Is Martial Law Ever OK?

David Scott Whinery, Esquire at KC Confidential wants to know, but offers few answers.

Uh, oh. Frost warnings are posted in h3ll when Mary Sanchez at the KC Star and I agree: If Kansas City's 25th anniversary charity 'Trolley Run' no longer allows bags or backpacks at the event, have the terrorists won?

 Boston Residents Ordered Out Of Homes At Gunpoint By SWAT teams - and we're OK with this suspension of the 4th Amendment in the name of 'public safety?'

Then there's this; from Katy Waldman at Slate: Why the door-to-door manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev doesn’t violate the Constitution.

Gun of the Week

I didn't know, either, but these guys have all the answers.

Boston Bomb Suspect Dzhokhar Awake, Responding via Writing

From USA Today:

"Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, is awake in a Boston hospital and responding in writing to questions, a law enforcement official said Sunday.

Investigators who have been waiting to interrogate Tsarnaev are looking into the possibility that his neck wound was self inflicted, a federal law enforcement official said."

Three people were killed and more than 170 were injured when two bombs exploded April 15 near the Boston Marathon finish line.

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis believes that Dzhokhar and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26 (now dead), "were going to attack other individuals."

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is under heavy guard, and in serious condition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. A commenter notes that 'Beth Israel' means 'House of Israel.'

College of the Ozarks Encourages Debt-Free Students

Nicknamed 'Hard Work U,' the College of the Ozarks is a private, Christian liberal-arts college located near Branson, Missouri. The college offers over 30 academic majors, and degrees in Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science.

Tuition at the college is paid for via a student work program and charitable donations.

From the Joplin Globe:

"It’s definitely a lot of hard work,” said Gregory, who is majoring in animal science and agriculture business. “You’re just working for your education so you don’t have to pay it off. Just to know that you’re graduating and you can focus on getting a place to live, or a job, and you don’t have to pay (your education) off — you can focus on other things, like a car. We will have more freedom than being tied down to debt.”

During a time when most students are graduating from college with loan debt, College of the Ozarks, a private, four-year school of nearly 1,400 students near Branson, is swimming against the tide. It has long discouraged student debt by not participating in any federal or state loan programs, and its president, Jerry C. Davis, recently announced that the college will no longer honor private bank loans for students.

“Basically what we’re saying is if you want to borrow money, go somewhere else,” he said. “Trust me, there are plenty of colleges that will loan you money. This is not one of them.”

Many college students graduate other 4 year schools with an average of $26,600 in loan debt.

The College of the Ozarks website is here.

These Soldiers Did the Boston Marathon Wearing 40-Pound Packs. Then They Helped Save Lives.

When the bombs went off, the Tough Ruck 2013 crew sprang into action.

"When the explosion went off, Fiola and his group immediately went into tactical mode. "I did a count and told the younger soldiers to stay put," Fiola says. "Myself and two other soldiers, my top two guys in my normal unit, crossed the street about 100 yards to the metal scaffoldings holding up the row of flags. We just absolutely annihilated the fence and pulled it back so we could see the victims underneath. The doctors and nurses from the medical tent were on the scene in under a minute. We were pulling burning debris off of people so that the medical personnel could get to them and begin triage."

God bless the men & women of the U.S. military.

Lake City Army Ammunition Plant Modernization Spurs Voluntary Worker Layoffs

In 2012, the federally owned, but privately managed, munitions plant near Independence, MO. delivered its 2 billionth round of 7.62-millimeter ammunition to the U.S. Army. It currently employs 2600 people, and it's unclear how many will be offered the voluntary layoff option - or if a round of mandatory layoffs will follow.

From the Kansas City Business Journal:

"The layoffs are not related to sequestration, the automatic federal budget cuts, said Bryan Kidder, a spokesman for Alliant Techsystems Inc. (NYSE: ATK), which operates the plant for the federal government.

“The workforce reduction is the result of a multi-year modernization effort at the 72-year-old facility and recent draw downs in military actions,” Kidder said in a written statement. “ATK will update employees as more information becomes available.”

Employees who choose a voluntary layoff will be provided with a separation package based on the number of years of service, Kidder said in the statement."

Since taking over the plant in 2000, ATK has increased the production rate of 7.62mm ammunition five-fold through expansion, automation, and modernization programs.

Commercial "indicator species" and the Economy

Similar to 'durable goods,' or 'housing starts,' but more basic. A plausible theory.

Maj. Thomas C. Griffin, Doolittle Raider, Dies at 96

From the NY Times:

"He died in a veterans hospital (on Feb. 26), said Tom Casey, a friend and the manager of the Doolittle Raiders, as the airmen who flew on the raid came to be known.

The raid, the first American attack on Japanese soil, followed a string of Japanese victories in the Pacific that had demoralized the American public. “The Japanese had attacked us, and we were mad,” Major Griffin said in an interview in 2012. “We wanted to hit ’em back.”

The 80 men who volunteered for the raid were told only that they would be involved in a terribly dangerous mission. They were to fly 16 B-25s from the deck of the U.S.S. Hornet — the first time the land-based bombers had been launched at sea — to strike military and industrial targets in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe, Nagoya and Osaka."

Capt. Ted W. Lawson chronicled the attack in his memoir “30 Seconds Over Tokyo,” which was adapted into a popular film in 1944.

RIP

John Wilpers Captured Japan's PM Tojo after WWII, Dies at 93

"But whether by coincidence or because advance word had reached him, Tojo had prepared to commit suicide the day Lieutenant Wilpers and his team reached him. He had invited a doctor to attend him in his dying moments. After letting Tojo know through an interpreter that he was being taken into custody, the intelligence team heard a gunshot inside the house.

Forcing their way in, they found Tojo lying on a couch, his white shirt stained in blood from a bullet in his chest. The physician standing nearby, intending to help Tojo die, refused Lieutenant Wilpers’s order to give Tojo medical help. The officers quickly found another doctor and had Tojo removed to an Army hospital, where he recovered. Later tried for war crimes, Tojo was executed in 1948.

Mr. Wilpers worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for 33 years after leaving the Army.

John Wilpers III, another son, said Mr. Wilpers eventually talked to his family about some of his experiences, including the capture of Tojo. But partly from a habit of secrecy acquired at the C.I.A., and partly because “that generation didn’t come back and brag,” John Wilpers said, his father did not say much."

RIP

In 1950, the White House was Completely Gutted, Then Reconstructed

From Kottke.org via Ace: "If this photo series from 1950 of the interior of the White House being ripped out so that the building could be structurally reinforced isn't an apt metaphor for the current state of American politics, I don't know what is."

In the late '40s, the executive mansion was in a condemnable state. To save it, everything had to go.

Many more fascinating pictures are here.

(all photos courtesy of the National Archives.)

The Wrong Diner

(with cameo by R. Lee Ermy - usmc, retired)



I'd much rather see more of this than those cringe-worthy Big Pharma infomercials with their 3 1/2 minute disclaimers about how this medication might kill you.

TY Bro, via email

Sunday, Sunday

"Where Were You" (9/11 Faith, Hope, & Love)  - by Alan Jackson

Look At All These Guns People Got for Christmas

That's the title to a post in the Atlantic Wire by Rebecca Greenfield. Click here to see pictures culled from something called 'Instagram' of the many gleeful new toy owners on Christmas morning. Miss Greenfield opines on 'all these guns' with nary a hint of angst, until her last bit of demagogic ignorance at the bottom of the page: "Gun control didn't stop these people from getting what they want for Christmas—at least not this year."

I got news for you Miss Greenfield; 'gun control' is not supposed to prevent law abiding citizens from purchasing firearms.

&&&

One Last Look: Mt. Washington Cemetery, Memorial Day 2012

The cemetery is located in Independence, Missouri. We were at the cemetery today to pay our respects to family who are laid to rest there. I was also drawn to all the other countless headstones with tiny American flags placed in honor of their service. I decided to photograph the random names of these random men called at random times by their country to answer a specific call of duty.

The conflicts range from the Civil War to Vietnam.

The Ugly War

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." ~ John Stuart Mill

It's oft been written that WWII was the 'Good War;' Korea the 'Bad War;' and Vietnam was the 'Ugly War.' I say Korea is certainly the forgotten war, yet Vietnam is the commie dope smoking text book propagandized war. Simply google 'Hanoi Jane,' 'New York Times Co. v. United States,' or 'Bill Clinton loath the military' to comprehend. Or watch the ilk they spawned over at MSNBC.

In stark contrast, anonymous blogger Oregon Muse, over at AoSHQ, has a great post about the 'Ugly war' of Vietnam:

"Here are some books on the Vietnam War that are well worth reading, and they've probably been already mentioned back when Monty was in charge of this thread:

Stolen Valor : How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History. This truly is a monumental work.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War

And then there's The Big Story by Peter Braestrup, which is an analysis of American media coverage of the 1968 Tet Offensive. For those of you who may not know, the Tet Offensive was a tremendous American/ARVN victory that, for all intents and purposes, destroyed the Viet Cong as a fighting force, but which was presented to the American people as a defeat by the lying rat bastard commies in the MSM/MBM/MFM/DBM/etc..."

Rat bast@rd commies' has a nice ring to it.  Read it all. And take Vet to lunch!

TY IP for the graphic

Decoration Day; Some Gave All...

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).

It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.


There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War. A hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead".

While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868.




It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

Source

Related:  

Entombed WWI German Soldiers Unearthed from Bomb Shelter

The Supreme Court Goes to War

Darth Vader's first car

War is hell

Spectacular Photos of WW II Defense Plant Workers

You know, of the 'Rosie the Riveter' sort.

October 1942. Kansas City, Kansas. "B-25 bomber plane at North American Aviation being hauled along an outdoor assembly line."
4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

  

August 1942. Mechanic Mary Josephine Farley works on a Wright Whirlwind motor in the Corpus Christi, Texas, 

Naval Air Base assembly and repairs shop. 

4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard R. Hollem.

About 3 dozen in all, from the "Office of War Information."

                                                                                                  

And what a difference 70 years makes; we've gone from riveters to grifters.



TY IOtW

Thomas Jefferson's Prayer for our Nation

(Washington DC, March 4, 1801)

"Almighty God, Who has given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will.

Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people, the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues.

Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those whom in Thy name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth. In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail;

all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen."

Yet we tolerate our school children being indoctrinated with the nonsense that he was just a secularized deist who had no use for this Jesus hootinnanny stuff?

God save the Republic.

The Current Truth About Old, Rich, Founding White Guys & Their Evil Oppressive Nation

"On the Fourth of July Americans will cynically celebrate the greatest setback world progress has ever endured in all of human history. The rest of humankind will, of course, be grieving over the dark day when the United States of America was born. To understand the full scope of this tragedy we must look back at the pre-7/04 world and see what it was like to live on planet Earth before 1776."

Spare yourselves the sorrow of capitalists lies, Komrades!

Re-educate your brain now, at The People's Cube.

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

From Wikipedia:

"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is a hymn by American writer Julia Ward Howe using the music from the song "John Brown's Body". Howe's more famous lyrics were written in November 1861 and first published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. It became popular during the American Civil War. Since that time it has become an extremely popular and well-known American patriotic song."

Original lyrics

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
“As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal”;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
[originally …let us die to make men free]
While God is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.

Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.