"And The Buck Stops With Hillary -- Over"

Hey "Obie", some of us been wondering...

How’s that Nobel Peace Prize thing going now? Sure picked one heck-of-ah way to post-facto meet that outstanding Nobel Award requirement. Agreed, you should have put it on the current honey-do list. But this 120+ missile strike on Libyan Air Force assets is sure an extreme way to finally meet that peace award requirement described in Alfred Nobel's will. You know, the part where the recipient needs to abolish or reduce standing armies. All that tough-talk in the law school faculty lounge is sure paying off now. OOH-RAH! Take it away Hillary! Obie -- Out.

Ma Nature Plays A Trick

Yesterday Spring 2011 began in the late afternoon. A nice day here in North Central Upstate New York, much of the winter snow had melted, except for piles of white in those property shady spots. Did some necessary outside work in preparation for summer, raked the lawn where winter had deposited some natural debris, and removed the protective burlap from some of our favorite trees… trees that our hungry deer residents find great candidates for browsing.

So good old Ma Nature must be smiling today. On the first full day of Spring 2011, she sent a steady heavy wet snow falling at perhaps 1+ inch per hour this morning. “Sugar Snow” … the old-timers here in New York sometime call it. Perhaps little known by many, New York State typically ranks second behind Vermont in annual Maple Syrup production. Production in 2010 totaled 312,000 gallons, down 29 percent from 2009. Reduced production was due in no small part to an abnormally dry early 2010 Spring. Sugar snow, coupled with cold nights and above freezing days really causes that maple sap to flow. And I suppose those many Northern New York State maple syrup producers are also smiling today… right along with that tricky old Ma Nature.

Fair and Balanced…Give Us A Break

Less than 350 miles North-Northeast from Tripoli, Libya, lays the home of the United States Naval Air Station Sigonella, Catania, Sicily, Italy. This U.S. Navy installation bills itself "The Hub of the Med." The activity occupies space with NATO Base Sigonella, an Italian Air Force Base in Sicily, Italy. A tenant of the Italian Air Force, U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella acts as landlord to many U.S. commands and activities. The base is located about ten miles west and seven miles south of the Sicilian east coast city of Catania, and about twenty-five miles south of Mount Etna. Much of this data was taken direct from the official Naval Air Station web site and all this information and more are available by simple Google search.

Present incomplete news reports are at best... half-truth. A significant number of the current news media are hand-wringing about a possible necessity of declaring a no-fly zone over Tripoli, Libya. A real probability for action may become necessary to protect those important Libyan oil fields. Developed countries worldwide cannot at any time tolerate oil field destruction by Libya’s somewhat unbalanced "strongman" Colonel Qaddafi. For goodness sake, take a look at what Iraq’s Saddam Hussein did to those Southwest Asia oil fields just twenty years ago. And just look at what is now happening to the price of gasoline, a meteoric rise caused in no small part by oil uncertainty and unethical oil market speculation. Historically, the American economy entered a recession following the First Gulf War, a recession significantly rooted in worldwide oil market production uncertainty.

So here is today’s question and suggestion to all U.S. News Media. Why doesn’t the “Fourth Estate” get off their collective butts, do some actual research, and report the truth? Please don’t give us the vague comments of a long retired U.S. General or rollout some retired Army Lt Colonel. Find yourself an informed and recently retired U.S. Navy Admiral or Vice Admiral to verify and report on this truth. A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier is simply unnecessay in central Mediterranean Waters to implement and/or support a Lybian no-fly zone. The United States of America, coupled with very significant contributions by friendly NATO countries have more than enough land-based military air assets already deployed to implement a near immediate no-fly zone over Libya. And please don’t conclude there is no way to refuel military aircraft. With trivial effort a novice researcher will discover a significant aircraft refueling facility just 500 miles east of Sicily at U.S. Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, Crete, Greece---click HERE to check this out. This too is all available without much effort via Internet search.

Big Stick Obie -- HA!

Understanding and learning from history… something lost on the present federal executive administration. Eight and a half minutes worth the view time, then take some time to consider the wisdom presented by this video message. To view message click here.

Eight-hundred PSI is both amazing and impressive, with something that reportedly looked like a bicycle pump. And forty shots with acceptable muzzle velocity from this air rifle on a single charge. I'd like to see that pump. One of the things I did with a passion in a former life was bicycle touring & racing–with most of the fashionable required cycling accessories of the late 70s/early 80s. Not unusual to do 100+ mile trips (a century), and even the occasional "double century." I used "sew-up tires", basically a tubeless unit that is taped and/or glued to the wheel rims. These tires are inflated through an extraordinary valve to about 130 PSI, using a special purpose, non-standard bicycle hand pump. And it took much of the power I could muster to pump those tires to the last few PSI.

Did anyone else find it rather unbelievable last week to discover that the mighty USA has no aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea? Must be the Navy is too busy with homosexual awareness training these days. The CIA claims they saw the present Middle East unrest coming last year (here the CIA has a remarkable grasp of the obvious). That great President Teddy Roosevelt must be rolling over in his grave. “TR” telegraphed his approach to maintaining world peace a few days before assuming the U.S. presidency. He simply believed and repeated an old African proverb – "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”

And the point of this air rifle video is I'm sure lost on that U.S. community of progressive liberal whiners. That Lewis and Clark implemented TR’s philosophy of “Speak Softly And Carry A Big Stick” a hundred years before by exhibiting power to potential adversaries through several air rifle demonstrations. My gosh, what a difference another hundred years makes–look what we now have in a lightweight & spineless POUS "Obie."

Open Letter to Nation Fooball League Commissioner Roger Goodell

Dear Commissioner Roger Goodell:

Please take immediate and direct charge of the folks chosen to perform America's National Anthem during what is the single most important day in American sports. For goodness sake – many citizens of the world are watching this important American sports event. I won't honor or publicize the lady by looking up the spelling of her name... but the performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl 45 was simply without merit, embarrassing and downright disgusting. Singing our National Anthem is NOT an audition opportunity for some want-to-be singer. Mr. Goodell, you simply must get involved in the selection process for this important opening ceremony experience. You obviously cannot and should not allow others to select future performers of our nation's precious National Anthem. Someone connected with the NFL understands how to properly initiate the Super Bowl with style and respect it so richly deserves… since it has been done before. Please review this instructive link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ETrr-XHBjE

If this performance doesn’t send chills up your spine -– rush to have someone check your pulse!

Respectfully, I strongly suggest you invite a vocalist – or even the entire choir – from one or more of the official United States Armed Service Choirs to deliver the National Anthem in the appropriate manner. You should direct and mandate such change so no future unpatriotic performance is ever delivered during Super Bowl Opening Ceremonies. This will assure that the National Anthem is performed as written and in the manner intended.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,
DJ Paul

Old 34th New York Remembrance

34th NY Infantry Regiment Monument at
Antietam Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland

Spend some time this month in remembrance of those fallen boys from the “Herkimer Regiment”, those forty-three souls of the Old 34th Infantry Regiment of New York State Volunteers (NYSV) who were killed the morning of September 17, 1862 at the American Civil War Battle of Antietam. Three-Hundred & Eleven men of the 34th NYSV were engaged that day – men who hailed from upstate New York – and most of them Herkimer County residents. The Herkimer boys were engaged in a brutal fight -– perhaps better described as an ambush -- with well hidden Confederate forces for about one-half hour just after 9 o’clock that morning. The majority of these honored dead were fighting in the “West Woods” section of the Antietam Battlefield, slightly northwest of the now famous Dunker Church. An impressive monument was dedicated in 1902 to the valiant officers and men of the 34th New York Infantry Regiment, standing guard on the exact battlefield location where they struggled that truly longest day. This 34th NY Infantry tribute is displayed in the above photo.

I’ve been doing some research on the 34th NYSV for several months now – and can truthfully report that the real story remains unknown (maybe always will due to conflicting reports). But I strongly tend towards very bad leadership at all levels of federal command that day…of course starting right at the top of Union command with the cautious, ineffective, even incompetent leadership of commanding General George McClellan. The carnage inflicted this day by both Blue and Grey, the bloodiest single day battle of the rebellion and in American history, was nearly too awful for words. I’ll relate just one moving report quoted from the notes made during the Antietam Battlefield 34th monument dedication on September 17, 1902:

“The writer at the dedication related the following incident of the battle: Milford N. Bullock, of Company K, was found dead on the field after the battle. The position in which he was lying indicated the painful circumstances of his death. He was lying on his back, his rifle by his side. The ramrod of his gun was in his hand, the lower end against the trigger of the gun, and the muzzle of the gun at his head. It appeared at the time that the wound he had received had not been sufficient to cause instant death; but, being in mortal agony, he had contrived to end his sufferings by taking his own life. He had placed the gun by his side; the muzzle at his head, and by means of the ramrod had succeeded in discharging it. The circumstances were all so painful, that his comrades, at the suggestion of Captain Northup, agreed that they would not mention them in their letters home. But now, after forty years, there is no harm in referring to them. Young Bullock was from Stratford, Herkimer County, and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. His courage, his fidelity to duty were always unquestioned. His grave is not at home among his kindred, but far away, like that of so many others. He sleeps among the many unknown dead, in the great National Cemetery at Antietam; but we have never walked down those beautiful shaded aisles without feeling that we were again very near to our beloved comrade of those far-off days.” --Lt. L. N. Chapin


But today let’s just remember those forty-three men of the gallant 34th Infantry Regiment NYSV who made the supreme sacrifice the morning of September 17, 1862. Twelve of these 34th NYSV soldiers are buried with fellow New Yorkers in marked graves at the Antietam National Cemetery, the grave number is indicated following the soldier's name. Several more unidentifiable 34th NYSV soldiers rest in unknown graves in this hollowed ground. Here are the names of those killed-in-action or mortally-wounded-in-action on this single mid-September day:

· Adle, John H. C. -- Grave #826
· Allen, William G. -- Grave #834
· Armour, David C.
· Ashley, Sergt. Jacob J. C.
· Bailey, Henry C. -- Grave #845
· Beardsley, John G. -- Grave #524
· Bramley, Henry D.
· Buck, Martin A.
· Bullock, Milford N. K.
· Carey, Corp. David A.
· Cool, Stephen B.
· Coon, James E.
· Coonan, Patrick D.
· Crouch, Corp. David F.
· Dickson, John F.
· Donohoe, James A. -- Grave #832
· Easterbrook, Albert G. G.
· Eldridge, William E. G.
· Gadban, Lewis D.
· Gillman, Henry A. -- Grave #831
· Greek, Ezra I.
· Hartley, Robert H. A.
· Hawley, George A. E.
· Hayes, Dennis D.
· Helmer, Sergt. Aaron G.
· Hill, Second Lieut. Clarence E. H.
· Hicks, Lawrence G.
· Hubbell, Henry D.
· Jolly, Peter D. -- Grave #593
· Lewis, William K. -- Grave #844
· Ladew, Warren C. B.
· Lyon, First Sergt. Henry C. I.
· Mead, Sergt. Garland W. G.
· Murphy, John A.
· Mycue, John D.
· Keef, Corp. Arthur B.
· Orcutt, Alvin E. -- Grave #825
· Rhodes, Color Sergt. Chester S. H. -- Grave #828
· Rubbins, William G. -- Grave # 829
· Salisbury, William A. C. -- Grave #827
· Sashagra, Anthony D.
· Walby, Ralph B.
· White, Daniel E.

Note: the letter following the named dead is the Company within the 34th New York Infantry Regiment to which the man was assigned during the Battle of Antietam.


Another seventy-four men of the 34th New York were wounded-in-action on the morning of September 17, 1862 in their bloody engagement during the Battle of Antietam. Nine troops remain missing-in-action (MIA). Many of the MIA are no doubt buried in unknown graves at Antietam.

Rant On Military Political Correctness

I've got to stop reading that military.com stuff...since these articles are very bad for the blood pressure. Just deleted their latest email without reading and will soon unsubscribe. Fully expect to shortly see an announcement for a third-track U.S. Navy advancement system under a “Homosexual Awareness & Support Program.” Hell –– I say advance ‘em all on a promotional fast-track. You’ve got to get the homosexuals in khakis anyway, since its said they refuse wear white after Labor Day. Just read yesterday that the first contingent of female submariners has been selected, prospective boat supply officers in the first group I think. Probably safe –– can’t remember a single noteworthy event from any supply officer I ever sailed with –– except that patrol where we went to sea stocked with only steak in the meat locker (still don’t eat steak even to this day).

This female submarine sailor experiment, while so politically correct, is going to fun to watch. Green zone, yellow zone, red zone touching lectures will of course be held on a mandatory frequent basis. Standby for heavy rolls takes on a whole new defination. How do naval crews presently handle celebratory events where significant lines of latitude & longitude are crossed? I know the new-age CPO initiations have been cleaned-up to the point of being an essential non-event. These are, of course, trivial examples of the more evident issues relating to disciplined close-contact sailing. Ever wonder how truthful the Navy will be on disclosing personnel problems related to mixed-gender submariners –– you know –– sex, sexual harassment, pregnancy, boy-girl natural tensions, those predictable love-triangles, etc., and those POed spouses calling the XO or base chaplain when the very foreseeable boy-girl connections occur in isolated duty (can't even think about that boy-boy & girl-girl cluster thing). Been through this kind of thing in the late 70’s & early 80’s as a unit XO & CO -- and that's a hell-of-a-price for being stylish. Was the negative “Love Boat” press waffling from the USS Acadia (AD-42), USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), et al –– just figments of the imagination? My gosh –– put relatively young men and women together in close quarters –– and in isolated duty on ships or stations –– and what should be obvious to naval leadership WILL happen. Sweep it under those green carpets –– don’t capture the data –– this morale damaging conduct shall be held secret –– military leadership can’t be held responsibe for an anomaly where they claim no statistical data is captured. Those three monkeys, hear no evil, see no evil & speak no evil come to mind. What can this present crop of politically correct U.S. Navy four-star admirals be thinking? Can they really think these “progressive changes” will make our American military more ready and more capable in a future fight? There has always been an honored place for Pride & Tradition in the U. S. Navy ... a point that today seems lost with current top naval leadership. Can that fourth star really be worth what you have predictably sired?

No question I’m a dinosaur submariner without new age gender-neutral social skills. And an unabashed advocate from the “Dirty Harry” school of hard knocks -- "If she wants to play lumberjack, she's gonna have to learn to handle her end of the log." But those 4-star Pentagon men might have unintentionally discovered the real truth for submarine manpower billeting. Perhaps there are too many men in those all male crews. Some serious number crunchers a whole lot smarter than our senior flag officers might better propose a reduced manpower plan aboard all our boats. Now such plans make better financial sense… and might actually increase skill, productivity, and safety coupled with reduced crew risk. P.S. An old article worth re-reading: Click here to view it.

P.P.S. Or the sadly humorous article & comments at: click here for an informed smile.