The Russians first handcuffed all of the Pirates to the Boat and then blew it up and sank the vessel. For some reason Somalia Pirates have quit attacking Russian Ships.
We should allow our Flagged vessels to hire private security firms (a la Blackwater). These "Security Specialists" would have to board the vessels out at sea, because cargo vessels are not allowed to be armed when entering foreign ports. The "Security Specialists" could also escort the Vessels with privately developed fast attack boats. With the correct Armaments, they could sink or severely damage any of the Somali Pirate boats that attempt to attack our Cargo Vessels. I believe after a few incidents, American Flagged Vessels would be as safe as the Russian Vessels.
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." –John Galt
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Last Entry of the year (probably)
Since we are at the end of the year, the new year coming is the beginning of the second decade or the 21st Century, I decided to geeze a little and see how much of my memories some of you may share.
Here 'tis, do you remember?
Rabbit Ears
A coat hanger with tinfoil when your Rabbit ears broke
Your antenna could only pick up one television station, if you were lucky, you could get all three.. (ABC, NBC, CBS)
Brought to you in living color!!
Black and white TV
Reruns..
Nothing on worth watching on Sunday until "Mutual Of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins,"The Wonderful World of Disney", or "The Ed Sullivan Show"
TV Couples Slept in Twin Beds
UHF was 'New' or So that's what that other dial is for!!
Cigarette commercials
AM Radio
Transistor radios
American Top 40 with Casy Kasim, listening on Sunday to find out what was the new #1 song in the nation
45 RM records which you couldn't play unless you had the Square adapter for your turn table or one of the little plastic gizmos for the hole
If someone was "High Tech" they had a "Reel to Reel" tape recorder (My dad got one in '67 I think it was)
Televisions and Stereos were furniture and came in big wood cabinets or "Consoles"
You had to 'Turn the Dial' to change channels and the fine tuning was a larger wheel around the dial
Invariably, the dial was lost and you had to use pliers to change the channel
If you had a Remote control it was mechanical, and turned on the TV to Channel 2, it then had to 'clunk' through each channel and when it made it back around to Channel 13 it turned off (My Dad used to hide ours)
TV stations went off the air at midnight with the National Anthem and the Poem "High Flight", they didn't come back on until 6 am. They either broadcast "Test Patterns" or shut down completely
Cartoons were only on on Saturdays until 11 AM
Nobody wore seat-belts
Riding on a hot summer day with all of the windows down.. 4/55 Air conditioning, four windows down at 55mph
Wing Windows, or as my wife calls them Fly Windows, the small windows in the front of the car on the Diver's and Passenger's doors that you could open to direct air in. Adults that smoked used them as ashtrays
Hand-crank windows, it was a big deal to have electric windows
Cars that had Ashtrays, in the front and back
It was exciting when a neighborhood Family brought home a new car
New Car models Came out every spring and it was a cool to see what they looked like
Gas Stations gave away freebies (Glasses, Plates) to get you to come in
Full Service gas; they Checked your oil and cleaned the windshield
Your car couldn't hold five dollars worth of gas even though it was a land yacht with a 20 gallon tank
You really didn't care about your cars gas mileage
It was cool to have an 8 Tack Player in your car and you had to wedge a matchbook in it to get it to play correctly when it got old
Drive in Movies, going in your Pajamas and falling asleep in the back seat
Everyone's Mom and Dad Smoked
Everyone Dressed up to go out to dinner
Movies almost always began with a cartoon, especially Disney movies
All of the old Disney Classics were re-released every 4 years
Singing Christmas Carols in the School Christmas Pageant, my second grade class practiced Greensleeves every morning after we said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang My Country Tis of thee.
Halloween Pageants, Marching around the school in your Polyester Halloween Costume with the plastic mask. The costume was sold in a windowed cardboard box that only displayed the characters face.
Home made costumes that you had to explain what you were
Soaping a houses' windows when they didn't give out Halloween Candy (I learned the proper technique from my big brother)
"It's (time) do you know where your children are?"
Playing hide and seek on a summer night with all of the kids in the neighborhood.
Freeze tag
The Good Humor Man driving his white truck ringing the bell
The first time you rode in a car with AC
The first time you went to Someone's house that had central air conditioning
The first time you saw a Garbage disposal, or a Dish washer
Stingray Bicycles with Banana seats
Hot wheels car sets, I had a "Johnny Lightning" racetrack
Wham-O! made all of the cool toys
Beatle Boots (My big brother had some)
Jeans with the legs "Pegged" so tight you couldn't get your foot through them (My brother again)
The Saturday night "Creature Feature" that showed all of the cheesy horror movies, it usually had some guy dressed as a Vampire for a host
McDonald's was new and had only 'X' millions served, it was a big treat to go
Apollo 8 Circling the moon at Christmas
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year from the BigMan.. And Big Mama (Just a nick name not a description) too!
Here 'tis, do you remember?
Rabbit Ears
A coat hanger with tinfoil when your Rabbit ears broke
Your antenna could only pick up one television station, if you were lucky, you could get all three.. (ABC, NBC, CBS)
Brought to you in living color!!
Black and white TV
Reruns..
Nothing on worth watching on Sunday until "Mutual Of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins,"The Wonderful World of Disney", or "The Ed Sullivan Show"
TV Couples Slept in Twin Beds
UHF was 'New' or So that's what that other dial is for!!
Cigarette commercials
AM Radio
Transistor radios
American Top 40 with Casy Kasim, listening on Sunday to find out what was the new #1 song in the nation
45 RM records which you couldn't play unless you had the Square adapter for your turn table or one of the little plastic gizmos for the hole
If someone was "High Tech" they had a "Reel to Reel" tape recorder (My dad got one in '67 I think it was)
Televisions and Stereos were furniture and came in big wood cabinets or "Consoles"
You had to 'Turn the Dial' to change channels and the fine tuning was a larger wheel around the dial
Invariably, the dial was lost and you had to use pliers to change the channel
If you had a Remote control it was mechanical, and turned on the TV to Channel 2, it then had to 'clunk' through each channel and when it made it back around to Channel 13 it turned off (My Dad used to hide ours)
TV stations went off the air at midnight with the National Anthem and the Poem "High Flight", they didn't come back on until 6 am. They either broadcast "Test Patterns" or shut down completely
Cartoons were only on on Saturdays until 11 AM
Nobody wore seat-belts
Riding on a hot summer day with all of the windows down.. 4/55 Air conditioning, four windows down at 55mph
Wing Windows, or as my wife calls them Fly Windows, the small windows in the front of the car on the Diver's and Passenger's doors that you could open to direct air in. Adults that smoked used them as ashtrays
Hand-crank windows, it was a big deal to have electric windows
Cars that had Ashtrays, in the front and back
It was exciting when a neighborhood Family brought home a new car
New Car models Came out every spring and it was a cool to see what they looked like
Gas Stations gave away freebies (Glasses, Plates) to get you to come in
Full Service gas; they Checked your oil and cleaned the windshield
Your car couldn't hold five dollars worth of gas even though it was a land yacht with a 20 gallon tank
You really didn't care about your cars gas mileage
It was cool to have an 8 Tack Player in your car and you had to wedge a matchbook in it to get it to play correctly when it got old
Drive in Movies, going in your Pajamas and falling asleep in the back seat
Everyone's Mom and Dad Smoked
Everyone Dressed up to go out to dinner
Movies almost always began with a cartoon, especially Disney movies
All of the old Disney Classics were re-released every 4 years
Singing Christmas Carols in the School Christmas Pageant, my second grade class practiced Greensleeves every morning after we said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang My Country Tis of thee.
Halloween Pageants, Marching around the school in your Polyester Halloween Costume with the plastic mask. The costume was sold in a windowed cardboard box that only displayed the characters face.
Home made costumes that you had to explain what you were
Soaping a houses' windows when they didn't give out Halloween Candy (I learned the proper technique from my big brother)
"It's (time) do you know where your children are?"
Playing hide and seek on a summer night with all of the kids in the neighborhood.
Freeze tag
The Good Humor Man driving his white truck ringing the bell
The first time you rode in a car with AC
The first time you went to Someone's house that had central air conditioning
The first time you saw a Garbage disposal, or a Dish washer
Stingray Bicycles with Banana seats
Hot wheels car sets, I had a "Johnny Lightning" racetrack
Wham-O! made all of the cool toys
Beatle Boots (My big brother had some)
Jeans with the legs "Pegged" so tight you couldn't get your foot through them (My brother again)
The Saturday night "Creature Feature" that showed all of the cheesy horror movies, it usually had some guy dressed as a Vampire for a host
McDonald's was new and had only 'X' millions served, it was a big treat to go
Apollo 8 Circling the moon at Christmas
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year from the BigMan.. And Big Mama (Just a nick name not a description) too!
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Left and PDS/TPDS
PDS - Palin Derangement Syndrome; The preoccupation with and fear of Sarah Palin
TPDS - Tea Party Derangement Syndrome; The preoccupation with and fear of the Tea Party
Recently, I saw a segment on Fox News "The Best notable quotables of 2010". Yes, I know what you are thinking, why spend a whole segment on Joe Biden? Believe it or not, there were other folks that spouted blatantly stupid and ridiculous things.
Three of the quotes, Frank Rich, NY Times; Joe McGinnis, Liberal Author and Pundit; and Rob Reiner (AKA Meathead), Actor and Director; compared the Tea Party to Fascists and NAZIs, and a double whammy by suggesting that not only was the Tea Party NAZIs, but that Sarah Palin was a their Hitler like leader (McGinnis).
For quite some time it has bothered me that the American Left continuously calls the right of this country Fascists and NAZIs. When I was younger, because of my poor public education, I somewhat accepted the premise. Then one day it hit me... NAZI is an acronym for National German Socialists Workers Party, the key word here being SOCIALISTS.
After more reading and research on my part I discovered the following:
1. Benito Mussolini, a life long Socialist who had flirted with Communism, created the concept of Fascism after returning from service in the Italian Army in WWI (they were on our side for that one). He thought that a Nation, operated more like the military, using a military style esprit de corps would be more efficient at Economic command and control.
2. Fascism is a type of Socialism with two differences:
a. The Government does not own ALL means of production, those which it does not own it controls by regulation, investment, or subsidy. (Think GM, Chrysler, Alternative energy and oil)
b. Whereas Communism and Socialism extort "Workers of the World Unite!!" Fascism can be summed up by "Workers of (Nation) Unite!"
3. Nazism is a type of Fascism with one main difference, instead of the motto "Workers of (Nation) Unite!", it is "(Race/Color/Ethnicity) Workers of (Nation) Unite!"
Furthermore, Benito and Adolph were darlings of the American Left up until they attacked the Soviet Union. Which at the beginning of WWII was paradise on earth to most American leftists. Therefore, if you were an American Communist, the enemy which was to the right of you and your beliefs was Fascismt or a Nazism. Since these two ideologies were considered the most evil of the 20th century (even though Communism was responsible for more death and misery), it has become a favorite insult/comeback of the American left when they can't support their arguments.
You: "Millions Starved in the Soviet Union and Communist China when they Collectivized the farms"
Former Leftist Friend: "FASCIST!!"
Socialism and it's offspring Communism, Fascism, and Nazism, are predicated on the destruction of the individual for the good of the collective. Comparing the Tea Party and Sarah Palin, who believe that individual liberty and freedom are tantamount, to these failed ideologies is either tired rhetoric or a sign that those on the American Left have gone so far down the road toward Communism that all they can see to their right, is Fascism, and Nazism.
Or, it could just be they are having a hard time explaining why Papa Doc Obama is failing...
TPDS - Tea Party Derangement Syndrome; The preoccupation with and fear of the Tea Party
Recently, I saw a segment on Fox News "The Best notable quotables of 2010". Yes, I know what you are thinking, why spend a whole segment on Joe Biden? Believe it or not, there were other folks that spouted blatantly stupid and ridiculous things.
Three of the quotes, Frank Rich, NY Times; Joe McGinnis, Liberal Author and Pundit; and Rob Reiner (AKA Meathead), Actor and Director; compared the Tea Party to Fascists and NAZIs, and a double whammy by suggesting that not only was the Tea Party NAZIs, but that Sarah Palin was a their Hitler like leader (McGinnis).
For quite some time it has bothered me that the American Left continuously calls the right of this country Fascists and NAZIs. When I was younger, because of my poor public education, I somewhat accepted the premise. Then one day it hit me... NAZI is an acronym for National German Socialists Workers Party, the key word here being SOCIALISTS.
After more reading and research on my part I discovered the following:
1. Benito Mussolini, a life long Socialist who had flirted with Communism, created the concept of Fascism after returning from service in the Italian Army in WWI (they were on our side for that one). He thought that a Nation, operated more like the military, using a military style esprit de corps would be more efficient at Economic command and control.
2. Fascism is a type of Socialism with two differences:
a. The Government does not own ALL means of production, those which it does not own it controls by regulation, investment, or subsidy. (Think GM, Chrysler, Alternative energy and oil)
b. Whereas Communism and Socialism extort "Workers of the World Unite!!" Fascism can be summed up by "Workers of (Nation) Unite!"
3. Nazism is a type of Fascism with one main difference, instead of the motto "Workers of (Nation) Unite!", it is "(Race/Color/Ethnicity) Workers of (Nation) Unite!"
Furthermore, Benito and Adolph were darlings of the American Left up until they attacked the Soviet Union. Which at the beginning of WWII was paradise on earth to most American leftists. Therefore, if you were an American Communist, the enemy which was to the right of you and your beliefs was Fascismt or a Nazism. Since these two ideologies were considered the most evil of the 20th century (even though Communism was responsible for more death and misery), it has become a favorite insult/comeback of the American left when they can't support their arguments.
You: "Millions Starved in the Soviet Union and Communist China when they Collectivized the farms"
Former Leftist Friend: "FASCIST!!"
Socialism and it's offspring Communism, Fascism, and Nazism, are predicated on the destruction of the individual for the good of the collective. Comparing the Tea Party and Sarah Palin, who believe that individual liberty and freedom are tantamount, to these failed ideologies is either tired rhetoric or a sign that those on the American Left have gone so far down the road toward Communism that all they can see to their right, is Fascism, and Nazism.
Or, it could just be they are having a hard time explaining why Papa Doc Obama is failing...
Monday, December 13, 2010
American Exceptionalism
The idea of American Exceptionalism was a developed by Alexis de Tocqueville in order to describe what he saw when touring America at the turn of the 18th/19th centuries. The idea was based on the following ideas.
1. Natural, or if you are religious, God given rights. These rights are yours as a human. They have not been bequeathed to you by any King or Government. They can't be rescinded or taken from you by any King or Government without your consent.
2. The basis of all rights is "Property". The root of property rights is self ownership. You own you. All Natural or God given rights emanate from this ownership. One of the most fundamental of the emanating rights is the right to self defense. You have the right to protect your life, you have the right to live. Further, you have the right to reap the rewards of your labor. The confiscation of the results of your labor, taken forcibly, or under the threat of force, for the benefit of another, is the definition of Slavery.
3. The Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States were created with these ideas as their kernel. The Declaration of Independence codifies these rights with the statement "All men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. AMONG (emphasis mine) these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The original draft contained "life, liberty, and property". Property was removed because it was feared tha the slave holders would consider this a basis for their right to subjugate their fellow man. Regardless of what the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvainia Ave, Washington DC, has said in 13 different speeches, the word "Creator" is in the the document.
4. The Constitution restricted the power of the new Federal Government by enumerating the few powers allowed to it. It further reserved any powers not so enumerated, to the States and the people. It was recognized that in order to form a Government, the People had to allow the Government to have some of their rights in order to function in the interest of the people. This at the time was one of the most revoltionary ideas to come from the founding of our country. The idea that Government did not bequeath rights upon it's citizens/subjects, but those citizens instead bequeathed rights upon Government. Further since we as a free people "Lent" those rights to Government to act in our behalf, we have the right to rescind those rights when Government no longer acts in our interests.
These ideas for their time were considered exceptional. American Exceptionalism does not mean that we as a people are better or smarter than others. Just more free, at least we were. Our sucess as a nation is a direct result of these exceptional concepts.
1. Natural, or if you are religious, God given rights. These rights are yours as a human. They have not been bequeathed to you by any King or Government. They can't be rescinded or taken from you by any King or Government without your consent.
2. The basis of all rights is "Property". The root of property rights is self ownership. You own you. All Natural or God given rights emanate from this ownership. One of the most fundamental of the emanating rights is the right to self defense. You have the right to protect your life, you have the right to live. Further, you have the right to reap the rewards of your labor. The confiscation of the results of your labor, taken forcibly, or under the threat of force, for the benefit of another, is the definition of Slavery.
3. The Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States were created with these ideas as their kernel. The Declaration of Independence codifies these rights with the statement "All men are created equal, and they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. AMONG (emphasis mine) these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The original draft contained "life, liberty, and property". Property was removed because it was feared tha the slave holders would consider this a basis for their right to subjugate their fellow man. Regardless of what the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvainia Ave, Washington DC, has said in 13 different speeches, the word "Creator" is in the the document.
4. The Constitution restricted the power of the new Federal Government by enumerating the few powers allowed to it. It further reserved any powers not so enumerated, to the States and the people. It was recognized that in order to form a Government, the People had to allow the Government to have some of their rights in order to function in the interest of the people. This at the time was one of the most revoltionary ideas to come from the founding of our country. The idea that Government did not bequeath rights upon it's citizens/subjects, but those citizens instead bequeathed rights upon Government. Further since we as a free people "Lent" those rights to Government to act in our behalf, we have the right to rescind those rights when Government no longer acts in our interests.
These ideas for their time were considered exceptional. American Exceptionalism does not mean that we as a people are better or smarter than others. Just more free, at least we were. Our sucess as a nation is a direct result of these exceptional concepts.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)