Thursday, March 31, 2016

In the land where we were dreaming

The following was written by Daniel Bedinger Lucas.  He lived from 1836 to 1909.  I believe it needs no further introduction.


In The Land Where We Were Dreaming


Fair were our nation's visions, and as grand
As ever floated out of fancy-land;
    Children we were in simple faith,
    But god-like children, whom nor death,
Nor threat of danger drove from honor's path --
    In the land where we were dreaming!
   
Proud were our men as pride of birth could render,
As violets our women pure and tender;
    And when they spoke, their voices thrill
    At evening hushed the whip-poor-will,
At morn the mocking bird was mute and still,
    In the land where we were dreaming!
   
And we had graves that covered more of glory,
Than ever taxed the lips of ancient story;
    And in our dreams we wove the thread
    Of principles for which had bled,
And suffered long our own immortal dead,
    In the land where we were dreaming!
   
Tho' in our land we had both bond and free,
Both were content, and so God let them be;
    Till Northern glances, slanting down,
    With envy viewed our harvest sun --
But little recked we, for we still slept on,
    In the land where we were dreaming!
   
Our sleep grew troubled; and our dreams grew wild;
Red meteors flashed across our heaven's field;
    Crimson the Moon; between the Twins
    Barbed arrows flew in circling lanes
Of light, red Comets tossed their fiery manes
    O'er the land where we were dreaming!
   
Down from her eagle height smiled Liberty,
And waved her hand in sign of victory;
    The world approved, and everywhere,
    Except where growled the Russian bear,
The brave, the good and just gave us their prayer,
    For the land where we were dreaming!
   
High o'er our heads a starry flag was seen,
Whose field was blanched, and spotless in its sheen;
    Chivalry's cross its union bears,
    And by his scars each vet'ran swears
To bear it on in triumph through the wars,
    In the land where we were dreaming!
   
We fondly thought a Government was ours --
We challenged place among the world's great powers;
   We talk'd in sleep of rank, commission,
   Until so life-like grew the vision,
That he who dared to doubt but met derision,
    In the land where we were dreaming!
   
A figure came among us as we slept --
At first he knelt, then slowly rose and wept;
    Then gathering up a thousand spears,
    He swept across the field of Mars,
Then bowed farewell and walked behind the stars,
    From the land where we were dreaming!
   
We looked again, another figure still
Gave hope, and nerved each individual will;
    Erect he stood, as clothed with power;
    Self-poised, he seemd to rule the hour,
With firm, majestic sway, -- of strength a tower,
    In the land where we were dreaming!

As while great Jove, in bronze, a warder god,
Gazed eastward from the Forum where he stood,
    Rome felt herself secure and free, --
    So Richmond, we, on guard for thee,
Beheld a bronzed hero, god-like Lee,
    In the land where we were dreaming!

As wakes the soldier when the alarum calls, --
As wakes the mother when her infant falls, --
    As starts the traveler when around
    His sleepy couch the fire-bells sound, --
So woke our nation with a single bound --
    In the land where we were dreaming!

Woe! Woe! is us, the startled mothers cried,
While we have slept, our noble sons have died!
    Woe! Woe! is us, how strange and sad,
    That all our glorious visions fled,
Have left us nothing real but our dead,
    In the land where we were dreaming!

And are they really dead, our martyred slain?
No, Dreamers! Morn shall bid them rise again,
    From every plain, -- from every height, --
    On which they seemed to die for right,
Their gallant spirits shall renew the fight,
    In the land where we were dreaming!

Unconquered still in soul, tho' now o'er-run,
In peace, in war, the battle's just begun!
    Once this Thyestean banquet o'er,
    Grown strong the few who bide their hour,
Shall rise and hurl its drunken guests from power,
    In the land where we were dreaming!

Friday, March 25, 2016

ATF Show

I hope you've had a good...   umm...  Good Friday.  Its tough to remember all the time... but we need to remember that what happened today... is just as important as what happened on Sunday.

So the show?

Yeah we're doing the show.

You can expect a heavy show tonight... for what I assume you should know are obvious reasons.  If not... well buckle up... you're in for a wild ride. Six and I are always up for answering questions so anything you have.. give us a holler and we'll do what we can.

Call us at (646) 668-2515.

Enjoy it boys

A:  Woodfords Reserve Double Oak:   90 proof.  smooth like a baby's ass.  Drinks like water.  Holy crap this is good.

T: Arturo.  Because...   Arturo.

F:  Taurus Poly Protector 357.   Y'all seen this thing?  Man this is cool.   So light... so easy to carry...  now 357 can be a handful out of it.. but generally I shoot 38 special defense loads anyway.  357 is largely wasted with a snub nose anyway.  bullet it is out of the barrel before the powder is fully burned so much of it is wasted.  Still... love this little wheel gun.  People who won't carry anything will carry this.

Friday, March 18, 2016

ATF... For Real this Time

Ok seriously we're just going to pretend last week didn't happen.   So...  lets try this again...  with the correct settings this time.  eh?


Here is the link to the show.  Goes live at 9cst


Should you have a question... you can call in at ...


GUEST CALL-IN
(646) 668-2515

Wow.  OK that looks wierd.   Anyway...

We're talking about guns.. and booze... and probably...  oh God who knows. 

A: Wild Turkey... RR.

T: Gurkha.  Spec Ops.   Because.  Gurkha.

F: CZ P-09.  Raise your hand if you knew this thing held 15 +1 in .40?  And you can get mags that hold even more.   ***boggle**  

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Authentic Coffee

Kids...

I give you...   Peak Millennial.


The Greatest President You Don't Know

In this silly season of American politics a common conversation is held in barbershops and forums... in person and on the web.   Who was the greatest of all American presidents?

In my own opinion its a stupid question.  You cannot possibly put yourself in a time and place and make such judgements because to do so you'd have to give up the experiences that make you who you are.. and replace them with other experiences from another time.

We can judge by fruits... who fruits of what?  Fruits from who's perspective?  The government?  The people?  which people?

The reason I find these conversations so tedious is that for the most part they are simply people dropping the names of men they know little or nothing about, who lived at times they know little or nothing about, and held an office they know little or nothing about.  Even more often... they simply say "abraham lincoln".... or "George Washington" because they heard someone else say those names.

For the reasons stated above I cannot answer the question.  I cannot tell you who the Greatest President was.  The question is to broad.  I need a lot of criteria.  But... I can offer one tidbit here...  I can tell you who the Greatest President You've Maybe Never Heard Of is.

The 22nd and 24th President of the United States.  Grover Cleveland.  In defense of this... I am simply going to share some facts about the man.

You can tell a lot about a man by the nicknames he earned.  Grover served as sheriff of Erie County New York... and was nicked named The Buffalo Hangman.  For reasons that should not require explaining.   Later while serving as Mayor of Buffalo and Governor of New York The New York times frequently referred to him as "Ugly Honest" in its editorials because he so consistently told the blunt truth and refused to sugar coat anything.

Grover was a leader of a political group that called themselves the Bourbon Democrats.  They were staunch economic conservatives and fought against big government and corruption in all forms.  They believed in limited government fought hard for it.  

As President Grover Cleveland vetoed more bills than all the previous 21 Presidents combined.

As President Grover Cleveland vetoed more bills than all the previous 21 Presidents combined.

I wrote that twice.  Because its double-awesome.

He even had something like a catch phrase.  It is said that when he would veto a bill he would frequently claim "I keep searching the document but I still cannot find the word 'charity' in the Constitution." 

During his second term he was diagnosed with a sarcoma in his upper jaw.  The jaw had to be surgically removed and replaced with a rubber prosthetic.  it was 1893... and the surgery was performed on a yacht owned by his friend.  He was sedated with nitrous oxide and ether during the procedure which would have been cutting edge for the 1920s.  He didn't want the nation to be alarmed at his situation so he told everyone it was a vacation cruise.  It took a few months for him to learn to talk again... but the whole secret was maintained to the point that the public didn't really find out until 1917 when one of the surgeons finally published a paper on the operation.

President Cleveland had the opportunity to meet a young Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  The boy was only 5 years old at the time.  Grover told him, "My little man, I am making a strange wish for you. It is that you may never be president of the United States."  Grover Cleveland could apparently see the future.  And no doubt it appalled him.  Because what FDR would go on to do... would have Grover Cleveland shouting down curses from Heaven.

Grover Cleveland was the only democrat to win election in the decades closely following the War for Southern Independence.  He won the popular vote 3 times... but lost the electoral college in his re-election bid in 1888.  When leaving the white house... his wife told the staff to keep everything in place... because they would be back in 4 years.  She was right.  He won the election of 1892 and they were back.

Grover is the only President to ever be married in the White House.  And his wife is the youngest of all the first ladies.  She was just 21.    ...   Roll Tide.


I can go on and on about Grover Cleveland.  Just the fact that he could be elected governor of new york as a democrat just 20 years after the War should tell you what a fascinating man he must have been.  Well... I guesss that wouldn't mean anything to someone living in 2015... but see in the 1880s?  No.  The Democrats were the party of the South.  So staunch was the democratic control of the south that if you look at the senate 100 years later...  most Southern States STILL had democrat senators. 

and yet here was a limited government favoring democrat... winning elections in the heart of the North.

The Greatest of All Time?

Its a silly question. 

But... I will raise a glass to Grover Cleveland..  The Bourbon Democrat.  He was a president like no president before... and like none after. 

I leave you with the his last words... 

" I have tried so hard to do right."

And so he did.









Friday, March 11, 2016

Hey. I'm back.

And we're doing an ATF Show.

Like now.

Here

Show kicks off at 930 cst.

Miss me?