. . .
[See the "e-ssay" titled The Flag (May 31, 2010).]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Yard Sale: “Nicely manicured. We’ll take it. Do you deliver?”
“What is the most dangerous phrase in general aviation?” “Watch this.”
Archive for the Military Category
Memorial Day (May 27, 2013)
Posted in Military on May 27, 2013 by e-ssay.orgO’Bama. Part Deux. (January 21, 2013)
Posted in Foreign Policy, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Guns, Immigration, Locke Gary, Military, O'Bama, Presidency, Supreme Court on January 21, 2013 by e-ssay.org. . .
A “Cope not hope this go around.”
B “Not as cold this time. And a different climate than four years ago.”
A “Sounds like he is moving from the right to the center.”
. . .
B “Chuck Hagel is a great move. The first enlisted man who actually saw combat as an NCO (“no chance officer”) and was not promoted to the officer corps now gets nominated to order and oversee the officers.”
A “Amazing thing in America that those who go to war and reflect on the experience become Democrats. Those who dodge the draft and never see combat become Republican chickenhawks.”
B “Hagel was never a butter bar and now he is tasked with reducing the fat in the Defense budget.”
A “The best place to start is with the Offense Department of the Department of Defense. Hagel is the most qualified player to oversee that transition to a sustainable defense in a complex and dangerous world.”
. . .
B “Jack Lew is a weak move.”
A “William Black for Treasury would move us into the black.”
B “The Owners will not allow O’Bama to make that selection.”
A “Someone must start the process of downsizing too-big-to-fail banks so that they are the right size to succeed.”
B “Financial reform may not be part of his legacy.”
. . .
A “We must force him to address his increased use of drones. If Bush had undertaken the current level of drone attacks on foreign soil and homes, he would have been leveled in some salons.”
B “Now drones can fill the skies in America. In the near future, there will be news reports of mid-air collisions between the ‘Fillmore County police drone’ and the ‘state troopers drone.’ Fly the friendly skies of United States of America.”
A “I suspect that some opposition to gun control in some quarters may be supported by a scintilla of rationality. A few individuals recognize that these violations of privacy are getting out of hand, so they want something in hand even if it is likely to be deadly, futile and counterproductive.”
B “They are impinging on our fundamental right to sit in my back yard and scratch body parts without being scrutinized.”
. . .
A “He has followed the nation’s emerging notions of gay rights and now is in lockstep with the public while the other legislature on Jenkins Hill – the Supreme Court – has elected to decide whether to take a step backward.”
B “The Supreme Court Legislature is as partisan and divisive as the real Congress legislature.”
. . .
B “And he mentioned climate change even though the climate changed in the scientific community many years ago.”
A “His comments were not warmly received.”
. . .
A “Immigration.”
. . .
B “And the most important appointment of the last decade – Gary Locke – may just stay on the job for four more years.”
. . .
[See the “e-ssay” titled O’Bama Arming Industry (November 22, 2010).]
[See the essay at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/opinion/confessions-of-a-liberal-gun-owner.html.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
No country is exceptional; no country is evil.
provide for the common defense
In order to serve as many customers as possible, all ammunition sales are limited to three boxes per customer per day.
Because of extraordinarily high demand for ammunition and limited . . . .
At War With The First Amendment (February 27, 2012)
Posted in Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Congress, Constitution, Courts, Crime/Punishment, First Amendment, Judges, Less Government Regulation Series, Military, Supreme Court on February 27, 2012 by e-ssay.org. . .
O “Some guys who spent their days folding diapers at Fort Dix are proclaiming that they single-handedly won World War II.”
P “And good old Congress comes to the rescue and imposes some more government regulations. Congress again dictated that the government must decide and provided for more buffoons to be sent to prison at my expense. The issue is so clear and simple. We could agree to direct the government to make bumbling efforts to criminalize the goonery or we could vest individuals with the responsibility to determine the truth.”
O “The Stolen Valor Act of 2005 is a misnomer. Those in the service fought valorously for the First Amendment of 1791 not some shallow rah-rah legislation. Curious that the government and business are in business to lie, yet we want the government to come in and prosecute someone who is not telling the truth and then deny that person his or her liberty.”
P “The government already fulfills its role without the additional legislation and imposition on our First Amendment guarantees. Look at the Department of Defense Form DD 214 prepared at government expense that provides the actual information about a person’s military service and awards. The Court should take notice of the fact that little is private today particularly one’s military service from his or her first day as a private. Perhaps the government could expunge the social security numbers and publish all DD 214s upon retirement.”
O “Most of these scoundrels and fools are insecure and desperate but not criminal. What if the Court simply issued a two word decision: ‘First Amendment.’”
. . .
Bumper stickers of the week:
First Amendment Rules
The Stolen Valor Act – steals honor and denies rights
On Loyalty (August 29, 2011)
Posted in Military, On [Traits/Characteristics], Pogo Plight, Society on August 29, 2011 by e-ssay.org. . .
S “Loyalty is the dutiful younger cousin of love. Related to agape and unrelated to eros. You only find it among those with a secure sense of self esteem and magnanimity.”
D “I also find it among those individuals who subscribe to a disciplined sense of duty. In boot camp, the military breaks down the individual and builds up the unit based on discipline and loyalty. Society breaks down the individual and boots him out. Loyalty is basically confined to the military and to mutts and to a few other strays. My dog is the only loyal person I know. Loyalty is a rare and endangered animal.”
. . .
S “Too often loyalty is defined as a willingness to lie to cover for someone or to cover up a situation for someone. True loyalty requires you to be loyal to a Code that is greater than the person and to be loyal only to those who don’t even ask you to challenge the Code.”
D “Fidelity may be so rare because it does not derive from self interest. We are acculturated to buying what passes for allegiance for a period of time. We rent it when necessary with no expectation that it otherwise exists or endures.”
. . .
Bumper sticker of the week:
Let me be the person my dog thinks I am
In Memoriam (May 30, 2011)
Posted in Military, Society on May 30, 2011 by e-ssay.org. . .
A “The kids came from Connecticut and Kentucky and Kansas and Colorado and California and got carted off to countries with foreign-sounding names. They did not individually have any quarrel with the people. . . . .”
. . .
Bumper sticker of the week:
All gave some, some gave all
The Silent Takeover (May 23, 2011)
Posted in China, Cyberactivities, Economics, Foreign Policy, Locke Gary, Middle East, Military on May 23, 2011 by e-ssay.org. . .
C1 “Take over America. Of course we are. You say that you have a better plan, comrade.”
C2 “The primary lesson of the Twentieth Century is that it is easier to take by investment than by invasion.”
C1 “Clear thinking, little butterfly. Invasion is costly and ineffective. Invasion only assists the defense industry. You can eat butter; you can’t eat a gun. We focused our spending on efficient invasion technology. We are letting the Americans spend on offensive technology to allow them to go bankrupt.”
C2 “They are already bankrupt.”
C1 “They are. They are also too big to fail, but not too big to own and operate efficiently.”
C2 “Increase the purchases of t-bills and t-bonds by another fifty percent to a holding of 1.5 Trillion U.S. They will be worthless, but they are one of the tickets to control.”
C1 “We will decide what they are worth later.”
. . .
C2 “America has an unproductive class of third-rate minds and fifth-rate characters who suck staggering amounts of money without contributing anything of value. They are identified as CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and their like and ilk. They run companies and run them into the ground.”
C1 “Comrade, we plan to teach them how capitalism really works. Survival of the fittest. They are not fit. They will not survive.”
C2 “They do not have a working market for talent at the top of American corporations. The market is broken . . . and fixed. The brigands and hooligans run the companies. The American schooling institutions feed and fuel the broken market.”
C1 “The brigands and hooligans will be fixed like the mongrel dogs they are. They will be sent to regional re-education camps . . . to be re-educated.”
C2 “Were they ever educated?”
C1 “Very good. You will go far. What about the cyberfun we are having with them.”
C2 “You should taunt them with simple technology and gauge what they have to combat the efforts.”
C1 “We can send a message internally to the Seventh Fleet to ‘stand-down’ at any time that looks like it is one of their own. We can even send a message to have the crew stand on their heads.”
C2 “We can? What will you do with the people? The people do not produce.”
C1 “They produce but not products. We provide the goods and the money to buy the goods for now. They will be allowed to consume as long as it is in our interest to allow them to consume.”
. . .
C2 “Soon the Middle East will be our challenge.”
C1 “A problem not a challenge. It is now an American problem and will remain an American problem. America has a place in the world and a role to play.”
. . .
C2 “We have our own domestic problems.”
C1 “Not if we don’t acknowledge them.”
C2 “Look at the problems we don’t acknowledge.”
C1 “Who asked you?”
C2 “Our comrades are becoming . . . filthy running dog consumers. We are creating our own mess.”
. . .
C2 “I have another plan. What if we tried to work with them? Why don’t we have a beer with Gary.”
. . .
Bumper stickers of the week:
Is it possible to go through the day and encounter something or anything not made out of oil and not made in China?
Gary Locke – nominated to be the Ambassador to China. O’Bama’s most astute and foresighted appointment.
The Bush Grand Slam (February 14, 2011)
Posted in Afghanistan, Bernanke, Bush, CIA, Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, FBI, Federal Reserve, Iraq, Military on February 14, 2011 by e-ssay.org. . .
1 “Quite an inspiring legacy. The Bush appointees. At least the prominent ones who are still serving. Bernanke*, Mullen, Mueller and Gates.”
2 “Sounds like a trusts and estates boutique law firm.”
1 “By law, some major political appointees remain in office through the start of a subsequent administration. The first three appointees continued serving at the start of the O’Bama administration. O’Bama retained Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense and re-appointed Ben Bernanke* as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.”
2 “He really blew it in his early years with the Fed, yet Bernanke* may be the best that America can produce. We need Bernanke to channel his inner Volker.”
1 “Bernanke is the pivotal player. Gates swore an oath that included providing for the ‘common defense.’ His performance is exemplary and an example for all. Ike, a Republican and former general to boot, was remarkably courageous in his last days in office when he warned us in no uncertain terms about the power of the military-industrial complex. So much money that should be used for our common defense or other purposes is squandered on projects and programs that are unnecessary. Gates is still challenging wasteful and duplicative spending.”
2 “Perhaps Gates could take off for a week to go bass fishing and then return to duty. He has the stroke to get it done, but he may want to get out before he has a stroke.”
1 “You’ve got to have the fire to stay in the game. Look at the record. When the National Security Act of 1947 transformed the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) into the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), there was concern to avoid the secret Gestapo police that had terrorized Europe and the world a few years earlier. After 9/11, the barriers between international intelligence gathering and domestic police activities were eliminated. Without institutional barriers, we rely on individual restraint. As Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Robert Mueller has provided balance and prosecuted the task with integrity and an abiding concern for the Constitution.”
2 “Another former Marine making it.”
1 “And Mike Mullen as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been a steady hand on the tiller.”
2 “Tough task. The military is engaged in two wars that America cannot win and cannot lose. America cannot afford to pursue them and cannot afford not to pursue them.”
1 “And a calm head implementing the transition from DADT (Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell) to a military culture that allows everyone a chance to serve and die without living a lie.”
2 “You know that he could have opted to go into the Marines after the Academy?”
. . .
[See the “e-ssay” titled “V Day (February 14, 2005).”]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Much is well that ends well
Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity
O’Bama Revisited (January 17, 2011)
Posted in "L" Shaped Economy, Bailout/Bribe, Economics, Federal Reserve, Military, O'Bama on January 17, 2011 by e-ssay.org. . .
F “Cold day on the Mall two years ago. Can’t say that things will be much warmer this week.”
G “It’s still cold and is getting colder. The day will live in infamy. Neville Chamberlin O’Bama.”
F “Not going to throw in Hussein for good measure.”
G “That’s silly. His first name was Arthur. He gets a C-.”
F “Arthur?”
G “Neville C. O’Bama. After the tax sell-out, I called the White House and the delegation and told them that I have had it. I unsubscribed from seven political e-mail lists. My contributions are too miniscule to matter, yet I told them that I am not making any more contributions. No bumper stickers, no canvassing, no money, no more.”
F “No one subscribes to my political views, so I can’t even unsubscribe from e-mail lists. We confronted a Hobson’s choice in 2008. O’Bama was and is a centrist. He’s the better we could do.”
G “He hasn’t challenged the massive continuing transfer of wealth to a small elite who do not contribute to the economy. It is almost as if he got into office and discovered that there are certain unwritten overriding rules that cannot be undermined or even challenged by anyone in the office. The cabal of trolls in the basement of the White House call the shots.”
F “He hasn’t. And you may be right. The economic fundamentals are worse than they were in September, 2008. The poison is still flowing in the financial system. The banksters know that they will be bailed out by both the Republicans and the Democrats and will never need to make bail for their crimes. The recent bailouts have been detailed and delegated to the Fed.”
G “When is someone going to realize that the aggregation of wealth in the hands of a very small group is actually an impediment to economic growth?”
F “When the Nobel Prize Committee signals that it will give a Nobel in Economics for the conclusion.”
G “The expenditures employ yacht builders and polo saddle makers, but not ordinary unemployed butchers, bakers and brick makers.”
F “Yacht builders and polo saddle makers need jobs. Politics is about compromise. Compromise is not pretty.”
G “Compromise is different than capitulation. He has capitulated. Someone said that the country may need a war to pull us out of the economic depression. He and we have two of them going that have not done much positive.”
F “Is the third war a charm.”
G “Just watch. America can be broken.”
. . .
[President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his “Military-Industrial Complex” farewell speech/warning 50 years ago about the “unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex.”]
[MLK Day]
Bumper sticker of the week:
Hope (I hope, hopefully)
America’s Fraud Factories (October 18, 2010)
Posted in Education, Journalism, Law, Military, Press/Media, Schooling, Society on October 18, 2010 by e-ssay.org. . .
K “We in America closed the traditional factories but openly operate a network of profitable Fraud Factories.”
J “Look at the flow of raw material. The kids who get As in college go to med school, those who get Bs go to law school and those who get Cs go to biz school. And look who makes the big bucks.”
K “Those pursuing a journalism degree pursue truth and those pursuing a Master of Fine Arts pursue beauty. At least in theory. And Yeats proffered the exchange rate.”
J “Those in the Corps embody an esprit de corps, the Semper Fi and Siempre Fi spirit. And former Marines are among the most disciplined and honest journalists. Think Jim Lehrer.”
K “And Gordon Peterson. Interning at Parris Island rather than grunting at The Paris Review provides a different worldview.”
J “Right. Fighter pilots reflect that same dedication, discipline and devotion to duty. First responders, as they now call them, and most doctors share a sense of professionalism and commitment. Those with the forest service and the fish and game service are genuinely concerned about the future well-being of the evergreens and the blue gills and the white tails.”
K “And then there are the Fraud Factories, American business and law schools, teaching students the subtle art of fraud and deception. The kids are taught to advance their own self-interest over anything else at almost any cost. They are taught the nuances of gaming a business and legal system that is designed to be gamed. Neither government regulation nor market forces restrain or direct their activities.”
J “Biz schools are the most profitable divisions of the American corporate university system. Biz schools are more profitable than law schools that are in turn more profitable than med schools.”
K “And the colleges of arts and crafts may no longer be tolerated as loss leaders, albeit very expensive divisions of the corporate university system. The motto of the American Association of Fraud Factories says it all: ‘No Duty, No Honor, No Country.’”
J “Some cutting edge biomedical engineers are debating how to teach robots to behave ethically. The Fraud Factories take kids who exhibit one common trait – a ready willingness to obey and please their superiors – and engineer them to be robots.”
K “Remember after Watergate when there was a national hand wringing about the nadir of the legal profession that occurred at the same time the journalism profession was at its zenith. Law schools instituted professional responsibility classes. Some astute students realized that a B+ grade reflected the right attitude to employers. That is enough to get by and keep moving through the system but not too much enthusiasm for the topic.”
J “The problem today is with the students admitted to the schools, the indoctrination process and the indentured servitude status that consigns the graduates to represent wealthy interests to pay off their crushing debts.”
K “Think about it. If Schicklgruber applied to law or business school today, the profitable schools would aggressively bid to attract him. He is the ideal applicant – brilliant, charismatic and destined to succeed. Everything is about success and power, and power and success, and success and power. Yeats could have proffered the exchange rate.”
J “If Concentration Camps of America, Inc. ever needs to staff concentration camps to warehouse and dispose of the unwanted, hire American-trained lawyers and biz school grads. They won’t ask questions.”
K “But don’t dare miss payroll.”
. . .
Bumper stickers of the week:
I’m not my brother’s keeper, just his banker. I’m not even his banker, I’m my own banker.
Follow the money
I was just following orders
I was just following the money
I was just following the money orders
Duty, Honor, Country
Honor, Courage, Commitment
Smile while you’re makin’ it, Laugh while you’re takin’ it, Even though you’re fakin’ it, Nobody’s gonna know. O Lucky Man!
U.S.A. 1945 – 2005 R.I.P. (August 16, 2010)
Posted in Economics, Military, Peak Oil, Society on August 16, 2010 by e-ssay.org. . .
K “The last three score years have been a remarkable run in the history of mankind. Sixty years of unprecedented growth and prosperity in America. The Great Expansion was unique because the bounty was spread widely among the American populace. The Middle Class was created in a young country built by indentured servants, former serfs and slaves. Yet things have been declining particularly during the Decadent Decade.”
J “Look at the score. There are too many strip malls, too many strip mines and too many strip joints.”
K “During that period of time, the America Experiment transitioned from a Republic to an Empire and is now transitioning to a post-Empire nation in a world of other rising powers and the emerging megamonopower in China.”
J “America transitioned from a country to a market and from a search for the public weal to the aggregation of private wealth. More affluence has only lead to more effluence. A new pill that supplants natural processes and possibly saves a few hundred lives is produced in a factory that maims, cripples and kills thousands downstream from the outflow. Prosperity came at a great cost.”
K “We went to the Moon in ’69. Geopolitics aside, that was quite a feat with many ancillary benefits.”
J “And back on Earth the next year we challenged the assumptions and consequences on Earth Day.”
K “Thinking progressed.”
J “We conquered consumption, yet consumption conquered us. We as a society need an antibiotic to protect us against our consuming consumption. Those who say that small is beautiful today are not proclaiming a goal but rather are predicting the future. But we as a country will not voluntarily downsize, we will be downsized.”
K “Americans have not had to deal with any privation and are not emotionally prepared to deal with declining economic opportunity. When we were prosperous, we were generous; as America’s fortunes decline, we are becoming hard-fisted and mean spirited. The next decade will be ugly.”
J “America’s military mission will need to downsize significantly to follow America’s changing role and options. The real battle continues today on the battlefield of global climate change.”
. . .
Bumper stickers of the week:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Question consumption
