So we lost some thirty-one of our best trained, best equipped warriors at once when their bird went down. Some twenty members of SEAL Team Six, other US troops, the aircrew and some Afghani Special Ops troops. We do not know why the helo went down, we may never know. That's a lot of wives and children, parents, bothers and sisters with a new hole in their lives.
After we mourn our best and grieve with their families, we need to find out how and why they died. Was it merely the golden beebee that the aviators of my war feared, just that lucky shot from the millions that the bad guys were always pegging toward our birds?
The most important question is a simple one, why do we know what unit took down Osama? Why wasn't it simply NATO Forces? I remember we had about ten minutes of secrecy, that that wetbrain Biden opened his piehole. Did that put the bad guys to work building the Taliban equivalent of a Flak Trap?
If we are pulling our troops out, why are we sending special ops guys in? Are we doing that old partial fight again? During the Bush Admin it was our Armed Forces at war, America at the mall. Today it seems as if some of our Armed Forces at war, America can't afford to go to the mall.
Look, I'm just an ex enlisted guy, still I know enough to figure we either fight or don't fight. This business of agonising over a troop buildup, then sending some of the troops our Generals on the spot ask for, then loudly announcing the withdrawal of said troops, all the time leaving the enemy neighboring countries to rest, recruit and resupply is madness. It's exactly what happened during LBJ's war. We finally won that fight when Nixon took over, this angered Democrats so much they cut off all aid to the RVN when the north invaded again. Now it seems we're doing the same thing again.
I'm pretty sure the Democrats will try hard to blame this on the TEA Party.
Sunday, August 07, 2011
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
So, Now I'm A Terrorist? Oookay. What Happens Next?
So, according to the establishment left we are now terrorists, hostage takers and are holding guns to America's head. We gathered, first in tens and hundreds, then in thousands and tens of thousands, finally in that huge rally in Washington, DC. Funny, each time there was something first noticed by the right, at that "Dan's Bake Sale", where Rush Limbaugh and some 65,000 fans showed up in Fort Collins, Colorado. The crowd left the grounds cleaner than they found them.
This is the right. When we go somewhere we drop our trash in the barrels. If we see something loose we pick it up and throw it away. Funny thing, you can tell, with perhaps eighty percent efficiency , conservative people from lefties at a highway rest stop. The conservatives will be the ones emptying a trash container into the barrels. But, I digress.
Does anyone remember Nancy Pelosi leading that bunch of lefty Congresscritters right through the crowd of thousands pleading that our health care system, the best in the world, to not me smashed into bureaucrat's fiefdoms? Sure, we remember. The left screeching about how we were yelling NI**ER at the congresscritters, some of whom were holding video cameras and then state of the art cell phone cameras up. Think hard, Breitbart has offered a pretty fair sum of money to anyone with video proof, so far no takers.
That, of course, was merely business as usual in Washington. More business as usual is that jug eared, empty headed narrow-assed clown in the White House whining that all the nation's economic problems are because of George W. Bush. Too bad we don't have a news media. I would love someone asking this bunch of fools to tell us the exact unemployment rate in November, 2006. Funny how in the last period of Republican "rule" unemployment was 4.6 percent and wages up 3.9 percent. We're coming up on six years of Democrat rule, now, although we have wrested one half of Congress away from the Pelosi-Reid gang of thieves. So, now we have the Vice President of the United States of America, agreeing with a United States Congressman that we acted like terrorists.
A deal which does not stop the ship of state from taking on water but merely slows the leak a tiny bit is not a tragedy for the government. The tragedy for the government is that you idiot professional politicians simply find yourselves unable to stop spending money you do not have and cannot get. Representative Cleaver, the debt deal IS a "Satan Sandwich". It is such because it , along with other of your programs, keeps your people mired in poverty.
National wealth has plummeted since the Pelosi-Reid Congress and the Obama Presidency. Funny, though, the wealth of minority America has plummeted even more. And yet, you call us racist? Mr. Vice President, Representative Cleaver, Mr. President, I have to ask you all, why is it, if WE the conservatives hate the poor so much and are so racist, why is it that the worst sections of the entire country are all Democrat strongholds? Well, up until you took over, now entire sections of the country are dying. Thanks a lot.
How long, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Congressmen Doyle and Cleaver (and a whole host of others) before you figure out that it is your policies that are killing the last, best hope of mankind. Or do you realize that you are killing the country. If so, why? Who gains?
I'm just a small town boy grown old. I know the world has changed and will continue to change. What I cannot understand is why you continue to insult and denigrate the ever decreasing number of people who pay your salaries. There are still hundreds of ways for poor people to become if not rich, at least middle class. Yet your bunch goes out and closes children's lemonade stands when you don't want to put whole states like Texas in the dark. Who gains and who loses, then, Mr. President? The middle class who will tighten their belts a little more to pay the higher power bills or the poor, who you claim to care so much about?
Se, my question remains. Are you wrecking the country, and the futures of those you claim to care so much about, by accident? If so, how long before you notice that everything you do makes things worse? Or are you wrecking the country on purpose> If so, do you really expect us to let you do so? Really? You ain't seen terrorists yet.
This is the right. When we go somewhere we drop our trash in the barrels. If we see something loose we pick it up and throw it away. Funny thing, you can tell, with perhaps eighty percent efficiency , conservative people from lefties at a highway rest stop. The conservatives will be the ones emptying a trash container into the barrels. But, I digress.
Does anyone remember Nancy Pelosi leading that bunch of lefty Congresscritters right through the crowd of thousands pleading that our health care system, the best in the world, to not me smashed into bureaucrat's fiefdoms? Sure, we remember. The left screeching about how we were yelling NI**ER at the congresscritters, some of whom were holding video cameras and then state of the art cell phone cameras up. Think hard, Breitbart has offered a pretty fair sum of money to anyone with video proof, so far no takers.
That, of course, was merely business as usual in Washington. More business as usual is that jug eared, empty headed narrow-assed clown in the White House whining that all the nation's economic problems are because of George W. Bush. Too bad we don't have a news media. I would love someone asking this bunch of fools to tell us the exact unemployment rate in November, 2006. Funny how in the last period of Republican "rule" unemployment was 4.6 percent and wages up 3.9 percent. We're coming up on six years of Democrat rule, now, although we have wrested one half of Congress away from the Pelosi-Reid gang of thieves. So, now we have the Vice President of the United States of America, agreeing with a United States Congressman that we acted like terrorists.
A deal which does not stop the ship of state from taking on water but merely slows the leak a tiny bit is not a tragedy for the government. The tragedy for the government is that you idiot professional politicians simply find yourselves unable to stop spending money you do not have and cannot get. Representative Cleaver, the debt deal IS a "Satan Sandwich". It is such because it , along with other of your programs, keeps your people mired in poverty.
National wealth has plummeted since the Pelosi-Reid Congress and the Obama Presidency. Funny, though, the wealth of minority America has plummeted even more. And yet, you call us racist? Mr. Vice President, Representative Cleaver, Mr. President, I have to ask you all, why is it, if WE the conservatives hate the poor so much and are so racist, why is it that the worst sections of the entire country are all Democrat strongholds? Well, up until you took over, now entire sections of the country are dying. Thanks a lot.
How long, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Congressmen Doyle and Cleaver (and a whole host of others) before you figure out that it is your policies that are killing the last, best hope of mankind. Or do you realize that you are killing the country. If so, why? Who gains?
I'm just a small town boy grown old. I know the world has changed and will continue to change. What I cannot understand is why you continue to insult and denigrate the ever decreasing number of people who pay your salaries. There are still hundreds of ways for poor people to become if not rich, at least middle class. Yet your bunch goes out and closes children's lemonade stands when you don't want to put whole states like Texas in the dark. Who gains and who loses, then, Mr. President? The middle class who will tighten their belts a little more to pay the higher power bills or the poor, who you claim to care so much about?
Se, my question remains. Are you wrecking the country, and the futures of those you claim to care so much about, by accident? If so, how long before you notice that everything you do makes things worse? Or are you wrecking the country on purpose> If so, do you really expect us to let you do so? Really? You ain't seen terrorists yet.
Monday, August 01, 2011
The Time Machine:1958
The year was 1958. Few remember how long it took to recover from the Great Depression. Ten years after the war my parents were finally making decent money. They bought the first new car of their lives.In those days it was the norm to have folks take their pictures with their cars. Somehow, perhaps because cars all look the same, I don't see people posing with their rides. Or, perhaps, it's that there is no more novelty in cars. My mother came out of Dust Bowl Kansas. She never, ever told of the trauma she endured. All I ever heard of prewar California was how they had to back over the steep hills and mountains in the old Model T Fords. The Model T had no fuel pump. The gas tank was actually under the windshield and the gas flowed to the carb simply by gravity. This has much to do with why cars caught on fire after wrecks and why they seldom do anymore.
Anyhow it was only after 1955 that we really started traveling.
Of course much of the travel was thanks to Ike and his Interstate Highway program. Those who grew up in the post 1962 world have no real idea of how long it took to get somewhere. There were just as many small towns as ever. Actually more, over the last fifty years hundreds of small towns have been swallowed up by big cities. Every one of those small towns had traffic, complete with stop signs . I was ten years old and it still took four hours to drive a hundred miles.
The picture on the top is Main Street, Las Vegas, Nevada. Click to embiggen, the next three down are my mother, the one with the big Merc is the same trip to Las Vegas. The next one down was Death Valley. Next, I just don't know where that was..
Down another notch was my old man and a right handsome kid with Donner Lake in the high Sierras. You might remember that area, the Donner Party waited just a little too late to try to go over the hill with their wagon train.
That next pic down is my Mom at the California State Capitol in California. The next two are my stepfather, James, the guy that raised me. The picture with the car was at a motel at Lake Tahoe, the other was at that Arboretum in San Francisco. We were a railroad family, the Southern Pacific. The Southern Pacific Hospital was, perhaps still is, just across the panhandle of Golden Gate Park from the infamous Haight Ashberry where the Summer of Love fizzled in a sea of heroin and speed.
If you take a look at my old man's hair you might notice that the idea that everybody in the '50s wore short hair is a myth. I have to remember to tell you how, ten years after those pictures were taken how the new longhairs thought that they found a kindred spirit in my stepfather. They were wrong.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
New E-mail, Death To AOL!
Test, test, one two three. I will be dipped, my electronic pal, Teresa is right, I can plug this little laptop into my desktop's keyboard.
If anyone cares we are finally, after thirteen years, getting away from AOL. Linda Lou bought a wifi card with the laptop I got when Linda Lou was going through all that hospital stuff. We never could figure out how to use it. Well, finally we took the laptop and the wifi card to Stephanie and Dean's when we went to Karson's BDay party and got them to show us how to use the wifi on the laptop. We also took a cell phone picture of the wireless router that makes a desktop work with the wifi.
Well yesterday we bought the router, we installed it today and it only took about an hour and a half of calling the curses of the old Norse Gods upon the entire universe to make it work. Now Linda Lou is in the living room at her desk and I'm in my little study/reloading room. We are each at our computers and we are both perfectly happy. We can both be online at the same time! Nor do I have to get offline so Linda Lou can use the landline for important calls! Most importantly, no more money to A. Huffington! Seems like I ought to be declaring three days feasting and celebration.
If anyone is still reading this, our wacobay@aol.com E-mail will no longer work. My petdavis@gmail will still work and the Linda Lou/family E-mail will be wacobay@gmail.com. I'm not quite sure I really want to stay with Google, they are only marginally better than AOL. Still, I do not have to shovel money at Google, month after month.
Oh, and for those unfamiliar with our part of Texas, just because we've been using wacobay as our E-mail addy since we moved here in '98, we are over a hundred miles from Waco, Texas. We live near Lake Tawakoni. Lake Tawakoni has a bay jutting out towards our little piece of the rock named (you guessed it) Waco Bay. we needed an E-mail addy, everything else we thought of was already taken, so...
If anyone cares we are finally, after thirteen years, getting away from AOL. Linda Lou bought a wifi card with the laptop I got when Linda Lou was going through all that hospital stuff. We never could figure out how to use it. Well, finally we took the laptop and the wifi card to Stephanie and Dean's when we went to Karson's BDay party and got them to show us how to use the wifi on the laptop. We also took a cell phone picture of the wireless router that makes a desktop work with the wifi.
Well yesterday we bought the router, we installed it today and it only took about an hour and a half of calling the curses of the old Norse Gods upon the entire universe to make it work. Now Linda Lou is in the living room at her desk and I'm in my little study/reloading room. We are each at our computers and we are both perfectly happy. We can both be online at the same time! Nor do I have to get offline so Linda Lou can use the landline for important calls! Most importantly, no more money to A. Huffington! Seems like I ought to be declaring three days feasting and celebration.
If anyone is still reading this, our wacobay@aol.com E-mail will no longer work. My petdavis@gmail will still work and the Linda Lou/family E-mail will be wacobay@gmail.com. I'm not quite sure I really want to stay with Google, they are only marginally better than AOL. Still, I do not have to shovel money at Google, month after month.
Oh, and for those unfamiliar with our part of Texas, just because we've been using wacobay as our E-mail addy since we moved here in '98, we are over a hundred miles from Waco, Texas. We live near Lake Tawakoni. Lake Tawakoni has a bay jutting out towards our little piece of the rock named (you guessed it) Waco Bay. we needed an E-mail addy, everything else we thought of was already taken, so...
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
History Repeats
I haven't been posting for too long. Seems that the only computer we have left with an Internet connection is the little laptop. When we bought it we couldn't manage to get it online, even after Linda Lou bought the Verizon Internet card. So we finally took it along to the kid's house and our son in law, Dean, fixed it.
So I have Internet but I hate, hate, HATE the keyboard on it.
So, anyway, I was not really surprised to see that character in Norway going wild with a couple of guns and bombs. What did they think? Hi, folks, we are going to change your whole society. And then, because we are the important people, we are sending our young adult kids to a special camp where they will learn how to keep changing your whole society in ways that you, the ordinary, do not wish it to go. Since, we, not you are important, we will ignore you except to collect your taxes. Oh, and we'll continue to import vast numbers of people who hate you.
We, the really smart people (just ask us) will not only keep changing your world to our dream of a one world, no matter how much evidence to the contrary accumulates.
We've been through this before. Europe does not particularly like to have it's whole society changed from above by self-described smart people. Anybody read about Germany in, say, 1924? The really smart, somewhat left of center types were running things then. With the usual results. Money became worthless and a feller with an odd moustache took over a particularly ruthless bunch of socialists. His National Socialists were, in a lot of ways, much like the Norwegian Socialists except the Norwegian Socialists have yet to kill Jews, although Jews are getting mighty uncomfortable there.
The biggesst difference, of course, is the Norwegian Socialists have a camp just for their kids while the National Socialists wanted all the (non-Jewish) kids. Oh, and the National Socialists camps for kids had guns and knives.
Somehow the really smart people can never figure out that there are billions of firearms in the world and all the laws that the really smart people can think of will not keep firearms out of the hands of those who would use them. Since the really smart people have never bothered to enter a machine shop they have no idea how easy they are to make.
So, a guy decided to make war back on the really smart people. Everyone is shocked. Imagine that. Note to the really smart people of the USA: double up on the guards at places like Sidwell Friends.
Update: I keep reading that this Breivik feller killed children. No, he killed teenagers and young adults. Lots of those kids were a few years older than I was when I made the first landings at Chu Lai.
So I have Internet but I hate, hate, HATE the keyboard on it.
So, anyway, I was not really surprised to see that character in Norway going wild with a couple of guns and bombs. What did they think? Hi, folks, we are going to change your whole society. And then, because we are the important people, we are sending our young adult kids to a special camp where they will learn how to keep changing your whole society in ways that you, the ordinary, do not wish it to go. Since, we, not you are important, we will ignore you except to collect your taxes. Oh, and we'll continue to import vast numbers of people who hate you.
We, the really smart people (just ask us) will not only keep changing your world to our dream of a one world, no matter how much evidence to the contrary accumulates.
We've been through this before. Europe does not particularly like to have it's whole society changed from above by self-described smart people. Anybody read about Germany in, say, 1924? The really smart, somewhat left of center types were running things then. With the usual results. Money became worthless and a feller with an odd moustache took over a particularly ruthless bunch of socialists. His National Socialists were, in a lot of ways, much like the Norwegian Socialists except the Norwegian Socialists have yet to kill Jews, although Jews are getting mighty uncomfortable there.
The biggesst difference, of course, is the Norwegian Socialists have a camp just for their kids while the National Socialists wanted all the (non-Jewish) kids. Oh, and the National Socialists camps for kids had guns and knives.
Somehow the really smart people can never figure out that there are billions of firearms in the world and all the laws that the really smart people can think of will not keep firearms out of the hands of those who would use them. Since the really smart people have never bothered to enter a machine shop they have no idea how easy they are to make.
So, a guy decided to make war back on the really smart people. Everyone is shocked. Imagine that. Note to the really smart people of the USA: double up on the guards at places like Sidwell Friends.
Update: I keep reading that this Breivik feller killed children. No, he killed teenagers and young adults. Lots of those kids were a few years older than I was when I made the first landings at Chu Lai.
Monday, July 04, 2011
Dear Barry
Hello, Barry, it's been a while since we last "spoke". I hope you and your family had a happy Independence Day. I 0nly wish that you understood and believed in that independence. You see, Barry, we didn't simply declare independence from Great Britain. We also believed in our independence as individuals.
Barry, I am not sure you really understand Americans. You seem to have lived an almost cloistered life here, never working among ordinary Americans but only in little enclaves where guys like "Joe the Plumber" or me, for that matter, are not friends and neighbors but odd specimens .
Barry, Chicago, Harvard and Columbia U are in the United States, they are not the United States. Barry, I wish you had gone through small town and country America as a youth. Perhaps if you had spent just one fall and winter working in an Arizona cotton gin you would have seen white, black and brown working together and playing some in their time off. You see, Barry, in much of America it is not black vs white vs brown. In our America, Barry, we only think of black or white when we talk about those two guys named Steve. Then, to tell 'em apart it's black Steve or white Steve. Although in our America it might well be electrician Steve and schoolteacher Steve.
Our America is a pretty nice place, Barry. It's too bad that when you come through our America, like when you dropped into Joplin after the tornado, you were too busy holding your chin up, just so, that you didn't notice the people. Those are good people, Barry, as good as you. Most of them know how to do things that you never had to learn. Of course they were already a community so an organizer wasn't any use to them.
Barry, the next time you are flying hither and yon to fundraisers, do us a favor. Look out the window of that great big, taxpayer funded jet and notice how damned big this country is. Notice, please, how far apart we live. And then, the next time Joe Biden starts babbling about high speed rail, slap him. America needs rail, Barry, and we need to spend some money on it. I suspect that private money would do better than public money but we can argue about that later. The rail we need is for freight, Barry. A couple of locomotives takes a lot of trucks off the highways which would be good for the environment. Or, at least cut down on traffic.
Passenger rail? Barry we are not Europeans. Rail only works for a few of us, unlike Europe where so many people live on top of each other. Rail works fine in the east, maybe. It works for Joe Biden because he works on a predictable schedule and, to tell the truth, nobody has really given a damn if Joe shows up for work or not. And nobody really has for a few decades now. The rest of us are spread out. We also have work schedules that are unpredictable. I've probably worked thousands of "extra" hours over the years, phone calls of "can you come in a couple hours early, Joe hurt himself" and Peter, can you stay over awhile and finish this today? Yeah, Barry, that high speed rail will work fine, if you really want to kill the country.
Well, I'm a little busy, Barry, no time for golf. I do hope that you remember, later, that you, yourself injected your daughters into the political process. I'm pretty sure that my side will treat your daughters better than your side has treated the Palin children. Still, no matter what, it was you, Barry, that brought them into the game. Please do not go around crying tears the size of horse turds if someone mentions them. Oh, and Barrry, tell Michelle to raise her daughters and leave our kids alone. Americans have been raising children for a while now, dozens of generations, without Michelle's help.
Bye, now, Peter
Barry, I am not sure you really understand Americans. You seem to have lived an almost cloistered life here, never working among ordinary Americans but only in little enclaves where guys like "Joe the Plumber" or me, for that matter, are not friends and neighbors but odd specimens .
Barry, Chicago, Harvard and Columbia U are in the United States, they are not the United States. Barry, I wish you had gone through small town and country America as a youth. Perhaps if you had spent just one fall and winter working in an Arizona cotton gin you would have seen white, black and brown working together and playing some in their time off. You see, Barry, in much of America it is not black vs white vs brown. In our America, Barry, we only think of black or white when we talk about those two guys named Steve. Then, to tell 'em apart it's black Steve or white Steve. Although in our America it might well be electrician Steve and schoolteacher Steve.
Our America is a pretty nice place, Barry. It's too bad that when you come through our America, like when you dropped into Joplin after the tornado, you were too busy holding your chin up, just so, that you didn't notice the people. Those are good people, Barry, as good as you. Most of them know how to do things that you never had to learn. Of course they were already a community so an organizer wasn't any use to them.
Barry, the next time you are flying hither and yon to fundraisers, do us a favor. Look out the window of that great big, taxpayer funded jet and notice how damned big this country is. Notice, please, how far apart we live. And then, the next time Joe Biden starts babbling about high speed rail, slap him. America needs rail, Barry, and we need to spend some money on it. I suspect that private money would do better than public money but we can argue about that later. The rail we need is for freight, Barry. A couple of locomotives takes a lot of trucks off the highways which would be good for the environment. Or, at least cut down on traffic.
Passenger rail? Barry we are not Europeans. Rail only works for a few of us, unlike Europe where so many people live on top of each other. Rail works fine in the east, maybe. It works for Joe Biden because he works on a predictable schedule and, to tell the truth, nobody has really given a damn if Joe shows up for work or not. And nobody really has for a few decades now. The rest of us are spread out. We also have work schedules that are unpredictable. I've probably worked thousands of "extra" hours over the years, phone calls of "can you come in a couple hours early, Joe hurt himself" and Peter, can you stay over awhile and finish this today? Yeah, Barry, that high speed rail will work fine, if you really want to kill the country.
Well, I'm a little busy, Barry, no time for golf. I do hope that you remember, later, that you, yourself injected your daughters into the political process. I'm pretty sure that my side will treat your daughters better than your side has treated the Palin children. Still, no matter what, it was you, Barry, that brought them into the game. Please do not go around crying tears the size of horse turds if someone mentions them. Oh, and Barrry, tell Michelle to raise her daughters and leave our kids alone. Americans have been raising children for a while now, dozens of generations, without Michelle's help.
Bye, now, Peter
Saturday, July 02, 2011
The Big Party
Here are some pics of my youngest grandson's third birthday party. It wasn't a great big one like Josiah's, held at the local bacteria gardens, aka McDonald's Playland. Good thing, too. This one was just Karson, his two brothers and the two local cousins. The other five boys are too far away to come, durn it!I haven't have much to say here, lately. I look at my "dashboard" and see about eight posts I've started that have got to the point where I'd have someone investigating me because of the rage I have of what these clowns are doing to my country. I will eventually have something to say that I can post. Until then, stock up on the durable and consumable goods that can keep your family safe and fed through hard times.
Here's some good news, though. Linda Lou is through with the "pool" part of her physical therapy and they are starting to train her on walking without the walker, using only her cane. So, watch out for the fat girl on a cane. (Whack!)
The last good news? It's been some years since I posted Linda Lou's Grandma Hagen's Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe. She (LL) lost sixty pounds over a period of months on a diet of six of those cookies a day, plus a Sonic double cheeseburger and fries or tots, five days a week when she was working. On "weekends"* she ate whatever she wanted.
Well, anyhow, she hasn't baked those cookies since she fell and broke her ankle. When we have been desperate for cookies we have been making do with those Betty Crocker "pouch" things where even I can bake cookies without too much mess and hoo-rah! The peanut butter cookie mix and the sugar cookie mix are fine, right out of the bag, their oatmeal have been too sweet. And no raisins! So, I added some dry raisins and it didn't work, still too sweet and they fell apart. Foo! So, I did what Linda Lou always did and put the raisins in water, brought the water to a boil, turned off the heat and let them sit in the hot water while I got everything else ready. The I drained the raisins and used a tablespoon of that water instead of tap water for the water the recipe, or is it instructions when it's on the bag, instead of tap water. Now, because the raisins have so much water in them, the batter is too runny. Well, I read somewhere or other to never add extra flour to the mix and can tell you that this is true. Instead, add oatmeal until the mix gets to the right consistency. This also takes out the too-sickly sweetness. As a matter of fact next time I make these, and there will be a next time because we just gotta have cookies! I shall add maybe a tablespoon or two of brown sugar. What can I say? They ain't Linda Lou's but they're better than no cookies at all and far better (to us, anyway) than the original instruction cookies come out.
* Through most of our marriage we had Mondays and Tuesdays off so our weekends were funny.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
BOHICA!
Bend over, here it comes, again. Seems that NATO had a "weapons malfunction" and a missile or smart bomb blew up a slew of civilians over in Libya. Including children. Now Gaddafi, Qaddafi, Kaddafi, however we're supposed to spell his name this week is calling for a global jihad against NATO. Please don't bet big money that he means Belgium.
The NATO idiot press officer called it a weapons malfunction. Um, it blew up. It was supposed to blow up. It did not malfunction. That, if it was a malfunction, was a targeting error. Either someone punched the wrong number into the coordinates or someone was looking at some kind of photo and thought that this building looked military so (s)he let 'em have it. It doesn't really matter.
My father's war, WW2, they sent flocks of bombers, blowing up whole cities, and still had to smash Hitler with many thousand ground troops killed. On the other side of the world, the only reason we didn't have to invade the home islands of Japan was the shock of those two atomic bombs. And it's lucky the shock worked because we were out of nukes when those two fired.
The next war wee had, air power didn't keep the Chinese from coming in and almost pushing McArthur's troops into the sea. The civilian leadership, rightly or wrongly, refused to bomb China and the Norks didn't have much worth bombing. So our air was tactical. Effective, yes, but still only tactical.
Fast forward to my war. The beginning of the gunships and then the first smart bombs. Smart bombs were going to change warfare forever. No longer would it take hundreds of bombs to knock out one bridge or one factory. Now one or two would do the trick. It didn't work because we didn't have the political will to abide by our treaty obligations and go to the aid of the RVN when the North Vietnamese broke the peace treaty and invaded, again. This is one of the left's proudest accomplishments. Some two million Cambodians dead but, what the Hell, we stopped Nixon's war! Funny how most of the Americans who died, died in LBJ, the Democrat that was elected on a peace in southeast Asia platform.
Since then we've fought several smaller wars plus two fairly big ones in Iraq. Each one had air power up front, taking all the headlines, each one needing Armor, Artillery and Infantry. Big surprise. The new game, of course, is how we take the casualties after we win the war.
And now this. It was bad enough that we had the al Qaeda and the Islamic Jihad, along with all those Iranian front groups out to kill us, now we have a new bunch, with a proven track record.
Meanwhile baby Assad, the chinless wonder is doing far worse in Syria than anyone in Libya ever thought of. And how many were killed in Iran awhile back?
So, what, exactly is the rule? Do we go to bombing to protect oil imports to France and Italy? I almost said "go to war" but we aren't at War. The President says so. Um, if it ain't war and we're killing folks, isn't that um, what's the word? Murder?
Here's my problem. We are blowing these folks up, for no real reason anyone can articulate, or if they can, they haven't bothered. When Reagan blew up Qaddafi's place he articulated a reason, that Libya bombed that nightclub full of American GIs. Agree or not, there was a reason given.
Now the shoe is on the other foot. Qaddafi has every reason to send whoever he can to not only blow up our servicemen and women but now, civilians. And we're going to say that it's not fair? Um, we killed their civilians.
Obama is going to be in serious trouble if Qaddafi manages a retaliatory attack and wipes out a couple dozen, or couple thousand citizens. and it ain't like that clown posse of Napolitano's is gonna stop them. That bunch couldn't catch cold walking through Michigan naked in January.
Does anyone in the Obama Administration manage to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time? I do not believe, even as war weary as some of us are, that Obama couldn't have gone to the Congress and said "Qaddafi needs to go, here is why" and not gotten the go ahead. Qaddafi could still retaliate, of course, but and least then Obama could have some cover. Not that it did Bush any good, of course but still. Some cover.
The NATO idiot press officer called it a weapons malfunction. Um, it blew up. It was supposed to blow up. It did not malfunction. That, if it was a malfunction, was a targeting error. Either someone punched the wrong number into the coordinates or someone was looking at some kind of photo and thought that this building looked military so (s)he let 'em have it. It doesn't really matter.
My father's war, WW2, they sent flocks of bombers, blowing up whole cities, and still had to smash Hitler with many thousand ground troops killed. On the other side of the world, the only reason we didn't have to invade the home islands of Japan was the shock of those two atomic bombs. And it's lucky the shock worked because we were out of nukes when those two fired.
The next war wee had, air power didn't keep the Chinese from coming in and almost pushing McArthur's troops into the sea. The civilian leadership, rightly or wrongly, refused to bomb China and the Norks didn't have much worth bombing. So our air was tactical. Effective, yes, but still only tactical.
Fast forward to my war. The beginning of the gunships and then the first smart bombs. Smart bombs were going to change warfare forever. No longer would it take hundreds of bombs to knock out one bridge or one factory. Now one or two would do the trick. It didn't work because we didn't have the political will to abide by our treaty obligations and go to the aid of the RVN when the North Vietnamese broke the peace treaty and invaded, again. This is one of the left's proudest accomplishments. Some two million Cambodians dead but, what the Hell, we stopped Nixon's war! Funny how most of the Americans who died, died in LBJ, the Democrat that was elected on a peace in southeast Asia platform.
Since then we've fought several smaller wars plus two fairly big ones in Iraq. Each one had air power up front, taking all the headlines, each one needing Armor, Artillery and Infantry. Big surprise. The new game, of course, is how we take the casualties after we win the war.
And now this. It was bad enough that we had the al Qaeda and the Islamic Jihad, along with all those Iranian front groups out to kill us, now we have a new bunch, with a proven track record.
Meanwhile baby Assad, the chinless wonder is doing far worse in Syria than anyone in Libya ever thought of. And how many were killed in Iran awhile back?
So, what, exactly is the rule? Do we go to bombing to protect oil imports to France and Italy? I almost said "go to war" but we aren't at War. The President says so. Um, if it ain't war and we're killing folks, isn't that um, what's the word? Murder?
Here's my problem. We are blowing these folks up, for no real reason anyone can articulate, or if they can, they haven't bothered. When Reagan blew up Qaddafi's place he articulated a reason, that Libya bombed that nightclub full of American GIs. Agree or not, there was a reason given.
Now the shoe is on the other foot. Qaddafi has every reason to send whoever he can to not only blow up our servicemen and women but now, civilians. And we're going to say that it's not fair? Um, we killed their civilians.
Obama is going to be in serious trouble if Qaddafi manages a retaliatory attack and wipes out a couple dozen, or couple thousand citizens. and it ain't like that clown posse of Napolitano's is gonna stop them. That bunch couldn't catch cold walking through Michigan naked in January.
Does anyone in the Obama Administration manage to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time? I do not believe, even as war weary as some of us are, that Obama couldn't have gone to the Congress and said "Qaddafi needs to go, here is why" and not gotten the go ahead. Qaddafi could still retaliate, of course, but and least then Obama could have some cover. Not that it did Bush any good, of course but still. Some cover.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Fast And Furious?
I haven't said anything here about Operation Fast And Furious here because a whole lot of folks with more resources have been right in the middle of uncovering this mess. Folks like Michelle Malkin and The Sipsey Street Irregulars, both of whom I would have on my sidebar if I hadn't have borked my blogroll. Still, I have this one little thing to say...
Anyone who buys a firearm at a licensed dealer must provide identification, fill out the GCA'68 paperwork and then wait while the dealer calls it into the ATF. The ATF then gives a yes or no answer. Repeat, no firearm goes out the door without prior approval. *
Now we see that the Mexican government has filed suit against US gunmaking firms, the few that are left, over this. Um, it ain't the gunmaking firms, it's the government. And furthermore, why isn't the Mexican government suing all those outfits that make AK47s? After all, there are more of those down there than anything else, although most of them seem to be the Chinese copy.
So far it seems like the ATF let 1700-1800 guns "walk" into Mexico. This, of course, is a tiny fraction of the guns the cartels have. Seems they buy most from international dealers in places like Venezuela, the second biggest supply is Mexican soldiers either deserting to join the cartels or just selling the weapons.
So, pardon me for bein' a pore dumb redneck but shouldn't Mexico be suing the ATF, Venezuela, China and their own Army before they get to our gunmakers?
Okay, we know that the guns involved in this operation were used in at least two murders of US law enforcement officers, another was used to shoot down a Mexican government helo. Here is something else we know. The people that figured this operation out call Sarah Palin stupid. God save the republic.
* Certain firearms, those made before 1898 and muzzle loaders seem to still be exempt from all this but I haven't noticed the Cartels using Brown Bess Muskets much.
Anyone who buys a firearm at a licensed dealer must provide identification, fill out the GCA'68 paperwork and then wait while the dealer calls it into the ATF. The ATF then gives a yes or no answer. Repeat, no firearm goes out the door without prior approval. *
Now we see that the Mexican government has filed suit against US gunmaking firms, the few that are left, over this. Um, it ain't the gunmaking firms, it's the government. And furthermore, why isn't the Mexican government suing all those outfits that make AK47s? After all, there are more of those down there than anything else, although most of them seem to be the Chinese copy.
So far it seems like the ATF let 1700-1800 guns "walk" into Mexico. This, of course, is a tiny fraction of the guns the cartels have. Seems they buy most from international dealers in places like Venezuela, the second biggest supply is Mexican soldiers either deserting to join the cartels or just selling the weapons.
So, pardon me for bein' a pore dumb redneck but shouldn't Mexico be suing the ATF, Venezuela, China and their own Army before they get to our gunmakers?
Okay, we know that the guns involved in this operation were used in at least two murders of US law enforcement officers, another was used to shoot down a Mexican government helo. Here is something else we know. The people that figured this operation out call Sarah Palin stupid. God save the republic.
* Certain firearms, those made before 1898 and muzzle loaders seem to still be exempt from all this but I haven't noticed the Cartels using Brown Bess Muskets much.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Flag Day, 2011
So as soon as it was daylight I put Cochise' Apache Princess out in the backyard, let Bingo T. Pug out the front and put out my flag. I sometimes wonder why I bother, this bein' a three house street and all, then I remember that I'm flying her for Linda Lou and me.
I read that there are folks in the media and in Washington, DC claiming that the recession is over. They must not get out much. I live in Texas. The state where some 38% of all new jobs since the recession started got "created". I hate that word, no one creates a job. An employer works hard enough to build the business and then needs someone to do some of the work. With a little luck then the boss and the new employee work hard enough to where there is enough work that a new employee is needed so they hire someone else.
Anyway, over a third of all these new jobs are in Texas. Yet we drive down the roads and see all these vacant buildings where there once were businesses. We see all these houses for sale, many have been on the market since the Pelosi Speakership was news. I guess not being able to travel is a good thing now. If the "Vibrant Texas Economy" looks like this the rest of the country must look like the poor side of Dogpatch.
So Obama is going to focus on jobs now. How many times is that now? Does Obama even understand what a job is? Or why there are jobs? I don;t see where he and Me-Chelle have ever had real jobs where they actually created anything of value. Or even bought or sold anything of value. Obama is focusing on jobs? His EPA is causing several big coal fired electric generating plants with nothing to replace them. Word is that bills will go up at least eleven percent. I'd bet that is the lowball estimate. Now look, if Einstein were still alive he probably wouldn't be staying up nights worrying about me outsmarting him but here's my question. Grey Davis was fired as California Governor, right? Over electric rates, among other things but failure to provide power was the big thing.
So, Obama is, as he promised, going after coal, causing electric rates to "necessarily skyrocket." This after seeing Gray Davis fired. And he's doing this before the election. And this Obama feller goes around talking about how smart he is?
I read that there are folks in the media and in Washington, DC claiming that the recession is over. They must not get out much. I live in Texas. The state where some 38% of all new jobs since the recession started got "created". I hate that word, no one creates a job. An employer works hard enough to build the business and then needs someone to do some of the work. With a little luck then the boss and the new employee work hard enough to where there is enough work that a new employee is needed so they hire someone else.
Anyway, over a third of all these new jobs are in Texas. Yet we drive down the roads and see all these vacant buildings where there once were businesses. We see all these houses for sale, many have been on the market since the Pelosi Speakership was news. I guess not being able to travel is a good thing now. If the "Vibrant Texas Economy" looks like this the rest of the country must look like the poor side of Dogpatch.
So Obama is going to focus on jobs now. How many times is that now? Does Obama even understand what a job is? Or why there are jobs? I don;t see where he and Me-Chelle have ever had real jobs where they actually created anything of value. Or even bought or sold anything of value. Obama is focusing on jobs? His EPA is causing several big coal fired electric generating plants with nothing to replace them. Word is that bills will go up at least eleven percent. I'd bet that is the lowball estimate. Now look, if Einstein were still alive he probably wouldn't be staying up nights worrying about me outsmarting him but here's my question. Grey Davis was fired as California Governor, right? Over electric rates, among other things but failure to provide power was the big thing.
So, Obama is, as he promised, going after coal, causing electric rates to "necessarily skyrocket." This after seeing Gray Davis fired. And he's doing this before the election. And this Obama feller goes around talking about how smart he is?
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Congressman Weeniewagger
I really don't know where to begin with this Congressman Weiner thing. I go over to one of the 12 bazillion links from Ace of Spades or the Puppyblender and see that liberal women are attracted to Weiner because he screams at Republicans. Then they call this chicken lipped nebish an "alpha male". That pencil neck an alpha male? Heck, he'd have to study hard to be a zeta male. Someone tell me how long this punk would last in boot camp.
Weiner is the result of the feminizing of the American male. Not all males have been feminized, of course, it's just that those who have not are unwelcome in polite society. A Marine or an old school Boatswain's Mate must use the servant's entrance and not come into the parlor with the "quality", at least not until reaching the Flag Officer ranks.
Weiner isn't alone, of course. Look at the new mayor of Chicago. Another pencil neck who has made his living destroying other people by using words that, in my great grandfather's day would have got him horsewhipped, if not called out to a gunfight.
Weiner is not the problem, merely a symptom. I am not going to ever say that men with no chests should be thrown out of society, I am saying that men (and women) should be held responsible for their speech. And, yes, I mean fistfights. I mean we should again recognise the concept of "fighting words".
Personally I don't care what kind of pictures the Weeniewagger sends to women who ask for a look at his needledick. If he sent those same pictures to a woman who had not asked to see his ridiculously small package I would expect her husband, boyfriend or father to go searching for him. Nor would I be particularly interested in what he held in his hands. Heck, most of the young women who are paid to make me ache in places that I haven't even thought of in decades could hunt him down and stomp him like a snake. And bein' good Texas gals, they would! Weiner is supposed to be a grown man, let him take full responsibility for his actions, and their consequences.
Heck, if he sent such pictures to my daughter she would first pray for him. If he showed up and she thought he was a danger to her children she'd shoot him down like a rabid coyote. Or her husband would.
Another thing that bothers me about this whole thing is how the lefties always talk about we, on the right, want to force our values on everyone. Yet it is the left who want Kindergarten kids to start learning about condoms. So, when they do it it's "education", if we do it it's forcing our values on people. Well, we haven't always lived up to our values, as a matter of simple fact, there has only been one perfect person in all history, according to most of us in this country. And He believed in fighting words if you look at what He did in that temple to the moneychangers.
Now it may seem like I too am using fighting words. Well, okay. I'm a little old for fistfights but, if a leftist, especially one I have named here mad enough, come on down. Put a little something in your hand, we'll go out to the vacant lot and see who walks out. I'm game, are they? If not, they shouldn't talk like that about us and they shouldn't strut around like banty roosters. Congressman Weiner may have stones, although from that underwear pic you couldn't prove it. He does, otherwise, act like a screeching eunuch.
Weiner is the result of the feminizing of the American male. Not all males have been feminized, of course, it's just that those who have not are unwelcome in polite society. A Marine or an old school Boatswain's Mate must use the servant's entrance and not come into the parlor with the "quality", at least not until reaching the Flag Officer ranks.
Weiner isn't alone, of course. Look at the new mayor of Chicago. Another pencil neck who has made his living destroying other people by using words that, in my great grandfather's day would have got him horsewhipped, if not called out to a gunfight.
Weiner is not the problem, merely a symptom. I am not going to ever say that men with no chests should be thrown out of society, I am saying that men (and women) should be held responsible for their speech. And, yes, I mean fistfights. I mean we should again recognise the concept of "fighting words".
Personally I don't care what kind of pictures the Weeniewagger sends to women who ask for a look at his needledick. If he sent those same pictures to a woman who had not asked to see his ridiculously small package I would expect her husband, boyfriend or father to go searching for him. Nor would I be particularly interested in what he held in his hands. Heck, most of the young women who are paid to make me ache in places that I haven't even thought of in decades could hunt him down and stomp him like a snake. And bein' good Texas gals, they would! Weiner is supposed to be a grown man, let him take full responsibility for his actions, and their consequences.
Heck, if he sent such pictures to my daughter she would first pray for him. If he showed up and she thought he was a danger to her children she'd shoot him down like a rabid coyote. Or her husband would.
Another thing that bothers me about this whole thing is how the lefties always talk about we, on the right, want to force our values on everyone. Yet it is the left who want Kindergarten kids to start learning about condoms. So, when they do it it's "education", if we do it it's forcing our values on people. Well, we haven't always lived up to our values, as a matter of simple fact, there has only been one perfect person in all history, according to most of us in this country. And He believed in fighting words if you look at what He did in that temple to the moneychangers.
Now it may seem like I too am using fighting words. Well, okay. I'm a little old for fistfights but, if a leftist, especially one I have named here mad enough, come on down. Put a little something in your hand, we'll go out to the vacant lot and see who walks out. I'm game, are they? If not, they shouldn't talk like that about us and they shouldn't strut around like banty roosters. Congressman Weiner may have stones, although from that underwear pic you couldn't prove it. He does, otherwise, act like a screeching eunuch.
My Computer Has The Fantods
I can't get online much because the old computer that I plugged in when my new computer got bit with a bad virus of some sort now has a bad case of the screaming fantods. We are, for the next few months, stuck with dialup. And, out here, that means aol. Every other Internet provider with dialup is long distance from here. Now I wasn't exactly a big fan of aol even before Huffington took over the place, it's worse now. Still, a few months and we'll have something else.
My problem is that my computer starts just computing away at something no one is telling it to do. Further, I sign on to Firefox and the firefox window won't stay on Firefox. Even on this, Linda Lou's computer. Sigh.
Anyhow, I do not know what waol is. Whatever it is, it takes over and won't turn loose. I fight with it and then it comes up "program not responding" on me and when I hit the end now button, it won't end. Even pushing the big button on the front of the computer won't work, I have to unplug it.
What I have to do is figure out why Firefox won't give me a Firefox screen. Oddly, on this, Linda Lou's computer, which she guards jealously when she's awake, Firefox gives me an "Inbox" screen and I keep asking for Firefox.
Meanwhile we seem to have picked up something awful, a while back my sister called, out of the blue, because she got an E-mail from our aol account, swearing up and down that I needed everyone to send money because I'd been robbed at gunpoint in London. Now we haven't been able to buy enough gas to go to that little six stool lunch counter in Hugo, Oklahoma but we're supposed to have driven to Great Britain?
This on top of the person or persons who bought a plane ticket to Cairo, Egypt. Now folks, I don't fly. And if I did fly, there isn't enough in our bank account to fly to Cairo, Illinois.
So, anyhow, I won't be around much until we get this all sorted out. Oddly we were still paying for a three year contract with Norton Antivirus. The folks in India and I were getting to be quite the friends as I kept trying to explain to them that my antivirus didn't work and they kept telling me that they couldn't help it because of my slow Internet connection. So, I asked for my money back, they said that THAT was not a tech support issue. So, here I am with a very expensive computer, on which payments are still due, a three year antivirus contract, on which payments are still due, and the computer won't work because of a virus infection which I cannot afford to make go away. Sigh.
Meanwhile I had much to say about Weinergate. and much to say about the anniversary of the Battle of Midway and D-Day. The anniversary of the battle of the Valley of the Greasy Grass, aka Little Big Horn is coming up, too.
In other news the Physical Terrorists are taking a lot out of me. They are adding weight to the weight machines, adding more exercises and, generally workin' me like an old Missouri mule. I told the little girl Physical Terrorist who has more muscles than I do that if she kept workin' me like a rented mule I was gonna forget I'm housebroke.. Poor girl didn't understand. So I asked her if she'd ever seen a housebroke mule. Heck, the poor girl didn't know exactly what a mule is. This in Greenville, Texas where folks were still using mules right up til Ike was President.
I'm gettin' old. Oh well, when I was a kid people not much older than I am now were talking about how it was during Teddy Roosevelt's Presidency.
The good news? They might build a muscle on me. I have been resisting putting our new laptop online here at home but, I might as well. We got it so Linda Lou could get online at the hospitals, not that she did, very much. Might as well use it, by the time we're able to go anywhere it will be obsolete.
My problem is that my computer starts just computing away at something no one is telling it to do. Further, I sign on to Firefox and the firefox window won't stay on Firefox. Even on this, Linda Lou's computer. Sigh.
Anyhow, I do not know what waol is. Whatever it is, it takes over and won't turn loose. I fight with it and then it comes up "program not responding" on me and when I hit the end now button, it won't end. Even pushing the big button on the front of the computer won't work, I have to unplug it.
What I have to do is figure out why Firefox won't give me a Firefox screen. Oddly, on this, Linda Lou's computer, which she guards jealously when she's awake, Firefox gives me an "Inbox" screen and I keep asking for Firefox.
Meanwhile we seem to have picked up something awful, a while back my sister called, out of the blue, because she got an E-mail from our aol account, swearing up and down that I needed everyone to send money because I'd been robbed at gunpoint in London. Now we haven't been able to buy enough gas to go to that little six stool lunch counter in Hugo, Oklahoma but we're supposed to have driven to Great Britain?
This on top of the person or persons who bought a plane ticket to Cairo, Egypt. Now folks, I don't fly. And if I did fly, there isn't enough in our bank account to fly to Cairo, Illinois.
So, anyhow, I won't be around much until we get this all sorted out. Oddly we were still paying for a three year contract with Norton Antivirus. The folks in India and I were getting to be quite the friends as I kept trying to explain to them that my antivirus didn't work and they kept telling me that they couldn't help it because of my slow Internet connection. So, I asked for my money back, they said that THAT was not a tech support issue. So, here I am with a very expensive computer, on which payments are still due, a three year antivirus contract, on which payments are still due, and the computer won't work because of a virus infection which I cannot afford to make go away. Sigh.
Meanwhile I had much to say about Weinergate. and much to say about the anniversary of the Battle of Midway and D-Day. The anniversary of the battle of the Valley of the Greasy Grass, aka Little Big Horn is coming up, too.
In other news the Physical Terrorists are taking a lot out of me. They are adding weight to the weight machines, adding more exercises and, generally workin' me like an old Missouri mule. I told the little girl Physical Terrorist who has more muscles than I do that if she kept workin' me like a rented mule I was gonna forget I'm housebroke.. Poor girl didn't understand. So I asked her if she'd ever seen a housebroke mule. Heck, the poor girl didn't know exactly what a mule is. This in Greenville, Texas where folks were still using mules right up til Ike was President.
I'm gettin' old. Oh well, when I was a kid people not much older than I am now were talking about how it was during Teddy Roosevelt's Presidency.
The good news? They might build a muscle on me. I have been resisting putting our new laptop online here at home but, I might as well. We got it so Linda Lou could get online at the hospitals, not that she did, very much. Might as well use it, by the time we're able to go anywhere it will be obsolete.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Thoughts On Memorial Day
There is a lot of racing and BBQ going on today. Well, I like racing and BBQ as well as the next guy but this day is more than that, it's supposed to be a day to remember the men who have lost their lives under the Red, White and Blue.
The first three wars our nation's soldiers, sailors and Marines fought were against folks who far outnumbered and outgunned us. The Brits of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 had us beat on everything but morale. And the forces under Presley O'Bannon and General Eaton were certainly outgunned, along with having about a thousand sword waving crazies to one.
Our fourth war, beside the constant war against the Indians* is the most problematical war in our history, again, beside the war against the Indians*.
Between the end of the Texas War of Independence of 1836 and 1846 the Mexican government pushed hard against the border of the Rio Grande. It is popular among historians and other academics to call the Mexican War a war of conquest and the big bully against the smaller Mexico. They, of course, being academics, look at today's United States of America against today's Estados Unitos de Mexico. It was a lot more even in 1846. And all, repeat ALL of the opening battles in that fight were on our side of the Rio Grande.
The real tragedy in that war was the San Patricos. A little known fact of the great potato famine of Ireland is that the first place nation where the Irish fled to was, of course, the United States of America. The second nation? Estados Unidas de Mexico. Mexico, being a Catholic country, gave the Irish a warmer welcome than we did, to our eternal shame. Still, a lot of Irish men joined the U. S. Army right off the boat, the Army being a steady job. Not much pay but at least they ate and had shoes and a shirt on their backs.
Still, the Irish soldiers of 1846 were treated very poorly in the Army. By the Civil War the Army had learned a lot but in that war the Irish got the worst jobs, the meanest quarters and, perhaps worst of all, were denied Catholic Chaplains.
So, at the beginning of the Mexican war an Irish Soldier deserted the US Army, one of many. He refused to fight against his fellow Catholics of Mexico, he went so far as to join the Mexican Army and formed the San Patrico Battalion. This battalion, a force that ultimately numbered 600 men fought in many of the battles,ending it's life at the Battle of Churubusco.
After that fight the US Army went on an orgy of killing, whipping and branding of the captured survivors. Any survivor know or suspected to have deserted the US Army after the declaration of war was hanged, including Francis O'Conner who was already dying from having both legs removed. The hangings were carried out by putting the men in wagons, putting the noose around their necks and whipping the mules. Without enough drop to break their necks, the men strangled, slowly.
Contrast this with our next war the War of Southern Rebellion or, as they used to call it down here, the War of Northern Aggression.
The Band Played Dixie
As the Civil War (as if that was civil, ask the citizens of the Shenandoah Valley or Missouri.)became inevitable a whole slew of officers of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps resigned their commissions, along with a lot of enlisted men, to join up with the South. At West Point the southern Cadets who left to join the Confederacy did so at a morning parade, complete with all the other Cadets and the commissioned instructors. As the Cadets marched off the band played Dixie.
Six hundred thousand American dead later the war was over and slavery ended.
Memorial Day started as Decoration Day. It wasn't even the same day everywhere, it was just a day in the late spring when the people of the South went to the graveyards of the dead of that awful war and cleaned up the graves. They pulled the weeds, straightened the leaning headstones, planted and placed flowers and otherwise spruced the graveyards up.
We have had a lot of wars and a lot of dead since it was Decoration Day. And it's a damned shame so few of us remember why this day is this day. It's not the beer or the BBQ, nor the first big day at the lake or seashore. It's not the day you get to wear white shoes or go to the races. Today is the day to think of lonely, frightened men, mostly very young who, if they had time for last words it was usually "Momma".
It's still going on today. Rightly or wrongly, we have sent our young men, and now women, thousands of miles to fight. And they are dying. Not in near the numbers we did in my war, nor near the numbers of earlier wars. Still each death is a husband and father or a son, or now a mother and daughter. Unlike the days of the draft, most Americans do not know a Serviceman or Woman. This started in my war. The sons of the upper class and upper middle class went into the University and then found a doctor pal to claim a disability like Howard Dean's bad knee which miraculously healed up enough for him to go skiing for a few winters.
Today Washington doesn't care where they send our sons and daughters since the kids that are serving today aren't theirs. Today it's the kids of the south and Midwest serving, the lower middle class kids that somehow missed the indoctrination of the education bureaucracy. Give those "educators" a couple more generations, though, and we'll have no one left that knows how to fight.
*I refuse to call the tribes "native Americans because everyone born in this country is a native American. For that matter, everyone born in Central and South America is a native American.
The first three wars our nation's soldiers, sailors and Marines fought were against folks who far outnumbered and outgunned us. The Brits of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 had us beat on everything but morale. And the forces under Presley O'Bannon and General Eaton were certainly outgunned, along with having about a thousand sword waving crazies to one.
Our fourth war, beside the constant war against the Indians* is the most problematical war in our history, again, beside the war against the Indians*.
Between the end of the Texas War of Independence of 1836 and 1846 the Mexican government pushed hard against the border of the Rio Grande. It is popular among historians and other academics to call the Mexican War a war of conquest and the big bully against the smaller Mexico. They, of course, being academics, look at today's United States of America against today's Estados Unitos de Mexico. It was a lot more even in 1846. And all, repeat ALL of the opening battles in that fight were on our side of the Rio Grande.
The real tragedy in that war was the San Patricos. A little known fact of the great potato famine of Ireland is that the first place nation where the Irish fled to was, of course, the United States of America. The second nation? Estados Unidas de Mexico. Mexico, being a Catholic country, gave the Irish a warmer welcome than we did, to our eternal shame. Still, a lot of Irish men joined the U. S. Army right off the boat, the Army being a steady job. Not much pay but at least they ate and had shoes and a shirt on their backs.
Still, the Irish soldiers of 1846 were treated very poorly in the Army. By the Civil War the Army had learned a lot but in that war the Irish got the worst jobs, the meanest quarters and, perhaps worst of all, were denied Catholic Chaplains.
So, at the beginning of the Mexican war an Irish Soldier deserted the US Army, one of many. He refused to fight against his fellow Catholics of Mexico, he went so far as to join the Mexican Army and formed the San Patrico Battalion. This battalion, a force that ultimately numbered 600 men fought in many of the battles,ending it's life at the Battle of Churubusco.
After that fight the US Army went on an orgy of killing, whipping and branding of the captured survivors. Any survivor know or suspected to have deserted the US Army after the declaration of war was hanged, including Francis O'Conner who was already dying from having both legs removed. The hangings were carried out by putting the men in wagons, putting the noose around their necks and whipping the mules. Without enough drop to break their necks, the men strangled, slowly.
Contrast this with our next war the War of Southern Rebellion or, as they used to call it down here, the War of Northern Aggression.
The Band Played Dixie
As the Civil War (as if that was civil, ask the citizens of the Shenandoah Valley or Missouri.)became inevitable a whole slew of officers of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps resigned their commissions, along with a lot of enlisted men, to join up with the South. At West Point the southern Cadets who left to join the Confederacy did so at a morning parade, complete with all the other Cadets and the commissioned instructors. As the Cadets marched off the band played Dixie.
Six hundred thousand American dead later the war was over and slavery ended.
Memorial Day started as Decoration Day. It wasn't even the same day everywhere, it was just a day in the late spring when the people of the South went to the graveyards of the dead of that awful war and cleaned up the graves. They pulled the weeds, straightened the leaning headstones, planted and placed flowers and otherwise spruced the graveyards up.
We have had a lot of wars and a lot of dead since it was Decoration Day. And it's a damned shame so few of us remember why this day is this day. It's not the beer or the BBQ, nor the first big day at the lake or seashore. It's not the day you get to wear white shoes or go to the races. Today is the day to think of lonely, frightened men, mostly very young who, if they had time for last words it was usually "Momma".
It's still going on today. Rightly or wrongly, we have sent our young men, and now women, thousands of miles to fight. And they are dying. Not in near the numbers we did in my war, nor near the numbers of earlier wars. Still each death is a husband and father or a son, or now a mother and daughter. Unlike the days of the draft, most Americans do not know a Serviceman or Woman. This started in my war. The sons of the upper class and upper middle class went into the University and then found a doctor pal to claim a disability like Howard Dean's bad knee which miraculously healed up enough for him to go skiing for a few winters.
Today Washington doesn't care where they send our sons and daughters since the kids that are serving today aren't theirs. Today it's the kids of the south and Midwest serving, the lower middle class kids that somehow missed the indoctrination of the education bureaucracy. Give those "educators" a couple more generations, though, and we'll have no one left that knows how to fight.
*I refuse to call the tribes "native Americans because everyone born in this country is a native American. For that matter, everyone born in Central and South America is a native American.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
We Are Still Earthboud
So I got up, wondering when The Rapture was going to be. Linda Lou, who is a pretty fair hand at being a Christian did not disappear. Then the power went out and we started to wonder, just a little, did some really good Christians hit the wires on their way up?
Turned out somebody cut a tree and it fell the wrong way. Spoiled my plan, I was going to write a nice post and then, kind of in the middle of a sentence, say something like the dog ca
Then just hit post and see if everybody thought I'd been raptured. Personally I think that old duck out in Californey is just a little senile and simply got his calculations almost right, only one letter off. So, today he was not talking to anyone in the media. It's because today was his day to be ruptured. We won't hear from him until he gets him a truss.
In other news, it was Armed Forces Day. Somewhere along in May was the forty-sixth anniversary of the landings at Chu Lai. I was three minutes behind the first wave in an LCM MK8. There was a Rifle Platoon and a big ol' M-48 Tank. The Army, of course, already had the M-60. I was supposed to go with the guys that made the first landings at Da Nang until they put me off the boat in the practice landings in Okinawa. I had picked up a nice case of pneumonia. Oh well, a week in the hospital and then about six-eight weeks in Okinawa, first on light duty, then regular but still pulling liberty on a regular basis. I'm not sure if it's still that way over there but, back then there were a lot of girls with low morals that just loved them some teenaged American Servicemen. I must confess, back then I placed a very high value on low morals in a woman.
That bout of Pneumonia changed my life. If I hadn't got sick I would have gone into Da Nang, instead I went into Chu Lai, not very far away but the duty was very different. We got a lot closer to the people.
You know, we Viet Nam Vets are getting as old as the WW1 Vets of my boyhood. There were days that I spent hours in the park listening to their stories. I learned a lot from those old men. I reckon the Internet is my generation's park.
Well, Linda Lou just managed to fall down again, this time she was able to work herself up into the chair and get off the floor without the poor guys from the Tawakoni South Volunteer Fire Department. I feel the effing nursing home breathing down my neck. Linda Lou takes enough pills at night to knock out a horse. Then a dog wakes her or something does and she feels, since she's awake (sort of) and it's been two hours, she must get up and pee. Then she falls back asleep walking, I think, and the next thing I know I'm on the phone with the dispatcher.
Well, at least this time she didn't break anything. I'm pretty sure she'll have another big ol' bruise, though. I swear, if that woman ever turns on me, the way she's always bruised from falling down and scratched by dufous dog claws I could spend my golden years behind bars.
Nothing I can say (Lord knows I tried) convinces her to just go back to sleep. Nothing I can say (Lord knows I've tried) convinces her to lay off drinking soda right up until her head hits the pillow. Then there is a bottle right there on the table next to her. I reckon it took a stubborn, mule headed woman to put up with me all these years but we're past too much stubborn.
I wonder if the nursing home will let me have my computer and books. It's too much to think they'll let me have my loading press, components and guns. I can see it now, talking to the manager of the prospective nursing home "Why yes, it's a nice place but I'm going to need a small, lockable and fireproof locker for my black and smokeless powder for loading my cowboy action and general shooting ammo. Oh, and a lockable gun rack, please.
Somehow I don't see myself playing well in the nursing home. Golden years my butt.
Turned out somebody cut a tree and it fell the wrong way. Spoiled my plan, I was going to write a nice post and then, kind of in the middle of a sentence, say something like the dog ca
Then just hit post and see if everybody thought I'd been raptured. Personally I think that old duck out in Californey is just a little senile and simply got his calculations almost right, only one letter off. So, today he was not talking to anyone in the media. It's because today was his day to be ruptured. We won't hear from him until he gets him a truss.
In other news, it was Armed Forces Day. Somewhere along in May was the forty-sixth anniversary of the landings at Chu Lai. I was three minutes behind the first wave in an LCM MK8. There was a Rifle Platoon and a big ol' M-48 Tank. The Army, of course, already had the M-60. I was supposed to go with the guys that made the first landings at Da Nang until they put me off the boat in the practice landings in Okinawa. I had picked up a nice case of pneumonia. Oh well, a week in the hospital and then about six-eight weeks in Okinawa, first on light duty, then regular but still pulling liberty on a regular basis. I'm not sure if it's still that way over there but, back then there were a lot of girls with low morals that just loved them some teenaged American Servicemen. I must confess, back then I placed a very high value on low morals in a woman.
That bout of Pneumonia changed my life. If I hadn't got sick I would have gone into Da Nang, instead I went into Chu Lai, not very far away but the duty was very different. We got a lot closer to the people.
You know, we Viet Nam Vets are getting as old as the WW1 Vets of my boyhood. There were days that I spent hours in the park listening to their stories. I learned a lot from those old men. I reckon the Internet is my generation's park.
Well, Linda Lou just managed to fall down again, this time she was able to work herself up into the chair and get off the floor without the poor guys from the Tawakoni South Volunteer Fire Department. I feel the effing nursing home breathing down my neck. Linda Lou takes enough pills at night to knock out a horse. Then a dog wakes her or something does and she feels, since she's awake (sort of) and it's been two hours, she must get up and pee. Then she falls back asleep walking, I think, and the next thing I know I'm on the phone with the dispatcher.
Well, at least this time she didn't break anything. I'm pretty sure she'll have another big ol' bruise, though. I swear, if that woman ever turns on me, the way she's always bruised from falling down and scratched by dufous dog claws I could spend my golden years behind bars.
Nothing I can say (Lord knows I tried) convinces her to just go back to sleep. Nothing I can say (Lord knows I've tried) convinces her to lay off drinking soda right up until her head hits the pillow. Then there is a bottle right there on the table next to her. I reckon it took a stubborn, mule headed woman to put up with me all these years but we're past too much stubborn.
I wonder if the nursing home will let me have my computer and books. It's too much to think they'll let me have my loading press, components and guns. I can see it now, talking to the manager of the prospective nursing home "Why yes, it's a nice place but I'm going to need a small, lockable and fireproof locker for my black and smokeless powder for loading my cowboy action and general shooting ammo. Oh, and a lockable gun rack, please.
Somehow I don't see myself playing well in the nursing home. Golden years my butt.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Just Thinkin'
So now the Feds think that the Unabomber, who probably started wanting to kill people because he always had to spell his name five times to people, might be the Tylenol poisoner. Seein' as how he's locked up can we go back to packaging that does not require a knife and pliers to get to the effin' product? Or are they just tryin' to clear the case? I hate to believe that but with the history of the FBI Labs being a mess, and various "scientist expert witnesses" being as crooked as that Lombardy Street in San Francisco, I just don't know. I do not understand DNA. I read a lot, I follow Instapundit and Althouse, in addition to a life experience so I can confidently say no jury will ever understand DNA. If a potential juror actual education and experience to understand DNA, one or the other sterling advocates of justice trying the case would use one of the peremptory challenges to get rid of her.
I don't know what to do about this. We have too many cases on record of these people and these outfits being biased away from the truth, for power, for a twisted sense of "justice", to put away "undesirables", for money from a wealthy defendant, or that matter in civil cases, plaintiff or plaintiff's lawyer.
I can understand a case of "we caught the guy at the scene with the victims all over, the chainsaw still in his hand, he was covered in blood...". Anything more scientifical than that is beyond me. And I'm supposed to sit on a jury.
So I was driving along today, after my first bout with the new physical terrorists and Hannity had Carville on, letting Carville talk. So, Carville thinks that after some primaries Romney will be the guy to go against Obama. I really hope he's wrong. I really dislike Carville, he has a voice made for roadside billboards and a face made for radio, as well as political ideas that will kill millions. Still, he knows ground politics and he's hoping the Washington Republicans do it to us again.
Romney as the nominee will guarantee that both the Tea Party types and the Evangelicals will either sit the election out or bolt to a third party. Bottom line, Romney means we lose, again. It may well mean that the big money guys on the coasts will be sitting around with a big headquarters and no voters. The Republicans are in real danger of going the way of the Whigs.
Dear big money guys: Please anoint someone that the voters will support. We've had decades of "it's his turn". It gave us Jimmy Carter. And then it gave us Bill Clinton. George H. W. Bush is a good man, a very good man. He was only elected the first time because the Donks ran a dork named Dukakis. Actually the only reason Bush won in '88 was that picture of the dork in the tank. Without that there would have been no opposition to the Iraq invasion of Kuwait and no fall of the Berlin Wall.
Then the "it's his turn crowd gave us Bob Dole, another good guy who would, or could never win a national election. Starting to get the picture, big money guys? Let me build on it to make sure. McCain. Now Romney isn't anything like McCain except that he is pure poison to the people that work the phone banks and walk the precincts. Now you big money guys think that since it's Obama you can win without those awful Tea Party types and those smelly Evangelicals. Please, please, l00k back on recent history. The Democrat base hates us and fears us. They will go all out, no matter who their nominee is. Sorry, our side's base has some standards. I can see you guys being willing to lose the odd, unimportant election here or there. Losing the country is a different matter. We are almost out of time for us to remain a constitutional republic. In my darker moments I think it's already too late. Sigh.
In a more immediate note I was fixing my navy bean soup and, as I was frying the quarter box of Wrights Bacon Ends and Pieces a thought crossed my mind...With all the laws being passed, do you think we could make it a felony to use the words "too much" and "bacon" in the same sentence?
Navy bean soup is probably the best thing ever to come out of the galley of a ship. I was slicing up the little bit of carrot and celery and getting ready for the humongous onion I was putting in when I started wondering about the sweet onion craze. Dear Georgia, I know you're proud of your sweet Vidalia onions, I even like them sometimes. Can you, please, though, make it a little easier to find the old fashioned onions for cooking? I go to the supermarket and it's sweet Vidalia over there, Texas sweet over here, damn it! I'm cooking soup and stew and (when I have a few buck) pot roast! I'll let you know when I want to make candy.
Anyhow, the soup is in the crockpot, and it'll be ready by Friday evening. Patsy, our neighbor is making cornbread from scratch and we should do some serious eating. Desert is apple pie. I like pie. If we decide the Republican Party is defunct, we could fight it out, the TEA Party and the I Like Pie Party. Winner gets to try to repair the damage these idiots are doing.
Anyhow, that's what I'm up to, and it's almost four AM so I should try to go to bed.
I don't know what to do about this. We have too many cases on record of these people and these outfits being biased away from the truth, for power, for a twisted sense of "justice", to put away "undesirables", for money from a wealthy defendant, or that matter in civil cases, plaintiff or plaintiff's lawyer.
I can understand a case of "we caught the guy at the scene with the victims all over, the chainsaw still in his hand, he was covered in blood...". Anything more scientifical than that is beyond me. And I'm supposed to sit on a jury.
So I was driving along today, after my first bout with the new physical terrorists and Hannity had Carville on, letting Carville talk. So, Carville thinks that after some primaries Romney will be the guy to go against Obama. I really hope he's wrong. I really dislike Carville, he has a voice made for roadside billboards and a face made for radio, as well as political ideas that will kill millions. Still, he knows ground politics and he's hoping the Washington Republicans do it to us again.
Romney as the nominee will guarantee that both the Tea Party types and the Evangelicals will either sit the election out or bolt to a third party. Bottom line, Romney means we lose, again. It may well mean that the big money guys on the coasts will be sitting around with a big headquarters and no voters. The Republicans are in real danger of going the way of the Whigs.
Dear big money guys: Please anoint someone that the voters will support. We've had decades of "it's his turn". It gave us Jimmy Carter. And then it gave us Bill Clinton. George H. W. Bush is a good man, a very good man. He was only elected the first time because the Donks ran a dork named Dukakis. Actually the only reason Bush won in '88 was that picture of the dork in the tank. Without that there would have been no opposition to the Iraq invasion of Kuwait and no fall of the Berlin Wall.
Then the "it's his turn crowd gave us Bob Dole, another good guy who would, or could never win a national election. Starting to get the picture, big money guys? Let me build on it to make sure. McCain. Now Romney isn't anything like McCain except that he is pure poison to the people that work the phone banks and walk the precincts. Now you big money guys think that since it's Obama you can win without those awful Tea Party types and those smelly Evangelicals. Please, please, l00k back on recent history. The Democrat base hates us and fears us. They will go all out, no matter who their nominee is. Sorry, our side's base has some standards. I can see you guys being willing to lose the odd, unimportant election here or there. Losing the country is a different matter. We are almost out of time for us to remain a constitutional republic. In my darker moments I think it's already too late. Sigh.
In a more immediate note I was fixing my navy bean soup and, as I was frying the quarter box of Wrights Bacon Ends and Pieces a thought crossed my mind...With all the laws being passed, do you think we could make it a felony to use the words "too much" and "bacon" in the same sentence?
Navy bean soup is probably the best thing ever to come out of the galley of a ship. I was slicing up the little bit of carrot and celery and getting ready for the humongous onion I was putting in when I started wondering about the sweet onion craze. Dear Georgia, I know you're proud of your sweet Vidalia onions, I even like them sometimes. Can you, please, though, make it a little easier to find the old fashioned onions for cooking? I go to the supermarket and it's sweet Vidalia over there, Texas sweet over here, damn it! I'm cooking soup and stew and (when I have a few buck) pot roast! I'll let you know when I want to make candy.
Anyhow, the soup is in the crockpot, and it'll be ready by Friday evening. Patsy, our neighbor is making cornbread from scratch and we should do some serious eating. Desert is apple pie. I like pie. If we decide the Republican Party is defunct, we could fight it out, the TEA Party and the I Like Pie Party. Winner gets to try to repair the damage these idiots are doing.
Anyhow, that's what I'm up to, and it's almost four AM so I should try to go to bed.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Bad Investment In Pima County Law Enforcement
Taxpayers pay a heck of a lot of money for law enforcement and, contrary to what many think, they usually get a fairly good deal. The bluesuits, deputies and state guys are head and shoulders above most of the rest of the world.
Sometimes, though, we get a bad return on our investment. We see a case in Tuscon, Arizona where it looks like the Sheriff's Department has just thrown away all the money that was supposed to train their SWAT Teams. Now Sheriff Dupnik, yeah, THAT Sheriff Dupnik, has shut down the information pretty well, unlike with Loughner awhile back, but we have another mass shooting. Only this time one man was killed, a man who served two tours in the sandbox for us. Seems this young father was sleeping when his wife woke him because she heard strange noises and saw men through the windows where they shouldn't have been.
Jose Guerena, former Corporal, United States Marine Corps did what a trained man would do, got his rifle, the civilian version of the M-16, the famous old AR-15 and told his wife to hide in the closet with their four year old son.
Seventy-one shots later Guerena lay dying with his rifle still on safe, unfired. As he lay dying the Sheriff's Dept would not allow an ambulance because of "the possibility of a barricaded suspect".
The whole idea of these Special Weapons and Tactics teams is that some LEOs in an organization get extra training. One of the most important, indeed one of the first parts of weapons training is fire discipline.
Jose Guerena may or may not have had drugs in his house. He wouldn't have been the first guy to go for the easy money, although considering that he was sleeping after working the graveyard shift at a Pima County mine I would need a lot of convincing. Nor would he be the first to ever self medicate for the pain brought by serving an only somewhat grateful nation. If there were any drugs in that house. We do not know.
What we do know is that Jose Guerena fired no rounds at Law Enforcement Officers. Law Enforcement Officers fired seventy-one rounds. At the time, Guerena had been convicted of no crimes. He still has not. He is still dead.
Why did those LEOs shoot? I read on Blackfive's site that one of the SWAT Team guys may have had a negligent discharge, in other words, some damned fool running around with his finger on the trigger. And then all fire discipline disappeared. Ohmygod! He's got a GUN! I heard a SHOT!!! BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!!!!! In other words, exactly what we pay big money to train these meatheads not to do.
It could even be worse than that, one of these LEOs could have seen Guerena and his rifle and just started shooting and then fire discipline went away and everyone else got into the act. The shame is we'll never know. The Blue Wall and the Khaki Curtain will see to it that the people who pay the bills will only get the properly massaged version of the troof.
I do not know Pima County as well as I do Maricopa County, our oldest lives in Phoenix. I do know that the whole state has pockets where an LEOs seeing a homeowner with a gun in his (or her) hands when hearing a noise. It's one of those things, there is a drill for it. There's no reason for loud noises just because an LEO sees a gun, even while serving a warrant.
Somebody screwed the pooch here. A husband and father, a veteran and a miner is dead. He died with the safety on. He didn't fire a shot. We sure deserve some answers. And the people in charge of the Pima County Sheriff's Department firearms training should lose their jobs. The people in that SWAT TEAM need to be reassigned to school crossing guard duty except that that wouldn't be fair to the children. Seventy-one rounds. News article says sixty hits. Folks, that is not trained officers work. That's panicky jerks with guns.
This is why I think it was a major mistake to move from revolvers to semiautos for police work. Yes, there might have been two times in history that more shots on tap might have saved the day for the good guys. But think of all the other times a bunch of half-trained clowns have emptied the magazine into a house with a mother and child inside. Chalk up one more.
Sometimes, though, we get a bad return on our investment. We see a case in Tuscon, Arizona where it looks like the Sheriff's Department has just thrown away all the money that was supposed to train their SWAT Teams. Now Sheriff Dupnik, yeah, THAT Sheriff Dupnik, has shut down the information pretty well, unlike with Loughner awhile back, but we have another mass shooting. Only this time one man was killed, a man who served two tours in the sandbox for us. Seems this young father was sleeping when his wife woke him because she heard strange noises and saw men through the windows where they shouldn't have been.
Jose Guerena, former Corporal, United States Marine Corps did what a trained man would do, got his rifle, the civilian version of the M-16, the famous old AR-15 and told his wife to hide in the closet with their four year old son.
Seventy-one shots later Guerena lay dying with his rifle still on safe, unfired. As he lay dying the Sheriff's Dept would not allow an ambulance because of "the possibility of a barricaded suspect".
The whole idea of these Special Weapons and Tactics teams is that some LEOs in an organization get extra training. One of the most important, indeed one of the first parts of weapons training is fire discipline.
Jose Guerena may or may not have had drugs in his house. He wouldn't have been the first guy to go for the easy money, although considering that he was sleeping after working the graveyard shift at a Pima County mine I would need a lot of convincing. Nor would he be the first to ever self medicate for the pain brought by serving an only somewhat grateful nation. If there were any drugs in that house. We do not know.
What we do know is that Jose Guerena fired no rounds at Law Enforcement Officers. Law Enforcement Officers fired seventy-one rounds. At the time, Guerena had been convicted of no crimes. He still has not. He is still dead.
Why did those LEOs shoot? I read on Blackfive's site that one of the SWAT Team guys may have had a negligent discharge, in other words, some damned fool running around with his finger on the trigger. And then all fire discipline disappeared. Ohmygod! He's got a GUN! I heard a SHOT!!! BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!!!!! In other words, exactly what we pay big money to train these meatheads not to do.
It could even be worse than that, one of these LEOs could have seen Guerena and his rifle and just started shooting and then fire discipline went away and everyone else got into the act. The shame is we'll never know. The Blue Wall and the Khaki Curtain will see to it that the people who pay the bills will only get the properly massaged version of the troof.
I do not know Pima County as well as I do Maricopa County, our oldest lives in Phoenix. I do know that the whole state has pockets where an LEOs seeing a homeowner with a gun in his (or her) hands when hearing a noise. It's one of those things, there is a drill for it. There's no reason for loud noises just because an LEO sees a gun, even while serving a warrant.
Somebody screwed the pooch here. A husband and father, a veteran and a miner is dead. He died with the safety on. He didn't fire a shot. We sure deserve some answers. And the people in charge of the Pima County Sheriff's Department firearms training should lose their jobs. The people in that SWAT TEAM need to be reassigned to school crossing guard duty except that that wouldn't be fair to the children. Seventy-one rounds. News article says sixty hits. Folks, that is not trained officers work. That's panicky jerks with guns.
This is why I think it was a major mistake to move from revolvers to semiautos for police work. Yes, there might have been two times in history that more shots on tap might have saved the day for the good guys. But think of all the other times a bunch of half-trained clowns have emptied the magazine into a house with a mother and child inside. Chalk up one more.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
I'm Not Dead, I Think.
It's like this: Linda Lou's physical therapy is taking up a lot of time, from getting ready for the bus, then waiting for the bus, then riding on the bus, then the deal with the physical terrorists. Then dressing in dry stuff, calling the bus, waiting for the bus, riding the bus, horsing that damned wheelchair up the ramp, then supper. I need a nap just thinking of it.
Nor does it help that my Neurologist has me on a new med that is supposed to do a better job of controlling my tremors. Well, I'm steady. Dizzy, hardly able to walk but steady. Plus it makes me drowsy while unable to really sleep. Hope that passes, I like the steadyness, though. It would be nice to be steady and not be sitting around drooling on myself, though.
On top of everything else we had a command performance up in the Dallas suburb to see Josiah graduate from preschool. They do graduation gowns and mortarboard hats and everything. Funny, though, none of the graduates could tell me their majors. I asked several. They couldn't even SAY microbiology, much less study it.
Afterwards we babysat while the kids went to an important parent teacher conference. The little kids napped, William wanted to do something. We ended up bicycling, God help me. I used to ride bikes, I mean I rode all over. Back then I had legs like tree trunks. Even Ann Althouse would have liked to see me in my cut off blue jeans back then. Today, not so much. I thought I'd have to get better to die.
Anyhow, the blog is going to have to just survive without me for a few more weeks. It should not be very much longer before Linda Lou can just go to physical therapy without me. Until then, I dunno. Talk among yourselves, maybe read a good book or try a new recipe or something. If I survive all this, I'll be back.
Nor does it help that my Neurologist has me on a new med that is supposed to do a better job of controlling my tremors. Well, I'm steady. Dizzy, hardly able to walk but steady. Plus it makes me drowsy while unable to really sleep. Hope that passes, I like the steadyness, though. It would be nice to be steady and not be sitting around drooling on myself, though.
On top of everything else we had a command performance up in the Dallas suburb to see Josiah graduate from preschool. They do graduation gowns and mortarboard hats and everything. Funny, though, none of the graduates could tell me their majors. I asked several. They couldn't even SAY microbiology, much less study it.
Afterwards we babysat while the kids went to an important parent teacher conference. The little kids napped, William wanted to do something. We ended up bicycling, God help me. I used to ride bikes, I mean I rode all over. Back then I had legs like tree trunks. Even Ann Althouse would have liked to see me in my cut off blue jeans back then. Today, not so much. I thought I'd have to get better to die.
Anyhow, the blog is going to have to just survive without me for a few more weeks. It should not be very much longer before Linda Lou can just go to physical therapy without me. Until then, I dunno. Talk among yourselves, maybe read a good book or try a new recipe or something. If I survive all this, I'll be back.
Monday, May 02, 2011
Good Job!
The regular reader, all couple of you might be surprised here but let me start by saying, "Good Job, Obama!" I am not sure just how he got the gonads to pull the trigger on the Bin Laden job, perhaps he borrowed Hillary's. Or Michelle's.
Then, of course, good job to the folks who gathered the Intel. The biggest props go to the men of Seal Team Six and the Special Ops Helo unit. These men must sleep in specially soundproof barracks, otherwise the clang of those big brass ones would wake everyone up every time any of them needs to get up to pee during the night.
Unlike some, I am pleased they took OBL's body out to an aircraft carrier and buried it at sea. Now when we capture one of these fanatics we do not need to imprison or execute them. Instead we can take them on one of those pilgrimages to OBL's grave and leave them there.
My hope is that we have a nice picture of OBL trying to shoot his AK from behind his human shield wife. Note to the brave jihadis: When you want to use your wife or child as a human shield you must practice a lot with them. The muzzle blast of your weapon will make them flinch, throwing your aim way off. The only way to resolve this is to practice with them enough to deafen them so that they won't flinch. With just a little luck the practice will also cause enough scar tissue from the hot gas of the muzzle flash to harden your wife or child against that pain. A further note to brave Jihadis: Fat girls. Marry fat girls to hide behind. Maybe they'll stand a better chance of stopping that bullet. After all, you can always find a sheep for your lovin'.
My only fear is that many will now think this fight is over. Please note that Germany kept fighting after Hitler ate his gun. Of course, by that time they didn't have much left with which to fight, unlike the Jihadis. Between the opium money and the oil, Islam has plenty of resources and lots of young men. In a society when wealthy men can have multiple wives the poorer men have, what, exactly? Lots of frustration.
The Overseas Military Contingency is far from over. It would be nice if the Dems do not cut the military to the bone again.
Update, 05/04/11: It sure would be nice if the powers that be could decide that our military and intelligence operations deserve a bit of secrecy. Osama has achieved room temperature. That is news we can use. I can stop eyeing every real tall Arab-lookin' dude. Still the guys in Special Ops like to be anonymous, for good reason. When they go out they leave their wives and kids. Nor do we need to know how they disposed of Osama's corpse. An aircraft mechanic from one of the squadrons, or maybe some guy or gal from the Engineering Dept. does not travel armed, nor are they particularly trained to ward off an angry Islamist.
While I am still pleased that OBL has been found, and offed, I can't help thinking that, if we could keep a secret anymore, we could have, perhaps run the op a little blacker, say with French helicopters, bought with fake IDs snatched OBL up, carried him to a secret location, say just outside of Resume Speed, Idaho, wrung every scrap of info out of him and then um, "find" him in a cave someplace. and then cap him.
Oh, and BTW, it should not have been vital for your hacks to lie. If Osama didn't have a gun and wasn't hiding behind his wife, fine. A large majority of Americans would have supported offing him if he were standing, without a stitch on the nude beach. You clowns watched the op on TV fer Heaven's sake! Why did y'all have to add "drama" one day just to walk it beck the next?
Then, of course, good job to the folks who gathered the Intel. The biggest props go to the men of Seal Team Six and the Special Ops Helo unit. These men must sleep in specially soundproof barracks, otherwise the clang of those big brass ones would wake everyone up every time any of them needs to get up to pee during the night.
Unlike some, I am pleased they took OBL's body out to an aircraft carrier and buried it at sea. Now when we capture one of these fanatics we do not need to imprison or execute them. Instead we can take them on one of those pilgrimages to OBL's grave and leave them there.
My hope is that we have a nice picture of OBL trying to shoot his AK from behind his human shield wife. Note to the brave jihadis: When you want to use your wife or child as a human shield you must practice a lot with them. The muzzle blast of your weapon will make them flinch, throwing your aim way off. The only way to resolve this is to practice with them enough to deafen them so that they won't flinch. With just a little luck the practice will also cause enough scar tissue from the hot gas of the muzzle flash to harden your wife or child against that pain. A further note to brave Jihadis: Fat girls. Marry fat girls to hide behind. Maybe they'll stand a better chance of stopping that bullet. After all, you can always find a sheep for your lovin'.
My only fear is that many will now think this fight is over. Please note that Germany kept fighting after Hitler ate his gun. Of course, by that time they didn't have much left with which to fight, unlike the Jihadis. Between the opium money and the oil, Islam has plenty of resources and lots of young men. In a society when wealthy men can have multiple wives the poorer men have, what, exactly? Lots of frustration.
The Overseas Military Contingency is far from over. It would be nice if the Dems do not cut the military to the bone again.
Update, 05/04/11: It sure would be nice if the powers that be could decide that our military and intelligence operations deserve a bit of secrecy. Osama has achieved room temperature. That is news we can use. I can stop eyeing every real tall Arab-lookin' dude. Still the guys in Special Ops like to be anonymous, for good reason. When they go out they leave their wives and kids. Nor do we need to know how they disposed of Osama's corpse. An aircraft mechanic from one of the squadrons, or maybe some guy or gal from the Engineering Dept. does not travel armed, nor are they particularly trained to ward off an angry Islamist.
While I am still pleased that OBL has been found, and offed, I can't help thinking that, if we could keep a secret anymore, we could have, perhaps run the op a little blacker, say with French helicopters, bought with fake IDs snatched OBL up, carried him to a secret location, say just outside of Resume Speed, Idaho, wrung every scrap of info out of him and then um, "find" him in a cave someplace. and then cap him.
Oh, and BTW, it should not have been vital for your hacks to lie. If Osama didn't have a gun and wasn't hiding behind his wife, fine. A large majority of Americans would have supported offing him if he were standing, without a stitch on the nude beach. You clowns watched the op on TV fer Heaven's sake! Why did y'all have to add "drama" one day just to walk it beck the next?
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Physical Terrorists And Riding The Short Bus
Linda Lou has started outside physical therapy. And the Doc has her on "water therapy" which means she has to go a lot further than she otherwise would, the nearest PT place with one of those small pools is all the way to the county seat in Greenville. That's the bad news, if we just had to go to the little town of Quinlan it would be no problem, but we're out of gas, nor is the van at it's best these days.
So we're riding the little bus that the county has, actually several little buses. The county has this service (that I thought we'd never need) where they send a bus around for anyone below a certain income, and take them anywhere in the county. So, the good news is a trip to the physical terrorist (or, for that matter, the supermarket) is free to the rider. I am afraid to think of what it costs to the taxpayer.
The good news is that we get there, the bad news is that we have yet to get there on time. The bus has yet to find it's way there when they said it would, then it takes forever and a day to get the wheelchair up the lift and secured according to the rules, then they ride all around Lake Tawakonie and Robin's bard looking for other passengers who may or may actually be there, or ready when the bus gets there.
Then, of course, we must wait for the bus when we're ready to leave. The fun part, though, is between our finally arriving and when it's time to go. First Linda Lou puts on her shorts and T shirt, gets on the lift chair and they put her in the pool, she gets out of the chair and starts walking in (not on!) the water. After X number of walking laps they make her do some other exercises, they call me back in and we get her out of the water, in to the little bath and she gets dry and into fresh clothes. From there we're done, except for waiting for the bus for the ride home.
Eventually we'll be doing some dry land work, also, just not yet. Probably this week or the next. The goal is walking by summer, either with the walker or a cane. We all are pretty well reconciled that she will always need a little support. Oh well, with the cane she'll be able to wave it and holler stuff like "Get off the lawn!" real loud once in a while. If it's the walker, well she's got this fancy four wheeled walker with both a basket and a seat. I'm not quite sure how she's supposed to wave it and holler, though.
I haven't tried to take the laptop with me yet, maybe in a couple more weeks. Anyhow, between riding the short bus to school and then everything else, I'll be scarce 'round here. I'm thinking that in another month or so, all I'll have to do is help her on and off the bus here, and up and down the ramp.
I'll be working on the end of the story of The Three Guardsmen, when I finish that I'll think of someone else to discuss. There are a lot of really interesting men and women littering our history in this part of the country, on both sides of the law. Many who worked both sides their own selves. Between the public library and the Internet, research is a lot easier than when I was a kid.
This is not really how I intended to spend my retirement, we didn't really plan on having what was, a decade ago, a decent income become poverty. It's what we have, though. The travel we planned is gone. If only those idiots in Washington don't kill the Internet.
So we're riding the little bus that the county has, actually several little buses. The county has this service (that I thought we'd never need) where they send a bus around for anyone below a certain income, and take them anywhere in the county. So, the good news is a trip to the physical terrorist (or, for that matter, the supermarket) is free to the rider. I am afraid to think of what it costs to the taxpayer.
The good news is that we get there, the bad news is that we have yet to get there on time. The bus has yet to find it's way there when they said it would, then it takes forever and a day to get the wheelchair up the lift and secured according to the rules, then they ride all around Lake Tawakonie and Robin's bard looking for other passengers who may or may actually be there, or ready when the bus gets there.
Then, of course, we must wait for the bus when we're ready to leave. The fun part, though, is between our finally arriving and when it's time to go. First Linda Lou puts on her shorts and T shirt, gets on the lift chair and they put her in the pool, she gets out of the chair and starts walking in (not on!) the water. After X number of walking laps they make her do some other exercises, they call me back in and we get her out of the water, in to the little bath and she gets dry and into fresh clothes. From there we're done, except for waiting for the bus for the ride home.
Eventually we'll be doing some dry land work, also, just not yet. Probably this week or the next. The goal is walking by summer, either with the walker or a cane. We all are pretty well reconciled that she will always need a little support. Oh well, with the cane she'll be able to wave it and holler stuff like "Get off the lawn!" real loud once in a while. If it's the walker, well she's got this fancy four wheeled walker with both a basket and a seat. I'm not quite sure how she's supposed to wave it and holler, though.
I haven't tried to take the laptop with me yet, maybe in a couple more weeks. Anyhow, between riding the short bus to school and then everything else, I'll be scarce 'round here. I'm thinking that in another month or so, all I'll have to do is help her on and off the bus here, and up and down the ramp.
I'll be working on the end of the story of The Three Guardsmen, when I finish that I'll think of someone else to discuss. There are a lot of really interesting men and women littering our history in this part of the country, on both sides of the law. Many who worked both sides their own selves. Between the public library and the Internet, research is a lot easier than when I was a kid.
This is not really how I intended to spend my retirement, we didn't really plan on having what was, a decade ago, a decent income become poverty. It's what we have, though. The travel we planned is gone. If only those idiots in Washington don't kill the Internet.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The Three Guardsmen
It was January the ninth, 1944 in Guthrie, Oklahoma when Chris Madsen, the fighting Dane died at 93. Madsen was the last of the horseback Marshals to shuffle off this vale of tears. One of The Three Guardsmen who virtually ended the reign of the outlaw gangs of Oklahoma he had a very checkered past.
Although he claimed service in the Danish Army and even the French Foreign Legion before he came to the US in 1876 the reality is that he served time in Danish prisons for begging, vagrancy, fraud and forgery. The Danish government paid his fare to the US, a common thing back then. Madsen was one of the few who made the best of this new chance. Joining the Army he served fifteen years in the Quartermaster Corps, rising quickly to Quartermaster Sergeant of the Fifth Cavalry Regiment during the fights after Custer's Big Mistake. He was courtmartialed and acquitted once and was awarded the Silver Star during the Indian Wars. He was discharged (because he wanted out, not thrown out) and left the Army in Oklahoma where he joined the US. Marshall's Service.
Henry Andrew "Heck" Thomas was a Georgia boy, born in 1850 his family were Confederates during the big bloodletting of 1861-1865 and Heck was a courier for his Uncle , the Colonel of the Thomas Regiment. Unhurt during the Civil War he joined the Atlanta Police at age 17, a feat perhaps made easier by the fact that his daddy was the Town Marshall. Wounded during one of the periodic race riots of the early post slavery era he eventually got married and moved to Galveston., Texas becoming a guard for the Texas Express Company, taking charge of the money shipments on the railroads. He managed to save one big shipment from a robbery by the then-infamous Sam Bass Gang by hiding it in an unlit stove and packing dummy packages in the safe. By the time the robbers realized the packages were fake, the train was gone. Wounded during this robbery and shootout Thomas left the railroad and ran for Chief of Police in Fort Worth. Losing, by a very narrow margin he became a detective for the Fort Worth Detective Association, a collection of private eyes and stock detectives. Stock detectives drew a fairly small salary, though better than the normal $30.00 a month and found of the cowboy, plus a bounty for every cattle rustler and horse thief killed or jailed.
Thomas got his big break when he killed the Lee brothers, James and Pink, rustlers that had plagued The Chickasaw Nation up in Indian Territory as well as north Texas. He then went to work for The Hanging Judge, Issac Parker in Fort Smith, Arkansas. This was the court that had jurisdiction over the Indian Nation.
Bill Tilghman was a Kansas farm boy who became a buffalo hunter and then a lawman. Starting as a Deputy Sheriff in Ford County, Kansas under William Barclay "Bat" Masterson. Later appointed City Marshall he left after a short time because he couldn't stand the politics. There was a constant tension between the two factions, one that wanted Dodge City to remain a cowtown and the other that preferred the slower and more staid future as a farming community.
Tilghman thought he was leaving law enforcement when he got involved with the Oklahoma Land Rush in 1889. Instead his career was only begun. Settling on a ranch in Guthrie, OK he started raising fine horseflesh. Then duty called. Serving as a Deputy (city) Marshall in Guthrie He again was an exemplary officer. Tilghman accepted a position as a Deputy US Marshal and served in that position until 1910 when he retired as was elected to the Oklahoma State Senate.
Something that is mostly forgotten these days is how the Indian Territory and, later, Oklahoma Territory was governed. It started with The Five Civilized Tribes. The Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes each had their own Nation, complete with legislature, laws and police. These police, or light horse, however, could not arrest a white man, for anything. Only the US Marshals could. And the nearest base of the US Marshal Service was Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The local tribes had no real use for the white man's laws. With the memory of the Trail of Tears still fresh, the Indians just couldn't find too much sympathy for the poor, beleaguered whites. As long as a bad guy left the Indians alone no one went out of their way to assist the white eyes. As too the outlaws, well let's just say that quite a few, who were too ugly to the Indians, disappeared. The frontier, of course, was a dangerous place with snakes and bears and suchlike. No redskin would ever hurt a white outlaw! So, the outlaws left the Indians alone and used Indian Territory as a base, raiding farms and ranches for livestock, and towns for banks, stores and, of course, trains.
It did not help that the Indian Territory kept shrinking and more and more tribes kept being put in to the shrinking Territory. Kansas and Nebraska were the first to be carved out. Then they Cheyenne and the Kiowa, as well as the dread Comanche of Texas were shoved into the western part of the ever shrinking Indian Territory.
This was the world of Heck Thomas. Working under Judge Issac Parker, "the hanging judge" he joined a group of very hard men. I seriously doubt that any group of LEOs in American history have been in a more hazardous job that the Deputy Marshals of that judicial district. The law was severe back then and prisons were bleak. The gallows waited for many more crimes than the softer laws of today. Some wonder, perhaps, of the victims of today, wondering where their justice is but, alas, that is another story.
Thomas had already been wounded twice, in the line of duty, and he became a pretty serious customer. A bad guy got one chance to surrender with him, and Heck Thomas was very quick to ventilate a criminal trying to resist. Thomas was a fair lawman but he had a couple of rules, the most important was that if a man was worth shooting he was worth killing. The other two, Madsen and Tilghman were somewhat gentler.
Eventually a US District Court opened in Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory. This was toward the end of the horseback gangs. The Deputy US Marshal was chasing the Dalton Gang through the Territory. There were other lawmen on the trail but the bulldog was Heck Thomas. It was a long chase and Thomas never really caught up. He was so persistent that the Daltons tried for that one big score in Coffeyville, Kansas. Recognized while trying to rob two banks at once the robbers were in for a nasty surprise. The townspeople grabbed their shootin' irons and gave the Dalton Gang some of that Minnesota Nice that the James Gang got almost twenty years earlier in Northfield. Thomas got to Coffeyville in time to identify the bodies.
There were a couple of survivors of this gang, beside the Dalton brother that survived the shooting, Emmett who later claimed the "last big score" was so they could get far away from Thomas. Those survivors, led by "Wild Bill" Doolin became the Wild Bunch, one of the last big gangs. George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, aka Slaughter Kid, Charley Pierce, Oliver "Ol" Yantis, Wm. Marion "Bill" Dalton, who wasn't involved in the Dalton Gang in Oklahoma but joined Doolin. There was also Wm. "Tulsa Jack" Blake, Dan "Dynamite Dick" Clifton, Roy Daugherty, aka Arkansas Tom Jones, George "Red Buck" Waighman, Richard "Little Dick" West, Wm. F. "Little Bill" Raidler. Eleven members of the gang that formed in 1892. All died by the gun.
The first robbery for the Wild Bunch was in Ford County, Kansas. The Stillwater town Marshal recognized Ol Yantis from the descriptions and the posse tracked him down and killed him in a shootout. Perhaps not the best beginning for a criminal gang.
By this time, Thomas, Tilghman and Madsen had worked together long enough to both gain trust in each other, and friendship. All three had the raw courage to stand up in a fight and all three had complimentary skills. Bill, because of his time as a buffalo hunter Army Scout was an excellent tracker. Chris, probably because of his years as a Quartermaster Sergeant, was good at the constant reports that, even then, hounded lawmen. Heck, well he was the best shot and was just the man needed when there was killing to be done. (Not that the others were shrinking violets)
The Marshals got a line on the gang in the late summer of '93. They were holed up in a sort of owtlaw town called Ingalls. Thomas, Tilghman and Madsen wanted to slip in and try their luck but the new US Marshal for the District, E. D. Nix just knew the situation required a bigger posse. In what became known as The Battle of Ingalls three Deputies were killed, along with two civilians. One outlaw was wounded and captured.
After that debacle the Three Guardsmen (although nobody knew them by that name yet) were taken off other duties and assigned to the Wild Bunch full time.
The game was pretty much over by the time Bill Tilghman tracked Wild Bill Doolin to Eureka Springs, Arkansas where he had gone to take the waters for the arthritis in his foot caused by a bullet wound. Tilghman dressed up with the black coat and reversed collar of a preacher, sholved his gun under his jacket and walked right up to Doolin, placing him under arrest. Then he just marched him to the train station and off they went, back to Guthrie. without worrying about minor details like extradition papers, no less.
The story continues.
Although he claimed service in the Danish Army and even the French Foreign Legion before he came to the US in 1876 the reality is that he served time in Danish prisons for begging, vagrancy, fraud and forgery. The Danish government paid his fare to the US, a common thing back then. Madsen was one of the few who made the best of this new chance. Joining the Army he served fifteen years in the Quartermaster Corps, rising quickly to Quartermaster Sergeant of the Fifth Cavalry Regiment during the fights after Custer's Big Mistake. He was courtmartialed and acquitted once and was awarded the Silver Star during the Indian Wars. He was discharged (because he wanted out, not thrown out) and left the Army in Oklahoma where he joined the US. Marshall's Service.
Henry Andrew "Heck" Thomas was a Georgia boy, born in 1850 his family were Confederates during the big bloodletting of 1861-1865 and Heck was a courier for his Uncle , the Colonel of the Thomas Regiment. Unhurt during the Civil War he joined the Atlanta Police at age 17, a feat perhaps made easier by the fact that his daddy was the Town Marshall. Wounded during one of the periodic race riots of the early post slavery era he eventually got married and moved to Galveston., Texas becoming a guard for the Texas Express Company, taking charge of the money shipments on the railroads. He managed to save one big shipment from a robbery by the then-infamous Sam Bass Gang by hiding it in an unlit stove and packing dummy packages in the safe. By the time the robbers realized the packages were fake, the train was gone. Wounded during this robbery and shootout Thomas left the railroad and ran for Chief of Police in Fort Worth. Losing, by a very narrow margin he became a detective for the Fort Worth Detective Association, a collection of private eyes and stock detectives. Stock detectives drew a fairly small salary, though better than the normal $30.00 a month and found of the cowboy, plus a bounty for every cattle rustler and horse thief killed or jailed.
Thomas got his big break when he killed the Lee brothers, James and Pink, rustlers that had plagued The Chickasaw Nation up in Indian Territory as well as north Texas. He then went to work for The Hanging Judge, Issac Parker in Fort Smith, Arkansas. This was the court that had jurisdiction over the Indian Nation.
Bill Tilghman was a Kansas farm boy who became a buffalo hunter and then a lawman. Starting as a Deputy Sheriff in Ford County, Kansas under William Barclay "Bat" Masterson. Later appointed City Marshall he left after a short time because he couldn't stand the politics. There was a constant tension between the two factions, one that wanted Dodge City to remain a cowtown and the other that preferred the slower and more staid future as a farming community.
Tilghman thought he was leaving law enforcement when he got involved with the Oklahoma Land Rush in 1889. Instead his career was only begun. Settling on a ranch in Guthrie, OK he started raising fine horseflesh. Then duty called. Serving as a Deputy (city) Marshall in Guthrie He again was an exemplary officer. Tilghman accepted a position as a Deputy US Marshal and served in that position until 1910 when he retired as was elected to the Oklahoma State Senate.
Something that is mostly forgotten these days is how the Indian Territory and, later, Oklahoma Territory was governed. It started with The Five Civilized Tribes. The Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw and Chickasaw Tribes each had their own Nation, complete with legislature, laws and police. These police, or light horse, however, could not arrest a white man, for anything. Only the US Marshals could. And the nearest base of the US Marshal Service was Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The local tribes had no real use for the white man's laws. With the memory of the Trail of Tears still fresh, the Indians just couldn't find too much sympathy for the poor, beleaguered whites. As long as a bad guy left the Indians alone no one went out of their way to assist the white eyes. As too the outlaws, well let's just say that quite a few, who were too ugly to the Indians, disappeared. The frontier, of course, was a dangerous place with snakes and bears and suchlike. No redskin would ever hurt a white outlaw! So, the outlaws left the Indians alone and used Indian Territory as a base, raiding farms and ranches for livestock, and towns for banks, stores and, of course, trains.
It did not help that the Indian Territory kept shrinking and more and more tribes kept being put in to the shrinking Territory. Kansas and Nebraska were the first to be carved out. Then they Cheyenne and the Kiowa, as well as the dread Comanche of Texas were shoved into the western part of the ever shrinking Indian Territory.
This was the world of Heck Thomas. Working under Judge Issac Parker, "the hanging judge" he joined a group of very hard men. I seriously doubt that any group of LEOs in American history have been in a more hazardous job that the Deputy Marshals of that judicial district. The law was severe back then and prisons were bleak. The gallows waited for many more crimes than the softer laws of today. Some wonder, perhaps, of the victims of today, wondering where their justice is but, alas, that is another story.
Thomas had already been wounded twice, in the line of duty, and he became a pretty serious customer. A bad guy got one chance to surrender with him, and Heck Thomas was very quick to ventilate a criminal trying to resist. Thomas was a fair lawman but he had a couple of rules, the most important was that if a man was worth shooting he was worth killing. The other two, Madsen and Tilghman were somewhat gentler.
Eventually a US District Court opened in Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory. This was toward the end of the horseback gangs. The Deputy US Marshal was chasing the Dalton Gang through the Territory. There were other lawmen on the trail but the bulldog was Heck Thomas. It was a long chase and Thomas never really caught up. He was so persistent that the Daltons tried for that one big score in Coffeyville, Kansas. Recognized while trying to rob two banks at once the robbers were in for a nasty surprise. The townspeople grabbed their shootin' irons and gave the Dalton Gang some of that Minnesota Nice that the James Gang got almost twenty years earlier in Northfield. Thomas got to Coffeyville in time to identify the bodies.
There were a couple of survivors of this gang, beside the Dalton brother that survived the shooting, Emmett who later claimed the "last big score" was so they could get far away from Thomas. Those survivors, led by "Wild Bill" Doolin became the Wild Bunch, one of the last big gangs. George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb, aka Slaughter Kid, Charley Pierce, Oliver "Ol" Yantis, Wm. Marion "Bill" Dalton, who wasn't involved in the Dalton Gang in Oklahoma but joined Doolin. There was also Wm. "Tulsa Jack" Blake, Dan "Dynamite Dick" Clifton, Roy Daugherty, aka Arkansas Tom Jones, George "Red Buck" Waighman, Richard "Little Dick" West, Wm. F. "Little Bill" Raidler. Eleven members of the gang that formed in 1892. All died by the gun.
The first robbery for the Wild Bunch was in Ford County, Kansas. The Stillwater town Marshal recognized Ol Yantis from the descriptions and the posse tracked him down and killed him in a shootout. Perhaps not the best beginning for a criminal gang.
By this time, Thomas, Tilghman and Madsen had worked together long enough to both gain trust in each other, and friendship. All three had the raw courage to stand up in a fight and all three had complimentary skills. Bill, because of his time as a buffalo hunter Army Scout was an excellent tracker. Chris, probably because of his years as a Quartermaster Sergeant, was good at the constant reports that, even then, hounded lawmen. Heck, well he was the best shot and was just the man needed when there was killing to be done. (Not that the others were shrinking violets)
The Marshals got a line on the gang in the late summer of '93. They were holed up in a sort of owtlaw town called Ingalls. Thomas, Tilghman and Madsen wanted to slip in and try their luck but the new US Marshal for the District, E. D. Nix just knew the situation required a bigger posse. In what became known as The Battle of Ingalls three Deputies were killed, along with two civilians. One outlaw was wounded and captured.
After that debacle the Three Guardsmen (although nobody knew them by that name yet) were taken off other duties and assigned to the Wild Bunch full time.
The game was pretty much over by the time Bill Tilghman tracked Wild Bill Doolin to Eureka Springs, Arkansas where he had gone to take the waters for the arthritis in his foot caused by a bullet wound. Tilghman dressed up with the black coat and reversed collar of a preacher, sholved his gun under his jacket and walked right up to Doolin, placing him under arrest. Then he just marched him to the train station and off they went, back to Guthrie. without worrying about minor details like extradition papers, no less.
The story continues.
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