The boys at the Alamo fired their last shots and went hand to hand.

They lost the battle, but they accomplished what they set out to do: To delay Santa Anna and his army so that Fannin and Houston could mass an army to meet them.

There are no good ways to dies, but the Texians at the Alamo did it in a way that made their deaths worth something.

Heroes are often victims of circumstance…some ride to the occasion and become heroes, others do not and remain victims., but these men made  a choice, and, if they they lost their stand, they still won a war. .

If you have never been to the Alamo, you might be surprised at how small it was….

IMO, this should be a National Holiday.

that in today’s marvelous age of information, including entire cable channels devoted 24/7/365 to weather forecasts, with nearly 3/4 of our population possessing smartphones (some even subsidized by taxpayers!!!) with nearly instant access to fairly accurate weather forecasts, that some several + hundred vehicles can end up stranded in bad weather?

I mean, I knew 2 days ago that the chance for snow, ice, sleet and freezing rain was going to be high for most of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. And none of those states were even on any of my travel plans. I live several hundred miles north of there. (and I don’t even have cable). 

How can people be so stupid as to travel into an area that is forecast (with a fair amount of certainty) to have very bad weather that will likely make travel difficult and even dangerous?  I see it happen several times a year, and it isn’t getting better….

I know most people travel around in Condition White, but really….

“But I Am a Cop!”

So on my way home, I stopped at the Post Office in a very small town to check the P.O. Box.  I stop about twice a week to check on it.

As is Federal Law, I disarm, leaving my carry gun locked in the car (or truck). I believe the requirement that I disarm to get my mail is illegal and unconstitutional, but the courts disagree, so I follow the law.

As I am coming into the Post Office, my holster empty (and coat pulled over it) , I encounter the Chief of Police of that small town. He is in civilian clothes and I realized that the car I had parked next to in the lot was his personal car. I smile and raise my hand in greeting.

He looks at me and says “Hi”, and then waits while I fish out my key and open the mailbox. I retrieve my mail and then turn to see what he wants…

Now this Cop is, actually, generally a decent sort. He does his job, seldom has an attitude, and is a decent guy most of the time… I have interacted with him several times over the years. His officers use our range twice a year to practice and before their certification testing (which is another good story for another time). He knows I carry, and have a permit.

“Got a question for ya, B” he says. “Do you carry here in the Post Office?”

“Nope,” I said, “Federal Law, ya know…..not worth losing my permit over…plus there is the whole prison thing…”.

“You wouldn’t just be saying that, would you?” He asks.

“Nope, I am serious. No heater today…not in here……In the car”.

“Mind if I check?”

“Actually, yes….Got a warrant?”

“No. Was just curious”

“Probable cause?”

“No”

“Then I decline to be searched” I said with a smile…”Fourth Amendment, you know”

We stare at each other for a moment, then I step between him and the door and then ask….”You on duty? Or on the way home?”

“On the way home”.

“Ah, so you are here as a civilian then, not on Police business”

“Yep, if you want to look at it that way.”.

“But you are carrying,” I point out pointing at his Glock in a OWB holster…”In a Post Office….Isn’t that a felony?”

“I’m a cop” he says, and brushed past me and left….

Interesting, Innit?

I am 50 years old, more or less, and For about 40 years of my life, this country was more or less what they taught me it was supposed to be, pretty much a the founding fathers set out to make when they created the Constitution.

But in the past 10 or 12 years, the post 9-11 world has changed this country greatly. Bush (W) and his like gave us the Patriot act, which led to the ever more voracious NSA, the DHS, and an ever greater surveillance state.

Along come Barry O and the effective abandonment of the rule of law, the limits on the Executive…..and the failure of both the Judicial Branch and the Legislative to limit him.

I fear the country that I grew up in is gone….that the country I was taught about has ceased to exist……that the Constitution, that document that specifies a set of rules which made this country the destination of so many freedom loving people and protected the freedoms of it’s citizens…is gone forever.

There has always been some small erosion, but it never seemed to amount to much…the country was strong, the freedoms like bedrock, the laws sacrosanct. No more. The erosion has undermined our freedoms and the rules that protect it. And our legislators and the courts are refusing to help keep that rule of law alive….

I fear we shall have nothing soon. That there will be a collapse in the not too distant future, leaving us a smoldering heap of liberalism like England, or, to a lesser extent, Australia or France. A weak country, that cannot support itself and cannot last.

“We can’t drill our way out of this crisis”

Yeah, right. This shows us just how (either lying or incompetent, pick one) our current president and his advisers are.(but you knew that already)

US RUNNING OUT OF ROOM to put oil…inventories highest in 80 YEARS

A really important question:

“If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed;  if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival.  There may even be a worse case.  You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

Read the whole thing: I blogged about the issue already, but you need to re-read it.

I mean, Barry GAVE AWAY 3 BILLION dollars. Gave.It.Away. He did so without the consent of Congress Gave away YOUR (borrowed) money to private firms.

And you, and I, and those we elected to represent us have done nothing to stop it. 

Tell me again why we bother to vote these limp-dicked weasels into office?

I mean, they caved (again) on the spending bill for the DHS…no immigration language. SO after all their rhetoric, they gave Barry what he wanted…..again!

Yeah, the Ballot Box is looking like a dead end here…..’cause apparently your vote doesn’t count.

To those Representatives:
Look: you folks hold the power of the purse. YOU CONTROL the budget. You decide what gets funded…..and what doesn’t. Without your funding bills, the Senate is powerless to fund government. You should have stood fast….you should have done WHATEVER is necessary to stop Barry’s amnesty plans. Spending bills don’t originate in the Senate…they originate in the HOUSE.

You have failed and betrayed those people who voted you into office….again.

Or it may be that you whored sold yourselves to the current administration.

Your legacy will be one of failure, spinelessness and cowardice…..and betrayal.

I hold you all in contempt.

Read THIS….all of it. Read it again. Ask yourself WHY IS THIS TRUE? Why has NO-ONE brought this up in the media and trumpeted it loudly?

(And then, again, would most of your fellow citizens care?)

Where are the legislators….those (you know, ELECTED) House and Senate members? WHY are they not STOPPING this? Why can unelected bureaucrats make laws for the rest of us? Government by regulation isn’t constitutional. WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE WE ELECTED TO make laws?

How do we stop it? Apparently the “Ballot Box” isn’t working, so what is left? You are reading this, and (hopefully) the link above, but things are still happening, so the “Soapbox” isn’t working either…..

I don’t like what is left. At all.

So those tapes …..The IRS  backup tapes that contain the emails from Lois Lerner…….Who, exactly, has possession of them? Are there copies? Is there a chain of evidence? Are there measures to prevent editing of those emails?  How would we know if there isn’t? Again, who is in control of the evidence?

Can anyone subpoena the recipients emails to check to see if there was editing of the IRS copies? Is anyone checking to see? Or is all of this just a “smoke and mirrors” campaign in order to show people that Something Is Being Done?

Will we find that there are missing items? Maybe a missing 18-1/2 minutes?

Just where were those IT folks who had possession of the IRS backup tapes that contained Lois Lerner’s emails? I mean, for at least over a year, they had to know, and they kept quiet.

I mean, we are supposed to believe that these IT folks never read a newspaper, or a blog, read an online newspaper (yeah, right), never heard it on FaceBook, never watched a news show…..

Sure, Tell me another story.

I didn’t believe the story then, and I don’t believe it now.