Tribute to the US Marine Corps

I received an email this morning from a college friend and rugby mentor, a retired career Marine aviator, in reply to my email wishing him a happy 236th USMC birthday.  He shared with me the toast offered at the 1978 Marine Corps Birthday Ball, by then-Commandant General Louis Wilson, affectionately known as the "Smiling Cobra" (as an aside, just how bad do you have to be to earn a nickname like "Smiling Cobra"?)  I feel obliged to share it with you here:

GENERAL WILSON'S USMC BIRTHDAY TOAST

 

On the occasion marking the birthday of the US Marine Corps, 1978, onboard

Camp LeJeune, and in the presence of several thousand Marines and their

ladies, General Louis H. Wilson, CMC, arose to deliver his long awaited
address to the troops. He approached the rostrum, nodded to the CG's
(Base, FSSG and Division) and proceeded to explain to the captive masses
that he would be short on words that night - then turned to his bride, took a
glass and, amid absolutely DEAD SILENCE, offered this toast - and
promptly SAT DOWN.

LOVE

THE WONDERFUL LOVE OF A BEAUTIFUL MAID,
THE LOVE OF A STAUNCH TRUE MAN,
THE LOVE OF A BABY, UNAFRAID,
HAVE EXISTED SINCE TIME BEGAN.

BUT THE GREATEST OF LOVES,
THE QUINTESSENCE OF LOVES,
EVEN GREATER THAN THAT OF A MOTHER,
IS THE TENDER, PASSIONATE, INFINITE LOVE,
OF ONE DRUNKEN MARINE FOR ANOTHER.

 
THE WHOOPIN AND HOLLERIN WENT ON FOR A GOOD TEN MINUTES

God Bless the United States Marine Corps and keep them safe

Don't Laugh at the French Anymore

We have surrendered. Surrendered with barely a whimper, just like the French. That's right, surrendered part of our Nation's sovereign territory to Mexico, by way of the Mexican drug cartels. This is what was posted today on the Fox News website:

"Federal officials make 80-mile stretch of Arizona-Mexico border -- including part of national wildlife refuge -- a virtual no-man's land as violence by drug smugglers and illegals runs rampant."

So what would you call it? A foreign entity has crossed our border and now controls part of the United States of America to the extent that a Department of the US Government has warned American citizens not to go there. What is it going to take for the Obama Administration to do it's constitutionally mandated duty and protect us from our enemies? Send in the military and don't tie their hands with asinine rules of engagement. Just shoot the bastards.  I hope we have plenty of radiological detection equipment there as well because this surrender of 80 miles of US border territory is a clear signal to the jihadis that the backdoor to America is now wide open for them to bring in a nuke.

Would we be willing to surrender the border from Pebble Beach to Ragged Point? How about from Cape May to the Barnegat Light? So why on our southern border?

So much for the illegal immigration invasion just being "poor people just trying to make a better life for themselves and their family." I think the movement to reclaim Aztlan has taken a giant step forward.

How To Fix the BP Oil Well Mess

The massive leak of crude oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico from a broken pipe almost a mile below the surface is a continuing disaster, threatening to reach epic proportions.  Now six weeks into the crisis, multiple attempts to stem the flow or capture the leaking crude have been unsuccessful to date. If the latest attempt fails, it could be August or later before relief wells are drilled to fix the problem.

They have been going about it all wrong from Day 1.

I'm not a scientist, geologist, or oil drilling expert. You don't have to be for my solution.  What is needed is comprehensive oil drilling reform. Oil that has already reached the shores of Louisiana and Mississippi must be allowed to remain - after all, it's come a long way to get there.  Trapped more than a mile below the sea floor for millions of years, it just wanted to come to America to fuel our cars, planes and factories and be a part of the American Dream. It just went about it the wrong way. Are we going to collect all the spilled crude and force it back under the ocean floor and make it return via the usual manner? We must be realistic. It had the best of intentions in coming to America's shores, which we know reigns supreme. Regardless of the devastating effects to the fragile ecosystem, to the Gulf fishing industry and to Gulf Coast tourism, it's too simplistic an approach to just stem the flow. We must all join together to craft a comprehensive reform measure.

The Gun is Civilization

Insightful piece that has been around, but still worth reprinting




The Gun is Civilization




by Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)



Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.



In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.



When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force.



The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.



There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential victims are armed.



People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.



Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.



People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.



The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.



When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation... and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.



By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)



So the greatest civilization is one where all adult citizens are armed and can only be persuaded, never forced.

San Diego Bay Tsunami Storm Surge Video

Thanks to San Diego Urban Search & Rescue - California Task Force 8 (CA-TF8)

Some Good News for Maryland Gun Owners

SB 516 - Assault Weapons Ban 2010 has been withdrawn from consideration.  However, a number of other onerous pieces of anti-gun legislation remain to be defeated. They think they can throw us a bone and we'll drop our guard, allowing one or more of these to get through. We must redouble our efforts and defeat these attempts, such as those in previous posts, to infringe on our Consitutional rights.

Molon Labe!

The Mount Vernon Statement

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This speaks for itself - go here to sign if you agree

Constitutional Conservatism: A Statement for the 21st Century


We recommit ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding. Through the Constitution, the Founders created an enduring framework of limited government based on the rule of law. They sought to secure national independence, provide for economic opportunity, establish true religious liberty and maintain a flourishing society of republican self-government.

These principles define us as a country and inspire us as a people. They are responsible for a prosperous, just nation unlike any other in the world. They are our highest achievements, serving not only as powerful beacons to all who strive for freedom and seek self-government, but as warnings to tyrants and despots everywhere.

Each one of these founding ideas is presently under sustained attack. In recent decades, America’s principles have been undermined and redefined in our culture, our universities and our politics. The selfevident truths of 1776 have been supplanted by the notion that no such truths exist. The federal government today ignores the limits of the Constitution, which is increasingly dismissed as obsolete and irrelevant.

Some insist that America must change, cast off the old and put on the new. But where would this lead — forward or backward, up or down? Isn’t this idea of change an empty promise or even a dangerous deception?

The change we urgently need, a change consistent with the American ideal, is not movement away from but toward our founding principles. At this important time, we need a restatement of Constitutional conservatism grounded in the priceless principle of ordered liberty articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

The conservatism of the Declaration asserts self-evident truths based on the laws of nature and nature’s God. It defends life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It traces authority to the consent of the governed. It recognizes man’s self-interest but also his capacity for virtue.

The conservatism of the Constitution limits government’s powers but ensures that government performs its proper job effectively. It refines popular will through the filter of representation. It provides checks and balances through the several branches of government and a federal republic.

A Constitutional conservatism unites all conservatives through the natural fusion provided by American principles. It reminds economic conservatives that morality is essential to limited government, social conservatives that unlimited government is a threat to moral self-government, and national security conservatives that energetic but responsible government is the key to America’s safety and leadership role in the world.

A Constitutional conservatism based on first principles provides the framework for a consistent and meaningful policy agenda.

* It applies the principle of limited government based on the rule of law to every proposal.

* It honors the central place of individual liberty in American politics and life.

* It encourages free enterprise, the individual entrepreneur, and economic reforms grounded in market solutions.

* It supports America’s national interest in advancing freedom and opposing tyranny in the world and prudently considers what we can and should do to that end.

* It informs conservatism’s firm defense of family, neighborhood, community, and faith.

If we are to succeed in the critical political and policy battles ahead, we must be certain of our purpose.

We must begin by retaking and resolutely defending the high ground of America’s founding principles.