Delftsman

H/T to James in s.h. and GuyK

Another Christmas Eve..

Well, another Christmas Eve has passed , and in the tradition of all the years past in my life, we spent it with my family; sadly, for the first time in my life, my mother and father couldn't make the trip down to be with us due to inclement weather and a balky car. It made for a different experience, but nevertheless a happy one.

With the current economic conditions there were far less presents than in times past, but there was at least SOMETHING for everyone present; maybe not large and certainly not expensive (in all but two cases)but it certainly led credence to the truth that it is the thought that matters most, not the cost.

For myself, I received the THE finest present that I have ever had. As much as I love my eldest daughter,our differing attitudes toward politics and the Military has always been a source of contention between us. We just honestly differ greatly on our basic outlooks on life, she being a true "Progressive" type and I being a staunch believer in individualism and the smallest government possible.

Bearing that in mind, when I saw the following in the card she gave to Beth and I; I was truly moved and so damned proud of the fine woman my daughter has become.

This is what the enclosure in the Christmas card said:

Dear Dad and Beth,

Although we're all struggling in tough economic times,we realize how amazingly blessed we are to have everything we need and much of what we want. In this spirit, we've decided this year to fore go buying tangible presents and instead share our blessings by donating to causes that represent the interests and passions of each family. With your dedicated support of the United States Military in mind, we've made a donation in your honor to the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization that supports soldiers seriously injured in the service of their country. We love you both very much and wish you a very Merry Christmas and healthy and prosperous New Year !

Love,
Erin & Joanna

While neither my daughter nor my Ex are anti-military, they do possess the Progressive mindset and wouldn't normally consider contributing to such an organization, so the fact that they did so because of MY passions for such a group means that they truly gave real thought to what I like even in the face of their own inclinations, and isn't that truly what a REAL Christmas gift is all about?
Consideration of the other and not the Self; I am truly Blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

I am going to frame that insert and display it prominently in my office to remind myself that, while we may differ in outlook, my daughter and I can agree to disagree on some things and still get along well with each other.

I hope everyone of you had as good a Christmas Eve as Beth and I did and we both wish all of you the very best wishes in the coming New Year.

Merry Christmas!

BEST Vegas Ad Ever!

Illinois and Chicago.... Who Runs it?

Senators: Barack Obama & Dick Durbin
Representative: Jesse Jackson, Jr.
Illinois Governor: Rod Blagojevich (arrested & indicted)
Illinois House leader: Mike Madigan
Illinois Attorney General: Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike)
Chicago Mayor: Richard M. Daley (son of Mayor Richard J. Daley)

The leadership in Illinois? .....all Democrats.

Democrats:
Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago.
Body count in the last six months: 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago
221 killed in Iraq in the same period

State pension fund - $44 Billion in debt, worst in the country.

Cook County (Chicago) sales tax - 10.25% highest in country. (Look it up).

Chicago school system - rated one of the worst in the country.

Of course, they're all blaming each other. They can't blame Republicans because there aren't any.

This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois.

And he's going to '"fix" Washington politics for us ?!?

Ed Freeman... A True Hero'

You're an 18 or 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965. LZ Xray , Vietnam . Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 - 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is 1/2 way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a
helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.

Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.

He's coming anyway.

And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and Nurses.

And, he kept coming back...... 13 more times..... and took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.

Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman died last Wednesday at the age of 80, in Boise, ID ......May God rest his soul.....

(Oh yeah, Paul Newman died that day too. I guess you knew that --
He got a lot more press than Ed Freeman.)

That's one of the things wrong with our country today; ask any teenager or idiot (but I repeat myself)on the street and they will tell you more than you would ever care to know about the bio/schedule/latest tawdry escapade of the likes of Paris Hilton , but real heroes like Ed Freeman are only known by those who's lives he saved, if even by them.

Our Republic was founded with the idea that an EDUCATED electorate would be the true rulers, but the People have not tended to their responsibility and have allowed self-serving Politicians and Socialists pulling the strings in the background to gradually reduce the amount of true education that the average citizen receives. These days the Electorate has become nothing more than a Mob mentality group, pandered to every election cycle and then betrayed to special interests after the election. Even worse, the slow spread of Socialism has continued unabated, with every protest against it blocked by an elitist political class interested only in their own agendas.

THE Deer Hunter

Two deer hunters were standing on a ridge near a highway in rural Northwest Pennsylvania on the opening day of deer season. They both saw a trophy-class buck meandering towards them. As the one hunter raised his gun to shoot, a funeral procession came slowly by.

The hunter lowered his gun, took off his hat, and stood with his head bowed until the procession was past. Of course by then, the deer was long gone.

The other hunter exclaimed "Wow! That was the most sportsmanlike act I've ever seen! You allowed this trophy buck to escape while showing such compassion and kindness toward someone's dearly departed.

You are a great humanitarian and a shining example to sportsmen throughout the world!"

The first hunter nodded and said. . .."Well, we were married for 42 years."

Thanks Catfish

Need Some Entertainment?

Here's an interesting take on world history, based on the premise that Oil is the defining factor in the course of major world events. It's long, but done with great humor and there is that nut kernel of truth to satisfy the intellectual conservative as well as the absurdity to get the Progressive Eco-loons on board as well.

PC ? Bullsh*t!

FINALLY someone has the guts to really lay it out in a public forum.

Ben Shapiro, THANK YOU, for saying what had to be said, without equivocation or apology.

Plight of the Nation

Is Obama eligible to be POTUS?

The SCOTUS refused a writ of certiorari on Dec 5, in a case presented to it about this question. There are, however, at least three other suits still active with this question at their very heart and if you think about it, this question puts the validity of the very Constitution to the test.

The Constitutional requirements for eligibility are extremely simple, namely that:
1. The candidate be a Naturally born Citizen.
2. The candidate shall have attained the age of at least thirty five (35) years.

That's IT. No more. Easily proven and totally reasonable requirements.

If we can allow a usurper to become POTUS without protest, then every principle that this country is founded upon no longer has any practical meaning, and we are plunged into a chaos of "every man for himself" using the application of power to attain his goals.

Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D. has an excellent analysis of the legal question and it's possible ramifications that should be read by every member of the Electorate.

In my mind, Mr. Obama is demonstrating his unfitness for the post by his very refusal to cooperate in settling the question. It poses NO hardship or loss of any kind on his part, ASSUMING HIS ELIGIBILITY, and his refusal lends credence to the assertions of his accusers, to the detriment of the nation as a whole.
Are these the actions of a Patriot,indeed, of just any responsible Citizen? This does not bode well for the Obama Administration, for such demonstrated hubris will not, and CANNOT, long remain in a Democratic Republican system without either the purveyor of said hubris or the system itself breaking down into total ineffectiveness.

That the man refuses to put to rest a question that can so easily be refuted demonstrates a total lack of concern for the body politic, and a personal hubris that ill befits a leader in a Democratic system.

We have suffered under the effects of BDS for the last eight years; I do not wish to become a victim of ODS; I want to be able to support my President as much as possible given our differences in visions allows, and engage in respectful opposition where that vision differs, but this is not an auspicious way for that type of interaction to begin.

When OJ Dies...

One day in the future, OJ Simpson has a heart-attack and dies.

He immediately goes to hell, where the devil is waiting for him.
I don't know what to do here,' says the devil. 'You are on my list, but I have no room for
you. You definitely have to stay here, so I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I've got a couple of folks here who weren't quite as bad as you. I'll let one of them go, but you have to take their place. I'll even let YOU decide who leaves.'

OJ thought that sounded pretty good, so the devil opened the door to the first room.
In it was Ted Kennedy and a large pool of water. Ted kept diving in, and surfacing, empty
handed. Over, and over, and over he dove in and surfaced with nothing. Such was his fate in hell. 'No,' OJ said. 'I don't think so. I'm no t a good swimmer, and I don't think I could
do that all day long.'
The devil led him to the door of the next room. In it was Al Gore with a sledgehammer
and a room full of rocks. All he did was swing that hammer, time after time after time. 'No, this is no good; I've got this problem with my shoulder. I would be in constant agony if all I could do was break rocks all day,' commented OJ.

The devil opened a third door. Through it, OJ saw Bill Clinton, lying on the bed, his arms tied over his head, and his legs restrained in a spread-eagle pose. Bent over him was Monica Lewinsky, doing what she does best. OJ looked at this in shocked disbelief,
and finally said, 'Yeah man, I can handle this.'

The devil smiled and said . . . . 'OK, Monica, you're free to go.'

H/T to da Catfish

Do you Know Frank?

A man walks out to the street and catches a taxi just going by. He gets into the taxi, and the cabbie says, 'Perfect timing. You're just like Frank.'

Passenger: 'Who?'

Cabbie: 'Frank Feldman. He's a guy who did everything right all the time. Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happened like that to Frank Feldman every single time.'

Passenger: 'There are always a few clouds over everybody.'

Cabbie: 'Not Frank Feldman. He was a terrific athlete. He could have won the Grand-Slam at tennis. He could golf with the pros. He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano. He was an amazing guy.'

Passenger: 'Sounds like he was something really special.'

Cabbie: 'There's more... He had a memory like a computer. He remembered everybody's birthday. He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which fork to eat them with. He could fix anything. Not like me. I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out. But Frank Feldman, he could do everything right'

Passenger: 'Wow, some guy then.'

Cabbie: 'He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams. Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Frank, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good. He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too - He was the perfect man! He never made a mistake. No one could ever measure up to Frank Feldman.'

Passenger: 'An amazing fellow. How did you meet him?'

Cabbie: 'Well, I never actually met Frank, he died. I married his widow.'

Quote of the Day

"It is sobering to reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence." – Charles A. Beard