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

Author: Zero Ponsdorf

  • Road Trip – Two Civil War Battle Sites

    Just rolled back in from a road trip. Think of this as a snapshot rather than a dissertation.

    Gettysburg and Antietam.

    If you don’t know about either there are many resources available on-line.

    I won’t bore you with MY pictures, again there are plenty available. Some are moving and horrible, but capture moments simply impossible before the camera was invented.

    What I CAN do is offer an impression or two based a first visit after a fair amount of reading and studying.

    Gettysburg: Standing on Little Round Top looking down into The Devil’s Den… Surprising! Pictures and maps do NOT make clear the proximity.

    Antietam: Looking down at Burnside’s Bridge from the position of the Confederates… Shocking.

    Overall that was the surprise for me at both. My minds eye was expecting some epic scale at both places to justify the number of casualties, but no!

    I’ll be reflecting on this trip for years.

  • States Rights – Nullification

    First a caveat or two: I don’t know who Tom Mullen is, and I’m not remotely a Constitutional scholar. This simply interests me, YMMV. Perhaps anyone who owns a firearm should be interested even though this issue isn’t directly about that.

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    [UPDATE] As noted in the comments: There’s a special session which will re-consider the bill mentioned below.

    As the special session of the Texas Legislature got underway Tuesday, one of the bills which gained second life was HB 1937 by State Rep. David Simpson, a bill which criminalizes intrusive pat-downs by agents with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The law would require TSA to produce some type of probable cause before touching areas like genitals and breasts.

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    This particular story opens with Texas v. TSA:

    Texas is gearing up for a fight with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) over its perverse airport screening tactics. Last week, the state House of Representatives unanimously approved legislation holding TSA agents accountable for their conduct under sexual harassment statutes.

    Then the hasty response from the Feds:

    The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to House and Texas Senate leaders Tuesday — reportedly in person — threatening a shut-down of airports if HB 1937 is passed.

    And the capitulation:

    A threat from the federal government to shut down Texas airports or cancel flights may have killed legislation by Tea Party conservatives in the Texas Capitol to prohibit federal Transportation Security Administration agents from conducting “invasive searches.”

    More below the fold for those interested.

    (more…)

  • Seems Appropriate to me?

    War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
    John Stuart Mill
    English economist & philosopher (1806 – 1873)

    Okay, maybe just a little bitter here that it is STILL true.

    People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
    George Orwell
    I’ll leave you with one more.
    Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
    George Santayana

  • For those in peril on the sea – WWII

    Found a link I wanted to post about yesterday and then got trapped by local reality… so I handed it off to another sailor. He did it well, as usual.

    Memorial Day is certainly about the fallen first. But these old sailors are a living memorial to their fellow crew members gone ahead with a fair wind and following seas.

    Thanks Tim.

    Some time in the far 2030s, when the World War II generation is gone altogether, the veterans will be available to us only at a certain distance—via the finite record they left in life. Whatever materials the museums and libraries hold will offer a pale semblance of the energy that attended their living presence.

  • The funniest thing I’ve seen in days

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jUU3yCy3uI

    Sorry I could not figure out how to imbed this. Er, Um.. seems magic is in play. Enjoy.

    Where is Uncle Jimbo?

    I can say thanks to Street via FB.

    Update: I posted this rather like I might post a bit from The Three Stooges, or maybe W. C. Fields?

  • The Civil War

    I’ll be headed over to Gettysburg and Antietam shortly, and I have been reviewing Civil War history via several sources.

    John Brown and his raid on Harper’s Ferry served as a precursor. Been there.

    The first land battle took place not far from here (a skirmish really) at Philippi. Been there.

    General McClellan made his bones at The Battle of Rich Mountain. Been there. There is a wonderful little cemetery at Beverly, WV with Civil War dead, and other similar resting places are scattered around the immediate area. Numerous ‘little skirmishes’ took place nearby

    A word… Synchronicity; is on my mind. I don’t think my concerns fall under the Conspiracy Nut umbrella? YMMV

  • I Have a Purple Heart

    I was an Army brat the first few years of my life. I have vague memories (or memories of memories?) of several Army posts; in Georgia, in Arizona, and another place or two. Then my dad was deployed to some place called Korea in 1950.

    Three additional memories are a bit more vivid – the day we were notified he was Missing in Action and, sometime later, that his remains had been recovered, and finally, his funeral. I wasn’t allowed to go.

    I have a Purple Heart.

    He is buried in our home town, and there’s a small memorial in the city park there with his name inscribed. I visit both as often as I can. Even though I was only five or six at the time and will be 65 in about a month I still miss him. I have pictures and memories, and…

    I have a Purple Heart.

    For many others, like myself, Memorial Day has a face.

    I’m heading up to Gettysburg shortly so a line from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address comes to mind easily:  “that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion”

    So don’t wish me a happy Memorial Day because…

    I have a Purple Heart.

  • Fun is… Just Fun.

    I didn’t even watch the video before I posted.  The one line might have hurt me some.

    “They own every answer. It could snow cheese in New York tomorrow morning and that would be from global warming.”

    This is probably not a TAH quality post, but even us geezers can laugh.

    Aside:  I have watched the video. Still in minor pain. YMMV