Thor’s Hall

Get out there and make yourself be heard.  For some that is getting out there in a vocal “march”, hindering commerce, etc. (think Code Pink in Berkley, or the protestors and vandals in Olympia).  For others, it is a well organized event like Rolling Thunder…

For the past 21 years, Rolling Thunder has gathered in the Pentagon parking lot on the Sunday before Memorial Day and ridden across the Memorial Bridge, down the Mall, to the Vietnam Wall and the Lincoln Memorial to remind us all of the soldiers who are POW-MIA. Once there, they have a concert and speeches. These are those who have fought for us – who have kept us free.

Today – you can take a small step in your own way and drop the following note to your congressional representatives.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We, the little people want you, our elected leadership to do just that, and only that.

form a more perfect union.
establish Justice.
insure domestic tranquility. *
provide for the common defense.
promote the general welfare.
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves** and our posterity

Those are the things that are charged in the preamble to the constitution, from which you derive your authority to legislate.

We don’t want you wasting your time, or our money making proclamations which do not serve us–for example, things like recognizing “Cuba solidarity day,” Honoring Arnold Palmer for his distinguished career in the sport of golf and his commitment to excellence and sportsmanship, Recognizing the importance of bicycling in transportation and recreation, National Day of the American Cowboy, Congratulating Albania and Croatia on Talks with NATO, et cetera. If you come across a resolution or proclamation that sounds good, but has no real impact on our lives, don’t bother with it.

We, the little people, are paying you for a service. The service you provide as a member of the legislative branch is to work as hard as you can to make our lives just a little bit better, within the bounds of the constitution. We don’t want you to use the money we give to the government to “create” jobs, as a capitalist democracy, we want you to encourage the free market to create jobs.

We, the little people, don’t want anyone in our nation to be denied basic needs of food, water, shelter, and clothing. We would rather donate our monies to charities that can assist those less fortunate, than to an enlarged government bureaucracy that does the same thing, just not as effectively.

We, the little people, are sick and tired of our elected leaders playing shell games with the budget, by attaching riders to bills to fund pet projects. If you are unwilling to introduce a bill for a specific project, because it is unpopular or fiscally irresponsible, then you shouldn’t do it.

We, the little people, realize that their are functions of the government that must remain secret, because to publicly air every function of our security would leave it vulnerable to attack. We trust that you will oversee these security measures with us, your constituents, our lives and our freedom, in mind, and not the effect on “global opinions” of other nations.

We, the little people, could give a rat’s ass about steroids in sports, spying between sports teams, and all the other entertainment-related minutiae you continue to hold hearings on. Sports and recreation are entertainment, you should only get involved if through their actions, we, the little people, get screwed.

We, the little people, simply ask that the roads don’t have many potholes, the lights come on when we flip the switch, we can afford to fuel our cars to take us to work and back without needing a second mortgage, that our food, water and air are healthy, that our borders are secure from foreign invaders, that we are as secure as possible from terrorism, that we are able, at all times to defend ourselves from violence, that criminals are punished commensurate with their crimes, that our military is the best trained and equipped military in the world at all times, and that our elected leaders maintain transparency in their actions.

We, the little people, simply wish to live our lives as we see fit, deciding for ourselves what is best for us, and not what is best for our neighbor. We want our government to impede on our lives, liberty, and property as little as possible. We ask only that our government stay within its constitutional boundaries and only do the work they are required by our constitution to do, without seeking to expand their powers.

Finally, we, the little people, want our government to realize that our rights are not “granted” by the constitution, our rights are inherent in us, inalienable, and not for debate. Our constitution tells our government what they can do, and that first and foremost, they cannot do anything to abnegate those rights. We, the little people, paid for our freedom for generations with our lives, and we will do so again, against any foreign or domestic enemy who chooses to try and limit our freedom. We, the little people, want our government to fear us, and not because we could vote you out of office. We want you to fear us because you know that if you don’t do the job you are supposed to do, we are likely to decorate the trees in the mall with you.

Respectfully,

Joe A. Citizen
American Lumber and Rope Company
USA

*”Insure” is to take out a policy. “Ensure” is to make sure something happens. This means our laws should quell public discourse, not encourage it.

**secure the blessings… to ourselves means we, the little people want to enjoy the blessings of liberty; not that we exist to provide the means for you to do so.

Tip of the Hat to Chuck Z. and Flag Gazer

Over at Flopping Aces, one of the contributors put some perspective on Presidential Politics this year.  He sat down and said to himself how would some of previous CIC take today’s messages.  I was going to excerpt a couple of points, and send you here.  However, the post has to be taken as a whole and it is short so I give you the entire post.

If on November 5 we have crossed a historical threshold and elected our first black president, I will eat crow, feathers and all, but I don’t think it will happen. In a previous post, before the blasphemous blowhard Jeremiah Wright arrived on the scene, I thought, like many Americans, Republican or Democrat, that Obama was a nice, smart guy. He was a refreshing change, if only in style, from the brain-dead liberal elders in his party. He was, most emphatically not the craven lamp-and-ashtray throwing heir to a decade of moral rot that is Hillary Clinton. If there was ever a Democrat that would change the tone in Washington, if not his political positions, it was Obama. And if he happened to be black, who cares, I live by a code of a (capitalist) meritocracy and it matters not a whit the guy’s skin color.

Picture George Washington sitting in the colonial era Falls Church in (now) Falls Church, Virginia. It is not far from Mt. Vernon and he was known to frequent the church as it was located near the falls of the Potomac River. Washington was a pious man and loved his country with every fiber of his being. Would he have selected a man such as Reverend Jeremiah Wright as his pastor, a racist America-hating “clergyman” who talks about someone “riding dirty” on an intern while executing pelvic thrusts that would make Elvis blush. At the risk of beating it to death, watch again and put Washington in the congregation.

Theodore Roosevelt, the hero of San Juan Hill, commander of the Rough Riders, and Medal of Honor recipient would have, upon hearing “God damn America,” strode up to the altar, grabbed Wright by the collar and belt and heaved him out the back door. He would have then turned around, pushed up his pince-nez, glared around the church daring someone to make a move, and strode his stocky body purposefully out the front door.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Five Star General in the United States Army, Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, Planner of the D-Day Invasion, and Nazi-Slayer, would have heard Wright’s sermon, thought of the brave boys of Pointe du Hoc dead on the beach at Normandy, shook his head and wondered if he was stuck in a bad dream in Berlin circa 1941.

Would any of these men have chosen Rev. Wright to marry them to their sweethearts Martha, Edith, or Mamie? Would they have had their children baptized in that church? Would they have continued to subject the children to caustic sermons brimming with rage against their own country?

Barack Obama did. America doesn’t elect people like that.

We live in a very dangerous time for our nation.  Others have speculated that we are currently fighting a “Cold Civil War”.  None of the current crop of presidential candidates are what most of the country would find ideal.  So we are faced with a choice of who can win the election and manage the nation so that the least damage is done to our way of life.  Give it some thought before you place that vote this fall.

Hillary Clinton goes to a primary school in New York to talk about the world. After her talk she offers a question time.
One little boy puts up his hand. The Senator asks him what his name is?

‘Kenneth.’

‘And what is your question, Kenneth?’

‘I have three questions:
First – Whatever happened to the medical health care plan you were paid to develop during your husband’s eight years in the office as President?
Second – Why would you run for President after your husband shamed the office?
Third – Whatever happened to all those things you took when you left the White House?’

Just then the bell rings for recess. Hillary Clinton informs the kids that they will continue after recess. When they resume, Hillary says,
‘Okay, where were we? Oh, that’s right, question time. Who has a
question?’

A different little boy puts his hand up. Hillary points to him and asks him what his name is.
‘Larry.’

‘And what is your question, Larry?’

‘I have five questions:
First – Whatever happened to the medical health care plan you were paid to develop during your husband’s eight years in the office as President?
Second – Why would you run for President after your husband shamed the office?
Third – Whatever happened to all those things you took when you left the White House?
Fourth – Why did the recess bell go off 20 minutes early?
Fifth – What happened to Kenneth?’

Over at The Sandgram Taco has one of those, “This is what we are about” posts that gives you a little bit of a different viewpoint, from those that are leading our Marines in the Global War on Terror.  Go give it a read.

The wonderful thing about America’s Armed Forces is that none of us are born killers.  On the contrary we are good and decent Americans mostly from the neighborhoods of America’s cities, and small towns.  Almost all come from “salt of the earth” working class homes, and more often than not are the sons and daughters of cops and firemen, factory and service workers, and farmers.  Most of us delivered papers, stocked shelves in the grocery store, played Little League baseball and pickup hockey in the local rink, and served Mass on Sunday morning.  Some are former athletes, and many “couch potatoes” who drove our cars and motorcycles too fast, and blasted our music louder than perhaps we should have…”

Ok – this is the last one that I am going to put up here. The team over at Flopping Aces is responsible for this one, and a fine job they did.

Ok I think we all recognize that the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is guaranteed by the second ammendment to The Constitution.  That is pretty clear cut.  Shortly, the Supreme Court will rule on the Heller case and is expected to confirm that the 2nd ammendment confirms that these rights are the rights of the individual.

Where does that leave us on kinfe rights.  Recently we have seen criminals in the UK resort to swords, knives, and clubs (as well as outlawed guns) as the weapon of choice in criminal acts.  Further we have seen movements in the UK to outlaw these weapons too. 

Over at Joe Huffman’s blog, he has two interesting posts up on this very topic (here and here) and movements within the US to try and protect our Knife Rights.  Now in my opinion the seconf ammendment should not be necessary but it apparently is.  We do not have the equivilent legal protection for bladed weapons, and we should not need it.  However, with the growing movement to turn the US into the UK / Euro clone how will we fight this battle?

There are some folks that have the time to put together some fantastic visuals as tributes for Memorial Day. I wish that I had the time, and the talent to do half as well. Since I don’t enjoy these and let the power of some of these images drive home the meaning of what this day is about.

I received this email this morning:

A Small Town’s Remembrance Echoes the Nation

Each year a sign appears on the Village Green in Lake Bluff — a small but charming Midwest community with a New England-look, bordering on the shores of Lake Michigan, and a short distance down the road from the Great Lakes Navel Training Center — announcing the community’s celebration of Memorial Day. It is an announcement that conveys freedom, appreciation, dedication, and service to country.

With these thoughts in mind, I arose early on May 26th in eager anticipation of participating in yet another meaningful Lake Bluff Memorial Day celebration. Even as I walked the few blocks from my Lake Bluff home to the Village Green, I could hear the strains of patriotic music being played by members of the local Lake Forest High School band. This only encouraged me to walk faster in anticipation of joining others already gathered to pay homage to our fallen soldiers.

I stood in reverence as Rudy Iberle, Commander of American Legion Post 510 in Lake Bluff and himself a Korean War veteran, spoke of the true meaning of Memorial Day and how it is a national holiday for reasons far beyond the opening of community swimming pools and the start of summer. With these words Mr. Iberle captured the spirit of the day: “Some were decorated with this country’s highest military awards and some were not; but all deserve the tribune that we render to them today!”

I was moved when a roll call of Lake Bluff’s own fallen heroes was read. All total there were thirteen battle deaths, with four dating back to the Civil War era. There was pride in watching local Boy Scouts raise the flag, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance as the flag fluttered proudly in the breeze. Even greater pride was felt as I listened to the poignant remarks of one of Lake Bluff’s own, Captain Andrew Rosa, now a commissioned member of the Navy Reserves with a long family tradition of military service going back to the Revolutionary War. Finally the time came for the much awaited and impressive 21-gun salute by a rifle squad dispatched from Marine Air Control Group 438 stationed at Great Lakes. And lastly I watched as a somber procession advanced to Lake Bluff’s Veterans’ Memorial to place a floral wreath of gratitude and remembrance.

As I retraced my steps back home, I thought of the millions of Americans who had gathered as I did on this Monday morning to pause, reflect and celebrate a day first observed as Decoration day on May 30, 1868, to honor patriots who had died during the Civil War (In 1971 Memorial Day was declared a national holiday to be held on the last Monday in May.). Since the Civil War there have been other wars with bloody battles that have taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of men who died to defend our flag and all that it represents to a country of freedom-loving people. Abraham Lincoln described this sacrifice of life 150 years ago as “the full measure of devotion” to protect America’s freedoms, opportunities and prosperity.

To the questions of “where do we find such men? President Reagan gave this answer: “where we’ve always found them in this country. On the farms, in the shops, in the stores and the offices, they are just the product of the freest society man has every known.”
Americans must never forget that we have a duty to honor our nation’s war dead to insure that they did not die in vain, for they died to protect this great land, our democracy and us!

Aw, hell.  I just keep running across this stuff.  Now, I get to steer you over to one of Raven’s posts.  Simple, eloquent and concise.  Enjoy it here.

As is typical, I find others have more to say on this subject and are more eloquent in doing so than I can hope to be. Over at Blackfive they have several great posts on this topic. I would like to steer you to one in particular. The Gates of Heaven

Really powerful stuff throughout the piece. I learned the words to Taps in sixth grade, at outdoor school of all places. A week long event that had everyone headed out into the Cascade foothills to a summer camp setting, and learning about the lifecycle of the forest. It was good stuff. One of the things that has always stuck with me was the closing of the day, around the campfire singing Taps. Hearing at sunset, or in the dark is entirely different than hearing it in the day, as is pointed out in the post.

Go read the entire piece, then go enjoy this weekend the way that you should (read it, you’ll know what I mean).