I Remember

I remember where I was.

I remember what I was doing.

I remember what happened.

I won't ever forget.

Blazing Sword Project

I may not agree with your lifestyle choices. In fact, your lifestyle choices may squick me out entirely from time to time. But there are two things about your choices that will always remain true:

1. I am not involved in your choices, nor have I any legitimate input in them as long as they do not involve me. As long as you are not taking someone's health or wealth through force or fraud you should be allowed to do or be whatever you want, regardless of anyone elses opinions, including mine. (Of course the reciprocal of that is also true, which is sort of the whole point.)

2. I will defend your right to make those choices with my life if necessary, and I will help you learn how to defend them yourself in any way I can.

Yes, I'm on the map.

Learn more here.

November

For November the ROTM is a classy lady who passed recently.

Farewell to Maureen O'Hara. Say Hi to John for us.

So Long Jim

James Garner has passed at the age of 86.

I remember him from The Rockford Files, but I think my favorite of his movies was Space Cowboys.

Today In History

1942: The US Navy's Battle of Midway winds down as surface fleet combatants move to disengage, the Japanese lost four carriers to the American's one. Yorktown was under tow on the 6th, expected to once again be salvaged, when she was discovered and attacked by a Japanese submarine; she was lost early the 7th.

As the Navy's battle wound down the Marine's battle was just beginning; Marine air elements began to engage the remnants of the Japanese fleet on the 6th. These battles were the first large-scale Allied victories against the Japanese juggernaut and although hard fighting was yet ahead they signaled the beginning of the end of Japanese dominance in the Pacific.

1944: D Day invasion of France at Normandy; the allies landed on Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword Beaches beginning at 6:30 AM, establishing beach-heads for continued operations and sustaining 4,414 casualties by the days end. This is the largest amphibious operation in history to date, and if God is merciful it will be the largest one ever.

Every day we lose more and more of these men, and the world is left poorer by their passing.

And finally, I would be remiss at this time if I did not acknowledge the last of the Navajo code-talkers, Chester Nez, who passed on the 4th at the age of 93. Well done Marine, Semper Fi.

Freddy's Dead

I wonder if the Patriot Guard Riders will ride at the funeral?

UPDATE: I guess not.

A Question

Do we, as free American citizens, have the right to defend ourselves against criminal actions by invaders of our own homes?

What if those doing the invading have the sanction of the State?

I am watching these shenanigans happening in Connecticut and now they are happening in a couple of other places as well (New York, for example).

(Note: It would serve lawmakers well to remember that the American Revolution started in the New England states over government attempts to seize privately owned weaponry, and while such sentiments seem to have been squashed out of most of the residents there it doesn't appear to be gone altogether. This pleases me.)

I am hopeful that calmer and cooler heads will recognize that, much like the 55 mph speed limit, Americans will ignore laws they don't feel are good ones.

I fear, however, that the point will have to be made by bloodshed.

Lawmakers would do well to recognize that "don't want to" doesn't mean "won't" but given their amazing ability to ignore every bit of evidence around them I'm not sanguine about the prospect.

Egon Crosses the Streams

and the world is a less funny place.

Thanks for everything Harold, say hello to Elvis.

Of Ducks And Men

A&E suspending Phil Robertson may have been a bad move financially, time will tell, but I won't shed any tears for Phil. The Robertsons did not make their money on Duck Dynasty, and long after the show is but an interesting footnote in Duck Commander's company history the ducks will still be flocking to their calls.

With that being said, A&E's decision is NOT censorship, any more than was the Dixie Chick's label dropping them, any more than Alec Baldwin losing his show, any more than GEICO dropping the Gunny, or any company's decision to not continue a professional relationship with any of their spokesmen. A&E didn't tell Phil Robertson to shut up, they merely said "you can't say that on our time."

For it to be true censorship...you need a government to use the power of the purse to audit you, the power of regulation to harass you, and the power of the boot to crush you. No matter what poncy Brit twit Piers Morgan says, that is what the First Amendment is all about.

Incidentally, the Second Amendment is all about the people telling the government "you can't do that on our time."

Try to keep that in mind.

Kerfuffle

Apparently we haz one.

You see, it's NC Governor Pat McCrory's 25th anniversary, and for this special occasion he's taking his lady somewhere nice and leaving the LT Governor in charge.

Somewhere nice is apparently other than NC, since the LTG is in charge, and that's where the kerfuffle is. Our chattering class here is aghast that he wouldn't spend his vacation in North Carolina, after all we have nice places, too.

I don't see what the problem is, after all it's Christmas and the legislature isn't in session anyway so it's not like he has something really really important to do...other than celebrate his 25th anniversary with the woman that has put up with him that long, that is.

Besides, if it were me I'd be out of state even if I was in-state IYKWIMAITYD.

I guess if that's all they have to complain about everything must be going pretty good.

Yes I Know

political posts have been thin on the ground here lately (but there are all kinds of new recipes!). You want the latest in politics go see Ace or RSM. I'm trying to watch the blood pressure (of course, some of the aforementioned recipes probably aren't helping in that regard).

So what I did this weekend...I put the boards up that I had painted for the corner of the house I knocked off with the lawnmower, that's done and it looks presentable. I actually painted them last Saturday when the weather was warmer and, I kid you not, as the last swipe of paint went on a rain shower came through and ruined all my work, so instead of hanging them last Sunday before going to work I scraped and painted instead. Son In Law helped me hang them and caulk them and I think it looks pretty good for the work of a couple of amateurs.

I also went in to the tire store and made an appointment to get a curbed wheel fixed on the 'stang. Right front yet again. It was a little dinged anyway, but when I took Eldest Son to the courthouse to pay a bit on his fines I got it really good pulling into the parking spot. That poor wheel catches hell, and it's funny because the tire store guy says it's usually the right rear that gets it. No sidewall on the tire means that any contact, however slight, gouges the wheel up. It gets fixed Thursday morning, and the tires get rotated, so the next one that gets gouged will be the one that is on the rear right now. (note to the car gods, that's a joke, alright?)

And now I'm working Saturday instead of my normal Wednesday because one of the opposite night shift worker bees is taking some well deserved time off. Thus begins my working week then, 5 in a row this time.

I hope you have a good week!

Let's Roll

These were the last words that Todd Beemer said to his wife on September 11, 2001. They were the last known words of a man that had a lot to live for, a man that did not want to die that day but was willing to trade his life for those of his fellow countrymen, for a chance to deny the enemy a clean victory and maybe, just maybe, sidestep what Fate had planned for him. They were the words of an average joe in a difficult place.

They were the words of a hero.

Contrast these words to the ones spoken by an eyewitness to the recent LAX shooting: "I knew I was going to die . . . I took out my cell phone to call my wife and tell her and the kids good-bye . . .”

Bill over at Eastern Iowa Firearms Training heard those words on a newscast and felt his blood pressure spike. 

I left a comment on the original post, but I thought it deserved some additional ruminations.

The average joe wandering around is not a warrior. Even those of us who may have spent time in the military and have our concealed weapons permit, though we may be sheep-doggish, aren't necessarily warriors. To be a warrior encompasses a certain mindset that has been drilled out of us by the constant admonition to play nice and the constant threat of lawsuits. We are a nation of sheeple, sorry to say, and I believe we are that way because that is the way we have been shaped.

Some of us just don't listen very well. 

(More of them are linked on the sidebar to your right. Go ahead and check them out.)

I don't know what I would have done if I had been at LAX on that fateful day. I will give credit where credit is due and say it was TSA's finest moment, and I say that without an ounce of snarkery. I would have likely knelt and said a little prayer ("Lord I pray that this is not my day to die, but if it is then let me face it on my feet"), then started looking for a way out of harms way. I like to think that I would have tried to bring as many of the innocent to safety with me as I could while looking for a way to stop the rampage.

I find it shameful that the TSA agents had to be placed in such a spot, but was a trap they had helped to forge. They are but one of many .gov agencies on all levels that, through regulation and "persuasion", have encouraged us to abdicate our responsibility to protect ourselves. We find out that once again, not only are these agencies unable to protect those of us they have denied the right of self protection to, they are also not legally obligated to protect those of us they have disarmed.

When the nameless shooter (go look for your fame somewhere else would-be assholes, there's only room for one asshole on this here blog and that's me) opened fire, he did so secure in the knowledge that at that moment in time no one was able to oppose him. LAX is an unarmed victim zone inside an unarmed victim zone. But unarmed does not necessarily mean helpless, and this is the thing that got Bill's ire. Rather than find another (admittedly less effective) tool, this un-named commenter sat down to die. 

Just as he had been trained to do. 

Train like you fight, fight like you train.

If that day ever finds me, I pray that I will be a Todd Beemer and not an un-named commenter. I pray that I will find the strength within myself to do what I can to make a difference, if not for myself then for the innocent, to at least deny the enemy a clean victory. I pray for the courage to at least try. If I must die this day, let me face it on my feet. 

I'm no hero. I'm just too fat to run, too old to fight and too damn good looking to die.

Breaking News

Starbucks is tired of being ground zero on the gun debate and wishes gun owners to stop carrying in their stores. And to drive home the point that we are our own worst enemies, gun owners decide to be dicks about it.

UPDATE: EDIT TO ADD: The whole point behind the open carry movement is to let the citizenry see us out and about amongst them doing normal people things, JUST LIKE THEM, except with a sidearm. Our goal is to make them comfortable with us carrying, or at least not terrified of us just because ZOMG!!! GUN!!! We never expected to convince the antis, our goal was to convince the fence sitters. How do you think we did in this instance? END EDIT

I'm sure that the carry of pistols wasn't such a big deal, but the first jackass that brought a rifle in started the decline. Seriously people, just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should, and rather than just thank them for their position we chose to make them a battleground.

And now Starbucks will likely adopt the policy that the anti-gunners wanted them to adopt all along and post their stores, therefore making it illegal to carry in their stores, and it will be our fault. We have effectively moved Starbucks from the "neutral" column towards the "enemies" column.

Well done.

Sequester

There has been some pain felt on the individual level, mostly with the military and military contractors (which IMO should never have been included since they are, in fact, one of the responsibilities assigned to the USG by that document that none of them even bother to read), but by and large the sequester has not touched the average American.

This is akin to the lefties chant about having a war and no one shows up.

As the stories regarding cities like Detroit roll in, and as the sequester fails to make any impact on the lives of average Americans, the panic strategy might full well backfire on the politicians who used it as a scare tactic. Not only that, but since the average American is feeling little to no pain regarding the reduction of government they might start to get the idea that it's not such a bad thing.

In my opinion the next target should be politicians paychecks.

Not Guilty

MSM, LIV's hardest hit.

Big Brother Is Watching You

The other than network news has been full of the revelations, prompted by the Verizon order revelation, that the Government is watching us. That the .gov is collecting domestic call logs under the dubious cover of the Patriot Act and FISA (here's a hint...the F in FISA means Foreign, not Federal) is troubling at best, and downright frightening at worst.

Here's a hint to all the would-be political masters on Capitol Hill (or Beacon Hill, or whatever snobby knob your sacred cows gather on); never grant political powers to your friends that you wouldn't grant to your enemies, because your friends aren't always friendly and your enemies will one day be in charge.

Terrible

When I got up I turned on the news and caught the story of a bomb going off at the Boston Marathon.

May God have mercy on the victims, and the Devil have none for the perpetrators.

End of an Era

The President, the Pope, and now the Prime Minister.

They were instrumental in bringing down the Evil Empire, and now they are gone.

Farewell Lady Thatcher. Britain, and the world, is a poorer place today.

Curious

Speaking of conspiracy theories...

What You Do Instead Of Something

One of the first things I was taught about leadership is not to issue orders you know are not going to be obeyed.

An example of this would be the national speed limit, a law that is routinely scoffed at even by those who are supposed to be enforcing it. When I first moved to North Carolina I was speeding down US1 at ten over the limit when a marked state patrol car came zooming up behind me. I was sure I would get a ticket, but he passed by in the left lane without even looking over at me.

I caught up to him at a gas station up the road and mentioned that I thought he was going to pull me over. He just grinned at me and said "Welcome to North Carolina, where everyone thinks they are Dale Earnhardt JR...and one of us is!"

The New York Senate has just passed sweeping anti-gun legislation that bans, among other things, magazines over seven (!) rounds (my Glock is OK but the Saiga, even with the 10 round magazine it was delivered with, would not be), semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines and one (!) military feature (meaning, practically all of them), and ammunition purchase tracking. None of the banned magazines are grandfathered (they must be sold out of state within one year) and registration of grandfathered rifles is mandatory and must be re-certified every five years. The bill is expected to pass easily in the assembly and of course the governor will sign it.

Proponents claim this will reduce gun violence. All I see is tragic boating accidents happening in the next year. But, the lawsuits should be epic.

For what it's worth, if there are any .223 Saiga magazines looking for a new home, my doors are open.