They're Going to Put Y'All Back In Chains

But y'all can wait on me hand and foot if you want.

h/t Weasel Zippers

Space Heaters

BTW

By the way, Obama needs to get cracking.  As of today, there are still 800 buildings without power in New York City.  And this lady, Donna Vanzant, has gotten zip help, despite the promises of the Anointed One, or, as he has recently been styled, "Our Lord and Savior".

Yeah, I know.  He flew in and out twice and said good stuff, and that's all that counts. 

Maybe it's because he hates blacks that all that bad stuff happened in New York and New Jersey after Sandy.  Oh, wait, that's Bush after Katrina. 

Busy, Busy, and More Busy

My current re-do seizure looks like this:

(Well, sort of.  For some reason Blogger insists on displaying the image upside down. The picture itself is right side up, but gremlins flip it when I put it here.   Ah, well.  What looks like the ceiling here is my family room floor, devoid of carpet and most of the staples and other things that it takes hours to yank out after the carpet is up.) * FIXED* as per Rev's suggestion.  I put the picture in upside down and now it is showing right side up...   Anyway, said yanking out of carpet is how I spent Thanksgiving Day.  At the end of the day I was thankful that I could still move and that it was a lot easier to breathe down there. 

And then off to Bawlmer Friday evening, so that Saturday we could head for PA to have a delayed Thanksgiving dinner with son-in-law's family.  A good (and thoroughly stuffed) time was had by all.

More stuff yanked up last night.  And awakening to snow flurries this morning reminds me that I need to do some on-line research concerning under-house insulation.  I know that some of the fiberglass stuff has fallen down, and I'm wondering if it can be supplemented with something else.  That lower room is cold and I can't afford to have a wood stove installed right now.  And most space heaters can't deal with 500 sq ft.

Busy, Busy

A visit from my daughter over the weekend so we could take a trip to the Udvar-Hazy Center, a.k.a the Air and Space Annex.  Such an awesome space - it tickles me to look out and see large planes look small:

And Discovery, of course, and Enola Gay and the SR-71 Blackbird. And all the barn-burners and crop dusters and military planes.  And, of course, the helicopters and gyrocopters.  I look at the one that was advertised as a kit that teens could build and fly and think "Yeah, as a parent that is already terrified of my kid driving a car I'm gonna want him flying around in that, too.  In a thing you have to have steel soled shoes to brake with."

And then "Lincoln".  Yeah, I know.  Spielberg is an idiot, but if I skipped every movie and play involving idiots I'd never see anything.  And this is a fine, fine movie, focusing around Lincoln's drive to get the 13th Amendment passed in the House.  And Day-Lewis is extraordinary.  Some people are fussing about the high voice - but that is how he sounded, a tenor with a mid-western twang.

I've finally decided something has to be done about the downstairs carpet.  Three cats and one of them has a pee problem and no matter what I've soaked the carpet with the downstairs was beginning to smell like one of THOSE people's houses and I can't stand it.  Trouble has been, beyond expense, that there was no sense in putting down new carpet, even stain resistant, if the problem is going to reoccur.  Finally, someone mentioned the idea of laying down vinyl that looks like hardwood and using inexpensive rugs that can be hauled out and scrubbed.  Ah! So last night I pulled up the worst area to check and see if I'll have to have sub-flooring replaced.  Nope, sub-flooring is fine, but just hauling that section of carpet and padding out of the house has much improved the smell.

Gotta go get boxes and start hauling books into the laundry room so furniture can be moved.  And maybe ponder why I always decide to do major home stuff just before Christmas.

Enough is Enough

March 9, 1916 was the "had it up to here" moment for the U.S., and Black Jack Pershing was ordered across the Mexican border after Pancho Villa and his troops. Israel has "had it up to here" as well. Pershing never caught Pancho Villa, but I wish Ehud Barak and the IDF good hunting for the miserable Hamas roaches infesting Gaza.

I've Done My Part

Have you done yours?

In these uncertain times....

...everybody is arming up.

Uphill Battle

Folks wandering around the shooting blogosphere know that among the good causes that the guys work for is Kilted to Kick Cancer.  Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in America.  It is insidious, leaving the victim symptomless until it is well advanced.  Catching it early is crucial to treatment and cure, and over the last few decades one of the weapons enlisted to spot it before it is too late has been the prostate specific antigen test, or PSA.

Well, guess what guys?  ObamaCare empowers the U.S Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) to determine what preventive medical procedures are appropriate.  And they have given the PSA a "D" grade.  What does this mean?  It means that the test's neck is much more on the block when any insurance cuts, Medicare or otherwise, occur. 

Dr. Patrick Walsh of the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute at Johns Hopkins states:

To understand this recommendation, you need to know that the panel had no urologists or other prostate cancer experts.   Rather it was composed of individuals with little or no knowledge of the disease who are described as “independent scientists who are better able to objectively evaluate the literature without bias”.

In other words, a panel of government bureaucrats has made a declaration concerning a test that they've only read about that helps in the fight against a disease they have never studied.  For all who mocked the idea of death panels - voila. 

Americans have for so long enjoyed better and better health care leading to longer and longer life spans.  That has now become an uphill battle, with the ever increasing government bureaucracy being the deeply entrenched enemy holding the high ground.  

Dr. Walsh's full response, including an explanation of USPSTF's use of flawed data to make their determination, is here. 

Let Them Know

It is now percolating out via Gods Caliber that the Wounded Warrior Project, which so many of us have donated to, is gun-phobic.  It seems that while they will take the money that is raised by shooting events, they don't want to be seen with gunners.  Well, then.  There are other charities out there who aren't so particular about which part of the Constitution they approve of.

We can take our money elsewhere, but I would recommend that we let WWP know what we are doing and exactly why.  Various contacts are available here.

Shooty Monday

A beautiful weekend, finished with a warm, albeit cloudy Monday holiday.  So, finally, a shooty day.  Off with ML and his friend John to 340 Defense for a little post-election therapy.

I can only focus on one thing at a time, and I confess that shooting has suffered over the last few weeks as my mind has been on other things.   It showed.   I probably shot 100 rounds with the Glock before I started hitting consistently. So I kept at it until my arms wore out and my fingers were getting tender from reloading magazines.

The M-1 and the 100 yard line were much more comforting - I rang the steel shot after shot, rebuilding my self confidence a bit.  And for an extra challenge - 'cause ML and John did it so I had to try - I took a whack at the steel silhouette with the 9 mm.  Well, I did ping it twice out of 10. Not great, but I'd never thought of trying that range with the pistol, so it gives me something different to work on.

Shooting afternoons must be closed with beer and food, of course.  Sadly, our favorite place has moved its opening time to later in the day, but we did OK at the local Irish pub.

Then back to my place for ML to help me where I was stalled with re-loading.  At least now I know that it wasn't my imagination about the scale.  I'll be ordering a new one today.  And now I understand the steps I was vague on, and can now do more than prep work.

Then, sadly, I had to make a hospital trip to say goodbye to a friend, and that was very hard.  She suffered a massive stroke on Wednesday, and is now slipping away.  It was hard to see her, and my heart breaks for the son and daughter-in-law who have cared for her so well as her health problems worsened over the last couple years.  

From Wikipedia:

Forced conversion

A forced conversion is the religious conversion or acceptance of a philosophy against the will of the subject, often with the threatened consequence of earthly penalties or harm. These consequences range from job loss and social isolation to incarceration, torture or death.

Forced conversions have been common throughout history, usually as part of a political policy to consolidate power under a conqueror.  An expanding empire, an official religion, unity.  The Hasmoneans forced those they subjugated to convert to Judaism .  With the Muslims driven out of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella forced conversion onto the Jews and Muslims of their newly re-Christianized land, eventually giving the order in 1492 for those that did not convert to leave the country.  The task of keeping an eye on the converts to make sure they didn't relapse fell to one Torquemada, who was very good at his job and made the Spanish government very rich with confiscated property and the sale of Jews into slavery.

In the New World, the population pressed westward, and as it overcame the Native Americans, many thought the best approach would be assimilation.  Boarding schools were established, and throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s children spent years being indoctrinated into a new religion and culture, forbidden to practice their own.

What is it that hath been? the same thing that shall be. What is it that hath been done? the same that shall be done.   Ecclesiastes 1:9, Douay-RheimsVersion

Nothing is new under the sun.  

The re-election of Obama solidifies Obamacare.  And within those thousands of pages is a mandate for the forced religious conversion of millions of people.  The Catholic Church is the most visible face of that forced conversion, but many others - Jews, Muslims, Evangelicals - are facing the same choice as others have faced in the centuries before.  Change your religion, or suffer the consequences.  It's an attempt at forced conversion no less than that imposed by Charlemagne, Ferdinand and Isabella, or the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.  Those who are so enthusiastic about making the Catholics abandon their principles, to place their eternal souls in jeopardy,  may not have inherited the physical lines of Ferdinand and Isabella, but they are heirs to their age-old philosophy.

The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month, 1918

I can't find the photo I wanted to post.  It's in the box of pictures somewhere - it just must have been stuck in the wrong folder at some point.  So this will have to do:

Patrick Henry Felton: 1885 - 1979

The picture I was looking for is one of Uncle Pat in his WWI doughboy uniform.  Ramrod straight, so handome.  And even in a sepia-tinted photo eyes so clearly blue, so blue, looking right at the camera.  The same blue eyes I remember so clearly.

He was my paternal  grandmother's brother.  His own grandfather Henry was 60 years old when he dyed his hair, lied about his age, and in 1861 enlisted in what would become the 6th WV Infantry,  Henry was mustered out in 1864.  He was killed in a train wreck on his way home, laid to rest beside a son-in-law who was killed in battle during his second enlistment, eventually joined by the daughter and children that they had left behind.

Others from the family also served and survived to sit Uncle Pat and his siblings on their knees and tell them stories about the battles they had fought during the Civil War- Antietam, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg.   Surviving Little Roundtop.  Marching into the hail of hell that was the Sunken Lane.  A minie ball into a foot, a boot filling with blood.  He lived with time machines, and then he became one himself.

Dad was a medic in the Philippines during WWII, patching up the chewed up bodies as they flowed back from the front.  Uncle Lynn was at Iwo Jima and had the scars to prove it.  I have pictures of Uncle Franklin in uniform but I never thought to ask were he ended up - I think the war ended before he got shipped overseas.

And out in the middle of a cow field just west of Cathedral State Park and just north of U.S. 50 in West Virginia lie a pair of my great greats, father and son.  Both Lieutenants in George Washington's Continental Army, serving with others whose family they would eventually join, veterans of Lexington in Massachusetts, all responsible for every freedom we have ever known. Their headstones are broken and beaten down, but ask at the house and make sure you close the gate and you can visit them and pay your respects - I have.

The battles were over for Uncle Pat at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918.  This is for him and for all veterans, in gratitude for their service:

And my heartfelt thanks to all who have served. 

Flu Update

What is the difference between Bird Flu and Swine Flu?
              
For bird flu you need tweetment and for swine flu you need oinkment

h/t Bobbi Z.

And in other parts of the world...

 ...people are really pissed because Santa Claus has stopped coming. More and more people were put on the dole in Greece and, as always happens, eventually the money ran out.  You may remember that at the same time Greece was begging for a bail-out it increased its categories of those eligible for a government check.  Now the money has run out, and those checks have stopped.  And a generation who has lived expecting the Greek version of Uncle Sugar to support them is NOT happy.

Words From Someone Who Knew What a Fight Was About

“Never, never, never give up.”

 “You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."

Sir Winston Churchill 1874 - 1965

Ephesians 6:12

 "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places."


Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
by the Divine Power of God,
cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.

All You Need to Know To Vote

Is that Obama's major spokesman is a known sexual predator and perjurer.

And for all the talk that it's about the economy, the reality of the differences between Romney and Obama can be boiled down to that.

Sandy Disaster Assistance

The narthex of my church was stacked with food and clothes last night when I dropped my contribution off.  A truck will be heading to NJ this morning to deliver the supplies to a Sandy-smashed area.

My contribution was underwear and socks.  I've read that those are something that they don't get in abundance after a disaster.  I know from camping and caving that changing into clean underwear and socks after spending a long period of time damp and dirty is a marvelous feeling, so that's what I opted for.

I noticed that somebody had thought of something that had completely escaped me - pet food.  If you are picking up items to send, don't forget the pets.  Yes, humans come first, but our pets are our responsibility and they need fed and sheltered, too.  And they have a profound effect on our psychological well-being.  My greatest fear of ending up in a nursing home comes from my fear of losing my pets because of it.  And I would be frantic if I couldn't care for my babies.

Vote - You CAN Make a Difference

Brought to you by the SEIU locals of Chicago...

The Show Must Go On

There seems to be a problem with getting priorities straight in New York.  Bloomberg had to be pressured to cancel the Marathon:  he seemed to have a problem understanding that the destruction of Sandy is far more widespread than it was after 9/11 and that it was a bad idea to kick storm refugees out of their hotel rooms so that marathon runners could have them.  Or that the people of Staten Island, lacking basic necessities and facing hypothermia, would not get all enthused about well-fed and sheltered runners dashing through their streets.

Now this:

Dozens of National Guardsmen, and Army and Air Force personnel who have been sleeping at Manhattan’s Lexington Armory in between hurricane-relief shifts are being booted — to make room for Victoria’s Secret models in anticipation of Wednesday’s runway show.

I'm sure Justin Bieber and Rhianna will be quite a bit more comfortable than the displaced guardsmen have been.

Full story here.

And for a look at what resources are still sitting in Central Park despite desperate need elsewhere, story here.

As winter moves closer...

...a little Jethro Tull to remind us of Spring and Summer on the other side:

Have you seen Jack in the Green
With his long tail hanging down.
He quietly sits under every tree
in the folds of his velvet gown.
He drinks from the empty acorn cup
the dew that dawn sweetly bestows.
And taps his cane upon the ground
signals the snowdrops it's time to grow.

It's no fun being Jack-In-The-Green
no place to dance, no time for song.
He wears the colours of the summer soldier
carries the green flag all the winter long.
Jack, do you never sleep
does the green still run deep in your heart?
Or will these changing times,
motorways, powerlines,
keep us apart?
Well, I don't think so
I saw some grass growing through the pavements today.

The rowan, the oak and the holly tree
are the charges left for you to groom.
Each blade of grass whispers Jack-In-The-Green.
Oh Jack, please help me through my winter's night.
And we are the berries on the holly tree.
Oh, the mistlethrush is coming.
Jack, put out the light

Surge

h/t www.wcbm.com

Duct Tape Post 1 - Calling Mr. Christie, Calling Mr. Christie, UPDATE

No question the coasts of New Jersey and New York are ravaged.  High population + dense construction+ hurricane = bad bad bad.  It's getting cold and damp at night, too, so folks really need their power back on for heat.  Other states have sent crews to help, and many of the crews are volunteer.  Imagine the surprise of one Alabama crew when they got to New Jersey and were turned back.  They aren't union members, you see.  And the union in New Jersey won't let them work in the state because of that.

Story here.

Update:  Union is saying that agreements between companies have to be signed first and that they were trying to do it by e-mail but the e-mail is down. 

Disgusted

There's a reason some of us hate politics.  Oh, yes, we recognize an obligation to contribute in some way:  voting, of course, being the primary one.  But the fact that politics is so often in the gutter disgusts and discourages us.   And it's not all one party or the other.  One platform or the other may take a higher road, but individuals get so lost in the desire for their side to win that they'll dive right into the mud, and spend a great deal of money doing so.  This has happened locally, and it's disgusting.

Among the local races are delegate races.  And among those running is someone I have known for many years and personally like.  I won't vote for him. He's a Democrat, a liberal one.  I've explained before what I think of the Democrat Party's view of the human person, its stooping to the lowest common denominator and complete lack of valuing the whole person in all its complexities.  I won't support that. 

Our mail boxes are filling up with political mailings.  Waste of money on me - I don't even look at the stuff before I toss it in the garbage at the post office.  It was only through a stray e-mail that I happened to find out about one mailing that went out.  I can't find a clear image of it, but I took this edited one from a local paper's web site:

John Maxey has never served at state level before.  Not only did he not have anything to do with the bill referred to, but in the end the governor vetoed it anyway.  Unfortunately, this came from a local Republican PAC.  It's not only dishonest, but also just plain stupid.  Our area is rural, so it's spread out.  But it's still small town.  You are always running into friends and neighbors in stores, restaurants, church. We text, e-mail, use social media, and chat on the phone. There was no way that this wouldn't be flagged.   There was no way that there wouldn't be (justifiable) outrage over it. 

And now any local Republican risks being guilty by association.  The dishonesty of the mailers will have overwhelmed the conservative message. 

Ingenuity

My favorite Sandy pic.   No power, no problem.  4 D batteries, tape, speaker wire, a rubber band, and a car charger. Voila!  Cell phone charger.