Posts from — May 2022

This is a picture from one of the columbariums at the Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place of many of those who served the United States since the middle of the 19^th century.

That is my Father’s marker. He didn’t know those located around his marker, but they all shared service to their country as part of their life.

The country continues to ask for service and people still respond to that call. As you think about the sacrifices represented by Arlington and other cemeteries, ask yourself if you have done what you could to prevent misuse of the willingness of some to serve.

It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation 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.

Taps – the final salute to a fallen comrade.

Declare .223 ammunition military mission critical and prevent sale to civilians.

If you you want an AR-15, AK-47, or .30 caliber carbine – buy them chambered for .22 rimfire for around $400 or less. My Colt SSA chambered for .22 was the same “feel” with less recoil and cheaper ammo.

Looking at the picture of the “Uvalde SWAT team” there was a glaring absence – there was no scoped ‘deer rifle’ to take down the ‘perp’. It’s West Texas, surely someone hunts and could have ended this before the school. ‘Body armor’ doesn’t work well with deer rounds and appropriate bullets. Buy and train with the appropriate tools for the job.

I have seen a number of people suggesting that term limits might alleviate some of the problems we are facing in this country. I’m sorry, we did it in Florida and things have gotten worse.

There are no senior politicians to act as moderating influences and laws are written by lobbyists and staff. The actual legislators don’t develop the necessary skills and start campaigning for Federal office as they approach their limits. They aren’t governing, they are in campaign mode. If you contact them with a problem with the state government, they don’t know who to contact to fix it.

Be careful what you wish for – you may get it and it’s hard to correct.

Towel Day

Do you know where your towel is?

Starting on the ninth of the month my respiratory health dropped to the level of feral kittens. We have finally put together a plan that is improving things, with one exception: the Codeine-Guaifenesin cough syrup tastes like it was strained through sweat socks, did nothing for me, and costs twice the price of a .7 liter bottle of a really decent Mosel trockenbeerenauslese. The Rhein is more fruity but a definite dessert wine that is a wonder with cheese and crusty bread. The C&G is the waste of a mediocre plastic bottle.

The major systems are returning to normal and I should be able to achieve my old level of sarcasm by Friday.

Before getting into subject, I would put money on the leak of the Supreme Court draft to have been perpetrated by Virginia Thomas. The old copper in me sees motive and opportunity. I don’t see even a slightly reputable media outlet publishing based on a rogue clerk.

Like anyone who stayed awake for American History, Tom Sullivan noticed the similarity between the battle over slavery and the battle over abortion. He is dead on that the anti-abortion states are going to want a new version of the “Fugitive Slave Act” so they can go after women who leave their states for a medical procedure in another state.

An opinion piece at NBC News 8 legal reasons to dislike Justice Alito’s draft opinion on abortion by Caroline Mala Corbin, professor of law at the University of Miami School of Law gives a professional’s view of Alito’s draft.

Alito’s logic is supposedly based on the wisdom of Sir Matthew Hale which we can find in the volume he wrote on 17th century English Common Law, The History and Analysis of the Common Law of England:

The book dealt with the criminal capacity of infants, insanity and idiocy, the defence of drunkenness, capital offences, treason, homicide and theft. Hale endorses the application of capital punishments to children in Historia, writing that “it is clear that an infant above fourteen years is equally subject to capital punishments as others of full age; for it is presumptio juris, that after fourteen years they are doli capaces, and can discern between good and evil”.
…
Hale’s writings on witchcraft and marital rape were extremely influential. In 1662, he was involved in “one of the most notorious of the seventeenth century English witchcraft trials”, where he sentenced two women (Amy Duny and Rose Callender) to death for witchcraft. The judgment of Hale in this case was extremely influential in future cases, and was used in the Salem witch trials to justify the forfeiture of the accused’s lands. As late as 1664, Hale used the argument that the existence of laws against witches is proof that witches exist.

So if DeMentis passes a law against unicorns and dragons, unicorn and dragons exist. This is “astute legal reasoning?”

I’m old enough to remember how abortion became a national issue. The Supreme Court decided that separate was not equal and schools had to desegregate. In many areas of the South they closed the public schools rather than comply and “Christians”, like Jerry Falwell, opened all white “Christian” schools. Things went along for a while until the IRS decided that segregated schools could no longer qualify for tax exempt status. Upset by the ruling “Christian leaders” felt they needed to get involved in politics, chose an anti-abortion stance as the way to raise funds and and build a voter base. The Moral Majority, which was neither, was born.

Roe v. Wade was a 7-2 decision, and now 5 would eliminate it and then go on to steal more rights from citizens.

Wikipedia usually has to “lock” its Cinco de Mayo page. I suspect it may be related to the sudden appearance of sites opposing the celebration of this semi-holiday and others who have a hissy fit about any Mexican holiday being celebrated in the US.

In Mexico Cinco de Mayo or Batalla de Puebla, is only a really big celebration in the state of Puebla, where the battle took place.

The Mexican army won the Batalla de Puebla on May the 5^th, 1862, but the French went on to Mexico City in 1863 after receiving reinforcements and installed Emperor Maximilian.

It has the status of St. Patrick’s Day in the US, an excuse to eat different food, and drink different booze, and be obnoxious show an interest in other cultures.

Margaritas, tacos, and the destruction of piñatas, that’s what it is really about.

The disaster in Ukraine caused by an unstable Russian leader reminds me of the Russian film Поручик Киж (Lieutenant Kizh) [on YouTube with subtitles].

It is most notable for the music by Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev, but is a relevant satire on the reign of Цар Павл I (Tsar Paul I). Paul and Putin have a lot in common, and, at this point, I can almost suggest that Putin’s underlings are just as incompetent as Paul’s.

In the end Russia was rid of Paul by “an attack of apoplexy” according to the court physician, whose definition of the term includes a physical attack by a group senior officers 😈

Paul was the only child of Katherine the Great, and suffered from a lack of his mother’s competence.

The May Day association with labor is all American, and just as controversial as everything of any consequence in history. The day is tied to a strike for the eight-hour day and the so-called “Haymarket Riot” of 1886. When it comes to “riots” and the Chicago police are involved, you are not going to find a single truth.

The dynamic duo that mucked up the Pledge of Allegiance, Dwight Eisenhower and his Republican Congress, made May 1^st both Law Day and Loyalty Day so those Commie working people wouldn’t get any ideas about having rights.