Why There Is a Memorial Day

So we remember. So we thank them all. We are so grateful for brave New Englanders in the fields at Lexington and Concord before we ever were THIS United States. So grateful for the courage of our fathers and grandfathers, and for this new generation of lads and lassies who step into uniform freely for US ~ begin the cycle of sacrifice anew. And go so bravely into the most horrific of places, unimaginable to the oblivious hoards of beachgoers and bargain shoppers on this somber red, white and blue weekend. We are so grateful and our hearts weep for them all ~ for the unimaginable, inconsolable loss of a husband, a treasured daughter…a baby boy born on the Fourth of July.

Marine Cpl. Jacob C. Leicht didn’t survive his second encounter with a bomb this week. The death of the 24-year-old Texan born on the Fourth of July marks a grim milestone in the Afghanistan war.

Leicht, who spent two painful years recovering from the Iraq blast, was killed Thursday when he stepped on a land mine in Helmand province that ripped off his right arm. He had written letters from his hospital bed begging to be put back on the front lines, and died less than a month into that desperately sought second tour.

…“He said he always wanted to die for his country and be remembered,” said Jesse Leicht, his younger brother. “He didn’t want to die having a heart attack or just being an old man. He wanted to die for something.”

Semper Fidelis.

Oh, my God, how you lived that, Marine!

And we WILL remember, dearest Corporal, what you and so many others have given so willingly for us. Your sacrifice has been beyond measure and we can strive only to be forever worthy of it. We remember and our hearts are full.

How To Tell…

…when Suzette’s been around

sigh.

Luckily I had a spare

Ahhhhhhhhhhh

For My Family…

Only the finest mechanically separated meats will do

With Lines Like This? Why, That Fuzzy Faced Fellow Just Has Me Giggling

…like a little girl.

…Consider, for example, his recent remarks to the graduating class of the United States Military Academy:

“America has not succeeded by stepping out of the currents of cooperation — we have succeeded by steering those currents in the direction of liberty and justice.”

“Steering those currents”? How could even a member of the president’s insulated, self-regarding speechwriting team be so tin-eared as to write that line? How could the president be so tone-deaf as to deliver it in May of 2010?

Hey, genius, if you’re so damn good at “steering currents,” why not try doing it in the Gulf of Mexico?

Oh, spot ON!

But, to be comPLETELY fair to our fair weather Prez, he doesn’t have a whole lot of time to pencil in “steerings” and such things. It’s a tough job and the asshat’s booked months in advance. “Cerebral” that, pal.

Raise a Happy Birthday Glass to My Schweet Baby Boy, Ebola!

Who is spending his very first birthday away from home, in uniform, on base…and his mommy misses him.

(I need to grow up.)

We LOVE you the MOSTEST, big guy!

Maybe They Should Move To New Jersey?

I mean, only if they could tolerate slumming with us types who live here, natch

MYFOXNY.COM – New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is reportedly pitching a plan for an increased “millionaire’s tax” aimed at 75-85 thousand New Yorkers making $1 million or more a year.

Political columnist Fred Dicker , who appeared on Wednesday’s Good Day New York, says Silver secretly proposed a $1 billion tax hike on the highest income earners to Gov. Paterson.

The plan would jack up a current millionaires tax another 11-percent. The current “millionaire’s tax” actually starts affecting people who have incomes over $200,000. High income tax earners would pay more than 13-percent of their salary in local taxes.

Gov. Christie is doing all he can to make our tax structure designed to keep the taxpayers here; he’s discovered that does wonders for the revenues actually collected.

OMG, This is SUCH a Classic

Remember Calderon’s anti-Arizona illegal waaaaaaaaahnt that brought Democrats to their feet? Why he thinks it’s so bad has Wolf Blitzer…a little confused.

A big Swill Salute to Stormbringer for the awesome catch.

We Have a New Family Member

…who has been duly christened “Mortimer”. I’d post a picture, but, right this moment, he’s booking across the lawn for what seems the umpteenth time since he planted himself on our doorstep a mere two days ago. The kid don’t stand still for nobody, I’m tellin’ ya. We built what we felt to be a pretty escape-proof sort of enclosure, but what did we know? I mean…he’s a turtle. How hard could it be? But he keeps finding holes and we keep bricking them up.

The little bugger is better at the big breakout than Steve McQueen and they’re DAMN near as showy each time.

Since I wasn’t working today, I got the “scoop Mortimer up and see where the hole is” duty. I plopped him back in his palatial digs (7′ x30′? Hostas? Leaf litter? His own BRAND-NEW wading/swimming/pooing pool? Bite-size romaine and strawberries with fat slug on the side? Who in their right turtle mind would leave?), pulled a lawn chair into the shade, waved the bugs off my cup o’ joe and settled in for the wait. It took all of 5 minutes.

Once he got over his initial “dammit” snit, he tuttled on over to the (obviously) woefully inadequate fence and began methodically testing each and every INDIVIDUAL little wire prong that went earthward with a push of his paw, coupled with sideward twist of his boxy little shell to see if he could squeak it through. On the third one, it all came together and he plopped out, landing on his back. A little neck stretch and a flip righted that ship! Off he went, traversing the yard as close to the patio door as possible in order to send BeauBeau into yet another satisfying round of impotent, foamflecked, maniacal snarling and Cujo-like barking, accompanied by a chorus of Scottie banshee wails. It’s all payback for those first awkward moments when the enclosure wasn’t quite ready and I turned around…okay, well twice…to see BeauBeau literally spitting Mortimer out “PITU!” into the middle of the backyard. Thank God there was no crunching involved.
Box turtles smirk, did you know?

Some of the box turtle sites actually talk about the “talented individual”. So I guess we got one. Oh, yea.

I’ll never disparage turtle intelligence again. Now, if you’ll excuse me ~ there’s been an erruption at the back door.

I’m assuming I need another brick.

Speaking Of Golf

I’ve got a 7am tee time so I will see all you handsome folks later.

Of Course You Realize This Means

..wah! And oh, goody!

Great strateegery there. I hope more state GOP’s pick up on it.

He Shot A 25 On The Back Nine

Holy Crap. Look, I don’t care if it wasn’t a “real” Tour event. A Twenty-freakin-FIVE is an insane score

Some scorecards make you shake your head and think, “This can’t be true.” So you read it again, hole-by-hole, and then you shake your head again. That’s what I did after looking at what Jamie Kureluk did in the first round of the RBC Insurance Alberta Open Tuesday.

Twenty-five on the back nine. Is your head spinning yet? Kureluk, a pro at the Cottonwood Golf and Country Club in Calgary, shot 25 to shoot 61. He was two-over-par after four holes and 12-under for his last 10 holes. He was 11-under on the back nine alone. His back nine is by all accounts a competitive record.

…Kureluk’s back nine card went like this: Birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle.

Look at the card

Simply amazing. Well done, indeed sir!

(h/t to Wei Under Par)

Maybe Hans Brix Took Them?

Anybody think this might be a problem?

South Korea’s military is trying to find four North Korean submarines that have disappeared from tracking screens in the East Sea.

…The 300-tonne Sang-O class submarines are part of Pyongyang’s 40-strong fleet.

She Served 15 Years For “Aiding Leftist Rebels”

Back here we’d call that “working for the current administration”

LIMA, Peru — A judge granted parole Tuesday to Lori Berenson, the 40-year-old New York activist who has spent 15 years in Peruvian prisons on a conviction of aiding leftist rebels.

Judge Jessica Leon granted a request by Berenson, who gave birth a year ago, for conditional release at a hearing at the Lima prison where the American has been held since January 2009.

She said, however, that Berenson cannot leave Peru until her sentence for terrorist collaboration ends in November 2015.

…Berenson had for many years denied any wrongdoing, maintaining she was a political prisoner and not a terrorist.

But her defense team said in papers submitted to the judge that she “recognized she committed errors in involving herself in activites of the MRTA.” She said in her parole request that she planned to work as a translator if released.

Let’s hope she has truly changed her ways.

I love how the article tries to downplay these rebels

Their daughter had dropped out of the Massachussets Institute of Technology in 1989 to pursue a passion for social justice. After a time in Central America – she worked as private secretary to El Salvador’s top rebel commander during peace negotiations there – she traveled to Peru in 1994.

Berenson was arrested in 1995 and initially accused of being a leader of the MRTA, which bombed banks and kidnapped and killed civilians but was nowhere near as violent as the better-known Shining Path insurgency.

It is blamed for, at most, 200 killings.

Gosh, only 200 murders?

No biggie.

What asshats.

In Case You Missed This Cheery News

What could possibly go wrong with this scenario

Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year, a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds.

At the same time, government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010.

Those records reflect a long-term trend accelerated by the recession and the federal stimulus program to counteract the downturn. The result is a major shift in the source of personal income from private wages to government programs.

Make no mistake, this is how the government wants it. Their power depends on making us dependent on their handouts. They do not care in the least about the economics of this

The trend is not sustainable, says University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes. Reason: The federal government depends on private wages to generate income taxes to pay for its ever-more-expensive programs.

The government’s “ace” in their sleeve is their ability to print more money; they believe they can inflate away the current debt and some mystical “future growth” by an increasingly non-existent private sector will be taxed to pay for everything.

And meanwhile our debt-to-GDP ratio is now over 90%.

We need to starve this beast, and starve it now.

According to Drudge, Obama Been There, Done That

…with that whole wreath laying ceremony thang.

SOURCE: Obama skipping Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. ‘He’ll be on vacation in Chicago’…

If true, I’m: Disgusted? Yes. Outraged? Yes.

Please note “surprised” is nowhere to be found on my list. You’ll also notice it’s CHICAGO and not NEW ORLEANS or NASHVILLE or some other similarly horribly afflicted American city who could use a little presidential huggie-poo. “Surprised”?

I am so over “surprised” with this asshat and his team of evil clowns.

Our Plan Is Working

Yes, those glorious great super-dee-duper geniuses just want you to rest assured that their super intellectual nuanceitivity is working to perfection, as of course it must. They said they’d spend their way out of that recession they inherited from the previous Administration and by gum they sure have spent us out of it! Enough of this “almost” seditious gun-clingy-religiosity, you haters.

The problem is…where are we now?

(Reuters) – Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were down 2.2 to 2.5 percent at 0915 GMT (5:15 a.m. ET) on Tuesday, pointing to a steep decline on Wall Street.

World stocks tumbled on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei losing 3.1 percent and European shares down 2.8 percent in morning trade, hit by renewed worries over the euro zone banking sector after the Bank of Spain’s rescue of a savings bank over the weekend, and by a report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has ordered his military to be on a combat footing.

Throw in the fact that US government debt continues to expand faster than Kirstie Alley at a Dunkin’ Donuts…

Analysts said the combined sell-off in equity and credit markets, along with the relentless rise in dollar funding costs, was threatening to hobble the financial system a little more than a year after pulling out of the subprime mortgage crisis.

Noted Tax Cheat and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told future Chinese leaders that the Obama Administration will cut its budget deficit once it is sure the economy is safely growing. The future leaders told him his routine beat the shit out of anything they’d heard from Leno in years.

The euro is down to 1.2190 right now, btw.

Well, at least French wine and cheese will be cheaper.

HOW Did the “Obama Sad Sisters Traveling Circus” Answer the Question

“WHAT is the Federal government actually DOING?”

…about the oil assault on Lousiana’s beaches and marshes?
To a ONE ~ TO A ONE ~ they all broke into a chorus of…
“BP SUCKS!!!! They suck so bad!!
They make you mad, they SUCK THAT BAD!!!
(Jindal, blow it out your rear!
You’re just damn lucky that we’re here!)
Did we mention BP sucks,
And owes us ALL BIG BUCKS?!
BP sucks! BP sucks!
BP will pay to clean the ducks!!”

And that was it.

In Jersey Illegals Get Bustiered

In the People’s Republic of Massachusetts illegals ain’t illegal…now with improved delicious irony.

Not so in NJ. Should anyone, let alone an illegal, try to lift some underwear here and they’ll be sent away for a thong time

SHREWSBURY — Four Hudson County residents have been charged with shoplifting more than $1,600 of panties from storage bins inside a Victoria’s Secret store after an alert employee called police.

…Charged with shoplifting and possession of stolen property were Maria P. Goncalves, 24, and Nestor Pachon-Perez, 23, both of North Bergen, Jasmine J. Padilla, 22, of Union City and Jairo Navas-Sandoval, 28, of West New York.

…Goncalves and Navas were also being held on detainers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Give us your tired, your poor
Those yearning to get underwear for free…

If Only I’d Known This Was Out There

I could have gotten a lot more sleep last night

(shamelessly stolen from leeann)

Now, I have to say, I’ve watched schmaybe one episode of Lost prior to last night, so I am of course perfectly versed in the show’s nuances to render decisive judgment on it, so here goes: the writers’ problem (and this shows in this final “church” scene whose stain-glassed windows are decorated with symbols of all the major religions, because, y’know, your actual beliefs don’t really matter but gosh do we respect them) is that they don’t believe in evil people. Oh sure, they believe that people can do bad things, but that in the “end” everyone is all happy and chummy; that, at their core, people are “good.”

And I just don’t buy it.

People are, at their core, nasty self-centered evil little shits.

Update: Hehe, here’s da Vinci’s lesser-known painting “The Lost Supper”

Just DO It

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says the state is not waiting for federal approval to begin building sand barriers to protect the coastline from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Dear God. There is no excuse for what is going on.

NO excuse.

As someone pointed out so succinctly Thursday (Marco Rubio, matter of fact) ~ we don’t own the Gulf. If we’re not out there, drilling as safely as we possibly can, you can damn well bet your ass someone else is gonna be. And it’s gonna be China, or Venezuela, or Cuba, Russia…who knows who. But if it’s NOT us, it could be anybody, so NOT drilling’s NOT an option for our own best defense and our own best interest, both environmentally AND energy independence.

The problem’s not the drilling.

The problem is that the saying “shit happens” didn’t come into being because shit doesn’t happen, but because it ALWAYS happens. ALWAYS. And we’ve all been there and all said it and all cleaned shit up. Which is why you plan for it, why you have seven different ways to fix the twelve different things that might go to shit and know at least eighteen different people who have an idea what to do if you do. Why you use an exponent for expertise depending on the difficulty/level of possible public embarrassment/natural disaster involved in the project at hand. For instance, at the squadron, we did it for everything from an accidental discharge of plane washing fluid into a drain, to some dipshit hitting a fuel release switch and gazillions of gallons of JP-5 (jetfuel) spraying Caesar’s Palace fountains’ like onto the taxiway. Different levels of reaction, response and “Holy Shit!” phone calls to the appropriate people, but you swung into action immediately. Knew where the things and people were that you needed to FIX it.

For all the holes in the ground that never ever burped a problem, they HAD to know one day shit was gonna happen that would cause all those decades of happy drilling to pale instantly into pasty insignificance. So it has. The sickening result, besides the rusty, gloppy, gelatinous goo poisoning my beautiful water, is watching the utter and complete incompetence of both the technological geniuses responsible for the deepest, safest rig ever and the piteous intellectual giants who replaced poor, inept, weepy eyed “Brownie” in case we had some sort of national emergency. All of whom, mind you, are headed our way yet again…to…um…clean a pelican. Or something.

Fuck, I don’t know.

And the problem is, NEITHER DO THEY.

And, in the meantime, Robert “I Know Greasy” Gibbs can snark that Sarah Palin should educate herself about the OIL INDUSTRY (!) to Bob Schieffer , but sure can’t tell anyone why they haven’t done a damn thing about those BP (you know, those guys that gave OBAMA more money than ANYBODY ELSE) rigs that are pretty much carbon copies of this one. Or WHY they haven’t pulled the best oil INDUSTRY- Red Adair-deep sea rig kinda brains in the WHOLE FRICKIN’ world in to live on a barge over this thing and said

“Diver Dan the disaster 24/7 until you fix it!”

Oh, no. They brought in NASA. NASA?!?!?!?! (Isn’t that, like, THE WRONG DIRECTION?)

Classic.

The rocket scientists those other people elected…brought in…rocket scientists.

Maybe if someone in this administration had ever actually held a REAL JOB they might know someone to call who’d actually held a REAL WRENCH, instead of just…well…been a REAL TOOL.

Fig-Gedduh Bout It

Our bud Rob posted some lovely Spring photos from CrabApple Lane the other day showing his latest yard addition: a couple of fig trees.

Oddly enough, even though we’re in quite the different climatological zone than ‘Nawlins I also planted a couple of figs this year (with some heather for celtician contrast)

I do rather think that his have got a better shot at a long fruitful life, however. I planted mine just to have something to hold together the hillside that they’re on, so even if they only last this year and don’t survive the cruel cool Winter blasts (and judging by the USDA literature I’m reckoning they won’t, even though we usually don’t get that cold thanks to the salubrious influence of Gaia’s Bathtub which is only a few miles east of us) I figure I’m ahead of the game.

I’m starting to also get a few blueberries this year, which are also artfully framed by heather, you’ll notice

The grapes are making their appearance, which causes my heart to skip and burst forth in joyous song

of course, those nazi scumsucking cloven-hoofed bambionic bastards just love their daily grape-leaf salad buf-freakin-fet

I wonder if I can put up a perimeter of landmines to take those deer out…that wouldn’t violate the township’s “firearms” ordinance, would it?

Maybe I Don’t Need A New Set Of Irons…

Maybe what I really need is a new set of heels

Immediately upon entering the Ryder Cup room at Chelsea Piers Golf Club Monday night, Christina Kim was the center of attention. Scratch that, her shoes were the center of attention. Four-inch Rene Caovilla stiletto heels with black burano lace, glittered in Swarovski crystal chains, to be exact.

A pair costs $1,000. It is the type of shoe you don’t wear outside. It is the type of shoe that is to be looked at, not touched.

It is the type of shoe that Kim — on a dare — stepped onto the driving range wearing that night and prepared to take a swing. Her book party hushed. She’s not really doing this, is she? Please don’t fall. Check that, please don’t ruin those shoes!

Kim ripped the drive straight down the middle and off the back of the net, 200 yards away.

And then for good measure, she did it again. Twice.

And a black dress.

I really need a short black dress.

How’s That “Economia Verde” Working Out?

You know, the one that The Won just lurves and wants to impose on us

As predicted was inevitable, today the Spanish newspaper La Gaceta runs with a full-page article fessing up to the truth about Spain’s “green jobs” boondoggle, which happens to be the one naively cited by President Obama no less than eight times as his model for the United States. It is now out there as a bust, a costly disaster that has come undone in Spain to the point that even the Socialists admit it, with the media now in full pursuit.

…The internal report of the Spanish administration admits that the price of electricity has gone up, as well as the debt, due to the extra costs of solar and wind energy. Even the government numbers indicate that each green job created costs more than the 2.2 traditional jobs, which was shown in the report of the Juan de Mariana Institute.

This being Spain and all, I guess then it’s appropriate for me to say that they’ve been Gored…

I’m Sorry She’s Dead, Really I Am

But with Obama, I kinda feel like this every f*ckin’ day, you know?

Woman died after doctors failed to spot toilet brush in her buttocks

Yup. Describes it perfectly.

(And thank you, friend Goldberg.)

So While “BFD” Erin Brockovich Is Onstage Up the Street About Oil Spills

…my personal BFD was onstage DOWN the street about the looming disaster that is our FUTURE if we don’t get off our asses.

As ever, he had them nodding and clapping and amen!ing in agreement. And those who were seeing Marco in action in person for the first time came away even more impressed than they thought possible, including a certain someone we all know and love…

(major dad sends, “He’s self assured, confident, knows what he’s talking about and he’s not full of himself.”)

A rousing endorsement, n’est pas? And what a picture ~ that puppy’s mantle material!