Neil Armstrong
August 5, 1930 to August 25, 2012
Thank you for so many small steps that led us to giant leaps.
All posts by daddybear71
One small step
Posted by daddybear71 on August 25, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/25/one-small-step/
Today’s Earworm
Language Warning on this one. And yeah, they’re not going to get me into a home. I’m going to be that kindly old gentleman who sits on his porch in his rocking chair with a hound dog and a pump shotgun.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 25, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/25/todays-earworm-212/
Quote of the Day
I guess Boo got hold of my pen. This is either pizza sauce or dried blood.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 25, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/25/quote-of-the-day-87/
30 Days of Abraham Lincoln – Day 22
The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me. — 1839
My Take – When it’s more important to be true to yourself and to your values than it is to win, it is amazing how often you win precisely because you choose to stick to your values. I think that’s one of the biggest problems I have with the last few crops of political leadership we have voted for ourselves. Both parties pick seem to pick candidates that are likely to get elected, but will have to do on-the-job training on how to actually govern the country after the inauguration. Principles are folded, spindled, and mutilated in order to get every possible dollar and endorsement, and the country suffers when an individual who is all things to everyone tries to figure out just what they want to happen.
In short, I would rather that my party or my leadership drew very stark lines in the sand, refused to move them, and went down in flames than for them to go along to get along and lead us further down the road to ruin.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 25, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/25/30-days-of-abraham-lincoln-day-22/
30 Days of Abraham Lincoln – Day 21
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. — 1861
My Take – This is possibly the ugliest national election I’ve ever seen, and we’re not even in the home stretch, where desperation will bring new lows. The danger in this is that the rancor will keep ramping up after the election. We must remember that we are Americans, no matter which lever we pull in the voting booth. We can disagree, we can argue, we may even fight, but we cannot lose sight of that. When we forget our connections to each other, we risk consequences as dire as the country faced in 1861.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 24, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/24/30-days-of-abraham-lincoln-day-21/
Quote of the Day
You don’t want to mess with me! I’m crazy! You know how crazy I am? I gotta take little white pills so I don’t kill little white privates! That’s how crazy I am! — Staff Sergeant Willie P. Dunlap, Drill Sergeant, Day 0 of my basic training, Fort Leonard Wood, August 21, 1989
Posted by daddybear71 on August 24, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/24/quote-of-the-day-86/
Thoughts on the Evening
- Tonight I reprised my role as “Unarmed Villager Number 12”. It’s a non-speaking part, but I think I pull it off quite nicely.
- I really need to get the sewing machine out and make my own garb. The stuff that’s handed out is just too small for me. Seriously, it must look like David Banner turning into the Hulk when I’m putting on a man dress.
- Just because you’re an unarmed villager doesn’t mean that a young American soldier won’t shoot you in the face if you surprise him in the dark.
- Note to self – Write a nice note of self to the manufacturer of my face mask thanking them for my eyesight.
- Not sure which is louder, grenade simulators or flashbangs. It may be a function of proximity and how closed in the space is.
- A couple of red laser dots on your chest is a very direct and polite way to say “Stop” and “Back away slowly with your hands up”.
- You know what gets me moving faster than realizing that someone is shooting at me? Realizing that someone is shooting past me and isn’t really worried about me becoming a backstop.
- There’s a fine line between “Wow, that’s a really cool pyrotechnic effect” and “Holy crap! The building is on fire!”.
- Stopping at a stop-n-stab out in the middle of nowhere for gas after 11 PM is a cultural experience.
- Example of parental love – Stopping at Superdupermegamart after midnight to pick up school supplies while covered in dirt, wax bullet residue, and smelling like a burning tire.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 24, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/24/thoughts-on-the-evening-5/
30 Days of Abraham Lincoln – Day 20
…resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. — 1850
My Take – Integrity is everything. In addition to being honest in what you say and what you do, integrity also includes giving good value for your wages. When you find yourself no longer able to give your employer or your business everything it deserves in exchange for your paycheck, then it’s time to find something else to do.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 23, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/23/30-days-of-abraham-lincoln-day-20/
Unclear on the Concept of “Veteran”
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has expressed an opinion that the recent internet movie released by a group comprised of former members of the intelligence services and special operations forces is not “useful”. He also said that he believes that the military should be apolitical, and that by coming out against the president, these people endanger the trust the American people have in their military.
With all due respect to General Dempsey’s service and position, as a proud veteran, he can take his opinions, fold them until they’re all corners, and then hide them somewhere distasteful.
I do agree that military personnel should not use their affiliation with the military to help any political cause, and I support regulations that forbid soldiers from criticizing the civilian leadership while on active duty. The soldier who got on stage with Ron Paul in uniform was wrong. An officer or NCO who trash talks the President in such a way that brings discredit to the armed services or gives the appearance that the military either supports or opposes any given administration or policy deserves to be punished.
But once you take off the uniform, either as a reservist going back to every day life or as a veteran who is hanging up the uniform, those restrictions loosen. While I still don’t support wearing a uniform at political events, any other legal activity by a veteran, including vociferously and effectively rebutting the president, any president, is fine by me.
You see, those who have worn the uniform can have a unique perspective on the events of the day. If you’ve seen true poverty in Haiti, you might have some thoughts on the ‘poor’ here at home. If you’ve seen the waste and fraud that the bloated federal bureaucracy creates and enjoys, then you might be a good candidate for someone with a valid opinion on how to cut and clean up the government. And yes, once you’ve worn the uniform, if you choose to oppose the foreign policy and war plans of the United States, that is your right, although your right to protest doesn’t protect you from derision if your tactics include casting unwarranted aspersions on the integrity and honor of those you served with or those still serving.
We veterans who participate in and comment on politics are following a great American tradition. We have had 24 presidents who have worn the uniform, and many of them were combat veterans. Was our country done a disservice because these veterans chose to become part of the political process once they hung up the uniform? Many of our best journalists, the part of our society that is supposed to be keeping the government honest by throwing a little sunshine on that which it wants to hide in the dark, have been veterans. Should they be silenced because their voices make the political leadership uncomfortable?
General Dempsey, the phrase that keeps running through my mind is “Stay in your lane”. Your mission is to provide leadership to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, and to provide advice to the President. You seem to be quite adept at that, and I thank you for your efforts. But those of us who no longer fall under your perview have a right and a responsibility to speak our minds and call out the government when it does wrong. Our opinions and our voices are no longer in your lane. If you want to keep the active military from becoming politicized, then stop using the press to defend the President and his policies. That is also outside of your lane.
The fact that those who served the country were the instruments of political policy makes us sensitive to the outrages of that policy, and we have much to bring to the table once we close that chapter of our life. We are no longer bound by the regulations and traditions that kept us out of the political arena, we are locked and loaded, and we are watching our lanes.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 22, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/22/unclear-on-the-concept-of-veteran/
30 Days of Abraham Lincoln – Day 19
With malice toward none, with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations. — 1865
My Take – I sometimes wonder how different our history would be if Lincoln hadn’t been assassinated. Would he have been able to rein in the Radical Republicans who made Reconstruction so harsh? Would his “let them up easy” plan for the South have headed off generations of bad blood?
You’ll notice that he didn’t say that the country should only care for Union veterans, widows, and orphans, but seemed to include those who had been harmed on the Confederate side as well. Lincoln didn’t seem to be looking to punish the South for the war, and I think one of the worst mistakes made in our history was for the North to get its pound of flesh from the South once the fighting had stopped.
In much the same way, when we win a fight or an argument, we should be generous and polite in victory. Once the opponent has agreed that the fight is over and that they have lost, there is nothing to be gained by rubbing their noses in it, and much to lose when their anger motivates them to rekindle the fight. We may never fully convert those who disagree with us, but neither should we encourage their antipathy.
Posted by daddybear71 on August 22, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/08/22/30-days-of-abraham-lincoln-day-19/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 