Wondertard

I learned this term yesterday at work and I do believe I know some folks that fit this category. Someone who is even dumber than a retarded person. Tina is so freaking stupid, she's a Wondertard! She makes regular dumb seem smart. LOL, so inappropriate but funny just the same.

Heroic Father

I just read this story about the father in Shiner Texas who literally beat a child molester to death with his bare hands after he heard his daughter screaming in the barn and caught the animal in the act of sexually assaulting his little girl. I say little because that's exactly what she is, four years old. Now as you can expect, us Texans are all of a single mind, well 99 percent of us anyway, that the father did the right thing. So this fathers day, say a prayer for the family. Pray the little girl recovers from this psychologically and that the race baiting P.C. police from DC or a boot licking DA from Austin doesn't decide to prosecute this father who did what any of us would have done had we came upon such a vile act. One piece of comfort though, I doubt there's a jury in Texas that would convict the father, even in Austin. I plan to have some great Shiner beer this father's day and I will raise it in toast and honor of the man who protected his little girl and gave her the closure she will need to end her personal nightmare. Protect them father, protect them. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/he-got-what-he-deserved-texas-dad-beats-his-daughters-molester-to-death/

Another Clear Reason

Well, here we are again, defending our American culture against those who would squander all that was given to us under the guise of not wanting to offend someone. Good ol' New York and their P.C. police are defending an elementary school principal's active act of douche baggery. To proclaim Lee Greenwood's song "Proud To Be An American" may offend other cultures, and that the kindergarteners are unable to grasp the songs meaning is both ludicrous and offensive in itself. And to give more heart burn from this egregious story, the Department of Education agrees with the alleged "principal". This affirms my belief that those folks in New York deserve what they get since they keep voting these kind of, ahem, people, into office and/or positions of authority. My friends, we had better stay vigilant and keep a wary eye open for this kind of douche baggery to make its way into our wonderful state because this is another clear reason why New York is in the state it's in.

Quote from Circuit Court of Appeals Justice

All too many of the other great tragedies of history— Stalin’s atrocities, the killing fields of Cambodia, the Holocaust, to name but a few—were perpetrated by armed troops against unarmed populations. Many could well have been avoided or mitigated, had the perpetrators known their intended victims were equipped with a rifle and twenty bullets apiece, as the Militia Act required here. If a few hundred Jewish fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto could hold off the Wehrmacht for almost a month with only a handful of weapons, six million Jews armed with rifles could not so easily have been herded into cattle cars. My excellent colleagues have forgotten these bitter lessons of history. The prospect of tyranny may not grab the headlines the way vivid stories of gun crime routinely do. But few saw the Third Reich coming until it was too late. The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed—where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once. Alex Kozinski Justice of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Silviera v. Lockyer, 1993

Metal and Wood

A little lengthy, but very sobering. God Bless America. God Bless Our Troops. Do the right thing, because it is the right thing to do. It is a rare person who does not attach some sort of value or emotion to some physical object or to an event. A home becomes more than a building. A statue of the Virgin Mary, a crucifix, a flag or a song, or even a photograph can stir emotions greater than the value of the material item. I have a piece of paper showing I served in the military until I was discharged honorably. But, oh, the memories that piece of paper conjures up. The friends, the fun times. The bad times. The times when we were bound closer to strangers than to our own families and, in frightening chaos, our lives hung by a thread. Many of our friends died far from home. Ask us about the feeling of “American soil” upon returning to the land we loved. Ask those returning soldiers about America. Remember the old, faintly humorous band of American Legionnaires, wearing out-dated military uniforms straining at the buttons. But, God how proudly they marched. Grinning, waving to friends and families, and always, always “The Flag!” Ask them if the flag is mere cloth, I dare you. See the elderly lady sitting in a lawn chair watching the fourth of July parade. Three flags carefully folded some forty years ago into triangles now rest in her lap - one for each lost son. Ask her if those flags are mere cloth, I dare you. Look at the old man quietly crying, leaning against the Iwo Jiima Memorial at Arlington Cemetery. As he turns to you, smiles with some embarrassment, and says in a choked whisper, “I was there.” Ask him, “Is it just metal and clay?” Ask him. I dare you. The Wall. My God, the Wall. See the young man lightly tracing the name of his father there inscribed. Ask him if its just rock. Ask him. I dare you. My guns? They’re of little real value compared to my family and my home. They are toys, or tools, or both. But what those guns represent to me is greater than all of us, greater than myself, my family, indeed greater than our entire generation. What could be of such value? The freedom of man to live within civil, self-imposed limitations rather than under restrictions placed upon him by a ruler or a ruling class. Imagine the daring, the bravery of a few men to declare they intended to create a new country, independent of the burden of their established Rulers! Those men we call our forefathers were brilliant men. They could have maneuvered themselves into positions of influence within the structure of the times, but they did not. They struggled to free themselves from tyranny. They wrote the Declaration of Independence. And they backed up their words and ideals with metal and wood. They knew the dangers of such dreams and actions. They knew it was a frightening and dangerous venture into the unknown when they dared reach beyond their grasp for a vision - for an ideal. But they dared to dedicate themselves to achieve Liberty and Freedom for their children, and their children’s children, through the generations. Imagine the dreams and yearnings of centuries finally being reduced to the written word. The Rights of “We the People!” instead of the “Powers of the Monarchy.” Our forefathers dared to create a new government - a new form of government. And they knew that any organization has, as its first and foremost goal, its continued existence. Second only to that it strives to increase its power. It plots, it devises, it maneuvers to achieve control over its environment - over its subjects. Our Forefathers decided to make America different from any country, anywhere, at any time in the entire history of the entire world. This country, this new nation of immigrants, would be based upon the concept that people could rule themselves better than any single person or small group of persons could rule them. Other countries have had outstanding documents with guarantees for its citizens - but the citizens have become enslaved. How, these great men pondered, can we ensure this new government will remain subject to the will of the People? They wanted limits upon this new government. Therefore, our forefathers wrote limitations into the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. And one of those Rights was that metal and wood, as the final power of the people, would secure this country for the future generations. Metal and wood were the means by which we won our freedom. Metal and wood were the means by which we kept our freedom. Metal and wood may be the means by which we regain our freedom. Metal and wood are the final power of the people. Take away the metal and wood and the people become powerless - they can only beg, they supplicate for favors. We are unique in our ability to rule ourselves but we are letting it slip away. Today we compromise. We try to appease man’s insatiable appetite for power by throwing him bits of our freedoms. But the insatiable appetite for power can not be appeased. The freedoms we feed him only make us weaker and him stronger. We must conquer him and again ensure the “Blessings of Liberty” won for us by our forefathers. We must be ready to use metal and wood again, for if we are ready, truly ready, we may be able to conquer the monster with words - for in its heart it is a coward. But if we continue to feed the monster our freedoms, we will become too weak to win, to weak even to fight, and we will become a conquered people. We will have sold ourselves and our future generations into servitude. If words fail us, we will use metal and wood, we will regain what we have lost, we will achieve what we seek, we will guarantee the America of our forefathers for the future generations. So you see, our guns are more than metal and wood. They are our heritage of freedom. They are the universally understood symbol that the government, no matter how big and strong it may be, answers to us! They are the tools we will use to prevent tyranny in the land of our forefathers and our children. So, ask me what my guns mean to me. Ask my children what our guns mean to them. Ask us. I dare you. Dennis Bateman on www.thefiringline.com

WTH?

Well it's been a while...again. Since I posted last Josh has left and returned for and from his first year of college. We went over to College Station a few times to observe some of his Corps of Cadets ceremonies and Corps promotion/graduation ceremony. I tell you, every time I watch all those kids form up I'm truly impressed! Candice has graduated high school, Cum Laud, and she's off to A&M to start her freshman year in Business Admin majoring in marketing. She's a very bright shining star in the Cranek gene pool to be sure. Of course so are all my kids. =) Little David, not so little now, has completed his Eagle Scout project and me being the Armadillo district Eagle Board Chairman, had the honor of signing my son's Eagle Application. Proud moments indeed. Thomas will be the next one. I have all the confidence we'll be able to get him there. Although very busy, and often times short on time and money, life is good.

Proud Parent

Well the day has come and gone. Yesterday our oldest left for college to Texas A&M at College Station. Angie had to take pictures of course, and then tears flowed a bit and then off he went. What a happy yet sad feeling. We bring these little lives into the world, raise them as best we can and then one day they're gone. We have to trust what we taught them stuck somewhere in those moldable brains and they'll make good decisions. He'll make his own mistakes and I believe he will learn from them; he better.

So the house is a little quiter, and somehow just a bit empty without him being around. The good thing is, he's still here in Texas and only a few hour drive away. We already look forward to his retuen visits and hearing how his new adventure is progressing.

We love you son. Be careful and be safe. And like I always tell you, keep your shit together. See you soon bud.

Religion of Peace?

I ran across this today and was immediately compelled to post this on my blog. I couldn't agree more, nor could I have said it any better! Read on...

Other than submission, what legitimate forms of protest are allowed non-Muslims? In the name of tolerance and cultural sensitivity, We are told by Islamic "bridge builders" that we must allow a victory mosque on 9/11 hallowed ground or, there will be violence; we are told that if a kook minister burns a Koran, there will be violence; we're told that South Park can't portray big Mo as a teddy bear or there will be violence. When a Danish cartoonist depicts big Mo there is not only violence but actual riots; we are repeatedly told that all of these things become recruiting tools for Al Qaeda, etc... The truth is much more simplistic. The only recruiting tool radical Islam needs is the Koran.

Our very existence is a recruiting tool for radical Islam. Radical Islamist, burn churches, bibles, flags and living human beings (Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, etc...), blow-up innocents in mosques, churches, busses, embassy's, ships, planes and commercial buildings. The Muslim street dances with joy at the destruction of the WTC’s and the murder of innocents within. Their “bridge builders” and moderates refuse to condemn Hamas or Hezbollah.

At what point do non-Muslims become provoked? And at such time when we non-Muslims do become provoked, are we allowed any reasonable way to express our morals, values, culture and religious beliefs without submitting to Islam, paying jizya (Muslim poll tax on non-Muslims), or motivating Muslims to perpetrate more violence upon us? When will these daily Muslim atrocities become a recruiting tool for the rest of us?

Poo Poo Head

As if things are bad enough, they may just be getting worse in a few months thanks to none other than our most inept ruler the Bamster and his regime. What is it you ask that he and his minions are scheming to “improve” our lives? Well my friends he and his environmentalist chums have decided the 'Dunes Sagebrush Lizard' is an endangered species. But Dave, how does this affect us? It happens to live in the Permian Basin, an area located in west Texas and happens to be the largest oil and gas producing region in the United States.

If he and his very bright and caring staff who would Never do anything to harm our teetering economy are successful in this new joint venture, only 100,000 people will instantly lose their jobs. This includes the ranchers in the region who provide a significant amount of beef to all the US. So, I suppose this is where the Bamster’s comment, “energy prices will necessarily sky rocket” comes into play. So now we’ll be paying $5 dollars a gallon for fuel to get to, insert your favorite burger joint’s name, to have a $10 dollar hamburger.

http://radio.woai.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=119078&article=8842044

As if this weren’t enough to steam your already sweaty ass, for those of us in Texas, a mom in east Texas has petitioned and managed to successfully have any books containing the phrase poo poo head removed from the libraries in their son’s school district. To be fair, she began this crusade because her son was suspended for using the phrase, stupid move number one. I guess calling someone fart head might get you a week suspension, but that theory has yet to be confirmed.

Stupid move number two. The parents feel if the phrase is bad enough for his suspension then it should not be allowed in any books. Believe it or not, there’s a book titled, “The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby” and it has that phrase in it. So the school district officials have acquiesced and the book is now banned. Guess what has happened, the book is more popular and kids are do their best to sign it out more often.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2015797/Mother-wins-appeal-book-phrase-poo-poo-head-removed-school-library.html

Well my friends, that’s the world we live in today. I reckon it just goes to show you, no matter where we are, there are poo poo heads all around us.

Damn, I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. I could say I've been too busy but the truth of the matter is I got lay and forgot about it. Shane on me.

Lets see, since I've been gone, Obama has managed to increase our national debt to an all time high, put us in a war he claims isn't another war (Lybia), gas is still too damn high. too many people are still our of work and his regime still blames Bush for everything. How's that hope and change workin' for ya for thos e who voted the most inept Presodent in our histroy, now surpasing Carter.

Oh, and Casey Anthony has gotten away with murder. I believe she's either the first or second most hated person in the US depending on who you ask.

Other than that, life goes on and here we are. The good news is we're still alive and kicking and here to do whatever it is we do.

See you again soon...no really....I mean it dam nit...ok, we'll see what happens

Wow...

It sure is dusty in here! I guess I've neglected this thing long enough. I've been pondering posting something but I'm at a loss of what I want to say right now. I know, really?

Well lets just start with my son has earned his Eagle Scout rank and we're going to have his ceremony next month. I couldn't be more proud of his accomplishment. Now for the next one to get his knocked out.

Don't give up on me folks, I haven't forgotten about my blog. Back again soon.

The last merit badge....for now

Well after a lot of coaxing and finally a cattle prod we have Josh up and back on top of hi last Eagle required merit badge; physical fitness. I tell ya, the X-box willbe the demise of our childrens' fitness if we don't MAKE them get out and do someting. In order to keep him motivated I get to take him and David, my next Eagle project, and another scout to the track and "motivate" them to finish.

Now I've had my happy butt in the gym for a couple months now on the treadmill humping away but it doesn't compare to actually being outside and "making" your tired arse move! Since my knees are not in the best of condition, thanks to 31 years of kneeling under airplanes, I get to walk ad fast as I can around the track. Right now I'm knocking out a 14 minute mile, which is pretty quickactually so I'm happy with My performance.

Regardless, the boys are out and we're moving forward on this last badge. AT least I'm getting both Josh and david knocked out together, Thomas will be a while before he's at this point. If all goes well we'llhave our first Cranek Eagle Scout this summer!

Eagle Scout Project

Well we finally managed to make it happen, the project is finished and I might add, looks great. We are very proud of our son! Now it's down to the paperwork and one more merit badge and he will be awarded the rank and all that goes with it. The first of three good Lord willin'.

Flash Certified

Well I finally got my initial Adob Flash training finished and I reckon I'm Flash certified now. This is the sotware Iuse to build my projects for our instruction to both the basic trasinees and the MTIs (Drill Instructors). Now that I'm getting more comfy with the software I've created a little animation of a stick figure of a dude rockin' out, I call it appropriately, "Rockin'". So as I move on to the next one, I also need to get more proficient at photography and eventually videograpghy. What a serious culture change I have made with this career change. No? If you click on the title of this post you'll see my certificate.

Freezerie

As I sit here listening to some J. Geils Band and some Joe Walsh reminising I figured I'd write a little about our scouting camp out last weekend at Bear Creek. But before I do ya have to look up "Musta got lost" by J. Geils, the live version, what a great tune!

Anyway, we drove out Friday evening, got there after dark, checked in, and after some skillful trailer manuevering on my part (because we got wrong directions, from an adult scout leader, irony there) we finally got to our camp site. The district always has a Bear Creek camp out in January for its anual "freezerie". Yes, it was cold at night, and Freaking Windy as hell!!! The second night I slept in my truck because I was tired of having my tent blown up around me, HA.

The camp out was a major success for our boys though! I couldn't have been more proud of their combined efforts and performance while out there. They competed very earnestly against about a dozen other troops in various scouting skill events in the morning. Then in the afternoon we had the Iron Chef and Dutch Oven cooking events. The boys came together like a perfect team and their efforts won first prize in the Duch Oven with their Black Forest Cake, and they placed in the Iron Chef for the Cleanliness Award.

The best, and I feel most important, award we discovered they won was the best camp site! The boys lashed some cedar poles together and hung a troop sign on a pole that spanned the two tripods they assembled. Then we placed the U.S. and our troop flag on either side of that for our site entrance. They also lashed another tripod together which held a 5 gallon water jug. The Armadillo District staff was very impressed with their efforsts which as I mentioned, won them first place.

We drove back Sunday in high spirits and celebrated with a stop at McDonald in Kerville. Yeah I know, but they like the place so what the heck. This was an award our troop has never won before but now they know they can and I suspect it won't be the last. 

Scouting

It'ss that time again, camping with the scout troop. This time we're off to the Bear Creek Scout Ranch for the annual "freezerie" in the Texas hill country. Doesn't look like it's going to be as cold as when we went backpacking in 16 degree weather, but it'll be fun anyway. The boys will be competing in various events against otther troops so this should be a great weekend! I'll let you know how everything went when we return.

God bless and be safe everyone!

2010

Well the Christmas season has come and gone. All the ornaments and lights are down and put away and we all settle in for another year. A saying comes to my mind, we plan ahead for things to come but it all happens on Gods time, or something close to that anyway.

This is my centenial year, yep, I hit the big five O this summer. I've begun the P90X workout program at work and plan on losing weight. I figure if I can quit smoking I can damn sure lose some weight. Besides, I don't want to tempt fate and keel over because of something I could have prevented.

So my friends, I look forward to another year of surprises and adventure on this crazy spaceship called Earth. I hope 2010 brings you all happiness, and most of all good health, because without good health nothing else matters!

Now, where is that bottle of Crown. I would love a drink!

The New Job...

Well believe it or not it has been 5 months already since I left Mama Boeing for this new gig in Civil Service. It is truly hard to believe time has flown that quickly. Although I do miss being around aircraft still, I have managed to adjust to the regular hours and weekends, no freezing outside when its cold and the opposite when its hot. Yes, I miss aircraft but I don't miss the BS that is inhernt and inexplicably married to the career field.

Anyway, that being said, today I was recognized in front of the entire squdron I work with for my part in developing the new and first official web site for basic military training for the US Air Force. I got a neat little certificate and a commander's coin that is pretty cool. Although it might not sound like much, I wasn't really expecting any recognition anyway and I feel it's pretty cool since I'm still pretty much a new face around the halls of the 737 Training Sipport Squadron.

Oh, I have also become a semi-published author being that my new job enables me to write news letter articles aimed toward the drill instructors to help them improve their game and become more professional. So that's kinda neat too.

Scouting

So there we were, cruzing down the road heading toward Enchanted Rock in the hill country of grand ol' Texas. I look up at the thermometer on my mirror to see that the temp is a meager 35 degrees and falling. My sons and the other two boy scouts riding with me chuckle and laugh that kind of laugh that reveals gidiness and the OMG I can't believe we're camping in this stuff!

After we arrived, checked in with the park rangers, and found our camp site we got the boys to break out their gear and set camp. We made a fire and hung out a while then hit the sack. We knew it was going to be very cold because the forecast was snow but we never thought it would get down to 16! Holy crap was it cold! No snow though, just iced tents in the morning.

Saturday we get up, break camp after the tents thawed, and back packed all our gear a few miles to Buzzard's Roost. Now I haven't back packed in like FOREVER, but I did ok. The most impressive part was our youngest scout Kirin, at only 12 that young'un packed all his gear, that included food and water mind you, all the way up there with Not One Word of complaint. His new nick name is Iron Scout Kirin, that boy earned a lot of respect this weekend.

The next night was cold but not as severe. We had a few noctirnal visitors that managed to get into a couple boys trash since they failed to tie it up in the trees; live and learn boys. We hiked a summit trail that is covered with milky quartz all over, kind of like natures hard snow, very pretty.

So we made it through the night, broke camp eventually and back packed back to base camp and made it home. What a great weekend! One of my sons, David, an avid video gamer even made the comment, "man this weekend was way better than sitting around playing video games!" Yes indeed son, it certainly was.

I'm proud of the troop I'm priveliged enough to be one of the scoutmasters of, and I'm doubly proud of my sons. Watching them grow into young men, leading others,and teaching the younger boys their skills. Whether or not they earn the coveted Eagle Scout award, I'll always be proud of their accomplishments. But rest assured, they'll all three make it. Of this I am certain.

Holidays

Well we went to Austin for Thanksgiving and visited the in-laws. We had a great time hanging out and feasting all the excellent food! The ccompany was good as always, there were many great conversations, and the Cowboys won so all was well in the world! We really don't get up to Austin often enough, but I'm hoping with the new job that will change.

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, much too quickly I might add, the Christmas tree is up and it's time to get those outside lights up and burning. Although they're a pain to set-up, they are a labor of love. What is Christmas without the twinling lights and ceerful tunes that cause us to whistle along and reminisce of days gone by and loved ones we wish were still among us.

Today Angela and I went out and started out Christmas shopping for the kids. I always like watching their faces as they open their gifts. I even found some 5.56 ammo for one of my rifles, made me happy although Ang had to give me the expected eye roll.

Time to go for now, home made chicken soup is calling and I cannot refuse.