Bin Laden is dead...

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bin laden

by Vince Vanoss on Monday, May 2, 2011 at 12:57am

I grew up so to speak in the cold war paradigm. My first real "underway" was aboard the good ship USS GROTON - a submarine out of New London, CT bound for La Maddelena Italy in 1989. During that trip we sank every ship in the battlegroup twice and the carrier four times. Saw a Alfa Class Russian Sub exiting the Med on the surface and was hooked from then on....

After I graduated, the threat evaporated. I lived the "peace dividend". I saw my future in submarine warfare dissolve as we had no real adversary. Then one fall day - the first day of my first leave since Christmas and with concert tickets that night..... I went out for a run only to find out that we were at war, and that my life had been refocused. The next several years found me fighting the war in the intelligence sector, saving lives on the ground in Baghdad, and worrying if I would be shipped to the front lines since.

My boys have grown up in a world where suicide bombing and chemical warfare are as much a reality for them as nuclear warfare was for me in High School. I now understand how people felt when they heard Hitler was dead. In the history of the world, there are a few countries, few organizations that have faced evil and destroyed it. We are living in a time where we must stand up and face evil. We must call it out at home and abroad where it may fester and destroy it.

Today is a day where if anything, we can never falter or stop the fight, but we should take a pause to remember our fallen colleagues who gave the ultimate sacrifice in this fight. We must acknowledge that this victory didn't come without a price. And we must re-affirm that no where, no how, will the enemy rest or find shelter that we will not find them and facilitate to the best of our ability the opportunity for them to meet their maker....

Let's Roll

Never ceases to amaze me how easily these roll out of my head when I have a fire lit. I could never be a regular journo - takes too much out of me, but in times like these, the thoughts just fit and flow....

Let's cut to the chase - there is much gnashing of teeth and carnage today over the recent passage of the health care monstrosity. What has me infuriated however is how ridiculous we all look playing Chicken Little. I had to turn Rush Limbaugh off today, as after about five minutes of listening to him as I was out running errands made me crazy. He spoke of how we were hanging on by our fingernails - how this was a precipice that we may never come back from....Please - go talk to one of the doughboys who landed on Utah Beach, or maybe some of the Marines climbing the bloody black sands of Iwo and tell me that passing of a @#$%!@# health care bill is armageddon....

Is this bad legislation - sure. But we (the GOP) are right now committing the highest crime that there is - believing in the Bull$hit! For far too long, we have bought into the mantra that the liberals, the progressives, the commie bastards want to destroy the constitution - Atlas Shrugged is coming true! The sky is falling!!! We make the same mistake that those on the other side of the aisle make - they assume the constitution is weak and faulty and outdated and that is must be "brought up to the current day". We assume that the constitution is weak, frail, and must be defended against the evil hoardes trying to change it. Dammit, the constitution has been around longer than any of these Buttholes in Washington - INCLUDING Senator Byrd! It will be around as long as there are two key points - 1. Those powers not expressly given to the federal government or the several states are reserved by and for the people, and 2. we have a populace willing to fight.

On the second point is where I will make my stand. Generation X. We were the lazy slackers. The ne'er do wells - we were the Playstation generation that didn't know what the hell we were going to do with our lives. Funny thing happened on the way to the forum though - our generation didn't give away the farm. While the "greatest" generation of WWII secured liberty for the world, their kids gave it away. While GOP "leadership" such as John McCain trampled all over free speech in campaign finance reform (and yes - i do approve this rant!) in a fit of guilt over his early times in the Senate, his kids are leading the way to real leadership. BECAUSE of the Greatest Generation, their children felt the guilt of not being able to achieve anything of significance since the world was already saved - they grew up looking for a cause - wailing over Vietnam, Believing in the Peace Corps and fellating their way through the Oval Office in a search for a legacy. And what have THEIR kids done?

Us slackers have quietly learned the mechanations of the machine. We have an entire generation of 18 - 22 year olds coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan as patriots. Ignore the protests and the claims of the self hating "community organizers" out there - these are kids that are not only well trained, they are experts in street warfare. It wasn't the billions of dollars and whiz bang contraptions that were saving lives as a result of the benevolent intervention of the military industrial complex that countered the IED's. It was a motor pool grease monkey who played Xbox in between shifts who figured out how to strap on a glow plug to the alternator of a Hummvee and built an arm that would trigger IED's in advance of the cars rolling over them that saved lives. These kids are our future. They are smarter than their parents. They are tough beyond their years. They have a chip on their shoulder from being called slackers all their lives. And they have a cause. They believe in the constitution, they believe that there is true evil out there, and they will not go down without a fight.

Those people who think that the constitution has been trampled on and destroyed are too willing to give up - case in point - last year the most evil organization in the world was ACORN - we were never going to get rid of them. Two kids and a camera took care of them by speaking truth to power. That is the true strength of this country and her constitution - the right men and women at the right time in the right place can move the planet. The results of that silly vote are over and can't be changed. They may not be changed for a while. But they will be fixed, the wrongs righted and when it comes time the time of reckoning of our federal budget and constitution, those men and women will move forward with the same grit, determination and power of having truth on their side as they do with every mission they run outside the wire in the bowels of hell overseas. Just wait - you will be able to hear and identify them by their confidence and their catch phrase - "Let's Roll"....

I have to blog shorter!

Granted, I do write for myself, which is why I get very few comments - if any - that would be a rare form of schitzophrenia, wouldn't it? But I bloviate way too much and most of the time probably cause people's eyes to bleed....

So, copied from Patum Peperium, here is a great quote: "The story as I was told it is that in the early years of her prime ministership, Margaret Thatcher held a meeting with her aides and staff, all of whom were dominated by her, even awed. When it was over she invited her cabinet chiefs to join her at dinner in a nearby restaurant. They went, arrayed themselves around the table, jockeyed for her attention. A young waiter came and asked if they'd like to hear the specials. Mrs. Thatcher said, "I will have beef."Yes, said the waiter. "And the vegetables?""They will have beef too."

While we have that "fawning vegetable" from the press today over "dear leader", I daresay that he doesn't have the wit to actually comment on it! What I wouldn't give for an "Aw Shucks" type approach of Sarah Palin in the office.....

The problem with Republican Politics

Quick - off the top of your head, name five Republican Leaders......a million different combinations and permutations, but the connotation of "Leader" should be significant. For me, I came up with Reagan, Teddy Rooseveldt, Lincoln, Gingrich and Nixon.....others might include Eisenhower, or there may be a Hoover...but does anyone throw either President Bush in as a Leader? Granted, emotions are high these days and I am sure that 20 years from now, the view of "W" may be different, but there is one stark difference between both Presidents' Bush and the other leaders....and that may be substance.

Before I get skewered, let me explain - I follow all sorts of things across the political spectrum. About half the time John Stewart pisses me off and I have to change channels, but that anger is worth it because when he turns his focus on his own party the results are magical. I have never bought the collected works of Doonesbury, but I can still laugh at his jokes - most of the time. It has taken me a while, but I am starting to come around on his characterization of Bush 41 however....

The empty form characterized by the father in the earlier and the Roman Helmet in the latter speak volumes towards this characterization - empty suits looking for a cause, a meaning, or a voice. I am loathe to slam on either man personally - I voted for both, and hold shaking Bush 41's hand at my graduation from Annapolis as a personal highlight. But the problem may not be too little marketing, but too much.

When challenged, both men relied on collected beliefs and core instincts. We saw the "real" Bush 43 on the pile of rubble, shirt sleeves rolled up, megaphone in hand after 9/11. Honestly, can anyone really see Algore doing anything so convincing, or presidential? How about John Kerry? In either case, the only danger our enemies may have been in would be in trying to escape the extreme lethargy brought on by spending any more than three minutes of listening to them speak. Even with Bush 41 - many thought the "1000 points of light" were a gimmick in an attempt to leave a legacy or find a voice. But that was the real Bush 41 - he was "kindler, gentler" in the best of Dana Carvey homages. He honestly was trying to appeal to the humanistic side of the country. We see this as well in 43's "compassionate conservative" speeches. The problem is the same that every politician who tries to govern from the center finds - One cannot be violently or passionately "moderate". Granted, there are a few idiots out there that prefer to blow $1.99 a minute to call into a pay-per-vote poll only to answer "not sure"....but for those of us in the real world, we think, we believe, we act. And we should have no time, nor quarter for those that do not want to engage the enemy.

We say that the GOP is the party of Lincoln, the party of Reagan. By saying so, the GOP makes a vain attempt at invoking the names of past leaders in a plea for votes. Yes, Reagan and Lincoln are our history - but HOW did they become our history? Lincoln abandoned the Whig party for lacking the spine to denounce slavery. As a fresh face to the new political movement, he took the beliefs in constitutional limitations and the fight against the autocracy consistent with the Whig views of Jefferson and from his own time Daniel Webster and Henry Clay and molded the beliefs that ALL men are created equal - adding the anti slavery plank to the platform, molding from it the core beliefs of the then-newly formed Republican Party.

In his own time, our national consciousness doesn't awaken to Ronald Reagan's legacy until 1980, but there is so much evidence of his passion and his war as a footsoldier in the political trenches well into the early 60's. Yes, the man was a master at communication and acting - but instead of having some spin meister take that as an asset and try to feed him lines that would play in a focus group, Reagan took his core anti-communist beliefs and his God-given abilities to battle. He wasn't a great leader BECAUSE he was a great communicator - quite the contrary. He was a great leader because he LED - communication and acting were tools that he used to bring his beliefs and visions to fruition.

Which brings me full circle to where we are today. Much is made in the past week of John Stewart and Bill Maher using their comedian's "bully pulpit" if you will to slam the opponents of Chairman O. Andrew Breitbart appeared on the latter's show and documented the slings and arrows received in the Washington Times -http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/16/my-real-time-with-bill-maher/. The line in his article that resonated with me the most was "People who have never turned on Fox News or tuned into Rush Limbaugh have strong and defiant negative opinions about those outlets. When one tries to reason with them or call them out when acknowledging they watch and listen to neither, they become emboldened by their admitted ignorance. "Why would I listen to that racist, sexist, homophobic, fill-in-the-blank claim of cultural prejudice?"

He goes on to argue that fighting the good fight and appearing in the face of the absurd is a win regardless of what people say. I tend to agree to that - as a first step - engage the enemy and determine the political landscape. But FAR more importantly is the core of the problem of the GOP. There are many footsoldiers in this battle, looking for a flag to rally around. Thanks to the state of today's focus-group centric view of politics and the echo chamber gauntlet that every candidate must run through flawlessly, spotlessly, without any hidden errors or mistakes from years past is ludicrous. (Keep in mind Ronaldus Maximus was a divorced actor, former Democrat with a B-list repetoire of chimp movies....but he had a vision and beliefs)

Which, roundabout brings me to my title - our failure as a party to attract more voters and win elections has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with the legacy of both President Bushes', with failure in Iraq (even though we are succeeding!!!), nor with the state of the american electorate. It has everything to do with a dearth of leadership. Romney has core beliefs and executive experience, but was willing to sacrifice those beliefs to make "progress" as governor of Massachusetts. Huckabee has core beliefs and a weekend show on Fox News to show how "folksy and down to earth" he is - but some of his views and beliefs take the party off of the rhetorical "moral majority" cliff. In either case, I think that they miss the point - our roots lie in limited government and maximized opportunity. Limited government can't be compromised in any way - from a historical perspective the Defense of Marriage Act is just as indefensible as the Anti-Flag burning amendment movement of the late 80's, as is the current movement to restrict gun ownership. Limited government means LIMITED government - we have no right imposing religious views on those persons who act in ways that we don't agree with. We also have no right to assume every gun owner is a bad day away from shooting up his or her neighborhood. Where we must draw the line is simple - in the battle flag that flies from every Naval Ship currently - Don't Tread on Me. When the actions of an individual or group are imposed upon those of someone else is the proper role of government.

Granted in viewing today's society, Lincoln would be shocked and immediately have a stroke, and many of our forefathers would be in tears. But isn't that the role of society to handle? If government is limited and loosens the shackles of regulation, isn't it the role of churches, youth groups, communities and corporations to renew their "personnel resources" and to provide personal service? THIS is Bush 43's "compassionate conservatism" - he just tried to accelerate things by having Government try its hand.....

Leaders lead - we don't need conservative activists. We don't need focus group communicators that are eloquent teleprompter readers. Who cares about looks - I need someone with passion, a fire in their belly that is ready to return us to the party of Jefferson, Lincoln and Reagan. Belief in the amazing abilities of man and the promise of a place in that shining city on a hill. I want someone with a damn backbone to stand up and in the words of the Irish Brigade - the Fighting 69th at Antietam.... "Raise the Colors, boys! Follow Me! Charge Bayonets! Forward March!"

http://www.sixtyninth.net/gpage3.html

Shameless plug for Rick Reilly of ESPN

The guy not only is a damn good writer, but "gets it" - what is really important and in the world of multimillion dollar contracts and business deals that sports really is just a game and the people that play them are really lucky. Some of the lucky few not only are true hall of famers in ability, but in character as well...

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3930609

Not to say that Elway is a transformative character - we all have our flaws. But if anything else, he embodies in some aspects of his life the sort of person we would like to be. That is why years ago, the coke commercial with Mean Joe Green sparks not only memories but touches our psyche - the warrior ethos of a football player taking time to give back to someone totally unexpectedly. Some say the extension of that into the celebrity culture has sent us down a path of destruction we are on today... The difference between most hollywood actors and most sports athletes, is that for at least today on the sports field there isn't a movement to elevate everyone's "self worth"....professional sports teams still lose.

Elway lost four straight superbowls before finally succeeding. The fact that he hasn't acted like Barry Bonds, been the egomaniac that A-Roid has been, or that he has understood that while he is undeniably human that there are some 13 year old boys who worship him as a god incarnate. I would throw Charles "The Mouth" Barkley in there as well. Granted, back in the day he claimed he wasn't a role model. But in failing publicly and getting arrested for DWI he could have chosen to fight, lawyer up, or deny. Instead, like many adults that take care of their personal affairs every day, he admitted to his faults, apologized to his fans and took his punishment. Whether or not he learns from this is immaterial - the cynic will always point to a relapse not as a symptom of deeper problems, but as indication that previous apologies were lip service....maybe so. But in these two microcosms of life - the good and the bad - we see not only our heroes falling, but our heroes living up to the ideals of their fans. Proof that there is good in the world. Refreshing....

Failure can be a good thing...

It never ceases to amaze me how low the bar is set on level of knowledge for some journalists. Most mornings we turn on Fox News and listen to the banter as we get ready for work. Even on a conservative leaning program where one would expect some level of edumacation, it floors me some of the statements that are made. In a debate with Glenn Beck this morning, Steve Doocy vehemently asserted (paraphrasing here of course) that 'we can't let the financial / bank system fail...it is the fundamental basis for our economy'........Why do the call it BANKruptcy????

A quick aside - roughly 10 years ago, we were damn near to bankruptcy ourselves...Living in LA on 3400 a month, with a $1400 a month rent, many many bills, a five year old and a newborn, recently having combined two salaries and two debt loads to one salary and two debt loads (whatever anyone ever tells you about Mary Kay is a load of crap - Hobby? Yes! Tax write off? Absolutely. Means to get out of the house and away from the kids from time to time? Sure. Unless your wife is constantly surrounded by a horde of makeup addicted, addle-brained pink-loving women with disposable income and a preternatural desire to participate in multi-level marketing programs, don't EVER consider it an income!!!!) Shannon was pretty responsible with her bills, I was the epitome of the "drunken sailor" in my approach to credit. So what did we do? We PAID....and paid and paid.... Got "credit counseling" which is a nice way of saying "don't call us anymore - call these guys..." They helped us reduce some interest, get other bills prioritized. The credit companies loved us... What also happened is that our approach to credit became ingrained in our psyche... We learned to spend first and save later. As a result of that debacle, we are now nearing retirement (thank God for the pension) with no "nest egg" save for some accumulation in our TSP account, still many bills, and little disposable income. The late payments and "black marks" on our credit history are gone now that more than seven years is under the bridge, but we are still haunted by the "debt to income" monster....

So why didn't we declare bankruptcy? Mainly because that little caveat that it is REALLY difficult to maintain a TOP SECRET security clearance with a bankruptcy on your record...kind've bad career wise. But what if that hadn't been a concern? What would have happened in a Bankruptcy? We would have stopped any and all bill collection, our debts would have been negotiated down...(i.e. you have been paying $250 a month for the past three years on this $10,000 debt and it now stands at $7500.....you have paid enough) The monster of cyclical compound interest would have been slaughtered. The "valid" debts - signature loans, car loans, etc would have been renegotiated, and we would have been able to set a new budget based upon savings, our finances and finally debtors.....guess what? If we would have declared ten years ago, that too would have been off of our credit history (or nearly so - can't remember if they stay on ten or fifteen years) and we would have ten extra years of retirement / college tuition investments growing.

So why in the @#$@#$%$#@% is it so difficult for punditry to understand the concept of bankruptcy? NO - the bank doesn't "go under" or cease to exist....No, mom and pop don't lose their life savings - that is why the FDIC exists... Those organizations or activities that lose money because their deposits were not covered by FDIC should have diversified and shouldn't have taken that much risk. (tough love works!)

GM could have given the finger to the unions, had bankruptcy court sell off their bad assets and they could have re-emerged leaner and more competitive....the reason GM "couldn't fail" had nothing to do with their size - it had everything to do with the UAW's backing of the Democratic Party.

Bank of America and Citibank are not "too big" to fail.... Same thing - bankruptcy court would allow them to shed bad debt and move on. And what is this bad debt? The same financial instruments that poisoned the well - high risk mortgage instruments who's "owners" don't have the means to repay. Well bankruptcy court can handle that too - set up a bad debt receivership, go after the "poor people that got taken by the evil predatory lenders".... "Predatory lenders"??? give me a break - I wish someone would have broken into my home, put a gun to my temple and forced me to sign paperwork that will give me hundreds of thousands of dollars that I couldn't payback in a bear market.... Let the buyer beware.... it is exactly that sort of me first, nanny state, kindergarten cry-baby attitude that created this situation in the first place. Maybe by putting a little heat on these people instead of having ACORN come around and help them squat in property that they don't own anymore, that would teach them next time to look a little more closely at the terms of their contract.

Let the banks fail - eliminate the cancer, then start healing. "Nationalization" is just a form of chemotherapy, and I would like to see this nation get better before it loses all its hair, and is stuck in bed with an IV surrounded by doctors who upon realizing that your bank account is empty "can't do anything for you anymore but to make you comfortable...."

On the lighter side

I have to apologize - the main reason I write here is for my own therapy. I play the role of the fuddy-duddy, frustrated dad 24/7/365. Since virtually noone out there is dying to listen to my lectures and pontifications, I allow myself the fantasy of believing that by publishing my random thoughts online that a - I am an "author", and b - that they are even mildly interesting. So for the three or so people that check in here from time to time, sorry to be so boring. I don't mean to sound like I am a know-it-all academic type...it just happens.

That having been said, I have to relate what happened with the dogs the other night. Harley is our 140 pound, nine year old Bull Mastiff. He has one reconstructed knee with a metal plate, and one elbow swollen to twice its size with arthritis. Dexter is our 190 pound, one year old English Mastiff who is all puppy. Because he has a habit of getting into trouble if not supervised, Dexter usually sleeps upstairs with us. Harley sleeps downstairs because he usually doesn't want to deal with the stairs - they are a bit steep.

Two nights ago, we head off to bed and Harley is pacing at the foot of the stairs and grumbling a bit. After listening to this for about five minutes, I go to the top of the stairs to see whats up - sure enough he needs little more than an "OK" before he starts hobbling up the stairs. He has been a bit "clingy" lately, but it is cute. In the meantime, Dexter is lying down on his pillows over in the corner. The carpet upstairs is generally well padded, but we try to get Dex to lay on the pillows as of late - both elbows are a bit swollen with what looks like gout / bursitis from lying on the hard floor too much - typical mastiff issue.

So Harley goes over to Dex and sniffs around then paces over by the fish tank, finally settling down with a thump near the foot of the bed. This then is where my argument begins for Dogs having feelings, souls, and generally big hearts..... Dexter gets up from where he is laying, goes over to Harley and sniffs, and nudges him a bit. Harley gets up and goes over to lay on the pillows, followed by Dexter laying down by his side on the carpet with his nose nuzzled up against his "big brother".....

Yeah, you can explain that in about a million ways of pack animal theory. I just like to think that he felt sorry for his achey big brother and wanted him to be comfortable!