Why we are the "Best" at Humanitarian Assistance.

I like to say that we in the military, in general do not receive "Humanitarian Assistance" training.  We are usually too busy focusing on our core competencies like war fighting, IE Killing people and breaking things.

Anyhow, it occurred to me the other day that what makes the American Military fantastic and the Best at Humanitarian Assistance is that in general most military people are good people.  Boy scouts if you will.  We will help little old ladies who are broken down on the side of the road.  So naturally we want to help.  When was the last time Jones from the hood or Pierre from France pulled over and gave granny a hand?

The Author is trying to sell a different topic...

WASHINGTON (Feb. 18) -- Teddy Roosevelt couldn't bring a gun into Yellowstone National Park, but soon anyone with a permit will be able to shoulder a shotgun as they watch Old Faithful erupt.

Read the article by Andrea Stone and see how he/she tries to lead the reader astray from what is actually happening.  He/she muddies the waters between conservation and self protection.  Yes, Roosevelt could not hunt, shoot, trap in National Parks where these activities were not allowed all in the name of "Conservation"  gun slingers will not be hunting either when it is not allowed.  I will bet ya my life's saving that when  Obama toured Yellowstone National Park there were LOTS of guns in very close proximity on National Park Grounds.  Did someone forget to tell the sitting president that guns were not allowed in National Parks and the Secret Service would have to:

"According to historian Douglas Brinkley's "The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America," the park's superintendent "issued a stern statement declaring that the president's gun would be sealed by the U.S. Army when he entered the park, just as with every other citizen."

I don't think so?


However, crime is also not allowed anywhere and it still happens.  When was the last time you took a stroll though a National Park and needed a park rangers assistance? 

Mother natures creatures like to eat as well and little tikes make yummy snacks for cougars, bears, gators and other animals high on the food pyramid.   

Next time I take my family for a cruise down Colonial Parkway and if I unfortunately come across someone that requires the use of a firearm for protection, I will be sure to ask the victim if they feel firearms should not be carried by those who have take it upon themselves to be licensed, trained and courageous enough to exercise their second amendment rights in National Parks.  Ok, I fibbed a little there but you get the point!

Brunch in Hampton Roads

Ok, so we have been living here in the Tidewater now for seven years.  After living in San Diego and being offered the opportunity to eat the Sunday Brunch at the Officers club on North Island, I, we, have become a little spoiled.  So ever since moving here, we have been on the look out for a good Sunday brunch Buffet.  We tried some local places like the Coast Guard Training Center in Yorktown, a couple of resturants here in Norfolk and Virginia Beach and really have not been too impressed.  The USCGTC is actually pretty decent if you want to make the trip. 

Today, we tried the Sunday Brunch at the Chamberlin Hotel at Ft. Monroe.  For $25 you get eggs to order, seafood to include crab legs, shrimp and other assorted seafood treasures, a desert table and of course a lunch table with chicken and prime rib.  All the food was very good, the location awesome and the company even better.  Although lacking ice sculptures and complementary mimosa's, the Chamberlin is where it is at in the Central Tidewater area.  I would recommend reservations....

Of course while you are there, walk off your brunch with a stroll along the grounds of America's oldest, continuously manned fortification and visit the casemate museum. 

Northam Update RE SB334

So what is more important to Senator Northam, the safety of the general public or infringing on the rights of the citizens of the commonwealth?  

If Senator Northam is concerned about the safety of the general public when it comes to bars and restaurants which serve alcohol; maybe legislation should be introduced and passed which makes it a crime to consume alcohol while in possession of car keys while in a bar or restaurant.  If you are a car driver you need to ensure that your car keys are clearly visible and not concealed. After all alcohol/automobile deaths in 2008 were 300 plus and injuries were over 6000. 

How many alcohol related gun deaths were there by "licensed" concealed weapon carriers?  Might be quite a revealing study?  Anybody have any good stats?

In Senator Northam's words:

"I believe that we must strike a balance between protecting individual liberties, and protecting the public at large, and I also believe that is consistent with being a supporter of Second Amendment rights.  Repealing the ban on concealed weapons in restaurants serving alcohol is not in the interest of public safety.  I have heard from many in the law enforcement and business communities who agree.  While we may not see eye to eye on this issue, I thank you for writing, and hope that you will continue to contact my office on matters of importance to you. 
 
Sincerely,
 
Ralph S. Northam
Senator, Virginia's 6th District "

Hey, guess what I found?

I found an iphone in the middle of the street. No shit. Sitting right there in the middle of traffic with clueless drivers zipping past. Absolutely nutz mean come on now, pay attention when you drive. Yes, I did stop in the middle of the street, get out and pick up the phone! Unfortunately, the iphone was slightly damaged and the screen would not work so when the phone rang, which is did on a couple of occasions, I could not answer it. I did plug it into itunes and got the phone number, called AT&T and after a few minutes, AT&T left a message for the owner.

Today, being the good Samaritan that I am, I returned the iphone to the brother of the iphone owner, who has a restaurant in Portsmouth. The Name of the joint is "Flagship" I am not much of a seafood fan however if you are up for adventure, pack your heat and go to Portsmouth and try the place out!

Not that much of a Supporter of the 2nd Amendment

From a Personal email 29 Jan 2010

"Thank you for your note. As a gun owner myself, I am a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights, and will give these bills my full consideration should they come before me in the Senate.  I appreciate you taking the time to write, and I look forward to hearing from you again in the future.
 
Sincerely,
 
Ralph S. Northam
Senator, Virginia's 6th District"

So how did he vote on SB 336??

A cover up for Papa Joe?

 From Papa Joe:






From the AP:   "I absolutely refuse to accept the notion that the United States of America is not going to lead the world economically throughout the 21st Century," 

And my favorite comment..

jktnyc   February 17th, 2010 - 1:04 pm

What a dumbazz….This guy is a moron, and they said if we have him we would have a smarter VP than Palin, I am beginning to doubt that.

Sucks to be "Main Stream"

Maybe they will need a bail out?

CNN Has Lowest Viewer Night in 4 Years; Lowest Demo Night in Nearly 9 Years

By Chris Ariens on Feb 16, 2010 05:12 PM

CNN hit new low viewership totals during prime time Friday night (8-11pm) in both Total Viewers and A25-54 viewers.
Up against NBC's Olympic Opening Ceremony coverage, CNN averaged just 85,000 A25-54 viewers during Campbell Brown (8p), Larry King (9p) and Anderson Cooper (10p). An average that low has not been seen since May, 23, 2001. And the Total Viewer average of 382,000 was the lowest since Dec. 23, 2005.
And while all the cable news channels saw reduced viewing levels due to the massive audience that flocked to NBC -- only CNN saw its audience cut in half from Thursday night in both younger viewers and Total Viewers.

One more reason to drive I-75 through Detroit!

 

For all the non-believers!

Yes, I too have stopped and taken a picture!  I need to dig up the one with my Puerto Rican friend!

One Lucky SOB

I would say this young United States Marine needs to get himself a lotto ticket or go back to Basic Training and re-learn some stuff!

Photo from the WSJ.com

Now this is a funny story

For those of you who work out in gym or pool... I think you will get a kick out of this story from "15 Minute Lunch"

From the Digital Archives

Amazing what is out there on the web if you look hard enough..

Oops!

Somebody know something we don't?!

When it becomes time to Kick the "Old Bag" to the curb...

Ok, I have had enough, the "old bag" was getting gray, loose and flabby, worn out, tired, loosing things and just was not the arm candy that I originally fell in love with! 

Well the time has come and after all these years, I have finally thrown my "old bag" to the curb!

My Zora's of St. Thomas attache case which has done me well over the past decades, yes you read that right decades early 1990's though the 00's has finally lived out its last days.

It is sad throwing an old friend into the rubbish pile.  The old bag has done me well and been by my side in High School, College and many travels around the globe.  If only the bag could speak and tell stores of spilled coffee, getting kicked across the room, being a snot rag, a pillow, cheat sheet and of course a loyal friend and companion.

The smell of cotton canvas with a hint of the tropics will be missed.  Thanks Zora for making a great bag and faithful companion.

A New Security Service

Quick Reaction in 12ga or .45

Dr. Bill

They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English.

I can't even talk the way these people talk: 

Why you ain't,
Where you is,
What he drive,
Where he stay,
Where he work,
Who you be... 

And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. 

And then I heard the father talk.

Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads.  

 You can't be a doctor with that 
kind of crap coming out of your mouth.
In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living. 
People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an Education,

and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around. 

The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal.

These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. 

$500 sneakers for what?

And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics.

I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit.

Where were you when he was 2?

Where were you when he was 12?

Where were you when he was 18 and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol?

And where is the father? Or who is his father?

People putting their clothes on backward:
Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong?

People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack;  

 isn't that a sign of something?  
Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all  

 type of needles [piercing] going through her body? 

What part of  Africa did this come from??

We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa  .....

I say this all of the time.  It would be like white people saying they are  

 European-American.  That is totally stupid.

I was born here, and so were my parents and grand parents and, very likely my great grandparents. I don't have any connection to Africa, no more than white Americans have to Germany ,  Scotland ,  England ,Ireland , or the Netherlands . The same applies to 99 percent of all the black Americans as regards to  Africa .  

 So stop, already! ! !

With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap .........  

 and all of them are in jail.

Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. 

We have got to take the neighborhood back.

People used to be ashamed.  

 Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' --  

 or men or whatever you call them now.

We have millionaire football players who cannot read. 

We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs.

 We, as black folks have to do a better job. 

Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. 

We have to start holding each other to a higher standard.

We cannot blame the white people any longer.' 
Dr. William Henry 'Bill' Cosby, Jr., Ed .D. 

 WELL SAID, BILL
It's NOT about color...

It's about behavior!!!

Pops over the pond...

...and off on another adventure!

Best of luck Pops... You crazy old fart!

Am I missing something?

WSJ.Com snippet
"Cities once melted the snow by dumping it in rivers, but the accumulated salt and chemicals fouled the water. So for the most part, cities engage in low-tech, time-consuming efforts to shovel the snow into trucks and cart it to vacant lots."

Soo.. for all the snow and "stuff" which is left on the streets, where does that "go" when the snow melts? 

Last time I looked, storm drains drain into rivers and streams.... So why not just dump the snow into the Potomac River and call it good. 

It is going to end up there anyway....  Some one in DC needs to go back to snorting coke!

Photo From Rhonda Lawrence

TJ Was a wise man...

When we get piled 
upon one another in large cities, as in Europe,
we shall become as corrupt as Europe .
Thomas Jefferson

 
The democracy will cease to exist
when you take away from those
who are willing to work and give to those who would not...

Thomas Jefferson

 
It is incumbent on every
generation to pay its own debts as it goes.
A principle which if acted on would save
one-half the wars of the world. 
Thomas Jefferson

 
I predict future happiness for
Americans if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people under the
pretense of taking care of them.

Thomas Jefferson  

 
My reading of history convinces me
that most bad government results from too much
government. 
Thomas Jefferson

 
No free man shall ever be debarred
the use of arms. 
Thomas Jefferson

 
The strongest reason for the
people to retain the right to keep and bear arms
is, as a last resort, to protect themselves
against tyranny in government. 
Thomas Jefferson

 
The tree of liberty must be
refreshed from time to time with the blood of
patriots and tyrants. 
Thomas Jefferson

 
To compel a man to subsidize with
his taxes the propagation of ideas which he
disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical...

Thomas Jefferson

 
Thomas  Jefferson said in 1802:
'I believe that banking institutions

are more dangerous to our liberties 

than standing armies.
If the American people ever allow
private banks to control the issue of their
currency, first by inflation, then by
deflation, the banks and corporations that will
grow up around the banks will deprive the people
of all property - until their children
wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers
conquered.'

From the American Thinker Blog

Anatomy of a Failed Presidency

   The following is an interesting article and I wonder how long Dr. Hunt can remain at NIH once the powers that be get wind of this article. 

 Dr. Hunt is a social and cultural anthropologist.  He has had nearly 30 years experience in planning, conducting, and managing research in the field of youth studies, and drug and alcohol research. Currently Dr. Hunt is a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Scientific Analysis and the Principal Investigator on three National Institutes on Health projects. He is also a writer for American Thinker.
 

       Another Failed Presidency

      An article from American Thinker by Geoffrey P. Hunt 
      Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson.  In the modern era, we've seen several failed presidencies--led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ.  Failed presidents have one strong common trait-- they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out.

 Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party.  Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China

      But, Barack Obama is failing.  Failing big.  Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy  Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed.  Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.

      But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of precedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months?  His poll ratings are in free fall.  In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage.  This truly is unbelievable.  What's going on?

  No narrative. Obama doesn't have a narrative.  No, not a narrative about himself.  He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else.  But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn't connect with us.  He doesn't have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us.  All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans. We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are.  Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don't align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, and Reagan. 

But not this president. It's not so much that he's a phony, knows nothing about economics, and is historically illiterate and woefully small minded for the size of the task--all contributory of course.  It's that he's not one of us.  And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper.

 Moreover, he doesn't command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don't add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don't make sense and don't correspond with our experience. 

 In the meantime, while we've been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he's dissed just about every one of us--financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job.  Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012:

 "For those of you I offended, I apologize.  For those of you who were not offended, you just didn't give me enough time; if only I'd had a second term, I could have offended you too."

       Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state--staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the executive.  An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year.  With a new Congress, there's always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that.

      Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them.  The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along. 

       Margaret Thatcher: "The trouble with Socialism is, sooner or later you run out of other people's money." 

      "When you subsidize poverty and failure, you get more of both." - James Dale Davidson, National Taxpayers Union

       "The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." - Tacitus 

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own." - Unknown

Here is an interesting perspective..

How to save the Obama presidency 

- bomb Iran

Are we there yet?

The Global Debt Bomb!

An interesting and potentially scary read in the Wall Street Journal concerning our growing Debt!  A number soo large, even I cannot wrap my mind around it!

$14.3 TRILLION

FRONTLINE: digital nation

An interesting series on PBS of all stations...

Killing Bad guys one mouse click at a time...

The Cable TV News Ratings

 

Amazing..Someone is not paying attention!

Homosexuals in the Military

Ok, this hits a little close to home so I feel that I am uniquely qualified to comment on Obama's latest push to repeal the 'Don't ask don't tell"rules in the Military.

1. Personal Experience: As a young platoon leader, I had a poorly performing soldier who wanted to get out of the Army in a big way. A line that he used when he spoke with the command, IE the company commander and myself is, "I am gay!' Was he using this avenue as an easy way out? Was he really gay? A little investigating proved that there were no homosexual tendencies reported by his friends, peers and work mates. However who is going to admit that they too are "gay" to support a friend, a poorly performing one. If the booger is being "flicked", step aside so it does not land on you. How do you correct, train, discipline some one if they now say you are prejudicial towards them on account of their proclaimed sexual orientation. Easy, I treat em all the same! Work hard, play hard, follow the rules the best you can. If you cant meet the established "minimum" then you probably are not doing something right.

2. I personally know a couple of homosexuals. If you did not out right ask, " Hey are you a homosexual?" you would never know their sexual orientation.

Which leads to the point of sexuality, don't parade your tendencies and no one will know or care.

Read here: "Don't ask don't tell!"

Homosexuals catch bullets just as efficiently as the straight guys. If I had a bullet stuck in my chest, I don't give a crap, straight, gay, purple, bestiality obsessed, who is going to drag me to safety and patch me up. Just as long as they can do the job. That is the key: can one perform the job effectively? Can a 98lb woman drag a 220lb man in combat gear from a burning truck? I digressed a little on that with the women in the military, a different story and a different point of view for a different time.

Psycho from the Movie "Stripes" pretty much tells it like it is....

I only wish this was captured locally!

It happens to all of us...  

You're driving along just minding your own business,  when all of a sudden -

Without any warning, This Dick In A Truck pulls out right in front of you......

Some call it the pickup truck mentality!

The 10th Ammendment lives on!

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

 

The Roanoke Times
© February 1, 2010

By Michael Sluss
RICHMOND
The Virginia Senate took a stand against a key provision of a proposed federal health care overhaul Monday, passing legislation declaring that Virginia residents cannot be forced to buy health insurance.
The legislation targets the so-called "individual mandate" provision that could be part of a federal health care reform package being negotiated by congressional leaders. The Senate passed three identical bills by votes of 23-17, with five Democrats joining the chamber’s 18 Republicans in support of the measures.
Republicans in both houses have filed legislation taking on a controversial aspect of the reform package championed by President Barack Obama. Supporters of the legislation questioned the constitutionality of proposals that would require individuals to purchase insurance or be subject to a penalty.

“This is not a bill that deals with health care; it is a bill that attempts to reinforce the Constitution of the United States,” said Sen. Frederick Quayle, R-Suffolk, who is sponsoring one of the bills. “Never in the history if this country has the Congress of the mandated that all citizens of the United States purchase anything.”

Senate Bills 283, 311 and 417 state that no individual can be forced to purchase health insurance, even if coverage is provided by the person's employer.
Democratic opponents of the bills argued that any federal mandate would override the state law and render it useless. They also questioned whether a debate over still emerging federal legislation was a good use of the General Assembly’s time in a year when the state has a severe budget crisis to manage.
“We are legislating in theory and if we want to continue to do that and then tell our folks back home we’re accomplishing great things, that’s a wonderful thing to do,” said Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County. “We’re here to solve problems. We’re here to revive the economy. We’re here to close the budget gap. This legislation does none of that.”
The five Democrats who supported the bill are Charles Colgan of Manassas, Edd Houck of Spotsylvania County, John Miller of Newport News, Phillip Puckett of Russell County and Roscoe Reynolds of Henry County.