To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
-Thomas Jefferson

"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity."
-- Irving Kristol

D-Day

An invading army had not crossed the unpredictable, dangerous English Channel since 1688 -- and once the massive force set out, there was no turning back. The 5000-vessel armada stretched as far as the eye could see, transporting over 150,000 men and nearly 30,000 vehicles across the channel to the French beaches. Six parachute regiments -- over 13,000 men -- were flown from nine British airfields in over 800 planes. More than 300 planes dropped 13,000 bombs over coastal Normandy immediately in advance of the invasion.

War planners had projected that 5,000 tons of gasoline would be needed daily for the first 20 days after the initial assault. In one planning scenario, 3,489 long tons of soap would be required for the first four months in France.

By nightfall on June 6, more than 9,000 Allied soldiers were dead or wounded, but more than 100,000 had made it ashore, securing French coastal villages. And within weeks, supplies were being unloaded at UTAH and OMAHA beachheads at the rate of over 20,000 tons per day.

Captured Germans were sent to American prisoner of war camps at the rate of 30,000 POWs per month from D-Day until Christmas 1944. Thirty-three detention facilities were in Texas alone.

Five years before he died, General Eisenhower (who was a conquering hero at war's end and later served two terms as America's president) came back to Colleville-sur-Mer. It was the first, and only, time he made that journey after the war. Looking over Omaha Beach, he spoke from his heart:

. . . these men came here - British and our allies, and Americans - to storm these beaches for one purpose only, not to gain anything for ourselves, not to fulfill any ambitions that America had for conquest, but just to preserve freedom. . . . Many thousands of men have died for such ideals as these. . . but these young boys. . . were cut off in their prime. . . I devoutly hope that we will never again have to see such scenes as these. I think and hope, and pray, that humanity will have learned. . . we must find some way . . . to gain an eternal peace for this world. (Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life, by Carlo D'Este, p. 705.)

Mosin Nagant

So in the Russo-Turkish War the Russians didn't fair too well. They had single shot rifles while their opponents had semi-automatic weapons. So the Russian army launched a search for a new rifle. Capt Mosin of the Imperial Army submitted a design as well as Leon Nagant. At first Nagant's submission looked better, but on further examination Mosin's shown. After taking a idea's from Nagant's they made the Model 1891.

The Model 1891 was used until approximately the 1930s, at that point some updates where made and the new weapon was classified as M91/30. This weapon was made through the end of WWII and was the standard Russia battle rifle through the war.

A number of carbine versions were produced (1907, 1938, 1944, and 1959). Also a number of other countries produced similar versions of the rifle and use them through a number of years.

The Soviet Union continued to use Mosin Nagants as sniper rifles until they fell. The Russian Federation continued to use it as a sniping weapon through at least 1998. Others continue to utilize it, making the service life well over 100 years.

As for mine, it is from 1943 and is from the Izhevk Arsenal located in Russia (founded in 1807 by Tsar Alexandar 1)

Pictures to come

Some Random Quotes

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. - Thomas Jefferson

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. -Winston Churchill

This year will go down in history for the first time a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future. - Adolph Hitler

These are the most feared words in the English language: "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you." -Ronald Wilson Regan

Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. - James Madison, The Federalist Papers

The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed. - Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-188

Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest. - Mohandas Gandhi

The people of the various provinces are strictly forbidden to have in their possession any swords, short swords, bows, spears, firearms, or other types of arms. The possession of unnecessary implements makes difficult the collection of taxes and dues and tends to foment uprisings. - Toyotomi Hideyoshi, dictator of Japan

The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so. - Adolph Hitler

If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of criminal acts reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so after a century and a half of trying -- that they must sweep under the rug the southern attempts at gun control in the 1870-1910 period, the northeastern attempts in the 1920-1939 period, the attempts at both Federal and State levels in 1965-1976 -- establishes the repeated, complete and inevitable failure of gun laws to control serious crime. - Senator Orrin Hatch

To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. - Theodore Roosevelt

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. - Napoleon Bonaparte

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. - Mark Twain

scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitates lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporizes rock, and as it always has been...rock crushes scissors -Dr. Sheldon Cooper

Things to do in Salt Lake City

So while I'm here I'm developing a list of things that I should do. Here's what I have so far:

- See the temple/temple square

- See the Great Salt Lake

- Go to the photography event at REI

- Go to the trekking in Asia event at REI

- Hike Mt Raymond (in a kilt)

- See Iron Man 2 on IMAX

- Visit Laura

- Go backpacking (still determining where....)

Anyone have any other suggestions?

Drive

So then... I drove from Southern New Mexico up to Salt Lake City in my Subaru. It is awesome. Now most of the way I was not on interstate highways, so I saw an awful lot of country side and all. It also meant that I had a lot of windy roads and all. It was a great drive, I really do like the Outback more than the Ranger. As you can see from the picture I had a little bit of tech with me on the drive. Now, I would eventually like to upgrade my in car radio so that the Sirius is integrated into the car and that would remove one piece of equipment. The line in for the MP3 player rocks. I just need to update my playlists so I don't always have it on random and have Christmas music popping up.

Oh, so I had about 13 hours of driving. I filled up before I left, I had to fill up in Gallup (about 1/4 of a tank left) then i filled up in Moab (about half a tank left) and got into Salt Lake with about a half a tank. Twas rather impressive. Especially coming from the truck. I do really enjoy the little onboard computer. Usually it stays on the outside temp, but it is nice to know the current mpg and my average.