The “Snowmageddon” Blizzard of 2010
I just measured the snow out on my back deck, it’s 25.5 inches. Out front it looks/feels even deeper, but I always take the official measurements from the back of the house. The snow is up to my knees (I’m 6′3″) and earlier today when I saw some kids playing the snow was up past their thighs! Also noticed several people fall but the deep snow cushioned the fall so much that they came up laughing and grinning. Anyways, here’s some pics I took earlier this afternoon:
John Amato, ultra liberal and clueless
I regularly read a liberal blog called “Crooks & Liars”, it’s on my link sidebar. The site interests me, has decent video clips of news items, and it gives me a feel for what the left is thinking. One point I regularly take away from that site is they (liberals) HATE guns and are largely ignorant of the facts and issues behind gun ownership and usage. They simply focus on the negatives and call for more restrictions. Today the site owner, John Amato asks the question “Can corporations bear arms” in light of the supreme Court decision that corporations have 1st Amendment rights:
Since the Roberts Court has now ruled that corporations have the same rights as people and overturned decades of laws regulating their speech, I’m wondering: Do they now have the right to arm themselves by employing Blackwater-type mercenaries and post them all over their office buildings?
Will Wal-Mart post armed guards in their parking lots?
Seems like a natural consequence. If corporations can enjoy full First Amendment protections, wouldn’t they likewise get Second Amendment rights?
What John fails to understand, as he is blinded by his infantile views of firearm ownership is that corporations already have the right to bear arms, and those rights are even more liberal than the citizen’s individual right to own a gun. Case in point: It is far easier for a corporation to acquire fully automatic machine guns (the REAL kind, NOT an AR-15 which I’m sure John thinks is a machine gun) that a private citizen:
In areas where a person cannot acquire a Law Enforcement Signature because these people would rather violate your rights than let you own one of these items, there is another way. BATF allows Corporations and Trusts to acquire machine guns, silencers, etc. without having to complete the Law Enforcement Certification part of the form. If you have your own Corporation, or you are an Officer in a Corporation, the Corporation can acquire these items, and you, as a Corporate Officer, can keep the item at your home, take it to the range shooting, etc. just as if the item were registered to you. If the Corporation ever dissolves, the item must be transferred out of the Corporation to another individual or Corporation (or Dealer). Because a Corporation is not a person, an FBI fingerprint check is not required which reduces the transfer approval time to about 30 days.
So yes John, corporations CAN post armed guards in their office buildings. Have you never been to a bank before?
Ladies and Gentlemen, John Amato – liberal and clueless.
Haiti – Guardians Report In: HS1 Larry Berman
I lifted this word for word from The Coast Guard Compass. This is powerful stuff, it shows the grit and determination of those assisting in rescue efforts down South, and I am proud that brave men and women like HS1 Berman are representing the United States in Haiti.
Today (Saturday) was day three that the Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma and Mohawk manned up the small Haitian Coast Guard Medical Clinic. All three days, we have treated the local Haitian people for broken bones, lacerations, huge open wounds, etc. The outer court yard is filled with desperate people wanting medical attention.Myself and HS2 Elias Gomez have taken the lead on who gets treated and who has to wait. Both boats are helping in some capacity or another, medical treatment, security, supply room, small boating Coast Guardsmen back and forth from the ships. So, many people from the two boats are helping. Some have to man the daily operations of the two boats, but everyone is eager to volunteer to come ashore and lend a hand. HS2 Gomez and I, and a couple of people with EMT experience, have training on mass casualty scenarios, but in that situation there are helos and ambulances to take people to hospitals. Not so here. Until today, we have treated the people and they stay. Their homes are wrecked, the streets are clogged, and there have not been any medevacs. Today, day three, was the first day that we got a few people out; I think the count was 10. The primary goal each day has been to treat and evac those needing amputations. My happiest moment came this morning as one man with a left crushed arm, 30 medical staples and sutures to the face, and a scalp wound was evaced to a hospital. The first day, as triage goes, we thought he was near death so we deferred to stronger amputations who were a mess, but much alive. The following day, when we saw that he was still alive, HS2 Gomez and I decided that he would be our priority. That was yesterday. I scrubbed what was his arm with Betadine, tourniqueted the arm and wrapped it in a red contamination bag. HS2 stapled a huge facial wound with the medical staples and sutures. HS2 Elias Gomez was a master, caring for the patient. I cleaned maggots from his scalp wound and sutured that up. We also hit him up with antibiotics. As I said, today he flew to a hospital. That my friends was an outstanding moment for HS2 and myself.
We have treated more patients than we can count, then they go out to sit in the outer court yard.
The scene includes about 30-40 Coast Guardsmen and about 20 Haitian volunteers with various experience. A couple of Haitian nurses and doctors have joined us, but the leadership of the clinic has been HS2 and myself. I believe that the Haitians have recognized the discipline and order that the Tahoma and Mohawk have demonstrated. OS1 Sweetman, YN1 Winslow and ETC Frownfelter have lead the security for the compound. They keep order. The Mohawk has taken leadership over the supply room. I wish that I could tell you their names, but there is one Chief that has done a great job with the stock room.
Both Mohawk and Tahoma crewmen are willing to do anything. I have seen our Engineering Officer LT Sanzo out in the courtyard bandaging people. I saw our Executive Officer LCDR Fisher hold the hand of a little girl while her wounds were being painfully scrubbed. I was able to come and administer a small amount of morphine to the little girl which made the XO’s job easier.
Today was the first day also that the decision was made to use morphine. The compound fractures and skin ripped off some of their bodies warranted it as we had to clean the infected wounds. Morphine is mercy.
For the past 3 days, Tahoma and Mohawk have had to make hundreds of decisions on how to help these people. We are all exhausted. We are all running on adrenalin. We are working in the heat, sweating. No one goes to the bathroom until be get back to the ship from 0830 to 1715 Hrs. Both Gomez and I have been ordered to take breaks. It is non-stop. Today, I had to ask what day it was. I had no idea. Thank God we are starting to get a few people out. Tomorrow we hope to get at least 12 of the worst out.
A baby is born to a young Haitian woman on the deck of the CGC Tahoma.
Today at about 1430 I finally obeyed our XO and YN1 Winslow to take a break and eat. Then after about 15 minutes I was called on the radio to get back to the clinic. Someone was going to have a baby! I ran from the pier to the courtyard, about 200 yards to see a 21 year old Haitian woman sitting and looking weak with people holding her hand.
She told me that the baby had not moved since that morning. I felt her abdomen and could not feel the baby move. She appeared to be full term. Gomez, who from here on out I will call by his first name, Elias, brought her into the clinic and got her up on a table. We examined her to see if she was crowning which she was not. We could not feel the baby move at all. We both placed stethoscopes on her and could not hear a sound from the baby. As best as we could we were beginning to think the worst, so after we were told that there would not be any more flights out, the command listened to us and got her and one more amputee to the Tahoma for medevac.
A short time later, I was shouted to by OS1 Sweetman to get to the small boat back to the Tahoma, a baby boy was born on the flight deck! What?
As I got in the small boat, a Lieutenant who I had never seen before was in the boat next to me. After 3 days of prayers God sent us a Flight Surgeon. Elias and I and many of our church members have been praying for a surgeon to help us. I apologize, as I write this at 2339 Hrs, after a long day, I can not recall his name.
The crew of the Tahoma delivered the baby. I know that OSC Watkins and DC2 Schrewsbury and about 15 others had parts in the delivery. The Flight Surgeon and I got there and assessed the health of the mother and baby boy. I took the vitals and listened to the baby’s heart. It was making sounds now Elias! Pink, warm and well. The flight Surgeon lead the delivery of the placenta on the flight deck and several of us cleaned the baby after its first BM. Then they were medevaced off the hospital.
To my great joy, the Navy arrived. Two surgeons from the USS Carl Vinson and 3 Medical Corpsmen came to join us. Help has arrived. Tomorrow fresh minds will lead the clinic. To be honest with you, Elias and I could run the clinic for a 4th day, but we are slowing, just a bit, after making all the decisions at the camp involving medical care. I do not think I could pull a day 5.
Tomorrow, Elias and I will be able to perform the way we prefer. The Medical Officers make the tough calls and we follow their lead. Tomorrow we will get a break, I think, and take lesser roles. However, we are told that we are starting earlier. Rather than leave for the clinic at 0830, tomorrow, which comes in 7 minutes, we leave at 0730.
I am writing this to wind down. Everyone on the CGC Tahoma and CGC Mohawk has a story to tell. There are dozens and dozens of stories of brave acts from the crew and the Haitian people. Oh, we all felt the earth shake today. It was a small but noticeable shake.
HS1 Larry J Berman
Independent Health Services Technician
“Ship’s Doc”
USCGC TAHOMA (WMEC-908)
United States Coast Guard
Disagree with your congressman? Prepare to be arrested!
Teri Christoph, executive director of Smart Girl Politics attempts to ask Gerry Connolly for his stance on health care reform. She’s stopped by douchebag extraordinaire George Burke who attempts to tell her that filming ist verboten and she needs to apply for a press pass. Huh? Teri is a citizen, not a member of the press.
Things get worse when Connolly attempts to have a different constituent (not Teri) arrested!
Connolly left his office about an hour or so ago, and a small woman, about 4′ 8″ touched his arm, trying to get his attention long enough to say a few words to him as he tried to flee. Connolly then reacts like he’s been bitten by a snake, and starts ranting on to her that what she did was assault him, that assault is a felony, and he is going to have this woman, who couldn’t have weighed more than 110 pounds ARRESTED. Connolly then charges down the hall yelling to the capitol police, WHO THEN TAKE CONNOLLY’S CONSTITUENT INTO CUSTODY. The police talk to this woman for about two minutes, and people in the crowd who witnessed this event give their take on this. The woman is then released, and allowed back in the line to fill out a form where she can express her opinion.
Further reading on this topic:
http://www.bvbl.net/index.php/2009/11/05/breaking-gerry-connolly-tries-to-get-constituent-arrested/
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Congressional-staffer-denies-pushing-visitor-69326747.html
http://townhall.com/blog/g/25e06ac0-1eff-4af0-b823-7509538c3656
VA-35: A post election analysis
The final results for VA-35 are in:
Mark Keam (D) 12,588 (%50.65)
Jim Hyland (R) 12,242 (%49.25)
Write-in 22 (%0.08)
Congratulations to Mark Keam, VA-35’s newest citizen legislator. Between the two candidates running, Keam’s campaign was better funded and a lot more organized. All of this is my subjective opinion but the facts back me up. Keam was visible; both on TV and in the mailbox. On the other hand, Jim Hyland was MIA months, and I only received one mailing from his campaign. Keam personally knocked on my door, taking a lesson learned from Chap Petersen’s winning strategy that has paid him big dividends. If Hyland did knock on my door he didn’t leave anything suggesting he’d been there.
What really amazes me is for all the hard work and money Keam (and the Democratic Party of Virginia) poured into this campaign it came down to 346 votes separating winner from loser. Keam spent lots of money, sent out colorful mailings, knocked on doors, appeared on TV, and had the backing of current “part time” Governor, err… I mean “full time” DNC chairman Tim Kaine, Senator Jim Webb, and former Governer (and current Senator) Mark Warner. Hyland may have done better had he put more personal investment (time and door knocking) into his campaign.
But… could he (Hyland) have done more? He lost by 346 votes, what could he have done to offset those votes? I have a suggestion: Show some principle, state what you support and believe in, and be willing to walk the walk. I explain below.
From day one Keam was very adamant about his desire to legislate more gun control. His stance was clear and unquestionable, just check out the mailings he sent to my mailbox on the issue:
Click this link to view larger images
Keam is clearly your man if you support gun control. Knowing that Keam has the gun control crowd locked in (and how could he not?) if I were Hyland (and I did not support gun control) I’d contrast myself… campaigning FOR gun rights. However, Hyland also appeared to be a supporter of gun control. According to the Fairfax Connection newspaper he stated he supports closing the “gun show loophole”, supports the “one-handgun-a-month” law, and he refused to return the Virginia citizens Defense League’s candidate gun rights survey. How do I know Hyland refused to return the survey? I ran into him Saturday night (Oct 31) and asked him about it, and his apparent lack of respect towards gun rights. What I was surprised to learn however was that Hyland claims to support gun rights in private but felt he had to take a pro gun control stance or else his Democrat opponent Keam would use gun control “as a wedge” against him! Talk about lack of principle! Good grief, Jim… grow a backbone already! How could you not know that you weren’t going to take any votes from Keam the “gun grabber“? Who was advising your campaign, that failure Jean Marie Devolites-Davis? If Hyland felt he had to kowtow to Keam how could we expect him to stand up for himself in the legislature as a freshman delegate? Over the course of our roughly 10 minute conversation I also explained to Hyland why requiring private citizens to run background checks through dealers wouldn’t work like he hoped, discussed Jean Marie Devolites-Davis’ loss to Chap Petersen due to her gun control ideas, and finished up by telling him that VCDL’s VA-Alert reaches over 12,000 Virginia voters; of which he could easily expect several HUNDRED VA-Alert subscribers to reside in his district (VCDL’s VA-Alert readership is more concentrated in the Northern VA, Richmond, and Hampton roads areas). I explained to Hyland that if he lost this election by “several hundred votes” he could lay it squarely on his refusal to return the VCDL Candidate Survey and his expressed public support for gun control. Gun activists are one of the MOST active voting block in Virginia, and Hyland stupidly shunned several hundred of them in his district. I cannot say if returning the survey would have helped him win, but what’s not debatable is he lost crucial votes from gun owners for not being principled, not contrasting his opposing position with a known gun grabber, and allowing Mark Keam to manage a crucial campaign issue for him.
Virginia Governors election post analysis
I think the picture below sums things up nicely. The two blue counties in Western VA are where Deeds grew up (Bath county). No further comment necessary.
Neither candidate in 35th district looks good
Looks like I won’t be voting for anyone in VA-35 this year, both candidates are idiots who support gun control. Mark Keam, and ex K Street lobbyist even went so far as to send several mailings to me decrying the “gun show loophole”. I used those mailings as target practice at the range, along with anything else Keam sent to my door. Jim Hyland thinks VA is a major source for crime guns in NYC and is happy we have one-gun-a-month rationing in addition to closing the “gun show loophole”.
Well, that makes things easy for me at least: If a candidate can’t think straight about a Constitutional right, they cannot be trusted to make other laws, or be trusted with my vote. I will be voting this year, just NOT for either of these two clowns.
Further reading: Candidates Differ Little in Chamber Debate
Joint Forces Quarterly: “Don’t ask don’t tell” about to become “Don’t ask, don’t care”?
Joint Forces Quarterly is one of the magazines you will find in most flag officer waiting rooms in and around the DC area. It is written and intended to be a publication for senior military officers and decision makers and its contents are reviewed and approved by the Chairman of JCS, ADM Mike Mullen before publication by The National Defense University at Ft. McNair. JFQ is quite simply the Pentagon’s top scholarly journal and sounding board for leading military thought and critical analysis. While reading the most recent issue (in a flag waiting room of all places) I came across an interesting article discussing the Clinton era “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of allowing homosexuals to serve in the armed forces as long as they keep their sexuality a secret. The author, Air Force Colonel Om Prakash makes a powerful argument that the time is coming near for the military to revisit its policy on gays serving in the military, but he also points out that the only body with the power to make the change is Congress. Here is the current language of DADT.
I am of the belief that homosexuals are “born gay” and it’s not a choice they make in life (to be homosexual). I came to this decision years ago by rationalizing to myself “Why would anyone choose to be gay, to be despised by certain segments of society, to not be a full equal citizen?” My thoughts were somewhat echoed in the JFQ article:
“I wish I could decide who I fell in love with; if someone thinks I would consciously choose such a life where I am forced to live in hiding and fear, knowing the bulk of the population is against you, is just crazy. I can’t help who I am.” “Why would I choose to suffer like this?”
Another point that caught my attention was that homosexuals must compromise their integrity to serve under DADT. I joined the military out of a sense of honor, duty, and patriotism. It also didn’t hurt that it was a better job than the one I had at the time. But nevertheless, I was proud to serve my country and I did so with immense pride. The three core values my service cherished were Honor, Courage, and Commitment. Let’s look at the first, Honor:
Honor: “I will bear true faith and allegiance …” Accordingly, we will: Conduct ourselves in the highest ethical manner in all relationships with peers, superiors and subordinates; Be honest and truthful in our dealings with each other, and with those outside the Navy; Be willing to make honest recommendations and accept those of junior personnel; Encourage new ideas and deliver the bad news, even when it is unpopular; Abide by an uncompromising code of integrity, taking responsibility for our actions and keeping our word; Fulfill or exceed our legal and ethical responsibilities in our public and personal lives twenty-four hours a day. Illegal or improper behavior or even the appearance of such behavior will not be tolerated. We are accountable for our professional and personal behavior. We will be mindful of the privilege to serve our fellow Americans.
I highlighted several words and phrases for a purpose. How can a homosexual be honest and truthful if living a secret life in the closet? Also, if you have read the linked JFQ essay by Col. Prakash at the beginning of this post you will remember reading about the history of DADT, and that it was feared homosexuals serving openly might engage in risky behavior or drug use. I understand the law and rational behind DADT was the geniuses of Congress, and they have neither morals or integrity themselves. But to project their own shortcoming upon gay service members is silly and insulting. Military warriors, regardless of sexual orientation live by a code of integrity. It is the secret code of brothers (and sisters ) of arms. Without it there is no trust, no loyalty, no sacrifice for the betterment of your country. Patriots serve out of a sense of duty to their country and fellow man, and they expect the best out of each other and push each other toward that goal every day. Being gay doesn’t change the equation.
The law also forces unusual personal compromises wholly inconsistent with a core military value—integrity. Several homosexuals interviewed were in tears as they described the normous personal compromise in integrity they had been making, and the pain felt in serving in an organization they wholly believed in, yet that did not accept them.
I fully support lifting DADT, it serves no purpose in today’s military.
Sorry for the poor quality of this post, I wrote and posted this from my phone while sitting in a VW dealership getting my car fixed.
Further reading Joint Forces Quarterly
About that Deeds fundraiser
VA state senator Chap Petersen has published the details about his fundraiser for Criegh Deeds on his blog, oxroadsouth. Based on that information, it seems this is a ticketed event and the cheap seats start at $100. They must be serving some fancy wine and cheese at this fundraiser, or Chap is aiming for “Ranger” status with Deeds. Deeds’ website has no mention anywhere of events the common citizen can attend to hear his views or communicate their own to him. I don’t think I’ve heard of any events featuring Deeds within reasonable driving distance not during normal work hours that I could attend without taking time off. Is this the image Deeds wants to promote? That a citizen must “pay to play” to hear his views or get face time with him? If it’s this hard to get face time with the candidate now, how accessible will he be once elected?
As a contrast, I’ve been to TWO McDonnell events in Northern VA. At both events McDonnell gave a speech and made his views (that I mostly don’t agree with) perfectly clear. He also stuck around to shake hands and have (short) conversations with anyone who wanted to speak to him.
Light posting ahead
Lots of stuff keeping me busy tonight and this weekend. I hope to have an update concerning a Deeds “meet and greet” fundraiser in NoVA in a few days. Prime opportunity to ask him why he’s allowing emotion to dictate his views on closing the non existent “gunshow loophole”. Chap Petersen will be there too and I’ll be asking him to sponsor a bill next year that removes the provision in VA code which allows LEO cars to travel in HOV lanes with no additional passengers, even when they are commuting home and not on official business.
