Whatsthatsmell?

A Reprise of one of my Remembrance Day Favourites

May as well bring this one back, I wrote it a couple of years ago and re-print it each year:

 

 

Yesterday morning the wife, the daughter, and I were down in town, and it just so happened that the mayor was presiding over an act of remembrance at the war memorial in front of the town hall in honour of Remembrance/Armistice/Veterans’ Day.

Whilst waiting for it to begin, my eyes were caught by the following poem (hat tip to Steve for publishing it):

They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.


Well, once my eyes were caught, they started leaking like no one’s business, and my daughter jumped up and gave me a big hug, her little hands patting my back.

Beginning in 1992, I spent six years in the US Navy. In the first three years of serving in the Navy, I was probably the most conscientious sailor one could hope to meet. I loved the Navy, I loved its history and I was damned proud to be seen in my crackerjacks. But something happened to me, gradually. Many of the goals I set for myself, and for which I thought I was punching all the right tickets were not coming to fruition. I was beginning to get a little burnt out on being so squared away for my first three years, with no – apparent – return other than a job well done.

After that point, I couldn’t wait to get out. Not that I actively tried, but I could have really left the Navy at the first chance presented.

I served the rest of my time, maybe not as conscientiously as I should have, but probably better than many of my colleagues, nonetheless. Looking back now, I’m a little bit ashamed of the fact that I didn’t necessarily give my best to the Navy, and by extension, my country. Back then, I could justify it by the fact that I was such a good boy, but Santa still wouldn’t bring me presents.

I may not have been proud of my service then, but I am definitely proud of it now.

You see, I have shared the experience of wearing a uniform in the service of my country with some of the greatest souls to ever grace this planet. Men who were definitely better men than I. Men who did not know what was in store for them when they signed that dotted line and received the queen’s shilling or that paycheck from Uncle Sam. Men who gave up their youths and their freedom so that the rest of us could enjoy our own. Many men whose remains now lay on the fields in which they were mowed down, or the watery graves where their ships lie.

Yes, it’s true, some of us join/ed the military because it was a way out or a way up from whatever circumstances may have been going on (I initially walked into the recruiting office because I was running away from something.) But no matter the reasons for joining, the sum total of the efforts of my predecessors, colleagues, and those who came after me was that this world is just a little bit better than it may have been had we not done our “duty”.

My father served in the Navy for 20 years. My uncle just retired from the Navy, himself. Both of my grandfathers served in WWII, one in the British Army and one in the US Army. And I am proud of all that they did.

I may have said that after my first three years I didn’t get anything from the Navy. But the truth is, my whole experience gave me the world.

Thanks to all those people with whom I shared that world and those experiences, and whose boots I could never fill. I am truly humbled when contemplating the greatness that came before, and that follows, my brief stint of service.

I didn’t see any action, and I am grateful I didn’t have to. But then, as they say, I was standing on the shoulders of giants.

Sorry it's been quiet...

Not felt like blogging of late.  Lots of stuff to observe and comment on, but no will...

I think it may have a lot to do with the fact that we are watching the end of the world as we know it, and I'm just getting my head around it (and building up my grab-and-go box, just in case.)

I think there are a few things that will affect me directly, and perhaps get exacerbated by the potential nationalisation of everything and the potential presidency of Obama.  Kind of scary.

For one, my anticipated return to the US may be put off for a while, as this whole mess sorts itself out.  It may take longer to get sorted if the wrong policies are pursued (such as a tax hike on "rich" people.)  This is a very real possibility; as one commentator pointed out, there are far-left Democrats in Congress who have been waiting decades for a like-minded POTUS to help them re-engineer America.  Even if Obama is a "moderate", which seems unlikely given his past associations and self-admitted dabblings in Marxism, he is not strong enough to stand up to the apparatchiks in his party.

I really hope I'm wrong, because this could potentially be very problematic, because they are not going to be Fabian in their approach, like almost all good idealogues who finally get their way, they are going to overplay their hand.  And I don't think the American people are the sorts to take things sitting down.  A recent survey, for instance, put American opposition to the redistribution of wealth at about 85%.  85% of the US population is to the right of the Democrat Party platform.  And a lot of them are armed.

And, outside of the government, there isn't going to be a lot of job creation in the US with a Reid-Pelosi-Obama leadership.

The Republicans were dip-sh**s when they were running Congress.  And now we are all going to pay.

 

 

And this economic thing...A lot of Europeans are patting themselves on the back because they avoided this nasty subprime business that's happened in the US.  But as we are seeing the beginning of the end to the problems in the US, we are seeing the end of the beginning for Europe.  Where do you think all that bad debt ended up?  European institutional investors have always preferred debt over equity as investment vehicles.  Those lovely subprime loans looked really tasty a couple of years ago.

Plus the European banks have their own sub-prime messes to muddle through in the Baltics and the Balkans.  The European banking system is teetering completely on the edge.

Why do you think they are dictating to Bush that the US has to come along?  So that when their own systems go tits-up, the US's will too.  Unlike Britain and the US, the European systems have already been nationalized or at least collectivized (as in Germany) to the extent that the banks and private industry are so intertwined that they cannot be considered separate sectors.

So I haven't been of cheery mien of late.  But as with everything, this too, shall soon pass.  But what will take its place?

Is it possible for Libertarians not to be Utopian?

It was Ronald Reagan that said: "The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally"

How about when that person agrees with you more than 90%?

I was waiting to see what this lot would come up with in regard to Defence, Immigration and other issues...Their Manifesto is now available and contains wording which floats my boat.

On Immigration:

Totally free movement of people into the UK is not practical whilst we have a large welfare state and other countries are themselves not broadly Libertarian in nature. In line with the Rule of Law, a transparent, consistent points based system is one of our key proposed measures to humanely manage migration.

I was expecting to see them embrace the wholesale opening of our borders in fundamentalist Libertarian form.

On Defence:

Our aim is to ensure a strong, independent, sovereign nation. This requires a well funded, trained and equipped professional Armed Forces (both full time and Reservist), geared for the defence of our nation and shipping.

I wasn't expecting much here, either, but this is a stronger plank than the Tories.

And on the Constitution:

The Libertarian Party is committed to reassert the primacy of our Bill of Rights and Common Law system over the Napoleonic system that has encroached from the continent in recent years.

There is actually some very patriotic aspects to this brand of Libertarianism.

Maybe worth a further look.

I Should Avoid "Thought for the Day"

on the Today programme on Radio 4.  Some C of E clergyman today began with the idea of how biofuels are an easy target as the scapegoat for the world's food problems, but that it is difficult to balance hunger against our need to tackle "climate change" and our energy needs.

It's not bloody difficult, matey...

You and your ilk made us take on these "climate change" policies on the basis that people could find themselves starving and there will be world anarchy in fifty years if we don't do something, anything!

Well, guess what, bucko?  It's happening now...

Because of your climate change policies.

Heck, even our lefty Chancellor sees there's a problem with biofuels...But no, because the EU will not give way, we must go with them.  (Did someone hear the word sovereignty in there?)

Who cares, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, can you?

So, who really won the Cold War?

Particularly here in Great Britain:

How many citizens who were robbed knew that the police didn't even bother to look for the criminals, didn't even set a case in motion, so as not to spoil their record of completed cases - why should they sweat to catch a thief if he would be given only six months, and then be given three months off for good behaviour?  And anyway, it wasn't certain the bandits would even be tried when caught.

Finally, sentences were bound to be reduced, and of course for habitual criminals especially.  Watch out there now, witness in the courtroom!  They will all be back soon, and it'll be a knife in the back for anyone who gave testimony!

Therefore, if you see someone crawling through a window [...] shut your eyes! Walk by!  You didn't see anything!

Three guesses as to who wrote that. 

Peter Hitchens?  No.

Melanie Phillips?  No.

Theodore Dalrymple?  No.

All the Makings of a Revolution?

Military severely underfunded?  Check...

Police unhappy with their lot?   Check...

The government signs away sovereignty to an authoritarian undemocratic supranational bureaucracy?  Check...

The only thing missing is an armed citizenry and a charismatic leader...

After seeing the video of the EU Lisbon Treaty signing, I think we are in for a continent-wide insurgency/split/war.  This is not going to end prettily.  Maybe not this year or the next or even in the next decade, but there is a whiff of pre-revolution in the air. 

Or maybe we just remain forever Airstrip One...

A tribute to the Troops (US bias...)

Must see...as they say, freedom ain't free...(h/t to my Dad)

Ignorance and Freedom vs. Education and Slavery, Part II

Carrying on from my earlier e-mail conversation with my friend.

He replied, tongue-in-cheek, with two salient points:

you’re saying ignorant bliss is preferable to educated slavery. Both, very poor options, no? The problem with freedom-loving yokels is that you can give them any facts at all and they can’t fight it except on whether it “feels” right or not. The people interviewed mostly seemed switched off in almost all socio-political issues (ask them about sport or entertainment and you might get a different reaction) which is open season for the unethical or even well-intentioned leader with an agenda.

and

I mean Vietnam too! Apart from when you guys stepped in at the end of WWII has the US actually “won” a war it got itself involved in (forget Hollywood please)?

What follows is my reply:

How to Be Right

Yesterday was my birthday and the wife bought me the book How to Be RIght: The Essential Guide to Making Lefy Liberals History by James Delingpole

It is an amusing glossary of all that is wrong with the UK and the world.  Very funny.  One definition that jumped out at me last night as I was reading, really hit home (as I used to be just like this):

Ignorance and Freedom vs. Education and Slavery

A very dear English friend of mine who lives in Portugal sent me this link.  I'm sure you have probably seen it before.  He asked me what I thought of it, and how it made him think that maybe having the voting franchise extended to everyone in the US may not necessarily be a good idea.  He wanted my reply because he knew he could count on something out of me...So here it is: