Passages: The Heater from Van Meter

Bob Feller of Van Meter, Iowa, gun captain aboard the USS Alabama (BB 60) and baseball player, dies at the age of 92.

He rode Alabama through her stint in the North Atlantic as part of the British Home Fleet, then through the Canal to the Pacific where, from the Gilberts to Tokyo, he and his shipmates  didn't miss many of the major campaigns.

He was not a draftee.

He is the only USN chief petty officer in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

My second day of Christmas

It's hard to be snarky when wrapping Christmas gifts. This one goes to a good lad who shows  interest in small arms; I decided he should at least be aware of St. Ackley.

Probably the first Christmas card of my very own.

 Dec. 4, 1944

  "Dear Jimmie ... Merry Christmas and Love, Uncle Amzie"  
(Corporal, AUS, combat engineer)

Unconstitutional

A federal judge says the federal government does not have the authority to require  you to buy health insurance.  That element of Obamacare is, therefore, unconstitutional.

The pleasure here has nothing to do with health care, and little with Obamacare.

Break out the Templeton Rye and toast U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson of Richmond for simply pronouncing what should be a self-evident truth: There are some things governments have no privilege  to do.

Maybe my mind does work weird.

The good man at Random Acts of Patriotism publishes a nice take on the TSA boys eye-raping Donna D'Errico, and a quite different image comes to me.

Janet Napolitano in a little black dress, oozing her way to the front of the security line, stage whispering,  "Me. Me. Probulate Me. Please."

So sue me.