Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Collorary? Or Corollary?
Of course, if I’m not correctly mistaken, I make perfectly good mistakes on my own. Just see my previous two posts.
Bobble
You’re a RACIST for pointing that out.
Dern. No spell checking in the post title
I’d sure hate to try and pronounce “collorary” after a few drinks. I bet VX could do it though.
Hell, I can’t even pronounce it SOBER! But, come to think of it, drunk it would probably roll off my lips smooth as silk. Amazing the feats one is capable of after a few drinks. Someday I’ll have to regale you with the complete story of how I wrapped a line of concertina wire around the left tire & axle of my jeep going thru a roadblock in Quang Nai City one morn around 0200 returning from a soiree at the USAID House. Untangled it in a single sweep of my deft rt. hand w. only street-lights for viz. Sober, I’d still be struggling with the damn tangled mess today.
I get the impression VX has had plenty of practice.
you gotta be Japanese.
Can you say: co ro rar re?
Damn the man. Aren’t we all entitled to a free spell chequer?
Feminists have done the same thing with the word “rape”.
The English language is a wonderful thing–but it is not infinitely tolerant of abuse. Words have meanings–and if they are abused, then they lose their meaning. They become debased and meaningless. The word “racist” has just about arrived at that point.
I can recall listening to a very well dressed and well coiffed sorority alumna in the early mid 1960’s. Lady Gotbucks her ownself as it were. She was of a certain age, and she was earnestly upset about what had happened to the word “discriminating”. To her, having “discriminating taste” in selecting, art, clothing etc was a mark of education, breeding and class.
Sad to say the adverb became a verb, and being “discriminating” in the mid 60’s and thereafter was to bear the mark of Cain. Were she alive today, she would have to make do with the word “discerning” to achieve the same end.
How about this simple 3 letter word? “GAY”. Nowhere near the meaning it had when my parents were children, or even when I was a kid.
I’m normally gay. VX is gay after he gets a few shots in his bloodstream. Very gay if he’s marinating.
QM/
I’m not Gay! I’m BI—-Coastal, that is.
is Bicoastal something like manic depressive? All along I thought you were a very gay individual, given the experiences you relate here.
VX;
Not like there’s anything wrong with that…:)
I even did one tour in SD….does that make me bi-coastal?
yer all racist gayist queerist homophobicist boozerist humanist sexist rapists -with a violent slant. I also recall one of you being a guitarist so there. And I’m sure the Congressional Black Caucus would throw in some more-ists of they could thinkist of them.
G-Man here’s more- From “Blazing Saddles”:
Hedley Lamarr: I want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists.
OLD H-2 Guy/
LOL! And the Indian agents and the Methodists are probably the worst of the lot! At least the others make no pretensions of rectitude of ANY sort.
Hey you stay away from my rectitude. I don’t how discriminating your gay drinking buddies think you are.
blackeaglke603/
BWAAHAHAhahaha!!!!!
(even tho you did omit “care” between the “don’t” and the “how.”
)
“Any port in a storm” there Bo. So bohica!
Someone sent me a photo recently of a ship appropriately, since it was crewed by sailors, named “Titan Uranus”. Go figure. LOL
That ship had to be owned either by an astronomer or a porno-king.
Or a porno-king whose hobby is astronomy…… Either that or a gay astronomer.
I’m running the risk of introducing a “sober” tone into this gay conversation, but most of the people who use the word “racist” don’t know nor have experienced true racisim and it’s effects. I worked for the Boy Scouts of America for 5 years after my time in the Navy and my second assignment for them was a real eye opener.
My first assignment was the “Perdido Bay” District, including all of NAS Pensacola, Corry Field and Saufley. My volunteer district chairman was a Rear Admiral and when I would visit him, a LCDR. would bring me coffee. After 3 years in Pensacola, the National Council was eager to integrate the Birmingham, AL Area Council and I was chosen as one of the new team, drawn from across the entire country, to do just that.
My experiences in Birmingham was very real, on-the-street, working with people to achieve an integrated program, including people from the Cub and Boy Scout level, all the way up to the volunteer adult leadership roles. Needless to say, there way many people who were not sympathetic with our purpose.
Many real-life Alabama feelings, experiences were on the agenda for each and every day, some good and some not so good. Without going into too much detail, some of the issues concerned the organization of new district lines to include black Scouting units, black and white troops attending summer camp at the same time and even whether or not people would be willing to meet together, not to mention sitting down to a group meal.
My wife was a medical technologist at that time and she was met with many, shall we say, unusual things working in a major Birmingham hospital. One that sticks in my mind is the question of drinking fountains: when we arrived there were always two, one for whites and a separate one for blacks… only that’s not what they were called back there and then.
We saw a neighbor have a cross burned in his front yard, separate waiting rooms at a doctor’s office and totally run-down, worn out schools. This was life in Alabama in the early 70’s.
The experiment ended when the local BSA Council Volunteer Board met and fired the top man, our Scout Executive. Some of us were offered a job and some (read black) were not. As far as I know, they went back to their old ways of segregation about 6 months into the work. I don’t know how it ended, they’re integrated now I’m sure, as I resigned and moved west shortly after the policy change.
We lived with racism back then, every day, every way. It was Racism with a capital “R”. To equate the rhetoric of responsible citizen-demonstrators is a joke and travesty. Mr. Carter lived in Georgia; he knows what it was like. He should know better now (assuming he can remember, of course)!
Mr. Carter seems to be the one who most violates the Ex-Prez protocol of ‘disappear and don’t flap yer yap about them who are in office’. Honestly, the man is such an embarrassment.
I notice that Hedley left out “Mongo’s”. So soon forgotten…sniff…sniff…
I’ll see yer ‘rectitude’ n’ raise ya a ‘dictum factum’. Call!
Mongo, make sure to throw in a conundrum so you don’t catch a STD.
Threadjack: Hey gang, the salmon are jumpin’ in the rivers here in Snohomish County. Saw a dozen get air time whilst crossing the bridge earlier today. Me n the old fishin stick gonna get some tomorrow! Woo Hoo!
Mongo… where do you live in Snohomish County? We’ve been here for 23 years, in “Beautiful Mill Creek”. It would be fun to get together and exchange a few lies… er… stories.
Monroe, just down the road from the fairgrounds. I was out and about in Mill Creek earlier this week. I just remembered something about your Facebook. More to come…via FB.
Dungeness crabbing was great when I was up there in July. Must be global warming or something.
Everyone is a racist now. It means nothing and I don’t care who says it… The Dems have run this card to the bitter end. I think it actually meant something in the 80’s when Sharpton pulled his stunt however, it has been so overused in just 8 short months that it means nothing now.
Dear Mr. Gunn – a decade later the Boy Scouts were completely integrated, at least in SoCal. My husband and I were Webelos leaders from 90′ to 93′. Our little group was completely integrated with two caucasian americans, one asian, one from Argentina one Hispanic and one of black descent.If you count those up you will see that caucasians were a minority in our little patrol.
We went on in scounting and I ended up being a delegate to the Suffolk County Boy Scout Council. We were faced with some very important decisions during my tenure and,I can tell you that race never was mentioned in the debates.
You claim racism in the Boy Scouts back 30+ years ago. I guess we just happened to miss it because I never intuited one whiff of racism from the Boy Scouts for all the years we were involved. I can tell you that the racial minorities in our little patrol did the least. Even my son picked up on this. My response always was “those that do the least are those that need the most.” Truer words were never spoken as years later on a visit back to SoCal I found one of my Webelos standing outside the neighborhood pizza parlor smoking. He was genuinely embarrassed to have me see him there…
Hi Babs,
First, please delete the Mr. I’ve read, and admired many of your comments here and have enjoyed them, agreeing with you and admiring your prose. PeterGunn was my call sign, after the popular TV mystery show of that day.
Secondly, this was in the very early ’70’s, by my count almost 40 years ago. I’m certain the Birmingham Area Council is integrated now, too. As a matter of fact, it has been for many years. Third, Alabama is and has always been a long way from Southern California or Suffolk County. In many cases, it’s a world away.
My point was absolutely not to criticize the Boy Scouts in any way! I believe in them and always will. I worked for the council in Twin Falls, Idaho after leaving Birmingham, spending 5 years in total as a paid “professional” Scouter. I’ve met the very best people in the world as a result of my association with Scouting, our son is an Eagle Scout and I truly love the Scouting movement.
I was merely trying to describe what true racisim can be, as opposed to the eptithets and name calling that is being tossed around today. I was there, we lived through it, it happened. My thoughts skimmed the surface of the experience, but in no way were then intended to impune the Boy Scouts of America nor anyone’s personal experience working as a volunteer!
I don’t know. I was a boy scout back then and now that I think about it one thing that becomes blindingly obvious in hindsight was that there were zero m’words in my troops in Fort Riley, Newport, RI, or Huntsville AL. The first scout master was an Army SFC, the second a navy surgeon commander and the last was a beatnik (imagine that, a beatnik VW bus driving, ham radio fanatic in Huntsville AL in 1976.)
I don’t think I want to attribute this to the r word in so far as the BSA are concerned. Mostly I think it was due purely to demographics (another fine word for the r word). We couldn’t discriminate against minorities and practice our r’ism since human resource puddles at each place did not actually contain any m’words and we had to make do with what was available locally.
So you see, I didn’t know what I missed.
Babs/PeterGunn:
My memory goes back slightly further. When I first arrived in the South as a freshman at LSU in fall ‘62 Jim Crow was still in full force. By the the time I graduated in ‘66 the official part of segregation had all been swept away. I witnessed history being made before my very eyes everyday–a remarkable first-hand eyewitness experience. And yes, I know racism, Mr. Carter, and what you see today at the Tea Party protests ISN’T IT–TRUST ME on that score. But then why should we be surprised? Our man Jimmy has ALWAYS been a dog-in-the-manger type. Some leopards really do never change their spots.
(Am a great believer in Scouting, too–although my experience extended only thru Cub Scouts as by the time I was ready for Boy Scouts, tennis having become a full-time avocation/vocation for me (worth it though, paid my way through college) practice-time demands were just too great. Still, have fond memories of old “Pack 42″ and my Bobcat, Wolf and Bear merit badges w. gold & silver arrowheads, plus the arrow & sunburst Webelos patch–Napoleon was right, one CAN conquor the world with just a few bits of colored ribbon–amazing how motivating those badges were.)
My son went directly to WEBELOS as we didn’t have a pack handy while I was in Engineering School in the early 80s. Lions are gone now, but Wolf and Bear are still there, but you advance by age rather than achievement.
I’m thinking Bicoastal is probably closely related to Bipolar. The good thing is, you are already on the proper meds. Rum is an excellent choice in this application. One thing, however, quit talking about Hitler. It can cancel the good effects of the hooch and then you have to double the dose.
QM/
LOL. LIONS! I just didn’t have the courage of my convictions! I THOUGHT it was Lions, but then when saw it was missing I chalked it up to onset of senility and fading memory, so ran with Bobcats. What’s up with the elimination of the King of Beasts? Or were they trying to keep it an all North American affair? Scouting is world-wide, and we DO have the Mountain “Lion” here on the continent ( but I’m sure now that my memory focuses it as the giant-maned African variety) so I am at a loss as to why they gave the noble beast the boot. Someone–anyone–PLEASE tell me its elim. wasn’t some sort of crazy PC power play! A greenie bit about the Lion being an endangered species, perhaps? But scouting encourages conservation, so I am at a loss there. Anyone? What’s the story? (or “back-story” as is said today)
They’ve changed much more than losing the King of Beasts, VX. Hey, they even have female Scoutmasters now, for the lack of an acceptable, available man so they say. Really, there are many leadership roles now being “manned” by the distaff side. Personally, I was surprised, for the lack of the male role model in it.
I have no idea why they eliminated Lions. I didn’t much attention to the structure of Cubs while my son was in except to note that Lions were gone, and never asked why.
The reason they started allowing women as scoutmasters was BSA was worn down by the constant lawsuits over it even thought they won every one of them. The National Council went along with the recommendation of the National Executive to allow them. I noticed that some men who had men SMs left when women started becoming a significant presence among the SM corps. The Grandson that I have custody of is nearing scouting age, and I’m having a problem with motivation to put him in. My philosophy is if I put my flesh and blood in, the patriarch goes too. I wouldn’t mind that much, since I really liked being a Scouter, but I will be very selective as to the Pack and Troop he’s in. Still. I’m starting to get up to VX’s age and all that come with that
Well yeah we can be, so long as we can get our moms to sew them on.
For Mongo – Also from “Blazing Saddles”…..
Mongo, why would Hedley Lamarr care about “where the choo-choo go”?
Mongo:
Don’t know. Mongo only pawn in game of life.
I’m found out…
Spent 3.5 years of high school on Guam as a minority. Sometimes not fun, but survivable. I did have a light at the end of the tunnel, knowing stateside was in the future at some point (we went there for 2 years, then Nixon had huge cut backs and we got “stuck” there until a CS job opened up back in the world for Dad).
So, I got a taste of it, and frankly, having grown up in the Seattle area….it was cognitive dissonance to me…got taught every one, even the two AA families on the block, were just families, and we played together in my elementary school days.
Coming back to SC, I saw some still in existence in the early 70s…nothing nasty other than occasional yelling match.
IN God we may trust, but in Guam, you will rust. An old sayiug I heard the AF in the early 70s.
Or “Guam is Good” By order of COMNAVMARIANAS. SNO is looking for orders to Guam when his tour is up in Yoko.
Let’s not get into all of what Guam really stands for. The acronyms my friends that went to VQ-1 taught me could get me branded a racist. Only one SFW is “Give us American money.”
Thanks, Lex, for tolerating my threadjack tendencies today. Guess football is too boring until America’s team plays tonight.
Peter Gunn … Male role models are pretty thin on the ground everywhere lately, since the distaff side of our society seems to be concentrated on kicking male butt instead enjoying the delicious otherness of alpha malehood, as we older and wiser women have learned to do.
Used to be an old German axiom in Milwaukee, where I grew up — “so soon we get old, so late we get schmart.”
It’s true — mostly. Except with Vera Lynn, and me.
Marianne
I understand and truly agree… in some cases. Being the father of three girls, I’ve certainly learned that feminine leadership is viable and real. I’m proud to have parented one Army Medical Corps Captain (promotable), one NICU RN and a soon-to-be actual Dr. of Physical Therapy! These young lasses, not to mention my wife, have won me over.
While mentioning my progeny, I cannot forget to celebrate our youngest, a male, who will be departing on his fourth patrol aboard a boomer in the very near future.
My wife and I are blessed by productive, faithful and good children, Praise God!
Congrats! I have two girls and a boy. The boy is overseas now, and the oldest girl graduated earlier this year from college. She’s looking to apply for a commission with the Air Force. The youngest is just 11, but she’s a smart one, and in the “Gifted and Talented” program at school.
I wish I could take credit for it, because they all seem to think they are smarter than me..
Mark Twain said it best, I believe: Youth is wasted on the young…