Saturday, April 20, 2013

"Man, that song really takes me back!" Part 2

In early 2009 I did a post entitled, "Man, that song really takes me back!" in which I talked about some of the songs that always took me back to a certain time or place in my life. Looking back at that post there were only three songs listed, and I've come to realize that they were the three most important songs in my life because they're tied into three of the most important times of my life.

But here lately I've been having the same thought train that I had in 2009, and I've realized that there were a lot more songs that take me back than I had originally thought. Maybe that's because lately, through the magic of the Internet and Youtube, I've been exploring some of the music of my youth that played an important role in the history of the nation (but not specifically to me because I was too young), and I've realized that there were many more songs than just three that will take me back to another time and place in my life.

So let's climb into the Wayback Machine one more time and take a little trip into my early life, shall we? And the first stop is the late '60s, courtesy of...

"Daydream Believer" by the Monkees This song always takes me back to the 9th grade when I was playing the cornet in the Highland Springs High School Marching Band, and the summer that I experienced my first kiss. Both me and my sisters were Monkees fans, although my sisters were MUCH more fanatical about it than I was for the obvious reasons, and they had a complete collection of every album The Monkees released. I used to listen to these albums whenever my sisters weren't home because the stereo was located in their bedroom, and I never went in there while they were there. One of my favorite Monkees songs was "Daydream Believer," and I remember that a friend of mine from the band who also played the cornet, Robert Culbertson, and I used to stand out in my back yard next to the house and play a duet of that song. Every time we'd do that we'd always draw a small crowd of neighborhood kids, and it was a good feeling.

But that's not what you're waiting to hear about, is it? Nah, you're waiting to hear about that first kiss, I know you are! Well, it's like this: I was in my sister's bedroom listening to a Monkees album when my sister Cindy came home with a friend of hers, Lenora Bell. Somehow Cindy wound up in one room of the house and Lenora wound up in the same room with me listening to the album. I was sitting on the floor next to the bed and she was sitting on the bed, and while we were talking I looked up to talk to her and she bent down and kissed me. The kiss was soft, warm, and gentle, and it was the best thing I'd ever experienced in my life to that point. (I think I was twelve at best.) Lenora was a redhead, and to this day I've had a "thing" for redheads. This is the only thing I can think of that could have caused that, and I ain't complaining.

"Crocodile Rock" by Elton John This one takes me back to my tenth grade year of high school, the first year at Millbrook High School after having moved to North Carolina in 1972. Elton John was huge in those days, and this song was always playing on the radio no matter where you were. The tenth grade was a significant year for me because I was struggling to find my place and "fit in" at my new school, and it was proving very difficult. Every time this song would come on it seemed that I was always doing something I enjoyed with people I liked, and all of the problems at school and my being homesick for Highland Springs vanished for just a little while.

"Annie's Song" by John Denver I heard this song for the first time in 1974 when my girlfriend, Gail, and I were driving home from Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh. As soon as the song came on she got a big smile on her face, shushed me and asked me to listen to the song, and then turned it up loud. I pulled the car over and we sat and listened to the song, and as I listened to the words - really listened to them - I looked over at her. She was smiling at me, the love for me plain in her eyes, and they started to tear up. When the song was over she told me, "That's how I feel about you!" and then she kissed me. To this day I think of her and that special summer we had together every time I hear that song. After Gail and I broke up in 1976 it was easily ten years before I could bring myself to listen to the song again, and the first time I did I cried.

"Right Here, Waiting" by Richard Marx This is the song that my first wife, Mary, played for me a few days before I left for my second remote tour in Korea. Richard Marx and this song was very popular then, and every time I heard it over in Korea I'd always think of her, waiting for me back in the States, and it always made me feel so far away from her and the ones I loved. It still does.

"Hotel California" by The Eagles Every hooker in every bar in South Korea LOVED this song, and you were guaranteed to hear it at least a dozen times every time you spent more than an hour in any of those bars. But it's still a great song, and I love it.

"God Bless The USA" by Lee Greenwood This one takes me back to the night I came home from the Gulf War, walking down the ramp from the airplane in the full dark, the flightline lit up like daytime and the sides of the ramp filled with screaming, cheering people. There were dozen of American flags being waved by the people in the crowd, and as I walked down the ramp this song was playing over the PA system. I got to the bottom of the ramp and handed my GAU rifle over to a Security Policeman, the first time that rifle had been out of my physical control for the first time in 212 days. It felt both weird and good at the same time. Then I shook hands with my best friend from the war, Lonnie Fulbright, who had come home two months earlier due to a family emergency, and then after shaking hands with the Base and Wing Commander I looked over at the crowd and right there, right smack dab in the middle of the crowd directly across from the ramp, was my mother and the rest of my family. My mom was jumping up and down, waving her arms and calling my name; she was surrounded by my father, my first wife and our three kids, and everyone in the group was crying. After hugging my mom and then my father, so was I. My mother told me later that during the entire war my father had never cried, always being strong for everyone else, and when he put his arms around me that night he cried for the first time.

Well, that's enough time travelling for now. I'm sure I'l make this trip again, although I don't think it's going to be another three years before that happens. At least I hope not.

Molon Labe!

IHC

Monday, April 15, 2013

What I Believe

Several times over the past year or so I've been in various discussions with various people, and I sometimes give an answer or voice an opinion that, given my background, sometimes surprises people. This is always followed with the question, "So just what DO you believe, anyway?" which I always answer.

So here's what I believe. The list may not be all-inclusive and what I believe today may not be what I believe tomorrow - after all, opinions do change from time to time - but for what it's worth, here's what I believe today.

I believe that everyone, no matter what their political or religious affiliation, believes in their hearts that what they're doing is best. If they didn't believe that, then they wouldn't be doing it.

I believe in the Constitution of the United States as it is written.

I believe that any "redefinition" of the Constitution is wrong, period.

I believe that the key to serenity and happiness is best found in the arms of a loved one or in the seat of a motorcycle.

I believe Lee Harvey Oswald wasn't the only one shooting in Dallas that day in November 1963. He may not have known about the other guy, but he sure wasn't the only one with a rifle.

I believe in God and Jesus Christ.

I believe in our country and the people in it. The government, not so much.

I believe homosexuality is wrong.

I believe that discriminating against someone because of their sexual preference is also wrong.

I believe that the term "racist" applies equally to blacks as much as it does to whites.

I believe that the Grateful Dead was one of the most misunderstood and unappreciated bands in the history of rock and roll.

I believe that the Rolling Stones is the most over-rated and under-talented band in the history of rock and roll.

I believe that conservatives have just as much right to voice their opinions as liberals do, and vice-versa.

I believe that anyone who tells me or anyone else under any circumstances that I can't fly or display the American Flag deserves a good old-fashioned country ass-whuppin'.

I believe in the old Southern values of honesty, truth, respect for others, and courtesy.

I believe in loyalty above all except honor.

I believe in the old saying, "My word is my bond."

I believe in the stopping power of a .45 caliber cartridge.

I believe that Islam is the biggest threat to world peace, followed closely by North Korea and its current delusional leader.

I believe that sometimes violence is the only answer.

I believe in justice and the American justice system. It may not be perfect, but it beats the crap out of anything else going.

I believe the Bill of Rights were put in that order for a reason.

I believe that there is evil in the world, and that I must be prepared at all times to meet it. That's why I'm a sheepdog.

I believe in karma. Sooner or later, everyone gets what they truly deserve one way or the other.

I believe in the men and women of our Armed Forces.

I believe that thinking someone is incapable of defending their country by serving in the Armed Forces because of their sexual preference is absurd at best.

I believe our country is headed for disaster under the current administration, and when that disaster happens the President will find a way to blame it on someone else.

I believe it will be a long time before America elects another black president, and that's a shame because it has nothing to do with race.

I believe in cold beer, aged whiskey, and spiced rum. Especially the rum part.

I believe Sailor Jerry may just be the best spiced rum in the universe.

I believe it's just about time for lunch.

MOLON LABE!

IHC

Friday, April 5, 2013

Random Thoughts on a Friday Afternoon

There's so much crap going on in both our nation and the world right now that it's hard for me to choose just which one I want to rant about. I mean, I could go totally apeshit on more than a half-dozen topics, so instead of doing that and getting my blood pressure up I'll just snipe at all of them, hitting each with my main points of thought. And guess where I'm gonna start? (If you know me and have been paying attention, you already know!)

Ready? Okay, then, heeeeeeeere we go!

So Connecticut has passed the most comprehensive and restrictive gun laws in the nation, supposedly to "protect" themselves and "prevent" another shooting. The last time I looked, Adam Lanza broke a whopping total of 41 laws the day of his rampage. Only a total idiot and a complete fool would think that passing yet another law that a criminal will ignore will "protect" them. As Wayne LaPierre said, "The only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun."

Anyone who thinks that "universal background checks" isn't the first step towards registration and then confiscation is a total idiot and living in a dream world. I've always been a law-abiding citizen my entire life, but the day they pass a law requiring me to register my guns is the day I become an outlaw.

Mag Pull, a major manufacturer of high-capacity rifle magazines, has announced that it will close its manufacturing facility in Colorado in response to the new anti-gun legislation just enacted by that state. That will put about 400 people out of work, result in the reduced revenue for the state, and cause a rise in unemployment. Way to go, Colorado.

And soon to follow: Beretta USA will be moving out of Maryland since that state has followed Colorado's example and passed gun control legislation that further infringes on our Constitutional rights. Again, way to go, Maryland.

If anyone doesn't think that the treaty passed by the Useless Nations to allow them to "regulate and control the international arms trade" won't have an effect on our Constitutional rights, think again. To those people I suggest you read the treaty and then tell me I have nothing to worry about. The Useless Nations has NO say in what MY rights are, and I just hope that my government will stand up ad protect them. But with the Buffoon In Chief that we currently have in office, I can't count on that.

Who died and make Mike Bloomberg God? Since when does this self-styled "nanny" think he knows what's best for people, and better yet, what in hell gives him the idea that he has the authority to do some of the stupid shit he's doing? My only question is, why are New Yorkers letting him get away with it? Are they all that fuckin' stupid, or are they all just stupid liberals? Either way...

Carolyn Kennedy as Ambassador to Japan. I wonder what Japan did to fall out of favor with the United States? Or is that just NObama giving lip service to the Kennedy clan?

So now there's still more bad news about NObamacare, specifically that the costs associated with it are now TRIPLE what The Great Pretender said they were going to be, the benefits are less, and more companies will be driven out of business because they can't afford to provide health care and can't afford to pay the fines. In the prophetic words of Dianne Feinstein, "We'll find out what's in it once we pass it." Well, you stupid bitch, you passed it, and now you're finding out what's in it - and it ain't good. Then again, why should you care? You, your beloved Buffoon In Chief, and the other members of Congress are all exempt from NObamacare, so why should you give a rat's ass about all of the bad things that are going to happen to us little people because of this bill you and your liberal, Democratic cronies shoved down the throats of the American people? Oh, that's right, you DON'T care...silly me, I forgot! You're far too busy trying to pass more bullshit gun control legislation to take away our rights to protect ourselves from you and the government to worry about anything else. Bitch.

With all of the crap coming out of North Korea, you have to wonder if the fat little bastard in charge ever read the Korean translation of "The Mouse That Roared." Why else would he be making all of this noise about attacking the United States, knowing that we can turn his entire country into a sheet of glass with only one aircraft and two men? (For those of you who never read the book, it's about a very small European country on the verge of financial collapse whose king decides that the only way to save his country is to declare war on the United States, get his ass kicked, and then let the United States rebuild his country and its finances.) In any event, I'm sure glad I'm not stationed in South Korea right now, and I pray for the safety of our men and women in uniform that are.

The "sequester" is in full swing, government services that directly affect the people are being cut or discontinued, yet the President and Vice President both go on vacation - the THIRD vacation for Biden THIS YEAR. (That's one vacation each month, people.) The White House says it discontinued White House tours because of the lack of funding for the Secret Service required, yet NObama can send his daughters to Mexico for Spring Break - with Secret Service protection, of course.

Have you liberals and Democrats figured out just who you really elected yet? If not, let me spell it out for you: you elected a self-centered socialist, a self-styled elitist who will ensure that he and his family never do without while depriving the citizens of our nation of the things we both need and deserve, a man who will do anything he can to ensure that he and he alone is in charge - and that includes ignoring and shredding the Constitution of the United States. I respect - or at least I try to respect - the opinions of others, but I gotta say this: to all of you who voted for this charlatan, kiss my ass. You screwed our country over BIG TIME.

And lastly, it is my humble opinion that history will not be kind to NObama. He'll be remembered for a lot of things, none of them good, and he will guarantee that it will be a very long time before another black man is elected president. And that's a shame, because what he's done has nothing to do with race.

Molon Labe!

IHC