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| That Two-Thousand Yard Stare Thomas Lea, 1944, WWII. Part of The Army Art Collection, U.S. Army Center for Military History |
I spent a lot of time reading on Friday, well, after my CT Scan appointment anyway. Potential heart issues, oh boy, just checking, but take these meds in the meantime.
Anyhoo.
I'm awaiting the arrival tomorrow of yet another book (even though the waiting to be read pile has yet to be diminished), Keep the last bullet for yourself: The true story of Custer's last stand by Thomas Bailey Marquis. The research looks interesting, the book sounds like it might be worthwhile. So I ordered it ...
Sigh. So many books, so little time.
But ordering that made me think of the frontier, specifically the Indian Wars. I read up on the Hayfield Fight, the Fetterman Fight, the Wagon Box Fight, all stories of people fighting the encroachment of the government.
Our government.
Least-ways that's how I think of it these days. The government trying to expand its hold on us.
I'm tired, boss. Tired of this political crap every-damn-where you look. Tired of politicians tearing down their opponents instead of giving us a plan for what they wish to do. Tired of politicians pandering to the lowest damned denominator because they think that will get them into office. Tired, just tired of all the bullshit.
My earnest prayer is that a month from now we'll still have a country worth fighting for.
Though I have my doubts.
But I'll leave it up to God, His Will, not mine.
Pray people, it's all we've got in the end.
But I'll leave it up to God, His Will, not mine.
ReplyDeletePray people, it's all we've got in the end.
The fine art of faith vs action. Or praying to God while leaning on a shovel.
God had somebody BUILD an Ark. Not have him pray to God to give him an Ark.
Can you and I DO anything about the current shitshow? Not really BUT we CAN obey the Scriptures and protect our families.
I'm pretty sure God's word has a lot in it about protecting your family with actions AND prayers.
Proverbs 23:3 and others.
1st Timothy 5:8 and others.
Rule of 3's is doable.
Grahams Killhouse Rules is worthy.
Search for the expanded discussion as first Googles got me Ads for shooting training and Grahams is FAR past the Gun bunny stuff. Like Robert Heinlein farther.
Here is the best so far: https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-kill-house-rules-timely-reminder.html
Get busy like a hurricane is coming busy friends. Worst case you can eat the stored food and have tarps and such to fix the house while praying dear Uncle Sam's FEMA will come by to "Help".
Will and Ariel Durant were historians who wrote a large series of books covering the history of the Western World. Will said the in the history of the the world most people in most times were poorly governed. Nothing new today, Argentina is doing some interesting things, but that's about it.
Delete"Faith vs action." As St. James pointed out, "Faith without works is dead." As Michael above points out, God gives us the shovel, we have to dig the hole. Pray before starting, pray while digging, and pray afterwards (even if just a simple "Thank God I'm done") Heck, the parable of the Sheep and the Goats is about works, not faith. And therein are most of our political problems, too much faith in the State, not enough work by the electorate to hold the feet of those elected to the political fire. No other job has such job security as being elected to one of the Houses of Congress. Overall approval numbers may be in the shoe size range, but better than 90% of those capons who stand for reelection get in for a 2nd, or 22nd, term. "Oh, but my opponent has no EXPERIENCE in government, I do!" That's the idea, you wingnut! You're not some aristocracy that, as a stapher (sic) of one of my members of the CA Legislature put it, "know what is best for us."
DeleteAnd why have we come to this? Because somehow We the People as a whole have lost sight of the basic truths that the federal government is a creature created by the Free and Independent States, that the Constitution is the operating manual, or maybe technical manual, telling us the limits of the federal government and how it's supposed to function, and that the Bill of Rights isn't a list of rights bestowed on us by a beneficent State, but the People telling the feds, "HANDS OFF!" As one SCOTUS ruling puts it, ""The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections."
: Robert H. Jackson, US Supreme Court Justice West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
Far too many reduce the Constitution to naught but the General Welfare clause, something which Tommy J warned about:
"They are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please which might be for the good of the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless. It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and, as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please... Certainly no such universal power was meant to be given them. It was intended to lace them up straitly within the enumerated powers and those without which, as means, these powers could not be carried into effect."
--Thomas Jefferson: Opinion on National Bank, 1791. ME 3:148 and I see...with the deepest affliction, the rapid strides with which the federal branch of our government is advancing towards the usurpation of all the rights reserved to the States, and the consolidation in itself of all powers, foreign and domestic...aided by a little sophistry on the words ‘general welfare,’ a right to do, not only the acts to effect that, which are specifically enumerated and permitted, but whatsoever they shall think, or pretend will be for the general welfare.
JEFFERSON, THOMAS, Letter to W. B. Giles, 1825
Until we can reestablish the idea that the federal government must answer to both the People and the States, rather than dictating to both, we will continue on this path. We have made a few small steps, returning the question of abortion to the States, and pushing to return voting rights to the States. although both face stiff opposition.
Sigh, for some of you the answer is always the gun.
DeleteNo one said "stop trying."
Sorry friend, not guns, although they are a useful tool.
DeleteAbility to give your family and grandchildren some protection against what happening in Germany and England with untouchable migrants.
The ability to do the rule of threes. Ability to provide safe water, repair shelter and in general prepare for the Greater Depression.
You and I are not interested in the Revolution of the party of Chaos (both wings) but THEY are interested in you and yours.
Hurricane is coming in 16 days.
Again, no one said stop trying.
DeleteGood to hear. Hurricane in 16 days
DeleteAnother?
DeleteAn electoral one.
DeleteYup.
DeleteAlthough I hear talk of a Hurricane Oscar.
DeleteFigures.
DeleteOscar-
Deletehttps://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT16/AL162024_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind.png
No threat to the USA at this point.
DeleteThere was a splendid piece I read just this week about the endless centuries of the war on the frontier and let us keep in mind that that frontier once basically started at Roanoke. There were many very bleak and very dark times in the centuries that followed and yet here we are. On that note we went out tonight with some friends but they literally cannot abide any political disagreement whatsoever but they're adults so the subject simply doesn't come up. Isn't that refreshing?
ReplyDeleteI think I've toured just about every American battlefield between Fort Riley and Breed's Hill but I don't recall that my father ever took us to any of the endless battlefields where the indians engaged the settlers. We must have driven past Fort Necessity a dozen times but we never stopped and for all that there was a continuous dustup during the French and Indian Wars and our own disagreements we just didn't make it out to walk the ground at Custer's Last Stand or any of the others.
Interesting note, the old man graduated USMA and he wore his bathrobe for decades after that and on it was pinned a medal. I finally looked up what it was 5 years ago....turns out it was a medal from one of the endless Indian Campaigns....
How many days left now until you retire for good and take up writing full time?
Writing and READING full time..
DeleteCap'n - My last scheduled day of work is the 19th of December. After that I'm on Christmas break (we actually do that by not taking certain Monday holidays throughout the year). Officially my first day of retirement is 1 January 2025, practically it's 20 December 2024.
DeleteIn company with others, it's best to refrain from talking politics. I have yet to have a conversation in that vein which produced anything of benefit.
Rob - Yes, more time to read!
DeleteIn my not-so-recent now RV travels, I made a point of stopping at a few "frontier" forts: Fort Wilkins (MI UP), Fort Union (NM), Fort Phil Kearney (WY), Fort Ticonderoga (NY), Fort Clatsop (OR), and others that I cannot recall right now.
DeleteSeeing first-hand the housing, the defense works, the arms utilized, the cemeteries....: those soldiers endured extraordinary hardships by our standards, but that was "normal," accepted life back then. I daresay that they would scoff mightily at the comforts enjoyed by today's militaries....
Along with U.S. Civil War battlefields, those frontier fort visits were some of the highlights of my travels.
I want to visit some of them in the years ahead.
DeleteWe lived at a few of the major frontier posts that converted over time into other things. I recall and perhaps wrongly, that the Fort Riley buffalo herd roamed the pastureland that had been the burial site of the hundreds of soldiers and others that died during the Spanish Influenza but since the graves were hasty had only been marked with wooden crosses all of which burned during a prairie fire that swept over the land shortly afterwards. They fenced it off to keep it reasonably hallowed ground and then decided to hide their tiny buffalo herd on it after the passage of a few score years. OTGH, there was Custer's House still right across the street with other officer housing from Cavalry Parade.
DeleteWow, Custer's House, very interesting. I did work at Fort Crook in Nebraska (Offutt AFB) in one of the original buildings around the old parade ground. That was pretty cool. (Not to mention it was across the street from the runway where we got to see a lot of interesting aircraft come and go, from a Ju-52 to an SR-71.)
DeleteKnow the feeling Sarge, the endless political campaigns, the feckless ranting of those stating "Think my Way!!!", the constant shouting of "Who you gonna believe, my words or your lying eyes?"....... geeez......BTW...you can never have TOO many books.....:)
ReplyDeleteAh, someone who gets the point of the post! Thank you, Nylon12. (And you're right, no such thing as too many ...)
Delete"Sigh. So many books, so little time." You and me both Sarge, you and me both. I look at all the books I currently have and think "I should read those one more time at least" - and then promptly go out and order something new.
ReplyDeleteHaving no television, not listening to radio, and relatively recently relocated, I have been 90% out of the loop for the current political advertising cycle. Unfortunately on The Tube of You, they still show up. The tone of voice, the feigned outrage, the voiceovers - those are all the same as when I first remember seeing political advertisements over 40 years ago.
I begin to understand why some of the Roman authors I cherish at some point just shrugged their shoulders and the system and retreated to their books, their garden, and their writings.
Yes, the internet provides a forum for those who demand we pay attention to their schemes for the country. Both sides suck.
DeleteNot saying I'm retreating to my books, my garden, and my writing, but it is tempting to do so. (Visits to children and grandchildren figure prominently in my retirement plans as well.)
So much of our society today is built on the best Madison Ave can put out & with the help of the modern digital masters, that message is everywhere.
ReplyDelete>>""The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections."
: Robert H. Jackson, US Supreme Court Justice West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)<<
Of those 7 listed "rights" how many are not under attack today or have been pushed aside already? Even "property" has been ignored by those that allowed the summer of riots or legalized theft under $950.
Re: "place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials" - i.e. the Deep State and the unelected bureaucrats in DC. That definitely needs to be a priority.
DeleteSarge, we will STILL have a country worth fighting for - we may have to step up and actually do it. I will NOT allow my grandchildren to be denied my birthright. Not while I still draw breath.
ReplyDeleteBoat Guy
I am not so sure of that anymore. How much contact do you have with the younger generations? I work with them, some of their attitudes are alarming, at best.
DeleteAttitudes come from years of training.
DeleteI'm rather proud of my hard working thrifty grand daughter. She's old school.
Give me your four-year-olds, and in a generation I will build a socialist state.
Vladimir Lenin
Between school indoctrination and propaganda what chance nearly parentless children have.
Along with plenty other disturbing quotes
Not relatives, others. Many of them are lost.
DeleteMany may be; let their chains rest heavily upon them. I'm certain we have our "3%" and even the roughly 33% who were Patriots, even among the "young generation". I am privileged to interact with many home schooled children; they alone will restore your faith.
DeleteI interacted with two young males the other day; maybe 16 or so, sloppily dressed, scraggly " beards" and yet one of them was polite and engaging, appearance being deceiving in his case.
Buck up, Sarge; we'll get through this, even if some of us die doing it.
Boat Guy
Good to hear.
DeleteLast census gave Colorado another Congressional seat and I ended up in the new district. A Democrat was elected. This election nearly $15,000,000 in campaign money has been raised. $15,000,000 for one pissant Congressional seat! Does anyone believe the donors don't expect a return on their money? I doubt their motives are altruistic.
ReplyDeleteI think you're on to something there, WSF.
DeleteThis too shall pass, like kidney stones. Maybe painful, maybe not, but there is a future ahead of us regardless. Hope it is a good one, but prepare at least a bit in case it is not.
ReplyDeleteWe shall soon see if indeed we can keep the Republic, as Franklin observed.
Double stressful times for someone on the cusp of the unknown with the end of one career, and the well deserved and wonderful benefits earned therefrom. In a year, Sarge will be asking "Why didn't I do that years ago?"
John Blackshoe
I'm asking myself that now!
DeleteIf we can't "keep it", Brother Blackshoe; then we will restore it!
DeleteBG
If there are enough of us, yes.
DeletePlease take care of yourself Sarge!
ReplyDeleteI will, I might take a break here soon.
DeletePlease take them, as needed.
DeleteI shall.
Delete