Okay. I am tired of the Gun Fuds. All of them. Always screaming about ‘The Gubmint coming to take muh Gunz, oh, dur, hur…” Sick of them. All of them. Especially the writers of gun mags and gun articles and gun blogz. Totally sick of them. Done with the whole lot of stupid, inbred, incompetent idiots.
Why?
Well, in the Bill of Rights, we have the 2nd Amendment, which says,
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Further analysis of 18th Century writing style shows that the primary statement is, “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Which the gun fuds all think is about, well, guns.
NO.
NO IT IS NOT.
CAN’T YOU (bleeping) READ? OR COMPREHEND?
Apparently not!!!!
So where am I going with this?
Well, a couple days ago… in the comments to this blog post: http://oldafsarge.blogspot.com/2019/09/guest-post-john-in-philly.html#comment-form , one comment peeved me off. Royally. Heavily.
RHT447September 20, 2019 at 7:47 AM Slippery slope indeed. For some years now in Kalifornia, a misdemeanor conviction denies you your constitutional right. Scroll to page 2--
https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/firearms/pdf/cfl2016.pdf
Now we have this--
https://www.newsweek.com/gun-control-hate-crimes-house-bill-1458826
Stay frosty. If anybody here needs technical advise on the AR platform, I'm available.
Are we being monitored? Ya think? I like the story G. Gordon Liddy told about back in the days of dial telephone. When they heard the "click" of the wiretap, they would yell into the phone "EFF J. EDGAR!". Works for me.
Reply
Replies
OldAFSargeSeptember 20, 2019 at 9:02 AM I will state it again: all gun laws are, by their very nature, unconstitutional. I say again, ALL GUN LAWS. (no, OAFS, I am not picking on you, just... well... It really wasn't you. It was reading this comment after all the other stupid GUNFUD stuff I have been reading about for the last couple of weeks and I love you like a brother but your comment was just the last straw on an already broken back and I am so sorry I am using you as an example but please don't be angry with me but...)
And now you know maybe what I am peeved about.
ARMS. All Arms. As in:
Arms /ärmz/ noun plural noun: arms
1. 1. weapons and ammunition; armaments.
Similar: weapons (of war) weaponry firearms guns ordnance
I know, you’re saying, “So? What’s the big deal?”
Well, yeah. That’s it. That’s it right there. Arms are, well, arms. Things that one uses in a way to, well enhance one’s arm or foot in causing damage to things or creatures.
Like, well, David’s SLING re: Combat Between David and Goliath (Goliath being the armed representative of an overbearing government.)
Or, well, Robert de Bruce’s SWORD re: Robert vs English Armies (English armies being the armed representative of an overbearing government.)
Or, well, William Tell’s CROSSBOW and Bolts/Quarrels re: William vs German Conquerors (German Conquerors being the armed representatives of an overbearing government.)
Or, well, getting the picture?
Back in the early days, arms meant sticks, rocks, stuff like that.
Then the world got technologically better and we get sharpened sticks, knapped rock or glass (obsidian) spear and arrow and atlatl points, stick and rock maces, hatchets and axes and other ‘advanced weaponry.’
Then, the wonders of metallurgy come about, and we get metal versions of the previous stuff, and new things, being copper, bronze, iron then steel versions of daggers and swords and maces and spears and bows and crossbows and ballistae and onagers and trebuchets and warships armed with rams and chariots and lances and pikes and all sorts of stuffs.
Then gunpowder was invented in China (well, they say it was invented there, they say everything was invented there…) and then Europe made it useful and we get guns and cannon and petards and mortars and flying witches in mortars (if you’re Russian, and she’s flying around in the food-processor type of mortar, not the gunpowder type of mortar) and grenades and aerial bombs and rockets and all sorts of stuff like that, including zip guns and stuff. And then some smart Frenchmen (they had them before they lopped off everyone’s head) invented the first practical air rifle, and there you go, first instance of “Tu vas mettre ton oeil avec ça, gamin!”
Meanwhile, civilians get access to all sorts of mil-tech, like swords, axes, cannon, muskets, organ guns, mortars (not the flying ones, the other ones) and such because, well, pirates and oppressive governments and rascally natives and rascally neighbors and just rascally rascals everywhere. Pretty much the same thing as the military of whatever country one supposedly belongs to is using. And also a lot of stuff that’s better than mil-tech, like rifled muskets and stuff like that.
Industry gets industrial, and we get steam powered stuff like locomotives and ships and carriages and tractors and all sorts of stuff, which the military starts using usually after some civilian decides to make an uparmed and uparmored version FIRST, no, seriously, artillery tractors by the French invented by civilians and that type of stuff.
The age of flight appears, first in gasbags of one form or another then by powered gasbags of one form or another then by planes (thanks to two bicycle makers from Ohio) and then autogyros (vs auto-gyros, a self-eating sandwich with tadziki sauce) and helicopters and rockets and missiles and orbital death platforms (thanks, USSR, for weaponizing Space, you dirty commie bastiges!!!! No. Really. An early version of a Soviet orbital platform had a gun, which they shot, mounted on it. Against all treaties. Wow, who would have thunk that the USSR would cheat on a treaty, amiright? Shocking! Not!)
And chemicals were used by civilians against others, then by the military against everyone, and that turned out real well, so they were banned by everyone civilized, which is why terrorists and Iraq and the Soviets created and kept huge stockpiles of them even after we got rid of them (in the late 1990s…) and bio weapons have been used since time immemorial in the form of tuna casserole or dead bodies or plague blankets or stuff like that (See movie “Flesh and Blood” for a good representation, and Rutger Hauer.) Long before the modern militaries got their hands on Small Pox and Anthrax (the powder, not the band) and other wonderful deadly things like Ricin and such and before we all got very smart and got rid of all the stockpiles of Small Pox and Anthrax and other biologicals (well, except for those blown up in that Russian lab last week, geeze, what is it with Russians and lying about getting rid of stuff, amiright?)
And ships and boats starting with the first logs all the way up to nuclear powered subs and flying subs (well, at least on TV) and all sorts of stuff.
All of those are Arms. Weapons and weapon systems.
Including brass knuckles. And switchblade knives. And, well, weapons and arms and weapon systems and armaments and ordnances and all that.
So, now, we have a country – The United States of America – and quite a few states within that country – like Florida – who have as part of their premiere laws – like the Bill of Rights (for the USA) as enshrined in the 2nd Amendment (see above, oh, heck, here it again) “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” The Right (granted by our creator, GOD) of the people to keep and bear (carry, wear, strap on, stand on, swing from, handle, fold, spindle, mutilate) Arms (weapons, weapon systems, armaments, weapons platforms of varying types and degrees) shall not be infringed (DO NOT EVER ATTEMPT TO STOP SOMEONE FROM OWNING OR HOLDING OR FONDLING OR CARRYING said Arms(et al.))
Got that. If’n it’s an Arms, we here in the US of A should be able to own and have it.
Knife? Yep.
Brass Knuckles? Yep.
Pistol, wheellock, flintlock, caplock single shot, caplock revolver, caplock revolver with a center mounted shotgun barrel, modern revolver, modern semi-auto, modern gyrojet, gauss pistol, et al? Yep.
Shotgun, (see above for variants possible)? Yep.
Shoulder arms (see above…) Yep.
Phase Plasma Rifle in a 40watt range? Yep.
Fully automatic weapons? Yep.
Cannon, old old style? Yep.
Cannon, old style? Yep.
Cannon, modern? Yep.
Cannon, rail gun? Yep.
Cannon, particle or meson accelerator? Yep.
Fokker DVII with working machineguns? Yep.
P-47D with 8 fully functioning Browning M2 machine guns and a wingload of ordnance? Yep.
F-84G with God’s Lightbulb in junior form hanging underneath? Yep…. As long as GLiJF is maintained properly following all state and national regulations as to storing nuclear material, but, really, if you can afford it and want it and maintain it and store it safely (not in your bathroom in an apartment building, geeze… do you trust your plumber? Well, do you, punk?)
F-4 Phantom fully loaded? Yep. Same with F-105s if the friggin Congress hadn’t ordered the engines destroyed… bastiges)
A nice Gearing class destroyer, fully loaded? Yep.
Heck, a German class XXI submarine, fully loaded? Yep.
M3 light tank fully loaded? Yep.
M3 Medium tank, fully loaded? Yep, even better if haunted by Bogie’s ghost!
M1 Abrams, fully loaded? Yep.
Paladin gun system? Yep.
V2 with warhead? Yep.
Me163? Yep. Just… you better be storing your T-Stoff and C-Stoff correctly, like, better than the EPA (hwack-ptoie) would store them.
Get the idea? If’n you can potentially use it offensively or defensively, you can have it, according to the Mighty 2A (some assembly required, some items may be subject to a storage fee or storage requirements, may require maintenance…)
Seriously. Arms. What you use to whack-bonk your enemy. From close up to, well…
Nowhere does it say you have to use or store or carry said weapons of whack-bonkiness in a responsible manner. Why? Because the founding fathers didn’t think we’d be raising a bunch of brain-dead idiots, that’s why.
And, really, if there were no restrictions on the 2A by any local, state or federal agency, a lot of the bullscat done by brain-dead idiots would have been self-corrected or forcibly corrected by others by now.
So, well, juvat should, if he has enough money, and the space, be able to go out to the boneyard and snag an early model F-15 off the government auction lot.
Which, actually, he can. But… Because our federal government is scared of us, the citizens of these United States of America, Congress has passed laws saying that all military equipment will be de-milled, which means, cut up, chopped up, all neat stuff like engines and guns removed, and mangled and destroyed. 16” rifle barrels for an Iowa? You can buy them, if you cut them up into mangled portions that can’t be reassembled. B-52? Yep, cut into mangled chucks by the world’s largest guillotine. Tanks or APCs? Yep, chopped up into little chunks. Machine guns? Plasma cut into little bits, and, if not already listed as a machine gun prior to 19whatever with the ATF, then you can’t giggle-switch it even if you manage to reassemble it. (which, well, is patently illegal according to the 2nd Amendment of the Bill of Rights.)
And, well, let’s get into all the gun control acts that have been passed, illegally, by the Federal government. Lawdog, a wonderful LEO blogger from Texas who, like Peter Grant or Kim du Toit, hails originally from Africa (does that make him African-American? One wonders, because one is a jerk…) first stated the obvious and then it was done in a comic form and here’s the link to both:
http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2017/10/gun-rights-cake-analogy.html
Basically, Screw all Gun Control, it’s wrong, it’s illegal, and we want our rights back, you Anal circular-muscles, you.
What is it about the 2A that people in Government can’t understand. It was intended to Protect US against an evil, oppressive government that would enact laws like, oh, mass sterilization of undesirables or forced internments of ethnic populations or forced massacres of ethnic populations or forced removal of grazing rights so the Senator from Arizona can sell the land to foreign buyers or or or or or…
Wait? You think I was talking about maybe the USSR or Red China or the Ottoman Empire or the NAZIs? Noooo. More like the treatment of American Indians by the Federal and State governments, Treatment of Blacks and other ethnics by Woodrow Wilson’s administration, or German-Americans during WWI and WWII or Italian Americans during WWII or Japanese Americans during WWII or the Bundy’s or Waco or Ruby Ridge or…
So what is so scary about us citizens that our ‘elected betters’ who are protected by all the above weapons and weapon systems don’t want us to have?
Funny that.
Our Elected Officials. Most of them are self-serving jerks who would be better dangling off the upper levels of the Capital building, along with a whole host of bureaucrats and other thieving evil government workers.
They forget that they are supposed to serve us, the people. They only think that they are better than us, and treat us as royalty has always treated the peasants and subjects of kingdoms and countries where royalty rule.
But that’s just it. We aren’t subjects. We don’t have a ruling class. We are CITIZENS. We are mostly all equal (varying differences due to criminal records and such) WE are the Rulers of this country. It’s just that we are all too busy doing stuff that we elect representatives to do the crap-work and to follow our instruction and do the stupid stuff that keeps this country going.
So… They (our elected officials and the faceless bureaucrats that control them (ooops, did I say that?) who are supposed to serve us are scared of us and pass laws and regulations to keep us from getting our hands on anything more deadly than a kitchen knife just in case we the people get so tired of the situation that we take armed means to stop the thieving bastiges…
So. Well, I hope you understand what I just tried to say. Hopefully.
I want my rights back. All of them. And I stand for my God-given right to Keep and Bear ARMS!
And I know, what about using stuff in a bad way?
Well, there's a host of laws against assault, battery, murder, killing, torturing, mutilating, defenestrating, etc.
None of them I have or will (hopefully) ever do, because, well, they're WRONG and ILLEGAL in God's Eyes and in the People's Eyes. Not the Politicians' or faceless bureaucrats' eyes, the People and God, you Feckless BASTIGES!
If someone uses their Sherman to blow their neighbor away, they'd better have a darned good reason, like the neighbor was using his Flak 36 to shoot the 1st neighbor's cows or something.
So, once again, I want my God-given right to own and coon-finger any arms I can afford to own. From swords to maces to M3 grease guns. Any. Because it is my right as an American Citizen.
(And, hah, was cruising over at Angus McThag's place after penning this missive and he had much the same to say, though his was aimed at the gunfuds who are wanting gun people to stop pushing the envelope and freaking the mundanes even though it's legal to do what the gun people are doing. I'd say 'Right ON, McThag, but he's got his comments turned off, so he's really pissed right now. So, well, Angus, if you're reading this, I support 100% what you said and I am tired of all the gunfuds out there, too.)
The musings & rants of 3 retired military (2 USAF, 1 USN), 1 former WSO, and 1 AF brat. Old AF Sarge, Juvat, Tuna, LUSH, and Beans.
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Saturday, September 21, 2019
War Paint
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| The Battle of Zorndorf Wojciech Kossak Charge of the Prussian Cuirassiers led by Seydlitz at the Battle of Zorndorf 25th August 1758 |
Thought I'd share some paintings I like.
Back later.
Maybe. I might need to take that sabbatical after all...
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| The Battle of Valmy Horace Vernet Won by General Kellermann over Prussian and Brunswick troops in 1792. |
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| Le Rêve Édouard Detaille Soldiers of the French Third Republic dream of the glory of their predecessors. |
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| The Battle of Bunker Hill Howard Pyle |
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| Washington Crossing the Delaware Emanuel Leutze |
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| Surrender of Lord Cornwallis John Trumbull |
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| Battle of Gettysburg Thure de Thulstrup |
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| Battles of Jena and Auerstädt 14 Oct 1806 Édouard Detaille |
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| Haut les têtes, la mitraille c'est pas de la merde! Louis Lepic and the Grenadiers à Cheval at Preussisch-Eylau, 1807 |
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| Napoleon's return from the Island of Elba, March 7th 1815 Charles de Steuben (Source) |
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| 1807, Friedland Ernest Meissonier |
Friday, September 20, 2019
Guest Post - John in Philly
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| We're here for your bang sticks... (Source) |
All kidding aside, I have been busy, busy, busy doing stuff, mostly work and health related (the latter to include eating, sleeping, and putting in the effort to exercise at least 3 to 4 times a week, which is ∞ times more than I have exercised in several years, if not demi-decades).
I did, briefly, consider quitting the blogging thing for a time, a sabbatical of sorts, but that thought is anathema to me. I mean, I love you guys, in a manly, non-confrontational, brotherly way. Stop looking at me like that...
Anyhoo, Occasional Reader* John in Philly sent me an interesting email t'other day which I decided, con permiso, to share with you. It's what I do, I share. Stuff in italics is from moi, Your Humble Scribe. Without further ado, John in Philly...
Cedar Sanderson.
A few years ago my wife and I had dinner with Cedar and her husband Sanford when we were visiting the Museum of The Air Force. A year or so before our trip, she had blogged about aircraft nose art and she mentioned how much she enjoyed her trip to the MoTAF. I asked her for advice on how much time to allow, and she graciously answered. Then she astonished me by saying that when we were in the area, we should meet them somewhere for dinner. It was a wonderful and memorable dinner, they are great people. I checked on her blog today to find she'd written some thoughts on the upcoming bad times. (Here.)
I decided some years ago that humans fall into two broad types. First, those who practice Live and Let Live. I've found that those people don't really care what you do, as long as you don't hurt others. The second group insists on controlling every part of another person's life.
Painting with broad strokes? Admittedly yes. And I've found out that the touchstone for figuring out which group people are in is to mention guns.
I believe that Beto told the simple truth of what the anti-gun movement has wanted all along.
I know that The Hunt for Red October is a novel, but Fred Dalton Thompson's statement when he was looking over the flight deck is applicable to today in many ways. Admiral Josh Painter : "This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it."
From Selco at The Organic Prepper.
"In my case, it did not start with war. It started months before. It started when authorities took legally owned guns from normal folks, all in the name of law and order and keeping the peace. And everybody agreed with it because it was the law. And people who did not agree with it were portrayed as troublemakers, warmongers, terrorists… And every single weapon was tracked down and registered in local police stations. It was the law."
And if you are positive that the Constitution protects your rights, place yourself in the position of an American citizen with Japanese ancestry in 1944 as you stand inside a detention camp and stare out through the barbed wire. The Supreme Court said that doing that was Constitutional. (Here.)
Reason TV has a short video that answers the how to ban guns question and it's a couple of minutes that is well worth your time. It is called, How to Create a Gun-Free America in 5 Easy Steps.
I think that Red Flag Laws are the beginning of a very slippery slope, and once started downward they will be no turning back.
I am worried and deeply concerned.
You and me both brother, you and me both.
I don't know if things will get worse before they get better or if they will simply go straight to shit (PMF**) and stay there for a very long time. I'm sure the Russians thought they were getting a great deal when they dumped the Tsar. Seventy-four years later they dumped the Commies and they're still trying to sort things out over there.
Will I stay bitchy and whiny for a while longer? Hell, I hope not.
Stay tuned.
Oh yeah, thanks John, good email, made me think. Now my head hurts...
Will I stay bitchy and whiny for a while longer? Hell, I hope not.
Stay tuned.
Oh yeah, thanks John, good email, made me think. Now my head hurts...
* A Lexism, more here.
** PMF = Pardon my French
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Return to Chernoybl – or why Beans has been missing except for comments.
And now for something Completely Different...
This summer was weird. Spring was dry and cooly summerish, while Summer was a wet, fetid hell. Mold and mildew everywhere, strange Lovecraftian sounds and vague glances of new horrors that… no, it’s a rooster, hello Mr. Rooster…
With the molds and mildews came the worse case of combined low-grade sinus infections and upper respiratory maladies that just made it miserable to try to breath indoors, let alone outside in the Mugginess…
So that, along with some other issues with the better half of my life, sucked all fun and energy out of the summer.
Then, came…
Day 1. (calendar date 08/23/19) Must keep journal. United Healthcare (it’s a lie, it’s not healthcare…) broke in and this tech looking vaguely Jeffish Goldbloomy tossed me into some strange portable reactor and said, “You’re costing us too much money, kid, so suck it!” A loud bang, much flashing of strange lights piercing my skin to my very core, the tech deposited my maligned body back into my bed. All seems normal except for the creepy crackling under my skin, as if small insects or cracks in my skull were occurring.
Day 2. (calendar date 08/24/19) No more visits from UH goons, looking like Jeff Goldblum or not. Thankfully. Right forehead still crackly, like the feeling of a deep bruise breaking up and sending daggers of clots into the blood stream, or like the way the forehead felt when Dr. Zorro hacked out a cancer clump (benign, thankfully, and it wasn’t his brother Dr. Drunken Zorro, so the scars are minimal and nice looking.)
Day 3. (calendar date 08/25/19) Subtle concerns as to what may have happened to my right forehead. Warmer to touch, not swollen, but not painful, much. Definitely wondering if cancer has returned. Must watch for further signs. Getting an urge to eat liquid food. Curious.
Day 4. (calendar date 08/26/19) My hair on the top of my head hurts. Little needles spiking into my skin. Hmmm. (takes shower, hits area with hot water and soap) Sensation of pain has lessened. Scrubbed all oils off, felt like beginnings of poison ivy or other biological reaction. Increase Benadryl intake, monitor. Forehead still crackling in pain, reaction noted previously (years ago) either connected to cancer (please, no) or reaction to waxy green plants… Must continue to monitor.
Day 5 (calendar date 08/28/19) right side of face above eye swelling, red, definitely looks like poison ivy, as weepy lesions are appearing. Pain. Oh, the pain… Swelling bad. Right eye problems seeing. Pain. Right Eyebrow definitely growing all Cro-Magnon. Face looking bad, real bad. Not feeling good at all. Feel like I’m in a transitional state to something… PAIN!!!! ADVIL NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!!! PAIN!!!!!!!!
Day 6 (calendar date 08/29/19) Bzzt, bzzzztttt! Bzt. Bzzzt, bzzzttttbzzztttt. BZZZZZTTTTT! BZTTTTTTTTT!!!! (Mrs. Andrew, “Let me look at you! Now!”) BBBZZZTTTTT!!! BZZTTTZTTZTTT!! (“Get over here and let me look at you or I’ll…) (Beans-brain, must reassert itself!)(Brundle-Beans – BRZTTT!!ZZT!BRRZZZTTTTT!) (Mrs. Andrew, “Calling Doctor B., NOW! (phone conversation) You’re going to the Doctor at 2:30pm today or ELSE) Beans-brain and Brundle-Beans – “Yes, ma’am.” (Have I ever said how much I really love my wife? Well, lots. Like supertanker much in a 5 gallon gas can world. Or even more…)
So me and Brundle-me go to the doc. I’m still thinking it is a bad poison something (oak, ivy, some other waxy green thingy (I am allergic to waxy green thingies)) or to the flea goop I gooped the dog with. Get to the docs, with hat on and sunglasses as my face is even more atrocious looking than ever, get checked in, get taken back by the Doc’s Nurse, who asks me why I’m there, so I take off my hat and glasses and say to her “I am not an animal, I am a human being.” And she says, “That’s the worse case of…. I’ve ever seen…”
So she calls another nurse over, who immediately says, “That’s the worse case of…. I’ve ever seen…”
Trundled off to Exam Room #7, the Beans Suite, which seems small without Mrs. Andrew, Lurch (her power chair, which lurches at high speed, thus “Lurch”) or Dog Kegan also there, like in normal times. And I wait, and I can actually feel my teeth moving from the swelling (a normal occurrence with me, due to lots of sinus swelling, which cause the upper teeth to shift around, weird, painful, but totally ‘normal’ to me.) And pain. Lots of pain.
Doc B. finally walks in, and I say, “I think I overdid my makeup for my part in ‘Return to Chernobyl,” at the same time he shouts, “That’s the worse case of Shingles I’ve ever seen!” Followed up by the wonderful question of, “Does it hurt a lot?”
My answer was, “It hurts so much I’d rather have a camera shoved up Mr. Happy (which I have had, very painful, pretty much the most painful thing that’s ever happened to me, until…) so what do you think?”
Dr. B. laughs (we have that kind of doctor-patient relationship, and, yes, on seeing a bad bruise from fighting, he has stuck his finger in it and said “Does that Hurt?” Yeah, he’d fit in here on the Chant quite well, would Dr. B.) and says, (yes, he actually said this) “My friend, this is going to suck. But you’ll be okay, for values of okay, as long as you don’t get any direct involvement in your right eye or right ear.”
By this time, the eyelids have swollen until the eye isn’t seeing anything, so he does a visual acuity check with me forcing the eyelids open. Whew, I can still see. And he gives me a hearing check, which matches the last crappy hearing test I had (yeah, my hearing sucks, not from blowing stuff up but more due to bad genetics and really powerful meds as a kid. Tinnitus has been my life-long friend. Yay, me.)
Prognosis, as long as it doesn’t actually affect the eye, go home, take serious drugs. If eye gets funky (actual words) go to the University Emergency Room as they have an on-staff eye doc. Take Valacyclovir and Gabapentin, keep taking Advil and Benadryl, sucks you can’t take opiates (yeah, I’m one of those, can’t do opiates, most anesthetics are very bad for me.) Call if you get significantly worse…
On the way out, get informed by counter people that my medical insurance has been cancelled. WTFudge?
Drive home, in pain, in dark mood, totally pissed at the world.
Get home, inform Mrs. Andrew and Kegan what’s up, call the insurance company that’s recommended by AARP (previously named at top of post, so make your assumptions) and begin conversation with the phone people who only can operate off scripts and show no independent thought and find out that my insurance was cancelled. Not why it was cancelled, but that it was cancelled. So, after a very Anglo-Saxonish tirade on my part, the dweeb on the line realized he was out of his depth, and switched me to someone who could actually maybe answer my question as to why, if they are taking out money for my insurance, why my insurance is cancelled.
Nice lady finally says… “Well, you never answered our letters as to your current residence, so we cancelled you.”
“What residence did you send the letters to?”
“We sent the letters to X address (the address I had for 1 month before moving to current address, of which I informed insurance company at time of move that I had moved.)”
“What? You (tirade full of Anglo-Saxon expressions, few which were very nice) have been sending me mail to my current address since February 2016 so what is your problem? (followed by more not nice stuff…) You !!Y!Y(%(%**R))” (Mrs. Andrew snatches phone out of my hand)
Well, yeah, seems some computer glitch went ‘Glitch’ and said, Hey, Beans, you live at Y address even though we’re sending you mail at Z address and you haven’t responded to our messages sent to Y address so you’re cut off. But we can restart you on September 1st! So things are good, right?
NOOOOOOOO!!!!! MY FACE IS ON FIRE AND IS SO UGLY I WILL SCARE A LEPER! WANT MEDS NOW!!! YOU PEOPLE ARE COSTING ME PAIN NOW!!!! ARRRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
So, get signed up. For to start the following Sunday. Because they screwed up.
F’ing hate the world, I do. Far too often this CARP happens to me. Far, far too often.
Get passed by someone, I get pulled over for going 3 miles over the speed limit (happened twice! By cars that match standard parameters of DRUG COURIER VEHICLES) FML!
Working on killer project, mouse catches on fire and have no backup mouse (I have set 10 of the old-school ball-type computer mouses on fire. Mostly just releasing the magic smoke out of them, but one actually spouted flames and melted! Why? And Why ME?)
Things like that.
Day 7 (calendar day 08/30/19) Pain, fever, the shakes, feel like warmed over dog poo, or any Hormel food product. Grump, must hold out till Sunday, Sept. 1st. Because I’m a cheap bastige, yes I am. Day goes horribly. Dog Kegan headbutts me on the right side of face, I don’t hit him, or punch a hole in the wall, or turn into a giant green dude from anger or pain or both, but… must… control… fists… of… DOOM!!! I go hide in bathroom and cry from pain. I take more Advil, bum a Gabapentin from wife and cut it to roughly right amounts of prescribed material, take G. Hide from world. World SUCKS!!!!
Day 8 (calendar day 08/31/19) Wake up. Right eye has disappeared, replaced by huge swelling. Clean goop out of eye, eye still works… barely. Pain is PAIN. PAIN HURTS. PAIN SO BAD SCREW BEING CHEAP BASTIGE, DRIVE TO PUBLIX, GET DRUGS YOU CHEAP BASTIGE. So I get drugs, get some food down, get drugs down, pass out as sleeping is only way to ignore pain, pain keeps me from sleeping, hate the world, good thing I already had chili frozen, fix chili, can’t eat much, go to bed.
Day 9 (calendar day 9-1-19) Who-the-friggin-hooo, first day back on insurance YOU BASTIGES!!!! (no, I don’t hold grudges (he says while wiring the building with explosives and gasoline.)) Pain really bad, forehead on right side of face, well, actually, head on right side from just below eye over top to back of head even with just below eye level, is swollen and has lumpy pussy bloody lesions appearing all over. Did I mention PAIN? Well. PAIN!
Day 10-current time. Every day, less overall pain. Red is slowly disappearing, as is swelling. Right eye functions better each day as huge amounts of goop come out of eyehole, every day, swab out huge amounts of just goop. Yay. Goop. Lesions drying up, skin on fire. Deep nerve pain appearing. Weeeee.
So now I have a mostly normal looking face, though you can still see a dividing line center of forehead going up from nose, left side perfectly normal, right side still somewhat swollen, barely, and still somewhat red, barely.
But. Pain in eye socket as nerves in skin around eye fire off. Think nail under skin (yes, I’ve nailed myself, it hurts.) Random feelings of hot bacon grease splashing skin (yes, been splashed with hot bacon grease, thanks older brothers…) Random feeling of being hit in unprotected head by hickory stick (Yes…)
Wait? Whut? Hickory stick to Head? Oh, we’ve got to hear this…
Okay, so when doing sword practice, you don’t actually use a real sword, for the most part. And you don’t actually hit real people, until you know how to use a sword. So, in the SCA, we use pell sticks instead of real swords (which we don’t use, we use rattan) and they’re usually hickory axe and hammer handles (because you don’t want to pulp your good rattan, do you?) And we use, instead of a wooden pell (a pell is a sword target thingy. Think Bayonet Practice. That hanging dummy? That’s a pell, sort of.) Being SCAdian, we tend to make pells out of tires, no, seriously, old tires, either nailed to a post in the yard (or on a moveable base made out of a tire filled with cement with which the post is inserted into) or a hanging pell (somewhat bodyish shape made by tires tied together hanging from a tree.)
One takes the pell stick, approaches the pell, and practices one’s shots. Forehand shots, backhand shots, this shot, that shot, hammer shot. Ah, the Hammer Shot. Imagine you have a hammer in your hand. And there’s a nail sticking out of the center of the enemy’s helm (in this case, since it’s a pell, it’s a rubber tire masquerading as a helm. So you swing your hammer-shot from in front of your face into the center of Mr. Pell. Which is a rubber car tire. Which rebounds your pell stick back at you. Into your face, if you’re not careful. Which everyone I know has whacked themselves with a pell stick from such a rebound from a hammer shot. Weeeee! Who knew medieval fighting could be so much fun. And, so, yessssss, I do know what it feels like to get whacked in the face by a wooden stick, hard. (I may throw a not-fast shot, but no-one has ever accused me of throwing a light shot. Usually quite the opposite, if I may say so myself (well, as my Knight has told me many times, “If you don’t win, but three days later they’re still rubbing their bruises and complaining about you, you’ve actually made an impression on them… (Bdum-ching….))
Prognosis: Pain will eventually go away, but may take up to a year or more… Shingles doesn’t come back, usually, but chance of reoccurrence of shingles is increased if one has had multiple cases of Chicken Pox. Well… Damn. Had Chicken Pox, Twice! Beans can’t be normal, can he? Swelling will slowly go away, up to 5-6 weeks. Eye should return to 100% pre-Shingles, once all the lesions inside the eyelids heal, and the eye quits snotting and gooping huge amounts of stuff.
Recommendations: If you have had Chicken Pox, and you haven’t had Shingles yet, and you can afford it, GET THE VACCINE!
Don’t be Beans. Don’t think, “Nahhhh, I’ll never get shingles, I can save the money…”
And that’s what I’ve been doing this summer. Any reason why I’ve been in a fouler mood than normal? Nahhhh....
This summer was weird. Spring was dry and cooly summerish, while Summer was a wet, fetid hell. Mold and mildew everywhere, strange Lovecraftian sounds and vague glances of new horrors that… no, it’s a rooster, hello Mr. Rooster…
With the molds and mildews came the worse case of combined low-grade sinus infections and upper respiratory maladies that just made it miserable to try to breath indoors, let alone outside in the Mugginess…
So that, along with some other issues with the better half of my life, sucked all fun and energy out of the summer.
Then, came…
Day 1. (calendar date 08/23/19) Must keep journal. United Healthcare (it’s a lie, it’s not healthcare…) broke in and this tech looking vaguely Jeffish Goldbloomy tossed me into some strange portable reactor and said, “You’re costing us too much money, kid, so suck it!” A loud bang, much flashing of strange lights piercing my skin to my very core, the tech deposited my maligned body back into my bed. All seems normal except for the creepy crackling under my skin, as if small insects or cracks in my skull were occurring.
What the UH Guy looked like before he tossed me into the portable reactor.
(no, actually from "The Fly")
(no, actually from "The Fly")
Day 2. (calendar date 08/24/19) No more visits from UH goons, looking like Jeff Goldblum or not. Thankfully. Right forehead still crackly, like the feeling of a deep bruise breaking up and sending daggers of clots into the blood stream, or like the way the forehead felt when Dr. Zorro hacked out a cancer clump (benign, thankfully, and it wasn’t his brother Dr. Drunken Zorro, so the scars are minimal and nice looking.)
Day 3. (calendar date 08/25/19) Subtle concerns as to what may have happened to my right forehead. Warmer to touch, not swollen, but not painful, much. Definitely wondering if cancer has returned. Must watch for further signs. Getting an urge to eat liquid food. Curious.
Day 4. (calendar date 08/26/19) My hair on the top of my head hurts. Little needles spiking into my skin. Hmmm. (takes shower, hits area with hot water and soap) Sensation of pain has lessened. Scrubbed all oils off, felt like beginnings of poison ivy or other biological reaction. Increase Benadryl intake, monitor. Forehead still crackling in pain, reaction noted previously (years ago) either connected to cancer (please, no) or reaction to waxy green plants… Must continue to monitor.
Day 5 (calendar date 08/28/19) right side of face above eye swelling, red, definitely looks like poison ivy, as weepy lesions are appearing. Pain. Oh, the pain… Swelling bad. Right eye problems seeing. Pain. Right Eyebrow definitely growing all Cro-Magnon. Face looking bad, real bad. Not feeling good at all. Feel like I’m in a transitional state to something… PAIN!!!! ADVIL NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!!! PAIN!!!!!!!!
Artist's rendition of Bean's whole face if Bean's whole face was affected
(from the movie "The Fly")
(from the movie "The Fly")
Day 6 (calendar date 08/29/19) Bzzt, bzzzztttt! Bzt. Bzzzt, bzzzttttbzzztttt. BZZZZZTTTTT! BZTTTTTTTTT!!!! (Mrs. Andrew, “Let me look at you! Now!”) BBBZZZTTTTT!!! BZZTTTZTTZTTT!! (“Get over here and let me look at you or I’ll…) (Beans-brain, must reassert itself!)(Brundle-Beans – BRZTTT!!ZZT!BRRZZZTTTTT!) (Mrs. Andrew, “Calling Doctor B., NOW! (phone conversation) You’re going to the Doctor at 2:30pm today or ELSE) Beans-brain and Brundle-Beans – “Yes, ma’am.” (Have I ever said how much I really love my wife? Well, lots. Like supertanker much in a 5 gallon gas can world. Or even more…)
Artist's rendition of what Beans would look like if his whole face looked like the right upper quadrant of his face...
(yes, from "The Fly", duh)
(yes, from "The Fly", duh)
So me and Brundle-me go to the doc. I’m still thinking it is a bad poison something (oak, ivy, some other waxy green thingy (I am allergic to waxy green thingies)) or to the flea goop I gooped the dog with. Get to the docs, with hat on and sunglasses as my face is even more atrocious looking than ever, get checked in, get taken back by the Doc’s Nurse, who asks me why I’m there, so I take off my hat and glasses and say to her “I am not an animal, I am a human being.” And she says, “That’s the worse case of…. I’ve ever seen…”
So she calls another nurse over, who immediately says, “That’s the worse case of…. I’ve ever seen…”
Trundled off to Exam Room #7, the Beans Suite, which seems small without Mrs. Andrew, Lurch (her power chair, which lurches at high speed, thus “Lurch”) or Dog Kegan also there, like in normal times. And I wait, and I can actually feel my teeth moving from the swelling (a normal occurrence with me, due to lots of sinus swelling, which cause the upper teeth to shift around, weird, painful, but totally ‘normal’ to me.) And pain. Lots of pain.
Doc B. finally walks in, and I say, “I think I overdid my makeup for my part in ‘Return to Chernobyl,” at the same time he shouts, “That’s the worse case of Shingles I’ve ever seen!” Followed up by the wonderful question of, “Does it hurt a lot?”
My answer was, “It hurts so much I’d rather have a camera shoved up Mr. Happy (which I have had, very painful, pretty much the most painful thing that’s ever happened to me, until…) so what do you think?”
Dr. B. laughs (we have that kind of doctor-patient relationship, and, yes, on seeing a bad bruise from fighting, he has stuck his finger in it and said “Does that Hurt?” Yeah, he’d fit in here on the Chant quite well, would Dr. B.) and says, (yes, he actually said this) “My friend, this is going to suck. But you’ll be okay, for values of okay, as long as you don’t get any direct involvement in your right eye or right ear.”
By this time, the eyelids have swollen until the eye isn’t seeing anything, so he does a visual acuity check with me forcing the eyelids open. Whew, I can still see. And he gives me a hearing check, which matches the last crappy hearing test I had (yeah, my hearing sucks, not from blowing stuff up but more due to bad genetics and really powerful meds as a kid. Tinnitus has been my life-long friend. Yay, me.)
Prognosis, as long as it doesn’t actually affect the eye, go home, take serious drugs. If eye gets funky (actual words) go to the University Emergency Room as they have an on-staff eye doc. Take Valacyclovir and Gabapentin, keep taking Advil and Benadryl, sucks you can’t take opiates (yeah, I’m one of those, can’t do opiates, most anesthetics are very bad for me.) Call if you get significantly worse…
On the way out, get informed by counter people that my medical insurance has been cancelled. WTFudge?
Drive home, in pain, in dark mood, totally pissed at the world.
Get home, inform Mrs. Andrew and Kegan what’s up, call the insurance company that’s recommended by AARP (previously named at top of post, so make your assumptions) and begin conversation with the phone people who only can operate off scripts and show no independent thought and find out that my insurance was cancelled. Not why it was cancelled, but that it was cancelled. So, after a very Anglo-Saxonish tirade on my part, the dweeb on the line realized he was out of his depth, and switched me to someone who could actually maybe answer my question as to why, if they are taking out money for my insurance, why my insurance is cancelled.
Nice lady finally says… “Well, you never answered our letters as to your current residence, so we cancelled you.”
“What residence did you send the letters to?”
“We sent the letters to X address (the address I had for 1 month before moving to current address, of which I informed insurance company at time of move that I had moved.)”
“What? You (tirade full of Anglo-Saxon expressions, few which were very nice) have been sending me mail to my current address since February 2016 so what is your problem? (followed by more not nice stuff…) You !!Y!Y(%(%**R))” (Mrs. Andrew snatches phone out of my hand)
Well, yeah, seems some computer glitch went ‘Glitch’ and said, Hey, Beans, you live at Y address even though we’re sending you mail at Z address and you haven’t responded to our messages sent to Y address so you’re cut off. But we can restart you on September 1st! So things are good, right?
NOOOOOOOO!!!!! MY FACE IS ON FIRE AND IS SO UGLY I WILL SCARE A LEPER! WANT MEDS NOW!!! YOU PEOPLE ARE COSTING ME PAIN NOW!!!! ARRRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
So, get signed up. For to start the following Sunday. Because they screwed up.
F’ing hate the world, I do. Far too often this CARP happens to me. Far, far too often.
Get passed by someone, I get pulled over for going 3 miles over the speed limit (happened twice! By cars that match standard parameters of DRUG COURIER VEHICLES) FML!
Working on killer project, mouse catches on fire and have no backup mouse (I have set 10 of the old-school ball-type computer mouses on fire. Mostly just releasing the magic smoke out of them, but one actually spouted flames and melted! Why? And Why ME?)
Things like that.
Day 7 (calendar day 08/30/19) Pain, fever, the shakes, feel like warmed over dog poo, or any Hormel food product. Grump, must hold out till Sunday, Sept. 1st. Because I’m a cheap bastige, yes I am. Day goes horribly. Dog Kegan headbutts me on the right side of face, I don’t hit him, or punch a hole in the wall, or turn into a giant green dude from anger or pain or both, but… must… control… fists… of… DOOM!!! I go hide in bathroom and cry from pain. I take more Advil, bum a Gabapentin from wife and cut it to roughly right amounts of prescribed material, take G. Hide from world. World SUCKS!!!!
Day 8 (calendar day 08/31/19) Wake up. Right eye has disappeared, replaced by huge swelling. Clean goop out of eye, eye still works… barely. Pain is PAIN. PAIN HURTS. PAIN SO BAD SCREW BEING CHEAP BASTIGE, DRIVE TO PUBLIX, GET DRUGS YOU CHEAP BASTIGE. So I get drugs, get some food down, get drugs down, pass out as sleeping is only way to ignore pain, pain keeps me from sleeping, hate the world, good thing I already had chili frozen, fix chili, can’t eat much, go to bed.
Day 9 (calendar day 9-1-19) Who-the-friggin-hooo, first day back on insurance YOU BASTIGES!!!! (no, I don’t hold grudges (he says while wiring the building with explosives and gasoline.)) Pain really bad, forehead on right side of face, well, actually, head on right side from just below eye over top to back of head even with just below eye level, is swollen and has lumpy pussy bloody lesions appearing all over. Did I mention PAIN? Well. PAIN!
Day 10-current time. Every day, less overall pain. Red is slowly disappearing, as is swelling. Right eye functions better each day as huge amounts of goop come out of eyehole, every day, swab out huge amounts of just goop. Yay. Goop. Lesions drying up, skin on fire. Deep nerve pain appearing. Weeeee.
So now I have a mostly normal looking face, though you can still see a dividing line center of forehead going up from nose, left side perfectly normal, right side still somewhat swollen, barely, and still somewhat red, barely.
But. Pain in eye socket as nerves in skin around eye fire off. Think nail under skin (yes, I’ve nailed myself, it hurts.) Random feelings of hot bacon grease splashing skin (yes, been splashed with hot bacon grease, thanks older brothers…) Random feeling of being hit in unprotected head by hickory stick (Yes…)
Wait? Whut? Hickory stick to Head? Oh, we’ve got to hear this…
Okay, so when doing sword practice, you don’t actually use a real sword, for the most part. And you don’t actually hit real people, until you know how to use a sword. So, in the SCA, we use pell sticks instead of real swords (which we don’t use, we use rattan) and they’re usually hickory axe and hammer handles (because you don’t want to pulp your good rattan, do you?) And we use, instead of a wooden pell (a pell is a sword target thingy. Think Bayonet Practice. That hanging dummy? That’s a pell, sort of.) Being SCAdian, we tend to make pells out of tires, no, seriously, old tires, either nailed to a post in the yard (or on a moveable base made out of a tire filled with cement with which the post is inserted into) or a hanging pell (somewhat bodyish shape made by tires tied together hanging from a tree.)
One takes the pell stick, approaches the pell, and practices one’s shots. Forehand shots, backhand shots, this shot, that shot, hammer shot. Ah, the Hammer Shot. Imagine you have a hammer in your hand. And there’s a nail sticking out of the center of the enemy’s helm (in this case, since it’s a pell, it’s a rubber tire masquerading as a helm. So you swing your hammer-shot from in front of your face into the center of Mr. Pell. Which is a rubber car tire. Which rebounds your pell stick back at you. Into your face, if you’re not careful. Which everyone I know has whacked themselves with a pell stick from such a rebound from a hammer shot. Weeeee! Who knew medieval fighting could be so much fun. And, so, yessssss, I do know what it feels like to get whacked in the face by a wooden stick, hard. (I may throw a not-fast shot, but no-one has ever accused me of throwing a light shot. Usually quite the opposite, if I may say so myself (well, as my Knight has told me many times, “If you don’t win, but three days later they’re still rubbing their bruises and complaining about you, you’ve actually made an impression on them… (Bdum-ching….))
Prognosis: Pain will eventually go away, but may take up to a year or more… Shingles doesn’t come back, usually, but chance of reoccurrence of shingles is increased if one has had multiple cases of Chicken Pox. Well… Damn. Had Chicken Pox, Twice! Beans can’t be normal, can he? Swelling will slowly go away, up to 5-6 weeks. Eye should return to 100% pre-Shingles, once all the lesions inside the eyelids heal, and the eye quits snotting and gooping huge amounts of stuff.
Recommendations: If you have had Chicken Pox, and you haven’t had Shingles yet, and you can afford it, GET THE VACCINE!
Don’t be Beans. Don’t think, “Nahhhh, I’ll never get shingles, I can save the money…”
And that’s what I’ve been doing this summer. Any reason why I’ve been in a fouler mood than normal? Nahhhh....
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
WTF*
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| (Source) |
"Dumpster fire" - a metaphor for a chaotically bad situation. (Source)I'm sure that most of you have a certain mental image when you hear the term "dumpster fire," whether it involves your favorite sports team, some institute of higher learning, your place of employment, or perhaps even government at some level. (All levels?)
To my way of thinking, most of the world right now is a dumpster fire. One could argue that it always has been, at least since Adam and Eve.
A: Wow, this place is nice and she's really cute.
God: Yes, I made her just for you, this whole garden is just for you guys. Enjoy it, just don't eat from that tree in the middle of the garden. 'Kay?
A: Sure Lord, we'll give that one a pass.So of course, Satan, in the guise of a snake, convinces Eve that the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was just super good and hey, why don't you try a piece, no one will know?
We know how that worked out...
Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:22-24 (ESV)Then you get brother slaying brother, and pretty much everything becomes a raging dumpster fire. God tries to halt this with Sodom and Gomorrah, just wiping those places off the face of the Earth. But no dice, that dumpster fire just won't go out, so yeah...
God: Noah, I need you to build an ark.
Noah: What's an ark?Forty days and nights of rain, all life wiped out, except what's on the ark. (Hey, wait a minute, where did that olive leaf come from?) A massive do-over, a Mulligan on a global scale man...
Sorry, I got carried away.
Anyhoo, dumpster fires and the state of the world.
There are parts of the world where things have always kinda sucked. Big chunks of Asia, Africa, parts of Europe, parts of the Americas, and parts of Europe as well. (What about the ANZACs Sarge? I dunno, ask the aboriginals and the Maori how they feel about the Euros grabbing up all the good stuff.)
As civilization advanced, things got better, unless you were a slave/serf/peasant. So yeah, maybe not. How about Western Civilization Sarge? You know, the Age of Reason, universal suffrage, Emancipation Proclamations and all that. Well, things still sucked for a lot of folks for a lot of years, like try being black in some regions of this country 50 or 60 years ago. Try being Native American at lots of points in history, even today.
But things got better, steadily better, especially after we'd wiped out the Nazis (the real ones, not the shallow punks that parade as Nazis these days), and after the Soviets imploded. Things were looking up.
But in typical human fashion some of us had to screw it up. Yup, looking at the Clintonistas and the Great Divider and his ilk. (W revealed his true colors when Trump was elected, old fashioned party politics over what's best for the Nation. So yeah, I like the guy but thought his Presidency kinda sucked. Can you say Iraq and Afghanistan? I knew you could.)
Now we have a new crop of fanatic leftist assholes (though I repeat myself) who want to re-stoke that smoldering dumpster fire so we can all hate each other again.
Remember the Cold War (which wasn't always "cold"), you know after WWII when the Commies and their fellow travelers lined up against the Free World? Well, since 2016 we've been in what I like to call a cold civil war. Elements of the government trying to overturn a legal election, elements of the government lying to bring down a duly elected President (whether you like him or not), elements of a certain party conspiring to impeach elected officials on no evidence whatsoever.
We're at war folks, yes, a cold one but if the left loses in 2020 expect it to get hot.
Yet another dumpster fire in human history.
Well, that's fantastic.
* Well, that's fantastic. What did you think I meant? Well, yes, I did. And yes, I am awfully pissed off these days. I need to write about history or something before the left makes it illegal. We hates them Precious, yes, we does.
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Worth the Fight
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| Bringing the Heat Source |
I’m sure I’ve mentioned that my son is autistic, and raising
a special needs child had its ups and downs.
Nothing is ever easy and when it seems like you’re getting ahead,
something will undoubtedly come up to keep you humble. When it came to his education, we were often
reminded to not become complacent, but also to count our blessings. We learned that fairly early in his upbringing,
not through failure, but by realizing a success. When we moved from Bremerton Washington back
to San Diego, we put him in the neighborhood elementary school for him to
finish Kindergarten. Being autistic, we knew it would be a tough transition for him, especially since it was a mid-year school change, so he wasn’t able
to keep up. They didn’t have a special
education class though so we were advised by the wife of a former squadron-mate,
an early intervention education specialist, to ask for an aide. We did and he had a one-on-one aid for the rest
of the year which helped. A couple years
later at a better school, one with a resource teacher and special education
classes, the aide was still there. We
met the mother of another classmate who was well behind and falling further. She asked us how we got the aide and we just
said we simply asked for it. They were of
Mexican descent, there was somewhat of a language barrier, and so she had no idea
that anything like that was possible. The
school district must to provide a child with the necessary accommodations, but
we then realized that a kid would only get additional help if it was
requested, assuming the parent knew what was available. Even if it was written into
their Individualized Education Plan (IEP), a parent had to sometimes forcefully advocate for their child to get help.
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| My "wife" is on the right. No resemblance whatsoever though. |
From then on, my wife was a street fighter when it came to my
son, and everyone else had one hand tied behind their back. When I was able to attend the IEP meetings, I
was always impressed. It’s like she was
sparring with a bunch of scrubs. She not
only knew our son, but she knew what services were available. The IEP team was bringing a knife to a gun
fight.
So about that heavy breathing. While Sarge waxes political only so often, it’s
kind of my schtick. I figured I could
pick up a little slack around here since it’s been a while and sarge deserves a
break from the heavy lifting. So where was I going with that street fighter stuff? Well, sometimes we have to fight for
everything we get and it might get a little bloody. Politics is often a fight, and it can be very
tiring, but we have to keep going into the late rounds. There are plenty of examples of the fight
today- gun control, the war on women, abortion, fiscal responsibility. Whoops, my bad, apparently NO ONE is fighting
the fiscal fight. The rest are being
fought in the media, with a narrative being shaped and cultivated without the
whole truth. Look at the push to ban
assault weapons. I know those shootings
are tragic, and I’m truly sad and sorry that they happened, but I am sure they
won’t be stopped by banning a specific weapon.
Some people want to throw out the tired old trope- “But we have to do
something!” They think that that “something”
must include an assault weapons ban. I
have a few problems with that:
1. The Constitution
2. Guns aren’t the problem, culture and mental illness are (along with illegal weps)
3. Logistics- How’s this going to work? Will they demand we turn them in, go door to door to confiscate them, or is it just a ban on future sales? If it’s the first two, see #1 above.
Confiscation of over 150 million guns from American citizens is about as likely as deporting 20 million illegal aliens. Presidential Candidate and Texan Robert “Beto” O’Rourke
has flip-flopped on his previous position, doubling down on stupid:
To be honest, I sort of like his honesty. It's a breath of fresh air to hear a politician not mince words, and say what they actually think. I don't like the message at all, and it's political suicide to discount the beliefs of millions of voters, and the rights of all of them, but it's definitely a refreshing change of pace. And while I appreciate his honesty, it's unconstitutional and it won't stand.At the Democratic-primary debate in Houston last night, Beto O’Rourke formally killed off one of the gun-control movement’s favorite taunts: The famous “Nobody is coming for your guns, wingnut.” Asked bluntly whether he was proposing confiscation, O’Rourke abandoned the disingenuous euphemisms that have hitherto marked his descent into extremism, and confirmed as plainly as can be that he was. “Hell yes,” he said, “we’re going to take your AR-15.” Source
But that's where the fight comes. The left doesn't care one bit that what they want is unconstitutional. The Constitution is supposed to be an institution, a "paragon of virtue" per se that is sacrosanct, that shall not be trifled with, but it is always under attack. What is right and fair and constitutional is irrelevant if it gets in the left's way to achieving what ever it is that they want. What is that? I have no idea. Chaos and anarchy? Quite possibly.
We've seen the way they fight through the weaponizing of the IRS. A former squadron-mate of mine had a very strong social media presence which focused on conservative values and the racism within the democratic party across the decades. As a black man, he was noticed by people active in conservative politics and in 2011 or so, in the middle of Obama's first term, was asked to consider running for congress. As soon as he filed paperwork, he was hit with three separate IRS audits. This is a guy who never made more than $150K in a year and had absolutely nothing in his tax filings to warrant a single audit, much less three.
All over the country, the Pro-life advocate David Daedelin revealed the brutality and greed of Planned Parenthood through some undercover videos. He was hit with one indictment after another, despite precedent showing that his investigations, like so many others before him, were perfectly legal. Countless investigations into President Trump and his team, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars, all based on reports they knew were false, also shows the length to which they'll go to advance their agenda and shore up their power base.
Illegal campaign donations, election fraud, partisan FBI officials allowing investigations, audits, indictments, fraud, bogus news stories, etc. These are all tools of the left to suppress the truth, to subvert their opponents, and maintain political pressure on Trump and suppress the truth. They'll also use the courts, shopping for sympathetic judges who order injunctions against his executive orders, or even standing law, as we've seen with the current border immigration/asylum crisis. Precedent and standing law mean nothing to the left, with everything up for interpretation by liberal courts and judges.
For a party that preaches diversity and tolerance, they aren’t even tolerant to
the members of their own party. Candidate Marianne
Williamson was recently caught on a hot mike talking about that- “What does it say that Fox News is nicer to
me than the lefties are?” What it means is that they want what
they want, and won’t stand for anyone or anything getting in their way, to
include moderates, and the constitution.
The left doesn't actually care about you and me, whether or not we're their constituents. They don't care about the constitution, what it means, what it stands for, what it says. It's all just temporary fungible language that is open to not only constant reinterpretation, but able to be consistently ignored if it goes against what they want at the particular moment.
My son would not be where he is today if my wife hadn't constantly fought for him. She was only fighting for what might have been some limited special education resources, but the political fight is to preserve our inherent and God-given rights and freedoms. Yes, it can be tiring, and those Facebook posts or rebuttals may not result in changing the opinions of the other person, but someone paying attention may be positively influenced.
You've probably heard the saying- “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
I'm not doing nothing. It doesn't have to be an aggressive fight, but it must be a consistent one. The longer truth is suppressed, the more likely that uninformed minds will believe that the conservative values we know to be good and fair and true, are actually greedy, without compassion, and evil. I fight back by being well informed, calmly discussing my points of view without personal attacks. Sometimes it works. Anybody up for a fight? Who's with me?
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Monday, September 16, 2019
Klamath Falls
Yes, we've seen this picture before. It was taken at the parade field at
But, I was doing some research on a subject that has been rattling around in my brain (Yes, Beans, I know...Not a lot there to cause a rattling noise) since I started writing this series of articles. A comment by William last week about "...how political the Medal of Honor is" kinda hit home on that rattling sound.
However, and needless to say, I'm gonna want to step very carefully on that posting. It may, nay probably, will never see the light of day.
So, we're going to look into another of the names on the above monument. I think this one is a cut and dried case. No politics involved.
I was reviewing references I'd had on Operation Tidal Wave, the raid on the Ploesti Oil Refineries on 1 August 1943. I've got postings here, here and here on Medal of Honor recipients from that raid. 5 Medals were awarded, 3 posthumously, the most awarded for a single battle in Air Force History. Later, I reported another recipient in a later raid on that target.
So, I was searching using "Medal of Honor Ploesti" as the search term and came up with a 7th name. I went back to the above photo and yep, that name is there.
2LT David R. Kingsley. Lt Kingsley was working as a firefighter in Oregon before Pearl Harbor. He joined the Army Air Corps in April 1942. Lt Kingsley was qualified as both a Navigator and Bombardier on B-17s completing combat training and deploying to Italy in March of 1944. Source
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After releasing their bombs during the attack run, the B-17 was hit by AAA (HISS!!!) and sustained damage to an engine that caused them to lose altitude and slowed them down. The loss of the other bomber's protection drew the attention of 3 Messerschmidt BF-109s.
During this period, the bomber loses another engine and one of the crew is wounded. As Lt Kingsley's primary role in this mission is complete, he moves aft to try and assist the wounded crewman.
The fighter's continue their attack, and wound the tail gunner. As he crawls forward, Lt Kingsley removes the crewman's parachute and wraps him in blankets to keep him comfortable. Meanwhile, the ball turret gunner is injured also. Lt Kingsley provides assistance to him also.
Eight more BF-109's join the fight, and the bomber is sustaining more serious damage. Finally, the Pilot sounds the Bail Out alarm. Lt Kingsley assists the ball turret gunner back into his chute and gets him out the bomb bay. He then returns for the tail gunner, however his chute can't be located.
As their searching, the aircraft starts to fly erratically and they both realize that time is running out.
At that point, Lt Kingsley gives the tail gunner his chute, puts the rip cord in his hand, and assists him out of the airplane.
The plane shortly thereafter crashes. Lt Kingsley is the only crew fatality.
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Unfortunately, the bomber hits the ground near a village in Bulgaria and a family of 7 is also killed.
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The tail gunner later remarked "David then took me in his arms and struggled to the bomb bay, where he told me to keep my hand on the rip cord and said to pull it when I was clear of the ship…Then he told me to bail out. I watched the ground go by for a few seconds and then I jumped. I looked at Dave the look he had on his face was firm and solemn. He must have known what was coming because there was no fear in his eyes at all. That was the last time I saw....Dave standing in the bomb bay."
John 15:13
Why the title? Well there is an airfield at Klamath Falls. It's named Kingsley field. It's home to the Oregon Air National Guard and they fly this airplane.
Lt Kingsley's Citation:
"For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty, 23 June 1944 near Ploesti, Rumania, while flying as bombardier of a B17 type aircraft.
On the bomb run 2d Lt. Kingsley's aircraft was severely damaged by intense flak and forced to drop out of formation but the pilot proceeded over the target and 2d Lt. Kingsley successfully dropped his bombs, causing severe damage to vital installations.
The damaged aircraft, forced to lose altitude and to lag behind the formation, was aggressively attacked by 3 ME-109 aircraft, causing more damage to the aircraft and severely wounding the tail gunner in the upper arm. The radio operator and engineer notified 2d Lt. Kingsley that the tail gunner had been wounded and that assistance was needed to check the bleeding. 2d Lt. Kingsley made his way back to the radio room, skillfully applied first aid to the wound, and succeeded in checking the bleeding. The tail gunner's parachute harness and heavy clothes were removed and he was covered with blankets, making him as comfortable as possible.
Eight ME-109 aircraft again aggressively attacked 2d Lt. Kingsley's aircraft and the ball turret gunner was wounded by 20mm. shell fragments. He went forward to the radio room to have 2d Lt. Kingsley administer first aid.
A few minutes later when the pilot gave the order to prepare to bail out, 2d Lt. Kingsley immediately began to assist the wounded gunners in putting on their parachute harness. In the confusion the tail gunner's harness, believed to have been damaged, could not be located in the bundle of blankets and flying clothes which had been removed from the wounded men.
With utter disregard for his own means of escape, 2d Lt. Kingsley unhesitatingly removed his parachute harness and adjusted it to the wounded tail gunner. Due to the extensive damage caused by the accurate and concentrated 20mm. fire by the enemy aircraft the pilot gave the order to bail out, as it appeared that the aircraft would disintegrate at any moment.
2d Lt. Kingsley aided the wounded men in bailing out and when last seen by the crewmembers he was standing on the bomb bay catwalk. The aircraft continued to fly on automatic pilot for a short distance, then crashed and burned. His body was later found in the wreckage.
2d Lt. Kingsley by his gallant heroic action was directly responsible for saving the life of the wounded gunner.
Rest in Peace, Warrior!
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