On the Road !

Well Candice posted a message and said she wanted me to update the blog so here goes !

We are  in New Bern NC staying at the Aerie Bed and Breakfast. This Victorian Inn was built in 1882 and was originally named the Street-Ward House. The Aerie Bed & Breakfast is an historic site in North Carolina that has been called home by a justice of the peace and hotelier, a State Senator, a social worker, and tenants that included a WWII nurse, a cousin of the Wright Brothers who happened to share Orville’s name, and the son of Pepsi-Cola inventor Caleb Bradham!

Below are a couple of pictures from Inside the Inn including the room we are staying in.

The breakfast here was absolutely awesome and better than any other Inn we have stayed in. On the menu this morning was either French Toast, Eggs, or Pancakes. I had the pancakes. They were made with ginger and instead of syrup, they had a lemon sauce you put over them and while I thought it would be gross, it was actually very good.

Last night for dinner we went to a place called Stingray's. The guy that owns the restaurant also owns both the fish market and the smoke house located beside the restaurant. If you order seafood.....he goes through a door and pulls the fresh catch right out of a cooler that was unloaded from the boats earlier that day. I went out on a limb and instead of seafood, I ordered Frog Legs, Okra, and coleslaw. Frog Legs do not taste like chicken. It was more like a cross between chicken and fish. Very good and I highly recommend it ! That is not my finger in the picture ! Ronda was holding it while I snapped the picture !

Anyone who has spent time in North Carolina knows the slogan for Pepsi.....Born in the Carolina's. Well for me, being a true fan of Pepsi, visiting New Bern was much like a muslim going to Mecca in that this is where it was invented. In fact, I went to the very spot where the original building still stands. It was once a pharmacy and is now a soda fountain type store !

On a final note, I just wanted to say that.......The rest area on I-85 traveling north towards Greensboro does a great job in keeping the restrooms clean....and...I think those jeans make my butt look big !

Movie and Book Review

I recently finshed the book Decision Points by former President George Bush.

I always admired President Bush and even more now that I finished his book.

Those who did not support him always asked the same line of questions. Why did he do this, or what was the purpose of that? President Bush goes into great detail and addresses alot of the questions asked about his administration that were never answered in the press.

His writings provide a very good insight into his thought process and in my mind explain a number of things that were always asked by the liberal press.

Its a great book and  I highly recommend it.


Game Change is another great book and chronicles the 2008 Presedential election with a look at each candidate and the strategies they used.

One very interesting part in the book is When Hillary lost the Iowa vote. She felt that she had to make a bold move at that point in order to win the ultimate goal. In her mind, even though Obama had won the state of Iowa in the prelim's, he would never win the Presidency. So as a political offensive move, over 9 months before the election, she offered the position of Vice Presdient to Obama if he would pull out of the race.

Very intresting reading and not hard at all to follow.

Movies...

Im a junkie for documentaries, especially ones that chronicle war and people participating in it.

Restrpo is a movie definitely worht watching. I think it is probably most realistic look at the harshness of war and the trails that our young men and women are put through. It is a is a feature-length documentary that chronicles the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistans Korengal Valley.

Secondly is the movie THe Battle of Marjah.

"In February 2010, U.S. Marines launched Afghanistan: Operation Moshtarak, the biggest operation since the start of the Afghanistan war, whose main target was the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, a town in Helmand province. Journalist Ben Anderson, who spent two months with the American forces, offers an extraordinarily intimate look at the brutal realities of modern-day warfare."

Both the movies have language that goes beyond foul so it isnt a popcorn and soda type of event. But if you want a real understanding of why our vets are coming back from war with issues that make everyday life difficualt then this will surely give you a better understanding. 

Im betting you didnt know this.

I was watching the news about the protest by all the State employees ( union) in Wisconsin. If you dont know whats going on there you should read up on it.

In a nutshell.....the newly elected governor ( Republican) in an attempt to balance the state budget, proposed cuts to the State Service workers. Not cuts in pay, but having the union re write the contract so the employees could share the costs of certain things currently provided to them at no charge. One of these is health care plans. Under the union contract, the plan comes at no cost to employee's. It was stated in one article that well over 400 employees have what is called a Cadillac plan that costs the state 22,000 per employee. The Governor wants the employees to pick up what amounts to 7 percent of that cost.

Well....the employees launched a protest and stormed the state capitol.

THen as the State Senate met to vote on the proposed budget, none the democrats were present to vote. Under house rules, there has to be 20 lawmakers present to have a quorum (sp). There were 19 republicans present and all the democrats took the day off. In fact, they are all ( as of last night) at a hotel in Illinois refusing to come to work. Even if present, they dont have enough votes to stop the republicans from passing the bill, but no vote can take place unless they are present.

If that wasnt bad enough, the president was on TV last night and made a comment supporting the union and their struggle, but said nothing about cowardly lawmakers who refuse to do their jobs.

Bear with me here....Im gonna wrap this up

Why would the President speak out against a Governor who is simply trying to get his state on track, out of debt, and present a balanced budget ?

YOu can read any random newsletter produced by any random union and you will find that they are all supporters of the Obama administration. Unions, next to oil companies, are in the top 5 Lobbyist groups in Washington. In essence, if Obama wants to get re-elected, he can not lose this base of support. THe easiest way to stay in the good graces of your loyalist is to throw the Republicans under the bus.

Bu Bu Bu Bu wait its gets worse.....

SEIU is the acronym for the Service employees International Union. They represent the largest group of union support to Obama next to the UAW in terms of power in numbers and Lobbyist. THe SEIU has played an integral part in support of and Lobbying for the Obama health care plan

Are you ready for this......here it comes.....

Over 700 organizations have filed for a waiver from the Obama helthcare plan if it is passed. They are so sure it will get passed, and understand the cost to each individual, that they wanted a waiver so as not to have to subscribe to it. I mean, why pay for it if you can get it for free from your state.

One of the 700 organizations is SEIC which currently has lobbyist supporting it and trying to get the plan passed even though they have no requirement to subscribe to it.



I swear, I feel like Im taking crazy pills....

Thats it....I got nothing else for ya.

5:09 AM - Wake up America !

Its just a little after 5 in the in morning and I knew that when I went to bed last night before the O'Rielly factor was over that I was going to wake up early. Sure enough, I was up and hitting the ' brew button' on the coffee pot shortly after 4:30. So now with a cup of coffee in me, its time to put something in this blog that has been bugging me for a couple of days.

The Liberals out in California never cease to both amaze and amuse me. Im amazed at some of the issues they persue, Im amused when they come on the television and talk about it.

I was so amazed and amused when I saw a recent interview that I grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down the info. Ive misplaced that note so the name is lost but not the issue. I tried to google the lady's name using the title but couldnt find it. However, in a nutshell, what follows is my recollection of the interview.

If you google Berkeley California, you will find that most of the population there are both Liberals and throwbacks to the the peace and love generation of the 60's. One group, which seems to have the City Council in a choke hold, is the Peace and Justice Commission.

They  introduced a resolution to the city council and intend to allow the current detainees at Guantanamo Bay, once released, to be allowed to take up residence in their little town.

On the surface, this may seem like a nice gesture from the peace loving people of this little California town, but that really isnt the case. The commission is out to prove that holding and  detaining these people is actually a War Crime and providing them residency is a way to right the wrong that was done to them.

When interviewed, the spokeswoman, spent more time pushing the anti-war agenda than actually talking about the misfortune of these 'illegally' detained individuals. She came off sounding silly and thats why I said earlier that I was both amazed and amused.

If you are going to come on National television to push an agenda then you better have some credibility. Now there are some who may have thought she was great in the interview, but I think she sounded like an idiot an was the only one from that group willing to come on television. ( the rest didnt want to embarrass themselves)

THe fact that she would call all military members criminals, and refer to the detainees as victim just offends me to a level that I cant even describe. Im guessing she hasnt watched the video released by Iraqi insurgents where they cut off Nick Berg's head. Maybe she doesent know about the two Army Rangers killed in Iraq, then the bodies dragged through the street, then burned, then hung from a bridge. This woman doesnt have a damn clue about war crimes. She, and those like her have never had a weapon pointed and fired in thier direction much less had to look down a barrel and take a life. War crimes- I can tell you stories about what these people did over there that would keep you awake at night in a cold sweat.

Im just lost for a way to close this out .

Wake up America !

Hunters and Gatherers

I watched this show once on National Geographic about a tribe deep in some jungle.

In the show, they talked about how there were two types of men within the tribe. The Hunters and Gatherers. The hunters were the ones that went out and hunted and killed food so as to provide for the tribe. They were also tasked with providing protection to the tribe in case another tribe attacked.

THe gatherers were the men in the tribe who were old, or unable to still fight and hunt. When the hunters were out these were the men that stayed back and built the fires, repaired the huts, or in general did things that the warriors felt was beneath thier dignity or status.

The women of the tribe found the hunters to be far more attractive than the gatherers.

The narrator of the show used this as a sort of example or analogy for the men in todays society.

When I was in High School, all the good lookin girls would rather be with the 'hunters' than the guys who took Home Ec. ( even though I really dont know any guy that took home ec.)

Now, I typed all of that above this just to get to this point.

Today, I was watching a show called Million Dollar Listing. Its a reality show about 3 real estate agents in California who only deal with multi million dollar properties. All three of them are in thier early 20's and have become quite successful.

As Im watching the show, my son came downstairs and is standing in the kitchen making some coffee. He and I were about to have a cup as we discussed warriorly things. ( as real men do)

Right at that point, the guy on the show is talking about how stressful his job is and at certain times when he is feeling 'down' , the only cure is to go shoe shopping.

SHOE SHOPPING !.....he actually said it and even now as I stare at this screen Im sort of at a loss for words.

So lets put this in perspective as it applies to me.

Just imagine if I , along with 3 or 4 of my friends along with my son and 3 or 4 of his friends were all gathered at my house. We are sitting in the den eating hot wings and pizza while watching Championship Wrestling. The matches are great and are full of drop kicks and choke holds. The main event comes on and features Dusty Rhoads challenging Rick Flair for the title of Heavyweight Champion. Im rooting for Dusty....and Rick winds up winning the match. This really bums me out along with several others in the room. I stand up and look at all the guys ( who have bbq sauce dripping from thier chins) and say......you know guys, Im really depressed about the outcome of this match. I really wanted Dusty to win. Im so bummed out. My son tellls me to cheer up Dad....Dusty will win next time.

But Im just down and out over this and even the upcoming Roller Derby afterwards does nothing to lift my spirits. So I tell the guys present - ya know....when Im down and out.....I like to go to shopping for shoes.

I cant even imagine what the reaction would be. They would probably duct tape my hands and feet and throw me out in the yard, invite more people over and make fun of me.

But, heres the real deal. When David Brown gets down and out he doesent go shoe shopping because he's a hunter, and not a gatherer.

My father raised myself and brothers to be men. I didnt realize it then, but I know now that he was a man's man. Anyone reading this who knew my father will understand exactly what Im saying. I know for a fact that he didnt feel the need to shop for foot wear to make him feel better. I may not have appreciated it to its fullest when I was growing up but I can assure you now that I thank God I had a father that raised me the way he did. Im also so thankful that I have a son that has grown into a fine young man and doesent feel the need, when depressed to go to the Hallmark Store and read the inspirational cards.

Im guessing this guy took Home Economics when he was in High school.

The shopping for shoes comment threw me off on this little tangent today....now I feel the need to go do something manly....like change the oil in my truck.

Take care...

David

Snoring

This hefer is snoring !

Hmmmmmmm...not sure what to say here

A few random thoughts...

The superbowl....Im glad Green Bay won even though I would have rather seen Dallas win it. I cant stand the QB for Pittsburgh. I just cant help but feel that for the money you get paid, and the millions of people ( and kids) who view you weekly, you are( by default) held to a higher moral standard.

The National Anthem..

Each of the 4 branches of the military have a 'service song'. I dont care whether members of the other branches know the 'thier' song or not but I always felt that every 'Marine' should know the words to The MArines Hymn. As a matter of fact, I never met a Marine that didnt know the song. It is 'our' song and it its a point of pride everytime I hear the music played.

Standing at a podium during my retirement, I told the Marines in attendance this very thing ! I added as a rhetorical question, how many of them know not just the first verse.....but all three verses. I didnt want to know the answer but said to those that didint, shame on you., Its your song...Its our heritage...and in a time when traditions and history seem to be pushed to the wayside and substituted for change and social acceptance, its important that we remember the things before us that got us to where we are now.

So at the opening of the game, Christina Agulara sang the National Anthem. She flubbed it about halfway through the performance. I wont harp on it except to say this....

Im willing to bet that if this women had been in concert getting paid to sing the songs she is famous for, she would know all the words and the performance would be flawless.

Shame on you Christina.


Dave