Today is, officially, Memorial Day. I ask that each of you spend a few moments in Remembrance of those who have fallen in defense of our country.
Monthly Archives: May 2010
Spend a moment in Remembrance
Today is, officially, Memorial Day. I ask that each of you spend a few moments in Remembrance of those who have fallen in defense of our country.
Brownie’s: Revisited
In general aviation, there is, euphemistically, an item known as the $25 hamburger. With inflation and the increased price of avgas, it’s more appropriate to call it the $100 hamburger.
A decade or so ago, the place to fly for that hamburger, breakfast or one of the best BBQ sandwiches in the east central portion of Kansas was Brownie’s BBQ at K81, the Miami County Airport just outside of Paola, KS. It was a favorite spot for weekend fliers and every Saturday morning, the grass ramp next to Brownie’s would be covered, wing-tip to wing-tip with aircraft—spam-cans, bi-planes, homebuilts and ultra-lights. It was the place to go in eastern Kansas.
Yesterday, our church’s free clothing store, The Master’s Closet, was closed as it is every Holiday weekend. Joyce had the day off and after our daily walk, we took off to see what we could see. By mid-afternoon, we’d arrived in Paola.
It occurred to me that I hadn’t visited the airport in more than a decade. I soon discovered it is harder to find the airport from the ground than from the air. An additional hindrance is that Paola is not laid out in the usual checkerboard fashion. The street layout was not helpful. I remembered that the airport was situated on the south-western edge of town. Finding it was more adventurous.
After a bit of hunting and seeking I saw a row of t-hangers along the side of the highway. Memory has a tendency to morph over the years. I remembered the FBO and Brownie’s being next to the highway. Instead, it was a hundred yards off guarded by dual rows of newer hangers.
The BBQ was still there. We could smell the smoke as we turned off the highway but the sign no longer spelled Brownie’s. It now said We-B-Gone. The original Brownie’s was gone but the BBQ remained and was still a family-operated enterprise. It had not changed very much.
Brownie’s, as I remembered, was encircled with grass parking areas with tie-downs for visiting and overnight aircraft. The current BBQ now sported concrete instead of grass. The parking area remained but was paved instead of grass and the occasional mud puddles.
The last time I’d visited was with my wife and daughter sometime around 1994. My daughter was still in high school and we’d come down for some BBQ. The interior of Brownie’s had been covered with photos—some from WW II when the airport had been an auxiliary for the Olathe Naval Airstation. More photos of visiting aircraft lined the walls taken by Brownie and others to commemorate their visit.
Those old photos were mostly gone as I discovered on entry. The FBO on the left side of the building remained with its terminal to the FAA and weather services including a long table covered with old copies of Flying, Trade-a-Plane and Sport Aircraft scattered randomly along its length. A few chairs around the room completed the decor. The rest of the building contained the restaurant with checkered plastic covering the tables.
Most important of all, the BBQ was the same as I remembered. Joyce and I ordered a Beef ‘n Ham combo BBQ sandwich each. When it arrived, the stack of meat was over two inches thick. A couple of pickles accompanied the sandwiches and it was more than enough for a quick afternoon lunch.
The menu had been expanded from the traditional BBQ fare. Hamburgers and hot dogs were available for the kids and a new breakfast section had been added. The last time I flew to Brownie’s was with Charlie Craig on an early morning check flight. The breakfast menu had been limited to Fried Egg and Bacon sandwiches. Now it included various egg platters with Ham and Sausage along with Bacon. Pancakes were available as are Biscuits and Gravy and other traditional breakfast items.
I miss the old Brownies. It had an atmosphere as raw as post-WW2 aviation. But that century is gone and the new BBQ, We-B-Gone, will faithfully maintain the tradition.
Tell Congress where to cut the budget
I received this via an e-mail (H/T to John Johnson.)
Eric Cantor has a webpage so people can go online each week and vote where the government should cut spending. He says it is actually having an effect.
Go here if you want to check it out.
http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/This week most people voted (over 500,000) to eliminate federal pay increases.
Go and tell congress where you want the cuts. I just voted to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Oldest WW2 MOH winner dies.
Just received this notice via an e-mail.
Retired Navy Lt. John Finn, the oldest Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, died Thursday at his Southern California ranch. He was 100.
He received his Medal of Honor for acts during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7th, 1941 making him the earliest receipt of the war.
Fair winds and following seas, Lt. Finn…
Reasonable Regulation—DC Style: Chuck Asay
Sometimes a cartoon just can’t be beat.
Just how true is this for other locales? I think California is next.
The Liberal Agenda: Slouching towards Irrelevance
Veep Joe Biden addressed the European Parliament, earlier this month, that Washington is not the Capital of the Free World, that Brussels is the Capital.
Earlier this month while in Brussels, Vice President Joe Biden told the European Parliament that while “some American politicians and American journalists refer to Washington, DC as the ‘capital of the free world’ … it seems to me that this great city, which boasts 1,000 years of history and which serves as the capital of Belgium, the home of the European Union, and the headquarters for NATO, this city has its own legitimate claim to that title.”
–The Heritage Foundation’s Morning Bell, May 25, 2010
This is extremely revealing of the liberal viewpoint. Liberals abhor the thought that the United States is the leader of anything. The United States is the cause of all the world’s ills. Therefore the United States cannot be acclaimed for anything but that which is at fault.
The Heritage Foundation’s Morning Bell notes the results of our liberals handiwork—“slouching towards irrelevance.” It’s very appropriate.
Earlier this month while in Brussels, Vice President Joe Biden told the European Parliament that while “some American politicians and American journalists refer to Washington, DC as the ‘capital of the free world’ … it seems to me that this great city, which boasts 1,000 years of history and which serves as the capital of Belgium, the home of the European Union, and the headquarters for NATO, this city has its own legitimate claim to that title.” How revealing.
The European Union is a profoundly anti-democratic institution, created and forced on member states by internationalist leftist elites despite widespread public disapproval. It should be no surprise that the same administration that can’t bring itself to enforce our laws and protect our borders would give such strong support to an institution that has so undermined national sovereignty in Europe. And given that the EU’s unelected and unaccountable bureaucracy employs more people than the entire British Army it is no wonder that NATO member nations have been unwilling/unable to pull their weight in the Long War.
One might hope that the Obama administration would look at the path Europe has gone down (a bloated welfare state that saps economic growth and bleeds military spending) and decide to change course. But President Barack Obama’s speech at West Point on Sunday quashed any such hopes. Speaking to graduating Cadets, President Obama laid out the increasingly identifiable pillars of the Obama Doctrine: greater reliance on international institutions; substituting soft power for hard power; and a more subdued and less self-reliant America – a scheme designed more to manage American decline than to ensure its people remain safe, free and prosperous.
Last Friday Charles Krauthammer gave us a whirlwind tour of what the Obama Doctrinehas looked like in action: failed engagement with Iran, surrender to Russia on missile defense, appeasement of Syria, support for pro-Chavez leftists in Honduras, and a gratuitous slap at Britain over the Falkland Islands. And what has it secured? A completely fake deal between Turkey, Brazil and Iran that will do nothing to slow Iran’s nuclear weapons program but has already made new meaningful sanctions next to impossible.
Instead of cutting domestic spending and reining in entitlements, President Obama passed a $862 billion failed stimulus and created a brand new health care entitlement all while laying the ground work for future cuts to our nation’s defenses. As Krauthammer wrote Friday: “This is retreat by design and, indeed, on principle.”
Perhaps, the worst thing about the speech was that the President made it in front of the men and women who will have to live with the immediate consequences of his actions. The Obama Doctrine will put them in harm’s way without the modern equipment they will need; with allies who will increasingly doubt our resolve; and at the mercy of an international order that will value their lives for less than the power which the White House wants to put in their hands.
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As we approach Memorial Day this year, millions will be remembering and honoring those of us who have passed on. Last year Obama and Michelle toured Arlington National Cemetery grinning and laughing among themselves. Obama gave a short speech saying that all Americans should reflect somberly and prayerfully for our fallen. He declared a national moment of silence at 3:00PM Eastern Time. And what was Obama doing at 3PM? Playing golf at the Ft. Belvoir golf course. This year he and Mo are going home to Chicago and no specific observances are planned.
Typical.
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And other items…
- According to a new study by the National Center for Policy Analysis, the structure of the tax credits in Obamacare discourages small businesses from hiring new workers.
- According to Rasmussen Reports, support for the repeal of Obamacare has jumped to its highest lever ever with 63% of voters now in support of repeal.
- According to a new analysis by USA TODAY, during the first quarter of this year, paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history while government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high.
- Big labor ally Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is introducing a $165 billion bailout for troubled union pension funds.