meemorial thoughts of : David Goddard, k.i.a. at battle of Stillwater 10/7/77; Deacon John Woodward; battle of Concord; Warner Woodward 37th Mass., wounded at Poplar Springs, Va. 10/2/1864
Here's the daily addition to the IRS Scandal. They've now discovered that the IRS was already investigating this before the IG investigated and the agency itself reached the same conclusion.
Unfortunately for the agency, their defense has been that they had no idea this was going on until the IG told them. Whoops.
FYI... The paperback is now as cheap as it can get ($4.74) for the next couple days. Please buy the book now because Monday both the kindle and the paperback book need to go back up.
Andrew, Read this, it says exactly what you've been saying only it's about how the Democrats were in the same spot conservatives are today and how they pulled themselves out of it.
RIP: William French - 1st American killed by British in what became known as the Revolutionary War - 13 March 1775 Westminister, Vermont. A true Patriot and direct relative. Semper Fi from your descendant and proud American citizen because of your sacrifice.
although Commentarians were decidedly underwhelmed by my last viewing suggestion, if you have never seen "The Loved One", the 1965 black comedy spoofing the funeral industry, you owe it to yourself to set your DVR to TCM tonight (10:00 p.m. eastern.) The film stars Robert Morse (Mad Men's Bert Cooper) Comedic giant Jonathon Winters, and Rod Steiger. My tastes run counter to most of yours, but I still think you will enjoy this one.
although Commentarians were decidedly underwhelmed by my last viewing suggestion, if you have never seen "The Loved One", the 1965 black comedy spoofing the funeral industry, you owe it to yourself to set your DVR to TCM tonight (10:00 p.m. eastern.) The film stars Robert Morse (Mad Men's Bert Cooper) Comedic giant Jonathon Winters, and Rod Steiger. My tastes run counter to most of yours, but I still think you will enjoy this one.
From one Son of the Revolution (I come from the Philip Livingston line) to another, RIP indeed William French.
On the Memorial Day weekend, I'll be a little shameless in sharing information on "First Attack: History of the 1st Battalion 227th Aviation Regiment" -- www.threedonia.com/archives/59830 (Andrew or one of the admin's, some help with the link, please). A true honor to have been involved with this project, which features Peabody Award-winning international film and television star Nick Searcy, and we at Threedonia hope you dig it, too.
My mother's father was in the military in WWII but I don't think he saw much action. He actually got sick and was hospitalized (I believe with pneumonia) before his company shipped over. Apparently the ship they were on was sunk by a U-boat and everyone aboard died. He died due to heart attack when my mother was 12 so I never knew him.
We have had other colorful characters. On my mother's side, one of the first territorial judges in Montana was a relative. We also have a relative who was hung by vigilantes in Virginia City, MT as a road agent. On my father's side one of the first person official hung by the state of Montana may have been a relative. Honestly we are generally a quiet, honest bunch.
So, the IRS employees are all boo-hoo-ey becaue they are being sequesterized with furloughs. These are the dates of these unfortunate events - today (Memorial Day), July 5 (Independence Day), July 22, and August 30 (Labor Day).
Kelly, History repeats itself. I'm already seeing groups like the DLC springing up, and they are being met with the same kind of reaction. This time, however, I think the party leadership is onboard.
Bev, My father's family came from Ireland in the 1880s or so. My mother's family are Austrians. We've got a WWI fighter pilot who got shot down. My grandfather was a doctor in WWII and we've got pictures of him in Russia and then France, where he was captured. Before that, it gets hard to tell, but there is an explorer -- supposedly the first white guy to meet the Dali Lama or something like that.
My father was a Navy pilot at the end of the Korean Conflict and before the beginning of the Vietnam Conflict and flew the last battalion of seaplanes before they were phased out. My uncle (as I have written about in one of my first posts 4 years ago) was in the Army in WWII and spent 4 years in a Japanese prison camp being tortured and starved for 4 years. His father was in the Army in WWI and worked in the morgue that handled the flu pandemic victims and never had the flu...neither has my mother.
I'm proud to say I come from a family of American military men. Both sons in military..Marine Corps and US Army; Father Naval Aviator Vietnam; Grandfather CWO in WWI and II (both career USN and both buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery); Great Great Grandfather fought on the Union side in the War of Northern Aggression; Distant great, great, relatives in the Revolutionary War; and numerous Uncles, cousins, brothers in all the services. Except for my relative mentioned above, all served with honor and came back from war relatively intact.
Memorial Day has always been observed in my family with respect and honor for all those who served their country.
Thank you to everyone who served and/or has close relatives who served. We need to do more as a society for veterans. More GI Bill type benefits.
Kelly, Andrew, I want to respond to that article, as well. As Twain remarked, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." I think the author puts a bit too much emphasis on the idea that the change needs to come from outside the party and, to that effect, that such change is necessarily better than anything from within.
To wit, I burrowed down the rabbit hole to find the obliquely referenced Josh Barro article. The Atlantic piece claims Barro is ostracized merely for critiquing the GOP. However, his article is not about that. Rather, it asserts that the pre-Obamacare healthcare system was a free market, that such a system is unworkable, and that therefore Obamacare-like measures and cost controls are necessities. That runs directly counter to what Andrew suggests in his book.
Now, I'm not saying The Atlantic writer espouses Barro's views per se, but if he does not he certainly needs be more judicious in selecting his outsiders.
tryanmax, I didn't follow the link because I didn't really focus on that part of the article -- I agree with you that Barro is a bad example. I also think the author has misstated what Rubio is doing -- he's pandering verbally to the base while trying to make some significant, necessary changes.
For me, what I thought was interesting about the article was the parallel to the situation the Democrats were in circa 1990 and how that is eerily similar to the present: (1) an agenda far outside the mainstream of America, (2) an angry base that blames the party for lacking ideological purity, that hates the public and angrily condescends to them rather than trying to win them over, and that claims that the solution is to get angrier and fringier, and (3) a base that tries to destroy anyone on their side who doesn't toe the increasingly more lunatic line. That WAS the Democrats in the 1980s and 1990s and that is us today.
The differences as I see it are two-fold. First, the Democrats needed the DLC to spring up because their entire leadership was drinking the Kool-Aid. In other words, no one on the inside could change them (though keep in mind that some DLCers were insiders, e.g. Sam Nunn). By comparison, on our side, the Republicans have finally started to show that they are done drinking the Kool-Aid. So they are making changes that the base won't like, but which are needed to make the party mainstream again. Thus, they don't need an outside group like the DLC.
Secondly, the Republicans are facing a more uphill battle than the Democrats did because the Democrats had nothing like talk radio to feed the derangement day after day. So they only needed to fight the activists (maybe 50,000 people), who were bound together only by weekly journals and magazines. By comparison, the Republicans will need to fight the activists PLUS the talk radio crowd (maybe 500,000 people), who will be told 24/7 that they are being betrayed by the Republican. So the challenge will be larger for the Republicans.
That said, there are some things working in the Republicans' favor however. For one thing, I'm seeing a LOT of unity -- outside of Cruz, Bachmann, Ohmert and maybe a couple more, the party is a party again. Even some former bomb throwers are now onboard. Secondly, Romney proved that a non-lunatic can win if they have the money to last until they get to the bigger states. Third, I think the last election proved to the Republicans both that catering to the base doesn't work, because all they got for their troubles was attacked by the same people, and it proved that the base could not be trusted because they stayed home.
So unless I miss my guess, this has "freed" the party to look elsewhere for a new base, and that is exactly what they are doing now.
Patriot, By and large, I think the nation is good to veterans, with one GLARING exception -- health care. The VA system is an outrage and should be scrapped and started fresh.
Andrew, I agree, the first two-thirds of the article are spot on in the parallel. It drops right off, however, when it merely nods to the Clinton campaign. I guess the way I read op-ed pieces is to zero in on the recommendations and judge them from there. In this case, the recommendation seemed to be "any outsider will do."
Admittedly, I may be quick to judge the article harshly b/c there is something in the tone that I can't quite put a finger on which rubs me wrong.
tryanmax, I know what you mean about the tone. There is an odd feel to it, but I don't know if it's gloating, anger, hopelessness or what... but there is something.
In terms of the recommendation, I normally focus on the build up first to see if the person even has their facts straight and if they have provided any insight. Then I judge the recommendation based on that. In this case, I thought the facts were spot on but I didn't see any insight, so I didn't really pay too much attention to their recommendation.
Not to mention, I dismissed the idea of a Republican DLC because I don't see that as possible.
To a degree. I can see where she thought the conclusion fit with the facts, but I think the problem is that after being right about the facts for 90% of the article, she suddenly throws out some facts that aren't right and only kind of relate to her point, and then she makes a point that may or may not follow from what she said... but isn't really proven by what she's said. And I personally disagree with her conclusion. So yeah. :)
I need to thank you for your guns and ammo post a couple weeks back. In laws are in town again and they are all up in arms about multiple issues about the Dems and Obama. The topic of buying up all the ammo came up and I read the article to them. They initially got angry, "who the hell is this guy? Why should I listen to him? A lawyer?! Well, there you go.." And such. But I made the point that there is plenty of worrisome things Obama has done, we don't need to be chasing after fairies.
I'm glad to hear the article helped. You're absolutely right, there is so much to deal with with Obama already that we don't need to be chasing false conspiracies. We need to pick our battles and zero in on the stuff that is real and that matters.
Unfortunately, some people who should know better keep pushing the ammo conspiracy.
Yeah, I don't have any significant military ancestors to talk about either. I have a great-great-great-grandfather who fought for the Union Army, and then my grandfather drove a truck in Korea. He doesn't talk much about it, so we don't know if he ever really saw combat or not. Happily, though, I live in an area that is very pro-military and not afraid to show it!
It's funny as some people don't even see their own actions as an example of what others may be doing. For example, my father-in-law was complaining that he can't get any bullets. I stated that it was probably because people were concerned about the shortages and are buying extras up (rather than a government conspiracy). He didn't seem to believe me but then went on to tell me a story that when he was in Cabellas the other day they just had a shipment of .38 shells. They only had 8 boxes and I think he bought them all. Go figure dad.
Koshcat, I've seen that too. Some people I know who haven't gone shooting in 5 years rushed out after Obama got re-elected. They told me that they'd heard about the ammo shortage so when they found a bunch on the shelf... they bought it all.
When I suggested that the problem was them and others like them buying way more than they ever had in the past, I was told that they had "no choice since Obama is going to ban ammo."
Part of me wonders if the ammo conspiracy theory isn't a deliberate act on the part of those pushing it spur people onto buying ammo. Then they point to the predictable shortage as evidence of their theory. Sort of a reverse-double conspiracy theory with a twist.
As an aside, I'm going to write about Obamacare and the California rates on Tuesday. It's amazing how much leftists will flat out lie about reality.
There was even a guy at Forbes who wrote that he had to admit that he was "wrong" about Obamacare... "gee, the rates prove it's wonderful!! I never would have guessed!" Of course, if you check his archive, he's a leftist who has been pimping Obamacare from the get go.
Here's to my late father, who won a bronze star and purple heart fighting the Japanese in WW2. He missed Pearl Harbor by one day, transferring off one of the doomed battlewagons.
He never talked to me about his experiences during the war, but did tell my mother some things. She later related them to me and they were pretty horrific.
If I become the key to defeating a super intelligent computer from the future that has access to a time machine, all it has to do is sent a "clerk model" terminator back to 1941 with a bottle of white out and change the date on some transfer papers to blip me out of existence.
Andrew - Now the unions are upset because they see that Obamacare is going to rain on THEIR parade. They feel betrayed 'cause they lobbied heavily FOR it on behalf of Their Dear Leader and they believed it when they were promised "if they liked their present [cushy all inclusive] insurance, they could keep it". Oops, not so as it is turning out. The "skinny plans" are gonna rain on their May Day parades. And my over used response - "We tried to tell, but you wouldn't listen, so suck it!"
"Some people I know who haven't gone shooting in 5 years rushed out after Obama got re-elected. They told me that they'd heard about the ammo shortage so when they found a bunch on the shelf... they bought it all."
Well, no damage done. Either rifles and ammo will get pretty cheap in two or three years, when people liquidate their stockpiles ... or the Democrats take the House in 2014, we enter a Mad Max world of crime and scarcity and ammo will be worth more than gold. Who will be laughing then? :-)
Bev, I saw that the other day and if I'm reading it right, there's actually more to it than that. They thought their plans would be exempt from things like keeping kids on the plan until they turn 26... because, well, because they're unions and they shouldn't have to follow the rules. But now they aren't. And because they aren't exempt their plans are about to become too unaffordable and they think 2 million members will lose their insurance. Ha ha!
El Gordo, So you're saying to invest heavily in shoulder pads, gasoline and ammo if that happens? ;P
In all seriousness, I've read about "ammo speculators," who are buying up all they can and then selling it online for several times the price. That's the free market for you. LOL!
The only two runs on ammo we've had around here were immediately after the last two elections. Nobody knew anything for certain, I think there was just a general assumption that better safe than sorry.
So you're saying to invest heavily in shoulder pads, gasoline and ammo if that happens? ;P
Don't forget the canned dog food and muscle cars.
Now the unions are upset because they see that Obamacare is going to rain on THEIR parade.
I'm sure the Unions will just go on strike unless management picks up the added cost. It's the Union leadership that dumped looking out for their members in exchange for leftist political correctness.
At the risk of being a little repetitive, not to mention, self promotional - a few folks, at Threedonia, produced a tribute to some brave souls, serving our country - and a fitting video for Memorial Day: http://www.threedonia.com/archives/59830
For those who, like me, listen to a lot of "Top 40" country music, here's a very moving and Memorial Day-appropriate story about the inspiration for Lee Brice's "I Drive Your Truck." LINK
OK I'll say it. I liked the Star Trek movie. suck it nerds. :-)
Sure it was Star Trek 2A or whatever... anyone not emotionally tied to the series by an umbilical chord and a nipple would call that a reboot and celebrate the nice twist the timeline shift introduced in the original reboot.
ST ain't Scripture so there's nothing sacred. Bwahahaha. :-) Ad hominems are purely tongue in cheek and meant to kick the hornet's nest.
Quite frankly, I'd rather be banned Andrew. LOL the Obamacare death panels are hopeless whereas I can conceivably beg/suck up enough to where you'd let me back in. ;-)
Andrew - I hjave been watching TCM quite a bit this weekend. They have been screening a marathon of war movies. My earlier reference to the principal location of the action for the submarine classic "Run Silent, Run Deep" from 1958 or possibly 1957. The "bow shot" was practiced by Clark Gable's submarine crew as a way to take out their Japanese nemisis.
As an aside, it cost me $65 to fill my tank today... and yet, the MSM doesn't do a single article about gas prices. That way more than I ever paid under Bush when they couldn't stop talking about it.
Today the Boy Scouts of Greater St. Louis placed flags at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. Both of my sons participated, as we have for the past several years. Darn fine and humbling experience.
Although all who served in my immediate and extended family survived their wars and made it home, we paid a special visit to the resting place of my wife's grandfather Lyn, 149th Regiment Combat Engineers, USA, 2nd wave at Omaha Beach. I still shudder thinking about what he saw and did on that day. (The combat engineers were the ones who blew up obstacles on the beaches so the rest of the infantry could get off the beaches.)
Just saw Star Trek! YAWN!!!!!!!! That's the best they could come up with, a lame "through the glass darkly" reimagining of Wrath of Khan? Color me unimpressed.
Between work and the return of Arrested Development on Netflix, I've been out of the open thread loop. :-)
First off, Happy Memorial Day. My grandfather was a truck driver in the European Theater during WW2. I believe he arrived at Normandy a week or two after D-Day. And my cousin was in the Navy and I guess he decided he didn't want to move back in with his mother (my nutjob aunt), so afterwards he went and joined the Army! :-)
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And then there was Into Darkness. Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park sums it up best:
"...it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox..."
I don't want to spoil anything but things happen in this movie that that the movie doesn't earn. And I'm bothered by the idea that the filmmakers felt they HAD to do what they did. Say what you want about Chris Nolan's Dark Knight films but at no point did it feel like he was reaching for low-hanging fruit.
But man, this movie looked beautiful!! And while I still think 3-D is a gimmick, I was impressed with the presentation (except for just one shot).
Pike, I;m getting the sense from what I've read that Abrams soured on the franchise before he even did the film. Apparently, he got really ticked off that he didn't control all the merchandising.
Scott, I tried very hard to get into Arrested Development and just couldn't.
ScottDS - I never watched A.D. when it was on, but I caught up on Netflix a few months ago and love it! And, yes, I have spent this weekend binge watching the new episodes. I love the background clues and references to upcoming episodes. Even a hat tip to "House of Cards"! It's a lot of fun [even if people like Andrew don't "get it"].
Scott, Pike, Andrew, et al., I know exactly what you mean about the new Trek movie. I watched it last weekend and got a definite whiff of "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if...." from some of the things that were done. And that's never a good road to go down.
As for Abrams, mad that he couldn't control all the advertising, you say? Hmmmm. Maybe his being picked to do the new Star Wars films makes more sense than I thought....
Went to Phoenix ComicCon 13 on Saturday. The place was wall to wall people. Last year they had 32,000 in attendance, this year it was much higher. The B5 panel was worth it, but the presenters were so lame. JMS took right over, along with the rest of the B5 crew. I didn't know so many people died that were on that show.
I ran into a friend I did some work for last summer. He told me to watch Star Trek Continues. I did and I want that time back, good production design, well shot, acting was weak, the story was awful. It would have been better if the redhead walked around naked. Which shows they knew the story was bad, since the T&A was applied early.
I thought I'd share my weekend movie viewing for those interested:
Epic: This high-concept PG-rated kids' movie probably won't be remembered much past the next Oscars ceremony, but it's a colorful and exciting bit of work. Computer animation is simply a medium for this story, nothing blows the viewer away. (I saw the 2D version, but I didn't see anything that would have been enhanced by an added dimension.) Pleasant surprise: No embedded "humans are destroying the environment" message. No environmental message at all, in fact. Just a straightforward good vs. evil narrative with some forresty magic and talking slugs.
Silver Linings Playbook: Another victim of off-the-mark marketing. This is a good, good light-hearted drama chocked full of characters that immediately draw you into their world and make you care about them. But it is not quirky rom-com having something to do with football the promos made it out to be. It's actually a very humanizing look at mental illness that is upbeat and positive, contrary to most films that tackle the subject.
The Dictator: What can I say? From the mind of Sacha Baron Cohen, this film is not for the politically correct. (Not that anyone here really cares!) That said, it lands a handful of politically insightful punches in the way that only the truly offensive can deliver them. At the same time, it is dumb, dumb, dumb. Perfect for a Saturday night wind-down.
Gangster Squad: A very enjoyable piece of moviemaking by the numbers. It hits all the right notes for a gangster movie: the villain is an irredeemable sleaze. The hero is gruff and tough with a heart of gold. The rag-tag rainbow coalition of misfits each have their special skills. The mobsters can't shoot the broad side of a barn. Pure candy, but highly recommended. I was especially entertained by the selection of post-war era tunes scattered about the soundtrack. The finished puzzle may look just like the picture on the box, but the pieces fit so nicely together.
4/4 this enjoyable holiday weekend! That never happens to me!
Cmdr. Max, I just watched the intro to Star Trek: Continues and I think I agree. (Didn't make it to the T&A.) Production value is very impressive, making the rest an absolute shame. The setup doesn't feel at all like Trek, and from what I saw of the acting...ugh! I was most put off by the Kirk actor's almost but not quite mimicking Shatner and the guy playing Bones was just wrong.
I did get a kick out Chekhov going in and out of his accent. You hit it on the head, it didn't feel like Trek at all. But I have had that same feeling about it ever since STNG.
We passed by Patricia Tallman(she was on the phone) what a beautiful woman in person.
T-Rav, I'd read that he jumped from Trek to Wars because he "was disillusioned" by Trek because he couldn't control all the merchandising. Apparently, some other group was still allowed to sell merchandise related to the original series. Since he couldn't stop them, he became "disillusioned" that he couldn't provide the audience with "the full experience he envisioned"... nonsequitor because he could still provide whatever he wanted, the problem was they could also profit on his movie. So he jumped to Wars.
Think about that. This guy was upset because he wouldn't be the only guy profiting. How f'd up is that?
92 comments:
meemorial thoughts of : David Goddard, k.i.a. at battle of Stillwater 10/7/77; Deacon John Woodward; battle of Concord; Warner Woodward 37th Mass., wounded at Poplar Springs, Va. 10/2/1864
Jed, There are clearly Woodwards everywhere! :)
Here's the daily addition to the IRS Scandal. They've now discovered that the IRS was already investigating this before the IG investigated and the agency itself reached the same conclusion.
Unfortunately for the agency, their defense has been that they had no idea this was going on until the IG told them. Whoops.
FYI... The paperback is now as cheap as it can get ($4.74) for the next couple days. Please buy the book now because Monday both the kindle and the paperback book need to go back up.
LINK
Andrew, Read this, it says exactly what you've been saying only it's about how the Democrats were in the same spot conservatives are today and how they pulled themselves out of it.
How to save the GOP.
RIP: William French - 1st American killed by British in what became known as the Revolutionary War - 13 March 1775 Westminister, Vermont. A true Patriot and direct relative. Semper Fi from your descendant and proud American citizen because of your sacrifice.
That away, Patriot. Essentially, that is what I am doing -- giving thanks to my known ancestors for their service :)
That away, Patriot. Essentially, that is what I am doing -- giving thanks to my known ancestors for their service :)
although Commentarians were decidedly underwhelmed by my last viewing suggestion, if you have never seen "The Loved One", the 1965 black comedy spoofing the funeral industry, you owe it to yourself to set your DVR to TCM tonight (10:00 p.m. eastern.) The film stars Robert Morse (Mad Men's Bert Cooper) Comedic giant Jonathon Winters, and Rod Steiger. My tastes run counter to most of yours, but I still think you will enjoy this one.
although Commentarians were decidedly underwhelmed by my last viewing suggestion, if you have never seen "The Loved One", the 1965 black comedy spoofing the funeral industry, you owe it to yourself to set your DVR to TCM tonight (10:00 p.m. eastern.) The film stars Robert Morse (Mad Men's Bert Cooper) Comedic giant Jonathon Winters, and Rod Steiger. My tastes run counter to most of yours, but I still think you will enjoy this one.
From one Son of the Revolution (I come from the Philip Livingston line) to another, RIP indeed William French.
On the Memorial Day weekend, I'll be a little shameless in sharing information on "First Attack: History of the 1st Battalion 227th Aviation Regiment" -- www.threedonia.com/archives/59830 (Andrew or one of the admin's, some help with the link, please). A true honor to have been involved with this project, which features Peabody Award-winning international film and television star Nick Searcy, and we at Threedonia hope you dig it, too.
Bought the book instead of Kindle so I can share it with family.
Going to the mountains and fish with the kids for the weekend. Wish everyone a safe Memorial Day weekend.
My mother's father was in the military in WWII but I don't think he saw much action. He actually got sick and was hospitalized (I believe with pneumonia) before his company shipped over. Apparently the ship they were on was sunk by a U-boat and everyone aboard died. He died due to heart attack when my mother was 12 so I never knew him.
We have had other colorful characters. On my mother's side, one of the first territorial judges in Montana was a relative. We also have a relative who was hung by vigilantes in Virginia City, MT as a road agent. On my father's side one of the first person official hung by the state of Montana may have been a relative. Honestly we are generally a quiet, honest bunch.
So, the IRS employees are all boo-hoo-ey becaue they are being sequesterized with furloughs. These are the dates of these unfortunate events - today (Memorial Day), July 5 (Independence Day), July 22, and August 30 (Labor Day).
Boo-freakin'-hoo...
Bev, Those poor, poor people.
Koshcat, Great! :) Please let me know your thoughts.
Kelly, History repeats itself. I'm already seeing groups like the DLC springing up, and they are being met with the same kind of reaction. This time, however, I think the party leadership is onboard.
Nothing to add on the Memorial Day front. My family were all coal miners and foreigners.
Andrew - my ancestors probably fought with the British and the Southern "Rebels". I'm afraid to look to closely...
Bev, My father's family came from Ireland in the 1880s or so. My mother's family are Austrians. We've got a WWI fighter pilot who got shot down. My grandfather was a doctor in WWII and we've got pictures of him in Russia and then France, where he was captured. Before that, it gets hard to tell, but there is an explorer -- supposedly the first white guy to meet the Dali Lama or something like that.
Also, a lot of my family has served, but as far as I know, only one ever ended up in combat -- in Vietnam.
My father was a Navy pilot at the end of the Korean Conflict and before the beginning of the Vietnam Conflict and flew the last battalion of seaplanes before they were phased out. My uncle (as I have written about in one of my first posts 4 years ago) was in the Army in WWII and spent 4 years in a Japanese prison camp being tortured and starved for 4 years. His father was in the Army in WWI and worked in the morgue that handled the flu pandemic victims and never had the flu...neither has my mother.
I'm proud to say I come from a family of American military men. Both sons in military..Marine Corps and US Army; Father Naval Aviator Vietnam; Grandfather CWO in WWI and II (both career USN and both buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery); Great Great Grandfather fought on the Union side in the War of Northern Aggression; Distant great, great, relatives in the Revolutionary War; and numerous Uncles, cousins, brothers in all the services. Except for my relative mentioned above, all served with honor and came back from war relatively intact.
Memorial Day has always been observed in my family with respect and honor for all those who served their country.
Thank you to everyone who served and/or has close relatives who served. We need to do more as a society for veterans. More GI Bill type benefits.
Kelly, Andrew, I want to respond to that article, as well. As Twain remarked, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." I think the author puts a bit too much emphasis on the idea that the change needs to come from outside the party and, to that effect, that such change is necessarily better than anything from within.
To wit, I burrowed down the rabbit hole to find the obliquely referenced Josh Barro article. The Atlantic piece claims Barro is ostracized merely for critiquing the GOP. However, his article is not about that. Rather, it asserts that the pre-Obamacare healthcare system was a free market, that such a system is unworkable, and that therefore Obamacare-like measures and cost controls are necessities. That runs directly counter to what Andrew suggests in his book.
Now, I'm not saying The Atlantic writer espouses Barro's views per se, but if he does not he certainly needs be more judicious in selecting his outsiders.
tryanmax, I didn't follow the link because I didn't really focus on that part of the article -- I agree with you that Barro is a bad example. I also think the author has misstated what Rubio is doing -- he's pandering verbally to the base while trying to make some significant, necessary changes.
For me, what I thought was interesting about the article was the parallel to the situation the Democrats were in circa 1990 and how that is eerily similar to the present: (1) an agenda far outside the mainstream of America, (2) an angry base that blames the party for lacking ideological purity, that hates the public and angrily condescends to them rather than trying to win them over, and that claims that the solution is to get angrier and fringier, and (3) a base that tries to destroy anyone on their side who doesn't toe the increasingly more lunatic line. That WAS the Democrats in the 1980s and 1990s and that is us today.
The differences as I see it are two-fold. First, the Democrats needed the DLC to spring up because their entire leadership was drinking the Kool-Aid. In other words, no one on the inside could change them (though keep in mind that some DLCers were insiders, e.g. Sam Nunn). By comparison, on our side, the Republicans have finally started to show that they are done drinking the Kool-Aid. So they are making changes that the base won't like, but which are needed to make the party mainstream again. Thus, they don't need an outside group like the DLC.
Secondly, the Republicans are facing a more uphill battle than the Democrats did because the Democrats had nothing like talk radio to feed the derangement day after day. So they only needed to fight the activists (maybe 50,000 people), who were bound together only by weekly journals and magazines. By comparison, the Republicans will need to fight the activists PLUS the talk radio crowd (maybe 500,000 people), who will be told 24/7 that they are being betrayed by the Republican. So the challenge will be larger for the Republicans.
That said, there are some things working in the Republicans' favor however. For one thing, I'm seeing a LOT of unity -- outside of Cruz, Bachmann, Ohmert and maybe a couple more, the party is a party again. Even some former bomb throwers are now onboard. Secondly, Romney proved that a non-lunatic can win if they have the money to last until they get to the bigger states. Third, I think the last election proved to the Republicans both that catering to the base doesn't work, because all they got for their troubles was attacked by the same people, and it proved that the base could not be trusted because they stayed home.
So unless I miss my guess, this has "freed" the party to look elsewhere for a new base, and that is exactly what they are doing now.
Patriot, By and large, I think the nation is good to veterans, with one GLARING exception -- health care. The VA system is an outrage and should be scrapped and started fresh.
Bev, Good thing about the flu. I wonder how he avoided catching it? You would think it would be inevitable if you're handling a lot of dead bodies.
Andrew, I agree, the first two-thirds of the article are spot on in the parallel. It drops right off, however, when it merely nods to the Clinton campaign. I guess the way I read op-ed pieces is to zero in on the recommendations and judge them from there. In this case, the recommendation seemed to be "any outsider will do."
Admittedly, I may be quick to judge the article harshly b/c there is something in the tone that I can't quite put a finger on which rubs me wrong.
tryanmax, I know what you mean about the tone. There is an odd feel to it, but I don't know if it's gloating, anger, hopelessness or what... but there is something.
In terms of the recommendation, I normally focus on the build up first to see if the person even has their facts straight and if they have provided any insight. Then I judge the recommendation based on that. In this case, I thought the facts were spot on but I didn't see any insight, so I didn't really pay too much attention to their recommendation.
Not to mention, I dismissed the idea of a Republican DLC because I don't see that as possible.
The recommendation is kinda non sequitur from the buildup.
To a degree. I can see where she thought the conclusion fit with the facts, but I think the problem is that after being right about the facts for 90% of the article, she suddenly throws out some facts that aren't right and only kind of relate to her point, and then she makes a point that may or may not follow from what she said... but isn't really proven by what she's said. And I personally disagree with her conclusion. So yeah. :)
I need to thank you for your guns and ammo post a couple weeks back. In laws are in town again and they are all up in arms about multiple issues about the Dems and Obama. The topic of buying up all the ammo came up and I read the article to them. They initially got angry, "who the hell is this guy? Why should I listen to him? A lawyer?! Well, there you go.." And such. But I made the point that there is plenty of worrisome things Obama has done, we don't need to be chasing after fairies.
Koshcat, You're welcome! :)
I'm glad to hear the article helped. You're absolutely right, there is so much to deal with with Obama already that we don't need to be chasing false conspiracies. We need to pick our battles and zero in on the stuff that is real and that matters.
Unfortunately, some people who should know better keep pushing the ammo conspiracy.
Yeah, I don't have any significant military ancestors to talk about either. I have a great-great-great-grandfather who fought for the Union Army, and then my grandfather drove a truck in Korea. He doesn't talk much about it, so we don't know if he ever really saw combat or not. Happily, though, I live in an area that is very pro-military and not afraid to show it!
T-Rav, I thought you lived in San Francisco? ;P
It's funny as some people don't even see their own actions as an example of what others may be doing. For example, my father-in-law was complaining that he can't get any bullets. I stated that it was probably because people were concerned about the shortages and are buying extras up (rather than a government conspiracy). He didn't seem to believe me but then went on to tell me a story that when he was in Cabellas the other day they just had a shipment of .38 shells. They only had 8 boxes and I think he bought them all. Go figure dad.
Koshcat, I've seen that too. Some people I know who haven't gone shooting in 5 years rushed out after Obama got re-elected. They told me that they'd heard about the ammo shortage so when they found a bunch on the shelf... they bought it all.
When I suggested that the problem was them and others like them buying way more than they ever had in the past, I was told that they had "no choice since Obama is going to ban ammo."
//face palm
Part of me wonders if the ammo conspiracy theory isn't a deliberate act on the part of those pushing it spur people onto buying ammo. Then they point to the predictable shortage as evidence of their theory. Sort of a reverse-double conspiracy theory with a twist.
I should invent a cocktail named that.
I kind of wonder if it isn't the ammo makers pushing the idea. They must be making money hand over fist.
That would be a great name for a drink!
I like the name "Chocolatini" as well.
How about "Conspritini"?
Bev, I like that! Con-spir-i-tini
What would go into a Conpiritini? Probably gin and vertruth? And of course 7Up because that is the UN cola.
It would made with a "5th" of "Russian" vodka and 7UP with so many twists, you can't distinguish the vertruth...;-)
True! And don't forget to garnish with nuts... lots of nuts. :D
Yes! Nuts, lots and lots of nuts!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!
Sorry, I just had to get that out. Phew...
Everyone having a good weekend so far?
Bev... careful, the nuts will get you every time!
As an aside, I'm going to write about Obamacare and the California rates on Tuesday. It's amazing how much leftists will flat out lie about reality.
There was even a guy at Forbes who wrote that he had to admit that he was "wrong" about Obamacare... "gee, the rates prove it's wonderful!! I never would have guessed!" Of course, if you check his archive, he's a leftist who has been pimping Obamacare from the get go.
I do, Andrew....just not the one in California. :P
There's more than one? Yikes. Just don't tell me it has it's own Nancy Pelosi!
Here's to my late father, who won a bronze star and purple heart fighting the Japanese in WW2. He missed Pearl Harbor by one day, transferring off one of the doomed battlewagons.
He never talked to me about his experiences during the war, but did tell my mother some things. She later related them to me and they were pretty horrific.
Thanks Dad, for everything.
K, Very lucky timing!
No kidding.
If I become the key to defeating a super intelligent computer from the future that has access to a time machine, all it has to do is sent a "clerk model" terminator back to 1941 with a bottle of white out and change the date on some transfer papers to blip me out of existence.
Just want to say thanks to any veterans who frequent the site and a big thank you to those no longer with us.
Andrew - Now the unions are upset because they see that Obamacare is going to rain on THEIR parade. They feel betrayed 'cause they lobbied heavily FOR it on behalf of Their Dear Leader and they believed it when they were promised "if they liked their present [cushy all inclusive] insurance, they could keep it". Oops, not so as it is turning out. The "skinny plans" are gonna rain on their May Day parades. And my over used response - "We tried to tell, but you wouldn't listen, so suck it!"
"Some people I know who haven't gone shooting in 5 years rushed out after Obama got re-elected. They told me that they'd heard about the ammo shortage so when they found a bunch on the shelf... they bought it all."
Well, no damage done. Either rifles and ammo will get pretty cheap in two or three years, when people liquidate their stockpiles ... or the Democrats take the House in 2014, we enter a Mad Max world of crime and scarcity and ammo will be worth more than gold. Who will be laughing then?
:-)
Bev, I saw that the other day and if I'm reading it right, there's actually more to it than that. They thought their plans would be exempt from things like keeping kids on the plan until they turn 26... because, well, because they're unions and they shouldn't have to follow the rules. But now they aren't. And because they aren't exempt their plans are about to become too unaffordable and they think 2 million members will lose their insurance. Ha ha!
El Gordo, So you're saying to invest heavily in shoulder pads, gasoline and ammo if that happens? ;P
In all seriousness, I've read about "ammo speculators," who are buying up all they can and then selling it online for several times the price. That's the free market for you. LOL!
Shawn, I second that! :)
K, LOL! Film logic tells us that you definitely will become a pivotal point in history!
The only two runs on ammo we've had around here were immediately after the last two elections. Nobody knew anything for certain, I think there was just a general assumption that better safe than sorry.
So you're saying to invest heavily in shoulder pads, gasoline and ammo if that happens? ;P
Don't forget the canned dog food and muscle cars.
Now the unions are upset because they see that Obamacare is going to rain on THEIR parade.
I'm sure the Unions will just go on strike unless management picks up the added cost. It's the Union leadership that dumped looking out for their members in exchange for leftist political correctness.
At the risk of being a little repetitive, not to mention, self promotional - a few folks, at Threedonia, produced a tribute to some brave souls, serving our country - and a fitting video for Memorial Day: http://www.threedonia.com/archives/59830
am currently headed back to the Bungo Straits to take a bow shot. Truly one of the two or three best of it's genre.
For those who, like me, listen to a lot of "Top 40" country music, here's a very moving and Memorial Day-appropriate story about the inspiration for Lee Brice's "I Drive Your Truck." LINK
OK I'll say it. I liked the Star Trek movie. suck it nerds. :-)
Sure it was Star Trek 2A or whatever... anyone not emotionally tied to the series by an umbilical chord and a nipple would call that a reboot and celebrate the nice twist the timeline shift introduced in the original reboot.
ST ain't Scripture so there's nothing sacred. Bwahahaha. :-) Ad hominems are purely tongue in cheek and meant to kick the hornet's nest.
Please don't ban me.
Suck it nerds! LOL!
Floyd, We don't ban people, we just make them go on Obamacare. ;P
T-Rav, Apparently, the runs on ammo are continuing here. I was talking to a gun shop guy and he said they can't keep it in stock.
Jed, I have no idea what you're talking about!
K, Good point! Can't forget the dog food!
It will be interesting to see what the unions do. They are currently calling for the repeal or significant reformation of Obamacare. I vote repeal.
Kenn, We're cool with self-promotion here. And excellent video! :)
Quite frankly, I'd rather be banned Andrew. LOL the Obamacare death panels are hopeless whereas I can conceivably beg/suck up enough to where you'd let me back in. ;-)
Floyd, There AREN'T any "death panels"... they're called "living-impaired panels."
Andrew - I hjave been watching TCM quite a bit this weekend. They have been screening a marathon of war movies. My earlier reference to the principal location of the action for the submarine classic "Run Silent, Run Deep" from 1958 or possibly 1957. The "bow shot" was practiced by Clark Gable's submarine crew as a way to take out their Japanese nemisis.
I appreciate the complement, Andrew!
You're welcome, Kenn! It's well deserved.
Jed, Ah. Now it makes sense! I've been watching some of those as well.
As an aside, it cost me $65 to fill my tank today... and yet, the MSM doesn't do a single article about gas prices. That way more than I ever paid under Bush when they couldn't stop talking about it.
For those who haven't seen, it check out Kenn, Eric and Outlaw's film at Threedonia: LINK
Today the Boy Scouts of Greater St. Louis placed flags at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. Both of my sons participated, as we have for the past several years. Darn fine and humbling experience.
Although all who served in my immediate and extended family survived their wars and made it home, we paid a special visit to the resting place of my wife's grandfather Lyn, 149th Regiment Combat Engineers, USA, 2nd wave at Omaha Beach. I still shudder thinking about what he saw and did on that day. (The combat engineers were the ones who blew up obstacles on the beaches so the rest of the infantry could get off the beaches.)
May all our fallen rest in peace.
Just saw Star Trek! YAWN!!!!!!!! That's the best they could come up with, a lame "through the glass darkly" reimagining of Wrath of Khan? Color me unimpressed.
Thanks, AP -- greatly appreciated (and please don't forget Threedonia's Floyd R. Turbo)!!!
Between work and the return of Arrested Development on Netflix, I've been out of the open thread loop. :-)
First off, Happy Memorial Day. My grandfather was a truck driver in the European Theater during WW2. I believe he arrived at Normandy a week or two after D-Day. And my cousin was in the Navy and I guess he decided he didn't want to move back in with his mother (my nutjob aunt), so afterwards he went and joined the Army! :-)
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And then there was Into Darkness. Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park sums it up best:
"...it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox..."
I don't want to spoil anything but things happen in this movie that that the movie doesn't earn. And I'm bothered by the idea that the filmmakers felt they HAD to do what they did. Say what you want about Chris Nolan's Dark Knight films but at no point did it feel like he was reaching for low-hanging fruit.
But man, this movie looked beautiful!! And while I still think 3-D is a gimmick, I was impressed with the presentation (except for just one shot).
Floyd and Eric, My apologies! :)
I've been running in and out all weekend so I've barely paid attention to much.
Everyone, please add Floyd to the list. :)
Big Mo, That's great! It sounds like a fantastic experience for your sons. :)
Pike, I;m getting the sense from what I've read that Abrams soured on the franchise before he even did the film. Apparently, he got really ticked off that he didn't control all the merchandising.
Scott, I tried very hard to get into Arrested Development and just couldn't.
ScottDS - I never watched A.D. when it was on, but I caught up on Netflix a few months ago and love it! And, yes, I have spent this weekend binge watching the new episodes. I love the background clues and references to upcoming episodes. Even a hat tip to "House of Cards"! It's a lot of fun [even if people like Andrew don't "get it"].
Scott, Pike, Andrew, et al., I know exactly what you mean about the new Trek movie. I watched it last weekend and got a definite whiff of "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if...." from some of the things that were done. And that's never a good road to go down.
As for Abrams, mad that he couldn't control all the advertising, you say? Hmmmm. Maybe his being picked to do the new Star Wars films makes more sense than I thought....
Went to Phoenix ComicCon 13 on Saturday. The place was wall to wall people. Last year they had 32,000 in attendance, this year it was much higher. The B5 panel was worth it, but the presenters were so lame. JMS took right over, along with the rest of the B5 crew. I didn't know so many people died that were on that show.
I ran into a friend I did some work for last summer. He told me to watch Star Trek Continues. I did and I want that time back, good production design, well shot, acting was weak, the story was awful. It would have been better if the redhead walked around naked. Which shows they knew the story was bad, since the T&A was applied early.
I thought I'd share my weekend movie viewing for those interested:
Epic: This high-concept PG-rated kids' movie probably won't be remembered much past the next Oscars ceremony, but it's a colorful and exciting bit of work. Computer animation is simply a medium for this story, nothing blows the viewer away. (I saw the 2D version, but I didn't see anything that would have been enhanced by an added dimension.) Pleasant surprise: No embedded "humans are destroying the environment" message. No environmental message at all, in fact. Just a straightforward good vs. evil narrative with some forresty magic and talking slugs.
Silver Linings Playbook: Another victim of off-the-mark marketing. This is a good, good light-hearted drama chocked full of characters that immediately draw you into their world and make you care about them. But it is not quirky rom-com having something to do with football the promos made it out to be. It's actually a very humanizing look at mental illness that is upbeat and positive, contrary to most films that tackle the subject.
The Dictator: What can I say? From the mind of Sacha Baron Cohen, this film is not for the politically correct. (Not that anyone here really cares!) That said, it lands a handful of politically insightful punches in the way that only the truly offensive can deliver them. At the same time, it is dumb, dumb, dumb. Perfect for a Saturday night wind-down.
Gangster Squad: A very enjoyable piece of moviemaking by the numbers. It hits all the right notes for a gangster movie: the villain is an irredeemable sleaze. The hero is gruff and tough with a heart of gold. The rag-tag rainbow coalition of misfits each have their special skills. The mobsters can't shoot the broad side of a barn. Pure candy, but highly recommended. I was especially entertained by the selection of post-war era tunes scattered about the soundtrack. The finished puzzle may look just like the picture on the box, but the pieces fit so nicely together.
4/4 this enjoyable holiday weekend! That never happens to me!
Cmdr. Max, I just watched the intro to Star Trek: Continues and I think I agree. (Didn't make it to the T&A.) Production value is very impressive, making the rest an absolute shame. The setup doesn't feel at all like Trek, and from what I saw of the acting...ugh! I was most put off by the Kirk actor's almost but not quite mimicking Shatner and the guy playing Bones was just wrong.
My wife said the guy playing McCoy was too fat.
I did get a kick out Chekhov going in and out of his accent.
You hit it on the head, it didn't feel like Trek at all. But I have had that same feeling about it ever since STNG.
We passed by Patricia Tallman(she was on the phone) what a beautiful woman in person.
Max, I remember being shocked when the B-5 doctor died. I can't remember his name, but he was really young.
Bev, I'm thick. What can I say? :D
T-Rav, I'd read that he jumped from Trek to Wars because he "was disillusioned" by Trek because he couldn't control all the merchandising. Apparently, some other group was still allowed to sell merchandise related to the original series. Since he couldn't stop them, he became "disillusioned" that he couldn't provide the audience with "the full experience he envisioned"... nonsequitor because he could still provide whatever he wanted, the problem was they could also profit on his movie. So he jumped to Wars.
Think about that. This guy was upset because he wouldn't be the only guy profiting. How f'd up is that?
tryanmax, I haven't see any of them.
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