Research, not emotions…

Posted on by May 13, 2013

The worst thing that can happen to an agenda on a roll is for real research to come out that contradicts the emotion of the agenda and shines the light of reality on the agenda…

That is what the latest Pew Report does for homicide rates-

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Oopsie..

Now go ask the random person on the street if they know this…

Bet they don’t, because the MSM is NOT willing to cover this and upset the gun control agenda being spawned by the administration, Joe Biteme, and Bloomie…

Does this make you wonder about who’s side the media is on? “I” for one am confident they are NOT on our side.  And we all hear rumors about the ‘censorship’ coming to the Intarwebz… What if information gets treated like the Liberator files???

Will there still be a signal???

Good Ol’ boys…

Posted on by May 11, 2013

It appears some folks were/are less than happy with Duck Dynasty about both the use of guns on the show, and references to God during the show (like prayers at meals)…

Phil Robertson laid it on the line…

http://video.foxnews.com/v/2374382072001/duck-dynasty-star-defends-views/

Good for them, and it’s about damn time ‘somebody’ stood up to the whiners/complainers and was not willing to compromise their integrity…

Security, we hardly knew ye…

Posted on by May 11, 2013
Loose lips: Candid camera club alerts N. Korea of USS Nimitz’s arrival
It wasn’t a tapped phone, a hacked computer or a double agent that tipped off North Korea that the U.S. Navy’s biggest and baddest aircraft carrier was steaming toward the peninsula — it was a perfectly innocent bunch of shutterbugs.

When Pyongyang’s state-run media agency mentioned the ship’s itinerary in a news release, a day before it was first reported in the South Korean media, alarm bells went off, according to the South Korean newspaper The Hankyoreh. U.S. and South Korean military officials initially feared a phone tap, intelligence leak or hacked email account might be to blame, according to South Korean media reports.

“A U.S. naval aircraft carrier is coming on the 11th and leaving on the 13th, and you would just need to transport the US sailors.”

– Ad posted on photography website

But it turned out that on Saturday night, a Seoul-based camera association known as the “O” Club had told its members that an aircraft carrier would berth in Busan on May 11, and that people were needed to drive American sailors around, a South Korea Ministry of National Defense said.

“… looking for two Busanites who can drive and speak basic English,” read the message, posted on a photography website. “A U.S. naval aircraft carrier is coming on the 11th and leaving on the 13th, and you would just need to transport the U.S. sailors. Pay is 110,000 won ($101) a day. Two people wanted. Send a message if you’re interested.”

Another post offered suggestions on where to get good pictures of the massive ship. Someone in North Korea saw the ad and did some low-risk intelligence gathering.

Although neither post named the ship, officials believe North Korea were able to put together the details using other information already made public, including a post on the U.S. Navy’s website last week that said the nuclear-powered Nimitz had entered the jurisdiction of the 7th Fleet, a South Korean Ministry of Defense official said Wednesday.

The U.S. and South Korea are staging anti-submarine exercises this week, and the Nimitz will participate in another joint naval exercise next week. Although the exercises come as tensions are rising between North and South Korea, officials publicly sought to downplay the Nimitz’s appearance.

“We are not trying to deliver any message to North Korea with this exercise,” a spokesman for the South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to this week’s anti-submarine drills. “This exercise is for improving the U.S.-South Korean war-fighting power.”

North Korea has vowed immediate countermeasures if even one shell fired during the joint U.S.-South Korea exercises lands in North waters.

The U.S. and South Korea are trying to push “the present state of war to an actual war,” according to a statement posted on the North’s government-run Korean Central News Agency website.

So while this may have been pushed off the front pages at home, it’s STILL high tension in the Western Pacific, and there are also ‘sniffs’ of comments from China about whether or not Okinawa really belongs to the Japanese or to China…

Pushing, pushing, pushing…

h/t JP

Happy Mother’s Day…

Posted on by May 12, 2013

Oops, I was a day early on Mother’s Day (hey, it was May 12th out here, so give me a break). Lemme try this again…

Happy Mother’s Day to you mothers out there, thank you for being there and having us, raising us, kicking us out of the nest (some more than once), and supporting us through our lives.

But there ‘are’ a couple of minor things…

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Hey, I’m far enough outta range I’m safe… 🙂

Seriously, Happy Mother’s Day Ladies, and many more!!!

Thoughts on Blogs…

Posted on by May 11, 2013

Being an old fart, I think I come to blogs from a slightly different direction than some…

I didn’t grow up with electronic media, as a kid we had one B&W TV (that we didn’t get until I was six), it had three channels, only two of which actually came in well.

I grew up playing outside, with guns at a young age, and we were pretty much fearless.  We tromped through the woods on just about a daily basis, hunted squirrels, fished, played sports (football, baseball, basketball), and read…

We wrote real letters, and didn’t have a phone on our hip all day every day…

When we went on deployment, we suffered through 4-6 week turnaround on letters, and trusted our significant others and friends back home to take care of problems.

We didn’t jump on an airplane to go somewhere for the weekend, we planned for months to get a two week vacation and wrote letters and made the occasional phone call to coordinate our visits.  And we drove…  Sometimes 16-18 hours to get home or more…

I started in the computer world with BBS and Compuserve, 300 baud modems, text only…

And moved up to forums; guns, cars, technology…

And started seeing folks who’s opinions I valued on those forums…  Tam, Lawdog, Matt, Peter and others…

That is what led me finally to blogs.  I didn’t start a blog until May of 2007, six years ago this week.

I didn’t start it to get famous, or make money, or for any other reason than simply to kill time sitting in hotels on the road…

But it has lead to a whole new group of friends (and I don’t use that term loosely), a chance to meet folks across this country and around the world who share a passion for guns, a myriad of other interests, and an amazingly smart group of folks…

I still spend way too much time in hotels and on the road, and these blogs have literally kept me off the streets and out of the bars (well, MOST of the time).  And I find that the blogs offer a variety of ideas, thoughts, views, perspectives, introspection, humor and sadness that often make me think and force me review ‘my’ perspectives (usually for the better), and I’ve learned a TON from folks…

Sometimes, it’s the ‘little’ things…  Daddy Bear’s Thoughts on the day, Opus perspective from a female POV,   Julie and Pax view from an Aussie perspective, Brigid simply for her evocative writing (and our being able to reconnect after mumble years),  Jay G for his rants, Chris Muir and his fantastic Day by Day cartoon. Oleg for his photography and his perspective on America as seen from his Russian upbringing; LL, Duke, MSgtB, Murph, and the other LEO/mil/ex-mil bloggers for their varied perspectives and humor…

I could go on and on about those on my sidebar, but you get the idea.  And then there are the writers, Larry Correia, Marko, Michael Williamson, and now Peter…

I can remember reading Larry’s stuff on TFL, THR and other places, and being amazed he hadn’t been published… And now, well he done good!

And the other thing is the giving nature of ‘our’ little corner of the net… Not just the money, but the caring; the support (real and via comments and emails) to those in need, the willingness to reach out to others and give them that proverbial shoulder to cry on, bitch at, etc…

And a special thanks to Barron for the willingness to host this blog and help me through the transition to WordPress, without his generosity, I wouldn’t be doing this post today…

And the blog meets!  A chance to meet folks in real space, shoot nice toys, eat way too much good food, and the conversations!!! You’d need to be a two year old on a sugar high to keep up with the multiplicity of conversations and the depth/breadth of them!!!

And this is already way too long, but I really want to thank all three of my loyal readers for reading my random brain droppings over the past six years… I truly appreciate all of those who take the time to stop by, comment and occasionally poke me (and correct me when I screw it up)…

Meh…

Posted on by May 11, 2013

It’s raining, I’m not feeling the ‘urge’ to go slog out in town, there isn’t a taxi in sight, and they aren’t answering the dispatch phone…

Eenie, meeny, miney mo…

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Hellva choice for dinner…

Just sayin…

In honor of Mother’s Day…

Posted on by May 7, 2013
The Next Survivor Series…
     Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.
     Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes. There is no fast food.
     Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of “pretend” bills with not enough money.
     In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.
     Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time. Each man must also take each child to a doctor’s appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment. He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care (weekend, evening, on a holiday or right when they’re about to leave for vacation). He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.
     Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.
     The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.
     There is only one TV between them, and a remote with dead batteries.
     Each father will be required to know all of the words to every stupid song that comes on TV and the name of each and every character on cartoons.
     The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, which they will apply to themselves either while driving or making three lunches.
     Each man will have to make an Indian hut model with six toothpicks, a tortilla and one marker; and get a 4 year old to eat a serving of peas.
     Each man must adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep their nails polished and eyebrows groomed. The men must try to get through each day without snot, spit-up or barf on their clothing.
     During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties. They must try to explain what a tampon is for when the 6-yr old boy finds it in the purse.
     They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.
     He will need to read a book and then pray with the children each night without falling asleep, and then feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair each morning by 7:00. They must leave the home with no food on their face or clothes.
     A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child’s birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctors, each child’s favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.
     They must clean up after their sick children at 2:00 a.m. and then spend the remainder of the day tending to that child and waiting on them hand and foot until they are better. They must have a loving age appropriate reply to, “You’re not the boss of me.”
     The kids vote them off the island based on performance.
     The last man wins only if…he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment’s notice.
     If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years…eventually earning the right to be called Mother!
Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mothers out there!!!

History, from a different perspective part 2…

Posted on by May 10, 2013

21 June 1944, the 3rd Marine Division landed on Guam at Asan Beach, link HERE…

This photo is from the South side of the beach, with Asan Point at my back.  You can see the hills to the East, within about 2 miles of the beach.

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They came under direct fire from Asan Point just to the right of the beach and from the hills backing the beach.  And another problem was the lack of amphibious units like AMTRACS and DUKWs, as the shallow water extends out over 200 yards from the beach.  And due to damage done to the vehicles by the reef, Marines ended up wading the 100+ yards in full combat gear under pretty intense fire.

This photo shows the memorial to all the services that fought on Guam, and you see the rise of Asan Point in the background.

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And this is a close up of Asan Point and how quickly the jungle takes over…

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Did you see the cave in the picture above?  It’s just to the right of the trail in the center of the picture.

This is the cave from the pic above- This one contained a mortar team… And was one of MANY caves dug by the Chamorro natives as slave labor.

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At Agat Beach, about 5 miles South of Asan, Marine units and the 77th Division of the Army came ashore with considerably less problems, but again were hampered by the lack of AMTRACS and DUKWs…

In this picture, taken from the South side of Agat, you can see Orote Point in the left side and panning around to the right was the main landing beach.  Orote Point is now the home of Naval Station Guam.

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And here are some of the guns the Japanese used…

The Japanese AA guns, 25mm 300 rounds per minute-IMG_1272

And the Japanese shore defense battery, 20cm (8 inch)-

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These only had a 10nm range, but that was plenty to hit the landing craft and any other ships that came too close…

And this is looking down from the Bundschu Ridge on Asan Beach…

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The Japanese HQ was about 1/4 mile to the right of where this picture was taken.  Effectively they had a ‘perfect’ sand table view (except real) to what the 3rd Marines were doing.  Note the scrub between the beach line and the final slope of the ridge.  Some Marine units had HEAVY casualties trying to get up this ridge, and some spent 24 hours pinned down before the ridge was taken from behind.  Also, you can Asan Point to the left side of the picture, which was heavily fortified and honeycombed with caves.

I cannot imagine the courage of the Marines and Army fighting up these slopes against Japanese who were NOT going to surrender… Over 18,000 Japanese dead, but the US forces lost over 10,000 dead and wounded.

My hat is off to all those who made this, and Iwo, and Saipan, and Tinian, and all the other islands that were re-taken.  And the Chamorros, just like the Pilipinas, who fought beside the Army and Marines, and conducted guerrilla  operations on their respective islands.

Now back to your regularly scheduled random BS…

History, from a different perspective part 1…

Posted on by May 10, 2013

On a continuing road trip, and had some time to spare between meetings yesterday, so I stopped by the National Park Service museum at the front gate of the Navy base at Guam… link HERE.

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Thankfully, this one failed it’s task and ended up on the beach too…

I didn’t have time to drive to the various sites, but the interactive museum is excellent!

And the Guamanian’s are dead set on NOT forgetting the history…

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The kids had viewed a 10 minute video and each had a set of questions they had to search the museum displays to find the answers for.  They were fourth graders, and they do this every year up through sixth grade according to the teacher.

The Chamorro people were supportive of the Americans, and had always been; but were caught in the middle.  The Insular Guard started with a little over 100 men who were trained as defenders…

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And defend they did, setting up a defensive position during the Japanese invasion with three Lewis machine guns and six .45s (and a few 03A3 Springfields) to attempt to slow the invasion. Link HERE.

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The museum has a fascinating led/laser interactive map that shows an 8 minute multi-media presentation of the battle for Guam, and shows the attacks/battle lines as moving laser colors on a large map of Guam.  Considering the terrain here, it’s a miracle anyone could see much less fire accurately in the jungle. Even today, outside the main areas, the jungle is right down to the road and pretty much impenetrable…

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And the Chamorros DON’T forget… In chatting with the lady running the gift shop, she says many of the ‘elderly’ locals absolutely will have nothing to do with any Japanese even today.

And one of the last holdouts of WWII was on Guam in the person of SGT Shoichi Yokoi, he was captured in 1972 and returned to Japan, but later came back and spent time on Guam.  Link HERE.

It’s one thing to read the books; it’s another to actually see the land, look at the artifacts, and see the reality of what happened there.

And it’s a truly humbling experience…

Payoff on the tease…

Posted on by May 10, 2013

Remember this???

Doc - May 5, 2013, 17-00

Well, HERE are the good pics, courtesy of JayG!  And those guns really were beautiful!

Thanks Jay!