thoughts for this Memorial Day

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:

1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G.I.

One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
...

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

-- Rudyard Kipling

um...what was that again?

And the misconceptions keep getting peddled...
Tonight on Rowdy Yates' Country Gold, the music of Randy Travis is being put front and center. I was listening as I was driving back to where I stay from work, and Mr. Travis was billed as "the man who brought the twang back to town," or something like that. And I thought, "uhhhhh, what?"
I've heard this more than a few times over the years and I never quite understood how RT got that reputation. From what I remember about the resurgence of traditional country music in the early-to-mid 1980s, it was George Strait, Ricky Skaggs, and Reba McEntire who were the early players of the role of bringing the music back to the basics. Ricky Skaggs had his first No. 1 in 1981 ("Cryin' My Heart Out Over You") Strait ("Fool Hearted Memory") and Reba ("Can't Even Get The Blues") had their first No. 1 hits in 1982, and finally, Randy Travis hit the scene in 1985. I was thinking the resurgence of the traditional country was more or less in full swing by then, as evidenced by the popularity of those other folks. I'll give him his due, but it's always bugged the hell out of me that he seems to be the one who gets the lion's share of the credit for bringing country music back from the dead...

Not my theme song, but I still love it...

Now playing here: "Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in eeevery way....I can't wait to look in the mirror...'cause I get better-lookin' each day...to know me is to love me...I must be a hell of a man...oh, Lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doin' the best that I can..."

Quote of the YEAR!

From Hazel Stone, at Robb Allen's place...

The Kimbers we saw at the last Suncoast Gun Show were priced as if the bullets actually transmuted to gold when fired.

That's the God's honest truth, too. I love my Kimbers, don't get me wrong, especially the 10mm Stainless Target II with its ramped and fully supported barrel, but the Kimbers for sure are not cheap. No good 1911 is cheap, but the folks in Yonkers evidently think the world of their guns. If the market can command the prices, then more power to them, but that line was just GREAT...

Musings on Romance: You either have it, or you don't...

I suppose there are folks out there who would read this post from Fire and think I'd get ticked off about it. They'd probably think, "She's telling your secrets, dude, what the hell?" They'd probably think my technique was a craft that was finely honed for years leading up to my time with her. But honestly, it doesn't bother me the least little bit. To be honest it wasn't like that at all, no kinds of secrets involved. I just went with my instinct when I was with her, and I think that's where many of the secrets lie of making love. You just have to go with what you're feeling inside. But that's the rub for many couples, if you want to call them that. They just don't have that intense emotional bond, and I guess they have to make up for that with their, ah, technique...which can't be honed if you don't have that emotional bond, and you're in a particularly vicious cycle. She told me I was a born lover, and maybe I am. (Incidentally, that's me not blowing my own horn. Lol...) And I think there's something there that leads to one of those secrets that many don't like to hear, another one of the secrets to good loving. Technique is something that may be honed, but said technique also goes back to the kind of person you are, how you express your emotions, and all of that. I think those of us who wear our emotions on our sleeves tend to be the better lovers, because we let our instincts guide us and don't get so caught up in the technique that we lose sight of what we're doing. In other words...you're either born with it, or you're not. If you're not, well, I guess there are other ways to make up for it. But then I could be off. Maybe two other people with the deep emotional connection could make each other believe they were born lovers, but then I've also been told I was a true romantic and that there weren't many like me around anymore. Which is where another one of those secrets lies...do you tell her you love her, that you couldn't go on without her? Does she believe it? Do you sing to her as you hold her? For me and Fire, it's yes, yes and yes. And I am blessed that she does believe it, because I know without a doubt that I couldn't go on without her...

An interesting development...

I was at work yesterday, messing around on the Web during some downtime (Really! I was waiting on more stuff to come in! LOLOL...) and ran across this, via the Associated Press...

LOS ANGELES — A Missouri woman was indicted Thursday for her alleged role in perpetrating a hoax on the online social network MySpace against a 13-year-old neighbor who committed suicide.

Lori Drew, 49, of suburban St. Louis, who allegedly helped create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist to convince Megan Meier she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, was charged with conspiracy and fraudulently gaining access to someone else's computer.

Megan hanged herself at home in October 2006, allegedly after receiving a dozen or more cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.

Salvador Hernandez, assistant agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, called the case heart-rending.

"The Internet is a world unto itself. People must know how far they can go before they must stop. They exploited a young girl's weaknesses," Hernandez said. "Whether the defendant could have foreseen the results, she's responsible for her actions."

Drew was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress on the girl.

I'd read and blogged about this before back when it all came to light, and thought it was amazing (and not in a good way, mind you) that (at the time) it seemed there was nothing that could be done to hold Megan Meier's tormentors accountable for their actions. I know that ultimately it was her own decision to hang herself, but for cryin' out loud, a grown woman drove her to it! And I almost mentioned the fact that she didn't even express that much remorse for her actions, but there are some things even half-assed apologies won't fix. Should be interesting to see what comes of this...

Three Months

It was three months ago today that I crossed paths with the woman who would become my lover, my best friend, the one I laugh and cry with. I know it isn't that long in the big scheme of things, and that in time the new wears off for many couples. But even now we're still discovering new things about each other...and still laughing at the beauty of what we already know. A little earlier this week, she asked me, "What's going to happen when you already know everything about me?" And I told her a little bit later, that it wasn't the fact that everything about her was new, but it was that everything about her is good, it's beautiful, it's just...right. And no matter what, the beauty of it will never wear off. This much I know. You remember me writing earlier about how she comes up with her own names for songs. Well, just a couple of days ago she came up with one that'll make me laugh till I take my last breaths in this life. I love the old country music, and Western swing is one of my favorite subgenres. Well, when I was up in Kentucky, one night at her Mom's place I was singing the old Bob Wills standard, sing along with me now...
"Rooooly poly, eatin' corn and taters, hungry every minute of the day...."
Well, the other night we were talking and I asked her if she remembered me singing another certain song that I had heard driving home that night, the Buck Owens classic "Act Naturally," which made me think of that night at her Mom's. And she said...
'The fat bug song?"
Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, it was just the most precious thing! And when we talked a little later that evening I just HAD to hear her say it, and it was every bit as precious as it was in print! And she even sang it! "Roooly poly, daddy's little fat bug..." And yes, I am laughing as I type this and think of her singing it.
And then a couple of days ago, before we talked that morning I heard my favorite Patsy Cline song on the radio..."I go out walkin', after midnight, out in the moonlight, just like we used to doooo..."
She calls that one "Weeping Willow Under the Moon." And she heard me singing it, and once again, we stumbled up onto something biiiig, oh yes, we did. As I was singing it, I heard her say, "oooh, you sexy thing, you..." It's beautiful, just beautiful. We just click. We're just that much in tune with each other, and it's like nothing I've ever experienced before.
I love you, Fire. I love you with all that I am, ever was and ever will be. Baby Girl, the light you bring into my life is just as bright at this moment as it was that very first day. You are everything that's good to me, and you always will be. I never knew true love, the way love should be, until you showed me. I love you, Baby Girl, to the end of this life...and when this life is through, I will meet you in the next one...

Say, wouldn't that be grounds for revolution?

A-yep, it's time for another installment of Let's Scare the White People!
Sebastian of Snowflakes in Hell, on the potential of more Democrats in power at the national level:

I can promise you that an increased Democratic majority will put our gun rights in serious jeopardy, no matter how Heller turns out. A Democratic sweep in the fall may very well make Heller completely irrelevant.

I could be off here, but it sounds to me like what he was saying was that the Democrats would just flat-out ignore what the Supreme Court says when the Heller decision is handed down -- if, that is, the court rules that the 2A protects an individual right, along with the ownership of everything the Democrats want to take away from us. And once again, the words of Judge Alex Kozinski come to mind...

The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed--where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees.

I can't help but think that Kozinski would include elected officials' willful ignorance of court decisions in his descriptions of rights being infringed, but I could be wrong. In any case, though, what would it say about the increased Democratic majority -- and not just on the federal level -- if it enforced certain laws in what would basically be open defiance of the Constitution? It leads one to wonder -- what other court decrees would they be willing to thumb their noses at? And I know very well that we could at least vote against these cretins at the next opportunity, but what the hell do you do when the the majority of the electorate at large has been bribed -- with its own money, no less -- into supporting them? An old quote from Alexander Tyler comes to mind...

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy....

And, of course, we see the people voting themselves money from the public treasury every time an election rolls around, pretty much, and however much the respective candidates will dole out does seem to be the issue of the day always, as opposed to which of our choices will keep their nose the furthest out of our business. It's a shame, indeed. And the question needs to be asked -- what will you do when liberty succeeds in the jury box but fails at the ballot box? Something to ponder...