This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Hondo

  • An Ode to “Winter Wonderlands”

    With apologies to the memory of the late Warren Zevon for spoofing one of his best.

     

    Frozen, Glazed, and Snowed-In

    Well, I sit here and I shiver
    It’s winter where I am
    This weather sucks the big one
    Hell it’s just not worth a damn

    I’ve been out front shoveling snow
    My back’s seen better days
    Need hot pads, beer, and Motrin
    Plus two tubes of Ben Gay, hyeaah

    Now the landscape is all frozen
    Damn weather’s gotten stuck
    Choices are “snow” or “an ice storm”
    Man, this winter sure does suck
    Yeah, this winter sure does suck
    Well, this winter sure does suck

    I’m getting cabin fever
    More snow to fall today
    I think I’ll just say, “Eff it!”
    And move out to LA

    All right
    I’m frozen, glazed, and snowed-in
    I’m frozen, glazed, and snowed-in
    I’m frozen, glazed, and snowed-in
    I’m frozen, glazed, and snowed-in

     

    Just kidding about the “move out to LA” part.  I’m not that damn desperate – yet.  (smile)

    Happy Valentine’s Day, all.

  • This Time I’m A Bit Torqued

    My little friend Birdy came back to visit me the other day.  You know, the one who tells me what’s going on in certain circles?

    You wanna guess what little Birdy told me this time?

    Yep, you guessed it.  My feathered friend told me that an online persona reputedly associated with certain a group of Ditzy, Really Gonzo (or maybe that’s “Dorkish, Really Clueless”) fools claims they know who I am.  I’ve been “identified”!

    Again.  (Yawn.)

    Yeah, right.  And the moon is made of green cheese, too.

    But this time, they’ve actually kinda p!ssed me off.

    Oh, not because they’re anywhere remotely close to being correct.  They’re not.

    But they had the gall to mis-identify me as a member of the freaking mainstream media (MSM).  This time, they apparently think I’m a reporter for the Indianapolis Star.  I’ll refrain from naming the guy; as far as I know, despite his profession he’s done nothing to deserve grief from these “fine fellows”.

    Now that p!sses me off bigtime.  I have standards!

    I try to get things correct.  I check facts.  I don’t write crap that purports to be true and unbiased while instead actually producing half-baked, poorly-researched, and misleading propaganda masquerading as news.  When I write something, I make it very clear when I’m stating an opinion and when I’m stating what I believe to be fact.

    Once mainstream journalists did much the same.  But today?  Best I can tell, for most of the mainstream media today fact checking is optional and being unbiased gets little more than lip service.  They unabashedly slant the news and shill for their political favorites in a way that would make Goebbels or the editors of Pravda during the Cold War proud.  And to top things off, many of them today don’t even seem able to write at a junior high level.

    You know, I believe I’d rather have a brother in prison plus a sister in a whorehouse than to debase myself publicly the way many MSM journalists seem to daily.  (Although these days, I guess the sister could be the one in prison and the brother the one working in the whorehouse.  Hey, whatever.)  That’s almost as bad as being a libidiot who supports ObamaCare and the rest of the left’s current     Communist      Socialist      “Progressive” political dogma.

    Come to think of it, that last sentence probably describes 85% or more of today’s mainstream media.  (Disclaimer:  I have no idea if the guy misidentified as me is one of the few in the mainstream media today who has common sense or not.  I have never met him and am completely unfamiliar with his work.)  That’s likely at least part of the reason why I am not and almost certainly never will be a mainstream media journalist.  Plus, I never did much like dealing with dissembling tools on a daily basis – particularly when many of them are apparently so dumb they don’t even realize what they’re doing.

    OK, rant’s over; time to get back on track.  Recap time.

    This is apparently at least the 11th time the DRC claims they’ve “identified Hondo”.  And they’re still batting “oh-fer” –  e.g., they’ve been wrong every damn time.

    Previously, these Dull and Remarkably Gluteal bozos have erroneously identified 5 different Navy vets as being me – including 4 ex-SEALs (first SCPO Don Shipley, then CAPT Larry Baily, then a guy I’m intentionally not naming, and lastly MCPO Hershel Davis).  They’ve also wrongly claimed I was a a multi-star Army GO, a retired SF SGM, another longtime commenter here at TAH, a retired Navy diver (late 2015 – I was kinda busy at the time and didn’t write about that one), and a serving Army officer.  Finally, last time they falsely identified an Army vet who served during the Eisenhower Administration (and who is also a former Brooklyn Law School Professor) as me.

    And now, they seem to think I’m a freaking mainstream media journalist in Indiana.  Geez.

    Unless I’m miscounting, that totals at least 11 mistaken “identifications”.  I’m guessing the actual total is even higher, because I’m reasonably sure I’ve missed one or two somewhere along the way.

    And every last one of those “identifications” has been . . . wrong.  Sadly, pathetically wrong.

    (flip) (flip) (flip) (flip) Here’s a dollar in quarters, dipsticks. Go buy yourselves several clues. You ain’t even close this time.  You never have been.

    Or, better yet:  just give it up.  Quit wasting your time.

    Sheesh.  Talk about “stuck on stupid”.

  • Yer Friday Funny: Who Cut the Cheese? Andrew Jackson.

    Even for someone we “know and love”, this might be a few months’ supply.  After all:  at 7lbs per day, 1600lbs = 228 days and change.  (smile)

    The Real Story of the Huge Chunk of Cheese
    that Sat in the White House for a Year

     

     

  • Bergdahl Court-Martial On Hold

    It appears that Bergdahl’s court-martial is now on hold.

    Bergdahl is facing court-martial for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.  His defense team has asserted that they need access to certain classified materials to defend Bergdhal.  The prosecution disputes this.

    The trial judge granted Bergdahl’s defense be given access.  However, the prosecution has appealed this decision to a higher military court.  We’re now awaiting that appeals court decision – and everything else is on hold until that decision is announced.

    As Political Insider notes here, the defense’s assertion is bull regarding the charge of desertion. Proving the specific form of desertion with which Bergdahl is charged merely requires proving that he absented himself to avoid hazardous duty. Leaving post without authorization in a combat zone to go AWOL constitutes exactly that, and proving that is simple – he either did or he did not absent himself. Nothing classified about that, and nothing classified needed to defend the case.

    Bergdahl’s legal team may or may not need access to classified materials in order to defend him against the charges of misbehavior before the enemy. Depending on precisely what evidence or theory the prosecution plans to present to prove that charge, the defense could indeed need access to classified information to defend.

    However, I think it’s far more likely that this is a classic instance of graymail. My guess is that the defense team is merely trying to prevent the public from finding out just how badly Bergdahl behaved while enjoying Thursdays with the Taliban and/or the Haqqani Network. Doing so might be necessary to preserve future book deals and such. So they’re requesting info to material that’s highly classified and hoping that the government flatly refuses to comply and the judge pitches the case.

    Stay tuned.

  • An Interesting Case – and Dilemma

    I’m serious about the title. And I’ll admit I’m somewhat torn on this one.

    Decades ago, Otto Macias left Cuba. He came to the US, then enlisted in the Army.

    Macias fought in Vietnam. He returned from Vietnam in 1969, allegedly “broken and suffering from PTSD and schizophrenia” per his family.  It appears he really did have significant issues; he was in and out of hospitals repeatedly after his return.  And the VA apparently recognized something as being service-connected; they were paying him a relatively small monthly payment.  (The linked article calls it a “pension”, but I’m guessing it was some modest level of disability compensation.  Macias wasn’t old enough to qualify for a veteran’s pension, and the payment was only around $60/month in 1980.)

    Macias had relatives in Cuba. In 1980, he went to visit them.  He stayed.

    Since Cuba was under an embargo, after a relatively short period his payments from the VA also stopped. But now the US is in the process of normalizing relations with Cuba (IMO a huge mistake until Cuba ends its support for revolutionary movements worldwide) – and it’s now allowable for US funds to be sent to Cuba.

    Macias has asked for his VA payments to be resumed.  And though he now lives in Cuba with family and will probably stay (he’s now elderly and in bad health), he apparently doesn’t have any ill will towards the USA.

    As I said, I’m a bit conflicted.  Yeah, he earned that compensation through service in combat; Macias doubtless needs the money.  But he’s also not living in the US, or in any friendly nation – he’s living in a country that still is a US adversary.  Resuming his VA payments would help support Cuba’s economy, and would also set a precedent that I’d hate to see established.  Adversaries are adversaries; as a nation, we shouldn’t be helping nations that are our enemies.

    On balance my position would be, “Sorry– not if you’re in Cuba, or any one of the other nations in the world that are US adversaries.” But it’s a tough call, and I can certainly understand the opposite point of view.

    Fox News has an article on Macias.  IMO, it’s worth reading.

    Thoughts?

  • Another Returns from the Korean War

    DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US soldier.

    • CPL Dudley L. Evans, G Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 15 February 1951 in South Korea. He was accounted for on 29 January 2016.

    You’re no longer missing, elder brother-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.

    You’re home now.  Rest in peace.

    . . .

    Over 73,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,600 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA).  Comparison of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from recovered remains against mtDNA from a matrilineal descendant can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.

    DPAA’s web site now has what appears to be a decent “Contact Us” page.  The page doesn’t have instructions concerning who can and cannot submit a mtDNA sample or how to submit one, but the POCs listed there may be able to refer you to someone who can answer that question – or may be able to answer the question themselves.  If you think you might possibly qualify, please contact one of those POCs for further information.

    If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample, please arrange to submit one.  By doing that you just might help identify the remains of a US service member who’s been repatriated but not yet been identified – as well as a relative of yours, however distant.  Or you may help to identify remains to be recovered in the future.

    Everybody deserves a proper burial.  That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.

  • Military Service and “Real Jobs”

    A comment made here recently brought this little bit of history to mind.

    After retiring from the USMC, John Glenn entered politics. He ran as a candidate for the US Senate in 1974 from his native Ohio as a Democrat.

    His opponent in the Democratic primary was Howard Metzenbaum – a successful businessman and the incumbent Senator against whom Glenn was running.  (Metzenbaum had been appointed to fill the Senate vacancy created when Senator William Saxbe resigned to become US Attorney General earlier in 1974.)

    Metzenbaum was not a military veteran. During the primary campaign, he made the statement to the effect that Glenn – because he’d been career military – had “never worked for a living”.

    The following was Glenn’s response, delivered on 4 May 1974 during Glenn’s public remarks at the Cleveland City Club in Cleveland, OH.

    “Howard, I can’t believe you said I have never held a job.

    “I served twenty-three years in the United States Marine Corps. I served through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire on twelve different occasions. I was in the space program. It wasn’t my checkbook; it was my life on the line. It was not a nine-to-five job where I took time off to take the daily cash receipts to the bank.

    “I ask you to go with me, as I went the other day, to a Veterans Hospital and look those men, with their mangled bodies, in the eye and tell them they didn’t hold a job. You go with me to any gold-star mother and you look her in the eye and tell her that her son did not hold a job.

    “You go with me to the space program, and go as I have gone to the widows and orphans of Ed White and Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee, and you look those kids in the eye and tell them that their Dad didn’t hold a job.

    “You go with me on Memorial Day coming up and you stand in Arlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends than I’d like to remember, and you watch those waving flags. You stand there, and you think about this nation, and you tell me that those people didn’t have a job.

    “I’ll tell you, Howard Metzenbaum, you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there were some men – some men – who held a job. And they required a dedication to purpose and a love of country and a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself. And their self-sacrifice is what made this country possible.

    “I have held a job, Howard!”

    Glenn won the primary handily.  He was elected to the Senate in the general election that year.

    For what it’s worth:  in my view, Glenn got it exactly right.  The military is called “the profession of arms” because it is exactly that:  a profession, on par with any other professional occupation.

    It may be different from most, but yes:  it’s a “real job”.

    Sources:

    https://library.osu.edu/documents/ohio-congressional-archives/documents/Gold%20Star%20Mother%20speech.pdf

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Metzenbaum

    (Edited to add:  I’d forgotten that at least partial video of Glenn’s speech exists.  If you’re interested, you can view it here.)

  • Another $750M Down the PPACA Toilet

    Remember that law called the        Piss-Poor and Amazingly Convoluted Abomination        Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) – AKA ObamaCare?  The 1,000+ page law where, as SanFranNan put it, “we (Congress) have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it”?

    Well, today we have some more “good news” about just how well that whole deal is going.  And that news is . . . interesting.

    Illegal immigrants aren’t eligible for health insurance subsidies under the PPACA, which are apparently given in the form of tax credits.  Yet some unqualified individuals have managed to “slip through” and receive those tax credits anyway.

    Whenever someone is found to have received those subsidies in error, the procedure is to notify the IRS of that fact.   The IRS then attempts to recoup the money.

    That’s the theory.  But in actual practice . . . well, “That don’t seem t’be a workin’ out too damn good, Cletus.”

    Predictably, since this was “oh so well” thought out before hand it now looks like Uncle Sam has indeed been taken it in the shorts.  It’s estimated that somewhere over 500,000 ineligible individuals – most believed to be illegal immigrants – have gotten subsidies they don’t rate.

    So, in total how much did they scam from Uncle Sam?  Best estimate is somewhere around $750 million.

    It also looks like the IRS isn’t going to have much luck in getting much if any of the money back, either.  Which, in turn, means that the US taxpayer (that would be you and me) are out around $750 million.

    Wonderful.  Just freaking wonderful.

    Another example of “Your tax dollars at work” from the current Administration.  Or maybe that should read “Your tax dollars at waste.”

    The linked Fox News article (2nd link above) has more details.  It’s worth reading.

    Well, it’s worth reading unless you have high blood pressure.  Then maybe give it a pass.

    Sheesh.  We need to kill that asinine excuse for a law called the PPCA immediately.  Then burn its remains, and afterwards mix the well-sifted ashes with quicklime – and bury them.  Deeply.