Category: Patriotism

My Favorite President

Good Stuff, Patriotism

Who else but Calvin Coolidge?  Watch this video, and realize two things:

Our current problems are neither new nor exclusive.  Immigration, taxation rates, federal spending, employment, whatever:  they existed in the 1920s, and Coolidge addressed them all, and properly.

Character matters.  Character, public character, matters.  Compare and contrast that of Coolidge with any modern president (i.e after Eisenhower), and realize how rare it is to find someone who can govern on principle — principle based on the Constitution and not on some other basis.

At the end of the above video, one of the commentators says, “He is exactly what we need at this point in time.”

I beg to differ.  We need such a man all the time, every time, to be our President.

I want all our future presidents to be more like Coolidge.  So does Amity Shlaes.

End of story.

Wave That Flag

Patriotism

If this story doesn’t put a grin on your face, we can’t be friends.

Seems like this high-school kid named Cameron Blasek flew a U.S. flag from a pole attached to his truck… whereupon some asshole official from his school told him to take it down.

And he refused.  And then a dozen of his buddies also started flying Old Glory from their trucks.

Smiling yet?

Well, the fucking Commie school officials backed down, but not before this happened:

A graphic design company in Cincinnati reached out to Blasek after the viral story and offered to do the kid a favor and wrap his truck for free. And the design…

That’s it, boys:  rub their fucking Commie noses in it.

Here’s the whole story.

All-American Goodness

Gratuitous Gun Pics, Patriotism, The Gun Thing

Reader Brad_In_IL suggests a theme for a shooty weekend:

“Seeing that this is Memorial Day Weekend, I’ve decided to only shoot pieces which are uniquely and distinctly American. Therefore…

“Saturday will be my Browning / Stoner 2023 Memorial Day Commemorative Shoot, and I’ll be shooting the 1911 and the AR-15… and maybe some .22 pistol (also Browning). No 9mm this weekend… Georg Luger (Austrian) will have to take a rest.” 

An excellent thought:  bringing a little background to the typical “Oh what should I shoot today?”  question that plagues us all.  And going All-American on both gun and cartridge makes it a little more fun, especially as it relegates the 9mm Europellet and the 7.62x39mm Commie to the “Later, Furrin Bastards!” category.

To make life even more interesting, let’s set an arbitrary criterion of “guns and cartridges from before 1900“.

Not so easy now, is it?

Here’s what I would take:

Winchester 1894 (.30-30/.30 WCF or .45 Colt/.45 Long Colt or .44-40)
…and of course Marlin’s and Henry’s versions would be welcome, too.

Browning 1885 High Wall (.45-70 Gov)

Colt Single Action Army (.45 Colt/.45 Long Colt or .44-40)

And of course, there’s some plinking to be done:

Marlin Model 39A (.22 LR)

Winchester Mod 61 (and clones)
(clones allowed because Winchester stopped making them because they’re idiots)

Now, I’m not saying I actually own any of the above (because of that Tragic Canoeing Accident on the Brazos a few years ago), but you have to admit, there’s a whole lotta shooty Murkin goodness on that list.

Your suggestions for the festivities in Comments, as always.

Ten Things That Make Me Proud To Be American

Good Stuff, Patriotism

Inspired by the Brit list, here is mine.

In drawing up my list, I hearkened back to my travels outside the U.S., and asked myself:  what were the things I missed most whilst Over There, and what were the things I was glad to have or see when I returned?

My Top Ten (in order):

  1. the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
  2. the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
  3. the notion that what isn’t expressly forbidden, is allowed
  4. checks and balances on government
  5. the freedom to succeed or to screw up (and then to try again)
  6. a jillion TV channels
  7. huge pickup trucks
  8. restaurant- and other choices
  9. rodeos
  10. interstate highways

The first five on the list are self-evident, especially as they are almost universally absent from foreign countries;  and I’ll talk about that in yet another post because it deserves a longer exposition.

The last five points are personal, but important.

Only when your TV is confined to a few (usually State-controlled) channels do you realize how nice it is to have a choice — even among dreck.

Large pickup trucks are lovely — they are powerful, not really necessary (unless you’re pulling a large trailer or farming) and one of the things that tourists comment on the most.  And the fact that pickup trucks are by far the most popular choice among ordinary Americans says it all.

Drive along a non-U.S. highway with a gnawing hunger and see how hard it is to find a restaurant of any description along the way.  Granted, our choices are often only from the Usual Suspects (the top 30 chains), but at least there’s a choice.  In Yurp, you often have to go into a town to buy food, which is okay if you’re a tourist, but it must suck if you’re a local.

Nothing says “America” like a damn rodeo:  tough people doing a dangerous thing for fun.

It’s only when you’re trying to get from point A to point B without having to go through C, D and E that you appreciate the freedom associated with our highways.  Now, as  rule I myself try to avoid the stupid things as much as possible;  but when you need one, it’s there for you to use.

Conspicuously absent from my list are things that are uniquely American, but that don’t touch me:  the Grand Canyon, the Empire State Building, Broadway shows, the Rocky Mountains, etc. etc.  Landscape features are just things — the Grand Canyon is a large hole in the ground, the Hoover Dam is a chuck of concrete, every country has a Broadway, the Alps are just as stunning as the Rockies, and so on.

But a busy shooting range and gun show (see point #1) are so much more American than anything one may find elsewhere, and ditto all the other related stuff in each point.

Proud To Be Murkin

Good Stuff, Patriotism

So, prompted by this silly survey which asked Brits what made them proud to be British, I ask of my Readers:  what makes you proud to be an American?  (If you need any kind of inspiration, follow the link to see what kinds of things the Brits suggested.)

For once, by the way, I’d urge you all to shed your (well-founded) gloom and pessimism about the current state of affairs under Biden and his bunch of filthy Commies, and think of the good stuff — and there’s lots, let me assure you.

Keep your list to the top 10, unless you can’t.  My own list will appear tomorrow.