And so we come to the end of another year.  So much has happened this year that it would be almost impossible to catch up.  With the shenanigans that the Congress of the United States has pulled, and not just this year.

I hope that 2010 finds you all healthy and remember to pray for this country and our leaders.  See you next year and look for some changes.  I’ll be adding some links to  a couple of sites that I found and GuyK, I know you will enjoy at least one of them.  Read through his archive yesterday and laughed my rear off.

See you soon.

Sarge, Out

I keep seeing term limits being touted as the way to “fix” Congress and other elected(?) bodies and offices. I say they already exist. If you all would get out your copy of the Constitution of the United States and read along (if you need one, go to http://www.askheritage.org/ and request one, they will send you a copy free of charge):

Article I, Section 2 states:

“The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.”

Article I, Section 3 states:

“The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.”

If you don’t like what your elected representative is doing, work to get him/her defeated in the next go around (which folks is a little over 13 months away). You the electorate get to choose your representation. The last thing we need is another law telling us who we can and cannot select to represent us.

Sarge, Out

A commonly mis-represented myth is the Constitution of the United States has as one of its tenets the “Separation of Church and State.” While I’ll admit my copy may be out of date, I can find no such wording or phrasing. Would one of my kind readers deign to point out the error of my ways? I’ll wait.

No takers? The concept of a “Wall of separation between Church and State” comes from a letter penned by T. Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. The Founding Fathers and Framers, who all believed in a Supreme Being and Creator as evidenced in their writings and the Declaration of Independence.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States states, in part, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” And what this means is we, as a nation, will not have a “State Religion” such as the Church of England where the head of the government is the head of the Church. We have a right to participate, or not, as we see fit in the religion of our choice. We are not bound to a state church.

“Great, Sarge, but why are you bringing this up now?” Well, my friends, here is why: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/large-20676-administrators-pensacola.html and I happen to agree with the judge’s ruling. My problem with this whole case is simply this. The school district and the school were sued because of prayer. I would like for someone to explain to me how an individual offering a blessing constitutes the state making a law?

Sarge, Out

I see WordPress added a feature where we can mail it in. Just set it up and needed a quick test.

Sarge, Out

International Talk Like a Pirate Day be a comin’!  Saturday the 19th be the day.  So lads and lasses, mateys and wenches don yer best eye patches, sharpen your cutlasses and lay in a supply of grog and get the sea stories ready.  Check http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

Sarge, Out

Over the last couple of months while traversing the hiways and byways between the Command Post and the Grindstone, I have come to the realization that most people do NOT understand the concept of the MERGE.

Let me simplify for those that can not grasp this simple concept.  First a definition courtesy of dictionary.com

merge

verb, merged, merg⋅ing.

–verb (used with object)

1.	to cause to combine or coalesce; unite.

2.	to combine, blend, or unite gradually so as to blur the individuality or individual identity of: They voted to merge the two branch offices into a single unit.

–verb (used without object)

3.	to become combined, united, swallowed up, or absorbed; lose identity by uniting or blending (often fol. by in or into): This stream merges into the river up ahead.

4.	to combine or unite into a single enterprise, organization, body, etc.: The two firms merged last year.

Now, when it comes to merging into traffic. follow these steps.

1. GET THE DAMN CELL PHONE OUT OF YOUR EAR!
2. If you have the benefit of an acceleration lane, USE IT to match speeds with the traffic you wish to merge with.
3. TURN ON YOUR DIRECTIONAL INDICATOR FOR THE DIRECTION YOU WISH TO MERGE.

I will bet my next paycheck that if you do these things, 9 out of 10 times, someone will make an adjustment for you to smoothly merge into the traffic stream.  Give it a try and see how easy it is.  Soon you too will be merging with the ease and skill of a professional.

Sarge, Out

Having the day off is a dangerous thing here at the Command Post. You never know what will pop into one’s head while relaxing on the sofa in front of the idiot box.

My mind raced back 233 years to another hot, humid locale where 55 men met to discuss issues important to them in their day and time. Some of those same issues are prevalent today and not just with the current administration. Over the past decades, we have seen our liberties taken or restricted in ways the Founding Fathers could only imagine. Maybe they did, I can’t really say.

As we get ready for the next election cycle, keep some of these items in mind:

Real ID
Patriot ACT
Immigration
Gun Control
National Security
National Defense
Health Care Reform

The list goes on and on.

As you contemplate your choices when you next visit the ballot box, keep in mind not only what is good for you, but what is good for your neighbors, your neighborhood, your city, county, state and the nation as a whole. Take the time to learn who the candidates are, and where they really stand on the issues. Look at the voting records of the incumbents ans ask yourself is how they voted the way you wanted them to? If not, have you voiced your concerns to them? If not, why not?

Recently, I saw some stats on communicating with members of Congress and found them interesting:
e-mail or other electronic forms of communication = 1 person
Telephone communication = 10 people
Written letter = 100 people
I’ll see if I can find the source for those numbers.

As a side note, on Wednesday, the price of a pack of cigarettes when up by the a dollar. Smokers in this area now pay $1.34 in state taxes per pack. I saw that a carton of Marlboro’s now costs in excess of $50.00. Glad I am a reformed smoker.

Sarge, Out

There has been a lot of media play of late about the President of the United States apologizing for the United States being an arrogant country. If one takes the time to look at our past history all the way back to 1776, I think we have every right to be arrogant. Let me provide a few examples:

First, in 1776, we declared our independence from Great Britain and the “Empire upon which the sun never sets.” While the British didn’t take to kindly to this, loss of revenues and such, they decided to come on and as they say today “bring it.” While they came and marched in beautiful formations, our Minutemen met them on the field of battle and kicked some British army tail. Not to say it was easy, but we had the fortitude to see it to the end.

Next, in 1812, the British decided they wanted a second helping of Colonial Whip A@@. They got so far as to burn Washington DC. Of all the government buildings, only two survived, the Patent Office because one man stood tall and convinced the British commander that it was a building worth saving, and the Marine Barracks. Yes, my friends, even the residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave was burned with Mrs. Madison escaping with the portrait of George Washington at the last possible moment.  U.S. – 2UK – 0

Let’s jump ahead a few years to a place called the Alamo. A small band of patriots stood off a larger better equipped Mexican army under the command of General Santa Anna, for about a week. Name such as Davey Crockett and James Bowie among others less known. Rumor has it that when informed of her son’s demise at the Alamo, Bowie’s mother stated that there was not a single wound to his back.

In 1860, we fought a little skirmish amongst ourselves, or as Sons of the South would call it “The war of Northern Aggression.” Not about slavery, as you were no doubtly told in school, but about whether states could just decide to leave the Union. In a place called Gettysburg, over the course of three days in July 1863, more men fought and died than any other place on American soil. Just so you know, General Robert E. Lee had 75,000 men that stood toe to toe with General George G. Meade’s 97,000. Neither army could gain the advantage over the other.

Moving into the 20th Century, we sent young men not much older than the cadets at the various Military Schools to Europe to help our allies fight off the Germans. Unfortunately, we had to do it again about a quarter century later. All we ever asked for in return was enough land to bury our dead.

What do you think; do we have a right to be arrogant? Who is it that steps up to the plate when there is some sort of natural disaster? A Tsunami in Indonesia, food shortages in Kenya, earthquakes in Mexico. We are the most giving nation on the face of the Earth today, and we have a President whose wife has stated that “America is a mean country.”

To those that think I agree that we are an arrogant country, you didn’t read the post closely enough. I only stated that we had every RIGHT to be, not that we were. We are a proud country and we welcome those that want to share in that pride with open arms.

Take a look around you. If you live in a military town, you can tell who the military members are. Not by the haircut, but by how they carry themselves. Especially Marines.

If you want to see arrogance, watch the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Every time he speaks, he is speaking down his nose. Watch him. Here is a man that won an election, but hasn’t stopped campaigning. He has been called a “gifted” speaker. But if you take away his teleprompter, he can’t put a coherent sentence together.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

About two hundred thirty three years ago, fifty-six men met in a hot and humid city and pledged to each other their Lives, their Fortunes and their sacred Honor. One is said to have quipped, as he signed his signature prominently and in a large hand, “The British ministry can read that name without spectacles; let them double their reward.” As each man came forward and affixed his signature to that document, he committed treason. If caught, his life was forfeit and his lands would pass not to his heirs, but to the crown.

Of course the document that I am speaking of is the Declaration of Independence. But the same principles that applied to those 56 men in that hot and humid city apply today across this nation. Many who visit me here have sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC. My friends, our freedoms are being diminished and it is not an enemy from outside our shores. It is coming from inside. I urge each and every one of you to contact your elected representatives at all levels of government and remind them that they work for you and not the other way around. We, as Americans, need to take back our country. We need to stop this cancer that has infected the hallways of government from the city to the national level. From the Statehouse to the White House.

Seems our Immigrant friend was sacked for insisting that customers cunduct business in the laguage of the land.  Why do I feel that it will not be too long before that happens here?

My friends and neighbors, we are on a slippery slope and we need to do whatever it takes to stop our downhill slide.  It will not be easy, but the end results will be worth it.

Sarge, Out