Time to dust things off and get comforatable again.

I have been gone, actually not really gone, just not posting. I suppose you could argue that the two are not mutually exclusive and may in fact be the same. If your not posting then your wired presence is gone. Interesting argument if your inclined to argue over banalities. Anyway... back to the more salient point, which is...why? The why, is surgery. I had a total knee replacement on June 10th. Doc warned me there would be allot of pain, she emphasized that many times so there would be no misunderstanding about what was about to happen. When pain wasn't the subject the long recovery was. This was not gonna be a walk  in the park and I can confirm that it was not a walk in anything. Pain? It was there, always, for the first 3 weeks but you've got lots of medicine to take to help you get through this trial. The downside is the medicines, mostly painkillers, they have the effect on me of turning off my general interest in things. You have got to be interested in speaking your mind to blog and you must be interested in other people reading your stuff to blog, and I just was too numb. Now, I'm not numb and the whole world seems to have decided to give me all kinda stuff to discuss with you from Egypt to a President I think really doesn't like me. Lots of low hanging fruit to pick and ponder and I mean to pick it all.

I don't think that means what you think it means.

 

The 5th Amendment to the Constitution allows a citizen to not testify against themselves. They can't be forced to basically say anything that would incriminate them. But, the supreme court ruled years ago that you have to invoke the 5th from the start. You cannot start testifying, then when things get nasty, start invoking your 5th amendment rights. What the lady should have done yesterday is say what her name was then immediately state she would be invoking her 5th amendment rights. Because she basically started testifying she no longer has the ability to use the 5th. She really needs to fire her lawyers. I'm not a lawyer and even I know how its suppose to work.

I'm sorry, you have a speck right , oops its attached.

I was torn about discussing this particular topic. I'm getting older and much less bolder so I try to be honest about my views as they pertain to today's trends. But some of them really bug me. One of those trends is piercings, particularly piercings. I really, really don't understand why you would do that to yourself. To date, I have not seen a single woman I thought was more attractive because of some absurd piercing. I'll even go so far as to say that I've never heard a guy say he thought a nose piercing made a girl more attractive. So, ladies, why do you do it? I'm being totally honest, I can't fathom why you'd mutilate yourself like that. Even if you pull the stud years from now when this fad fades, as all of them do, you're still stuck with a very distinct hole in your nose. I overheard one young lady say she thought the guys would like it, I have very bad news, guys will like it because guys like anything that suggests a girl might be running fast and loose with any sort of inhibitions if you get my drift. It's like the big lower back tattoos women thought were fashionable until society started referring to them as "tramp stamps". Actually guys started that, because they thought the tattoo meant the girl was a bit loose as it were.  As far as most young men are concerned, a tramp stamp, and pierced nose, spells really good time, just add alcohol. Not someone you want to take home to mom like Ms. Right, just an excellent candidate for Ms. Right-Now. I wonder what the next fad will be to out do this one?

Hahahahaha

Love me some People's Cube. Humor that requires you remember the old days of Soviet Russia.  Find them at http://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/low-information-voter-thoughts-t10490.html  and have a laugh.

I know nothing, I see nothing...

The recently fired acting IRS chief at his congressional testimony today elected the "I know nothing" defense. Brilliant, just brilliant, who could have seen that coming.

Why so serious....

   One of the basic premises of our political system is that everyone will abide by some well understood but unwritten rules. Its a sort of honor code. The constitution does not address most of these things, but nonetheless these unwritten rules keep our politicians from doing the sort of stuff you see in 3rd world countries. One of those rules is, when you win, you won't use the power of the federal government to intimidate or persecute your political opponents. The IRS getting into the weeds, and in many cases, just plain making crap up in order to deny conservative groups from getting non-profit status is a clear violation of those rules. This single thing is worse then the other scandals combined in my opinion. Why? Because its a clear break with traditions of good manners and simple civility, that have pretty much kept this country from 'going full retard' over its 237 year life. If a political group thinks that their loss will result in the power of the federal government being brought to bear on them, then there is no reason to play nice or fair anymore. Yes the left and right aren't getting along well right now, but they aren't exactly shooting at each other or say, canning each other on the floor on the senate like happened in 1858. My all time favorite is spreading a rumor that the other guys wife was a prostitute that he got from a whorehouse (1828).
   I'd like to think the current scandal with the IRS is something as simple as incompetence, but I'm very much afraid it will turn out to be something far worse. A systemic problem of institutional vilification of the opposing party on a level we haven't seen since the mid 19th century is not a good thing or a small thing for that matter. The real possibility exists that this was given a blessing by the administration.
   I really don't like when friends on the right go on these rants about the left trying to destroy the country. It isn't helpful and it poison's the well of polite discourse, and when we can't even talk we tend to escalate things. No, the President isn't trying to destroy the country. No, the left isn't trying to create a socialist utopia in America. No, there aren't any reeducation camps in America. None of these things are happening. I think, its rather simply, the other side is just plain...wrong. See, no underlining devious plan, no nefarious plot, just wrong. Isn't that enough anymore?

I am done.

Wait...What?

I hate to inform the President but your in charge sport. Everything that happens or fails to happen is your responsibility. That's why we have all those little sayings, like "Heavy is the head that wears the crown" or calling it the "burden of leadership". Being in charge is hard and he really needs to get things under control. If the boss looks like a deer in the headlights then it really opens the gates for everyone to loose faith in the government, which is something we don't need right now. Regardless of what you may think, things can get worse, much, much worse.

Nothing to see here, move along please.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/05/15/army-studies-gender-neutral-physical-standards.html?ESRC=army-a.nl

A story from military.com. I'll summarize for you. The Army is examining how they can lower the standards for combat arms MOS' in order for women to be able to get into them. This will not end well, but no one will admit it, they just keep plodding along and bowing to their political masters.

"U.S. Army trainers will soon lead an effort to create gender-neutral physical standards for all soldiers as part of a plan to allow women to serve in infantry, Special Forces and other combat arms jobs."


Lets hope our enemies will respect our gender neutral Army but I'm not really counting on it.

Whose underwear is this and why is it on my head?

   There is nothing anti-military types like, then when the press splashes some military scandal all across the ether. The current scandal involves sexual harassment. Is there a plague of sexual assaults in the military? Apparently so, according to the DoD's own studies but the sensationalism of a few of the cases isn't helping anyone nor is the current plan for addressing the problem. The current plan is....who am I kidding its the same old plan just dusted and a small dose of ridiculous added for good measure. The SecDef has decided that all work and living areas (barracks) will be checked for any sexual material, then an aggressive regimen of training will be conducted so everyone knows that sexual assault is bad. I wanna take on both parts of the new/old plan.
   The purging of sexual materials will become ridiculous, if it hasn't already. What exactly is "sexual material" anyway. People magazine has women in bikini's so is that sexual in nature? You see why this is kinda dumb?  Its a moving window standard. I assure you, I've been a guy for an awful long time and I like to think I'm fairly normal when it comes to sex, but I've never felt the need to rape anyone after thumbing through a copy of Maxim magazine.This is a red herring to placate the politicians and low info types.
   Training? Really? That's what you got? Because the twice a year training is enough? Who the hell doesn't know that sexual assault or harassment is bad? Point them out please because I don't see how more training will matter in the least bit. Your average trooper has more training in POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) then he has in using C4. Training will do absolutely nothing at all.
   The DoD needs to start facing facts. We have an Army that has been at war for 10 years and we have troopers who have 5 or more deployments who have lost their way when it comes to morale decisions. We need to start seriously enforcing discipline and standards, and then put folks behind bars who have done the wrong thing. Perhaps we need to go and look at how we did things 20 years ago. Yelling  at your folks isn't toxic, its getting their attention. We need to stop worrying about being toxic and start worrying about being soldiers again.

Those Damn Retired People

http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=35628


Put this in the "WTF" category, because it just keeps getting worse for retirees.  We'll be lucky if we retain anything after all this is over-with.

And here we go....

Y'all have driven me crazy with these requests for me to start an active blog as opposed to just using Facebook.  The last straw was when Ms Jennifer said to me last night, "You really should start a blog" so you asked for it and here it is, an active blog by me for you. Before we get too cozy we need to layout some ground rules, blogs only work if everyone is playing, if you have a thought, share the thought. I expect each of you to say something, even if it's just a quick affirmation of a point being made. Got something that you think I should address or something you just want my opinion on? Then tell me, I don't have any Jedi powers so waiting on osmosis isn't gonna work.  If you come off the top rope on someone or me then don't start crying like a petulant child when someone does the same thing to you. I expect reasoned discourse and because this is my world my expectations are the law. Think of me as a benevolent dictator, I love each of you but I'm in frikking charge. Relax, visit often, participate, and enjoy your stay, and I'll try to not disappoint you.