Back in the day

"Kids still go for good old-fashioned Western adventure, and this show is loaded with fast action and fancy gun play, yet wholesome enough to please the most exacting parent."

Bundy, June (July 2, 1949). "B-Bar-B Ranch" (PDF). Billboard. p. 13. Retrieved 23 December 2016.

Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders was on CBS Radio Oct. 17, 1932, until Dec. 11 1936 and on Mutual Radio June 21, 1949, until June 17, 1955.

The show was one of my favorites for a couple of years. That, Gunsmoke, Sky King, Fury and other Westerns whose titles I no longer remember. My father read Western novels by the dozens, and I got each book when he was finished.

These days, you would be hard pressed to find an entertainment program in which the phrases “fancy gun play” and “wholesome” were used together.

Those days, though, we saw guns for what they were, tools used after training. We got lessons on using axes, saws, hammers, tin snips, rifles, shotguns and pistols.

All country kids knew how to handle guns responsibly. The times were more peaceful.

Coalgate, Okla., birthplace of Col. Jack Dempsey, 2 June 1921-26 March 1967

DEMPSEY, JACK TAYLOR

Colonel (Infantry), U.S. Army

13th Combat Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade,

Date of Action: March 26, 1967

HQ US Army, Vietnam, General Orders No. 1633 (April 12, 1967)

Citation:

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Jack Taylor Dempsey, Colonel (Infantry), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with 13th Combat Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade.

Colonel Dempsey distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 26 March 1967 while flying in support of an airmobile assault near Tam Binh.

As Commander of the 13th Aviation Battalion, Colonel Dempsey was observing the progress of one of his units conducting an airlift of Vietnamese troops into a besieged landing zone. Enemy fire around the ravaged area was devastating, and one of the troop helicopters was shot down during the first lift. As a medevac aircraft attempted to effect a rescue, it was also hit and crashed. Unmindful of the extreme dangers, Colonel Dempsey dauntlessly chose to go to the aid of the downed crews himself. He radioed for gunships to provide support and, disregarding the advise of his mission commander, started the treacherous approach. Flying under the cover of an air strike, Colonel Dempsey fearlessly ordered his pilot to dive through the hail of Viet Cong bullets.

Despite the hostile fire that was hitting the helicopter, he would not be deterred from his mission. Even when the downed crews waved him off, Colonel Dempsey ignored their warning and flew on into the landing zone. In this gallant effort to save his men, he was fatally wounded when hostile fire raked the helicopter just before landing.

His unimpeachable valor and profound concern for the welfare of others will serve as a source of lasting inspiration to all those who knew him. Colonel Dempsey's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty, at the cost of his life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

When a 2LT during World War II, Dempsey was awarded the Silver Star Medal for actions with the 83rd Infantry Division in France.

SILVER STAR MEDAL CITATION

Jack Taylor Dempsey

Silver Star

AWARDED FOR ACTIONS DURING World War II

Service: Army

Rank: Second Lieutenant

Division: 83d Infantry Division
GENERAL ORDERS:

Headquarters, 83d Infantry Division, General Orders No. 17 (1944)

CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant (Infantry) Jack Taylor Dempsey (ASN: 0-37816/0-527788), United States Army, for gallantry in action while serving with Anti-Tank Company, *** Infantry Regiment, 83d Infantry Division, in action on 5 July 1944, near *****, France. Second Lieutenant Dempsey was given the mission of preventing the enemy from blowing up a bridge. Through reconnaissance he discovered that the bridge was surrounded by enemy snipers. Disregarding his own personal safety, he proceeded alone under heavy enemy small arms fire, crawling approximately 400 yards over open country and swamp land. Near the bridge he was seriously wounded in the face by an enemy hand grenade. Despite his wounds he directed effective rifle fire against the enemy and then safely returned to his lines, bringing valuable information. Second Lieutenant Dempsey's coolness under fire, his devotion to duty, and his disregard for personal safety reflect great credit upon himself and the finest traditions of the military service.

Why didn’t public school teach us about the government takeover?

Well, teachers were toeing the Democratic Party line.

During the Great Depression, FDR and his New Deal central government tried to take control of American lives. By assuming responsibility for creating and assigning jobs, the Democratic Progressives continued former President Theodore Roosevelt’s ideas of “We know what is best for you. Just shut up and do what you’re told.” The answer was supposed to be, “Yes, Mister President,” or, “Yes, Massa Roosevelt.”  

Those plans did not work out partly because the New Deal did not produce enough money to pay everybody; partly because some conservatives in Congress (read, mossy-back, hard shell Republicans) fought the more odious aspects of the New Deal; partly because Americans knew deep down that survival of the country depended more on ideas of individuality and business employment rather than all working for the government; and the war that began in Europe in 1939. The war did not, as has been written, “bring us out of the Depression,” but forced Roosevelt’s educated courtiers to develop and manufacture swords rather than plowshares.

As ‘Ol Remus says in The Woodpile Report, Democratic/Progressive plans “first played out in the 'thirties by the FSA in Appalachia. When their ‘initiatives’ and collectives were politely rejected the left went into a frenzy of revenge, giving us the grotesque caricature of hill people we live with today. It was also a political maneuver. After being shown the door by po' white folk they pivoted to more malleable demographics, especially The Diversity. And that, dear reader, is why we're all lampooned as Jethro and Elly May.”

The government wanted to move people out of the mountains, into the flatlands. Governments have much better control when citizens cannot hide behind trees and rocks, valleys and hollers, but must farm in flat, open areas.

In the late 1950s, almost all government-focused news stories about poverty centered on Appalachia. All three news networks had several stories a week on poor coal mining families. There were scenes of wood shacks, women in thin cotton dresses fixing meals on wood-burning stoves, dogs on porches, haggard men walking from coal mines, children ill-dressed for mountain winters.

The government hoped to use unions to get miners in line and keep them there. Democrats had only the working men and women in their hearts. Government plans didn’t work, though. Government organizers had not read Sun Tzu. Mountain people had reasons for living where they did, and those reasons centered on keeping away from the government and keeping the government away from Appalachian valleys and hollers.

None of that was taught in public schools, most likely not in private schools, either. Public schools taught FDR as Savior, indoctrinated young minds into duty and obedience to the Democratic Party. Private schools proselytized young minds for ruling all others.

Things have changed. That New World Order of the early 1990s has morphed into Populism. The US of A, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, citizens of those countries and others are demanding primacy from their elected governments.

Citizen demands are not easily channeled into positive action. Changing the ideas of generational propaganda is not easy. It certainly is possible, but not easy.

Happy Birthday, Texas!

Happy 184th birthday to the country that brought you 85mph speed limits, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, the Alamo, Big Tex, fried everything at the State Fair, Whataburger, Willie Nelson, the perfect Pecan Pie, the Astrodome, Big Bend, Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley Boys, Ernest Tubb, San Jacinto Monument, the battleship USS Texas, a border (not a state line) between it and Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico, a long border with Mexico, the Texas Rangers, the Houston Astros, the Cowboys of Dallas, and other things too many to mention.

CSM knows of what he speaks

“If you have a guy with all the survival training in the world who has a negative attitude and a guy who doesn’t have a clue but has a positive attitude, I guarantee you that the guy with a positive attitude is coming out of the woods alive.  Simple as that.” – Gordon Smith, Retired Green Beret Command Sergeant Major

Wishful thinking

From Western Rifle Shooters:

“I was sent to a Costco to see if people are stocking up (even though health officials say it’s not necessary) in case COVID-19 gets more serious here. This guy came out of the store with 16 boxes of condoms and a big jar of coconut oil. We all have priorities.”

(Priorities? Soon-to-be-unfulfilled dreams, I would say.)

Sure to drive some people nuts

Kids are not big enough to handle a crew-served weapon alone. Nope. Using a machine gun properly requires teamwork. 

Children show how to prepare and fire an M1917 Browning water-cooled machine gun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=16&v=MMhzh8Sc6xc&feature=emb_logo