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Repost – You didn’t build that

This was originally posted on July 17, 2012

 

If you’re going to Ivy League universities based on the color of your skin, because you demonstrably didn’t earn your way there through hard work and grades, and other people are paying for it, you didn’t build that.  It was built by generations of hard-working people who created the scholarships you soaked up while you were getting high and ‘educated’.

If you’re a ‘community organizer’, theoretically continuing the struggle to achieve equality between black citizens and everyone else, you didn’t build that.  The hard work was done two generations ago by Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X.

If you’re a twit who thinks that having failed his way through Ivy League schools makes him a constitutional scholar and you’re teaching classes on constitutional law, you didn’t build that.  The men who built this country created the document on which you claim expertise.

If you’re a placeholder in the Illinois legislature, at least for long enough to run for higher office, you didn’t build that.  It was built by the man who freed your children’s ancestors from slavery.

If you’re an empty suit that got lucky to have his opponent be a stupid jerk who destroyed his own chance of winning a seat in the United States Senate, you didn’t build that.  The Senate was built by august men and women who actually wished to serve instead of being served.

If you’re living in government housing in the center of the nation’s capital, and you’re working a contract job for four years, with a remote chance of re-upping for another four, you didn’t build that.  It was built by better men than you, and we, their descendents, can’t wait to help you pack.

In closing Mr. President, I have two things for you. Actually, one’s for you and one’s for the horse you rode in on.  I hope you enjoy it, you insignificant footnote in the history of incompetent presidents.

by daddybear71 on November 5, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Politics

Posted by daddybear71 on November 5, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/05/repost-you-didnt-build-that/

Thought for the Evening

I’ve seen and read a lot of stories lately about people surviving either the zombie apocalypse or an economic collapse that leads to social anarchy.  The protagonists always seem to have at least one of the following going for them:

  • They have a safe full of Blastomatic 2000’s with a basement full of ammunition
  • They happened to luck into topping off their gas tanks and pantries just before calamity struck.
  • There is a gun guy/ country boy / grizzled veteran who has a vault full of guns and food and is willing to share
  • They find an abandoned government bunker complex with a never-ending supply of ammunition, food, and clean water.

Honestly, I wish someone would write a more realistic story in the TEOTWAWKI  genre.  I want a tale about a suburban guy with a couple of kids and a wife who has to fight off the zombie hordes or eek out a living while fending off the Golden Horde with nothing but a Mosin Nagant 91/30, a spam can of Bulgarian 7.x62x54R, both of which are older than he is, a HiPoint 9mm, and a couple of boxes of Russian steel cased 9mm hardball ammunition.  I’ll believe it if he has maybe a couple of weeks of groceries, tops, and one of his kids gets deathly ill because he either ate some bad food out of the now-defunct refrigerator or got some contaminated water.  Bonus points if his jerk brother-in-law shows up and tries to be in charge, causing family stress at a time it’s not needed.

And no, I’m not going to write this myself.  I’ve written two novels in my life.  They both sucked so bad I burned them and swore to never waste that much of my time on something I am so bad at.  I’ll just keep searching Amazon for the book I want to read instead of inflicting my “vision” on the rest of you.

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

Posted by daddybear71 on November 4, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/04/thought-for-the-evening-2/

30 Days of Generals and Admirals – Day 1

But you must remember, my fellow-citizens, that eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty, and that you must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessing. – Andrew Jackson

My Take – This one has become a cliche, but it’s still relevant.  Our freedoms are not taken in one fell swoop.  Rather, they are slowly eroded over decades.  LawDog’s Parable of the Cake holds true not just for gun rights, but for all of them. Free speech, rights to counsel and a day in court, rights to security of our persons and property, and a lot of others have been under open assault for a very long time.  We won’t see open usurpation of the republic overnight, but it will happen after a long slow slide into either anarchy or tyranny.  The question is this:  Where are we on that curve, at the top of the slide, the bottom, or somewhere in between?

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

Posted by daddybear71 on November 4, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/04/30-days-of-generals-and-admirals-day-1/

Repost – Fetchez La Vache

This was originally posted on May 9, 2011

 

Well, the first political ad of the season just showed on the morning news.  Apparently we’re off to an early start.  Whoopee.

In 2008, we were handed a crap sandwich and told it was marzipan and happiness.  Nothing changed for the better.  In 2010, we threw it back in the politicians’ faces and screamed “We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take this anymore!”.  Again, nothing really changed.  We’re still on the same trajectory toward insolvency and irrelevancy that we were on in 2006.  If anything, we’re accelerating down that particular track.

We need to change tactics.  As big a pain in the tuckus as we were to Democrats and establishment Republicans in 2010, we need to be even more painful to them.  We need to expose and shame ‘conservatives’ who vote against our interests so that they can gain favor with the President and his cabal of too-cool-for-school ‘progressives’.  We need to make the slumbering masses wake up and smell the house burning.

If necessary, we need to be ridiculous.  Snark must run in the streets.  Ridicule of politicians from all parties should be the order of the day.  I’m not talking about principled disagreements with their stands on issues.  I’m talking about lampooning them in the same manner Hollywood has been doing since Dan Akroyd tried to imitate Nixon on Saturday Night Live.  And then we need to vote every single national and state politician who was elected prior to 2010 out of office.

I’ve got my wookie suit and chicken suit in the closet.  Something tells me both will be getting a workout between now and November 2012.

by daddybear71 on November 4, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Politics

Posted by daddybear71 on November 4, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/04/repost-fetchez-la-vache/

Thoughts on the Day

  • The puppy woke me up at 4:45 this morning.  The alarm was set for 5.  
  • I was the first customer of the day at both Big Orange Home Improvement Store and Big Blue Home Improvement Store this morning.
    • That may be a personal record.
  • The structural part of the porch refurb will be done tomorrow.  Trim work will happen over the next week or so as I do a little bit every night after work.
  • So far, this, to quote my loving wife, “easy, simple project” has cost us the equivalent of a rather nice rifle or pistol, not counting my time.
    • There better be some really good beer served on this porch.
  • I think I’ve found the limit of what I can do with Black and Decker tools.  When the current crop wears out, I believe I’m going to upgrade to Porter Cable, Dewalt, or Bosch.
  • Today, I was warm enough to sweat, got rained on, got hailed on, and ended up chilled to the bone.  The best thing I can say about the weather is that all my tromping around in the mud is compacting the dirt we displaced to dig the footers quite nicely.
  • Nothing says “I love you” like a woman who makes a batch of chili and a big cup of coffee for her husband while he’s out working in the weather.
  • One funny thing about being dirty, wet, and covered up to my hips in muddy clay is that when I go to the convenience store when all the teenagers and 20-somethings are there on their way to their evening entertainment, the crowds part like the Red Sea for me.
  • For dinner tonight, Irish Woman made a fire in the fireplace and roasted hot dogs with Boo.  Dessert was s’mores.  Is it any surprise I love her so?
  • I taught Girlie Bear a new word today – holodomor.  She read a book for school that was historical fiction about the Soviet Union.  She asked me to explain about Stalin’s genocide.  It kind of saddened me to explain to a 14-year-old girl about just how evil the world can be.
by daddybear71 on November 3, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Thought for the day

Posted by daddybear71 on November 3, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/03/thoughts-on-the-day-59/

30 Days of Obama – Day 30

I think Governor Romney maybe hasn’t spent enough time looking at how our military works. You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military’s changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines. And so the question is not a game of Battleship, where we’re counting ships. It’s: What are our capabilities? – 2012

My Take – The nature of our military has indeed changed since 1916.   We  have aircraft carriers, and they are the premier power projection platform on the seas.  We even have nuclear submarines, which do go under the water.  Problem is, we don’t have enough of either.  Our Navy is smaller than it has been in a very long time, and while each warship packs a bigger punch now, we still need a minimum number of them to meet our obligations while still being able to do maintenance on our fleet and train the crews.  Right now, we are stretching our forces, Navy and otherwise, to a breaking point.  We either need to cut our requirements, or we need to add to our capabilities.

Maybe Mr. Obama is trying to recreate the mythical “peace dividend” that Bill Clinton touted so much in the 1990’s, or maybe he just doesn’t give much thought to the armed forces and the impact his policies are having on them. Either way, he needs to spend a little more time paying attention to our military and pay a little less attention to the aging hippies that are telling him that it needs to be cut to the bone and beyond.

by daddybear71 on November 3, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Obama

Posted by daddybear71 on November 3, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/03/30-days-of-obama-day-30/

Repost – Oh Really?

This was originally posted on December 8, 2009

 

Senator “Dingy” Harry Reid has compared Republicans and others who oppose his healthcare plan to people who wanted to keep slavery and opposed civil rights legislation.

OK, let’s take a moment to reflect on the actual history:

Which party went to war in 1861 rather than see the Union split permanently between free and slave territories?  That’s right, theRepublicans.

Which party actively worked against the country during the Civil War and would have negotiated a peace with the Confederacy if they’d been able to win the presidency in 1864?  That’s right, the Democrats.

Who pushed through amendments to the Constitution that not onlymade slavery illegal, but also guaranteed the rights of the former slaves?  That’s right, the Republicans.

What party was in power in the 1860′s and 1870′s and had to deal withSouthern Democrat partisans riding around in sheets and lynching black people?  That’s right, the Republicans.

Which party actively opposed civil rights legislation in the late 1950′s, even going so far as to filibuster the Senate and stand in the door to stop black students from attending white schools?  That’s right, the Democrats.

Senator Reid, before you ratchet up the rhetoric, and go beyond calling Republicans Nazi’s and such, please get your facts straight.  The Democratic party has a lot more to answer to about slavery and civil rights than the Republicans do.

by daddybear71 on November 3, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Politics, Uncategorized

Posted by daddybear71 on November 3, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/03/repost-oh-really/

Remember

Theo van Gogh, a film director who made movies that poked holes in the multi-cultural veil of willful ignorance, was killed on November 2, 2004.  His murderer took offense at his film Submission, which dealt with the issue of abuse of women in the Muslim world.  He shot van Gogh 8 times, tried to cut his head off, then stabbed him in the chest with two knives, pinning an Islamic screed to his dead body.  This forced Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali born member of the Dutch parliament who wrote the script for the film,  to go into hiding for her own safety. 

Was van Gogh a hero?  Depends on how you look at it.  What he did shouldn’t have been remarkable.  Having freedom of religion and speech means you have to take the responsiblity to deal with it when someone exercises their right to free speech to criticize your religion.

Was he a martyr?  Yes he was, in just about the textbook definition of the word.  He was killed because someone who couldn’t control their own violence decided that what he had done was worthy of killing him.  Because of his words, he was murdered.

This is what we are fighting:  People who believe that the answer to objectionable speech is violence, not more speech.  People who believe that to believe differently than what they do, much less publicly question their practices, is to invite your own murder.  We can never forget that, and we should never forget Theo van Gogh, a man who was butchered because he had the temerity to point out that the Dar al Islam is not paradise on earth.

by daddybear71 on November 2, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized

Posted by daddybear71 on November 2, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/02/remember-3/

Curious

Hurricane Sandy and her aftermath have been a test of preparedness at all levels.  I’m curious to hear from those of you who went through the storm about what you expected versus what happened.  I’d also like to know what preparations you made that turned out to be useful, versus what you did that turned out to not have been a factor.  I’d also like to hear any lessons y’all learned, especially things that you wish you’d done to get ready for the storm.

I’d like to use what you can tell us to appraise my own prepping, and as a resource for someone who is beginning their work to do, buy, and learn things that will help them in an emergency.  Please leave your thoughts in comments.  Feel free to link to your own posts that deal with the subject if you’re doing your own write-up.  Thanks!

by daddybear71 on November 2, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in advice, Prepping

Posted by daddybear71 on November 2, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/02/curious/

30 Days of Obama – Day 29

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t — look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, “well, it must be because I was just so smart.” There are a lot of smart people out there. “It must be because I worked harder than everybody else.” Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges; if you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. — 2012

My Take – Mr. President, if you use your brain and work hard, you have a better chance of succeeding than you do if you wait for someone else to give you what you need. Yes, we all stand on the shoulders of giants, and we didn’t get where we are without other people being there for us. But those people are there because this is a high trust society, where we help each other out, not because someone was using tax money to pay for them to do it. We have roads because we all decided that the cost of putting the road together and maintaining it was offset by the money that we would all make because it was easier to move people and goods.

Government doesn’t build businesses, people do. Government can make things favorable for business. Government can buy goods and services from business. But government doesn’t build them. As a matter of fact, government doesn’t really build anything. At best, it pays other people to build things.

So remember, Mr. President, you didn’t build that. We all got together and did it, without your help and usually while overcoming the ‘assistance’ of people like you.

by daddybear71 on November 2, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in obama

Posted by daddybear71 on November 2, 2012

https://daddybearsden.com/2012/11/02/5454/

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