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Consider this

Hostess, the company that brought the Twinkie and Ho-Ho to the American apocalypse food cache, has announced that it will be closing its doors, selling off everything that it can, and laying off each and every one of its 18,500 employees.  The company has taken a gut punch in the past few years, and was trying to get through bankruptcy, in part, by getting concessions out of its union employees.  The Teamsters, of all people, accepted less of a piece of the action rather than lose everything.  The Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, on the other hand, decided it was better to douse itself in kerosene and light up a Pall Mall.  Instead of losing a chunk of their pension but keeping their jobs, now they have neither a pension nor a job.

Now, consider this:

Hostess was founded in 1930, at the dawn of the Great Depression.  It survived the Depression, and probably thrived during World War II.  Over the next few decades it figured out how to get Baby Boomers to buy its products and then feed them to their kids.   It survived health food booms and economic hard times.  Now, in really bad economic straits, weighed down by bloated union contracts, it went into bankruptcy.  The bankruptcy court ordered a reduction in pension and benefits for their bakers, who went on strike.  The company warned the union that it would shut its doors if strikers didn’t return, the union called their bluff, and now the company is being shuttered.

In other words, a company that was able to withstand 80 years of boom and bust was killed off by obstinate bakers who were more worried about giving up a little than than they were about losing a lot.  The union decided that letting the company die was better than doing their part to keep it alive.

Good luck finding work in this economy, members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.  I’m sure there are lots and lots of jobs in your area for an industrial baker.  Also enjoy explaining to the Teamsters why thousands of their drivers are now on unemployment.  I hope y’all enjoy your holidays while a long-lived American company is dismembered and sold to the highest bidder.

And before you ask, I hate Hostess baked sweets and Wonder Bread.  I will admit to using some of their sandwich breads that at least looked like someone had sprayed on a bit of nutrition.   But that’s beside the point.  I was just as pissed at the UAW over the state of Chrysler and GM when they went into meltdown.  Unions, especially unions in well-established companies, are a cancer that is eating away at the core of our industry.  Companies that have no way to get control of their costs, including the cost of employee benefits and retirements, are not going to do well, and that means more people out of work.  I hope the members of the bakers’ union are happy now that they’re the forefront of the latest wave of American unemployment.

by daddybear71 on November 16, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in news

Posted by daddybear71 on November 16, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/16/consider-this/

30 Days of Generals and Admirals – Day 12

Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for. — Norman Schwarzkopf

My Take – I guess I count the time when I can say “I grew up” as when I quit looking forward to someone starting a war.  After the 7×24 video coverage of Desert Storm, brought to you by Disney and Marlboro, I was all fired up to go out and do some soldiering.  When they came around looking for people to send to aid in the Somalia effort, I lined up with a vigor.  Unfortunately, they didn’t need a Russian linguist in the Horn of Africa, so I was thanked, but turned down.  Then the Battle of Mogadishu happened, and we were riveted to information sources, both open and classified, to see what was going on.  That was my first inkling that war was more than just going out and shooting stuff and blowing up that which you can’t shoot,

Bosnia was the next thing that cut my enthusiasm to go out and be a heart breaker and a life taker.  Being in intelligence means that you get to see the sad images on CNN and in Newsweek and then you get to see reports on how it’s even worse than the press is saying.  When the UN was able to get injured civilians out of Sarajevo and to Landstuhl for treatment and placement with refugee organizations, I and several fellow shake-and-bake Serbo-Croat translators were sent to help the doctors talk to their patients.  Seeing women, children, and old people bear the wounds of war was extremely sobering, and sometime during one of my off times at Landstuhl, I grew up enough to not be eager to go off to war.

That’s not to say that there aren’t things worth fighting for.  Recognizing that war is an evil doesn’t negate the fact that it is occasionally a necessary evil.  Some things are indeed worth the cost, and waste, of war.  Being reluctant to go to war doesn’t make me a pacifist.  Recognizing the costs of war leads us to only fight when it is absolutely necessary, or at least it should.

by daddybear71 on November 16, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Generals and Admirals

Posted by daddybear71 on November 16, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/16/30-days-of-generals-and-admirals-day-12/

Today’s Earworm

by daddybear71 on November 15, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Earworm

Posted by daddybear71 on November 15, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/15/todays-earworm-261/

Grumblings

  • I agree with Teddy Roosevelt – I hate the trend to being hyphenated Americans.  I’m not a Norwegian-American, or Irish-American, or German-American.  I’m not even a European-American.  I’m an American, who happens to be of Northern European descent.  I don’t think of some of  my friends and colleagues as being African-American.  They are Americans, most of whom have ancestors who had something absolutely horrific done to them.  I want to point out that we’ve been working toward righting that wrong for at least the past 150 years, sometimes in fits and starts, and sometimes with mixed results, but we’ve been putting in the effort and we are showing progress.  Oh, and I’m not caucasian.  I’ve met people from the Caucasus, and they don’t look like me
  • If you pay income taxes and believe that you and the rest of us who have a job and pay income taxes should pay more, here’s an idea for you:  At tax time, sit down with your accountant and figure out what your tax burden would be if the tax rates were at your desired level.  Find the difference between that number and the amount you actually paid under the current, lower rates.  Then, take that difference and donate it toward the cause of your choice.  Doing that will make sure your money is targeted toward causes you support, rather than just dumping it into the big slush fund in the sky to be doled out to the current Congressional pet project.  However, if you truly feel that the government should choose where that extra money goes, then by all means, write Uncle Sam a check and let him figure it out.  Just leave the rest of us to do have the same freedom to save, spend, or donate our income as we see fit.  Oh, and if you don’t pay income taxes, stay the hell out of the discussion.  If you don’t have a dog in this particular hunt, I don’t care to hear your ‘informed’ opinion.
  • If you break down in the left hand lane of the expressway and you can’t safely make it across 5 lanes of traffic to the right shoulder, please pull over to the left shoulder, turn on your four-way blinkers, and stay with your car.  Someone will eventually stop to help you.   Please DO NOT TRY TO RUN ACROSS 5 LANES OF TRAFFIC TO GET TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY DURING RUSH HOUR.   Thank you.  I did not wish to exercise my collision avoidance drills today, and you would have looked really silly laying on a slab with “DODGE” bruised into your chest. 
  • If you don’t like me walking through your staff meeting, don’t hold it in the hallway between me and the caffeine delivery apparatus.  Seriously, we paid a lot of money to have rooms with chairs and tables and such.  Please utilize them.
  • I hunt because they don’t sell venison at Kroger, that’s why.  Also, deer are vicious creatures that drink the blood of babies when the moon is full and we should all do everything we can to keep their numbers under control.
    • Yes, I took a playbook from the anti-gunners to make a pro-hunting argument.  Why do you ask?
  • Irish Woman was watching a TV program last night about people who make illegal whiskey in Appalachia.  This morning she had a southern twang so thick you could cut it with a knife.  It’s probably what will happen when I start watching TV shows about the people working the oil fields in North Dakota.
    • I will say that a southern accent is a lot more attractive to me than “Oh yeah, he’s a nice fella, doncha know?”.
by daddybear71 on November 15, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Thought for the day

Posted by daddybear71 on November 15, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/15/grumblings/

30 Days of Generals and Admirals – Day 11

I should have given more praise. – Arthur Wellesley

My Take – Appropriate praise is a wonderful motivator.  Not the “everyone gets a trophy and a medal” kind of praise, but rather I mean the occasional kind word or public recognition of a job well done.  Tell me every day how much you appreciate my effort no matter how much I actually produce is nice, but eventually it just becomes part of the background noise.  Telling me I’ve done well after I actually accomplish something means a whole lot more.

by daddybear71 on November 15, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Generals and Admirals

Posted by daddybear71 on November 15, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/15/30-days-of-generals-and-admirals-day-11/

Thoughts on the Day

  • The thought that kept running through my head today was “Please remove your opposable digit from the lower portion of your alimentary canal.”.  
  • Apparently, in order to replace the EGR valve on my van, you have to remove the alternator and move a couple of other things.  Yet another reason to never buy another Chrysler.
  • Boo quote of the day – Dad, I need to go to that McDonald’s to use the potty and get a milkshake.
    • No comment on the outcome of that situation.
  • Irish Woman made dinner before she left to go to her meeting tonight.  I saw precisely two-thirds of it when I got home and fed the kids.
    • Oh well, leftover barbecue chicken tastes good.
  • I’m hoping tomorrow night is cold, but dry.  I can’t find my good rain gear, and I’m going deer hunting after work.
  • You know, when I’m feeling stressed, I bake.  That may explain why Irish Woman fell in love with me.
    • Tonight it was applesauce spice cake.
  • I’m about ready for the whole “alpha male” thing to get worked out between Shadow and Moonshine.
    • It is, however, absolutely hilarious to see the look on Shadow’s face when the puppy barks back at him.
  • Irish Woman has begun the destruct phase of her project to re-do the trim and closet in the bathroom.
    • No rest for the wicked I guess, although I have taken the stand that this is her project, and I’ll just be there for heavy lifting.
    • We’ll see how long that lasts.
by daddybear71 on November 14, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Thought for the day

Posted by daddybear71 on November 14, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/14/thoughts-on-the-day-63/

30 Days of Generals and Admirals – Day 10

I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.  — Douglas MacArthur
My Take – When our civilization falls, and it will fall eventually in the manner that all such things crumble, I doubt that the root cause of the collapse will be natural disaster or foreign invaders.  We are strong and flexible enough to deal with those things.  What will weaken us and make us brittle is the degradation of our core values and attachment to the idea of our union.  No invader can stand to our strength so long as we don’t weaken ourselves.  When we stop looking at each other as fellow Americans, we begin that long process that other great civilizations have taken to oblivion.
 
Since last week’s election, several petitions have come up on the White House website asking that various states be allowed to leave the Union.  I find this as detestable as I do those who want to rip down our society in order to plunder its carcass.  We are the United States of America.  We settled the question of secession a century and a half ago.  Want to hold a revolution?  Wait four years and do it the way our Constitution allows, in an election.  And don’t cry to me about fixed elections.  If the other party has an unfair advantage, then get a candidate and a platform that will win by margins greater than the other party can cheat.  Still want to break off and go your own way?  Then do the brave thing and get the Constitution amended to emphatically say that the states have that right and the federal government has the power to acquiesce.    Yes, the 10th Amendment says that the states have all the powers that aren’t stated in the Constitution, but if the founders wanted states to come and go as they pleased, why didn’t they put a mechanism in the Constitution for leaving the Union to mirror the one they put in for joining it?   
 
Yes, the next few years are going to be hard, maybe the hardest we’ve seen in generations.  I oppose the president and his policies.  I question his motivations, and I expect the worst from him.  But my family has not defended this nation for generations in order for me to be in the generation that saw it fall apart.  We need to pull together with those with whom we agree, resist those who want to tear the country apart, physically, economically, and spiritually, and reach out to those with whom we disagree but with whom we can find common cause in other matters.  We do not need to accelerate the balkanization of our nation by wishing for its dissolution.
 
 
by daddybear71 on November 14, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Generals and Admirals

Posted by daddybear71 on November 14, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/14/30-days-of-generals-and-admirals-day-10/

Range Report

Alternate Title – “Oh look, some actual gun content!”

After dinner tonight, Girlie Bear and I headed off to my indoor range to check zero on my hunting rifles and to put a few holes in some paper.  It’s awful nice to have access to an indoor range with a 100 yard rifle area so close to home.

First, I checked my black powder rifle.  I use a Thompson Center Omega, with a Redhead 3-9 shotgun scope on it, loaded with a 295 grain Powerbelt Aerotip over two 50 grain pellets of 777 powder.  I zero for 25 yards, and hold over for longer shots.  Remember, I’m hunting in north-central Kentucky, not North Dakota.  A 50 yard shot is rare in the woods around here.  After my first shot at 25 yards was on target, I decided to play a bit and see how much bullet drop I got at 75 and 100 yards.

Both shots were aimed at center mass.  As you can see, with that zero and that load, 75 yards is pretty much the most I can shoot without holding over and still be in the vitals zone of a deer.  At 75 yards, I got 3 to 4 inches of drop.  I also took a 100 yard shot, but that one fell completely below the target, so it dropped at least an additional 6 inches.  If I held over to the very top of the target, I would get it into the vitals zone at 100 yards. In other words, for up to 25 yards, I will aim for the bottom of the deer.  At 25 to 75 yards, I will aim center mass.  For further than 75 yards, I will aim at the top of the shoulder blades in order to get a hit in the vitals.  With that load in that gun, I won’t take a shot more than 100 yards out.  I’m pretty sure that if I practiced enough, I could make the shot, but right now I don’t think I could make an ethical shot on a deer at more than 100 yards.

Girlie Bear then took out the 10/22 and wore out my target.

We had to adjust her front sight a bit to bring her shot group down, but once she was on, she was on.  She then got off the bench and practiced shooting standing up because that’s what she believes is her weakest area.  She has really improved in her fundamentals since she started on the rifle team at her school.

I then chased a zero on my bolt-action deer rifle, a Savage Model 110 in .270.  I’m glad I checked my zero on this one.  Unlike the muzzleloader, this one wasn’t even close.  After my first three shots resulted in an untouched target, I broke out the boresighter to see where my point of aim compared to my point of impact.

I wasn’t even close.  I had to lift the crosshairs a good foot over the target at 100 yards to get the dot from the boresighter onto the bullseye.  My scope must have gotten knocked around in the safe.  I eventually brought it down and got a good zero at 100 yards, but I’m not at all proud of the string of 3 round groups that led to it, so no picture.

Next came the new AR-15.  I finished putting the lower together Saturday night in anticipation of going out to Knob Creek on Sunday afternoon.  Unfortunately the wind and the Irish Woman changed my mind about trying to zero a rifle on Sunday, so it came out tonight.  I zeroed it the same way I did in the Army at 25 yards, then pushed the target out to 50 and 100 yards.  I’m proud to say that I got my zero in 9 rounds, which is about what I used to do in the military. (Hey, small victories are still victories).

Yeah, I’m not particularly proud of that.  The shots above the target are at the 50 yard mark, but after looking at them, I changed point of aim to lower on the target and they came back on.  The string inside the inner ring are from the 100 yard shots, also aimed at the 6 o’clock position.  I need a lot of practice.  I have shot an AR exactly twice in the last 14 years, but with practice I think I can get back to the skill level I had when I was shooting expert.  I just have to work on it and remember the pattern that a 5.56 takes in flight.

 

I swear, a better picture is forthcoming

Yeah, I geeked out a little when I asked Wally and company to make this for me.

The AR is a 5.56/.223 lower from York Arms, with a lower parts kit from Palmetto State Armory.  The rear sight is a Magpul MBUS that folds down and comes up on a spring with the push of a couple of tabs.  The upper is a CMMG 16 inch setup with Magpul MOE handguards.  I am still working on building my own upper, but cost and availability of parts convinced me that it made sense to invest in the carbine length upper now.  I was going to get one anyway, so when I saw a good deal on this one, I got it.  One of the reasons I wanted an AR was for use as a trainer for Girlie Bear if she decides to join the military, and using a carbine length upper that approximates an M-4 makes sense.

The build was pretty straight forward.  I found a really good how-to at ar15.com, and I supplemented that with a few YouTube videos.  The trickiest part of the build was the trigger, but once I figured out how it all fits together, it’s not that challenging.

One thing about shooting a brand new rifle that surprised me is how tight this thing is compared to the M-16’s that I shot when I was in the military.  Even the brand new rifle I was issued to take to Bosnia wasn’t as tight as this thing.  However, with a good coat of RemOil, everything ran very smoothly.  At first the trigger felt rather grainy, but after putting 40 rounds through it, it got a lot cleaner and crisper.  It’s not as nice as the trigger on my Savage or the Timney I put in the Mosin Nagant, but it’s not bad.  It broke at 7.5 pounds, and after I put a few hundred more bullets into her, I’ll measure again.

So it was a really good night.  Girlie Bear’s shooting has significantly improved.  I have a good zero on both of my hunting rifles.  And I have a zero on my new AR-15 and a new goal to achieve with it.  Now I just need a whole bunch of ammunition to practice with.

by daddybear71 on November 14, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Guns

Posted by daddybear71 on November 14, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/14/range-report-11/

30 Days of Generals and Admirals – Day 9

I was very careful to send Mr. Roosevelt every few days a statement of our casualties. I tried to keep before him all the time the casualty results because you get hardened to these things and you have to be very careful to keep them always in the forefront of your mind. — George C. Marshall

My Take – Every decision I make, both monumental and miniscule, has consequences.  Sometimes, the harshest consequences aren’t paid by me.  Instead, my decisions and actions will affect someone else.  I must keep that in mind, especially when it comes to my firearms.  One moment, one decision, one pull of a trigger can have a horrific impact on others, both those who deserve it and those who don’t.  I must always remember that I, and I alone, am responsible for everything I do, and that what I do can cause others pain.

When it comes to leaders at high levels, it is even more important that they be aware of the consequences of their decisions.  Reminders about casualties, either through lists placed on a desk or reports in the news, keep their heads in the game.  Presidents can treat war like a game of Risk or a video game, and sometimes even the people back home can do the same thing.  Witness the ratings for CNN during Operation Desert Storm for that.  When the images of planes, tanks, and rockets are sanitized from the death and suffering that accompany their use, on both sides, war becomes entertainment.

I think that’s why I never objected to pictures of our dead returning to Dover being on the news, assuming that their families permit it.  We need reminders that every time we send our young men and women out to do something, some of them are not going to come back whole and some of them are not going to come back alive.  When we forget that, we forget that our soldiers are human and they become faceless automatons sent out to do our bidding.  When we forget that real people fight wars, we go to war without thought to the consequences and without resorting to other solutions first.  By being mindful of the cost of our decisions and desires, we minimize the suffering of those who are the instrument of our decisions.  We must still be prepared to send them to defend our country, but we must always remember them and by so doing, we will hold their efforts and blood as precious, which to me is how it should be.

 

by daddybear71 on November 13, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Generals and Admirals

Posted by daddybear71 on November 13, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/13/30-days-of-generals-and-admirals-day-9/

Schadenfreude

John Schnatter, founder and CEO of Papa John’s Pizza, has joined the chorus of businessmen calling out the emperor for walking around in his birthday suit.  He is predicting that franchisees of the pizza chain will find ways to reduce the hours worked by their employees in order to be exempt from some of the provisions of Obamacare.  He has also stated that the costs of implementing the program will raise the cost of his companies product, which will probably hurt business.

Now, is Mr. Schnatter lying?  I don’t believe he is.  When a business owner, whether they employ 10 people or 100,000, knows that their costs are going to go up, they will find a way to either soften the blow or dodge it entirely.  If you are going to have to spend millions of dollars to provide health insurance to people who work more than 30 hours a week, you’d be a fool to not bring as many people as you can below 30 hours a week.  Some will call this exploiting a loophole or accuse him of gaming the system, but those are codewords for “doing something that is legal but not what some would have you do”.  And I’ve heard Alan say it many times:  Corporations don’t pay taxes, they collect them.  If the cost of doing business goes up due to Obamacare or any other regulation or tax, then the companies will pass that cost on to their customers.  The President and his advisors and allies in the Congress obviously missed that day in Economics 101.

Is Mr. Schnatter being greedy by trying to deny his employees health insurance and lowering their hours?  I’d say not.  What he is doing is being a good, prudent businessman.  Yes, a business owner has a responsibility to her employees to provide a safe and fair working environment, but she also has a responsibility to the people who finance the business.  They must keep the doors open and keep making profits in order to afford to keep paying salaries and providing benefits, even if they aren’t as comprehensive or generous as the President would like.

I’ve met Mr. Schnatter, and my family benefits by his giving to the Louisville Zoo and to my youngest son’s school.  He and his wife are gracious, selfless philanthropists who have not forgotten where they came from.  Schnatter began his pizza company as a small business owner, worked his butt off, caught lighting in a bottle, and has been running with it ever since.  He also seems to be following the example of Andrew Carnegie in that he is spreading his wealth as widely and as wisely as he can.  He is also doing it in a very low-key manner.  I know of several charitable organizations that owe a great deal to the Schatters, but it is rare that you hear about it in the news.

So no, I don’t believe that Mr. Schnatter is advocating lowering working hours for his workers as a way to up his profits.  A man who has made as much money as he has and who gives away as much as he does without seeking glory knows to put people above profits.  But I do believe that he knows that if the cost of the mandatory expenditures for Obamacare are not managed or avoided, then he will have to lay people off.  Fewer hours is better than no hours.

As for those who are calling for a boycott of Papa Johns and other companies that are working to keep the wheels on under the yoke of the healthcare law, I pledge that the publicity for this issue will indeed drive my spending decisions.  But I think you’ll be disappointed to find that I will be spending my money at businesses whose owners are good businessmen, rather than those who throw money at a soft hearted and soft headed attempt to make life better with no thought to the costs.

Congratulations, you got the economy you voted for, the business climate you voted for, and the healthcare law you voted for.  Now I will enjoy watching the light of comprehension come into your eyes as you realize that the cost of your victory will be much steeper than you were promised. Enjoy your bite of the poop sandwich you handed the country.  I’m sorry that it won’t taste quite as sweet as you thought it would.

by daddybear71 on November 12, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by daddybear71 on November 12, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/12/schadenfreude-2/

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