My goal for this night is to wake up with the same number of mammals in the bed as when I fell asleep. Between cats, kids, and a puppy, it gets kind of crowded.
Thought for the Evening
Posted by daddybear71 on December 7, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/07/thought-for-the-evening-3/
Thoughts on the Day
- The high point of my day was when the waiter at breakfast dribbled hot coffee down my hand, wrist, and crotch.
- Last night I tried a new recipe for pumpkin bars. At least I thought it was pumpkin bars. Turns out it was pumpkin bread. The difference is that pumpkin bars batter expands maybe 25% when it cooks. Pumpkin bread doubles in size. The resulting mass obstructed my view of the baking dish, but it tasted good. I’ll make it again, but next time, I’ll use a more appropriately sized dish.
- You know you’re hosed when the vendor looks at your problem, gives a couple of suggestions, then suggests that you just chuck your current solution and buy a new one, and you agree with them.
- I had a heart to heart talk tonight with Shadow about the puppy. I think he’s finally accepted that the the little ball of fur and teeth isn’t going anywhere.
- Apparently Boo got into his first true fight at school yesterday. I’m not sure who started it, but my son drew first blood.
- Girlie Bear is preparing for her JROTC formal.
- She has asked and received permission to ask a boy on her rifle team if he’d like to go to the dance with her.
- Irish Woman and Girlie Bear are scouring websites for ideas on what kind of dress she wants.
- Apparently girls are wearing the “I wanna be a ho” starter set this year.
- I need to drink more. I’m being calm, but doing it sober isn’t easy.
- We’ve made the decision that when we buy Irish Woman a new car this spring, we’re going to trade in both her car and the minivan. I will drive the truck for a couple more years, then trade it in on something. Don’t worry, I will always be the Minivandian at heart.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 6, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/06/thoughts-on-the-day-72/
30 Days of Dickens – Day 2
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way… – A Tale of Two Cities
My Take – We truly live in a black and white world. We live in what any of our ancestors would consider abject luxury, but we are bankrupt, not only financially, but also culturally and socially. We have all the knowledge of the human race at our fingertips, but the number of functional illiterates grows every year. We spend more on education than we ever have, yet the product of our educational system is very lacking. Our crime rate is on a downward swing, but the viciousness of crime has skyrocketed.
So what are we going to do about it? To me, it comes down to two words: Grow Up. We have to face the ugly reality that we cannot continue to go deeper into debt, whether it’s the government or the family. We have to act like parents and make sure that our children are getting at least as good an education as we did, no matter the cost in time and trouble. We must also raise our children to respect other people and the law, even if it means we’re not their best friends. None of these options are easy, and few of them will be popular. But we must find our way out, or we risk wasting everything our ancestors bought with their blood and sweat.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 6, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/06/5862/
Today’s Earworm
So good to be back at the Dexter Lake Club!
Posted by daddybear71 on December 6, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/06/todays-earworm-277/
Take the good with the bad
There’s a cliché that was running through my head today: Freedom is messy. You have to accept that when you have the right to do something that makes you happy or makes your life better, someone else can exercise that right in a way that you don’t like.
Our freedom to own guns means that others have the freedom to not own guns, or even to believe that guns are evil.
Our freedom to speak out also means that someone else can speak out against us.
Our freedom to vote as citizens means that others can vote for causes and candidates we oppose.
Our freedom to worship means that others have the right to worship differently, or not at all.
That being said, their rights end where ours begin. Their freedom to choose to not own guns does not give them the right to demand that we not own them. Their decision to not be religious should not preclude us from worshipping, even if it is in the public square. And above all, their politics and all that they entail should not be used as a cudgel to drive our politics out of that public square.
We must guard that we don’t use our outrage at those with whom we disagree as an excuse to try to drive them away from the debate. When Bob Costas chose to express his opinion on guns the other night, I disagreed with him, and I wasn’t alone. Some of us were quite vociferous in our disagreement, and thankfully, some were quite eloquent at it. Some, on the other hand, expressed an opinion that Mr. Costas and Mr. Whitlock should not have expressed their beliefs on the subject. To me, this is a dangerous way to look at it. We must guard against becoming what we oppose, even if it means that things we don’t agree with get a wide audience.
I read a story once about how before Caesar was opposed by Cato on some issue on the floor of the Senate. Cato chose to try to run out the clock on the issue by talking at length in front of the Senate. In order to force the issue, Caesar had men come in and drag Cato down from the speaker’s platform, an act that shocked the other senators. It was undignified and sacrilegious to men who considered the political process to be sacred. As Cato was led out, the rest of the Senate walked out with him, including senators who supported Caesar. One of them told Caesar “I’d rather be in jail with Cato than here with you.”
Our rights are as sacred to me as the Republic was to those senators. When someone opposes me, so long as they don’t intrude on my rights, I will respect their right to do so. We are not at the point where our institutions are useless, nor are we at the point where disagreement leads to revolution. Until we reach that point, we need to respect the fact that others have the same rights as we do, even if that means swallowing our pride and working harder. I would rather be locked in an eternal debate with the anti’s and Obama supporters than be locked into step with people who demand that others not exercise their right to oppose us.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 6, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/06/take-the-good-with-the-bad/
Quote of the Day
I love Christmas lights. They remind me of the people who voted for Obama.
They all hang together; half of the little bastards don’t work; and the ones that do, aren’t that bright
— Mr. G’s, “Christmas Lights“
Posted by daddybear71 on December 5, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/05/quote-of-the-day-95/
30 Days of Dickens – Day 1
“My other piece of advice, Copperfield,” said Mr. Micawber, “you know. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the god of day goes down upon the dreary scene, and — and in short you are for ever floored. As I am!” — David Copperfield
My Take – Sounds pretty simple to me. Do not spend more than you make, and life will be much happier. I am amazed by the amount of debt our nation, not just the government, has racked up in the past few decades. Credit cards, car loans, huge mortgages, student debt, and you name it, we owe it. It’s to the point where those who save for years to be able to pay cash for the day-to-day things are considered an aberration. I’m not perfect at this, but I’m getting better. I hope the government can get better at this too.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 5, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/05/30-days-of-dickens-day-1/
Today’s Earworm
It’s kind of drippy out tonight.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 5, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/05/todays-earworm-276/
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’
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.
Posted by daddybear71 on December 4, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/12/04/thoughts-on-aircraft-carriers-and-the-pacific/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 