Saturday, May 31, 2008
A New World Wonder
One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was the massive bronze statue of Helios, guarding the entrance of the island city of Rhodes, most commonly known as The Colossus of Rhodes.
This is a Patriot’s Journey post. Others participating this year are: The Bastidge, the wonderful people at The Line Is Here, Doug at Inessential Musings and Shortbus from The Edge of Reason
Since it was utterly destroyed by an earthquake, and the metal scavenged, it was more than a millennium before anyone saw something so mighty again, with The New Colossus.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
It was the idea that a nation was welcoming people looking for a new chance to succeed, instead of wallowing in the traditional poverty of centuries in the same patch of soil that had been farmed for centuries that caused so many to give up everything they owned for that chance to make life better for their kids and grandkids.
“Here is life or here is dying,
Only sin is lack of trying.
Grab your picks and grab your shovels;
dig latrines and build your hovels.
Next year better, next year stronger,
next year’s furrows that much stronger.”
—Robert Heinlein, “Time Enough For Love”, Chapter 33
A nation where success is defined by how hard you work, not who your parents were.
Where anyone who looks down his nose at me because I didn’t attend Yale can “kiss my royal Irish arse!”
Where I can stand up and speak my opinion and not have to worry about being tossed in jail because I offended some politician.
I’m native born, as were my parents, and at least three of my four grandparents (dad’s mother was Danish-born; mom’s mother was Native American), but I get treated just the same as anyone who just took his citizenship oath yesterday, and that is exactly how it is supposed to be.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Welcome to California
Customs and Immigration check to your left, currency exchange straight ahead and on the right…
This is a Patriot’s Journey post. Others participating this year are: The Bastidge, the wonderful people at The Line Is Here, Doug at Inessential Musings and Shortbus from The Edge of Reason
One of the nice things about our country is the fact that we don’t need passports or permission to travel from State to State (or even a reason, if you come right down to it), despite the fact that each of the States is nominally sovereign, with each having its own Legislature, elected Government and court system. The beauty of our Federal Government is that it provides an overarching continuity of culture, legal protections, language and currency.
Well, not so much a “language”, per se, since it can be argued that there is no “official national language”, and people speak a dozen different languages (Cajun French in Da Bayooz, Spanglish in L.A., Farsi in the convenience stores and Japanese in the dorm rooms of the really good colleges), and even more dialects of English - Maine Lobsterman, Valley Girl (like, ohmuhGawd!), Joisey cabdriver, Texas twang (y’all), Key West Cuban, Seattle slang, East Bay Ebonics (nomesane?), etc....
But the closest we have ever come to any kind of restrictions when crossing political subdivision boundaries was during the Mediterranean Fruit Fly scare a few years back, requiring a close search for living fruit and trees coming and going. There is still a remnant station on I-15 between Baker and Yermo (a little town just north of Barstow), where all vehicles are warned that they should be prepared to stop. Most times they just wave people through, but about once a year, we get stopped long enough to be asked, “Are you carrying any fruit?” After the immediate reply of “Nope”, they immediately wave us on and ask the next driver. Total delay: about five perfunctory seconds.
And the currency part is really nice, because I don’t have to worry about changing US currency for (say) the California bruin, or the Virginia crown or Florida clam, and have to sweat about how to do the currency calculation on the fly as the various State currencies fluctuate by fractions of a pfennig.
And during my life, I have lived in so many different States, I have almost lost count. Born in New York, moved to Oklahoma, then to Texas, back to New York, California, back to Texas, Illinois, Virginia, Florida, Louisiana, Florida again, Texas (again), California, Washington, California, Texas (one last time), and back to California one last time. That doesn’t include moving from address to address within individual States. In the last 32 years (since I started keeping track on the move from upstate New York to southern California in August ‘76), I have moved everything I owned to a different physical (and mailing) address a total 38 times - once every 10 months, on average.
And I have never had to get government permission to do so. Not once. Not even when I was in the Navy - the most I needed to do was file a change of address form with the PNs (Personnelmen - they handled all kinds of paperwork for enlisted) so that the command knew how to find me if an emergency arose.
We’ve got a wonderful country, don’t we?
Thursday, May 29, 2008
One great thing about our country
Picture. Thousand words.
This is a Patriot’s Journey post. Others participating this year are: The Bastidge, the wonderful people at The Line Is Here, Doug at Inessential Musings and Shortbus from The Edge of Reason
It’s a big picture, so I’m tucking it below the fold.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Grand Canyon at sunset…
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Three Shall Be The Number Thou Shalt Count
And the number of the counting shall be three.
This is a Patriot’s Journey post. Others participating this year are: The Bastidge, the wonderful people at The Line Is Here and Doug at Inessential Musings
Y’know, the ancient people of the world were pretty smart for all their apparent lack of scientific understanding. They knew that the number 3 had some interesting qualities, and many invested the number with religious attributes.
The main point I wish to make about it is that it is the lowest number that will allow for a valid decision when faced with a difference of opinion. When one person wants one thing, and a second person wants the exact opposite, there has to be a third party to break the tie. A stool requires at least three legs to stand alone
It works the same in our government - there are two main branches of government, with the various checks and balances between the legislative and executive branches (it is the Legislature that writes the law, but the executive that ‘executes’ the law; the executive embodies the government, but must get legislative approval for most acts; etc.). Every now and then you will have a situation where one branch wants something one way, while the second branch wants the polar opposite (think “abortion” and you see what I mean).
In cases like that, or where the citizenry needs protection against a power-hungry government, you have the third branch - the Judicial.
The Judicial was chosen as the tie breaker in our government, and was set up as a co-equal branch of government specifically because of those almost inevitable conflicts, and because it was seen as the weakest branch of the three. The Judicial commands no troops (cops are always part of the executive branch), and has no power of the purse (since the Legislature must authorize any governmental expenditures). What it has in its favor is the appearance of impartiality, and I emphasize the word “appearance”.
And, lying dormant under all the jumbles of checks and balances and power grabs and hand spanks, there lies the Ultimate Authority - the American citizen and their Constitutional Reset Button. “When in the Course of Human Events...”
Some interesting quotes:
There are not enough jails, not enough policemen, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people.—Hubert H. Humphrey
The purpose of government is never to do good, but simply to refrain from doing evil. This sounds simple but is not.—Robert A. Heinlein
If the Government is big enough to give you everything you want, it’s big enough to take away everything you have.—Gerald Ford
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Fool, fool, Back to the Beginning is the Rule
Let us return to those days of yore, when men were men, women were women, and small green things in a Florida swamp were small green things in a Florida swamp.
This is a Patriot’s Journey post. Others participating this year are: The Bastidge, the wonderful people at The Line Is Here and Doug at Inessential Musings
A lot of ordinary men got together and decided to risk everything they had on a long shot, pitting themselves against the mightiest military the world had seen to date. A bunch of half-literate farmers and merchants, huddled together on the hostile shores of a land far from their monarch, facing vicious winters, hurricane-ravaged summers, and hostile natives trying to repel the invaders by any means necessary, thought that fighting and dying for a dream that had never before existed - an entire nation, forming a new style of government based on some ideas that had been never quite worked out in that particular recipe before - was maybe not such a bad idea, after all.
There were people against it, longing for the earlier days of glory under the half-crazed lunatic with a scepter in Londontown, including one highly respected military officer.
But we won, and the rest, as they say, is in the books.
Once we had accepted the surrender of the British, we had the next major problem - what kind of government to install. None of the men referred to collectively as “The Founding Fathers” had had any personal experience with anything other than a monarchy, since that was all the rage in Europe at the time - England had King George III, France had Louis XV & XVI, Germany had the Empress Maria Theresa, and Spain (and Mexico) had Charles III. They had their favorite ideas, of an elected President and Congress, with a Judicial branch to break the ties between the two, and no titles of nobility permitted.
They had to persuade the citizens. They had to put forth actual reasons and support those arguments with logic or evidence. They did.
Those arguments are called (collectively) The Federalist Papers. (Oh, relax, we won’t be going through all 85 of them...)
They were written by Alexander Hamilton (nos. 1, 6–9, 11–13, 15–17, 21–36, 59–61, and 65–85), James Madison (nos. 10, 14, 18–20, 37–58, and 62–63), and John Jay (2–5, and 64). We’ll be digging into some of them in greater detail in the coming days (especially Number 10), but I just wanted to acquaint you with the basics. Take a few minutes and skim through a few of them…
Monday, May 26, 2008
The journey of a thousand words
could be best summed up with a single picture…
This is a Patriot’s Journey post. Others participating this year are: The Bastidge, the wonderful people at The Line Is Here and Doug at Inessential Musings
Welcome one and all to the 2008 Patriot’s Journey.
We begin this year, as we always do, in humble remembrance of those who went out and never came back.
Those of you who have been here for a while know that I served in the Navy for 10 years. I don’t know if I ever shared the details, but a brief recap, if I may.
I was an Operations Specialist (I operated radars and associated electrical and electronic equipment, kept logs and plots, talked with other units via radio and satellite communications, plus all the other stuff everybody learns about serving on a Security Alert Team/Ship’s Self Defense Force/Special Weapons Security Force and shipboard fire-fighting/damage control duties), with an NEC-0334 certification.
I served on both Coasts (NAS Jacksonville, NAVSTA Mayport (including 13 months in New Orleans), NAVSTA San Diego, NAS Moffett Field, and NAS Whidbey Island). I worked at the bombing/gunnery range and radar training site for all East Coast military forces and on the staff of COMPATWING Ten ASWOC (Anti-Submarine Warfare Operations Center). I served on a Perry-class FFG and a Spruance-class DD.
If I had been allowed to re-enlist (physical problems that resulted in a 40% disability rating from the VA prohibited this), I was in receipt of orders to go to AIC (Air Intercept Controller) training. Since my Honorable Discharge, I have continued to cheerfully serve my community and country in any ways I have been asked. As a matter of fact, I’ve got an election coming up a week from tomorrow, and possibly jury duty soon thereafter, and I’m actually looking forward to both.
And ...... (long pause, deep breath) ... I have lost friends on active duty. I knew one of the men who died on the Stark (went to “A” School with him), and had worked with another who only survived because he was on duty at the time. (It appears one of the Exocet missiles would have impacted inches from his head if he had been lying there at the time of the attack.)
Another young lady I worked with died in a car crash on her way home from work. But her sacrifice was no less honorable, even if it was a pointless tragedy.
It is in their memory that I dedicate this Memorial Day. I also tender my humblest respect to those who have offered the ultimate sacrifice to protect their buddies (it is always the guy next to you for whom you are ultimately fighting, not some amorphous ideal), and my deepest sympathies to their friends and families.
“All Gave Some; Some Gave All”
Thank you.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Resting up for the Journey
Last chance, folks. Last minute entrants should leave a comment, or risk getting missed in the cross linkage.
{checks backpack one last time}
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Government Incompetence
Last September, I wrote about the fact that the Government couldn’t sell an orgasm and still turn a profit.
Well, I feel even stronger about the Government thinking it can run ANY part of the economic sector.
Maxine Waters (D-Confusion) apparently thinks that they should just take over the oil companies and socialize them.
Y’know, because the Government is so efficient at distributing the essentials to citizens. Why, just look at the paradise that is North Korea, where all industry is socialized, or that island Bit O’ Heaven that is Cuba. National Health Care, 100% literacy, and total nationalization of all industries, and people are climbing into Igloo coolers to make the trip through shark-infested waters to get away.
Yeah, I know she caught herself, and the newscaster pointed out that she “meant” to say “Nationalize”, but I don’t know that there is a meaningful distinction between “nationalize” and “socialize”. It goes together like franks and beans. Why, just hear how the phrase ”National Socialist Party” rolls off the tongue.
Maybe it sounds better in the original German.
Friday, May 23, 2008
72 hours and counting, folks
Today is Friday, the 23rd, and we start the Patriot’s Journey on Monday. If you want to participate this year, please be so kind as to drop me a line, so I can be sure to link your site. (So far, I only have The Bastidge, so be sure to let me know...)
Thanks!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Can we officially question their patriotism now?
If you want to know why I think that most Democrat politicians are anti-American scumbags who put their urge for political power above any other goal, then I urge you to watch this video. I’m putting the transcript under the video, so you can follow along.
The speaker: Representative Paul Kanjorski (D-PA 11th)
“I’ll tell you my impression. We really in this last election, when I say we...the Democrats, I think pushed it as far as we can, the envelope. We didn’t say it, but we implied it; that we, if we won the Congressional elections, we could stop the war. Now anybody was a good student of Government would know that wasn’t true. But you know, the temptation to want to win back the Congress, we sort of stretched the facts...and people ate it up.”
More at this link.
Hat tip to Ace
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The Signs on the Side of the Road
Ain’t nothing a good shot of whiskey can’t handle!
Around a week ago my current partner found out that the girl he had been dating for a few months has been double-timing him and seeing another guy on the side. I told him that’s what happens to guys like us with badges and horrible schedules – our chicks leave us and find someone who can pay attention to them. Being on the receiving end of a situation like that more times than I care to admit, I went over the tell-tale signs that no cop see’s until it’s too late. As I went through the signs, I realized that I could probably become a billionaire by writing a book about this stuff and saving guys a lot of time and headaches --- not to mention the cost of alcohol spent on getting these dames off of our minds. Instead of going through all that, I figured it would be better to just post it on my awesome blog for the world to see for free.
These are the top three warning signs that you need to get rid of your gal and move on. Most of this is cop-specific. I know that a lot of my fellow coppers read this blog, and I really appreciate it. Hopefully this will save a few of you guys from tossing back a shot of your favorite alcohol and saying “… eh ... screw it. There are better chicks out there, anyway.” If you’re not a cop, most of this stuff might seem kind of cynical and anti-woman. Welcome to our world.
1. Your gal doesn’t pick up her phone after 5:00 PM. Alright, I can’t stress this point enough. If you’ve been dating someone for at least a little bit and they stop answering your calls after 5:00 PM, especially if you work a PM or late afternoon shift, there’s a good chance she found someone new. We get used to having our schedules that go from 2 PM – 10 PM, or something similar. For us it’s normal. That’s when the bad guys are out, and that’s when we get our best work done. Unfortunately that’s when everyone else is winding down their day. If she’s not picking up the phone after 5:00 PM, she’s either talking to someone else or kicking-back with someone else who has more than five minutes to chat with her. Time to move on, dude.
2. She’s spending a lot of time with her family. Women go into relationships using the excuse of “spending time with their family” just in case they need to drop you like a bad habit, and they also use it when they’re in a relationship with you and they’re thinking about stepping out. You’re a jerk if you take it personal that they’re want to spend time with their sister or their mom, and they know this. If you notice they’re spending a few too many weekends with the “family” or there are a few late nights (or unanswered phone calls) during that time period that they’re spending time with their “family,” it’s time to pack her stuff for her and move onto the next gal.
3. Her house isn’t a good place to go anymore. Unless you’re dating a gal you met while serving a gang injunction in Compton, she won’t mind that you want to spend time at either your place or hers. If she’s turning sketchy and wants to spend more time at your place, or just wants to go to grab a bite to eat (or something of the like) and then go home --- and definitely not to her place --- then she definitely has something going on on the side. Save yourself from that morning hangover and drop her like a bad habit.
Most of this is common sense, but I had to go through a few bad dating episodes before it finally kicked in. The bottom line is that you have to use your good senses as a cop in your relationship as much as you use it on the job. Don’t let those skills go to waste. If you think someone bad is going on, and you’re getting that same gut-feeling that we all get when we’re going into a crappy situation (think: felony traffic stop in Lynwood with five Southsider gangsters in the car and your closest radio car is two minutes out), then back-off and reevaluate. There are a lot of great women in the world, and there’s no sense in wasting your time or hers if things are going sideways.
I forgot to mention the good part. When you’re in a relationship, your job comes second. For most people that’s a fact of life, but most people aren’t out there busting their chops trying to fight bad guys all over the place. Our job comes first. Everyone had the thought run through their mind about slowing down, moving to another shift, picking up a detective spot in petty crimes, or something that definitely isn’t what you signed up for. When you’re single, all of that goes out the door, and you can continue your career of hooking-and-booking, which is exactly what we all signed up for.
So think about it, and watch for the signs! And of course, you can always shoot me an e-mail at helo(at)drumwaster(dot)com if you need a second opinion. I got your back!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Gonna take a few days
And hit up Vegas. We’ll be back Thursday, and my birthday follows next Friday. Take the money you would have spent on my present and send it - anonymously - to your favorite charity. No fanfare, no receipt, no tax deductions. The only ones who get to know what you did is you and your Diety.
Just because. (Trust me, the Diety will be at least mildly impressed.)
In other news, I sent off yet another year’s rent on this site, so I’ll be here pissing you off for at least another year.
Breaking News
Mary Jo Kopechne jumps to her feet and eagerly rushes towards the Pearly Gates, just to be the first to point and laugh at Teddy the Swimmer as he is denied entrance.
Teddy Kennedy (D-Inebriation) is rushed to the hospital with stroke-like symptoms, and Susan Estrich is quick to start the eulogizing.
Well, one good thing - if he survives and only loses a major portion of his cognitive function, he’ll still be eligible to hold his Senate seat. After all, Tim Johnson (D-SD) proved that even a breathing vegetable can be a sitting Democratic Senator. (cv Robert Byrd, Harry Reid)
UPDATE: It appears as though he might pull through. I will consider it a “mission kill” if he retires from public life, so that he can’t do any more damage to our country. And who knows? Maybe he will take the remaining days of his life and look for redemption and sincere repentance.
Anything is possible.
Friday, May 16, 2008
In yet another example
of ”What Liberal Media?”, the Editor of the Seattle Times lashes out in defense of Obama.
See, President Bush gave a speech the other day while he was in the Middle East, and he pointed out the inherent idiocy of attempting to appease despots and maniacs. The Media instantly sprang to the attack, with the local NBC affiliate accusing the President of (snort, guffaw) “playing politics”. (First, what is the titular leader of his political party going to be doing for his day-to-day job besides doing political things? And second, what is Obama doing, playing a nice game of tiddly-winks?)
But this moron takes the idiocy to news heights: ”Hitler’s Demands Weren’t Unreasonable”.
Of course, he has since “amended” his statements, trying to keep people from “misinterpreting” him.
As though that statement needed any parsing.
Can’t get the People to agree with you?
Easy solution: find a friendly judge!
Even if you can’t manage to persuade the minimum number necessary to get your policies inculcated into legislation (50%+1 for vox populi Initiatives, or a majority of the Legislature and the Governor), that’s perfectly okay because all you need to do is find a judge that agrees with you and, voila!
You overturn the clear will of 61% of the people.
What could be easier?
Yesterday, a judicial panel of seven judges voted 4-3 to ignore the definition of marriage given in existing black-letter law by finding a “fundamental right” that has gone hitherto unnoticed for a century and a half. The last time this issue came up was Proposition 22, which passed by more than 20 points (61-39), yet those unelected judges ignore that to create a “compelling state interest” in gay marriage. (Which neatly sidesteps the utter lack of legal precedent, as well as the need to actually have any written laws supporting the judges as they attempt to arrive at their various decisions.)
Funny… wouldn’t there be a “compelling state interest” in one man-one woman marriages? After all, that is proven to be the most stable form of family, as well as being self-sufficient in creating future generations (something same-sex couples simply cannot do).
That ticking sound is becoming louder.