A little more rain yesterday and overnight...Like Eddie Rabbit used to sing: I LOVE A RAINY NIGHT.
(makes garden stuff GROW, too...lol)
The air has a fresh smell to it (for a change)...none of that "ghetto-stank" you usually come across from cars that burn more OIL than gas, people wearing so much of the AXE fragrance that they leave a puddle if they stand still, and none of that "fast-food" rotting trash from a car window smell.
Just lots of green, fresh nature outside...kind of makes the sunrise want to take a backseat for that one.
Yeah...that's nice.
Unfortunately, ALL is not AS right in many other places...
*** Case in point...this story regarding the helicopter crash (from an RPG shot at the craft) that killed 30 soldiers, most of them special forces SEAL units. It's one of those thing you never see coming until it's way too late...
In combat, you always assume "someone" has you in their sights, and you keep moving (movement is life), but there come those times when even moving isn't enough to keep you out of the crosshairs.
My heart goes out to those families that lost loved ones in that crash.
But war makes things like this happen...that's WHY we call it "war".
Now, I make this point, because the latest cost-cutting measure within this whole maze of debt-reduction has to deal WITH our own military.
Our government want to reduce military expenditures...
(( *AHEM* ))
Lemme "splain" some stuff right here, right now.
The ENTIRE "military" expenditure of the DoD is ONLY slightly over FIVE PERCENT of this nation's ENTIRE GDP, and usually hovers in the mid 3-4 percent range. Here's a link to a related article:
http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2011/aug/05/randy-forbes/forbes-says-us-defense-spending-measured-against-g/
Now, if you want an idea on what the DoD encompasses, take a look here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Defense#Command_structure
Right now, the government is seriously talking about curtailing the purchases of further F-22 Raptors and F-35 JSFs (Joint Strike Fighter).
(really bad idea, imho)
If (big if) we need top cut some aspects of our military, then let's begin with ALL the bases we have AROUND THE GLOBE.
Do "we" REALLY need them at this point?
We currently have many TENS OF THOUSANDS of personnel scattered to the four winds at bases that serve little if any purpose, as opposed to when we DID need them post WW2 and during the Cold War.
Cannot these other nations NOW fend for themselves without OUR presence?
Wouldn't our OWN troops be better utilized say...along our OWN SOUTHERN BORDER?
And if do cut back spending for the military, WHERE do we wind up drawing the line?
When do we say "that's enough"?
Here are some "light-hearted" scenarios that "could" accompany such cuts in funding for a PROPER military:
I say we KEEP the cutting edge technology (one of the FEW times you will hear be tout having such technology), in order to not only keep pace with rising nations as well as the major powers, but to REMAIN at the forefront of both offensive and defensive capabilities.
As for the REST of the DoD...well, that's best left for someone else or another post to muck about with.
We've too many departments and agencies right now that one doesn't know what the others are doing at any given time...that needs to halt.
And that's about all I have to say on that for now.
*** I'm a huge WW2 junkie...any show that pops up on History channel...I'm THERE.
My father called it "Our last POPULAR war", and he was right (again).
And yesterday, I saw a picture of a part of London BURNING, and I was thinking: "That's a good picture of THE BLITZ...didn't know they used COLOR FILM back then, and with such clarity"...and then it struck me.
It was NOT a picture from 1940, rather a picture taken YESTERDAY, in the Tottenham district (northern London).
Riots and mass fires struck the area, because people were pissed at the new "austerity programs" being implemented by the U.K to stave off THEIR OWN debt problems...(sounds like a smart way to go...)
Only the people, having been used to government giveaways, are feeling a bit "put out" because they might not get AS MUCH FREE STUFF as they have become so accustomed to receiving...gee, that's just too damn bad, isn't it?(so let's use the shooting of a black drug dealer as a "cover" to spread chaos)
Now, I'm sure, just like in America, they DO indeed have SOME people who honestly NEED such resources to survive, but it strikes me as odd to see SO MANY people with nothing better to do than LOOT...and BURN...and CREATE MAYHEM.
Sure looks like a LOT of able-bodied people causing all this crap, and NOT the weak and infirm (who can use the government assistance).
Here's a link to just one of the many stories coming from the U.K.:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110809/NEWS04/308099951/1006/NEWS To quote from the article:
(( "...some communities complained that stretched police were struggling to contain the unrest with rioters plundering from stores at will, menacing shocked customers at restaurants and attempting to invade homes." ))
Now WHAT did I blog about YESTERDAY, regarding police departments being "overwhelmed by MASS rioting"?
It can happen...and apparently IS...
I call this domestic terrorism, because it defines the meaning of the word TERROR.
Sadly, the EXACT SAME thing that is happening in Britain, CAN (and will) occur here in the USA, and we don't REALLY want any sort of "martial law" instituted, trust me on that one.
Score of people (mostly minorities) WILL take to the streets and WILL loot and burn and pillage. Hell, we saw it during Katrina en masse.
And our police WILL be overwhelmed.
I just pray that nothing like that ever happens...(and so should you).
It will be innocent people targeted...store owners, residents, and anyone these throngs of malice-driven and entitlement-seeking primitives come across will be 'fair game".
All you have to remember is the phrase WATTS RIOTS...'nuff said there.
*** This story goes to show that small towns STILL have a lot of "charm"... (and justice):
(( Updated: Monday, 08 Aug 2011, 6:52 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 08 Aug 2011, 12:08 PM EDT
ADAMS COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) - A Redkey man was charged with a variety of crimes stemming from the attempted robbery at the CVS pharmacy in Berne Sunday afternoon.
According to the Adams County Prosecuting Attorney, Christopher E. Harvey, Seth T. Curtis, 25, of Redkey, was charged with Attempted Armed Robbery and three counts of Criminal Confinement, Possession of Paraphernalia and Unlawful Possession of Syringe.
Curtis was shot around 1:45 Sunday afternoon in the CVS store on U.S. 27 in Berne during an attempted armed robbery.
Adams County Sheriff Shane Rekeweg said Curtis went into the CVS face covered, dressed in black, and armed with what looked like a handgun. He headed straight for the pharmacy.
"The individual did escort everyone to the back before he demanded whatever it was that he was demanding from the pharmacy," said Rekeweg.
Pointing the weapon at the pharmacist's head, he demanded painkillers. The employees panicked and couldn't open the safe.
Curtis decided to make a break for it. As he headed out, he is said to have pointed the weapon at an off-duty deputy. The officer had stopped at CVS on his way home from church with his wife and kid.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the officer shot Curtis near the pharmacy counter in the store.
He allegedly told police he had been taking painkillers and injecting bath salts. Officers also discovered he had used a pellet gun during the incident, not a handgun.
"If they're wanting their drugs and they don't have the funds to buy them themselves, then they're going to find that money someplace and a lot of times they go out and they steal," said Rekeweg.
Curtis is receiving medical attention for his injuries in the incident. He was scheduled to have surgery Monday. Once he's released, he'll be sent to the Adams County Jail.
He will be held temporarily without bond pending a probation violation in Jay County following a 2002 armed robbery conviction. ))
On a SUNDAY, no less...Kudos to the off-duty deputy with quick-thinking and excellent shooting.
(and I thought ONLY the Lone Ranger shot to disarm or wound...love those Berne officers!)
--Lesson to be learned HERE: NEVER bring a pellet gun to a holdup in Berne, Indiana, especially when the deputies THERE are a better shots with REAL guns. Better yet, just don't do crime at ALL down there, kapeesh?
Talk about a REAL sense of community.
*** Lastly today...we read and hear about ALL sorts of crap going down all over the place...and you have to ask yourself "WHY"?
What has changed SO MUCH in the world that the ONLY solution is anarchy?
Well, much HAS changed, and we can start with what constitutes a traditional family.
Men now come and go, are rarely held accountable, and cause SO many single-parent households. Sorry, guys. And women are growing up NOT knowing how to manage a household or how to parent properly (keep the kids OUT of the oven, for example).
We've lost SO many jobs over the last few decades as well, and when you have more people than places to work, you have problems, as some folks can't control their OWN selves, let alone their lives.
We've allowed this nation to accentuate our "diversity" while negating our own "Americanism".
How can "we" accommodate OTHERS with THEIR traditions and cultures...and shove what us AMERICANS to the back burner.
We really need to turn this bus the hell around and get back on the road to CIVILITY again...and soon.
We've driven through the back roads of apathy for way too long, and it's gotten us NOWHERE.
This nation has ALWAYS had much to offer to it's people...and not by having the govenrment give it all way, lock, stock and barrel.
We all had to APPLY OURSELVES...choose OUR path to realize how bountiful this country really is...and can still be.
The greatest generations in this country knew as much...and perhaps it's time to TEACH those that need learning.
We don't have to be at the head of a classroom to do it either.
All we have to do is teach by example...allow our lives to be the educator for others.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.
As for the REST of the DoD...well, that's best left for someone else or another post to muck about with.
We've too many departments and agencies right now that one doesn't know what the others are doing at any given time...that needs to halt.
And that's about all I have to say on that for now.
*** I'm a huge WW2 junkie...any show that pops up on History channel...I'm THERE.
My father called it "Our last POPULAR war", and he was right (again).
And yesterday, I saw a picture of a part of London BURNING, and I was thinking: "That's a good picture of THE BLITZ...didn't know they used COLOR FILM back then, and with such clarity"...and then it struck me.
It was NOT a picture from 1940, rather a picture taken YESTERDAY, in the Tottenham district (northern London).
Riots and mass fires struck the area, because people were pissed at the new "austerity programs" being implemented by the U.K to stave off THEIR OWN debt problems...(sounds like a smart way to go...)
Only the people, having been used to government giveaways, are feeling a bit "put out" because they might not get AS MUCH FREE STUFF as they have become so accustomed to receiving...gee, that's just too damn bad, isn't it?(so let's use the shooting of a black drug dealer as a "cover" to spread chaos)
Now, I'm sure, just like in America, they DO indeed have SOME people who honestly NEED such resources to survive, but it strikes me as odd to see SO MANY people with nothing better to do than LOOT...and BURN...and CREATE MAYHEM.
Sure looks like a LOT of able-bodied people causing all this crap, and NOT the weak and infirm (who can use the government assistance).
Here's a link to just one of the many stories coming from the U.K.:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110809/NEWS04/308099951/1006/NEWS To quote from the article:
(( "...some communities complained that stretched police were struggling to contain the unrest with rioters plundering from stores at will, menacing shocked customers at restaurants and attempting to invade homes." ))
Now WHAT did I blog about YESTERDAY, regarding police departments being "overwhelmed by MASS rioting"?
It can happen...and apparently IS...
I call this domestic terrorism, because it defines the meaning of the word TERROR.
Sadly, the EXACT SAME thing that is happening in Britain, CAN (and will) occur here in the USA, and we don't REALLY want any sort of "martial law" instituted, trust me on that one.
Score of people (mostly minorities) WILL take to the streets and WILL loot and burn and pillage. Hell, we saw it during Katrina en masse.
And our police WILL be overwhelmed.
I just pray that nothing like that ever happens...(and so should you).
It will be innocent people targeted...store owners, residents, and anyone these throngs of malice-driven and entitlement-seeking primitives come across will be 'fair game".
All you have to remember is the phrase WATTS RIOTS...'nuff said there.
*** This story goes to show that small towns STILL have a lot of "charm"... (and justice):
(( Updated: Monday, 08 Aug 2011, 6:52 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 08 Aug 2011, 12:08 PM EDT
ADAMS COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) - A Redkey man was charged with a variety of crimes stemming from the attempted robbery at the CVS pharmacy in Berne Sunday afternoon.
According to the Adams County Prosecuting Attorney, Christopher E. Harvey, Seth T. Curtis, 25, of Redkey, was charged with Attempted Armed Robbery and three counts of Criminal Confinement, Possession of Paraphernalia and Unlawful Possession of Syringe.
Curtis was shot around 1:45 Sunday afternoon in the CVS store on U.S. 27 in Berne during an attempted armed robbery.
Adams County Sheriff Shane Rekeweg said Curtis went into the CVS face covered, dressed in black, and armed with what looked like a handgun. He headed straight for the pharmacy.
"The individual did escort everyone to the back before he demanded whatever it was that he was demanding from the pharmacy," said Rekeweg.
Pointing the weapon at the pharmacist's head, he demanded painkillers. The employees panicked and couldn't open the safe.
Curtis decided to make a break for it. As he headed out, he is said to have pointed the weapon at an off-duty deputy. The officer had stopped at CVS on his way home from church with his wife and kid.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the officer shot Curtis near the pharmacy counter in the store.
He allegedly told police he had been taking painkillers and injecting bath salts. Officers also discovered he had used a pellet gun during the incident, not a handgun.
"If they're wanting their drugs and they don't have the funds to buy them themselves, then they're going to find that money someplace and a lot of times they go out and they steal," said Rekeweg.
Curtis is receiving medical attention for his injuries in the incident. He was scheduled to have surgery Monday. Once he's released, he'll be sent to the Adams County Jail.
He will be held temporarily without bond pending a probation violation in Jay County following a 2002 armed robbery conviction. ))
On a SUNDAY, no less...Kudos to the off-duty deputy with quick-thinking and excellent shooting.
(and I thought ONLY the Lone Ranger shot to disarm or wound...love those Berne officers!)
--Lesson to be learned HERE: NEVER bring a pellet gun to a holdup in Berne, Indiana, especially when the deputies THERE are a better shots with REAL guns. Better yet, just don't do crime at ALL down there, kapeesh?
Talk about a REAL sense of community.
*** Lastly today...we read and hear about ALL sorts of crap going down all over the place...and you have to ask yourself "WHY"?
What has changed SO MUCH in the world that the ONLY solution is anarchy?
Well, much HAS changed, and we can start with what constitutes a traditional family.
Men now come and go, are rarely held accountable, and cause SO many single-parent households. Sorry, guys. And women are growing up NOT knowing how to manage a household or how to parent properly (keep the kids OUT of the oven, for example).
We've lost SO many jobs over the last few decades as well, and when you have more people than places to work, you have problems, as some folks can't control their OWN selves, let alone their lives.
We've allowed this nation to accentuate our "diversity" while negating our own "Americanism".
How can "we" accommodate OTHERS with THEIR traditions and cultures...and shove what us AMERICANS to the back burner.
We really need to turn this bus the hell around and get back on the road to CIVILITY again...and soon.
We've driven through the back roads of apathy for way too long, and it's gotten us NOWHERE.
This nation has ALWAYS had much to offer to it's people...and not by having the govenrment give it all way, lock, stock and barrel.
We all had to APPLY OURSELVES...choose OUR path to realize how bountiful this country really is...and can still be.
The greatest generations in this country knew as much...and perhaps it's time to TEACH those that need learning.
We don't have to be at the head of a classroom to do it either.
All we have to do is teach by example...allow our lives to be the educator for others.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.
6 comments:
Nothin' like waking up to the fresh smell of a showered world :)
(The desert rains smell like sweet herbal dirt, but I love it...and I'm so glad it doesn't include the smell of wet coyotes)
Your mil cut scenario pix made me laugh this morn....
Wrexie :
Wet COYOTE???
That's something I don't think I want to inhale ANY part of...LOL.
(I'd be too damn CLOSE, anyway)
When the GROUND (like you said) gives off it's OWN sweet smell...it's a "wow" experience for this old city boy.
Glad you enjoyed my little journey into the military world of "what if?"
Let's hope it doesn't come to that, eh?
Thanks a lot for cropping on by today and commenting.
Always a pleasure.
Stay safe out there.
Bob:
Great post all the way through. We need to cut out the $900 electrical boxes that Home depot sells for $7, not the tech that makes us superior to whatever rag-wearing nogoodnik we're facing today. There's more than enough room to make DoD a lean mean fighting machine... if we have the guts to clear out the a-holes with their hands in the till.
CWM:
I've always been a STAUNCH advocate of a STRONG military, but when politicians start dictating warfare...we get real screwed real fast.
America CAN do better...and we MUST.
That does NOT mean we slip down the ladder when it comes to being the BEST fighting machine with the BEST troops and supplies on the planet.
We can more...with less.
And do it so much better.
Glad you liked the post and thanks a lot for stopping by today.
Stay safe up there.
Glad you all are getting rain and good topic Bob.
Yes, if you are going to send soldiers all over the world with jobs to do here and there, you best equip them to be the best. Trying to achieve multiple goals with a cheap-skate mentality will only lead to unnecessary death.
Slamdunk:
Like the rain...rain is good.
(just don't give us any FLOODS...)
Having been in law-enforcemnt, you know the score.
You cannot BE the best if you don't HAVE the best.
And yet, we have morons like BARNEY FRANK that say we DO need to CUT BACK SPENDING...and wants to START with the MILITARY, but KEEP all the "entitlements" at home...
The last time I checked, the JOB of the military was TO PROTECT AMERICA (and her interests)...and that can mean HERE as well as ABROAD.
Can't do the job with fence wire spit, and some prayers...can we?
ANd if we can't properly defend OURSELVES...well, you have a good idea where that road can take us.
We really don;t want to go THERE.
Hey, thanks for swinging on by today and commenting.
Stay safe out there.
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