“to uphold and defend”….
Undoubtedly, you the informed reader of this blog, have heard about the uneasy situation in Honduras. I’m sure you have also heard the media crowd duly reporting that it is a “military coup”. Horsefeathers. It is very clearly (and undeniably) a constitutional response to a power-hungry president. I, however would rather look at a few surrounding circumstances just for the sake of my own amusement.
1. Hugo Chavez doesn’t like what’s going on. Well, that’s my first indication that this is probably a GREAT thing in the making. “Mr. I Own Venezuela” is a tin-pot dictator who himself has decided (at the point of a gun) to be El Presidente for life. Anything he doesn’t like is most probably a big step in the right direction. This of course doesn’t even take into account the fact that Mr. Chavez is complicit in this attempt at usurpation of power by willfully and knowingly printing and providing ballots for the unconstitutional referendum that Former President Zelaya had planned to carry out.
2. The United Nations has condemned the actions of the Honduran Congress (i.e. the forcible deportation of the dictator-to-be Mel Zelaya). Does this surprise anyone? Hmmm… the UN on the wrong side of an issue, where have we heard that before? Oh, right, it was every other day since June 26, 1945. If the Honduran Congress is acting on the letter of the Honduran Constitution, the UN can shove off. Isn’t this the same crowd who were griping about the US invasion of a sovreign nation (Saddam’s Iraq)? What happened to all that ‘sovreign nation’ sentiment? Eh, who cares what they think… they all believe in man-made global warming too.
3. The President of the United States has made statements supporting Zelaya (the ousted power grabber in chief). Now THAT bothers me. What does it say about the present administration’s oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of our nation when they clearly don’t care whether or not the Constitution of any other nation is followed or respected? Notice I didn’t say that it surprised me… anyone with an ounce of Constitutional knowledge in their skull knows that nationalization of private entities would make the founding fathers vomit. I’ll tell you one thing, if Barack tries this whole “re-elected till I get tired of it” trick, I sincerely hope that our military leadership follows the example of their Honduran counterparts.
What really chaps me is that this whole thing is being played off my the media as “just another military takeover” in Central America, when it is the exact antithesis of that very situation. You had an elected executive attempting an ‘end-around’ on the Constitution of his nation. When he tried to use the military to complete the task, the military leadership told him to drop dead. Yup, sure sounds like a coup d’etat to me. This is the very spirit of constitutionally-bound Patriotism. A heartly congratulations and well desereved “‘atta boy” to the Military leadership of Honduras from Hellfire & Brainstorm. Apparently, they have ‘a few good men’ in their ranks as well.
Happy New Year!
The confetti has fallen, the champagne (and those who had too much of it) are being mopped off the sidewalk and Dick Clark can rest up for the next 12 months… Time for a year in review? Nah. Everyone does that. Besides, we haven’t been around long enough to really bother. Perhaps next year…
How about a sneak peek at the year to come? I like that better. No, I am NOT using a crystal ball, and if you want to find out what’s going to happen to Brangelina go get a tabloid rag. We here at H&B couldn’t care less…as long as we can still watch Tomb Raider with no sound.
This year will bring an end to the “white gentleman’s club” that is the presidency of the United States. As a US citizen, I wish P.E.B.O. (President Elect Barack Obama) a healthy and safe presidency. I sincerely hope that his recent exposure to reality in the form of Presidential-Level Security briefings has cleared his mind on how to best address the threats that our country faces. God willing, the inauguration will go off without a hitch and the mantle of power will be passed again from party to party without violence or bloodshed. This country is greater than our enemies for that reason, even if you think there aren’t any others. Even those who must try to make some moral equivalency between the US and our enemies MUST agree on that point.
There is a school of thought that PEBO will take a centrist tack in his Presidency… I don’t necessarily agree with that, although I don’t think he’ll get on The Pelosi Express straight to socialist hell. Barack is (without a doubt) a socialist. He wants to redistribute wealth, he thinks that the rich should pay more (they already pay a HUGE majority of the taxes). I think we can look forward to major steps toward socialized medicine, a thought that makes me shudder. Some of you may not understand this because you are fairly healthy individuals that go to the doctor when you feel like you’re about to die… well, let me clear this up for you with a current example of the government’s ability to manage health-related issues. My daughter presently receives medicaid due to a genetic disability. She also suffers from moderate gastric reflux, and is therefore on a regimen of daily antacids. Unfortunately, the medicine that she takes is a compound that must be mixed in the pharmacy. Not a problem for Dean and the crew at our local Publix, but NOW they have to fill out an extra pile of paperwork to get government approval (every time) for something that my daughter has been taking every day for almost three years. Ah, government. Right now I am at the beach (without the aforementioned medication) because they couldn’t get approval in time for us to leave. We called it in almost a week before we left. Consequently, we are trying something OTC while we wait. That’s right, we had to wing it because the government didn’t come through on a BASIC approval. This is antacid folks. Think heart surgery…
I think we can also look forward to a concerted effort to seize our retirement savings in the form of 401K’s. It will undoubtedly be cloaked in some kind of “Robin Hood – it’s for the poor” rhetoric, and the press will duly report that the evil rich have been depriving the poor of their ‘fair share’ of the savings and the socialist revolution will go on…
I think we can look forward to the longest continuous barrage of racism accusations in the history of politics. Please note that there will not actually be anything said in opposition to the incoming administration by the republican opposition that actually IS based in a belief that black people are somehow genetically or socially inferior. Every politician knows that saying something like that would be political suicide. Because of that, you can actually (and unfortunately) expect a very conciliatory and sheepish opposition in the next four years.
We will NOT be leaving Iraq or Afghanistan anytime soon, no matter what Code Pink says or does. This will be the biggest episode of “not dancing with the one that brung you” that politics has seen in a while. The wackos that bought all the anti war rhetoric will be sorely disappointed. I expect that Barack will hear about it, but he won’t suffer too much for it because people will be too focused on the economy.
The economy will not be back anytime soon, much to my chagrin… and Barack won’t be doing much to help that. Sure, there will be a whole new round of infrastructure projects to make jobs, but making jobs won’t lift the economy. Not only that, but I can imagine that whatever he wants to do in this arena will sail by without the first glance at the budget, lest anyone should suffer the aforementioned racially-tinged lambasting. Anyone want to bet on how many of these jobs go to union workshops?
So the future is not quite as bright as it could have been, but we still live in the United States. If you don’t like the idea of a recession, in the words of a very wise man, “don’t participate”. Make your own way. Take another job, find a new and innovative way to support yourself and your family. Make this year as bright and prosperous as you can. If you and I both do our level best to better ourselves, the economy will be better for it.
All the best for you and yours in 2009!
A fighter down in “Fightertown”…
So I’m sure that you’ve heard about the recent crash of an FA-18-Super-Hornet near MCAS Miramar (that would be Marine Corps Air Station for all you NON Military brats) . You might recognize that name from the movie Top Gun. Miramar, California has long been known as “Fightertown USA”. The residents of this area are very familiar with the sight and sound of freedom flying overhead, and are no doubt also aware of the danger that it presents. Unfortunately, we recently had a reminder of the inherent danger of flight. The fighter fell from the sky on final approach and struck a residential area killing a number of people. Fortunately, the pilot managed to eject before the plane struck the ground.
I’m sure there are the few ignorant, military-hating fools out there saying “He bailed out and let them die…” Well, let me address that with this: Military pilots don’t let people die if they can do anything about it. It is my confirmed belief that the pilot involved bailed because there was nothing left for him to do. I’m sure that the final investigation will show the actual cause (and clear the pilot if I am right).
According to an anonymous congressional aid, the pilot lost his right engine and set course to return to the airbase at Miramar. En route, his left engine flamed out and he was basically in a large, falling piece of steel. For those of you who do not understand the way a fighter works, it must be moving through the air for the steering to work. If you’re not moving forward (in this case at a speed required to maintain lift) nothing works. Its called Minimum Control Air Speed. (That’s the second MCAS in one post…) Without that, you basically have a large steel brick falling to the earth. Smaller, lighter planes can sometimes glide, but these planes are designed to haul ass. The speedometer STARTS at fast and goes UP from there. I’ve seen the Map and this guy only landed a few hundred yards from where the plane hit. He didn’t bail until the last minute. You’ll also note that he wasn’t that far from the south end of the runway. My guess is that he did all he could to save lives. Another thought: ejecting from an aircraft can REALLY hurt you, so It’s not something that pilots do for fun at parties…
All this to get to the bottom line: The men and women that fly these planes put their life on the line EVERY time they leave the ground. They learn to fly to protect you. They practice extremely difficult carrier-based landings to protect you. They engage in high-speed aerial combat simulations to protect you. These people are likely to die protecting you at any time, and they KNOW it when they get up and go to work in the morning. The next time you see or hear a military aircraft go overhead, know that the person at the controls is maintaining your freedom. Just because they aren’t “over there” fighting, doesn’t mean they aren’t risking everything so that you can live your life.
If you’ll remember the incident a few years back involving the capture of one of our planes by the chinese, a very sober example of this devotion is this: When that story hit, I heard the following words from a former navigator on the same type of aircraft: “They should have ditched it in the ocean, even if it cost them their lives.” Period. End of statement. No caveat, no conditions. That plane was NOT a small plane. That decision would have cost many (like two dozen) lives most likely, but the sentiment was there; resolute, even jarring. Those men were in charge of technology, equipment and information that keeps Americans safe. I was glad to hear that they managed to ‘sanitize’ the plane before it landed, even if that is the only the ‘official government line’ but that former Navy officer was totally serious about it, and I have no doubt that he would have accepted and carried out his duty to country even at that cost.
I love the sound of jets. Afterburners and jet wash make my hair stand on end. I can name most any US warplane in the air by sight and some by sound alone. I cried when they mothballed the F-14. Seeing ‘Top Gun’ was a formative event in my life (mainly because right after that screening I got a GI JOE Skystriker – see below… Notice the eerie resemblance to the aforementioned F-14 Tomcat.) *sniff*
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I grew up surrounded by the sights and sounds of the military. The men and women I mentioned above were my friends’ moms and dads. These people love their country enough to die for it EVERY day. So if you see them around, thank them. Buy them dinner in the airport…whatever. They and their families sacrifice daily for you…
Update!
So the three of you that read this blog will be glad to know that somebody took my ‘Gunboat for Hire‘ idea and ran with it… hey, what can I say? Half of the name of this blog is ‘Brainstorm’.
Apparently, Blackwater will be sending their ship, The MacArthur, into the pirate-ridden waters of the Gulf of Aden. They have been approached as a ‘security solution’ to the shipping issues that have been experienced in that region. Sweet. American Privateers with a reputation for pulling the trigger…Capitalism strikes again! Get ‘em boys! (and fly that flag high while yer doin it!)
blackwater-joins-fight-against-sea-piracy
Pirates!
If you don’t live under a rock, you know that there have been multiple high-profile, extremely expensive episodes of piracy around the horn of Africa in the last few weeks.
Most of this, if not all of it, comes from the coast of Somalia, which is a completely lawless country. The Sirius Star (which is kind of a redundant name if you have any knowledge of astronomy) is carrying a full load of Saudi oil which was bound for points abroad. The cargo and the 25 crew are all now hostages off the coast of Somalia while the pirates deal with Prince Faisal and his crowd.
There used to be a way to deal with Pirates… it involved blowing them to smithereens or forcibly (and by coincidence lethally) putting them in a “gravity driven neck stretching device”. Nowadays we have better cannons with which to obliterate these terrorists (that’s what they are), which largely frees up the necessary rope for other uses.
Now, this is just the capitalist in me, but this sounds like an extremely good opportunity for someone with a military (preferably Naval) background to start an “Escort Service” for ships. Heck, I might even look into it myself. Think of the benefits… a killer tan, you get to carry a gun and the unique satisfaction of helping to solve the world’s “Islamic Terrorist Overpopulation Problem”. I could call the company “Death Boat” in a play on the similar, but opposite term “lifeboat” and the slogan could be “Even one Pirate is too many”. I would be a millionaire in a very short time and could probably solve the problem in about 6 months. Then I sell the company to an international conglomerate and retire. You see, capitalism is a GREAT system. The market has needs, I offer solutions and everyone benefits… well not everyone, but the pirates get what they deserve.
I’m currently taking applications for Captains, Gunners and Navigators. A hatred of thievery and a drive to enforce international shipping law is a must. Salaries commensurate with experience. Naval gun experience a big plus!!