some other idiot's fever dream...

True History - more or less...

Punchin' Hippys...