A Bummer

I'm not one for much sentiment, but the sudden passing of Joel Rosenberg is worth noting to me. I'd never met the man, but I'd heard him on the radio and benefit from his drive for 2nd Amendment rights in general and concealed carry rights for Minnesota specifically, every day.

So long, sir.

The More Things Change....

First read this article from the Guardian

Parachute Regiment to lose £5-a-day danger payment
Proposed army cuts may affect 4,000 military personnel including soldiers returning from Afghanistan

Then, read this:

TOMMY
by Rudyard Kipling

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
    O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
    But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
    The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
    O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
    For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
    But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
    The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
    O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
    Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
    But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
    The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
    O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
    While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
    But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
    There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
    O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
    For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
    But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
    An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
    An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

Wounded Warrior and Tough Mudder

As all you dedicated readers know, I'll be doing the Tough Mudder race on Mt. Snow this May 7.

Here is the fund raising link that the Tough Mudder created for Wounded Warrior.

https://www.raceit.com/Fundraising/donate.aspx?event=2937&fundraiser=r797650

If you donate to sponsor me, the money will go towards helping injured service members.

Here's a little more about the Wounded Warrior Project: 

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Feel free to share these links with anyone you think might be interested

2011

I have to say, 2010 was pretty darned good to me and my mom and my sisters. If 2011 is even "as good", then that'll already be a win.

And I just watched the A-Team movie - any guy who can't have fun watching that has some serious problems, IMO.

My Only Remark On The Gainsville Quran Burning

Try this in Saudi Arabia before you complain how awful and intolerant the USA is.

10 of the Many Reasons to Love My Wife

1) She loved Inglorious Basterds

2) When reading an article on the Berkeley students striking cause they won't get free tuition any more, she quoted Margaret Thatcher: "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."

3) Her jab cross combo moves the Wavemaster across the floor, and she supersets kettlebell cleans & swings.

4) Has her CCW permit.

5) When I said "Lets get motorcycles!" she said "How much are they? Do they make them for women? Where could we learn how to drive them?"

6) Wants another tattoo.

7) Says things like: "I think I'll make a Devil's Food Cake."

8) Got me an awesome Gadsen Flag for Xmas.

9) When told that there were people who believe that a photograph of the Lunar Lander proves NASA faked the moon landing, she said. "That's stupid. If they're smart enough to go to the moon, they're smart enough to take a picture of it."

10) Wants my parents to babysit the kids in June so we can spend the weekend in NYC drinking fancy beer and shooting pool in bars.

The Plow, The Surplus and The Idiot

Civilization began in the great river valleys in Africa, Asia, and Mesopotamia. Every year the waters would rise and fall, refreshing the soil, irrigating the land.

But it wasn't until we began to farm that we stayed in one place to harvest and plant again. And it wasn;t until we developed tools like the plow that our nascent nations were able to produce a surplus of food, and allow some of the population to spend time not hunting or growing food.

The creation of the plow allows priests, merchants etc. to genuinely emerge and flourish.

I told you that so I could ask you this:

The following comes from a Vegan Roomate Wanted ad on Craigslist (Best Of). Do you believe, as I do, that our western Democracies must have an amazing amount of surplus production to allow this sort of person to appear?:

Vegan household only. No animal products in the house; no new leather shoes (I am not going to shun you for an old pair of hiking shoes�I am an avid dumpster diver and may have old stuff in my life too that is on its last round), no honey, no bee pollen, no wool, no down comforters. I am a liberationist animal rights person who has a total commitment to veganism. It is a defining feature in my life.

I take care of inside-only cats. It is important to be aware of the cats when opening the door, because they are inside only,but they are older and mostly you do not have to worry about escapees, just when bringing in groceries or something like that. I scoop the cat litter everyday and vacuum very often. I am very clean about the cats. They have been with me for a decade and are the sweetest older cats ever. I do not support the domestication of animals�they are rescue kitties from the streets. Their names are Mulder, Bromden, Theo, and Zen Mama.

It is important for me to live in a straight-edge environment. Please, no alcohol or pot or anything else in the house. Please be sober in the house, even if it is not your lifestyle.

I am an environmentally aware person. I do not have an air conditioning unit, I use the heat on low in the winter (lots of layers). I shop at People�s coop and Food Fight!, I recycle, reuse, reduce. I am very DIY. I do not have a garden (there is hardly a yard here). But you can bring compost waste to various places around town if you like. I am childless by choice and do not want any kids living here, sorry parents.

Perspective

This weekend a friend brought over a DVD of the History Channel show "Dogfights!" which is a pretty cool infotainment series. Kinda like "Wings: The Next Generation". So he pops in the one about Guadalcanal, and it's going over some of the background of the campaign while setting up the arena for some nice CGI F4F Wildcat vs. Ki-43 "Oscar" furballing.

We were watching some stock footage of a pair of Marines advancing through the jungle hip firing a Browning .30cal and I kinda chortled. The guys asked me why I was laughing, thinking it was going to be a gun-guy comment about the Browning or some such.

And I just shook my head and said that those guys lived in shit and mud for months on end, took fire, had 8 kinds of dysentary and skin rot, weighed 150 pounds soaking wet and probably hadn't had a hot meal in a week, and there they are, assault firing with a .30cal MG because the goddamned Japs have part of a goddamned island in the goddamned Solomons. And I'm feeling pissy about my job today.

Bottom line is, I was laughing at myself as compared to those guys, or the millions of guys just like them. And perspective is good.