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All posts by daddybear71

Thought for the Day

Dear people on Interstate Highway this evening,

I hope y’all enjoyed your drive home this evening. Yes, the weather wasn’t great, but no one tried to kill me with stupidity tonight.

However, here’s a hint: those red, white, and blue flashing lights mean something. They mean “Get the hell out of the way!” The reason everyone was moving so slow was that there was a pretty gnarly accident ahead of you, and those nice men in the big red trucks and white vans were trying to get there BEFORE SOMEONE DIED!

Luckily, I observed all this from the sanity of a gas station and decided taking back roads would be a good idea. Hopefully everyone to home OK.

Cheers,

DaddyBear
aka ‘The Ass in the Brown Truck Who Insisted on Getting Home Alive’

by daddybear71 on December 4, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Thought for the day

Posted by daddybear71 on December 4, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/04/thought-for-the-day-181/

Thoughts on Aircraft Carriers and the Pacific

A couple of things have happened in the news lately that relate to aircraft carriers:

  • The U.S.S. Enterprise, the world’s first nuclear aircraft carrier, was decommissioned.
  • Secretary of the Navy Mabus announced that CVN-80, the next Gerald R. Ford class carrier, will be christened “Enterprise”.
  • China landed a fighter plane on an aircraft carrier for the first time.

In unrelated news, China has been flexing its muscles in the South China Sea, picking fights with Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, and the Philipines.  This includes tit-for-tat harassment and protests over islands and maps in Chinese passports that include the South China Sea as Chinese territorial waters.

Let’s posit for the sake of discussion that the situation between China and her neighbors is something we need to be concerned about.*  If China, who by the way owns a huge chunk of our debt and is probably not going to be shy about flexing that muscle in a crisis, is making a new move in its chess game to secure territory and natural resources for its economy, what are we, as poker players, going to do to deter them?  Do we sit on the sidelines and make clucking noises and wave our hands, put a naval, air, and land Task Force Smith in the area to act as a “no touchee” symbol to the Chinese, or do we station a credible force in the area to make the Chinese think twice about not playing nice with the other countries in the area?

If we’re going to play this game, then I suggest the third option. The Pentagon has begun to shift its attention toward Asia, so I hope I’m not alone.  We already have significant infrastructure in Okinawa and South Korea, if not large numbers of troops and airplanes.  I don’t believe that the Philipines would complain much if we offered to re-open Clark Air Force Base and put an aircraft carrier and its supporting ships and personnel in Subic Bay.  And the evil part of me wants to believe that it would be a fitting tweak in the Communist tail if we were to station the new U.S.S. Enterprise at Cam Ranh Bay.  We’d have to accelerate construction to get it out there, but hey, if we’re going to stimulate the economy, why not do it in building a ship that we’re going to use for half a century?

Would that be expensive?  You betcha.  Can we afford it?  Probably not, but can we afford to lose easy access to Japan and Korea within the next 10 to 20 years? 

*I’m of the “What’s in it for us?” crowd when it comes to our foreign and military policy, but I’m willing to concede that keeping sea lanes in that part of the world open is in our national interest.

by daddybear71 on December 4, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in China, military

Posted by daddybear71 on December 4, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/04/thoughts-on-aircraft-carriers-and-the-pacific/

Christmas Carol

C&R gun
Cleaning is fun
Caked in old grease
All over this piece
Hope I’ll  be able
To get it off of her table.

Cosmo, cosmo!
Into my soul it does flow!
Cosmo! Cosmo!
Every last bit of it must go!

Simple Green and bags
Full of old rags.
The oven smells funny
But I’m saving so much money!

 

cosmo cosmo cosmoline!
cosmo cosmo cosmoline!

by daddybear71 on December 4, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Guns, silliness, Uncategorized

Posted by daddybear71 on December 4, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/04/christmas-carol/

Interesting Gun Question

This morning, Tam asserted that any American who doesn’t have an M-1 Garand should have a corner clipped off of their ‘Murrican card.  I love my Garand, and I agree with Tam.  It doesn’t get much more ‘Murrican than the ‘Ping of Freedom’.

But that leads me to wonder:  Which firearms should a real ‘Murrican own?  Here’s my short list:

  • M-1 Garand
  • M-1 Carbine
  • 1911 in .45 ACP
  • Winchester Model 94
  • Smith and Wesson Model 29
  • AR-15
  • M-14/M1A

What other ‘Murrican guns do you all think should be on there?

by daddybear71 on December 4, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Guns, silliness

Posted by daddybear71 on December 4, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/04/interesting-gun-question/

30 Days of Generals and Admirals – Day 30

Give a soldier an anvil, just a hunk of metal, and drive him out into the desert and leave him. In two weeks – when you go to get him, the anvil will be broken. — Creighton Abrams

My Take – Your equipment, be it a gun, a vehicle, or a computer, should be tough enough to do what you need it to do.  You need to be able to depend on your gear to work right the first time, every time.  That being said, you need to know how to maintain it and be able to get it into working order when it inevitably breaks.  If you don’t know how to check the oil of your car, you shouldn’t be driving it.  If you can’t do malfunction drills on your gun, don’t depend on it to protect your life.  If you don’t know how to patch and protect your computer, shut it off and go read a book.   Remember, everything made by mortal hands will break, and usually when you need it the most.  The trick is to be prepared when it happens.

by daddybear71 on December 4, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Generals and Admirals

Posted by daddybear71 on December 4, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/04/30-days-of-generals-and-admirals-day-30/

Bring Them Home

I didn’t realize it until just now, but American law enforcement that is working with the Mexican government in the “War on Drugs” must disarm upon entering Mexico.  In a country where shooting police officers is second only to bribing police as a national pastime, our officers of the DEA, CIA, FBI, and other agencies must trust Mexican law enforcement to protect their lives.  Even after one ICE officer was murdered and two CIA officers were ambushed, the Obama adminstration pretty much shrugs its shoulders and refers questions about this policy to the Mexican embassy.

Now, it’s no secret that I think the “War on Drugs”, even if done for the best of reasons, is an abject failure.  Illicit drug use is higher now than it ever has been.  Drugs are easier to get and less expensive than at any time in history.  Mexico in general, and northern Mexico in particular, is a war zone created by our government’s inability to allow adults to do what they want with their own bodies.  Entire sections of our country aren’t much better.  Drug prohibition has caused much more harm than drugs themselves ever could.

That being said, if we are going to send our people out to prosecute this war, for good or ill, they need to be able to protect themselves.  Telling them to abide by the law of the host country and to depend on the undependable local law enforcement for force protection is moronic.  How many DEA agents need to come home in a coffin before the administration comes to that realization?

Now, Mexico is a sovereign nation, and that fact demands that we respect their laws and customs.  If Mexico insists that our law enforcement personnel be unarmed when they are in the country to train and assist their police and armed forces, so be it.  To me, that means that our people do not go to Mexico at all.  If we must insist on giving this aid to our neighbor, then they can come to us.  We have many places in our country where Mexican police and military can get the training they need.  If they don’t want to come, so much the better.  That means less work and money spent on the part of law enforcement.

Mexico needs to choose:  either allow our personnel the ability to protect themselves in a dangerous country, let their personnel come to our country for whatever it is we are providing them, or get on with their own fight against drugs and trafficking without us.

by daddybear71 on December 3, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in drug policy, Politics

Posted by daddybear71 on December 3, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/03/bring-them-home/

30 Days of Generals and Admirals – Day 29

If a man has character, everyone has confidence in him. Soldiers must have confidence in their leader. — Omar Bradley

My Take – If people can depend on you, if they know that what you say is the truth, they will believe in you.  If they know that you will always put their welfare above your own, they will follow you.  Develop your character and integrity not only for your self-respect, but also so that others may respect you.

by daddybear71 on December 3, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Generals and Admirals

Posted by daddybear71 on December 3, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/03/30-days-of-generals-and-admirals-day-29/

Today’s Earworm

I needed something to laugh at.  Strong language warning on this one.

by daddybear71 on December 3, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Earworm

Posted by daddybear71 on December 3, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/03/todays-earworm-275/

An Open Letter

Dear Bob Costas and Jason Whitlock,

I, too, am shocked by the actions of Javon Belcher, in which he killed the mother of his child in front of that child and then committed suicide in front of his coach and staff.  It is a tragedy that someone as talented as he was, with such a bright future in front of him, could do such a thing.  My heart cries out for their child, the people who watched him do this, and for everyone involved.  What happened was senseless and probably avoidable, had Mr. Belcher had the sense to get help or just walk away from a bad situation long enough to get control of himself.

I just watched Mr. Costas quote and agree with Mr. Whitlock’s editorial on the matter during the half-time coverage of the Dallas/Philadelphia game tonight, and I have this to say to both of you:

Bite me.

I didn’t murder my girlfriend and then kill myself. If Javon Belcher hadn’t had a gun, he would have found another way to hurt either the mother of his child, or himself, or both.  The gun didn’t do this; it was merely the tool chosen by someone who wanted to do another harm.

The “gun culture” didn’t kill those people. Javon Belcher did. Don’t lump me in with him and everyone else who uses a gun to do evil. Would you go after our “car culture” if he’d run her down in the road? Would you have attacked our “kitchen culture” if he’d killed her with a butcher knife?  How about railing about mixed martial arts if he’d beaten her to death?  Of course you wouldn’t have, because that would be foolish, almost as foolish as blaming the gun and everyone who values their rights for the actions of Javon Belcher.

Rather than attacking me and people like me, why don’t you attack the culture of the parts of our society that look on human life as something to be traded and taken? Why don’t you run off at the mouth about men who haven’t been taught to control their passions and take out their frustrations by harming others?  Instead of treating Javon Belcher as a sad victim of circumstance, why not denounce him for what he was:  a coward who chose to orphan his child instead of working through his problems?

I am not responsible for this murder, so stop blaming the things that I hold dear for the actions of the young man who committed them.

Sincerely,

Daddy J. Bear
Louisville, Kentucky

by daddybear71 on December 2, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Guns, rant

Posted by daddybear71 on December 2, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/02/an-open-letter-14/

Thoughts on the Day

  • Started the day by baking 8 dozen snickerdoodles and a double batch of fudge brownies.  I’ve had worse mornings.
  • I’ve been itching all day to go back to Indiana and buy the used M1A I looked at yesterday.
    • But I’m in the middle of building a long range AR
    • But I own nothing else in .308, so I’d have to start stocking yet another caliber
    • But $900 is a lot of money, even if the gun retails new for $2000
    • But I haven’t even started Christmas shopping.
    • Being responsible sucks sometimes.
  • What do you give twin boys for their birthday?  If you’re Irish Woman, you give them a toy keyboard and a toy guitar.  Hopefully she doesn’t invite that family to Boo’s birthday party, because payback is an area-effect weapon.
  • Cost of a new remote for the DVD/Radio/TV/Whatever sound player – $40.  Cost of a new DVD player – $40.  Cost to rig the old one to work for a few months – $0.05.  Guess which one I went with.
    • Paper clips and duct tape for the win!
  • I wandered around BigBoxGrayMercantile for a couple of hours today while Girlie Bear was visiting her mother.  The electronics department had people in it but I didn’t see a lot of big screen TV’s moving.  The sporting goods area, however, was hopping.  As I was browsing their sale on muzzle-loader accessories, I saw three M&P-15’s head out the door.  I guess Smith and Wesson beats Samsung this holiday season.
  • Taking a look at our preparations, we need to add to our legumes, whole wheat flour, and corn meal.  We are good to go on just about everything else, and we’re not too shabby on the things we need to improve on.
    • That’s a pretty good feeling.
    • Christmastime is a great time to rotate a bunch of stuff due to baking and sales.
by daddybear71 on December 2, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Thought for the day

Posted by daddybear71 on December 2, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/02/thoughts-on-the-day-71/

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