Gone To Fight the Indians

The fifth Commandant of my beloved Marine Corps, Archibald Henderson, is also known as the, "Grand Old Man of the Marine Corps," for his 38 year tenure as Commandant. He certainly gave the Corps plenty of mileage. He's one of the first men that we learn about in Recruit Training, as he's considered one of the benchmarks of Marine Corps history.

During the Creek and Seminole Indian War, native Americans were on the warpath in Florida. According to Corps history, Henderson volunteered the Corps to take care of the problem. He departed for Florida in the summer of 1835.

When he left Washington, he tacked a simple, handwritten note to his office door that stated, "Gone to fight the Indians, be back when the war is over."

I'm trying to adopt a similar, carefree attitude as I depart Okinawa for CONUS. I'll be taking a three week trip to Mexifornia in order to visit family. Perhaps I can just tack a note to my office door that says, "Gone to fight the invaders from the south, be back when the war is over." Unfortunately, with our current batch of crooks in suits, I'd never be able to return. I'd be much better off with a sign that reads, "Gone to shake my head in disgust at the state of affairs in my homeland."

Either way, I'll be out of regular contact for a couple of weeks. Here's to hoping that it will be a fun couple of weeks, and not a lesson in " what to do when travel plans go wrong."

EPA and Global Warming Deception

Hazardous pollutant breathers...

On April 17th of this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (part of our wonderfully bloated federal bureaucracy) declared carbon dioxide (CO2) a "dangerous pollutant." The EPA's website, which I refuse to link to, lists CO2 as the most prevalent "greenhouse gas." This stems from their almost rabid embracing of the myth that mankind is somehow affecting the global climate change that has been occurring since the end of the last ice age.

What the EPA refuses to admit, is that CO2 is NOT the most prevalent greenhouse gas (I'll stick with that term for simplicity's sake, since most people are familiar with it). The most abundant substance that is capable of causing a greenhouse-like condition is WATER VAPOR.

Water vapor dwarfs CO2 in our atmosphere. Imagine filling a dump truck with ping pong balls, and then tossing in a handful of golf balls. Get the idea? Should we ban the emission of water vapor too? Try telling that to the oceans; think they'll respond and stop evaporating all of that water? Al Gore probably thinks so.

I've got a newsflash for the liberal sheeple that buy into the EPA's magic show: Our planet is abundantly covered in vegetation that NEEDS CO2 in order to live. Plants "breathe" in CO2...It's hardly a hazardous pollutant! They teach that in elementary school science, or have they replaced that with cultural sensitivity classes?

Michael Jackson...Really?

Loving father...

Is it just another publicity stunt? I guess not; Michael Jackson actually died. His entourage stated that it was possibly a heart attack (not drugs?), but I don't really give a damn how he died, as long as he didn't take somebody else with him.

I keep seeing all of this hoopla and crap on the news about it. Why? I don't normally speak ill of the now-decomposing, but I will certainly speak ill of the idiots that are fawning all over his long-dead career. This guy, for quite some time now, has only been famous for being a child predator, and acting moderately insane. "But John, he was acquitted!" So was OJ.

All of these idiots that are saying crap like, "Oh Michael; You'll be missed!" piss me the hell off. What kind of dope are they smoking? How can he be missed when he hasn't done anything worthwhile in more years than most of his fans can count? Some people have some seriously screwed up priorities. The guy was a creep; get over it.

Boxer's Entitlement Mentality

Senator Boxer (the liberal from California) made a feeble attempt at chastising a Brigadier General for addressing her as "ma'am." You can read more about it on many of the news sites, even by clicking here.

Her remarks about how she should be addressed as "Senator," since she worked "so hard" to "earn" that title, are a fine example of exactly what is wrong with the batch of career politicians that are currently being overpaid to screw up our nation. Last time I checked, Boxer is a public SERVANT, not some form of royalty. The irony of her attempting to lecture a career military man about earning a title is not lost on me.

Some bloggers and news people keep trying to point out that it is "military protocol" to refer to senior personnel with the terms "sir," or "ma'am." It might turn out that it's Army protocol, but it is certainly not Marine Corps protocol (nor Navy). As it is, we're gradually raising a generation of people that easily forget that we should be addressing senior personnel by their rank. For example, an enlisted Marine should render a greeting to a Captain of, "Good morning, Captain." Sir and ma'am are reserved for officers, or dignitaries, whose rank one is unsure of.

Granted, the Army and Air Force are both fond of lumping senior personnel together, indicated by referring to all personnel with the rank of Sergeant, or higher, as Sergeant. The Marine Corps has always referred to personnel by their actual rank (I haven't been a Sergeant since getting promoted to Staff Sergeant in 1999). So, it is entirely possible that they both have a policy of simply using the titles sir and ma'am in place of rank or title.

In any case, it is certainly NOT disrespectful in any way to use sir and ma'am. Far too many of the progressive whiners claim that such titles are archaic, but many of the traditions and standards of our military are in place for specific reasons. In addition, Boxer is not in any military member's chain of command. She holds no office or position in the executive branch, nor is she a member of the armed forces. In all actuality, I would much rather refer to her as Senator, since she certainly hasn't "earned" any form of military status.

Same Old Song In California?

Do you know what happened 159 years ago this Fall… back in 1850?

California became a state.
The people had no electricity.
The state had no money.
Almost everyone spoke Spanish.
There were gunfights in the streets.

So basically, nothing has changed except the women had real boobs and the men didn’t hold hands.

(Shamelessly stolen from Wirecutter)

Movie Review

I just watched the movie, "Gran Torino," with Clint Eastwood. He did a fine job of portraying the character, and the movie was touching and funny (in parts).

The plot was predictable, and I knew what was going to happen before I was halfway through the movie. He tried to put a bit of a twist on the ending, but it wasn't much. Some of the plot elements were a little weak and unrealistic, but it was still an entertaining picture show.

I'm glad I watched the movie, but I didn't agree with all of the hype over it. I'd say it's a good choice for couples to watch (it has the chick flicky element to it).

Vintage Gunny

I was digging through some of my old posts, and came across this post (click it to read it).

I guess it's a neat story, and it reminded me of a recent "Dining Out" that we had at work. The President of The Mess had recently done a tour as a Drill Instructor, and we shared a few sea stories about that tour of duty.

A Dining Out is just like a Mess Night (Google it), but spouses are invited. We tend to tone down the fines and skits a little bit (but not much), but that's about it.

We had a great time, and shared the traditional camaraderie that is normal for a gathering of Marines. We toasted our forefathers, and our fallen brothers.

Good times were had. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Buyer's Regret

Have you ever purchased an item from a store that you thought looked really neat, you couldn't live without it, and would absolutely love or enjoy? Have you ever done that, and later realized that your purchased item was a low quality, poorly performing piece of junk?

If I had to guess, I'd say that roughly half of all Americans have experienced exactly that same form of regret in the last several months or so. Just a guess...

Memorial Day

I hope that everybody enjoys their long weekend. Have fun at your backyard cookouts, trips to the beach, and time away from work and school.

I also ask that everyone that stumbles across this blog take just a moment of your time to remember why we have this holiday. Please remember those that gave that last full measure so that we can continue to live free.

Peeved?

I read a blog post on another person's blog that listed their short list of things that piss them off. My list is long as hell.

One thing that really gets me, and is more than a "pet peeve," is the fact that if you are not a liberal, it's considered some sort of outrage for you to have an opinion.

Consider the recent Miss California debacle. When the young lady announced that she believed homosexual marriage to be wrong, she was denounced as (insert buzzword du jour here), and talk of stripping her of her crown was kicked around. Newsflash: She shares the opinion of the majority of residents of her state! It wasn't too offensive for the ballots, was it?

Somehow, the "tolerant" left has decided that we cannot tolerate opinions that differ from theirs. Yep; that pisses me off and causes me to laugh at the clowns that buy into that garbage (Hollyweird, some of the media, career politicians, etc).