A credible threat???

Posted on by March 6, 2013

I snuck home for the weekend, and managed to grab lunch today with a friend in law enforcement in East Texas. We were discussing the DHS memo and out of the blue he told me something that really concerned me-


I don’t have any independent confirmation of this, and it’s second hand, but I believe its possible…

It was that the folks from ICE had been tasked to conduct surveillence Tea Parties held on Apr 15, using available security cameras, still and video, and undercover officers in the crowd. It was not only to monitor the speakers, but the crowds and assess who the “specific” leaders were.

He did not know how widespread this was; but in thinking about it, since most of the Tea Parties were held at court houses, state houses, etc. There definitely are security camera systems available, and video from upper floors would have been unnoticed in the general hubbub of people taking pictures…

Not local LEOs, not state LEOs, ICE… Since the change over, ICE now works for DHS. When you think about the memo, the “reaction” of the MSM, and the “lack” of reaction from the Administration it’s enough to make one wonder…

Oh yeah, one other thing- There are numerous ICE agents working the Southern parts of the US… Gee…um… two plus two equals…

Now the other thing is the Lightbringer supposedly backing off on the AWB, stating, “there was not enough support in Congress.” Does anyone else believe this is just a delaying tactic until the Dems can strong arm enough votes to push it through?

That’s the direction I’m leaning, this assault on 2A is NOT over…

And via Crucis, THIS guest editorial (called Resistance is Futile) from David Codreas website The War on Guns, which talks to that issue.

And a little “humor” … Kinda reminds me about the comments a few years ago about paper hats and $9000 communications systems at McDonald’s…

Recently, when I went to McDonald’s I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets.

“We don’t have half dozen nuggets” said the teenager at the counter.

“You don’t?” I replied.

“We only have six, nine, or twelve” came the reply.

“So I can’t order a half dozen nuggets but I can order six?”

“That’s right.”

I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets.

Sigh… Y’all have a good weekend!

Uh oh, I think we’re in trouble…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

The below comment was extracted from the Washington Post article from today, Federal Agency Warns of Radicals on the Right…

“Congressional debates about immigration and gun control also make extremist groups suspicious and give them a rallying cry, the report says.

“It is unclear if either bill will be passed into law; nonetheless, a correlation may exist between the potential passage of gun control legislation and increased hoarding of ammunition, weapons stockpiling, and paramilitary training activities among rightwing extremists,” the report said.”

Let’s see how far this will stretch. Soooo, you bought a gun, ammo, didn’t vote for the Lightbringer, sent an email saying how the obamabots are selling out America, you’re white, English is your first language, you are not a Muslim, you’re a life member of NRA, GOA, yada yada……………


Gee, that kinda fits, so I guess it ought to get me a front row seat as an extremist!!! Anybody else think this is just one more piece of the propaganda that is being put out to “label” us???

sigh… I want my country back!!! Please!!!

Happy Easter…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

I’d like to wish each and every one a Happy Easter! Hopefully you find ALL the eggs that were hidden… 🙂

On a positive note- Yea Navy! Good shooting by the SEALS on Bainbridge!!! It took retired Gen Jones, now the National Security Advisor to give the new administration the balls to carry out the rescue, and it went down with no problems on our end. Three tangos down with three shots “should” give those assholes pause about trying to take another US ship/crew…

Senators McCain and Graham were in Yokosuka getting briefs Saturday morning, and I have to believe they weighed in on making this happen…

Tyranny of Distance…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

There are a lot of news reports about the hijacking that took place off Somalia the other day. This was the first time in years they took an American crewed ship, and the crew has managed to get the ship back (Good on them!!!).


One of the questions being raised is why it took so long… First, the total area they are trying to patrol is over 1,000,000 square miles (roughly an area 5 times the size of the USA!), with a Combined Task Force (CTF) total of less than 10 ships, not all of which are US Navy… Since we don’t have enough aircraft to fly the patrols anymore, the ships have to rely on notification from higher for directions/locations to go to. Even if they go balls to the wall, they are pretty much limited to 20+ kts transit speed, so it takes them roughly 20 hours to go 350 miles (which is about where the closest unit was).

I’m not going to go into detail, but numerous things are in the works at “many” levels… Just an FYI, years ago we did a study of how many assets would really be required to cover the OPAREA. It was in excess of 50 ships and 30 aircraft- Figure the odds…

On a brighter note, I’m heading back tomorrow! Five days, 30 hours of meetings, after meeting meetings, pre-meeting meetings, and I’m about meetinged out… We did get a good dinner at the Club last night (I have a requirement of one good meal a trip).

The down side, well I finally slept in till 0500 this morning, so I’m almost acclimatized… dammit…

And one to leave you with… This is a pic taken from the bridge of an oil tanker crossing the Pacific. Now this tanker is almost 1000 feet long, and normally has about 30 feet of freeboard (distance from the deck to the waterline)… THIS is what happens when you get caught in the fringes of a typhoon… Oh yeah, you are looking at the bow, that’s the forward mast (yellow and black) sticking up in the distance.
You can go HERE and read about Halsey’s Typhoon in 1944, which did more damage to the Navy in WWII than any SINGLE Battle!!! Even today, that typhoon is part of routine briefs to Navy CO’s and ship’s crews.

Y’all have a good weekend!

On the road again…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Well, back on the road yet again…

At the airport 2 hours before takeoff (international)- Check…
14 hour flight- Check…
1 hour wait for the bus- Check…
2 1/2 hour bus ride- Check…
Room in the BOQ– Ah… er… Sorry, no rooms…
2 hour frantic scramble for a room- Check…
1/2 hour train ride back the way I came- Check…
$180 for a room at a Sheraton– Check…
And a whole three hours of sleep- Check… dammit…

Anyhoo, since I back in Japan (again) and this time I have a camera, a quick little video of the Cherry Blossoms. They are in FULL bloom, and are EVERYWHERE!!!


Also, you may wonder why I included this picture of a street! Simple… These folks actually WORK!

At 0800 when I came on base, they were starting tearing up the street, at 1200 they had the trenching complete and new pipes going in the ground.
At 1600 they were paving the street!!! They did two blocks in 8 hours and had everything tidied up by 1700!

We need to get THAT work ethic in some of our DOT folks… Like that would ever happen… sigh…

In other news, I was watching CNNj this morning and it was interesting that apparently some of the banks are now trying to give the TARP money back to the government, but the Lightbringer i NOT LETTING THEM RETURN IT!!! WTFO???

The banks are willing to pay our money back so they retain control of their banks and they can’t!

Sounds like the administration is going to try to get control of the banking industry like they have of the auto industry! If this is true, just stick a fork in us, cause we’re done…

Off to sleep (I hope)…

What’s Happening…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Well, lemme see… The Lightbringer has fired the CEO of GM, thrown Chrysler under the Italian bus; if I were Fiat, I’d stall, let Chrysler go bankrupt and THEN buy for pennies on the dollar, void ALL union contracts and start over…

Got slapped down by the G20, made a speech directly to the German people (howinhell did he get away with that?) Is flying around with an entourage of about 500 people and apparently 12 teleprompters…

They have rammed through the largest tax increases in history on tobacco ($6.61 a carton on cigarettes, and $23/lb on roll your own tobacco)…


Had ANOTHER income tax “issue”. Jeez do ANY Democrats actually pay ALL their income taxes??? Sebelius… Who is a fruit cake anyway and now SHE is in charge of Health Care? O.M.G!


Sadly there was a shooting today in NY State apparently 12 dead plus the shooter, but I guess everyone has seen coverage… Thoughts and Prayers go out to the families of those who were killed.


Frank James has details up HERE on his Corn, Beans and Brass blog about the truth on the Mexican guns! Frank pretty much calls it as he sees it anyway, and does a MUCH better job than I… Go Read!!! JR over at A Keyboard and a .45 has a post up too. Also, HERE is a link to Fox News with video…

Oh yeah, if you REALLY want to get your blood pressure up, go HERE and take the carbon calculator survey… I got a 23.5, of course I live on the road, and drive a V-8, so I’m on their S**T list anyway…

As far as I can tell, if you own a car and like to heat your house in the winter, you’re going to be in the “much higher than average” category. One of my friends on the Left slide…er side sent it to me, and she’s horrified at how high she scored and she says she’s going to make some changes.

What’s bad is, I know a bunch of idjits like my friend will go out and buy Priuses and mercury-infused light bulbs to get their scores down, but what this really says to me is that unless I retire and move into a nice, unheated yurt (somewhere in the Southwest, so I don’t use carbon in my commute), there’s nothing I can do to earn forgiveness from the lefties. So I might as well climb keep getting on those 777s for a few more trips to earn my paltry salary…

Oh yeah, for my shooting friends, Natchez Shooters Supply has .223 for 12.99 a box…

Y’all have a good weekend!

Random Road stuff, part 3224…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

This is a special video… If you don’t feel good after seeing this one, there is something wrong!!!

And a little food pr0n for BBQ season… 🙂

We are about to enter the summer and BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity, as it’s the only type of cooking a ‘real’ man will do, probably because there is an element of danger involved.

When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:

Routine…

(1) The woman buys the food.
(2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.

(3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill – beer in hand.

Here comes the important part:

(4) THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.

More routine….
(5) The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.

(6) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is burning. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he deals with the situation.

Important again:

(7) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.

More routine….

(8) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.
(9) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.

And most important of all:

(10) Everyone PRAISES and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.
(11) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed ‘her night off.’ And, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there’s just no pleasing some women….

Ducking and running for cover now… 🙂

On the road again…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Well, so much for my time at home… sigh…


Back on the road and I get a call half way to my destination from my bank…

Not good…

Even worse, it appears there are fraudulent charges on my credit card!!! Just @$&(* lovely…

So now my card is cancelled and I’m waiting on a replacement from the bank to be FEDEX’ed to my hotel… Hmmm, I’ve got a buck forty, guess I’m eating cheep tonight…

Folks, whether you travel a lot or not, I’d STRONGLY recommend you have your credit cards and bank cards put on fraud alert/watch! This is the second time in two years this has happened to me, once overseas and once here in the States. Is it a PITA when you want to make a large purchase? Yes… Is it worth it if your card gets frauded? Hell YES!!!

I will not be charged for any of the false charges 🙂 OBTW, all of them were under $50 dollars, two of the three were Internet charges, and one was a bar in Nevada! Kinda hard to do, since I’m on the East Coast…

A couple of pics to brighten up the day/night/whateverthehelltimeitis…

Art Deco Claymore- An up close and personal look at the damage caused by a Claymore mine! Yep, you ALWAYS want to make sure “Front Faces Enemy”. Those 100 steel balls can do a “bit” of damage!!!

If you can read this- Friend of mine had a problem with 4 wheelers cutting his fences and riding on his pasture land illegally last year… What is not shown in the photo is the steel plate target lying on the ground 🙂 It apparently works, since he hasn’t had any more problems with 4 wheelers or snowmobiles…

Now back to your regular programming… Blogging will probably be light the rest of the week…

Yep, they’re ALL nuts…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Since I was actually “home” this weekend, I took Ambulance Driver up on his invite to drive up to Baltimore and meet he and a few more folks at the EMS get together up there. Of course when I get there, I get introduced as the old fossil to another old fossil… sigh… Lou runs the EMS Museum and publishes books for EMS training and others, in addition to being one of the original medics at Baltimore Shock Trauma. We get to talking and find out we know people in common from 30 years ago! I finally got to meet Eipjunky, TOTWTYTR, and Medic 3 who were also there. Mad Dog had set up a meet at the Nest (across the street from the Conference Center) so we decamped to there and the beer and stories began…

And yes, medic humor is almost as bad as military humor, with more specifics… which I will NOT go into since my kids occasionally read this blog… Others showed up including Sam from On the Clock, and some whom I didn’t get a handle/blog/name for, but all were in the EMT/Paramedic field.

And like most blog meets, there were three, four, maybe five simultaneous conversations going on, running the gamut from lines from poems, to movies, to guns, to shooting, to getting shot, to places, to bar fights, to the proverbial runs from hell, to beer, food, and damn near everything in between! In other words a GOOD time!

Once again I am amazed at the quality of folks who are the other thin blue line that keep our asses alive and get us to the hospital in emergencies! While they may grouse, bitch and moan, and work for peanuts; they are also putting their respective asses on the line for us every day, on every call 24/7/365. For that I thank you!!!

Now some of y’alls OTHER interests… well… 🙂 Pink dresses???