Find the Colt…

Some folks just tend to ‘accumulate’ things…

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And these are just ‘some’ of the revolvers…

Since all but one of them are S&W, I’ll defer to Tam for further descriptions, but he did drag out one old Colt just for me…

And they did have a ‘few’ semi-autos scattered here and there, along with some other rifles etc…

Just ‘accumulated’ a few things over a few years… 🙂

And these go out to Jay G...

The assault baseball bat…

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And the assault hatchet…DSC00415

Some good ol’ boys have WAY too much time on their hands…

Just sayin…

238 and still limping along…

Happy Birthday to the Navy, 238 years and still hanging in, in spite of the current administration…

Some traditions DO continue, thankfully…

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Traditionally, the oldest sailor and the youngest sailor share in cutting the ‘birthday’ cake.

I happened to be a Third Fleet last week, and they had the cake cutting on the 8th (actual celebrations can be held anytime 7-13 Oct), but since cameras aren’t allowed, no pics, but I DID swipe a napkin…

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The ceremony was held on the quarterdeck with VADM Floyd presiding, and the oldest sailor was a Warrant who was 58, the youngest was a Seaman who was 19 (he was born in 1994)!!!

Us old farts standing in the back started laughing as we’d ALL retired before the poor kid had been born… At least I wasn’t the oldest old fart…

Sigh…

Shutdown Day 10…

Zip nada again today…

It appears the states can PAY the Feds to open the national parks in their states…  YGTBSM!!!

I can’t find a single positive thing to say…

I’m going to go turn money into smoke and noise for a couple of days…

Go read the folks on the sidebar.

Thank you!!!

Thought for the day…

We always hear about Social Security running out of money.

How come we never hear about Welfare running out of money?

My comment?

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We are “SO” screwed…

And since I’m doing pictures, here are two more… h/t JP for these…

1375281_616307821742012_663752728_nAnd this one is one of the ‘better’ ones I’ve seen on Benghazi…

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I’m off doing other things today, so go read the folks on the sidebar…

Shutdown Day 10…

Still nothing productive out of DC… Turns out the Senate FINALLY passed the bill to pay death benefits to the military and now Obummer refuses to sign it.  He said Fisher House is doing it so why should he sign it.  And STILL no admission out of the administration on when the WH actually knew, but the guess is at least Tuesday, if not earlier… Story HERE.

It appears Reid and Gray (Mayor of DC) are apparently in cahoots on ‘some’ kind of deal to keep DC running…

And in lieu of anymore BS, a little humor…

Speech by RADM J. Stark, USN, President of the Naval War College regarding the services:

· The first reason I like Marines: They set high standards for themselves and those around them, and will accept nothing less.

· I like the way Marines march.

· I like the way Marines do their basic training whether it’s Quantico, San Diego, or Parris Island.

· I like the idea that Marines cultivate an ethos conductive of producing hard people in a soft age.

· I like the fact that Marines stay in shape.

· I like the fact that the Marines only have one boss – The Commandant.

· And I like the directness of the Commandant.

· I like the fact that Marines are stubborn.

· I like the way Marines obey orders.

· I like the way Marines make the most of the press.

· I like the wholehearted professionalism of the Marines.

It occurred to me that the services could be characterized by different breeds of dogs.

· The Air Force reminded me of a French Poodle. The poodle always looks perfect…sometimes a bit pampered and always travels first class. But don’t ever forget that the poodle was bred as a hunting dog and in a fight it’s very dangerous.

· The Army is kind of like a St. Bernard. It’s big and heavy and sometimes seems a bit clumsy. But it’s very powerful and has lots of stamina. So you want it for the long haul.

· The Navy, God bless us, is a Golden Retriever. They’re good natured and great around the house. The kids love ’em. Sometimes their hair is a bit long….they go wandering off for long periods of time, and they love water.

· Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean or skinny and mean. They’re aggressive on the attack and tenacious on defense. They’ve got really short hair and they always go for the throat. That sounds like a Marine to me!

So what I really like about Marines is that first to fight isn’t just a motto, it’s a way of life. From the day they were formed at Tun Tavern 200 plus years ago, Marines have distinguished themselves on battlefields around the world. From the fighting tops of the Bonhomme Richard, to the sands of Barbary Coast, from the swamps of New Orleans to the halls of Montezuma, from Belleau Wood, to the Argonne Forest, to Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima, and Okinawa and Inchon, and Chosin Reservoir and Hue City and Quang Tri and Dong Ha, and Beirut, and Grenada, and Panama, and Somalia and Bosnia and a thousand unnamed battlefields in godforsaken parts of the globe, Marines have distinguished themselves by their bravery, and stubbornness and aggressive spirit, and sacrifice, and love of country, and loyalty to one another.

They’ve done it for you and me, and this country we all love so dearly. They asked for nothing more than the honor of being a United States Marine.

That’s why I like Marines!

h/t JP

Shutdown Day 9…

Healthcare site is down again (still)… Now saying MONTHS of issues ahead…

Article HERE.

Other than the House acting on the death benefits for the military; zippo again today out of the  congresscritters. It appears the Senate didn’t even bother to take up the resolution on the death benefits…

The Pentagon announced Wednesday that a charity will step in to pay death benefits to the families of fallen soldiers, in response to widespread outrage over the payments being cut off amid the partial government shutdown. 

Earlier in the day, the head of the Veterans of Foreign Wars slammed the cut-off as “absolutely appalling.” 

The House voted Wednesday afternoon to restore the $100,000 payments. But in a rapid turn of events, the Pentagon announced minutes later that it had entered into an agreement with the non-profit Fisher House Foundation to keep the payments flowing to families — without the need for congressional action. (Though the House approved its bill unanimously, senior Senate sources told Fox News that the Senate did not plan to take it up.) 

Full article from Fox HERE.

And KUDOS to Fisher House for stepping up!!! God Bless them!

Even the Senate Chaplain is getting into the act…

Senate Chaplain Barry Black hasn’t been shy of late in calling out lawmakers in his daily opening prayer on the chamber floor.

“When our federal shutdown delays payments of death benefits to the families of children dying on faraway battlefields, it’s time for our lawmakers to say, ‘Enough is enough,’” he prayed. “Cover our shame with the robe of your righteousness. Forgive us, reform us and make us whole.”

From the Washington Times HERE.

The conduct of the National Park Service over the last week might be the biggest scandal of the Obama administration. This is an expansive claim, of course. Benghazi, Fast and Furious, the IRS, the NSA, the HHS mandate​—​this is an administration that has not lacked for appalling abuses of power. And we still have three years to go.

Even so, consider the actions of the National Park Service since the government shutdown began. 

Article from the Weekly Standard HERE.

How bad is it in the military? And how much worse will it get???

Article from the Denver Post HERE.

And potential shutdown of Veterans’ Benefits 1 Nov HERE.

As far as positives, I can’t find any today other than Fisher House.  If you have a spare buck or two, I’m sure they’d appreciate the donation HERE!

Obit for Navy Traditions…

By LCDR Tom Sousa…

An obituary for Navy Tradition (USN, retired) — 1775-2013:

In a press release from Washington D.C., the Navy Department announced the death of Navy Tradition today after a long illness.

Navy Tradition was born into a world of turmoil and revolution in 1775. Starting with nothing as a child, Navy Tradition evolved to become an essential part of the most powerful Navy the world had ever seen. He was present when James Lawrence ordered “Don’t give up the ship” as he lay mortally wounded on the deck of the Chesapeake. He witnessed cannon balls bouncing off the copper-shielded sides of the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides.”

He fought pirates off the Barbary Coast and suffered with his shipmates on the battleship Arizona during the attack at Pearl Harbor. He fought his way across the Pacific with Nimitz and saw MacArthur fulfill his promise to return to the Philippines. Navy Tradition was there when sailors fought bravely to save the frigate Stark after it was hit by a cruise missile and witnessed the launch of Tomahawk missiles from the battleship Missouri at the outset of Desert Storm.

Through all the strife, good times and bad, Navy Tradition was there to support his shipmates and give a balance to the misery that sometimes accompanied a life at sea. Be the nation at peace or at war, Navy Tradition made sure that we always remembered we were sailors.

He made sure that promotions were celebrated with an appropriate “wetting down”; crows, dolphins and wings were tacked on as a sign of respect from those already so celebrated; chiefs were promoted in solemn ceremony after being “initiated” by their fellow brethren; and only those worthy were allowed to earn the title “shellback.”

But in his later years, Navy Tradition was unable to fight the cancer of political correctness. He tired as his beloved Navy went from providing rations of rum to its sailors to conducting Breathalyzer tests on the brow. He weakened as he saw “Going into harm’s way” turn into “Cover your backside,” and as “Wooden ships and iron men” morphed into “U.S. Navy, Inc.”

A lifelong friend of Navy Tradition recalled a crossing-the-equator ceremony during World War II: “ I had to eat a cherry out of the belly button of the fattest sailor on the ship. It was disgusting. But for that few minutes, it took our minds off the war and to this day it is one of my greatest memories.”

In lieu of flowers, the family of Navy Tradition has asked that all sailors who have earned their shellback and drunk their dolphins; who remember sore arms from where their crows were tacked on and were sent on a search for “relative bearing grease” or a length of “water line”; who’ve been through chiefs’ initiation or answered ship’s call in a bar fight in some exotic port of call, to raise a toast one more time and remember Navy Tradition in his youth and grandeur.

Fair winds and following seas, Shipmate. You will be missed.bilde

 

Nuff said…

Shutdown Day 8…

Again zippo from the congresscritters, but BO spent a hour (apparently) in a press conference blaming the Pubs…

And it’s come out that the administration released $445M to ‘public broadcasting’ on the first day of the shutdown, article HERE.

But they’ve all but shut down the VA, and there are issues, including funding going forward for disability payments…

The government shutdown is denying an array of financial benefits to families of troops killed in combat, training or by other causes in the military.

In addition, services to veterans were further curtailed Tuesday as the Department of Veterans Affairs exhausted some carryover funding and furloughed 7,000 workers who process compensation claims.

As a result, the VA cut off public access Tuesday to all 56 regional offices where veterans routinely walk in to file claims for compensation of combat- or other service-related wounds, injuries or illnesses.

It remains unclear whether the VA will be sending out compensation checks on Nov. 1 to about 3.8 million veterans who rely on them, department spokeswoman Victoria Dillon says. While the VA is continuing to process compensation cases this month, funding for this will run out by the end of October if the shutdown continues, she says.

Meanwhile, the families of four soldiers and a Marine killed in Afghanistan since the shutdown last week are not receiving a $100,000 death gratuity or any unpaid income due their loved ones, or being reimbursement for burial expenses, the Pentagon says.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the shutdown, we do not have the legal authority to make death gratuity payments at this time,” says Navy Lt. Com. Nate Christensen, a Pentagon spokesman.

Full article HERE.

That is just #@$%# pathetic!!! And unconscionable…

And NPS played Gestapo in Yellowstone to a group of senior citizens.

A guide who led a tour group through Yellowstone as the government shutdown began accused the National Park Service of “Gestapo tactics” in trying to prevent the visitors from viewing any of the park’s sites.

Tour director Gordon Hodgson told the Livingston Enterprise, a Montana newspaper, that park rangers allowed the group to stay at a lodge for the 48 hours they were allotted under shutdown rules, but refused to let them do anything else in the park — including walk on the boardwalk paths outside the lodge or visit any of the park’s geysers.

Article HERE.

And MD has a rather interesting privacy policy on their healthcare website…

Should you decide to apply for health coverage through Maryland Health Connection, the information you supply in your application will be used to determine whether you are eligible for health and dental coverage offered through Maryland Health Connection and for insurance affordability programs. It also may be used to assist you in making a payment for the insurance plan you select, and for related automated reminders or other activities permitted by law.  We will preserve the privacy of personal records and protect confidential or privileged information in full accordance with federal and State law. We will not sell your information to others.  Any information that you provide to us in your application will be used only to carry out the functions of Maryland Health Connection. The only exception to this policy is that we may share information provided in your application with the appropriate authorities for law enforcement and audit activities. 

Full article HERE. I can’t help but wonder if folks read that or just blindly accepted the policy…

On the lighter side…

I need to get my daughter to teach Vito this trick…

Sigh…

h/t Les, JP, Frito and others…

Numbers…

The REAL numbers don’t lie or do they???

CA claimed 5 million hits on their obummercare site, apparently the actual number that ACCESSED the site was 540,000 with only 77,000 that actually signed up in the first three days.

CT apparently only had 14,000 visits…

NY claimed 2 million visits, no actual numbers being published on actual access or signups…

Healthcare.gov apparently had only 2.8 million hits.

And MD apparently has a rather ‘interesting’ privacy policy on theirs…

There is a statement floating around that the websites were ONLY designed to handle 50,000 accesses at a time… WTF???

I cannot believe the designers were that stupid…

Shutdown Day 7…

Zip nada out of the congresscritters other than finger pointing…

BUT there will be a rally on the Mall- Guess who?

A planned immigration reform rally will take place on the National Mall on Tuesday even though the site is closed due to the government shutdown.

Organizers for the “Camino Americano: March for Immigration Reform” were spotted Monday setting up a stage and equipment on the National Mall for the rally which will take place on Tuesday.

Article HERE.

So lemme get this straight, they are told to keep veterans away from the WWII and Vietnam and Korea Memorials, but immigration reform rally is okay???

And in the making it hurt category…

It’s almost like they are pushing to see how far they can push before the American people say enough is enough,” said Ed Mitchell, the mayor of Blount County, Tenn. “We were founded on a declaration of independence. And they are about to push the people to the line again.”

Nearly a third of Blount County is inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. So when the federal government shut down the park, it also shut down one of the area’s chief sources of revenue.

The National Park Service also closed the Foothills Parkway, a major thoroughfare in the county. The closure came without warning and left the local school district scrambling to get children back to their homes.

Full article HERE.

And the DOD civilians reported back to work today, and it seems the administration is going along with this… Interesting!!!

And in California Illegal immigrants can now be licensed to practice law!!!

Article HERE.

Remind me (again) to do my damnest to get the kids out of that damn state!!!

In other news, saw a funny license plate surround this evening, it said-

To Hell with Missles

Going Gun

I got close enough to finally see the sticker on the back window and it said “Hog Driver”   Nuff said… LOL

And the C-130 with the new fangled 8 bladed props just DOES NOT sound right…  It’s not beating the air into submission… sigh