"There is no virtue in compulsory government charity, and there is no virtue in advocating it. A politician who portrays himself as "caring" and "sensitive" because he wants to expand the government's charitable programs is merely saying that he's willing to try to do good with other people's money. Well, who isn't? And a voter who takes pride in supporting such programs is telling us that he'll do good with his own money -- if a gun is held to his head."

— P.J. O'Rourke

Stand, Men of the West

I am feeling giddy over Scott Brown's win in MASS and nostalgic for GWB, who left office one year ago today. Whenever I hear this, I think of him. And whenever I hear anyone criticize Israel, I think of it again:

“A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!”

(thanks, Richard, for the audio link)

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechreturnoftheking.html

More P.J.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGS82XCCwLA&feature=related

NOBODY SAYS IT BETTER THAN P.J.

PLEASE. I promise you, this is the best 1/2 hour you can spend:

http://taxingtennessee.blogspot.com/2009/12/extraordinary-speech-by-pj-orourke.html

climategate / Warmers

"I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives." Tolstoy

What I will NEVER understand is the enthusiasm people have for doom and gloom and disaster. I've lived through predictions of global cooling, overpopulation, wides-spread famine by the end of the 20th century, DDT ... and none of them panned out.

So why did the same people believe the same people and jump on the MMGW bandwagon? Man-made global warming has been nothing but a multi-billion dollar high school science project. And any of my kids' science teachers would have flunked Al Gore.

Three words, Al: SHOW YOUR WORK

Climategate

First of all, from now on we call people who continue to insist on believing in MMGW (man-made global warming) "Warmers" despite all evidence to the contrary. I wish I could think of something more clever making fun of the tea-bagging term, but maybe on another day.

PLEASE click on this link. It totally renewed my faith in the Brits.

http://www.devilskitchen.me.uk/2009/11/crudgate-why-this-cant-be-swept-under.html

Rip Jack Flanagan

Born March 21, 1925

Died November 22, 2009

If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.

Thank You to all our Vets

“It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It
is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the
soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose
coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.”

Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC

Ft Hood

I am fully prepared to worry about Jonathon's safety once he graduates from USNA. What I am NOT prepared for is worrying about him when he is on a military base.

The following is a perfect quote for how I am feeling (completely and totally outraged):

More on Ft. Hood and Guns [Jay Nordlinger]

This was incredibly sad, and maddening, too: A reader reports seeing a CNN interview with one of the wounded soldiers and his wife. You can read the transcript here. The soldier was to be deployed in January, and still will be. (Afghanistan.) His wife was asked her feelings about this, and responded, “At least he’s safe there and he can fire back, right?”

TAXES

Everyone needs to know these statistics:

43 percent of American households do not pay any federal income tax. On the other hand, the top one-fifth of households pay 69 percent of the entire costs of the federal government.

The only reason the top one-fifth wage earners are not storming the White House with pitchforks is because THEY ARE TOO BUSY EARNING A LIVING. And employing thousands and thousands while they are at it.

And the 43% who don't contribute? Well, why wouldn't they vote for anything that would cause a tax increase? Of course, they should remember they might be employed by someone effected, but no matter. Or that with every tax increase, charitable donations, which I can only assume benefits some of those 43%, goes down.

Rediculous, frustrating and no way to run a country.

Another Great P.J. Quote

“There is no virtue in compulsory government charity, and there is no virtue in advocating it. A politician who portrays himself as caring and sensitive because he wants to expand the government’s charitable programs is merely saying that he is willing to do good with other people’s money. Well, who isn’t? And a voter who takes pride in supporting such programs is telling us that he will do good with his own money— if a gun is held to his head.”

~ P. J. O’Rourke

(these were my thoughts during Ted Kennedy's funeral)

October 2009

Not that I live under the illusion that I have many readers, but those of you who are wondering why no new news lately, my dad is has been diagnosed with lung cancer.

He just finished some radiation treatment for tumors in his brain; this Wed he will meet with the oncologist to make decisions about further treatment.

Needless to say, I was distracted on our trip to Annapolis to visit Jonathon. We had to break the news to him (JY did the honors) and I had to make several calls to Scotland. The worst was to my cousin Margaret; she and her sister Lucille had to inform my dad's nearly-90 year old brother of the bad news.

But it was a good trip nonetheless; we went to a couple of classes with Jonathon (Game theory was the most interesting), including swimming where Nate and I held our breath waiting to see if Jonathon would require rescue (he didn't! the Navy has at least taught him to swim)

We had a great time watching Navy beat Louisiana Tech. We also ran into the Rupp family (children of our friend Margaret's, a family where everyone either went to USNA, married someone who went to USNA or gave birth to someone who went to USNA)

We also went to Mike's for our traditional crab fest. The Yenny Men make a good showing and sat to the last minute eating cleanup. We met some of Jonathon's friends' parents and enjoyed all of them. Seems like all the fun people are from Texas or Oklahoma these days.

I posted a few pics to the right (someday I will figure out my camera and get an inside pic that doesn't look awful)

My family has started a blog with news and updates about my dad at: http://californiaflanagans.blogspot.com/

Surrounded by Marines

C McDonald, Pat, me, Jonathon at lunch during Jonathon's summer break. Really ... it's a coincidence that we were sitting in front of a beer sign!

Andrew Jackson ....

said the following in his farewell address:

There is but one safe rule, and that is to confine the General Government rigidly within the sphere of its appropriate duties. It has no power to raise a revenue or impose taxes except for the purposes enumerated in the Constitution, and if its income is found to exceed these wants it should be forthwith reduced and the burden of the people so far lightened.

Barack Obama should be forced to right it on a blackboard a trillion times.

Mark Steyn on nationalized healthcare

You’ve Had a Good Innings
Ultimately, government health represents the nationalization of your body.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTAxYzFjODdiN2E3OWUyNzY1MDU1ODM1ZjZjYmY3YjM=&w=MA==

On the other hand ...

The last couple of days on the bloggersphere has been : you're guy is immoral ... oh yeah! so is your guy. To which I say: A pox on both their houses. I just want fewer and fewer of them:

The problem is big government. If whoever controls government can impose his way upon you, you have to fight constantly to prevent the control from being harmful. With small, limited government, it doesn’t much matter who controls it, because it can’t do you much harm. — Harry Browne

C.S. LEWIS

Even after all these years, C.S. Lewis is still relevant. Tell me this doesn't apply to our current administration:

“It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometime sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences.”

We need a definition of "un-American"

This is for Nancy Pelosi, since she seems to think raised voices and an angry electorate is "un-American." The following is from a book by Gordon Wood and describes what happened when congress voted to double its own salary in 1816:

Now the people had a chance to make their resentment felt. Throughout the country public meetings composed of both political parties denounced the law that had raised the salaries of congressmen. Several state legislatures along with Fourth of July orators bitterly condemned it. Glasses were raised in criticism; the compensation law, noted one New York editor, was “toasted until it is black.” In Georgia opponents even burned the members of Congress in effigy.

Critics of the raise were especially incensed at Congressman Wright’s indiscreet comment about not being able to enjoy a good glass of wine and cited it over and over to great effect. Popular outrage was unprecedented, and the reputation of Congress was severely tarnished. Even congressmen who had voted against the law had to promise humbly to work to repeal it and to return the salary they had already received. In the fall elections of 1816 nearly 70 percent of the Fourteenth Congress was not returned to the Fifteenth Congress. In January 1817 a chastened lame-duck Fourteenth Congress met to debate the issue of exactly what representation meant, and by and large it determined that the people had every right to instruct their congressmen.

Taking "branding" a little too far

How creepy is this? Our esteemed leader, who not only has his own logo, has his minions working on a logo for nationalized healthcare. So, let's say for argument's sake that the healthcare bill goes through (God forbid), and it's with us for a very, very long time. Worse case scenario is that President Obama will be our president until 2016. But the modified "Obama" logo will live on and on and on.

See here: http://www.gormogons.com/2009/08/its-all-about-me.html

One clever commentor on another blog said it looks like all of our dead relatives are calling us to the light.