I've been staying away from politics this year. What with the remodel and trying to acquire a modicum of competence at competition shooting I haven't really had the time. Plus the fact that I'm pretty sick of the whole thing. But I can't help chuckling from time to time at the obtuseness from the right.
Every time I hear someone say that the left is hypocritical about Radical Islam I laugh. It's not hypocrisy it's jealousy. Both the hard left and radical islamic fundamentalism are two sides of the same coin.
They're both Death Cults.
The hard left has no basic tenet beyond death is good. Every crisis is tied to death from guns to abortion to the destruction of the family unit. They warn that the things that everyday Americans engage in such as heterosexual relationships, self defense and eating what we want in the quantities we want lead to the death of innocents (children figure in highly here) while parading the latest homosexual hero, food fascist and gun grabber as the hero de jure. Governmental malfeasance in the VA leads to the deaths of dozens but state run health care is desirable. A healthy economy and capitalism is bad while global warming is the direst calamity ever ever and must be addressed by taking everyone not of the chosen class back to the stone age where life spans are reduced and living is a hand to mouth existence.
They are never louder than when death is involved. It's as if only the blood of innocents gets them truly excited. They revel in it and never miss a chance to roll around, coating themselves and their detestable views. Death Cult.
On Memorial Day Google chose to honor Rachel Carson instead of our honorable dead. Rachel Carson of banning DDT fame who has the blood of millions on her hands. Death Cult.
A nut job kills 6 and injures many more and all we hear is what Nerd Lust and misogyny and guns are bad and not one word on crazy or knives or how maybe if we granted ordinary folks the right to self defense this kind of stuff would stop. Death Cult.
That's because they don't want the deaths to end. Ever. When they finally get all they want the deaths will simply become more governmental directed and less societal. We're already seeing and reading all we need to know ow this all ends in their twisted minds. Prosecution, prison and the rope.
Death cult. They love death and destruction. The hard left is never happier than they are when innocents are killed. Unless it's when they're doing the killing themselves and those recipients are of the wrong persuasion. That's still a fantasy in their fervid minds for the moment but one need look no further than the nearest online leftist hangout to read the tea leaves. They want us not just quiet and defeated but dead.
How is any of this different from the Cult of Mohammad? Only in the end results and that only until their control becomes complete. The left looks on the tactics of the RIFs and dreams of the time to come. When they can throw off the thin veil of respectability that they wear like a blood soaked vestment and become what they truly are. Killers; murderers of the stripe we have seen all too frequently.
Pol Pot would recognize them. As would Khan and Hitler and Stalin. Mao would call them brothers and sisters. Bonaparte would recruit them into his army. Nero would serenade them while they all watched Christians being torn apart in the arena.
It is now not enough to say to each his own. You do your thing and I'll do mine. Tolerance has become a call to purge those deemed as enemies of the state. 'I disagree with what you say but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it' has turned into 'I disagree with what you say and I'll fight to your death to shut you up.'
I wrote a short post awhile ago warning about pushing me into a corner. It has seemingly gotten worse but therein lies the seeds of the left's destruction. Take a few minutes and read some of the stuff Borepatch has written on this subject. Many of you have also done so but BP is my go to guy for this kind of stuff as he seems to have his finger firmly on the left's pulse. The left is in the process of consuming itself in an orgy of blood lust, excuses and denunciations. Nerd Lust was the cause of the Santa Barbara murders for crying out loud? NSA spying is just fine. The deaths of veterans is acceptable so long as the bureaucrats in charge of the system aren't held to account. A 7th round NFL draft pick is a hero because he kissed his boyfriend on TV but mentioning that the whole thing might be a little over the top results in censorship and banishment to a Right Think Camp. The science is settled and if you disagree then it's off to court and prison with you. And on and on and on. Frankly of there's one racial, cultural or political group not on their list of approved core groups they haven't attacked and othered I don't know what it might be.
Fight terrorism? The hard left wants terrorism (in the form of radical Islam) to win. They're doing all they can in the middle east and Iran to ensure that very end. Libya is about to explode, Syria already has and the killing there is far from done. Boko Haram was protected from inclusion on the list of terror groups until they did something no one could ignore and even then the left's response has been a tepid Twitter hashtag campaign. Israel has been abandoned. Egypt is close to civil war (again) and if anyone thinks the Saudi's don't have Pakistani nukes in country and ready to go you're kidding yourself.
Stern warnings and proposed sanctions abound but damn little in the way of actual solutions in our foreign policy. That's because all this is exactly what the hard left wants. What they've been working toward for a century. Death is what fuels them and makes their eventual complete takeover inevitable in their eyes. They don't want solutions they want crises.
Combine all this with the left's cozening of Radical Islamic Fundamentalism and we're left with only one conclusion. The Death Cult that is the hard left believes it has already won and is no longer afraid of backlash of any kind. To that end they feel empowered to insult, accuse and attack any group that displeases them in any way.
The left and terroristic radical islamic fundamentalism are brothers. Both want the same basic things; the destruction of Judaism and Christianity and the enthronement of a dictatorship. Whether that be Theocratic, Stalinist or Monarchical makes no never mind to those of us in it's way. The end result is the same. Enslavement for the vast majority of human beings on this planet. Oh those two forces would ultimately come to blows to determine the final winner but both sides believe in the inevitability of their victory. Entitlement writ global and in the blood of humans sacrificed on the black altars of their evil Gods.
But they're not winning, they're losing and badly. We're seeing more and more push back from not just the right but from those once considered 'centrists' and even liberals. At least those who are the true scions of the once freedom minded liberal movement. As such groups are marginalized, criticized and even attacked they look once again at the hard left in this country with newly opened eyes. Eyes shorn of the blinders of party affiliation. Tribal isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes it's only an attack on a person's cherished loved ones, be they beliefs or actual people, that paves the way for enlightenment.
Sun Tzu is sometimes too often quoted but it's hard to deny truth when it's right there before your eyes.
"The
good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of
defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
Never interfere when an enemy is immersed in self destruction but be ever vigilant for the opportunity to hasten his fall. It may well come down to 'kill them all' but I doubt it. I think the hard left, like radical islam, will destroy itself. The only problem with that is how many they'll take with them when, in their death throes, they finally resort to the suicide bomb. And you know it will come down to that in the end.
They are, after all, Death Cults.
Six
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
29 May 2014
14 May 2014
The Zen Of Competition. The Mind And Body Are One.
The other day I got asked why in the heck I chose to take up competition shooting in my mid 50's instead of taking my retirement easy. It's a fair question though I despise the thought processes behind it.
I'm smack in the middle of a total house remodel. I have 2 grandkids I adore and don't see near enough of. After a lifetime spent beating on my body the aches and pains have really caught up with me. I'm slower, weaker and don't recover as quick as I did even 5 or 10 years ago. I have a motorcycle I don't ride near enough. I have stuff I could be doing. Why USPSA and 3 Gun? Why now?
First off, at heart I am a planner and preparer. I tend toward the long view on most things, including aging. I consider the mind and body to be synonymous. Neglect one and you neglect both. I'm convinced that the only reason I'm still in decent physical and mental condition is because I started preparing for this stage of my life when I was a young man and figured this day might well be coming (predictions from the skeptical notwithstanding). Education, reading, complex mind games, general physical activity and the gym. And don't forget a good dog. There's nothing like having your faithful mutt sit at your feet with that pitiful "please play with me" look on his face to get you up on your feet and moving about. That mindset hasn't (yet) left me. At nearly 55 I do see true old age rapidly approaching. There will be a time when I may no longer be capable of this level of activity no matter how hard I try (though in my heart I reject that. I plan on kicking ass right up until the very end). As long as I can I owe it to myself and my loving family to do all in my power to stave off the ravages of time.
Second, I'm a shooter. Have been for a long time. But those are perishable skills and, as age creeps in, can be lost quicker than any of us might imagine.
For me new challenges are literally the staff of life. I must constantly push myself beyond both my comfort level and what I consider physically attainable to keep my mind and body firing on all cylinders. I may be packing a carbureted V-6 as opposed to a blown V-8 these days but keeping that little motor purring is a matter of will as much as anything else. Let me say that again. 'Mind over matter, if you don't mind it don't matter' isn't just a trite colloquialism, it's my motto. Along with 'If it ain't raining we ain't training'. I'm such a simple guy.
So I compete. I challenge my mind to learn new skills and my body to master them. Do they transfer directly to things like self defense? Not completely but enough so that I'm also contributing to my SHTF tool box enough to make a difference when IF becomes REALITY. What they really affect is physical and mental health. Listen, age is largely a matter of choice and choices. Admittedly only to a certain degree but the more we do to positively influence that health the greater that degree becomes. I am absolutely convinced of this. Disease, extreme old age and accidents all take their tolls and win in the end but we have much more control over our aging process than we think.
Competition is way beyond the physical as I re-discovered recently when I took that 3 day, 1500 round pistol course from Ron Avery. Competition, and shooting in general, is as much mental as anything. All physical skills are first implanted in the mind which then teaches the rest of the body what you want it to do and how to get there. If the mind isn't kept as sharp as possible the acquisition of new physical skills becomes impossible. You can get even a broken down body to do things you might consider unattainable if your brain tells it to do so and doesn't take no for an answer.
The key isn't just training but smart training. Doing the same old stuff in the same old way over and over again leads to stagnation and entropy. Those things are a sure death sentence. Brigid told me that her father still challenges himself both mentally and physically each and every day and he's well into his 90s after a life at least as hard as mine (certainly harder). That gives me hope and renews my determination to go out kicking and clawing and screaming bloody murder. I love my couch and my TV but I refuse to allow them to become the vessel for my dissolution and early demise. Moderation.
USPSA was one thing but when I discovered 3 Gun the mental part of that V-6 got revved to it's limiter and my physical limits were pushed a little further back. Can't teach an old dog new tricks is pure, unadulterated BS. MUST teach an old dog new tricks is much closer to the truth and is something we need to keep in the forefront of our minds as we get further into middle and senior ages. Acquiring new skills and learning new things should end only after we've taken our last breath.
It can be anything. Going back to school, learning a new trade, taking up new hobbies, puzzles, athletic competitions, etc. With my background I simply chose competition shooting. It was logical. The mental challenges are complex and engrossing. The physical skill sets difficult and satisfying to acquire. I'm being pushed by other, younger shooters and in turn pushing myself to keep up with the pack. Yeah, there's certainly a little vanity involved. I'm trying to prove myself to both them and me but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Competition in the arena ultimately make us stronger and saner no matter the motivation. Besides, trying to run with the big dogs is what makes big dogs in the first place. Why do we keep forgetting that? No law exists that says what age the big dogs have to be either. The limitations set by your own mind. There's also little to compare with kicking the tail off someone much younger than yourself. Heh. A little ego and arrogance (in measured portions) used to be considered good things for anyone who desired to excel. They still are in my humble opinion.
Fear is our great limiter. Fear of failure and looking stupid amongst your peers among the worst for those looking at taking up new things. I think the most debilitating of all is that voice in the back of your head that constantly whispers at you to submit, give up. You're not good enough. You can't do this. Don't even try. Go lie down and wait to die. It's that voice you must slay. Without mercy, without compunction, without hesitation. Especially as the physical infirmities begin to set in. Kill it. Kill it with fire and chain it's ashen corpse to the pillar of your will, there to be the symbol of your mastery over yourself and in defiance of the forces of doubt and ignominious death.
Because I want to. Because I can. No other answer is required.
Now go kick someone's butt at something. Alive is alive. Act like it.
I'll see you all at the range!
Six
I'm smack in the middle of a total house remodel. I have 2 grandkids I adore and don't see near enough of. After a lifetime spent beating on my body the aches and pains have really caught up with me. I'm slower, weaker and don't recover as quick as I did even 5 or 10 years ago. I have a motorcycle I don't ride near enough. I have stuff I could be doing. Why USPSA and 3 Gun? Why now?
First off, at heart I am a planner and preparer. I tend toward the long view on most things, including aging. I consider the mind and body to be synonymous. Neglect one and you neglect both. I'm convinced that the only reason I'm still in decent physical and mental condition is because I started preparing for this stage of my life when I was a young man and figured this day might well be coming (predictions from the skeptical notwithstanding). Education, reading, complex mind games, general physical activity and the gym. And don't forget a good dog. There's nothing like having your faithful mutt sit at your feet with that pitiful "please play with me" look on his face to get you up on your feet and moving about. That mindset hasn't (yet) left me. At nearly 55 I do see true old age rapidly approaching. There will be a time when I may no longer be capable of this level of activity no matter how hard I try (though in my heart I reject that. I plan on kicking ass right up until the very end). As long as I can I owe it to myself and my loving family to do all in my power to stave off the ravages of time.
Second, I'm a shooter. Have been for a long time. But those are perishable skills and, as age creeps in, can be lost quicker than any of us might imagine.
For me new challenges are literally the staff of life. I must constantly push myself beyond both my comfort level and what I consider physically attainable to keep my mind and body firing on all cylinders. I may be packing a carbureted V-6 as opposed to a blown V-8 these days but keeping that little motor purring is a matter of will as much as anything else. Let me say that again. 'Mind over matter, if you don't mind it don't matter' isn't just a trite colloquialism, it's my motto. Along with 'If it ain't raining we ain't training'. I'm such a simple guy.
So I compete. I challenge my mind to learn new skills and my body to master them. Do they transfer directly to things like self defense? Not completely but enough so that I'm also contributing to my SHTF tool box enough to make a difference when IF becomes REALITY. What they really affect is physical and mental health. Listen, age is largely a matter of choice and choices. Admittedly only to a certain degree but the more we do to positively influence that health the greater that degree becomes. I am absolutely convinced of this. Disease, extreme old age and accidents all take their tolls and win in the end but we have much more control over our aging process than we think.
Competition is way beyond the physical as I re-discovered recently when I took that 3 day, 1500 round pistol course from Ron Avery. Competition, and shooting in general, is as much mental as anything. All physical skills are first implanted in the mind which then teaches the rest of the body what you want it to do and how to get there. If the mind isn't kept as sharp as possible the acquisition of new physical skills becomes impossible. You can get even a broken down body to do things you might consider unattainable if your brain tells it to do so and doesn't take no for an answer.
The key isn't just training but smart training. Doing the same old stuff in the same old way over and over again leads to stagnation and entropy. Those things are a sure death sentence. Brigid told me that her father still challenges himself both mentally and physically each and every day and he's well into his 90s after a life at least as hard as mine (certainly harder). That gives me hope and renews my determination to go out kicking and clawing and screaming bloody murder. I love my couch and my TV but I refuse to allow them to become the vessel for my dissolution and early demise. Moderation.
USPSA was one thing but when I discovered 3 Gun the mental part of that V-6 got revved to it's limiter and my physical limits were pushed a little further back. Can't teach an old dog new tricks is pure, unadulterated BS. MUST teach an old dog new tricks is much closer to the truth and is something we need to keep in the forefront of our minds as we get further into middle and senior ages. Acquiring new skills and learning new things should end only after we've taken our last breath.
It can be anything. Going back to school, learning a new trade, taking up new hobbies, puzzles, athletic competitions, etc. With my background I simply chose competition shooting. It was logical. The mental challenges are complex and engrossing. The physical skill sets difficult and satisfying to acquire. I'm being pushed by other, younger shooters and in turn pushing myself to keep up with the pack. Yeah, there's certainly a little vanity involved. I'm trying to prove myself to both them and me but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Competition in the arena ultimately make us stronger and saner no matter the motivation. Besides, trying to run with the big dogs is what makes big dogs in the first place. Why do we keep forgetting that? No law exists that says what age the big dogs have to be either. The limitations set by your own mind. There's also little to compare with kicking the tail off someone much younger than yourself. Heh. A little ego and arrogance (in measured portions) used to be considered good things for anyone who desired to excel. They still are in my humble opinion.
Fear is our great limiter. Fear of failure and looking stupid amongst your peers among the worst for those looking at taking up new things. I think the most debilitating of all is that voice in the back of your head that constantly whispers at you to submit, give up. You're not good enough. You can't do this. Don't even try. Go lie down and wait to die. It's that voice you must slay. Without mercy, without compunction, without hesitation. Especially as the physical infirmities begin to set in. Kill it. Kill it with fire and chain it's ashen corpse to the pillar of your will, there to be the symbol of your mastery over yourself and in defiance of the forces of doubt and ignominious death.
Because I want to. Because I can. No other answer is required.
Now go kick someone's butt at something. Alive is alive. Act like it.
I'll see you all at the range!
Six
10 April 2014
I Am An American Gun Owner
I'm not going to link to the madness we all saw recently, The Ft. Hood shooting and the mass stabbing incident at the Pennsylvania high school, but I do want to talk about it because it will happen again.
Take a minute and read this open letter to Congress written by Lt. Patrick Cook, one of those who was terrorized by the Ft. Hood shooter and saw a fellow soldier die. It's riveting and the message inescapable.
The real question is when is it enough? How much innocent blood is sufficient for those who bathe in it and revel in deaths of the disarmed and helpless? Because Lt.Cook is absolutely right. It will happen again.
I'm not saying everyone should be armed. There are many who don't for their own personal reasons and those who just don't have what it takes to go around with a gun on their hip. I get that and have no issues with them because it's a choice. One that should be a part of every American's life. But to take away that choice from those of us who can and want to is to set us all up for more of the same. Death, tragedy and horror and all of it preventable.
Here's a clue for all those out there who clamor for more gun control and outright gun bans. Ready?
There is no such thing as a Gun Free Zone. Period.
Except in the minds of the delusional or those with visions of absolute statist control. There are only those areas where lawful carry by lawful citizens going about their lawful daily lives is unlawful and they may not possess the lawful means of protection for self and other citizens. You can call them Victim Disarmament Zones or Criminal Protection Zones or anything you like but the hard, cold truth is that there are simply no areas anywhere in these United States where you can guarantee that a criminal will never bring a gun or the means to kill or wound as many innocents as he can reach. It's not possible short of an absolute police state and not even then. Difficult does not equal impossible.
There are guns in the world and will be right up until either the Second Coming or the heat death of the world (depending on your religious views. I favor the first but that's just me). We can join hands and sing Kumbaya until the cows come home but it won't change a thing. And please spare me the whole "It has to start somewhere" nonsense. It doesn't have to start somewhere and preaching that idiocy is akin to lining up the entirety of the unarmed populace at the doors of the abattoir and saying 'so long and thanks for playing.'
Folks, there is evil in the world and that evil is armed. Asking the good, no, forcing the good to be at a constant disadvantage in the arms race is just another face of that evil. It is monstrous and intolerable. Those who champion universal disarmament are creating an underclass of people who are nothing more than potential statistics waiting for the inevitable.
We're seeing the proof literally every day. Those states that loosen the onus of personal defense carry are experiencing downturns in violent crime, especially murder, while the incidences of justifiable homicides by those otherwise at risk are rising. Look at Detroit and it's pro gun police chief if you doubt me. Women are the fastest growing segment of the shooting industry. Gee, I wonder why that is?
Gun Control advocates, and especially those who push the Gun Free Zone myth, are the very face of evil in this country. They have set the stage for every mass killing we experience and an unholy large number of murders and great bodily injury assaults. They have no excuses and deserve no mercy. It is not the gun in one's hand it is the evil in one's heart and those who would take away the means for the preservation of innocent life merit no less than those who committed the act. I detest them to the very depths of my soul and denounce them all as the murderous would be tyrants they are. Strong language? Yep. No less true for that.
I am a gun owner, a shooter and an American. I will not lay down my arms until the day I die. I know those on the anti gun side wish (and plan) for that occurrence but today is not that day. Today I will contemplate my role as protector, as champion for those who have voluntarily chosen not to take up arms or who, for whatever reason, cannot. For the weak and the innocent and the helpless. I will reaffirm my vow and my oath and I will see to my body and my weapons that I will ever be ready to preserve and defend. Because evil walks the face of the earth and no amount of hand wringing, laws or intentions will alter that in even the smallest way. I am an American Gun Owner.
I will remember the ones who died in the name of elitism and control and most especially those who set the stage for their untimely and horrific demise. Oh yes, I will remember. They have reset that stage over and over and over again. The next one is out there, right now, just waiting in the shadows like that great beast thirsting for blood and death and destruction. I reject him and all his works utterly and name his adherents as my bitter enemies.
And when it does I pray it happens within my reach because I am an American Gun Owner. The lives of my countrymen, indeed the life of America herself are within my purview. I am responsible for them and to them. No more innocent lives.
No. More.
Six
Take a minute and read this open letter to Congress written by Lt. Patrick Cook, one of those who was terrorized by the Ft. Hood shooter and saw a fellow soldier die. It's riveting and the message inescapable.
The real question is when is it enough? How much innocent blood is sufficient for those who bathe in it and revel in deaths of the disarmed and helpless? Because Lt.Cook is absolutely right. It will happen again.
I'm not saying everyone should be armed. There are many who don't for their own personal reasons and those who just don't have what it takes to go around with a gun on their hip. I get that and have no issues with them because it's a choice. One that should be a part of every American's life. But to take away that choice from those of us who can and want to is to set us all up for more of the same. Death, tragedy and horror and all of it preventable.
Here's a clue for all those out there who clamor for more gun control and outright gun bans. Ready?
There is no such thing as a Gun Free Zone. Period.
Except in the minds of the delusional or those with visions of absolute statist control. There are only those areas where lawful carry by lawful citizens going about their lawful daily lives is unlawful and they may not possess the lawful means of protection for self and other citizens. You can call them Victim Disarmament Zones or Criminal Protection Zones or anything you like but the hard, cold truth is that there are simply no areas anywhere in these United States where you can guarantee that a criminal will never bring a gun or the means to kill or wound as many innocents as he can reach. It's not possible short of an absolute police state and not even then. Difficult does not equal impossible.
There are guns in the world and will be right up until either the Second Coming or the heat death of the world (depending on your religious views. I favor the first but that's just me). We can join hands and sing Kumbaya until the cows come home but it won't change a thing. And please spare me the whole "It has to start somewhere" nonsense. It doesn't have to start somewhere and preaching that idiocy is akin to lining up the entirety of the unarmed populace at the doors of the abattoir and saying 'so long and thanks for playing.'
Folks, there is evil in the world and that evil is armed. Asking the good, no, forcing the good to be at a constant disadvantage in the arms race is just another face of that evil. It is monstrous and intolerable. Those who champion universal disarmament are creating an underclass of people who are nothing more than potential statistics waiting for the inevitable.
We're seeing the proof literally every day. Those states that loosen the onus of personal defense carry are experiencing downturns in violent crime, especially murder, while the incidences of justifiable homicides by those otherwise at risk are rising. Look at Detroit and it's pro gun police chief if you doubt me. Women are the fastest growing segment of the shooting industry. Gee, I wonder why that is?
Gun Control advocates, and especially those who push the Gun Free Zone myth, are the very face of evil in this country. They have set the stage for every mass killing we experience and an unholy large number of murders and great bodily injury assaults. They have no excuses and deserve no mercy. It is not the gun in one's hand it is the evil in one's heart and those who would take away the means for the preservation of innocent life merit no less than those who committed the act. I detest them to the very depths of my soul and denounce them all as the murderous would be tyrants they are. Strong language? Yep. No less true for that.
I am a gun owner, a shooter and an American. I will not lay down my arms until the day I die. I know those on the anti gun side wish (and plan) for that occurrence but today is not that day. Today I will contemplate my role as protector, as champion for those who have voluntarily chosen not to take up arms or who, for whatever reason, cannot. For the weak and the innocent and the helpless. I will reaffirm my vow and my oath and I will see to my body and my weapons that I will ever be ready to preserve and defend. Because evil walks the face of the earth and no amount of hand wringing, laws or intentions will alter that in even the smallest way. I am an American Gun Owner.
I will remember the ones who died in the name of elitism and control and most especially those who set the stage for their untimely and horrific demise. Oh yes, I will remember. They have reset that stage over and over and over again. The next one is out there, right now, just waiting in the shadows like that great beast thirsting for blood and death and destruction. I reject him and all his works utterly and name his adherents as my bitter enemies.
And when it does I pray it happens within my reach because I am an American Gun Owner. The lives of my countrymen, indeed the life of America herself are within my purview. I am responsible for them and to them. No more innocent lives.
No. More.
Six
06 November 2013
An Open Letter To The Republican Party
Hi.
I'm a voter. I used to be registered as a Republican though after a string of fairly recent past events I switched to Independent. Not really an issue for you as I mostly had a strong tendency to continue voting for your candidates. A lot of the time I held my nose when doing so but I did it even though I kept swearing that I wouldn't keep voting for the lesser evil. Like Romney. You remember him don't you? Because I assure you I do.
With loss after loss, bad candidate after bad candidate, betrayal after betrayal and disappointment after disappointment here's where we are now. After yesterday's Virginia race I'm afraid that a parting of the ways between you and I has finally come.
Read carefully. I will never again vote for any candidate with an R beside their name if they even have a whiff of the Republican establishment. Period. And I'm not a lying progressive who promises a period knowing all along that they don't really mean it. Period means period. And lest you think I'm a lone voice crying in the wilderness take a very long look around. You will see that I have a lot of company and such good company it is. I will however take every chance I get to vote for a conservative who primaries one of your chosen few. Stuff that in your pipe and take a nice long puff.
Understand, it isn't me it's you. You're not interested in rolling back the damage the Democrats and leftists have done to the country I adore. You're not interested in promoting small government conservatism. You're not interested in conservative candidates outside your comfy circle of acceptability. You're not interested in anything except power and the perquisites it brings to you and your cabal of establishment elites. Your failure to give the Republican candidate for Governor in Virginia your absolute support shows that clearly. Look up the phrase "All In' sometime. He should have won easily and convincingly. Such a victory would have gone so very far toward defeating Obamacare and giving conservatives (your base by the way in case you forgot and I know you have) hope and a morale boost. It would have proved the power of true conservatism and our message. It would have crushed the left. Crushed them.
But no. You squandered our chance by flatly refusing your unwavering support to a candidate who wasn't one of yours. You cast us aside like so much detritus. You have declared a war on the Tea Party, naming us subversives and Whacko birds or some such insult. You want a war? Fine. You got one. You really want an object lesson on just who exactly holds the whip hand?
No more money. No more votes. No more signs or door knocking. No more posts in defense. No more local, state or national Party volunteer hours. No more support of any kind. Nothing, nil, nada, bupkis. You want to run Christie in 2016? Knock yourself out. I'll stay home or pick a third party candidate. Any third party candidate.
With any such declaration should come an offer of compromise and as an honorable man I am duty bound to make one. Here it is. Want me back in the fold? Want me and those like minded to renew our support?
Name Sarah Palin as the RNC Chair. Scoff and laugh if you will but I'm being deadly serious here. I can't think of anyone else at this point that I would trust with the job of cleaning our house of the progressive lites that have come to dominate the Republican establishment. There is no one else out there with the temerity and integrity to put the Republican Party's feet back on the path of small government conservatism. Keep Rove and Priebus and Christie et al. I'll take Palin and Cruz and Lee thank you very much. That is the price of my forbearance and my return to the party. And you can add another big old Period on the end there Skippy. Think I'm kidding or blowing off steam? Think I don't really mean it and come election time I'll do what I've always done and give you my support and vote?
Try me. I dare you.
There is simply no place for me and the current crop of establishment Republicans in the same party. It's them or me and that really means us because, as I said earlier, I am hardly alone here.
And that was your choice not mine.
Six
I'm a voter. I used to be registered as a Republican though after a string of fairly recent past events I switched to Independent. Not really an issue for you as I mostly had a strong tendency to continue voting for your candidates. A lot of the time I held my nose when doing so but I did it even though I kept swearing that I wouldn't keep voting for the lesser evil. Like Romney. You remember him don't you? Because I assure you I do.
With loss after loss, bad candidate after bad candidate, betrayal after betrayal and disappointment after disappointment here's where we are now. After yesterday's Virginia race I'm afraid that a parting of the ways between you and I has finally come.
Read carefully. I will never again vote for any candidate with an R beside their name if they even have a whiff of the Republican establishment. Period. And I'm not a lying progressive who promises a period knowing all along that they don't really mean it. Period means period. And lest you think I'm a lone voice crying in the wilderness take a very long look around. You will see that I have a lot of company and such good company it is. I will however take every chance I get to vote for a conservative who primaries one of your chosen few. Stuff that in your pipe and take a nice long puff.
Understand, it isn't me it's you. You're not interested in rolling back the damage the Democrats and leftists have done to the country I adore. You're not interested in promoting small government conservatism. You're not interested in conservative candidates outside your comfy circle of acceptability. You're not interested in anything except power and the perquisites it brings to you and your cabal of establishment elites. Your failure to give the Republican candidate for Governor in Virginia your absolute support shows that clearly. Look up the phrase "All In' sometime. He should have won easily and convincingly. Such a victory would have gone so very far toward defeating Obamacare and giving conservatives (your base by the way in case you forgot and I know you have) hope and a morale boost. It would have proved the power of true conservatism and our message. It would have crushed the left. Crushed them.
But no. You squandered our chance by flatly refusing your unwavering support to a candidate who wasn't one of yours. You cast us aside like so much detritus. You have declared a war on the Tea Party, naming us subversives and Whacko birds or some such insult. You want a war? Fine. You got one. You really want an object lesson on just who exactly holds the whip hand?
No more money. No more votes. No more signs or door knocking. No more posts in defense. No more local, state or national Party volunteer hours. No more support of any kind. Nothing, nil, nada, bupkis. You want to run Christie in 2016? Knock yourself out. I'll stay home or pick a third party candidate. Any third party candidate.
With any such declaration should come an offer of compromise and as an honorable man I am duty bound to make one. Here it is. Want me back in the fold? Want me and those like minded to renew our support?
Name Sarah Palin as the RNC Chair. Scoff and laugh if you will but I'm being deadly serious here. I can't think of anyone else at this point that I would trust with the job of cleaning our house of the progressive lites that have come to dominate the Republican establishment. There is no one else out there with the temerity and integrity to put the Republican Party's feet back on the path of small government conservatism. Keep Rove and Priebus and Christie et al. I'll take Palin and Cruz and Lee thank you very much. That is the price of my forbearance and my return to the party. And you can add another big old Period on the end there Skippy. Think I'm kidding or blowing off steam? Think I don't really mean it and come election time I'll do what I've always done and give you my support and vote?
Try me. I dare you.
There is simply no place for me and the current crop of establishment Republicans in the same party. It's them or me and that really means us because, as I said earlier, I am hardly alone here.
And that was your choice not mine.
Six
05 August 2013
Why I Just Cancelled My Membership In PORAC
Rant Warning. About a 7 on the scale. Disgust but limited bad words.
PORAC is the Peace Officer's Research Association of California. It's basically a lobbying and legal defense organization that has branched out to include such things as retired issues, medic care coverage, etc. In those capacities it's fine. I haven't had to utilize any of their services but I know others who have and they have done good work championing cops and the work we do. But.
I have noticed over the last few years an increasing emphasis on their lobbying effort and political activism, including but not limited to endorsing candidates and allowing promoting 'causes'. It's a couple of those included in their latest magazine offering that has caused me to speak my mind and cancel my membership.
Here's a link to their site and the E version of the magazine I get delivered once a month. This is from the August issue.Please RTWT.
Let's start with an article by Paul Villa, the Chief Lobbyist/Government Relations for the Reno Police Protective Association for PORAN (which is an associate member with PORAC) entitled Strange Bedfellows. It's on page 16 of the magazine. Flip through and give it a quick read. I'm not allowed to reproduce any articles in part or whole so I will have to paraphrase but I encourage you to give that a good read. I think I'm Ok with giving you the title to the article strictly for the purposes of clarity.
In that article he goes to some length to acknowledge that the majority of cops are in fact conservative, of one stripe or another. He went so far as to mention a PoliceOne.com survey that found that found a majority of street officers were opposed to gun control. Here's a link to that survey. He also acknowledges that puts us at odds with mainstream democratic/liberal policies. Ok, fine so far and accurate. He then makes the point that they (he says us but I don't count myself as among his supporters) will take the opposite tack and appeal to Democrats when wages and benefits are under scrutiny. He refers to Republicans in a derogatory manner in regards to fiscal policy. Note the language in that paragraph where the PoliceOne poll is mentioned and the differing way he refers to Dems and Reps. He whines about being questioned as to why they never endorse any Republicans. And here's the payoff.
Mister Villa then goes on, in the very next paragraph, to aver that those of us in the police business hold our pay and benefits above everything else, including the Second Amendment. And that is why they routinely endorse big D candidates in spite of acknowledging that those very same politicians often make the job of policing harder. He goes on to make the argument that he's really bi-partisan and just wants to find a reasonable solution to modern policing but in my mind he has already admitted that he's sold his soul for twenty pieces of silver. In the next to last paragraph he drives that point home when he again alleges that fiscal issues take precedence over other matters when it comes to political endorsements. Essentially he's saying that fiscal conservatives need not apply.
Mister Villa is of course wrong and if he's not then may The Good Lord preserve us all. My priority, both on the job and in my evaluation of political candidates, was police work first with financial considerations taking a distant second place. Most of the cops I know felt the same. We fought for our contracts hard but win or lose, the job was the most important thing in our professional lives. It's precisely the kind of thinking espoused by Mister Villa that got us into this mess in the first place. Me first and to hell with everyone else is anathema to all law enforcement professionals hold dear and to see such printed in the pages of a magazine dedicated to those same men and women makes my blood boil. If it's only about the paycheck it's time to find another line of work and if you believe it's your primary responsibility as a lobbyist for cops to deliver money and only money then you are doing your employers and the general public a huge disservice. Mister Villa, go sell life insurance you venomous, mealy mouthed, boot licker. Make endorsements based on the public and law enforcement good and let the chips fall where they may. Your cops will both understand and support such efforts. Making the job easier and the public safer is job number one and don't you ever forget it. And you cops in Reno (and all of Nevada for that matter) better take a long, hard look at your Chief Lobbyist and start asking some hard questions lest you end up like your California brethren, living in a liberal wasteland. You're uncomfortably close right now if that little tidbit has escaped you.
But wait, we're not done yet. Let's skip ahead to page twenty shall we? There we find the article that caused me to throw my hard copy of the magazine across the room lest I be contaminated by it's mere touch. It's entitled Back to Basics: Another View by Dan Milchovich DPA, a retired Captain from Inglewood PD.
Again, I highly recommend you RTWT as it's a pretty nasty piece of work. It's clear from inference that Captain Milchovich is a card carrying low information voter of the first stripe. I'm going to take just aminute here to refute some of his garbage.
1. You're arguing the wrong point which was that Congress and it's staffers were going to come under the auspices of ACA (aka Obamacare). That was the law but Obama has now 'fixed' that. Once again the political elite have found a way to insulate themselves from laws they expect the rest of us to follow. Funny how often that happens.
2. Wrong. See above. And if you're wondering how the ACA is going to affect insurance premiums wonder no more.
3. It's not moot at all. If they have no skin in the game they have no incentive to find reasonable solutions. Here, read this and answer these questions. Where are all those SS contributions going and where will the money to pay off just the current obligations come from?
4. And? The problem here is that we have incentivized political life by making it all about the pay and benefits as opposed to it being, you know, about the public service. You and Mister Villa from PORAN appear to be cut from the same liberal political cloth. Considering a run for public office perhaps? Let's tie Congressional pay to the Average Yearly Income for Americans, kick politicians out of their retirement system and require them to live under all the rules they require us to abide by. Then we can both sit back and watch the exodus of those who are more concerned with accumulating wealth than doing the People's work and maybe we can get this ship righted again.
5. Again. And? Do you support an opt out provision for Social Security? If so then what's your point? If not then why not? How much exactly are you personally willing to sacrifice to ensure SS doesn't go bust?
6. Are you kidding me? Here, take a look at this and tell me how great that program is and how we should be funding it with taxpayer money.
7. Oh really? The real questions are how much is too much and who gets to decide that? I don't think I'm too comfortable leaving those decisions in the hands of people like you, Captain.
8. And here we go. Gun Control. This is an either/or proposition and damn you for posting your lunatic ravings under your former title, Captain. Either you support the Constitution and the Bill of Rights or you don't. If it's the former then sit down and shut up. You're just wrong. If it's the latter then you failed as a police officer and served under dishonorable terms. I think I know which side of the line you fall on in this debate and it disgusts me. And you end with this quote from Jefferson;
"An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens."
Do you understand how hypocritical you sound? You are arguing for the very thing Jefferson was warning against in a post espousing disarming Americans in violation of the second Amendment to the Bill of Rights. You're either disingenuous, stupid or a liar. Perhaps a nice combination of all of the above?
Bah. You make me ashamed to have ever worn the same uniform Captain. May my forefathers forgive me and my my children forget you were ever called an American.
So. I have sent off the following letter to PORAC in an e-mail;
Cancel
my membership in RPORAC effectively this date; 8/5/2013. I will no
longer support your organization in any way, shape or form. In fact I
will speak out against your narrow minded and anti Tax Payer public
policies at every turn. You will not turn my honorable service into
something unethical and wrong. I will no longer be among PORACs
supporters. Rather I will be a watchdog against your excesses and
attempts to thwart public will through your political activism and pressure
Six
(I signed with my real name)
I'll let you all know how they responded though I anticipate it will be unsatisfying.
PORAC is the Peace Officer's Research Association of California. It's basically a lobbying and legal defense organization that has branched out to include such things as retired issues, medic care coverage, etc. In those capacities it's fine. I haven't had to utilize any of their services but I know others who have and they have done good work championing cops and the work we do. But.
I have noticed over the last few years an increasing emphasis on their lobbying effort and political activism, including but not limited to endorsing candidates and allowing promoting 'causes'. It's a couple of those included in their latest magazine offering that has caused me to speak my mind and cancel my membership.
Here's a link to their site and the E version of the magazine I get delivered once a month. This is from the August issue.Please RTWT.
Let's start with an article by Paul Villa, the Chief Lobbyist/Government Relations for the Reno Police Protective Association for PORAN (which is an associate member with PORAC) entitled Strange Bedfellows. It's on page 16 of the magazine. Flip through and give it a quick read. I'm not allowed to reproduce any articles in part or whole so I will have to paraphrase but I encourage you to give that a good read. I think I'm Ok with giving you the title to the article strictly for the purposes of clarity.
In that article he goes to some length to acknowledge that the majority of cops are in fact conservative, of one stripe or another. He went so far as to mention a PoliceOne.com survey that found that found a majority of street officers were opposed to gun control. Here's a link to that survey. He also acknowledges that puts us at odds with mainstream democratic/liberal policies. Ok, fine so far and accurate. He then makes the point that they (he says us but I don't count myself as among his supporters) will take the opposite tack and appeal to Democrats when wages and benefits are under scrutiny. He refers to Republicans in a derogatory manner in regards to fiscal policy. Note the language in that paragraph where the PoliceOne poll is mentioned and the differing way he refers to Dems and Reps. He whines about being questioned as to why they never endorse any Republicans. And here's the payoff.
Mister Villa then goes on, in the very next paragraph, to aver that those of us in the police business hold our pay and benefits above everything else, including the Second Amendment. And that is why they routinely endorse big D candidates in spite of acknowledging that those very same politicians often make the job of policing harder. He goes on to make the argument that he's really bi-partisan and just wants to find a reasonable solution to modern policing but in my mind he has already admitted that he's sold his soul for twenty pieces of silver. In the next to last paragraph he drives that point home when he again alleges that fiscal issues take precedence over other matters when it comes to political endorsements. Essentially he's saying that fiscal conservatives need not apply.
Mister Villa is of course wrong and if he's not then may The Good Lord preserve us all. My priority, both on the job and in my evaluation of political candidates, was police work first with financial considerations taking a distant second place. Most of the cops I know felt the same. We fought for our contracts hard but win or lose, the job was the most important thing in our professional lives. It's precisely the kind of thinking espoused by Mister Villa that got us into this mess in the first place. Me first and to hell with everyone else is anathema to all law enforcement professionals hold dear and to see such printed in the pages of a magazine dedicated to those same men and women makes my blood boil. If it's only about the paycheck it's time to find another line of work and if you believe it's your primary responsibility as a lobbyist for cops to deliver money and only money then you are doing your employers and the general public a huge disservice. Mister Villa, go sell life insurance you venomous, mealy mouthed, boot licker. Make endorsements based on the public and law enforcement good and let the chips fall where they may. Your cops will both understand and support such efforts. Making the job easier and the public safer is job number one and don't you ever forget it. And you cops in Reno (and all of Nevada for that matter) better take a long, hard look at your Chief Lobbyist and start asking some hard questions lest you end up like your California brethren, living in a liberal wasteland. You're uncomfortably close right now if that little tidbit has escaped you.
But wait, we're not done yet. Let's skip ahead to page twenty shall we? There we find the article that caused me to throw my hard copy of the magazine across the room lest I be contaminated by it's mere touch. It's entitled Back to Basics: Another View by Dan Milchovich DPA, a retired Captain from Inglewood PD.
Again, I highly recommend you RTWT as it's a pretty nasty piece of work. It's clear from inference that Captain Milchovich is a card carrying low information voter of the first stripe. I'm going to take just aminute here to refute some of his garbage.
1. You're arguing the wrong point which was that Congress and it's staffers were going to come under the auspices of ACA (aka Obamacare). That was the law but Obama has now 'fixed' that. Once again the political elite have found a way to insulate themselves from laws they expect the rest of us to follow. Funny how often that happens.
2. Wrong. See above. And if you're wondering how the ACA is going to affect insurance premiums wonder no more.
3. It's not moot at all. If they have no skin in the game they have no incentive to find reasonable solutions. Here, read this and answer these questions. Where are all those SS contributions going and where will the money to pay off just the current obligations come from?
4. And? The problem here is that we have incentivized political life by making it all about the pay and benefits as opposed to it being, you know, about the public service. You and Mister Villa from PORAN appear to be cut from the same liberal political cloth. Considering a run for public office perhaps? Let's tie Congressional pay to the Average Yearly Income for Americans, kick politicians out of their retirement system and require them to live under all the rules they require us to abide by. Then we can both sit back and watch the exodus of those who are more concerned with accumulating wealth than doing the People's work and maybe we can get this ship righted again.
5. Again. And? Do you support an opt out provision for Social Security? If so then what's your point? If not then why not? How much exactly are you personally willing to sacrifice to ensure SS doesn't go bust?
6. Are you kidding me? Here, take a look at this and tell me how great that program is and how we should be funding it with taxpayer money.
7. Oh really? The real questions are how much is too much and who gets to decide that? I don't think I'm too comfortable leaving those decisions in the hands of people like you, Captain.
8. And here we go. Gun Control. This is an either/or proposition and damn you for posting your lunatic ravings under your former title, Captain. Either you support the Constitution and the Bill of Rights or you don't. If it's the former then sit down and shut up. You're just wrong. If it's the latter then you failed as a police officer and served under dishonorable terms. I think I know which side of the line you fall on in this debate and it disgusts me. And you end with this quote from Jefferson;
"An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens."
Do you understand how hypocritical you sound? You are arguing for the very thing Jefferson was warning against in a post espousing disarming Americans in violation of the second Amendment to the Bill of Rights. You're either disingenuous, stupid or a liar. Perhaps a nice combination of all of the above?
Bah. You make me ashamed to have ever worn the same uniform Captain. May my forefathers forgive me and my my children forget you were ever called an American.
So. I have sent off the following letter to PORAC in an e-mail;
A**** G*******
Membership
Retired
I
just received my August issue of the PORAC magazine and I find that in
the interest of maintaining my integrity and ethics I must resign from
PORAC effective immediately.
I
read with horror the articles from Paul Villa, entitled Strange
Bedfellows and Dan Milchovich, entitled Back to Basics: Another View. In
one the writer maintains that pay and benefits trumps all other
considerations and in the other we are treated to a liberal screed full
of nonsense and false information. Both are final straws for me.
I
have witnessed the turn of PORAC, indeed much of law enforcement
lobbying, from what's good for the general public to what's good for law
enforcement bottom lines in general and Democratic politicians in
particular. In both cases the missing element is the California
Taxpayer. I cannot believe that the hardworking man and woman in
California (and Nevada apparently) gets such short shrift from an
organization ostensibly about protecting working cops so we can deliver a
better service to those we are sworn to serve and protect. I am
appalled.
Six
(I signed with my real name)
I'll let you all know how they responded though I anticipate it will be unsatisfying.
19 April 2013
Some Folks Need To Get A Grip - A Rant
It's over. One is dead and the other is in custody. The cops were unbelievably magnificent. I know this is quick but if you'd indulge me for a minute I'd like to touch on what has rapidly become a sore spot for me concerning those very cops. It's really bugging me.
In perusing my blogroll and the various links and musings I have unfortunately run across more than a few who have decided that the events in Watertown, Boston and their environs constituted an occupation worthy of the Waffen SS. Yes, at least one site and it's commenters used those very words. Waffen SS. Just allow that to wash over you for a moment. Please excuse my word usage here but I'm seeing red at the moment. I really shouldn't be posting on this topic at this moment but I am a man of deep feelings and I refuse to pull punches when I think they're appropriate and necessary. The F word will be used liberally.
This wasn't a case of an armed robbery gone wrong and a suspect running loose. It wasn't a domestic violence gone bad with a significant other on the lam. It wasn't a car jacking. We used to have a name for those guys; Common Decent Criminals. Yes they are dangerous. Yes they often times killed including firing on those officers pursuing them and occasionally stray passersby. But they weren't terroristic animals who would place a bomb next to an 8 year old boy. They didn't routinely throw bombs out of a moving car willy nilly. They didn't desire to rack up the highest body count before they were finally killed in an orgy of evil, death and violence. They weren't actively working for the forces of evil arrayed against all we love and hold dear. They weren't the Enemies of America. These two scumbags were.
This was two guys who wanted to kill the maximum number of people possible and then die themselves. Want to remember what Chechen terrorists are capable of? Here ya go. The police reacted swiftly and appropriately. Locking down the scene was the right thing to do. This wasn't a local cordon it was a desperate attempt to cut off, find and neutralize two of the most desperate and dangerous foes one can imagine. Errors weren't allowed. Miscalculations carried the highest imaginable penalties. Cutting off transportation was the right thing to do. Requiring people to stay in their homes and businesses was the right thing to do. Calling in every available officer and piece of equipment was the right thing to do. It's called Calling In The Clans and if was absofuckinglutely the right thing to do.
This was a pig pile writ large and it was absolutely and positively the right thing to do. Witness the near total lack of civilian casualties. Witness the superb use of force control. Yes, it's horrifying to see a modern American city in total lockdown but it was still the right thing to do. Welcome to the 21st Century and what a nearly perfect police response to active terrorist shooters looks like.
Ask the people of Mumbai if what we saw in Boston was excessive. Those who survived anyway. How many of them would have welcomed such an immediate and forceful response from their own police forces with open arms and tears of joy? The Mumbai cops were a pathetic joke and people were killed because of it. It's not oppression it's fucking WAR and that war is in our neighborhoods even as we speak. It's not a fucking army of occupation taking over and running roughshod over the Constitutional rights of the people. Give me a fucking break. Yes it is bad. No it is not unconstitutional or evil of reminiscent of the Third fucking Reich. And the cops have sent a very clear message to our enemies. We ain't Mumbai. You screw around over here and we'll hunt your asses down and do it quick.
This, this very thing is one of the biggest reasons we have the Second Amendment and why I support it so vehemently. But we don't go hunting the bad guys. We hunker down and protect ours and allow the men and women we have hired and sworn in to do the job we have asked them to do. I want to see the lights and hear the sirens and watch as my police officers march to the sound of the guns. Isn't that what we expect them to do? This isn't common crime its an act of War and the responding Massachusetts police were fucking magnificent. I have never been prouder of my brothers and sisters in blue and fuck anyone who doesn't like it.
Listen, anyone who has even casually perused my blog and writings knows that I don't hesitate to criticize my fellow police officers when warranted. No one is a bigger critic of police corruption and incompetence than I am. But this incident contained none of that. This was a job well done with the correct outcome. The only people who were killed and injured were the terrorists and the cops. What more can we ask? If the blood of two cops is insufficient then I don't know what to say. I hate that one of my brothers was killed with another fighting for his life in the hospital but if you ask any officer worth his or her salt they'd tell you that it was worth the sacrifice. I have said many times that if the situation calls for it then an officer is obligated to take the bullet and even die in the performance of their duties. That happened here exactly. This response should be applauded not sneered at by imbeciles and those who wouldn't understand what a tactical requirement and textbook deployment looks like if it was spelled out in their primary reader. The Mass cops were swift, careful, courageous, decisive and on the ball. The scene commander was more than competent. The responders did all the right things without ever shooting someone they weren't supposed to even with two of their own down. I salute each and every one of those cops and hold my own honor short simply because I wasn't there standing by their sides. I am in awe of them all.
So. I have again removed a couple of blog links. No, I didn't leave them a comment. I have no patience for fools and refuse to engage them in useless argument. If you are one of those who look at the police response in Boston and Watertown as something Orwellian or Totalitarian then please just leave me the hell alone. I don't want to know you and for damn sure I don't want to be associated with you in any way. I'll take the blog down first. Yes, I am that angry at the moment. My brothers and sisters in Law Enforcement and the Military who also responded did an absolutely wonderful job in the most difficult and chaotic environment one could imagine. If you can't see that then just fucking piss off.
Six
Update: "some officers were out of ammunition and charged the brothers’ position with their police car."
"While Tamerlan Tsarnaev was firing a pistol with the other hand, police tackled and tried to subdue the 200-pound amateur boxer."
Yeah, sure sounds like jackbooted thugs to me.
ht: Ace
In perusing my blogroll and the various links and musings I have unfortunately run across more than a few who have decided that the events in Watertown, Boston and their environs constituted an occupation worthy of the Waffen SS. Yes, at least one site and it's commenters used those very words. Waffen SS. Just allow that to wash over you for a moment. Please excuse my word usage here but I'm seeing red at the moment. I really shouldn't be posting on this topic at this moment but I am a man of deep feelings and I refuse to pull punches when I think they're appropriate and necessary. The F word will be used liberally.
This wasn't a case of an armed robbery gone wrong and a suspect running loose. It wasn't a domestic violence gone bad with a significant other on the lam. It wasn't a car jacking. We used to have a name for those guys; Common Decent Criminals. Yes they are dangerous. Yes they often times killed including firing on those officers pursuing them and occasionally stray passersby. But they weren't terroristic animals who would place a bomb next to an 8 year old boy. They didn't routinely throw bombs out of a moving car willy nilly. They didn't desire to rack up the highest body count before they were finally killed in an orgy of evil, death and violence. They weren't actively working for the forces of evil arrayed against all we love and hold dear. They weren't the Enemies of America. These two scumbags were.
This was two guys who wanted to kill the maximum number of people possible and then die themselves. Want to remember what Chechen terrorists are capable of? Here ya go. The police reacted swiftly and appropriately. Locking down the scene was the right thing to do. This wasn't a local cordon it was a desperate attempt to cut off, find and neutralize two of the most desperate and dangerous foes one can imagine. Errors weren't allowed. Miscalculations carried the highest imaginable penalties. Cutting off transportation was the right thing to do. Requiring people to stay in their homes and businesses was the right thing to do. Calling in every available officer and piece of equipment was the right thing to do. It's called Calling In The Clans and if was absofuckinglutely the right thing to do.
This was a pig pile writ large and it was absolutely and positively the right thing to do. Witness the near total lack of civilian casualties. Witness the superb use of force control. Yes, it's horrifying to see a modern American city in total lockdown but it was still the right thing to do. Welcome to the 21st Century and what a nearly perfect police response to active terrorist shooters looks like.
Ask the people of Mumbai if what we saw in Boston was excessive. Those who survived anyway. How many of them would have welcomed such an immediate and forceful response from their own police forces with open arms and tears of joy? The Mumbai cops were a pathetic joke and people were killed because of it. It's not oppression it's fucking WAR and that war is in our neighborhoods even as we speak. It's not a fucking army of occupation taking over and running roughshod over the Constitutional rights of the people. Give me a fucking break. Yes it is bad. No it is not unconstitutional or evil of reminiscent of the Third fucking Reich. And the cops have sent a very clear message to our enemies. We ain't Mumbai. You screw around over here and we'll hunt your asses down and do it quick.
This, this very thing is one of the biggest reasons we have the Second Amendment and why I support it so vehemently. But we don't go hunting the bad guys. We hunker down and protect ours and allow the men and women we have hired and sworn in to do the job we have asked them to do. I want to see the lights and hear the sirens and watch as my police officers march to the sound of the guns. Isn't that what we expect them to do? This isn't common crime its an act of War and the responding Massachusetts police were fucking magnificent. I have never been prouder of my brothers and sisters in blue and fuck anyone who doesn't like it.
Listen, anyone who has even casually perused my blog and writings knows that I don't hesitate to criticize my fellow police officers when warranted. No one is a bigger critic of police corruption and incompetence than I am. But this incident contained none of that. This was a job well done with the correct outcome. The only people who were killed and injured were the terrorists and the cops. What more can we ask? If the blood of two cops is insufficient then I don't know what to say. I hate that one of my brothers was killed with another fighting for his life in the hospital but if you ask any officer worth his or her salt they'd tell you that it was worth the sacrifice. I have said many times that if the situation calls for it then an officer is obligated to take the bullet and even die in the performance of their duties. That happened here exactly. This response should be applauded not sneered at by imbeciles and those who wouldn't understand what a tactical requirement and textbook deployment looks like if it was spelled out in their primary reader. The Mass cops were swift, careful, courageous, decisive and on the ball. The scene commander was more than competent. The responders did all the right things without ever shooting someone they weren't supposed to even with two of their own down. I salute each and every one of those cops and hold my own honor short simply because I wasn't there standing by their sides. I am in awe of them all.
So. I have again removed a couple of blog links. No, I didn't leave them a comment. I have no patience for fools and refuse to engage them in useless argument. If you are one of those who look at the police response in Boston and Watertown as something Orwellian or Totalitarian then please just leave me the hell alone. I don't want to know you and for damn sure I don't want to be associated with you in any way. I'll take the blog down first. Yes, I am that angry at the moment. My brothers and sisters in Law Enforcement and the Military who also responded did an absolutely wonderful job in the most difficult and chaotic environment one could imagine. If you can't see that then just fucking piss off.
Six
Update: "some officers were out of ammunition and charged the brothers’ position with their police car."
"While Tamerlan Tsarnaev was firing a pistol with the other hand, police tackled and tried to subdue the 200-pound amateur boxer."
Yeah, sure sounds like jackbooted thugs to me.
ht: Ace
16 April 2013
I Am A Bad Husband
I'm here to confess and ask for forgiveness. I am a bad husband. First, I am a man so that automatically makes me a bad person but it goes deeper than that. Much deeper.
See, I've decided that Lu is smaller and weaker than most men (Shame! Evil! Sexist!) and therefore less able to physically fend off an attack from a larger and stronger male armed only with kind words and soiled underwear. To my everlasting shame and guilt I have armed her and forced her to take a concealed carry class and get her carry permit. Even worse I have subjected her to the horror of actually carrying a gun with her everywhere she goes.
It started so innocently. A shotgun and a revolver. Nothing really evil, just guns she could take to the range and have a little fun. But it progressed from there. A rifle. Just one, what harm could it do? But that apparently wasn't enough to satisfy my misogynistic tendencies. The gun buying went on and on, getting worse and worse along the way. Harder and more evil guns were purchased culminating in the two most vile decisions I have made. I bought her not one but two Evil Black Rifles with Evil Magazines. Ah, the shame, it burns me!
But perhaps the worst, the most evil thing I did was to buy her a handgun and holster for her to carry a concealed gun on her actual person. Yes, I am that bad a husband and man. I started with insisting she carry a notquiteevilbutstillprettydarnbad S&W Airweight revolver. I bought her a purse to carry it. An innocent purse may the Lord forgive me. Then I made her get a black leather holster for it and we all know just how evil that makes any gun. But I still wasn't done. I insisted that she take classes and even went so far as to teach her about self defense with a gun myself. But I still wasn't done.
See, Lu is a petite woman and carrying a large capacity handgun is difficult for her. So I went and bought a high capacity handgun for her in .22 LR that she can conceal and carry easily. And it's semi automatic and black! Does my perfidy know no bounds? Is there no end to my hatred for women in general and my wife in particular and their safety?
But it's even worse yet. As we were getting ready to head out to a nice lunch today Lu showed me her Airweight on her hip and asked me if her cover shirt was adequate. I was struck with how sexy a woman wearing a handgun was and overwhelmed with both admiration for her and a deep desire to throw myself at her and have my evil way upon her soft, womanly body.
My shame is complete. I have a wife I have encouraged to learn the martial art of handgun self defense and have so equipped her. Clearly I do not understand how much less safe such preparations have made her. Clearly I want some evil to befall her since all those loving, caring individuals on the left have made it clear that no woman is fit nor able to defend her life and honor with a gun. It would be so much better and safer for her to be at the mercy of some thug the left has encouraged and protected and allowed free reign across our society. I admit my criminal guilt and promise to never rectify this situation.
So there you have it fellowSubjects Citizens. I leave it to you to determine my fate. I accept the charges as levied against me but I will accept no plea bargain, make no apologies. I will proudly go to the reeducation camps secure in the knowledge that Lu is safe behind me with her gun on her hip.
And for anyone who decides that pretty, petite, middle aged woman is an easy mark please I give you this warning. Lu doesn't agree with the idea of disarming those who most need the protection of a gun and has made the conscious decision that anyone who attacks her or someone she loves deserves the pain she will dish out. And trust me on this, she can Bring It. That's her answer to the question of arming the fairer sex. Because she is the poster woman for 'Fairer Doesn't Equal Helpless' and no ignorant liberal mouthpiece is going to tell her any different. Pro Choice has more than one meaning kids. Something to keep in mind as you continue hypocriting all women as both too strong to need a gun and too weak to handle one at the same time. The real irony here is that sentiment is exactly 180 degrees wrong. Women are strong enough to handle a gun and (in many cases) just weak enough to need one. To deny women the means for self defense is to wish harm upon them all. Perhaps that is the real crime here?
I suppose all this does indeed make me a bad husband in the eyes of some but not in the beautiful blue eyes of the woman I love most. I am content. It is a verdict we can both live with.
Six
See, I've decided that Lu is smaller and weaker than most men (Shame! Evil! Sexist!) and therefore less able to physically fend off an attack from a larger and stronger male armed only with kind words and soiled underwear. To my everlasting shame and guilt I have armed her and forced her to take a concealed carry class and get her carry permit. Even worse I have subjected her to the horror of actually carrying a gun with her everywhere she goes.
It started so innocently. A shotgun and a revolver. Nothing really evil, just guns she could take to the range and have a little fun. But it progressed from there. A rifle. Just one, what harm could it do? But that apparently wasn't enough to satisfy my misogynistic tendencies. The gun buying went on and on, getting worse and worse along the way. Harder and more evil guns were purchased culminating in the two most vile decisions I have made. I bought her not one but two Evil Black Rifles with Evil Magazines. Ah, the shame, it burns me!
But perhaps the worst, the most evil thing I did was to buy her a handgun and holster for her to carry a concealed gun on her actual person. Yes, I am that bad a husband and man. I started with insisting she carry a notquiteevilbutstillprettydarnbad S&W Airweight revolver. I bought her a purse to carry it. An innocent purse may the Lord forgive me. Then I made her get a black leather holster for it and we all know just how evil that makes any gun. But I still wasn't done. I insisted that she take classes and even went so far as to teach her about self defense with a gun myself. But I still wasn't done.
See, Lu is a petite woman and carrying a large capacity handgun is difficult for her. So I went and bought a high capacity handgun for her in .22 LR that she can conceal and carry easily. And it's semi automatic and black! Does my perfidy know no bounds? Is there no end to my hatred for women in general and my wife in particular and their safety?
But it's even worse yet. As we were getting ready to head out to a nice lunch today Lu showed me her Airweight on her hip and asked me if her cover shirt was adequate. I was struck with how sexy a woman wearing a handgun was and overwhelmed with both admiration for her and a deep desire to throw myself at her and have my evil way upon her soft, womanly body.
My shame is complete. I have a wife I have encouraged to learn the martial art of handgun self defense and have so equipped her. Clearly I do not understand how much less safe such preparations have made her. Clearly I want some evil to befall her since all those loving, caring individuals on the left have made it clear that no woman is fit nor able to defend her life and honor with a gun. It would be so much better and safer for her to be at the mercy of some thug the left has encouraged and protected and allowed free reign across our society. I admit my criminal guilt and promise to never rectify this situation.
So there you have it fellow
And for anyone who decides that pretty, petite, middle aged woman is an easy mark please I give you this warning. Lu doesn't agree with the idea of disarming those who most need the protection of a gun and has made the conscious decision that anyone who attacks her or someone she loves deserves the pain she will dish out. And trust me on this, she can Bring It. That's her answer to the question of arming the fairer sex. Because she is the poster woman for 'Fairer Doesn't Equal Helpless' and no ignorant liberal mouthpiece is going to tell her any different. Pro Choice has more than one meaning kids. Something to keep in mind as you continue hypocriting all women as both too strong to need a gun and too weak to handle one at the same time. The real irony here is that sentiment is exactly 180 degrees wrong. Women are strong enough to handle a gun and (in many cases) just weak enough to need one. To deny women the means for self defense is to wish harm upon them all. Perhaps that is the real crime here?
I suppose all this does indeed make me a bad husband in the eyes of some but not in the beautiful blue eyes of the woman I love most. I am content. It is a verdict we can both live with.
Six
11 February 2013
Take A Deep Breath
Christopher Dorner. Let's just call him That Asshole shall we? I have a few words to say on the subject though I am going to leave the politics alone. Language warning.
First, he's a scumbag murderer. I really don't give a crap what his complaints and allegations are. Once you go down the path of killing innocents every other single thing you say or whine about is irrelevant. As a veteran and retired cop I utterly reject Dorner and all he is and has ever done. That said.
Yes, I read his screed. In fact, I'm still having trouble trying to scrape his particular brand of narcissistic criminal insanity out of my brain. It's a testament to a disturbed mind. I saw racism, paranoia, a persecution complex and delusions. It in no way explains nor excuses what he's done. It does give some insight into his mental processes though. His complaints go back to grade school for crying out loud. No reasonable person holds a grudge for petty stuff from fifth grade (or whatever it was) unless you're an obsessive/compulsive. No one uses a long list of perceived slights, interpersonal failures and job issues as an excuse to mass murder unless you're a sociopath with homicidal tendencies. This is a guy who is never wrong, never fails and when things don't go exactly as he believes they should and he is/does gets angry and casts blame on whoever he perceives as being responsible for his troubles. He has no ability to self examine and no desire to ever do so. The problem is the world not him. Look at what he says about himself. Rambo was a sissy next to this guy. He's loving the attention and feeding his ego with the idea that he's a hero. Sadly, that's being reinforced by those so deluded by hate that they are cheering on someone who is a cold blooded murderer. Are we really that far gone?
Let me address the LAPD. I have known and worked beside more than a few LAPD officers. I've said this many times before. Yes, the LAPD is responsible for more negative court rulings and case law relating to infringements on citizen rights and outright lawlessness than any other agency in the United States. It has more than it's fair share of Hysterical Incompetents and bad actors. It has a culture unlike any other in the country's history, much of it frankly bad. But consider. LA proper has about 4 million people being policed by a force of about 10,000 officers. Contrast that with New York which has roughly double the population and about 35,000 officers. They do things differently in LA. Some of the time that is a bad thing but a lot of the time it's good. Officers in LA are taught to be aggressive, but they are often too aggressive. See my previous post on Hysterical Incompetence and compare and contrast with the spate of negligent (and criminal) shootings in the wake of this fiasco. They see a lot and it tends to create a Them vs Us mentality. That's not just with citizens either but extends to anyone who isn't LAPD. I've had many negative official interactions with off duty LAPD officers. But I've also had some great contacts and opportunities to train with some of the best cops I've ever had the honor of associating with. The good officers are as unbelievably good as the bad ones are incredibly bad. No agency is perfect and the LAPD is certainly no exception but that doesn't excuse a thing Dorner has done. Has the LAPD done this guy wrong? I don't know but I kinda doubt it. Go and read Aaron Worthing's fisking of the Dorner manifesto here. Then ask yourself who That Asshole really is and why some are supporting him. I'm not excusing anything LAPD has done but let's keep a little perspective here. They do a lot of stuff to hammer them for but this ain't one of them.
I've worked with guys like him before. So have you probably, or at least you know some. That Guy. The one you just know is either going to spectacularly step on his dick or flame out in an orgy of furious bridge burning. The difference is none of them decided that mass murder was the solution to their problems. Dorner did. That's what makes him not That Guy but That Murderous Asshole.
Now. To my law enforcement brothers and sisters.
Take a deep breath and fucking relax!
Dorner is a punk, pure and simple. He is not death incarnate nor an unstoppable killing machine from the depths of hell wrapped in power armor and carrying The Emperor's missing Lightsaber. He's a former Navy officer (who most emphatically was not a SEAL) and a failed police officer. Let's compare and contrast with a certain blog owner shall we? I spent 9 years in the Army or Army National Guard. Four years of that was with an Infantry Division. Two years of that was with a Light Infantry Division. I promise you I have run more, rucked more and shot more than That Asshole could dream about. Then I spent 24 years as a cop (Not four, 24). I attended all manner of shooting schools including FBI SWAT school. Yeah, kinda high speed/low drag if not exactly BUDS or SF. I promise you I have fired many, many thousands of rounds in practice and training. More than That Asshole could possibly imagine if he were twice as delusional as he is. I went to basic and advanced police sniper school. Not wanna be sniper school but one taught by John Plaster. I've been the top shooter at virtually every school and academy I've ever attended, pistol, rifle, carbine and shotgun. Compared to That Asshole I am The Master Chief and yet I'm not a pimple on the ass of any good combat soldier much less the elite, both military and civilian. He's a wanna be. Remember that. He is not better than you except in his own delusional mind. He's a fat asshole who desperately wants to be seen as an unstoppable avenging angel so he can gain notoriety and scare and intimidate you. Do Not Let Him. He's just another pathetic loser and when he finally either gets his ass handed to him by someone who is not afraid or offs himself like the coward he really is he'll bleed red just like any other murderous bastard. Stop overreacting and shooting people who are innocents. If you do this you are also an asshole and need to be shown the door along with a criminal subpoena. He doesn't have MANPADS, he isn't omniscient and he possesses not a whit of combat magic. He's just another fucking asshole guys. Treat him as such. Use what you've been taught, watch your ass and take him down when you get the chance but pleasepleaseplease stop shooting people who are not The Asshole. Yes, you are risking your lives but that's right there in the job description. If you can't handle it then turn in your badge and fucking go away. I am getting awful tired of being smeared alongside you hysterics and so are many of the guys and gals you work with.
For the rest of us all we can do is be watchful and careful. Take this as a good reminder to train and carry. If you haven't yet buy a gun and then train train train and carry carry carry. Society is slowly burning down around us (though that conflagration seems to be picking up intensity at an alarming rate) and in the end each of us is responsible for our safety and that of our loved ones.
And for anyone out there looking for a hero let me assure you it ain't That Asshole. It's this guy and all the men and women out there just like him.
That is Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha. Medal Of Honor. That is what honor, bravery and fidelity looks like. He is what we as warriors aspire to. He is who we desire to emulate and follow. SSG Romesha and the eight men who lost their lives at COP Keating. May God bless them all and may we all prove to be as worthy when our own time to face the elephant comes.
Six
First, he's a scumbag murderer. I really don't give a crap what his complaints and allegations are. Once you go down the path of killing innocents every other single thing you say or whine about is irrelevant. As a veteran and retired cop I utterly reject Dorner and all he is and has ever done. That said.
Yes, I read his screed. In fact, I'm still having trouble trying to scrape his particular brand of narcissistic criminal insanity out of my brain. It's a testament to a disturbed mind. I saw racism, paranoia, a persecution complex and delusions. It in no way explains nor excuses what he's done. It does give some insight into his mental processes though. His complaints go back to grade school for crying out loud. No reasonable person holds a grudge for petty stuff from fifth grade (or whatever it was) unless you're an obsessive/compulsive. No one uses a long list of perceived slights, interpersonal failures and job issues as an excuse to mass murder unless you're a sociopath with homicidal tendencies. This is a guy who is never wrong, never fails and when things don't go exactly as he believes they should and he is/does gets angry and casts blame on whoever he perceives as being responsible for his troubles. He has no ability to self examine and no desire to ever do so. The problem is the world not him. Look at what he says about himself. Rambo was a sissy next to this guy. He's loving the attention and feeding his ego with the idea that he's a hero. Sadly, that's being reinforced by those so deluded by hate that they are cheering on someone who is a cold blooded murderer. Are we really that far gone?
Let me address the LAPD. I have known and worked beside more than a few LAPD officers. I've said this many times before. Yes, the LAPD is responsible for more negative court rulings and case law relating to infringements on citizen rights and outright lawlessness than any other agency in the United States. It has more than it's fair share of Hysterical Incompetents and bad actors. It has a culture unlike any other in the country's history, much of it frankly bad. But consider. LA proper has about 4 million people being policed by a force of about 10,000 officers. Contrast that with New York which has roughly double the population and about 35,000 officers. They do things differently in LA. Some of the time that is a bad thing but a lot of the time it's good. Officers in LA are taught to be aggressive, but they are often too aggressive. See my previous post on Hysterical Incompetence and compare and contrast with the spate of negligent (and criminal) shootings in the wake of this fiasco. They see a lot and it tends to create a Them vs Us mentality. That's not just with citizens either but extends to anyone who isn't LAPD. I've had many negative official interactions with off duty LAPD officers. But I've also had some great contacts and opportunities to train with some of the best cops I've ever had the honor of associating with. The good officers are as unbelievably good as the bad ones are incredibly bad. No agency is perfect and the LAPD is certainly no exception but that doesn't excuse a thing Dorner has done. Has the LAPD done this guy wrong? I don't know but I kinda doubt it. Go and read Aaron Worthing's fisking of the Dorner manifesto here. Then ask yourself who That Asshole really is and why some are supporting him. I'm not excusing anything LAPD has done but let's keep a little perspective here. They do a lot of stuff to hammer them for but this ain't one of them.
I've worked with guys like him before. So have you probably, or at least you know some. That Guy. The one you just know is either going to spectacularly step on his dick or flame out in an orgy of furious bridge burning. The difference is none of them decided that mass murder was the solution to their problems. Dorner did. That's what makes him not That Guy but That Murderous Asshole.
Now. To my law enforcement brothers and sisters.
Take a deep breath and fucking relax!
Dorner is a punk, pure and simple. He is not death incarnate nor an unstoppable killing machine from the depths of hell wrapped in power armor and carrying The Emperor's missing Lightsaber. He's a former Navy officer (who most emphatically was not a SEAL) and a failed police officer. Let's compare and contrast with a certain blog owner shall we? I spent 9 years in the Army or Army National Guard. Four years of that was with an Infantry Division. Two years of that was with a Light Infantry Division. I promise you I have run more, rucked more and shot more than That Asshole could dream about. Then I spent 24 years as a cop (Not four, 24). I attended all manner of shooting schools including FBI SWAT school. Yeah, kinda high speed/low drag if not exactly BUDS or SF. I promise you I have fired many, many thousands of rounds in practice and training. More than That Asshole could possibly imagine if he were twice as delusional as he is. I went to basic and advanced police sniper school. Not wanna be sniper school but one taught by John Plaster. I've been the top shooter at virtually every school and academy I've ever attended, pistol, rifle, carbine and shotgun. Compared to That Asshole I am The Master Chief and yet I'm not a pimple on the ass of any good combat soldier much less the elite, both military and civilian. He's a wanna be. Remember that. He is not better than you except in his own delusional mind. He's a fat asshole who desperately wants to be seen as an unstoppable avenging angel so he can gain notoriety and scare and intimidate you. Do Not Let Him. He's just another pathetic loser and when he finally either gets his ass handed to him by someone who is not afraid or offs himself like the coward he really is he'll bleed red just like any other murderous bastard. Stop overreacting and shooting people who are innocents. If you do this you are also an asshole and need to be shown the door along with a criminal subpoena. He doesn't have MANPADS, he isn't omniscient and he possesses not a whit of combat magic. He's just another fucking asshole guys. Treat him as such. Use what you've been taught, watch your ass and take him down when you get the chance but pleasepleaseplease stop shooting people who are not The Asshole. Yes, you are risking your lives but that's right there in the job description. If you can't handle it then turn in your badge and fucking go away. I am getting awful tired of being smeared alongside you hysterics and so are many of the guys and gals you work with.
For the rest of us all we can do is be watchful and careful. Take this as a good reminder to train and carry. If you haven't yet buy a gun and then train train train and carry carry carry. Society is slowly burning down around us (though that conflagration seems to be picking up intensity at an alarming rate) and in the end each of us is responsible for our safety and that of our loved ones.
And for anyone out there looking for a hero let me assure you it ain't That Asshole. It's this guy and all the men and women out there just like him.
That is Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha. Medal Of Honor. That is what honor, bravery and fidelity looks like. He is what we as warriors aspire to. He is who we desire to emulate and follow. SSG Romesha and the eight men who lost their lives at COP Keating. May God bless them all and may we all prove to be as worthy when our own time to face the elephant comes.
Six
10 January 2013
You're Not The Boss Of Me
I was considering the gun control debate yesterday as I was working on the kids room. I find that working with my hands is wonderful for freeing my mind to wander and consider. What I pondered was this.
The thing that has struck me most is the idea that the current debate and doom shrieking coming from Democrats (primarily) is basically a smokescreen for taxes and social/defense spending (essentially). Oh, I don't for a second think that the institutional left doesn't want to disarm America. They'll do it in a split second the moment they think they can get away with it. When you consider that way too many 'conservative' Republicans voted for the 1994 AWB, the Affordable Care Act and the recent Fiscal Cliff Bill the idea that another AWB in some form might very well pass the House today isn't too far fetched. Whatever your take on his ruling (traitor or mad genius) Chief Justice Roberts' vote on the Constitutionality of obamacare makes me weak in the knees where a new gun control act is concerned. Heller and MacDonald notwithstanding.
Still, the Democrat rope-a-dope strategy idea has some merit. Pay no attention to the man behind the podium as it were. But even if so what do we do?
America is a unique country. Certainly in the modern world but it can even be argued that it is without peer in all of mankind's history. I'm not insulting any other country but the level of our individual liberties compared to anywhere else cannot be denied. The idea that you can have a country ruled by a Constitution that limits government and maximizes individual liberty. It's a powerful concept. Of course the Progressives, Socialists and yes, Communists have been chipping away at us for a century of more. There have been hiccups, problems and not a few dangers. Obama is certainly to be counted among the latter but he's hardly the first is he? A century and a half ago we had a nation divided and warring with itself. Both sides were Constitutionally flawed. One over State's Rights and the other that whole "All men are created equal" thing. We found out that living free is hard. It takes a certain kind of person to not just live in a free nation but to want to live as freely as possible. We may be less so than we were two centuries ago but we remain a free people.
The current problem is we seem to have a surfeit of folks who don't really want to live free at all. They like State control and want everyone else to like it as much as they do. Those who don't cherish liberty will never be convinced to a different point of view. But are they really now the majority? I don't think so and the current gun control atmosphere has convinced me they are in fact the minority.
The gun control argument isn't about children or safety or needs. It's about whether or not one wants to be truly free. The argument that other western countries have lower levels of gun crime is a non issue. I stipulate that this is so but it changes nothing. As I said America is Unique. The rules that apply elsewhere and to others doesn't apply here and to us. In all the world America is solitary in it's recognition of individual liberties above he needs of the State or indeed even the majority of her citizens. But the fly in that ointment is where the lines are drawn. In America those lines are as small as anywhere in the world. Yes, even now.
For instance. I keep getting the Fire In A Theater argument from my gun control supporting acquaintances. The idea that one cannot yell "FIRE" in a crowded theater as proof that if there are limits on the First Amendment so restrictions on the Second must also be legal. My argument? That is a false analogy and breaks down in the face of careful consideration. I can go this very day to the local movie house and have a conversation with my wife where the word fire is used often and with great enthusiasm and all without breaking the law.
"When we get home I am so going to FIRE up the grill and char some dead animal flesh."
"So I told the guy don't FIRE until your sight alignment and sight picture are perfect."
"In case the theater catches on FIRE the exits are there and there. We'll take the nearest one that is furthest from the flames."
You get the idea. It's not the word FIRE that's the problem but the usage, the context of the conversation and the intent of the speaker that makes it's utterance a crime. Likewise standing up and shouting "FLOOD" at the top of your lungs whilst running in circles, flapping your arms and wailing about not wanting to die in a torrent might also end up with you in the hoosegow with a date before the bar of justice. The actual word FIRE has little to do with it.
The whole gun control brouhaha is of a similar stripe. It's not the object it's the context, usage and intent that matter. Those things are reserved to persons and not objects. Here in America we understand that and if what I'm hearing and reading from others around the world is accurate more people than just Americans have a firm grasp on that concept as well. As goes America so goes pretty much everybody else.
We're different here. In spite of generations of public school indoctrination how many times have you heard a child say "You're not the boss of me!"? How many times have you said that or at least thought it yourself? That's because we still get our concepts of personal liberty and freedom with our very mother's milk. It's inculcated into the mind of virtually every child from the age of reason and isn't totally beaten out of our heads no matter which Ivy League school we attend. Here's an interesting bit of data. Check out this post and the graph over at Bob Owens' place. Democrats as the fastest growing gun buying demographic? Gotta love that but it points out a common fallacy. That a tipping point in personal freedom has been reached and those who are ready to surrender their liberties for free stuff now outnumber those of us who won't. It's slander and calumny that grows no truer with the repeating. More on the dole, clamoring for handouts and bailouts and all manner of social spending? Absolutely but go into just about any neighborhood in any city in the country and start shouting orders and see what happens. You'll be lucky if "You're not the boss of me" is all you hear. No matter who utters them, the idea behind those words is timeless. "I am no one's servant." That thought gives me hope. Rugged individualism may be a dying concept (though I don't think so and probably never will) but it's not dead yet. Not by a long shot. Those "You're not the boss of me" folks, even the ones who vote D and are in favor of all things liberal, are the very ones now buying up military pattern semi automatic firearms, their accoutrements and ammunition by the job lots. That hardly bespeaks of a population who hungers for chains.
The Constitution is a set of trip wires planted by the Founding Fathers. Tin cans filled with gravel and tied across liberties trail with string. Ready to warn of the impending arrival of unwanted visitors of hostile intent. Many rattled years, decades, even centuries ago. Some much more recently. But in all cases patriots have responded and the country has recovered. They have done the equivalent of shouting into the darkness "HALT! Who goes there? I'm warning you, I have a gun and I'll shoot you if you come any closer." When it comes to guns we have won victory after victory with Heller, MacDonald and Illinois just the latest. The 94 AWB expired because no one had the temerity to actively and rigorously attempt to enact a new version.
Until now.
I am so proud of the gun rights community. By and large they have fought tooth and nail against the latest attempts at incursions on the Second Amendment. Remember that Paul Revere wasn't alone. He was acting in concert with his fellow patriots in responding to the threats they faced. We are no different. Paul's spiritual ancestors can be found all over the media, new and old, espousing the same messages and warnings he did. "Peril is incipient. Arise and make haste. This far and no further." The gunnies have risen to the challenge and responded magnificently. I can't even link due to the sheer amount of posts, articles and letters sent. It's astounding and gratifying. It may very well be, as some have suggested (including me), that this attempt at gun control is no more than cover for other nefarious schemes and doomed to ultimate failure. I sincerely hope so but only a fool or a desperate man wagers the liberty of his children on a hope. Now is not the time to lessen either the pressure or the rhetoric. We must treat the current crop of gun banners as if they are making their last ditch, all or nothing, take no prisoners final grab for our liberties because they just might be. All other fights, fiscal, social, whatever pale to insignificance next to this battle for a basic human right. Either we are an armed nation or we are servants, obedient to those who are "The bosses of us all."
No enemy is ever defeated until he surrenders his sword or his crushed remains lay at your feet. The foes of freedom are implacable and legion. They will never surrender. Never admit defeat. Never stop. Vigilance and overwhelming force are the only responses available to We The People and we must never cede the battleground. Ever.
Six
13 December 2012
Meggings. Wait, What?
Meggings. Leggings for men.
I'm not talking about Lycra bicycle pants. Heck, I wear those but only when I'm actually engaged in riding or going to and from a ride. They're not exactly daily wear. No no no. Think those really hot, tight stretch pants that those of the feminine persuasion occasionally wear to remind us guys that they're women and we're men. But on dudes? Uh, I don't think so.
Come on guys, don't let them make us into a bunch of stocking clad sissies. The whole Metro sexual thing was bad enough but this abomination? Give me a break.
Blue jeans. 511s. Even Corduroys for crying out loud. But please spare us all the sight of hosiery clad guy butt. No one needs to see that.
It's becoming clear that we need a Masculine Revolution. Grease and dirt and gunpowder. Motorcycles and dogs and holding the door for your best gal. Denim and Vibram and Flannel shirts. Chivalry and courtesy and paying for dinner and a movie.
Jeez, I can't believe this even needs to be said. Let's go men. It's not just us but the futures of our sons and grandsons. Don't let them be turned into weaklings.
Six
I'm not talking about Lycra bicycle pants. Heck, I wear those but only when I'm actually engaged in riding or going to and from a ride. They're not exactly daily wear. No no no. Think those really hot, tight stretch pants that those of the feminine persuasion occasionally wear to remind us guys that they're women and we're men. But on dudes? Uh, I don't think so.
Come on guys, don't let them make us into a bunch of stocking clad sissies. The whole Metro sexual thing was bad enough but this abomination? Give me a break.
Blue jeans. 511s. Even Corduroys for crying out loud. But please spare us all the sight of hosiery clad guy butt. No one needs to see that.
It's becoming clear that we need a Masculine Revolution. Grease and dirt and gunpowder. Motorcycles and dogs and holding the door for your best gal. Denim and Vibram and Flannel shirts. Chivalry and courtesy and paying for dinner and a movie.
Jeez, I can't believe this even needs to be said. Let's go men. It's not just us but the futures of our sons and grandsons. Don't let them be turned into weaklings.
Six
03 December 2012
I Haven't Murdered Anyone
To Bob Costas and the rest of those who are dancing in the blood of the innocent, again.
I didn't murder anyone today. Or yesterday. Or the day before that on back to the day of my birth. And yet I've been a gun owner since my early twenties and handled/fired guns since I was a boy. I will never murder anyone because I'm not an Evil Murderous Bastard.
I have never even been tempted to murder the mother of my child. And yet I have been a gun owner virtually all of our married lives.
I have never been tempted to commit suicide with one of my guns in spite of some difficult times in my life. Shooting yourself in front of witnesses says a lot about their mindset and precious little about the solutions to mental illness and depression. I have handled such scenes in my professional life and they always left me with the firm conviction that they were more about the narcissism of the suicide than their inner turmoil. My mother committed suicide with a gun but I don't blame the tool and I don't blame society. I understand that choices are personal and the responsibility for those choices resides with the individual.
I have used a gun in my professional life to defend my life and the lives of others. Without having to fire a shot as it turned out. Yet the very presence of my gun and my willingness to use it has de-escalated more than one violent encounter. Multiply that by a few million times and you get an idea of the value of an armed society.
I have never murdered anyone and yet have seen many in my life. Most were committed by means other than a firearm and yet all were horrific, violent and tragic. The presence or lack of a gun means nothing. Dead is dead.
I have never committed violence against my wife or child and yet I saw it virtually every day of my professional life. Almost exclusively perpetrated by men. That doesn't mean all men are violent brutes but it does mean that if you're a woman or a child and the man in your life decides to become violent with you your chances of being hurt or killed are lessened if you have the means to defend yourself and guaranteed if you don't. Kindly spare me the woman beats up man anecdotes. They are the exception not the rule.
Evil walks the face of the Earth and it takes many forms. Even that of a supposed loved one. Murder is evil. Period. A woman is dead, her child orphaned and her murderer dead by his own hand in front of witnesses who had at least friendly feelings toward him. That makes the murderer (I for one refuse to utter his name anywhere) Evil. I keep hearing tragic and sad and 'in his memory' but what I'm not hearing is Monster and Murderer and 'screw that evil bastard'. Why is that? Because a gun was used. Dead is dead and murder is murder. It's the intent and the result, not the weapon.
Many objects can be used to commit evil or good but that depends wholly on the intentions of the person doing the committing. It is not my fault nor the fault of any other law abiding gun owner what the evil ones do with a gun. Just like it's not every motorists fault what an Evil Bastard tanked up on legal intoxicants does behind the wheel of a 4000 pound ground missile.
I keep hearing the gun control activists say some variation of the theme that for the greater good of society we need to give up on the idea of individual liberty and hence the Second Amendment. That the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. It's the survival of the state and not the individual. That may be arguably correct but it's certainly 180 degrees out of phase with reality. If logic were followed and the needs of the many were actually the desired result then every adult would be required to go around armed because such societies, as new studies are constantly showing, are safer for everyone, especially the weakest members. If more CCWs means less crime then if we were truly a logical and caring society, shooting and gun handling would be taught in school and permits would be unnecessary because open and concealed carry would be expected and encouraged. Even societally mandated.
There is no such thing as a gun culture. That's just jargon invented by folks who believe that no one really has a right to Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness. It's a buzz phrase used by ignorant journalists to cover for the fact that they're too lazy or too prejudiced to do any real investigation. There is a Self Defense and Constitutional Rights culture. They're called normal, everyday Americans.
I didn't murder anyone. Where are the lurid headlines? I have guns and ammunition and shooting skills and yet no one cares that I did not shoot anyone. I'm a lawful, tax paying, gun owning citizen. When is my interview? I'll even wear a suit.
My right to possess and carry a gun isn't dependent on what anyone else has done with one. I am an individual not a statistical member of a demographic subset.
The NRA isn't the KKK but if you want to point that particular finger liberal Democrats are definitely close family. If you don't believe me then talk to poor blacks living in inner city gun free zones and ask them about their quality of life. Try Chicago first. The NRA wants to empower everyone and acknowledge their individuality and basic human rights. The Liberal KKK wants everyone to live in shooting galleries where the only ones with guns are the criminals and the state who, heroic individual members notwithstanding, has no duty to protect anyone. Do an internet search for Woodrow Wilson, Orval Faubus or George Wallace some time if you want to see who the real racists are and understand that gun control is just another word for people control. The modern progressive is nothing more than Wilson with an I-Pad and a Prius.
I haven't murdered anyone and it's not because my guns are somehow nicer than other peoples. They're not possessed by some magical pixies who are warm and fuzzy as opposed to the magical pixies inhabiting other guns that are dark and violent. It's because I'm not an evil murderous bastard. That's why.
Evil murderous bastards are everywhere and they always will be. No law, no War On Evil Bastards will ever change that. It's as much a part of human nature as Heroism in the face of danger. Evil bastards are evil and in most cases nothing but death will ever cure them of that particular malady. It's not the gun that kills, it's the evil bastard who wields it who kills. Just like they kill with hands, cars, knives, frigging bathtubs and most anything you care to name off. Anyone who wants to engage me in a gun control debate can start by acknowledging that fact and go from there. Otherwise there is nothing to discuss.
Please stop celebrating the Evil Bastards and using each and every instance of their murderous insanity to push your Collectivist, Progressive, Hive Minded agenda. It's offensive and only serves to convince me and others like me that your real goal ends in chains and death for the bulk of mankind while you continue to live in palaces, surrounded by security denied to the rest of us.
I see no real difference between those who commit atrocities and those who use them for their own political purposes. Both of you are Evil Bastards.
Six
I didn't murder anyone today. Or yesterday. Or the day before that on back to the day of my birth. And yet I've been a gun owner since my early twenties and handled/fired guns since I was a boy. I will never murder anyone because I'm not an Evil Murderous Bastard.
I have never even been tempted to murder the mother of my child. And yet I have been a gun owner virtually all of our married lives.
I have never been tempted to commit suicide with one of my guns in spite of some difficult times in my life. Shooting yourself in front of witnesses says a lot about their mindset and precious little about the solutions to mental illness and depression. I have handled such scenes in my professional life and they always left me with the firm conviction that they were more about the narcissism of the suicide than their inner turmoil. My mother committed suicide with a gun but I don't blame the tool and I don't blame society. I understand that choices are personal and the responsibility for those choices resides with the individual.
I have used a gun in my professional life to defend my life and the lives of others. Without having to fire a shot as it turned out. Yet the very presence of my gun and my willingness to use it has de-escalated more than one violent encounter. Multiply that by a few million times and you get an idea of the value of an armed society.
I have never murdered anyone and yet have seen many in my life. Most were committed by means other than a firearm and yet all were horrific, violent and tragic. The presence or lack of a gun means nothing. Dead is dead.
I have never committed violence against my wife or child and yet I saw it virtually every day of my professional life. Almost exclusively perpetrated by men. That doesn't mean all men are violent brutes but it does mean that if you're a woman or a child and the man in your life decides to become violent with you your chances of being hurt or killed are lessened if you have the means to defend yourself and guaranteed if you don't. Kindly spare me the woman beats up man anecdotes. They are the exception not the rule.
Evil walks the face of the Earth and it takes many forms. Even that of a supposed loved one. Murder is evil. Period. A woman is dead, her child orphaned and her murderer dead by his own hand in front of witnesses who had at least friendly feelings toward him. That makes the murderer (I for one refuse to utter his name anywhere) Evil. I keep hearing tragic and sad and 'in his memory' but what I'm not hearing is Monster and Murderer and 'screw that evil bastard'. Why is that? Because a gun was used. Dead is dead and murder is murder. It's the intent and the result, not the weapon.
Many objects can be used to commit evil or good but that depends wholly on the intentions of the person doing the committing. It is not my fault nor the fault of any other law abiding gun owner what the evil ones do with a gun. Just like it's not every motorists fault what an Evil Bastard tanked up on legal intoxicants does behind the wheel of a 4000 pound ground missile.
I keep hearing the gun control activists say some variation of the theme that for the greater good of society we need to give up on the idea of individual liberty and hence the Second Amendment. That the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. It's the survival of the state and not the individual. That may be arguably correct but it's certainly 180 degrees out of phase with reality. If logic were followed and the needs of the many were actually the desired result then every adult would be required to go around armed because such societies, as new studies are constantly showing, are safer for everyone, especially the weakest members. If more CCWs means less crime then if we were truly a logical and caring society, shooting and gun handling would be taught in school and permits would be unnecessary because open and concealed carry would be expected and encouraged. Even societally mandated.
There is no such thing as a gun culture. That's just jargon invented by folks who believe that no one really has a right to Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness. It's a buzz phrase used by ignorant journalists to cover for the fact that they're too lazy or too prejudiced to do any real investigation. There is a Self Defense and Constitutional Rights culture. They're called normal, everyday Americans.
I didn't murder anyone. Where are the lurid headlines? I have guns and ammunition and shooting skills and yet no one cares that I did not shoot anyone. I'm a lawful, tax paying, gun owning citizen. When is my interview? I'll even wear a suit.
My right to possess and carry a gun isn't dependent on what anyone else has done with one. I am an individual not a statistical member of a demographic subset.
The NRA isn't the KKK but if you want to point that particular finger liberal Democrats are definitely close family. If you don't believe me then talk to poor blacks living in inner city gun free zones and ask them about their quality of life. Try Chicago first. The NRA wants to empower everyone and acknowledge their individuality and basic human rights. The Liberal KKK wants everyone to live in shooting galleries where the only ones with guns are the criminals and the state who, heroic individual members notwithstanding, has no duty to protect anyone. Do an internet search for Woodrow Wilson, Orval Faubus or George Wallace some time if you want to see who the real racists are and understand that gun control is just another word for people control. The modern progressive is nothing more than Wilson with an I-Pad and a Prius.
I haven't murdered anyone and it's not because my guns are somehow nicer than other peoples. They're not possessed by some magical pixies who are warm and fuzzy as opposed to the magical pixies inhabiting other guns that are dark and violent. It's because I'm not an evil murderous bastard. That's why.
Evil murderous bastards are everywhere and they always will be. No law, no War On Evil Bastards will ever change that. It's as much a part of human nature as Heroism in the face of danger. Evil bastards are evil and in most cases nothing but death will ever cure them of that particular malady. It's not the gun that kills, it's the evil bastard who wields it who kills. Just like they kill with hands, cars, knives, frigging bathtubs and most anything you care to name off. Anyone who wants to engage me in a gun control debate can start by acknowledging that fact and go from there. Otherwise there is nothing to discuss.
Please stop celebrating the Evil Bastards and using each and every instance of their murderous insanity to push your Collectivist, Progressive, Hive Minded agenda. It's offensive and only serves to convince me and others like me that your real goal ends in chains and death for the bulk of mankind while you continue to live in palaces, surrounded by security denied to the rest of us.
I see no real difference between those who commit atrocities and those who use them for their own political purposes. Both of you are Evil Bastards.
Six
23 October 2012
Ok, Lance Doped
It's been all the bicycle news for a while now. The USADA (US Anti Doping Agency) came out with it's report on Lance Armstrong and the US Postal/Discovery Channel bicycling teams and his 7 Tour De France wins. USADA said they found
"the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen" Here's the full text of the findings.
USADA banned Lance for life and stripped him of all his results from 1999 to 2005. Lance chose not to appeal the ruling. Caught up in the mess were many current or retired riders of some fame and accomplishment such as Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie.
Now the UCI has formally stripped Lance of his TDF victories.
The fallout is now getting ugly. Lance has stepped down as the head of the Livestrong Foundation and his sponsors, including Trek, Nike and Radioshack have dropped him like a spent nuclear fuel rod costing him an estimated 35 million dollars in endorsements. Some supporters are asking for their money back and there's talk that the race promoters of the races he won may sue him to get back their payouts. Millions more. Long time sponsors are dropping out.
The biggest hit may be the Cancer research work the Livestrong Foundation supports if donations fall off in light of the revelations on doping.
I am an avid cyclist. I love the sport and follow professional cycling. I know the players and the history and it's a very seedy history indeed. Doping has been an issue for decades. How bad has it been? The UCI, the governing body for the Tour De France, will vacate Lance's wins rather than awarding new winners. Why? Because virtually every other podium winner (Second and Third places) has also been either caught or suspected of doping. To say the UCI didn't know or couldn't have discovered what was happening is Ostrich thinking. The UCI needed Armstrong's wins because the sport was basically maxed out in Europe and the US was wide open and the only real way to grow the sport. That is exactly what happened by the way. A 7 time American winner caused the sport to explode on the North American continent.
There is nothing new in any of this. If you follow any professional sport you will see the same or at least similar. Hell, my own team, the SF Giants, felt the pain of this issue just this year when their number one hitter, Melki Cabrera, got caught juicing. Cycling doesn't have the Performance Enhancing Drugs market all to themselves. They're just in the spotlight at the moment. Not excusing anything, just providing a little perspective because where there's fame and lots and lots of money to be made there will be those who will do anything to get it. Including abject cheating.
What happens now? I watched this years TDF and what I saw strongly suggests that the sport is finally getting a hand on doping. The racing was close, tight and had multiple winners. Just the look on the riders faces was enough to convince me they were suffering mightily. There were no "Superhuman" efforts where a rider simply rode away from everyone else and won a hard stage easily. No one looked head and shoulders better than everyone else. Lots of crashes because the racing was NASCAR like in it's intensity and parity. Anyone could win on any day. An even playing field.
But that's not at the heart of this Lance Armstrong mess. The good work of the Livestrong Foundation is far, far more important than the sport and certainly anyone associated with it. Including a certain former 7 time champion. It's proper to castigate Armstrong personally and maybe even the sport generally but it's unfair to place that same taint on the foundation he helped create. They are raising money for the necessary work being done to find a cure for the scourge of Cancer and the actions by one deceitful and greedy man should not reflect on them. That's what pisses me off the most, that he would risk so much good for his own self aggrandizement.
Yes, I will put away my yellow bracelet. I have now lost any respect I ever had for Lance Armstrong and those who chose to follow him down that dark road. I will mourn for the loss of an American 7 time winner but will take heart that the next generation is coming on and they're racing clean and fast. And if not then I'm Ok with that. the world does not turn on the outcomes of professional sports. My Giants may win the World series and they may lose. Either way my life will go on as before. If the sport of professional cycling ended today I would be unaffected other than a sense of sadness when racing season comes around. We can live without it and them, any of them.
What some of us cannot live without is life saving cancer treatments and the doctors, nurses and researchers who make such a difference in so many lives. I urge you to remember that and forget those who do us all a dishonor by cheating, whatever the sport or pursuit. I promise you that those who raised money in Kilted To Kick Cancer did so without the slightest chemical enhancement. Adult beverages absolutely. Steroids no.
I will continue to ride and follow those teams and riders I like and respect and I will forget the name Lance Armstrong as if he had never existed. I will continue to support the Livestrong Foundation because of what they do, not who's name is on the stationary. I will fight like Susan. My mother's struggle was life and death and the actions of one man, or a host of men, will not mar what she endured.
Because life is so much more important than the cheaters.
Six
"the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen" Here's the full text of the findings.
USADA banned Lance for life and stripped him of all his results from 1999 to 2005. Lance chose not to appeal the ruling. Caught up in the mess were many current or retired riders of some fame and accomplishment such as Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie.
Now the UCI has formally stripped Lance of his TDF victories.
The fallout is now getting ugly. Lance has stepped down as the head of the Livestrong Foundation and his sponsors, including Trek, Nike and Radioshack have dropped him like a spent nuclear fuel rod costing him an estimated 35 million dollars in endorsements. Some supporters are asking for their money back and there's talk that the race promoters of the races he won may sue him to get back their payouts. Millions more. Long time sponsors are dropping out.
The biggest hit may be the Cancer research work the Livestrong Foundation supports if donations fall off in light of the revelations on doping.
I am an avid cyclist. I love the sport and follow professional cycling. I know the players and the history and it's a very seedy history indeed. Doping has been an issue for decades. How bad has it been? The UCI, the governing body for the Tour De France, will vacate Lance's wins rather than awarding new winners. Why? Because virtually every other podium winner (Second and Third places) has also been either caught or suspected of doping. To say the UCI didn't know or couldn't have discovered what was happening is Ostrich thinking. The UCI needed Armstrong's wins because the sport was basically maxed out in Europe and the US was wide open and the only real way to grow the sport. That is exactly what happened by the way. A 7 time American winner caused the sport to explode on the North American continent.
There is nothing new in any of this. If you follow any professional sport you will see the same or at least similar. Hell, my own team, the SF Giants, felt the pain of this issue just this year when their number one hitter, Melki Cabrera, got caught juicing. Cycling doesn't have the Performance Enhancing Drugs market all to themselves. They're just in the spotlight at the moment. Not excusing anything, just providing a little perspective because where there's fame and lots and lots of money to be made there will be those who will do anything to get it. Including abject cheating.
What happens now? I watched this years TDF and what I saw strongly suggests that the sport is finally getting a hand on doping. The racing was close, tight and had multiple winners. Just the look on the riders faces was enough to convince me they were suffering mightily. There were no "Superhuman" efforts where a rider simply rode away from everyone else and won a hard stage easily. No one looked head and shoulders better than everyone else. Lots of crashes because the racing was NASCAR like in it's intensity and parity. Anyone could win on any day. An even playing field.
But that's not at the heart of this Lance Armstrong mess. The good work of the Livestrong Foundation is far, far more important than the sport and certainly anyone associated with it. Including a certain former 7 time champion. It's proper to castigate Armstrong personally and maybe even the sport generally but it's unfair to place that same taint on the foundation he helped create. They are raising money for the necessary work being done to find a cure for the scourge of Cancer and the actions by one deceitful and greedy man should not reflect on them. That's what pisses me off the most, that he would risk so much good for his own self aggrandizement.
Yes, I will put away my yellow bracelet. I have now lost any respect I ever had for Lance Armstrong and those who chose to follow him down that dark road. I will mourn for the loss of an American 7 time winner but will take heart that the next generation is coming on and they're racing clean and fast. And if not then I'm Ok with that. the world does not turn on the outcomes of professional sports. My Giants may win the World series and they may lose. Either way my life will go on as before. If the sport of professional cycling ended today I would be unaffected other than a sense of sadness when racing season comes around. We can live without it and them, any of them.
What some of us cannot live without is life saving cancer treatments and the doctors, nurses and researchers who make such a difference in so many lives. I urge you to remember that and forget those who do us all a dishonor by cheating, whatever the sport or pursuit. I promise you that those who raised money in Kilted To Kick Cancer did so without the slightest chemical enhancement. Adult beverages absolutely. Steroids no.
I will continue to ride and follow those teams and riders I like and respect and I will forget the name Lance Armstrong as if he had never existed. I will continue to support the Livestrong Foundation because of what they do, not who's name is on the stationary. I will fight like Susan. My mother's struggle was life and death and the actions of one man, or a host of men, will not mar what she endured.
Because life is so much more important than the cheaters.
Six
Steroids? Never heard of 'em.
15 October 2012
People Who Need To Be Beaten To Death
When I bought the BMW I knew it needed both a new battery and on oil change. No problem I said. Easy as pie I said. I do that all the time I said. How hard could it be I said.
Yeah.
First off, the battery. The battery is located under the back of the gas tank. In order to access it you must remove the left side fairing. I wasn't aware of that and ended up removing the entire fairing.You can see the battery just under the back of the tank. It's the black rectangle with the white sticker on it. There are approximately 700 screws holding the fairings on. Different sizes for the various locations of course. Plus we don't have a BMW dealer locally so I had to order it as well as the oil filter. Ok, bad but I can deal.
Battery replaced it's on to the oil change. The drain plug is easy to find and access. The filter not so much. See, the filter is recessed into the bottom of the engine case. Like so. None of the filter protrudes. It's entirely buried in the engine case.
To remove it requires a special BMW oil filter socket. Which I do not have.
Now, Car Guy kindly reminded me that K&N oil filters have a nice handy 17mm nut grafted to the bottom for easy on and off. Luckily, the new filter is a K&N so if I could just get the old one off I'd be pooping in tall cotton.
Easier said than done, which brings me to the certain someone(s) I'd dearly love to beat to death. Anyone who puts on oil filters with breaker bars and tightens them so tight that it's nearly impossible to get them off short of a fully equipped repair shop needs to die a slow, fiery death.
I've had to do this before, remove a filter without the proper wrench and it never fails that those put on by shops and oil change businesses are put on by the ham handed. Oil filters are supposed to be hand tight, no more. See, they have what's commonly referred to as a 'rubber gasket' which does the actual sealing. Torquing it down to space shuttle specs is not required. It is in fact contra-indicated and if I have to hunt all of you oil wrench gorillas down and drown you in vats of used two stroke motor oil to make that point I am perfectly willing to do it.
After a solid hour of sweating, grunting and swearing I finally got the mangled remains of the old filter off and finished the oil change. It was tight. I mean Nun Twat tight, not to be indelicate about it. What is supposed to be one of the easiest vehicle maintenance tasks possible took me almost 3 hours.
The BMW is now back together, buttoned up and running like a fine Swiss watch. Well, maybe a German cuckoo clock.
No thanks to King Kong the oil change guy. Beat. You. To. Death. Write it on your sloping foreheads.
Six
Yeah.
First off, the battery. The battery is located under the back of the gas tank. In order to access it you must remove the left side fairing. I wasn't aware of that and ended up removing the entire fairing.You can see the battery just under the back of the tank. It's the black rectangle with the white sticker on it. There are approximately 700 screws holding the fairings on. Different sizes for the various locations of course. Plus we don't have a BMW dealer locally so I had to order it as well as the oil filter. Ok, bad but I can deal.
Battery replaced it's on to the oil change. The drain plug is easy to find and access. The filter not so much. See, the filter is recessed into the bottom of the engine case. Like so. None of the filter protrudes. It's entirely buried in the engine case.
To remove it requires a special BMW oil filter socket. Which I do not have.
Now, Car Guy kindly reminded me that K&N oil filters have a nice handy 17mm nut grafted to the bottom for easy on and off. Luckily, the new filter is a K&N so if I could just get the old one off I'd be pooping in tall cotton.
Easier said than done, which brings me to the certain someone(s) I'd dearly love to beat to death. Anyone who puts on oil filters with breaker bars and tightens them so tight that it's nearly impossible to get them off short of a fully equipped repair shop needs to die a slow, fiery death.
I've had to do this before, remove a filter without the proper wrench and it never fails that those put on by shops and oil change businesses are put on by the ham handed. Oil filters are supposed to be hand tight, no more. See, they have what's commonly referred to as a 'rubber gasket' which does the actual sealing. Torquing it down to space shuttle specs is not required. It is in fact contra-indicated and if I have to hunt all of you oil wrench gorillas down and drown you in vats of used two stroke motor oil to make that point I am perfectly willing to do it.
After a solid hour of sweating, grunting and swearing I finally got the mangled remains of the old filter off and finished the oil change. It was tight. I mean Nun Twat tight, not to be indelicate about it. What is supposed to be one of the easiest vehicle maintenance tasks possible took me almost 3 hours.
The BMW is now back together, buttoned up and running like a fine Swiss watch. Well, maybe a German cuckoo clock.
No thanks to King Kong the oil change guy. Beat. You. To. Death. Write it on your sloping foreheads.
Six
08 October 2012
Eating Rant
We are constantly bombarded with propaganda from all sides on what foods are good and what are bad. I'm hardly telling you anything new, it's been going on for decades.
I remember when we were told that eggs were bad. Then they were good. Then Ok or maybe bad depending on how you chewed or something equally brilliant. I have no earthly idea what iteration we're on now. I'm old enough to remember a bit on Carson (oh so many years ago) where some expert diet group announced their evil and angelic food lists. Pasta was supposed to be a goodie back then. Later not so much. Again, I don't know where the current argument places carbohydrates but I'm betting you can find someone on both sides of the argument with little effort. I'm just too lazy to do any actual research.
The latest I am aware of involves caloric intake. The idea is that restricted diets lead to longer lives. It's science and it's settled with starving monkeys and everything so stop eating so much all you fat bastards! Except when it's not. Great Ghu am I tired of this exercise is Nanny Statism on the part of people who seemingly cannot definitively answer any food questions except that eating anything that actually tastes good is verbotten. Everything would be fine if only all of you people would just shut up and do what you're told. And forget what we said last week. We have always been at war with Eastasia and X has always been good/bad for you.
I get my diet information primarily from my daughter, The DO, who does do her research. I'm not saying I always (or even usually) take it but I do listen and heed because I know her and trust her. I know she always has my best interests at heart. And that's the difference here. We've seen it in the AGW debate. Scientists have an agenda and it usually doesn't involve your welfare. Food researchers want to make a living just as the climate scientists do. They're very interested in their next paycheck and a broad invocation of the old 'The Food Pyramid is a good rule of thumb and let's just let it go at that' won't get the bureaucrats and stake holders on their feet, throwing great wads of money at you. None of these folks actually has your personal welfare as their number one priority. There's generally a sliding scale of indebtedness and yours truly will invariably be found somewhere near the bottom. I'm not saying don't read and listen but consider the source and ask yourself what their true motivations might be.
Now I'm not one of those guys who complains without offering an opinion. Most emphatically not an educated opinion but still, how much worse could I do? Think 53 years of anecdotal evidence from a man in his late middle age and still going reasonably strong and take it for what it's worth.
We try and eat as fresh as possible. We have canned and boxed and folded/spindled/mutilated items and eat it whenever but I honestly think fresh is better for you. Then again pesticides, so there.
I read an old power-lifter's saw years ago about "it takes beef to build beef" and I followed it when I was lifting heavy. I still think it holds water. I eat a lot of beef. I mean a lot.
I try and limit my sugar intake, mostly because I'm fighting incipient old guy pot belly. Though I do like me some Mountain Dew. The real stuff, not that diet crapola.
I don't eat too late in the evening and I believe in the idea that if you clean your plate only so as to not waste food that food will go to your waist (aren't I clever? I totally stole that from someone but since I also suffer from CRS Syndrome I can't remember who. Let's just pretend it was me Ok?)
That's about it. Other than those things I eat exactly what I want, when I want and in the quantities I want. I ask no permissions nor do I offer any excuses. Beef, chicken, sourdough bread, milk, cold cereal, potatoes, eggs, bacon, pizza and pasta are my basic food groups. Frankly, my eating habits would probably send most nutritionists into instant anal apoplexy. I have no idea what that means I just really liked typing it. Anal Apoplexy. Insert 9 year old boy giggling here. Lu and I fry and scorch and bake and boil and cook with fire. We eat what sounds good at the time and don't really give it a lot of thought. Denial? Maybe, but man is it ever a tasty trip down the river. I may indeed have to pay for my eating habits one day but this is not that day.
And for the food Nazi's out there giving their expertise to a nation that really doesn't seem to want it I have this message. Please leave the opinions out of your findings and just give us the basic facts. If you know something by all means do share. I promise to listen to good science. If you're just guessing or inferring or angling for another fat grant from the government please shut up. You have been exactly 180 degrees wrong so many times now that I have zero confidence that any of you 'experts' are in the game for anything more than a paycheck and self aggrandizement. I know, I know. That sciency stuff is so hard! In the meantime I and others like me will continue to ignore your ignorant and contradictory mouth farts and get our information from sources we trust. Like my daughter.
And we'll probably continue to eat exactly what we want, when we want and in the quantities we want. And if Brigid is cooking I can pretty much guarantee I'll eat myself into a happy food coma with absolutely nary a guilt in sight.
Because I can, that's why.
Now if you'll excuse me I smell something tasty frying.
Six
I remember when we were told that eggs were bad. Then they were good. Then Ok or maybe bad depending on how you chewed or something equally brilliant. I have no earthly idea what iteration we're on now. I'm old enough to remember a bit on Carson (oh so many years ago) where some expert diet group announced their evil and angelic food lists. Pasta was supposed to be a goodie back then. Later not so much. Again, I don't know where the current argument places carbohydrates but I'm betting you can find someone on both sides of the argument with little effort. I'm just too lazy to do any actual research.
The latest I am aware of involves caloric intake. The idea is that restricted diets lead to longer lives. It's science and it's settled with starving monkeys and everything so stop eating so much all you fat bastards! Except when it's not. Great Ghu am I tired of this exercise is Nanny Statism on the part of people who seemingly cannot definitively answer any food questions except that eating anything that actually tastes good is verbotten. Everything would be fine if only all of you people would just shut up and do what you're told. And forget what we said last week. We have always been at war with Eastasia and X has always been good/bad for you.
I get my diet information primarily from my daughter, The DO, who does do her research. I'm not saying I always (or even usually) take it but I do listen and heed because I know her and trust her. I know she always has my best interests at heart. And that's the difference here. We've seen it in the AGW debate. Scientists have an agenda and it usually doesn't involve your welfare. Food researchers want to make a living just as the climate scientists do. They're very interested in their next paycheck and a broad invocation of the old 'The Food Pyramid is a good rule of thumb and let's just let it go at that' won't get the bureaucrats and stake holders on their feet, throwing great wads of money at you. None of these folks actually has your personal welfare as their number one priority. There's generally a sliding scale of indebtedness and yours truly will invariably be found somewhere near the bottom. I'm not saying don't read and listen but consider the source and ask yourself what their true motivations might be.
Now I'm not one of those guys who complains without offering an opinion. Most emphatically not an educated opinion but still, how much worse could I do? Think 53 years of anecdotal evidence from a man in his late middle age and still going reasonably strong and take it for what it's worth.
We try and eat as fresh as possible. We have canned and boxed and folded/spindled/mutilated items and eat it whenever but I honestly think fresh is better for you. Then again pesticides, so there.
I read an old power-lifter's saw years ago about "it takes beef to build beef" and I followed it when I was lifting heavy. I still think it holds water. I eat a lot of beef. I mean a lot.
I try and limit my sugar intake, mostly because I'm fighting incipient old guy pot belly. Though I do like me some Mountain Dew. The real stuff, not that diet crapola.
I don't eat too late in the evening and I believe in the idea that if you clean your plate only so as to not waste food that food will go to your waist (aren't I clever? I totally stole that from someone but since I also suffer from CRS Syndrome I can't remember who. Let's just pretend it was me Ok?)
That's about it. Other than those things I eat exactly what I want, when I want and in the quantities I want. I ask no permissions nor do I offer any excuses. Beef, chicken, sourdough bread, milk, cold cereal, potatoes, eggs, bacon, pizza and pasta are my basic food groups. Frankly, my eating habits would probably send most nutritionists into instant anal apoplexy. I have no idea what that means I just really liked typing it. Anal Apoplexy. Insert 9 year old boy giggling here. Lu and I fry and scorch and bake and boil and cook with fire. We eat what sounds good at the time and don't really give it a lot of thought. Denial? Maybe, but man is it ever a tasty trip down the river. I may indeed have to pay for my eating habits one day but this is not that day.
And for the food Nazi's out there giving their expertise to a nation that really doesn't seem to want it I have this message. Please leave the opinions out of your findings and just give us the basic facts. If you know something by all means do share. I promise to listen to good science. If you're just guessing or inferring or angling for another fat grant from the government please shut up. You have been exactly 180 degrees wrong so many times now that I have zero confidence that any of you 'experts' are in the game for anything more than a paycheck and self aggrandizement. I know, I know. That sciency stuff is so hard! In the meantime I and others like me will continue to ignore your ignorant and contradictory mouth farts and get our information from sources we trust. Like my daughter.
And we'll probably continue to eat exactly what we want, when we want and in the quantities we want. And if Brigid is cooking I can pretty much guarantee I'll eat myself into a happy food coma with absolutely nary a guilt in sight.
Because I can, that's why.
Now if you'll excuse me I smell something tasty frying.
Six
04 September 2012
Blue State Tyranny Or Why Do California Democrats Hate Women And The Handicapped And The Poor?
Warning: Rant with some unsafe for the kids language.
I got a call from Car Guy today. We are unhappy campers. I was scheduled to head out to his place in California on Saturday to help him replace his roof. The shake shingles are old, worn and leaky and it needs to be replaced. It's a job he and I have done many times before. We're not exactly licensed professionals but we're pretty damn talented DIYers. We're friends of many decades. Really he's my brother by choice as opposed to by blood. That doesn't even really matter. He could be a neighbor, casual friend or even just sum dood and if asked I'd still help him with the task. It's what we do for each other as members of a civilized society.
But no. It is not to be. Why? Because the ever so caring and concerned (Democrat controlled) state of California has decreed that if one replaces their own roof on their very own house they cannot be helped by anyone who isn't a blood relative who lives under that same roof. I'll give you a minute to re-read that last sentence and absorb the wonderfulness that is liberal politics. Done? Cool but wait, there's more.
When Car Guy went and got his permit, that he paid the very same fee as roofing companies do but that's for another post, he was informed that the city would forward his application information to the state and that said state inspectors were actively checking roofing sites to ensure compliance with their draconian rules and regulations and had in fact already issued 'several' citations. The fine? I am so glad you asked. $100,000.00.
One Hundred Thousand Dollars. Contemplate that for a moment my friends. ONE. HUNDRED. THOUSAND. DOLLARS. Minimum. Which means it most certainly will be more if the state can see any way to squeeze you for more. For having a friend help you roof your house. But hey, that sounds totally fair. I mean, it's roofing being done by the unlicensed! How horrid!
I'm not talking about inspections to make sure the work is done to code. No no no. I have no real issues with that. I'm talking about doing to code work with the help of a relative or friend who isn't authorized by the state to do the work. It's not rocket science or brain surgery or even food preparation. It's roofing. It's not that fucking complex or dangerous. It's ROOFING!
But just hold on there a second there Mister Six, you say, how exactly is that hate on women and the poor? Aren't you really nothing more than a shill for the Republicans who and a closet Islamohomogynophobe? You're nothing but another rich banker fat cat one percenter hating on the state for ensuring that no one who isn't a licensed roofing professional is allowed to expose their tender hides to the unmerciful elements and risk their very lives doing something only the select few should be allowed to do. Sit down and STFU Mister Six lest you die.
Well, let's do a little scenario role playing shall we?
Let's say I'm a husband and father of 2.5 bright and wonderful young children. I make a decent living and my wife works part time. We get by and even manage to put away a few bucks every month. We scrimped and saved and managed to put down enough for a down payment on a fixer upper house. It needs work but it's in our price range and it's close enough to schools and shopping that we can even walk. I have basic construction skills so am planning on doing the necessary work on the house to make it the home we've always dreamed of. I'm a nice guy so I also have many friends as well as family, all of whom are happy to pitch in where and when needed. Comes a strong storm and we lose some shingles. Suddenly the roof leaks. Badly. The damage is severe enough that a new roof is required. Ok, life happens and I'm not totally unprepared. I have just enough in savings to cover materials cost and I can totally do the work myself. Except that I was in an accident a few years ago and my back/legs/arms don't work as well as I'd like. No problem. I have lots of friends and family who can do the heavy lifting. All is well. What's that you say Mister City/County/State public employee? If I get anyone to help it'll cost me my house and me, my wife and my lovely elementary school age children will lose everything we've worked our entire lives for? Instead I should hire a licensed roofing professional for 8 to 15 thousand dollars which I absolutely do not have because I'm totally unqualified to do the work on my own house myself? I can't make my own decisions? Yeah, that sounds totally fair.
Or how about this. I'm a single woman, living alone because that's just how I like things. I love my little house but it needs a new roof . On my modest salary I can't afford a licensed roofer. I do have some very close friends who are totally into things like that though so for a fraction of the cost of hiring licensed professionals I can get a new roof. Isn't this a great country? No? I can't do that because it'd ruin me financially? Oh, I understand completely. Hand me that pan would you? I need to catch this leak.
Or. I have a house that's slightly under water (thank you House and Senate Democrats). I'm renting it out and can just make ends meet because I signed on the bottom line and am the sort of person who takes their obligations seriously. Rather than abandoning the house and adding another foreclosure to the unending list I'm trying to be part of the housing crisis solution. But. The house needs a new roof and as the landlord I'm obligated by California Rental Law to make the necessary repairs or face slumlord sanctions. But I no longer live there. I fact I live in another state where it's cheaper just so I can meet my financial obligations. I load up my tools and fill my truck with 4 dollar a gallon gas and head out because I can afford the materials and can do the work myself but I can't afford to hire licensed professionals. No? One hundred thousand dollar fine you say? Here ya go Mister Mortgage Holder. Here's the keys. Have fun finding a buyer. Sorry about that Renter Family. I know the rent was reasonable and there's nothing available at a cost you can afford. Hope your parents have room in their basement.
That last one? Yeah, that's me. Lu and I actually subsidize the rent to the tune of 800 bucks a month rather than just throw in the towel and default. Think we're going to hire out thousands of dollars in repairs or upgrades? Not in this economy Governor Brown. I'll kick out the renters and abandon the fucking thing before I so much as spend a dime on licensed professionals to do work I can do myself.
Or or or or. I could go on and on and so could anyone with an ounce of compassion or common sense. But both of those things seem to be missing fro the State of California. They'd rather see the proles go without than permit the common folks to work on their own property. They're not licensed you see. They don't know what they're doing. Doesn't matter that they have access to someone who does, he's also not licensed. Doesn't count. If you can't do it, all by yourself with no help but those who actually live with you and share a common ancestor it's just not going to be tolerated.
It's the nanny state gone wild. It's those who claim the high road selling out to special interests and the lure of a fast, budget propping buck. Taken from the picked over carcass of already over burdened tax payers. It's a prime example of why businesses and productive citizens are fleeing the state in droves. It's about money and control and it's fucking outrageous.
The worst part is this is hardly a single instance. It's everywhere from Pate de Foie Gras to guns to child care to health care to anything and everything you'd care to name. It's politicians pretending to champion the little guy sticking their finger in that same little guy's eye, plucking out that soft orb and then skull fucking him to death. And don't give me any shit about it's both parties. Not in reliably blue California. Other places yeah but not in the People's Socialist Democratic Republic. It's Democrat run from top to bottom and it's rocketing to financial ruin on the dead bodies of those who have tried for years to prop up the monster through hard work and gobs of wasted taxes. They tried to outlaw circumcisions for Grapp's sake until they passed a bill to outlaw outlawing circumcisions. Really? This is what you in the state house are worried about and arguing over? Circumcision? Calling it a freak show is insulting to fat bearded ladies the world over.
Lu and I have always planned on moving back someday. As soon as I get the Utah house to the point where it would make financial sense to sell it. Now? I'm split. On the one hand Car Guy lives just a few blocks from my house and I'd dearly love to see him every day. The other hand is shit like this that no sane person could endure if they could avoid it. The gripping hand is I see no end to the abusive foolishness of that state.
So. That's where we are on this fine Tuesday morning. I'm still going out to see Car Guy and his lovely bride because I love them and I want to spend some time with them. I will sit on my fat ass on the sidewalk and shout singularly unhelpful tips to Car Guy whilst he toils away on a job I should be helping him with. A job he's still going to come out here and help me do because I don't live in a Liberal Paradise and can actually take care of my own property in the way that seems best to me, the property owner. I will not stiff arm salute the state inspector when he comes with his demands of "Papers Please". I'll even keep my mouth shut and not talk to him with a bad fake German accent while goose stepping around the property because he'd only take it out on Car Guy like all the good little Liberal Nazis do and Car Guy doesn't need any more aggravation. And I will cry at what's been done to a state I once loved and a Country I still do because this is just a taste of what's to come.
It's Blue State Tyranny. Coming soon to a state near you?
Six
I got a call from Car Guy today. We are unhappy campers. I was scheduled to head out to his place in California on Saturday to help him replace his roof. The shake shingles are old, worn and leaky and it needs to be replaced. It's a job he and I have done many times before. We're not exactly licensed professionals but we're pretty damn talented DIYers. We're friends of many decades. Really he's my brother by choice as opposed to by blood. That doesn't even really matter. He could be a neighbor, casual friend or even just sum dood and if asked I'd still help him with the task. It's what we do for each other as members of a civilized society.
But no. It is not to be. Why? Because the ever so caring and concerned (Democrat controlled) state of California has decreed that if one replaces their own roof on their very own house they cannot be helped by anyone who isn't a blood relative who lives under that same roof. I'll give you a minute to re-read that last sentence and absorb the wonderfulness that is liberal politics. Done? Cool but wait, there's more.
When Car Guy went and got his permit, that he paid the very same fee as roofing companies do but that's for another post, he was informed that the city would forward his application information to the state and that said state inspectors were actively checking roofing sites to ensure compliance with their draconian rules and regulations and had in fact already issued 'several' citations. The fine? I am so glad you asked. $100,000.00.
One Hundred Thousand Dollars. Contemplate that for a moment my friends. ONE. HUNDRED. THOUSAND. DOLLARS. Minimum. Which means it most certainly will be more if the state can see any way to squeeze you for more. For having a friend help you roof your house. But hey, that sounds totally fair. I mean, it's roofing being done by the unlicensed! How horrid!
I'm not talking about inspections to make sure the work is done to code. No no no. I have no real issues with that. I'm talking about doing to code work with the help of a relative or friend who isn't authorized by the state to do the work. It's not rocket science or brain surgery or even food preparation. It's roofing. It's not that fucking complex or dangerous. It's ROOFING!
But just hold on there a second there Mister Six, you say, how exactly is that hate on women and the poor? Aren't you really nothing more than a shill for the Republicans who and a closet Islamohomogynophobe? You're nothing but another rich banker fat cat one percenter hating on the state for ensuring that no one who isn't a licensed roofing professional is allowed to expose their tender hides to the unmerciful elements and risk their very lives doing something only the select few should be allowed to do. Sit down and STFU Mister Six lest you die.
Well, let's do a little scenario role playing shall we?
Let's say I'm a husband and father of 2.5 bright and wonderful young children. I make a decent living and my wife works part time. We get by and even manage to put away a few bucks every month. We scrimped and saved and managed to put down enough for a down payment on a fixer upper house. It needs work but it's in our price range and it's close enough to schools and shopping that we can even walk. I have basic construction skills so am planning on doing the necessary work on the house to make it the home we've always dreamed of. I'm a nice guy so I also have many friends as well as family, all of whom are happy to pitch in where and when needed. Comes a strong storm and we lose some shingles. Suddenly the roof leaks. Badly. The damage is severe enough that a new roof is required. Ok, life happens and I'm not totally unprepared. I have just enough in savings to cover materials cost and I can totally do the work myself. Except that I was in an accident a few years ago and my back/legs/arms don't work as well as I'd like. No problem. I have lots of friends and family who can do the heavy lifting. All is well. What's that you say Mister City/County/State public employee? If I get anyone to help it'll cost me my house and me, my wife and my lovely elementary school age children will lose everything we've worked our entire lives for? Instead I should hire a licensed roofing professional for 8 to 15 thousand dollars which I absolutely do not have because I'm totally unqualified to do the work on my own house myself? I can't make my own decisions? Yeah, that sounds totally fair.
Or how about this. I'm a single woman, living alone because that's just how I like things. I love my little house but it needs a new roof . On my modest salary I can't afford a licensed roofer. I do have some very close friends who are totally into things like that though so for a fraction of the cost of hiring licensed professionals I can get a new roof. Isn't this a great country? No? I can't do that because it'd ruin me financially? Oh, I understand completely. Hand me that pan would you? I need to catch this leak.
Or. I have a house that's slightly under water (thank you House and Senate Democrats). I'm renting it out and can just make ends meet because I signed on the bottom line and am the sort of person who takes their obligations seriously. Rather than abandoning the house and adding another foreclosure to the unending list I'm trying to be part of the housing crisis solution. But. The house needs a new roof and as the landlord I'm obligated by California Rental Law to make the necessary repairs or face slumlord sanctions. But I no longer live there. I fact I live in another state where it's cheaper just so I can meet my financial obligations. I load up my tools and fill my truck with 4 dollar a gallon gas and head out because I can afford the materials and can do the work myself but I can't afford to hire licensed professionals. No? One hundred thousand dollar fine you say? Here ya go Mister Mortgage Holder. Here's the keys. Have fun finding a buyer. Sorry about that Renter Family. I know the rent was reasonable and there's nothing available at a cost you can afford. Hope your parents have room in their basement.
That last one? Yeah, that's me. Lu and I actually subsidize the rent to the tune of 800 bucks a month rather than just throw in the towel and default. Think we're going to hire out thousands of dollars in repairs or upgrades? Not in this economy Governor Brown. I'll kick out the renters and abandon the fucking thing before I so much as spend a dime on licensed professionals to do work I can do myself.
Or or or or. I could go on and on and so could anyone with an ounce of compassion or common sense. But both of those things seem to be missing fro the State of California. They'd rather see the proles go without than permit the common folks to work on their own property. They're not licensed you see. They don't know what they're doing. Doesn't matter that they have access to someone who does, he's also not licensed. Doesn't count. If you can't do it, all by yourself with no help but those who actually live with you and share a common ancestor it's just not going to be tolerated.
It's the nanny state gone wild. It's those who claim the high road selling out to special interests and the lure of a fast, budget propping buck. Taken from the picked over carcass of already over burdened tax payers. It's a prime example of why businesses and productive citizens are fleeing the state in droves. It's about money and control and it's fucking outrageous.
The worst part is this is hardly a single instance. It's everywhere from Pate de Foie Gras to guns to child care to health care to anything and everything you'd care to name. It's politicians pretending to champion the little guy sticking their finger in that same little guy's eye, plucking out that soft orb and then skull fucking him to death. And don't give me any shit about it's both parties. Not in reliably blue California. Other places yeah but not in the People's Socialist Democratic Republic. It's Democrat run from top to bottom and it's rocketing to financial ruin on the dead bodies of those who have tried for years to prop up the monster through hard work and gobs of wasted taxes. They tried to outlaw circumcisions for Grapp's sake until they passed a bill to outlaw outlawing circumcisions. Really? This is what you in the state house are worried about and arguing over? Circumcision? Calling it a freak show is insulting to fat bearded ladies the world over.
Lu and I have always planned on moving back someday. As soon as I get the Utah house to the point where it would make financial sense to sell it. Now? I'm split. On the one hand Car Guy lives just a few blocks from my house and I'd dearly love to see him every day. The other hand is shit like this that no sane person could endure if they could avoid it. The gripping hand is I see no end to the abusive foolishness of that state.
So. That's where we are on this fine Tuesday morning. I'm still going out to see Car Guy and his lovely bride because I love them and I want to spend some time with them. I will sit on my fat ass on the sidewalk and shout singularly unhelpful tips to Car Guy whilst he toils away on a job I should be helping him with. A job he's still going to come out here and help me do because I don't live in a Liberal Paradise and can actually take care of my own property in the way that seems best to me, the property owner. I will not stiff arm salute the state inspector when he comes with his demands of "Papers Please". I'll even keep my mouth shut and not talk to him with a bad fake German accent while goose stepping around the property because he'd only take it out on Car Guy like all the good little Liberal Nazis do and Car Guy doesn't need any more aggravation. And I will cry at what's been done to a state I once loved and a Country I still do because this is just a taste of what's to come.
It's Blue State Tyranny. Coming soon to a state near you?
Six
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