Birthday Blog Hijacking II

Wife here. Bill is...busy.

Last year, I hijacked Bill's blog in honor of his birthday. I'm still laughing over those fake memories of good times with Bill.

This year, I'd like to do something different. As you probably know, being deployed to a war zone with the US military means many sacrifices. Bill is away from his family, which is awful, of course. He's eating cafeteria food. There is no priest where he is, so he hasn't been to Mass in weeks. And the moldy cherry on the top of this dung pile?

No beer.

This coming Sunday, Bill turns 41. He won't wake up in a soft bed next to his wife. His kids won't charge in with homemade birthday cards. He won't have good home cooking catered to his personal taste. He won't go to Mass, and he won't kick back with a nice cold brew on a hot summer afternoon.

But we can do all those things. So, sometime in the next week, have a drink and toast Bill and all the other soldiers who are away from home. Say a prayer for his safety, and for my sanity. And leave a note here (it will go to his email) telling him exactly what drink you're having in his honor. He prefers beer, but it can be whatever you like, even ice cold lemonade.

As for me, I'll be having Woodchuck Draft Cider. He left me a pretty full mini keg of this stuff, and it does go down rather smoothly.

C'est fini

Well, for now any way.

I deploy to the world's far off reaches in about a week and I'm not sure if I'll be able to blog any. I plan on taking the time to refocus Quaffs and Quibbles and certainly will include a lot more quaffing when I return.

Dei gracia,

Bill

The Real Healthcare Scare

Kristina raises some interesting points about government health care, to which I can add little. As someone in the military I have my own horror stories about military medicine as well as a couple of good ones. However, the bad far outweigh the good.

There is one point she touches on and I wish more would be made of it. Where is all the talk about the Veteran's Administration in light of the current health care debate? If the government can't take care of the veterans in it's care, a population that represents a very narrow, and probably healthier cross-section of the American populous, how is going to care for the average grease-ball eating, beer swilling, 2 pack-a-day American? Where are all the reports about how the VA is failing its charges?

Now that the MSM is actually being run by the White House, I doubt we'll get the answer or anything other than cheerleading for the administration's proposals.

I think we're on the cusp of realizing Reagan's statement about socialized medicine; that it would have the efficiency of the Post Office and the understanding of the IRS. Yeah for us.


“Since the general civilization of mankind, I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpation,” James Madison, 1788

The Stereotypical MSM

Let me first state that all generalizations are false. However, stereotypes exist because people keep enforcing them.

Having said that, I think the MSM is full of hacks who can't hack it in the real world. How else would you explain that according to most, the killer at the Holocaust Museum was a "right wing extremist" when, in fact, his writings clearly show that he was anything but right wing. They get the extremist part correct, but ignore the fact that he was much closer to being a LEFTIST than anything else. Well actually that's not entirely true; it's probably more accurate to describe him as being part of the lunatic fringe. If you confuse that with the left, I'd understand.

My source: LifeSiteNews.com (with a big h/t to Lair of the Catholic Caveman)

Holocaust Museum Shooter a Socialist who Hated Christianity, Conservatives, Jews

Excerpt: In one of many online tirades, the shooter, 88 year-old James von Brunn wrote, “Christianity and the Holocaust are hoaxes. ‘Christianity’ destroyed Roman Civilization. The ‘Holocaust’ Religion is destroying Western Civilization.” Between them, he said, they destroyed the “Aryan gene pool.”

He wrote, “socialism represents the future of the West.” ...

Von Brunn wrote that he believed Christianity is a cult created by St. Paul and proliferated by Jews. Christianity’s set of “dangerous, imbecilic, concepts, tenets, and teachings, often treasonous, destroyed the Roman Empire and drenched the soil of Europe with Aryan blood for almost 2000 years!”

and Politico.com

Weekly Standard may have been shooter target

Excerpt: FBI agents visited the offices of the conservative Weekly Standard magazine yesterday after a shooting at the Holocaust Memorial Museum and told employees they'd found the magazine's address. ...

The focus on the Standard, though, appears to be of a piece with his central motivation: Anti-Semitism. In one essay, Von Brunn attacked "JEWS-NEOCONS-BILL O’REILLY," and the suggestion that neoconservatism is a specifically Jewish conspiracy is common on the racist fringe.

It's an insurgency, stupid!

While I toiled away in preparation for my impending deployment, much has transpired in this great nation of ours. Yet among these many events, I don't think any has had greater impact than the murder of Dr. Tiller.

Now that's saying something given that our esteemed leaders have decided that European socialism is a government model worth pursuing and British Leyland is how to run an automobile conglomerate. But the reason I say the murder of a modern Mengele is pivotal is that it comes at a crucial time in the debate over life.

Until very recently, pro-abortion advocates have retained the majority of public opinion. According to a Gallup poll, published 15 May, more Americans are now "pro-life" than "pro-choice." However, I would be interested in how that poll would look if taken again this week. What Scott Roeder, the nut case who retroactively aborted Dr. Tiller, did last week was set the pro-life movement back about ten years and that is the crux of the matter.

Think what you will of the actors in this sordid drama, the cold blooded murder of the poster-child for late term abortion is hardly a good thing, particularly for the movement. Yes, it is unequivocally good for the baby who was going to be aborted next week, but in the macro view, this was not the best move on the board.

The simple fact is that killing the unborn, sucking their brains out or their 4/5th's born bodies is perfectly legal in this country; disgusting as it is. Yet killing the doctors who perform these heinous acts won't change the law; as a matter of fact, it emboldens the opposition.

This is an insurgency. Bringing about the necessary change in opinion of the people is a revolution of thought and requires the leaders of the Pro-Life movement to prosecute this war in a manner that wins hearts and minds. Like the war in Iraq, you cannot kill your way to victory. You must set the conditions that make it possible for the American public to accept "yes" for an answer to the question of life.

Killing abortionists may win a battle, but it's also how you lose the war.

A Chilling Indictment

I was going to write about the future of the American auto industry but I caught this on the Drudge Report this morning:

American Capitalism Gone with a Whimper

Excerpt: It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people. ...

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. ...

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. ...

And this is written by a Russia and published by Pravda. (The Russia Paper, not Prada, the Devil's footwear.) Do you think he knows anything about Marxism and the effects of it upon a people? I urge you to read both pages because the author provides a thorough commentary about nearly every facet of American politics in short order. I hope to look into his blog (Mat Rodina) later, it looks interesting.

Memorial Day Redux

It has come to my attention that some people have no idea what Memorial Day is all about. Aside from the BBQs, there is this notion that it's about the military in some vague sort of way. One neighborhood child (who was old enough to know better) asked me if it was to honor Soldiers, Police Officers, and Firefighters. Huh????


So if you're wondering, here is the very OBVIOUS breakdown.


Armed Forces Day - to honor all members serving in the Armed Forces (third Saturday in May)

Memorial Day - to honor all members of the Armed Forces who died in the service of the nation (30 May or the last Monday in May)

Veterans Day - to honor all of those who have served in the Armed Forces (11 Nov)



If you're still unsure, this movie is about a veteran and a Marine who is remembered on Memorial Day.