This is the day where all of the people of Irish descent, people who are married to people of Irish descent, people who have heard of Ireland, and just plain alcoholics put on their green “Kiss me I’m Irish!” tee shirt, and bend a few elbows in salute to the great Irish tradition of mixing politics, religion, and alcohol.  Since I live in Kentucky, I can tell you that these traditions run strong through the American spirit.

I’m of a pretty mixed mixed ethnic heritage, but have more than a few drops of Irish blood in me.  As a kid, I found it interesting to learn about the national holidays of my ancestors:

Irish – March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day – A day to look back at an island nation that most of our ancestors couldn’t wait to leave.  A religious holiday in Ireland, but Americans make up for that by debauching themselves in ways that would make Sodom and Gemorrah blush.  Seriously, the Brazilians during Carnival have nothing on a a bunch of “Irishmen” in Boston or Chicago.
 
Norwegian – July 29 – St. Olaf’s Day – Celebrated with a hearty meal of pickled beets, pickled onions, pickled fish, and potatoes.  Quietly wash all of this down with about half a bottle of Akavit and a few cans of PBR, then stare morosely at the great plains out your back door, which still seem cold in late July.

German – Late September – Oktoberfest – A rollicking good time to taste all the beers of the world, eat wonderful sausages and roast chicken, fling heavy glass beer mugs at strangers during a brawl, and remember the good old days when invading Poland and France was the national pastime.

French Canadian – June 24 – National Holiday of Quebec – A great day to drink a little wine, make a few political speeches about an occupation that’s been happening since the 1760’s, and in general get mad because your country has the audacity to allow English to be spoken.

Scottish – December 31 – Hogmanay – While the rest of the world celebrates the year that’s passing and the year yet to come, the Scots are cleaning out their houses, singing Robert Burns songs badly, drinking the sludge from the bottom of the whiskey barrel, and lighting their torches.  On the other hand, those last two might just be what you do for fun on a Saturday night in Glasgow.

In all seriousness, I feel more than a little blessed that my ancestors, no matter where they came from, had the courage to decide that the place where their ancestors had lived for centuries wasn’t good enough.  It takes real guts to get on a boat with what little you can carry and head off to another continent where few speak your language and you have no promise of prosperity.

So when you’re drowning the shamrock this evening, remember that our immigrant ancestors gave up a lot to come here and make a better life for themselves and their descendents. 

Slainte!

“Common Sense Gun Laws” is a term that’s used by the anti-gun groups to describe their latest attempt to curtail our right to keep and bear arms.  Usually, they’re some permutation of “I don’t like it, so you can’t do it”.  Not very common sense to me.

This morning, I got an alert from the NRA that shows the Commonwealth of Kentucky does indeed have some common sense:

Today, Governor Steve Beshear signed into law two pro-gun bills. House Bill 308, with an NRA-supported amendment, will provide a pathway to restoring gun rights.  House Bill 313 will allow for concealed carry in a vehicle’s installed compartment. 

Bill 308 provides a method by which someone who’s lost their right to arms can get them back by applying to the courts for an exception.  Like Alan over at Snarky Bytes says, if they’re safe enough to be out roaming the streets, they’re safe enough to be able to own a gun.

Bill 313 allows me to put a gun in the Irish Woman’s car without having to put it in the glove compartment, which is impossible because the glove compartment is too small to put a pair of gloves in, much less a 1911.

Next time someone wants to talk to you about “common sense” gun regulations, point them this way. 

Funny thing is, these bills didn’t get any play in the local news, and Beshear is a relatively middle of the road Democrat.  Both facts may lead me to believe that, at least here in Kentucky, guns, even guns owned by ex-cons or kept in the console of a minivan, aren’t that big a deal.

We all want to help out when a friend has a tragedy in their lives.  Maybe we take over a meal to a grieving family, or we offer to sit with someone in the hospital so the caretakers can have a break.  Sometimes we just go to the grocery store for staples when we know a family is running short on money and their cupboards are getting a little bare, or we do some yard work for the elderly lady who’s lost her husband.

One of our closest allies is struggling to provide for their people, and a lot of good NGO’s are helping out.  I’m putting a link to this page, which makes it easier to make donations to reputable charities that are assisting the Japanese people, on my sidebar for the foreseeable future. 

Our family is keeping the Japanese people in our prayers every night, and if you’re the praying sort, please consider sending a couple up for them as well.

At what point did a drug addict or alcoholic stop checking into the hospital to dry out and begin entering a treatment facility for rehab?

When did raising kids become parenting?

When did a teacher become an educator, or a garbageman become a sanitation worker, or public servants become public employees?

When did cop shows, doctor shows, westerns, and sitcoms get overtaken by white trash programming like reality TV and talk shows?

When did tattoos go from being something that Marines get in Singapore to what any 18 year old twit could get at the local strip mall?

When did working hard, saving money, and being responsible go out of fashion?

I don’t have the answers to any of these, but my gut tells me it’s somehow the fault of the hippies.

Today, the last of an extraordinary generation of American patriots was laid to rest near the grave of his commanding general.  Both the President and Vice-President took the time to attend his memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery.

Corporal Frank Buckles and his comrades were the first examples of Americans who went to war to protect and liberate others, not because the country itself had been attacked or was in danger.  They answered the call to fight to make other men free, and they did so with a vigor and conviction that I have never seen in my own life.  They got no G.I. Bill or signing bonuses, or even what we would consider basic medical care in exchange for the best years of their young lives.  They provided the backbone that the Allies had lost over years of trench warfare, and gave the Allies the edge needed to break the stalemate and end the war.

These men came home to build the great factories and cities that rose up in our country in the first half of the 20th century.  They raised their sons and daughters through good times, bad times, and the worst bad time in our nation’s history.  Those who didn’t find a way to re-up in 1941 kept the country running while the greatest conflagration the world has ever seen raged, and provided an arsenal of democracy for the rest of the free world.  They didn’t do these things for glory, and they rarely became rich.  They did it because it was the right thing to do.

Now the last of their number has joined the ranks at Fiddler’s Green, and is probably forming up to pass in review for the Almighty with the rest of a proud and worthy generation.  It is to the generation of our grandfathers and great grandfathers that we say goodbye today.  We will not see their like again.  They were an integral part of our history, and they will be sorely missed.

Using the term “pigs briss” in a status report will get you a lot of individual attention from your supervisor.  It is, however, quite descriptive and accurate to several given situations.

A University of Cincinnati student staged a little bit of civil disobedience at a TSA checkpoint in Richmond by writing the 4th Amendment on his chest and stripping off his shirt before being groped by the blue-gloved TSA agents.  He was detained, questioned, and charged with “disorderly conduct”.  These charges were eventually dropped, and he even made his flight.

I’m just hoping that he refused to cooperate in the questioning by standing on his 5th Amendment right to silence. 

He’s since filed a lawsuit against the government for the detention and questioning, and I hope he wins, even though my tax dollars will be going to pay him.  I sincerely hope that he takes it to court rather than settle.  The judiciary needs to weigh in on the constitutionality of not only the TSA checkpoint procedures in general, but also the way in which the government trumps up some BS charge against anyone who dares to stand up to them and make it difficult to walk all over us.

Good luck, Aaron Tobey.  When you’re old enough for a beer, the first one’s on me.

The Russian space agency has hiked the amount NASA will have to pay them to ferry astronauts up to the International Space Station.  Beginning in 2014, the cost of moving one American butt from Baikonur to the ISS will go from $56 million to $63 million dollars per person.

The contract extension with the Russian Space Agency totals $753 million, which covers trips for a dozen astronauts from 2014 through 2016.

NASA blames the price increase on “inflation”.

Sigh….

Let me explain this to you, Sparky the NASA Spokesperson, and I’ll try to use small words.

Inflation?  Really?  Either you’re as dumb as a bag of hammers or you think we all are.  This is extortion, nothing more or less.  Either we pay them through the nose to get into space or we don’t go.

The Russians do not like us, never have and never will.  They spent most of the 1960’s and 1970’s watching us build shiny moon rockets while they perfected the art of putting cosmonauts in orbit on the cheap.  They will partner with us when it is profitable to do so, but don’t expect any “family pricing” from them for anything.  Since the Bush and Obama administrations decided to cut out our only way of getting real live American scientists into low earth orbit, the Russians are pretty much the only game in town.  Like any other large single-source monopoly, they’re going to charge as much as the market can bear with no worries as to what a competitive solution might cost.  Anyone who expresses surprise at this needs to come talk to me about some beach front property in the Ozarks.

The only thing I’m surprised about is that the Russians didn’t wait until we’d officially decommissioned the space shuttle fleet later this year before announcing their little price hike.  They’re usually much better extortionists than this.

Here’s an idea:  Why doesn’t the government cut all NASA ISS launch costs out of the budget, use the saved money to create tax incentives for private space launch businesses, and work towards cutting the Russians out of our business altogether?  I’d rather pay Richard Branson a few million dollars a seat than give Putin a red kopek.

And you guys who are trying to re-invent the re-usable space vehicle wheel?  How about you license the proven workhorse Soyuz capsule from the Russians or revamp the Gemini capsules for a few million dollars, team up with United Launch Alliance, and use Delta IV rockets to put a few people or a few tons of cargo into orbit on the cheap.  Use the profits from that to fund your “space tourism” research.  Something tells me it wouldn’t be that hard to mate a proven space capsule to a proven rocket design.

“Inflation” my eye.

“Clowns gather for New York convention“