Scientists are now predicting that solar activity may be low for the next decade or so.  They believe that this will cause lower global temperatures, with all of the consequences such a thing can bring.

Forgive me if I don’t panic.

When I was a child, the ice age was on its way back.  As a teenager, we were all going to die in a post-apocalyptic nuclear winter.  As an adult, I was told that the planet would grow so warm that millions would starve from the drought and coastal flooding.

Now we’re back to lower than normal temps.

I’ll wait until I start to see blizzards in May again, and the Ohio freezes solid enough to walk on before I start to give credence to this new theory.

We got this in the mail the other day:

One of the local Ford dealerships wants to pay me up to half my purchase price for the Caravan.  As much as I’d love to be rid of that piece of crap, I’m not going to bite.  First, I like not having a car payment, even if I’m about to dump a lot of cash into the POS.  Next, they wouldn’t give me anything even close to that once they actually see the DadMobile, so it probably wouldn’t be worth the effort. And finally, I wouldn’t inflict that pile of junk on my worst enemy unless I knew they were going to set it on fire.  I won’t even donate it to the GoodWill because I’m pretty sure they’ll spend more getting it to an auction house than they will make from it.

No, my plans for the minivan include Knob Creek, a Ma-Deuce, and as much tannerite as I can afford. Sorry, Mr. Ford Dealer, but I’ll have to do you a favor and pass.

Saw this tonight when I stopped off to pick up a couple of things Irish Woman needed to make dinner:

That’s take-home pizza and cold beer within spitting distance of the front door and the registers.  Everything a guy needs, all in one convenient location.  OK, it’s Budweiser in several forms, but if you’re going to sit in front of the TV and watch the game while eating pizza and drinking beer, this is perfect.

On this date in 1775, the Congress of the 13 colonies created the United States Army.  The U.S. is in a minority of countries, in that it’s armed forces, including it’s army, can trace their lineage to before the actual creation of the country itself.  While the Army was formed in 1775, the country itself wasn’t officially created until the Constitution was ratified in 1789.

The United States Army has had its glory, it’s shame, it’s elation, and its heartbreak.  Our soldiers have fought in the mud of trenches, the dust of deserts, the spray of the surf, and the snow of mountains.  They fly through the sky, parachute from the heights, drive war machines such as have never been seen before, and of course, they march to the sound of the guns.  Today we have soldiers in one form or another in hundreds of places around the world.  Sometimes their exploits are on the evening news, sometimes we will never know what they do for us.

“I, Daddy J. Bear, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

Our armed forces do not swear allegiance to the government, or even to the country.  They swear to protect and defend our Constitution, from which our country flows, and follow orders that are in accordance with regulations.  Never in our history have our soldiers pledged allegiance to a general, or a president, or a party.  That alone goes a long way in explaining why our democracy has never gone down to military dictatorship, as have so many since 1775.  While she has never been truly apolitical, our Army has always followed the example of Washington and refrained from interfering in the conduct of the government.

236 years is a long time for any organization to exist, even one that evolves and adapts as much as our Army does.  I have to admit that I am awed by the thought of the generations of warriors who have come before me, and I envy the generations that will follow me.  So long as the Army remembers its proper role in a healthy republic, the country will be safe.

A couple of years ago, I wrote about the protests that popped up in the Bay Area after the fatal shooting of a man by the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police.  Basically, a man of African heritage was arrested for being part of a fight in a BART station.  The victim was on his belly with his hands behind his back when a BART policeman, Johannes Mehserle, reached to his belt, pulled out his sidearm, and shot him.  The policeman claimed at trial that he thought he was pulling out his Taser, and pulled his pistol instead.

Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 2 years in prison last year.

You read that right, two years in prison for shooting a proned-out prisoner in the back with a .40 calibre handgun.  If Mehserle is telling the truth, he got two years for not knowing the difference in how the grip on a Taser and a pistol feels, not looking at the weapon in his hand while aiming it, and then shooting another human being that was on his stomach with his hands behind his back. 

This past weekend, Mehserle was released from jail in Los Angeles after serving 11 months of his sentence.  He was given time off for good behavior and time served.  That’s right, folks.  Shoot a man in the back while he’s lying face down on a train station platform, and you’ll only be in jail for 11 months. 

Needless to say, there’s trouble brewing in the Bay Area.  Peaceful protests have already happened in Oakland and Los Angeles, and I can honestly say that I hope there are more.  Being given such a light sentence and then getting time off because he kept his nose clean is insulting.  Apparently the sentence for Contempt of Cop is death in Oakland, but the sentence for causing the death of a prisoner through negligence is only 11 months.