Seven years ago today…

Posted on by May 6, 2014

I put this up and started my foray into blogging…

I’m new to this whole arena, but thought I’d give it a try. I guess I fall in the “silent majority” as we have been deemed, I’ve never sought publicity, sued anyone for spilling my coffee, sure as hell ain’t a movie star; well, you get the drift…

I’m mid-50′s have a decent job, two decent kids trying hard to make their own way in the world today, and a lot of frustration with what is happening to the US of A. Being from the South, I hunt, fish, and shoot guns; so that immediately makes me one of those “rabid rednecks” to quote some out there. I did have a pickup, but it’s hard to park it where I work, so I drive a Pontiac… sure do miss the truck though… sigh…

As a retired military type, it really hurts to see the crap we are putting the folks in service through today. I lived through that in Vietnam, and I take the time to thank every Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine for their service when I get the chance. Most of the kids (I’m Southern so I can say that) are doing the best they can with what they have. They believe in the job they and others are doing in the Sandbox, and are pretty upset by the media coverage they get.

Anyway, I’m going to try this for a while and see what happens… thanks for reading and commenting…

Old NFO

Sadly, the only things that have changed are I’m seven years older, back in an SUV, but at least the kids are doing good and I’m a grandfather for the second time!  Other than that, every damn thing I said then still applies…  Well, maybe not so silent anymore…

Sigh…

Thanks to all of you great folks that have put up with my brain drivel for this long, and thanks too to those who’ve befriended me in the real world.  I truly treasure the interactions and friends I’ve made through this little corner of the Intarwebz…

p.s. The other thing I’ve found is that I’m NOT alone in what I’m feeling/thinking…

Totals- 2269 posts, something over 31,000 comments, north of 918,000 visits and one book.

Thanks again for stopping by, reading and commenting…

WTFO???

Posted on by May 6, 2014

I’m beginning to wonder if I’m still living in the USA…

PCism is truly running amok….  A twofer from California…

You’re RACIST if you wave the American flag???

The controversy brought a small group of protesters out Monday, and the community reacted immediately.

“What’s wrong with these white people holding up American flags in Morgan hill??? Racist a–holes,” wrote Gia Lee in a feed monitored by Twitchy.

Article HERE.

And it’s now illegal to sell a Confederate Flag in ANY State run facility in California…

So much for the 1st Amendment… Guess if your momma doesn’t like it, you can just pass a law…

Article HERE.

And one closer to home (actually the next county over)

FAIRFAX, Va. – A plan to ban “frequent and large gatherings at neighborhood homes” is a lawsuit waiting to happen, a Fairfax County supervisor predicts.

/snip

The proposed zoning ordinance limits “group assembly” at residences to 49 people a day. Such gatherings “shall not occur more frequently than three times in any 40-day period.”

Full article HERE.

And Pelosi wants to ‘honor’ Sinko de Mayo by pushing amnesty…

Even though the Congressional Budget Office has determined that amnesty legislation would lower the wages of American workers and detrimentally impact Hispanics on the lower end of the economic ladder, Democrats and Republicans backed by big-business and the high-tech industry have been relentless in advocating for sweeping amnesty legislation.

Article HERE.

And I found THIS rather interesting, considering USAToday’s coverage of the anti-christian rants and the ‘bowing’ to muslim rhetoric seen in their coverage the last few years…  If you don’t believe SCOTUS is truly divided, go read the opinions… sigh…  

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And in truly sad news, via Og it appears Jeffro from The Poor Farm Blog has passed away. I’m sorry I never got to meet him in real life.  May he rest in peace, and know his troubles are at an end… 

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Edit- And another late entry from Kalifornia…

The Rialto Unified School District is defending an eighth-grade assignment that asks students to debate in writing whether the Holocaust was “merely a political scheme created to influence public emotion and gain.”

Read it HERE.

Cute commercial…

Posted on by May 4, 2014

This one is from Turkish Airlines… And… Kids… 🙂

This is the translation from dervish-az.com-

The scene of the commercial has been captured in Igdir. Iğdır is the capital of Iğdır Province in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Turkey’s highest mountain, Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) is in Iğdır, but much of the land is a wide plain far below the mountain. 

Four kids watch the airplane flying to Istanbul dreaming that  he flies to their province too. They discuss if the airplane would fly to their province, some of them don’t believe but one of them thinks that if he (probably the pilot) would like he might come to their province. This dream encourages kids to try various ways to grab pilot’s attention, so he would fly to their province. They collect stones and write “Igdir Airport”, hang flags and immediately run and shout “we are here, come here”, and give solute when they see the airplane flying over. However, airplane flies away and no one notices them. In this case they decide to grab lamps from the wedding and again put them together, so the pilot could see them. They plug the lights on and again shouts ‘we are here, come here” when the airplane flies. Airplane doesn’t stop and it upsets the kids.

The next morning they see the airplane flying to their direction and shout in a happy voice”came, came”. They see the airplane landing on their province and immediately run there. The local people stand in a line with Turkish national flags on their hand and meet the travelers leaving the airplane. The pilot leaves the airplane as well and he gives special solute to kids and winks to them. It makes kids very happy.

The author gives the best message on a background at the end of the Turkish Airlines Commercial “Dreaming” Igdir Airport. He says ”Why do we need to fly all over the world, if we still have some places left in Turkey?

I like this one because it’s ALL about dreams and ‘making’ them come true…

And the way they ‘communicate’ with the airline is pretty damn good too!!!

The way things are going…

Posted on by May 2, 2014

This is going to be reality…

The Department of Defense (DoD) is proud to announce a new fleet of Class 1069 destroyers. Having initially named the first two ships USS Daring and USS Dauntless, the naming committee has, after intensive pressure from Congress, renamed them USS Cautious and USS Prudent.

The next five ships are to be USS Empathy, USS Circumspect, USS Nervous, USS Timorous and USS Apologist. Costing $850 million each they comply with the very latest employment, equality, health and safety and human rights laws.

The U.S. Navy fully expects any future enemy to be decent and to comply with the same high standards of our behavior.

The viewer friendly stacks will be painted in the “gay pride” colors.

Live ammunition has been replaced with paintballs to reduce the risk of anyone getting hurt and to cut down on the number of compensation claims.

Stress counselors and lawyers will be on board, as will a union representative for each of the trades on board.

The crew will be 50%/50% men and women and will contain the correct balance of race, gender, sexuality and disability.

Sailors will only work a maximum of 40 hours per week as per union rules on working hours, time and a half for overtime and double time on Sundays and holidays, even in wartime.

All the vessels are equipped with a maternity ward and a disco.

Tobacco will be banned throughout the ship, but recreational cannabis will be allowed in the messes.

Saluting of officers is now considered elitist and has been replaced by “Hi Sailor”.

All information on notice boards will be in 37 different languages.

Crew members will now have permission to grow beards and/or mustaches. This applies equally to female crew.

A majority of Senators have suggested a “non-specific” flag because the current “Stars and Stripes” may offend some Nations during port calls.

The newly re-named USS Cautious will be commissioned shortly by muslim cleric from the Washington DC Mosque who will detonate a small explosive device near the hull.

As she will gently slides into the sea the Marines Corp Band will play “In the Navy” by the Village People. Her first deployment will be to escort boatloads of illegal immigrants to ports on the East coast.

The President said, “Our ships reflect the very latest in modern thinking and they will always be able to comply with any new legislation from the U.N.” His final words were, “I told you there would be “CHANGE!”

But, I’m old school… 🙂

Navy t-shirt

WWII Recruiting Poster…

Posted on by May 2, 2014

Back to the WWII recruiting posters.  An Army one from 1940…

WWII Army recruiting

This one was done prior to the war, and was actually done by Major Tom Woodburn who was the editor and art director for Recruiting News (an Army publication I believe).

According to what I could find out, this one was also made into a billboard and distributed pretty widely…

And in a twofer, here is another Woodburn poster…

WWII Army Recruit

And a link HERE to ‘part’ of a story in New Yorker Magazine in 1940…

Customer Service…

Posted on by April 30, 2014

I actually debated posting this one, as it will seem like fawning, but what the hell…

Among other conversations at the NRA this past weekend, customer service was mentioned at least a couple of times a day.  Now we all ‘know’ who the lousy ones are at customer service, either through personal experience or reputation…

But having said that, the one commonly mentioned name without fail for GOOD customer service was Brownells…

I’m sure as soon as I say that, there will be the 1% that will crap all over me, but everybody there had nothing but good stories…

Mine in particular, was over a Trijicon RMR. I’d ordered one with a specific mount, and they inadvertently sent the wrong one.  So I called when I got it, got an RMA number and shipped it back.  Three days later, I again got the wrong mount.  I called in again, got a very nice lady who confirmed the part number was in fact incorrect, had them pull a correct one, bring it to her, and she read off the part number.  It was correct, and I got it two days later, express shipped, before I’d even had a chance to get an RMA and return the second one. AND there was a hand written note apologizing for the mistakes…

Others had nothing but good to say for them, for any number of reasons, including asking if folks were sure they needed the more expensive part, or recommending substitute parts that would get the job done when the desired part was out of stock or backordered.  And everyone was united in how personable and friendly the phone order folks at Brownells are.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting both Mr. Frank Brownell, and Larry Weeks and some of the other folks that work there, and they have been without fail polite, interested in making sure you’re happy with the product received, and willing to take extra steps as required to fulfill folks orders.  A couple of years ago I watched Mr. Brownell interacting with his ‘customers’ at the NRA AM, and it was obvious some of them were LONG time customers, as he actually knew them by name.  And in some cases he actually remembered what guns they had bought stuff for!!!

Lastly, Brownells has supported us with help with food/drinks at some of our functions, not because we’re a big important group, but because we’re trying to do the right things.  This past weekend being a good example-  Ambulance Driver taught a class on blow out kits to 32 of us.  Brownells covered the drinks and munchies for the class.  They didn’t have to, they won’t get any advertising out of it, other than on the blogs but they did it anyway…

THAT is the definition of a class act, and customer service…

And why I’ve been a customer for over 20 years…

A ‘new’ channel…

Posted on by May 2, 2014

And it sounds like one worth watching…

Daniel Defense Announces presenting Sponsorship of NRA Freestyle Channel

Fairfax, Va. – Daniel Defense has teamed up with the National Rifle Association (NRA) to introduce NRA Freestyle, the newest addition to the NRA Digital Network.

The newly launched NRA Freestyle channel was designed to speak to a new type of gun owner, one who chooses to incorporate firearms into an independent, athletic, adventurous lifestyle. This online video channel features original programming, a premium publication and a daily blog along with a unique ensemble that includes urban gun enthusiast Colion Noir, veteran U.S. Navy SEAL Dom Raso, high school athlete Reagan Tyler and pop culture ambassador Amy Robbins.

NRA Freestyle Programming includes:

NOIR

Colion Noir has emerged as one of the leading voices for the newest generation of firearm enthusiasts. So we gave him his own show. Join Colion and co-host Amy Robbins as they talk fashion, pop culture, firearms and more. NOIR episodes will debut on Sunday evenings and will be available thereafter on demand.

Media Lab

We see fight scenes with guns and improvised weapons all the time, but could that actually happen in reality? Dom Raso breaks down Hollywood’s most infamous fight scenes and gives his “true to life” or “farfetched folly” verdict in movie reviews like you’ve never seen before. Media Lab will air on Wednesdays.

I Am Forever

Like most high school seniors, Reagan Tyler feels unprepared when it comes to her personal safety. U.S. Veteran Navy SEAL Dom Raso is going to change that. He’ll teach Reagan priceless lessons in situational awareness, confidence, gun handling and more. Premiering fall 2014.

The new ‘channel’ link is HERE.

I’m looking forward to Raso’s fisking of the movie fights, especially after our conversation last Saturday night… 🙂

Actually I think this is an extremely good idea, as this should draw younger ‘viewers’ to get a more realistic picture of not only guns, but a safe and sane lifestyle…

Posted in NRA

They want MORE of ‘our’ money…

Posted on by April 30, 2014

This administration is hell bent on running us into the ground… It’s not enough that they are continuing to raise taxes (either direct or indirect), health care cost is going through the roof (IF you can get it), and they are doing nothing to slow down the rampant entitlement programs…

And now this…

In a major shift for how governments fund transportation projects, the administration wants to let states charge tolls on interstate highways. A federal ban currently bars states from doing so in most places, but the latest White House push could change that.

Read the whole article HERE at Foxnews.

And in a more ‘personal’ note, the company that I work for (small business, less than 50 employees), are having to re-look at our insurance package.  Because of my travel, and the need for ‘international’ availability of medical care, my monthly insurance is about $725/mo.  The ‘rumor mill’ has it that may double depending on what the company has to do, and if it does we, the employees, must make up the difference.  Now my ‘raise’ this year was 1.2%, so that means I could pay for about TWO months of insurance…

And we’re also hearing they are going to make another run on TRICARE this year, to either bump the rates to over $1000 a year, and/or make it so that we are kicked to Medicare at 65…

Sigh… Am I retired YET???

Squirrel Report…

Posted on by May 1, 2014

If you need a laugh, I’m going on the Squirrel Report tonight at 9PM EST…

Knowing that crowd, this should be interesting… 🙂  Call-in is 214 530-0036 if you want to harass me…

Errr, did I miss something this weekend???

Posted on by April 30, 2014

It appears I missed the NRA declaring war on the USA… Sigh…

I miss ALL the good stuff!  But we can count on Ana Marie Cox from the Guardian to keep us up to date (I guess)…

I was somewhat undercover at the convention this weekend. And being among people who believe they are surrounded by other members of their tribe does mean that they say things they might not otherwise say – but to be unguarded, to be vulnerable, doesn’t always reveal the worst in people. It can reveal the best.

Full ranting, er, article HERE.

And here’s a rebuttal from Matt over at the Bang Switch…

Wow, as a longtime NRA member, I did not realize we were declaring war on our own country?  Perhaps I missed something in the membership paperwork?  I must read on and see what I am missing.

Read his whole rebuttal HERE at the Daily Caller…

Sigh… Guess I need to pay more attention…

And I don’t remember seeing said woman in the Press Room at all, did anybody else see her???