Read this op-ed in the Washington Post. If it doesn’t being tears to your eyes, you have no heart.
Here is the salient part:

And I’ve learned that war most often claims the lives of young kids who go out on patrol day after day, night after night. They go because they are good soldiers led by good sergeants. They go with a singular purpose: to not let their buddies down. Each soldier we lay to rest shared that goal. They kept faith with their comrades, even in the face of danger and death. That is the most humbling lesson of all.

As you celebrate Memorial Day weekend, as part of your drive around this country, I am asking you to do one thing. Stop by a Veterans cemetery.
As you walk around the grounds, walk gently. Heroes lie sleeping beneath your feet. Thank these brave men and women for their sacrifice. They willingly laid down their lives so that you could celebrate this weekend and the freedoms you enjoy every day.
Please don’t forget our fallen heroes. They haven’t forgotten you.

I happened upon this story while doing my morning reading. Dutch cartoonist arrested on suspicion of violating hate speech laws.
When freedoms like this fall here in the U.S., then it is time to start a new government. Politically correct speech has become all the rave amongst Liberals, and if we are not careful, this will spread to here. We Conservatives, in fact anybody with a different opinion is shouted down by Liberals. Simply because they can’t hold a discussion on ideas. Their ideas do not hold water. While they might be trying to do the right thing, they are doing it for the wrong reasons, and their center cannot hold. Their work becomes corrupted by their impure motives.
Besides, do you know what the definition of Political Correctness is? It’s the belief that you can pick up a turd by the clean end.

While just a prototype, I would love to have one of these. In the neighborhood that I live in, I would consider it a necessity.

I have spoken many times on the SCOTUS ruling Kelo v. City of New London, which is where they ruled that a city can eminent domain land away from one private owner, then give the land to private developers in order to develop the property and improve the tax base.
Well, the city of Jacksonville, FL tried to sneak one like this just under the passage of state laws to prevent just such a thing. They wanted a 60 acre waterfront property, and were willing to pay $17 million for the property. Evidently this is a rip off, so they went to court, and the jury “adjusted” the price to $67.4 million. Now, Jacksonville must decide if they want to pay the price, or deed the property back to the original owner. Of course, the city will probably raise taxes to pay for the property. After all, once the government get its hooks into you, they don’t let go. But you never know. Hopefully the city will abandon its dreams of conquest.
But I wouldn’t hold my breath on it.

Okay, who’s been recording my thoughts?

I know I haven’t posted anything lately, but I’ve kind of busy. I’m preparing for a 3 day extravaganza called The Big Waaagh!.
I will be playing not one, not two but in three different tournaments over the three days. Friday will see me playing doubles with a friend, Saturday will be part one of a 5 battle Grand Tournament, Saturday night I will participate in a Battlefleet Gothic tournament as well. Sunday will finish off the last two battles of the Grand Tournament. Needless to say, come Sunday evening, I will be one tired and gamed out puppy.
What I am concentrating on right now is my Battlefleet Gothic space fleet. You see, BFG is a spaceship fleet kind of game, within the Warhammer 40k universe. It’s how the different races move between the stars.
Anyhow, I thought I would share with you what I’ve been painting.
This first picture is of Thunderhawk assault bombers. In 40K, they carry 30 Space Marines, and are about three feet long in the regular 40k game. They are designed to be dropped from orbit to drop Space Marines on target. In BFG, they are used to carry Marines to enemy ships for Hit and Run attacks that cause critical damage.
Anyhow, here they are. Click on the picture for the full picture of detail:

Now, if you clicked on the picture to see the detail, you think, no biggie, I’ve painted on that level for years. Wrong. Here’s the same ships, with my finger next to them for scale.



Now what do you think? And I did it without any magnifying glasses of any kind. Just my bare eyeballs. Did I mention that I have ten stands of those little buggers? That’s right, thirty Thunderhawks. And I had to drill into each one and glue a section of a paper clip in the bottom of the Thunderhawk and then glue it to the base. Just about drove me over the edge.
Now to show you the ships that they will be coming from. This is a Strike Cruiser, which carries a company of Space Marines. Again, just to show you the scale, the second picture has my finger.




The Strike Crusier(s) (there are five of them in my fleet) still need work. This is the one that is the most complete, and as you can see there is no highlighting or anything to bring out the detail of the ship. That is what is delaying most of the production. Once I can come to a color scheme, the rest will go quickly.
It is most unlikely that I will walk away with any awards from the 40k tournament. I will be happy to finish in the top half, considering that there will be 70-90+ people playing in the 40K GT. Getting an award in the doubles is a maybe, considering what my partner has, and the fact that there won’t be as many people/teams playing in the doubles. I am going for the best painted BFG fleet, if I don’t win the whole shebang, like I hope for. I won the last BFG tournament I was in, but considering there were only four guys in the tournament, it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. So like I said, I’m planning on winning the tournament, but as we all know no plan survives contact with the enemy.
T-Minus 79 days to The Big Waaagh!

Just found this perusing the Internet. Enjoy!