A Saturday in Winter - Update

Baking bread is one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world's sweetest smells...there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel, that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.
--M. F. K. Fisher

A Saturday in Winter

We are far enough south that we don't get a lot of snow. When it is cold, it's usually dry, and when it is damp, it is usually warm enough that precipitation falls as rain. Today was unusual. It snowed overnight, then sleeted and iced on top of that. The road in front of the house looks like iced sugar. Having decided that any plans that involved driving were foolish, we settled in to enjoy the day. It is below freezing, but still raining, so going for a walk has been postponed.

I have homework to do this afternoon, for some college classes I am taking. PHP scripting, anyone? Right now, writing this post is a break from some study and reading on Aikido vocabulary and history for an upcoming test. Aikido is more interesting than PHP, if just as difficult to retain.

Every hour or so I feed the stove. Gracie lies as close as possible to the warmth, and will stay there until her fur is hot and she pants like it is July.

Out in the kitchen, the bread came out of the oven a few minutes ago. The dough rose nicely in the living room on a table by the stove. 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven, and my efforts are rewarded. In a few minutes I'm going to make a pot of coffee and slice one of those loaves. Filled with light and warmth, with someone to share it with me, today is a gift.
There is a magic in that little world, home; it is a mystic circle that surrounds comforts and virtues never known beyond its hallowed limits.
--Robert Southey

Testing the Perimeter

Ojore Nuru Lutalo was arrested in Colorado last Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010, for making terror threats to blow up an Amtrak train over a cell phone. Sitting covered with a blanket, he made a series of threatening remarks loud enough to be overheard.

Least we think that the other passengers were overreacting, here's a video Ojore Nuru Lutalo made while he was served 27 years in a New Jersey prison for things like bank robbery, weapons violations, shooting at police, and violating his parole. I don't expect anyone to watch more than a couple of minutes of this rambling tirade, but that should be enough to give you an idea.
This man sees himself as an anarchist, a Black Liberation Army follower, and at war with "Amerika". Not your typical Jihadist, but not the guy you want to ignore when he's talking about blowing up the train.

We don't have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown, and regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence.
--Janet Napolitano

The State of the Union

Mr. Obama said, in his State of the Union speech last night,

...and if the Republican leadership is going to insist that sixty votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well. Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership.

I disagree. If you are being offered very bad things, over and over, just saying no is the only option that demonstrates leadership. Think of it like your daughter gone away to college for the first time. "No" is probably the thing you hope she says the most.

Want to get drunk?
No.
Want to get high?
No.
Want to get drunk and have unprotected sex?
No.
Want to go the party at the frat house?(I know, it's the same question rephrased)
No.

Just because she keeps saying no doesn't mean she's being negative. Quite the opposite, sometimes saying no is the positive thing. If the Democrats keep making the same bad offers, I want leaders to say no every time.

Now, if the Democrats want to ask, "Should we back up and rethink taking over and destroying the current health care system?", I would be okay with answering "Yes."
Going back to the questions your daughter is being asked, consider this.

Want to go to the mixer at the Methodist student center?
Yes.
My parents are coming this weekend, would you like to go to dinner with us?
Yes.
A group of us are forming a study group for that math class, are you interested?
Yes.

It is not necessarily right or wrong to answer yes or no, everything depends on the questions. There you have it, Pr. Obama, a blueprint for working with the conservatives in America, some of which are still Republicans. Just stop being so negative about America, and appreciate how great a place it is right now, without all that hopeychangey.

A moment's reflection shows that Liberalism is entirely negative. It is not a formative force, but always and only a disintegrating force.
--Francis Parker Yockey

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall more or less marks the high water mark of the Roman Empire in Britain. It was built to defend the frontier of the Roman controlled portion of the island. Another, lesser known wall was later built further north. That one, the Antonine Wall, was built, but proved indefensible. The Romans, unable to hold the northern territory, fell back to Hadrian's Wall and it became the border until Rome finally retreated from Britain. The wall today is a reminder of the limit of the reach of power. Rome was in some ways already in decline when the decision was made to push no further, to stop and literally build a wall.

I thought of that history today, when I read of Pr. Obama's decision to kill the Constellation program. We aren't going back to the moon. We aren't going to build a next-gen heavy lift rocket or a new lunar lander. We're pulling back. We left our high water mark behind in 1972 with the last Apollo mission. Perhaps someone will one day return to the moon, but it will not be us, and it will not happen in my lifetime.

Sic transit gloria mundi (Thus passes the glory of the world)
--From the old Papal Coronation Ceremony

You Can Do This Every Week and It is Always Heartbreaking

Just go to Google and type in "accidental shooting". Somewhere in America, a trigger is pulled, a shot fires, and someone is hurt or killed. It is not accidental. It's negligent.

A gun is a machine. It does one thing. It launches projectiles out of the barrel at high speed. The direction the projectile takes and what it impacts is purely a matter of physics. It is up to the user to control the machine.

This means responsibility. Trigger control, muzzle control. At all times.

I bring this up again because a negligent discharge killed a man near here over the weekend. Two friends were target shooting. After a malfunction that led one of them to disassemble and reassemble the .22 they were using, the other man was shot in the temple and died.

Muzzle control. At all times. If he had the muzzle in a safe direction, the round would have gone downrange. Even if your gun was broken and fired every time you loaded it without pulling the trigger, if you maintain muzzle control, no one gets hurt. There are other important rules, and my focus on this one is not intended to minimize the importance of the others.

If you let the muzzle of your gun point at yourself, or anyone else, for any reason, at any time, unless you intend to shoot them, you are being negligent. Even sweeping the muzzle across your leg is negligent. If no one gets shot, you were just lucky. This time, these two friends weren't lucky. One man is dead, and his friend is left to face a lifetime of regret.

Rule #2 -- Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy.
--Jeff Cooper

Evil

MArooned has a post up that says everything you need to know about gun control. With a tragic example, and clear facts, he lays it out there.

Gun control is evil.
--Jay, writing on his blog MArooned

The Liberty Zone

Adding The Liberty Zone to the blogroll.

Here's what the author says about herself:

Hi, I'm Nicki
I'm an Army veteran and a writer.
I love my freedoms, and I respect the tools that protect those freedoms.
I am mom to two semi-small munchkins, an overweight, halfwitted black lab, two fat, attention-whoring cats and a tiny hedgehog.
I'm opinionated, stubborn, passionate, sometimes temperamental, fair and dedicated to my family and my country.

The first post I read on her site was Dear McDonald's, You Suck. She quotes a news article about a teenager named Lauren McClusky who raised $30,000 for Special Olympics with a program she called "McFest." McDonalds, as you have already guessed, let loose the hyenas lawyers on her because the use of "Mc" belongs only to them. She has no right to use her own name. Before I let loose a McTirade, go read Nicki's thoughts.
It is the McSmackdown. Because she nails what the right response should be.

...we limit unacceptable behavior by spreading information about it to others and hitting them where it hurts most - their wallet - their profits. That's how true capitalism works - not via government force or mandate.
--Nicki, on her blog The Liberty Zone

Update on University of Miami efforts in Haiti

If you've wondered how or where to make a meaningful donation to help Haiti, send a check made out to the “University of Miami-Global Institute” to P.O. Box 248073, Coral Gables, Florida, 33124. They were in Haiti before the quake, they are involved now, and they have a long term commitment.

Compassion literally means to feel with, to suffer with. Everyone is capable of compassion, and yet everyone tends to avoid it because it's uncomfortable.
--Joanna Macy

Last Year in Little Rock

Last year in Little Rock, Arkansas a soldier, Pvt. William Long, was shot and killed at a recruiting station. Yesterday, it was reported that the man arrested for the crime has decided to plead guilty and offered the following explanation for his actions:

In a letter to the judge presiding over his case, the accused killer, Abdulhakim Muhammad, calls himself a soldier in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and calls the shooting “a Jihadi Attack” in retribution for the killing of Muslims by American troops.

“I wasn’t insane or post traumatic nor was I forced to do this Act,” Mr. Muhammad said in a two-page, hand-printed note in pencil. The attack, which he said did not go as planned, was “justified according to Islamic Laws and the Islamic Religion. Jihad — to fight those who wage war on Islam and Muslims.”

I would accept his guilty plea and have him hanged for murder and espionage. By his own admission he committed murder and an act of war against the United States.

How many more men like this are already in America? Where are they getting their orders? How long before the next attack? Is there anyone in charge willing to tell us what's going on or have you all just decided to keep everything quiet to keep the sheep from panicking?

Sons of Islam everywhere, the jihad is a duty - to establish the rule of Allah on earth and to liberate your countries and yourselves from America's domination and its Zionist allies, it is your battle - either victory or martyrdom.
--Ahmed Yassin

Reality Check

While we worry with politics, Haiti, special elections in Massachusetts, while our jobs and our kids and our marriages hold our attention, the war keeps going on, with Marines and Soldiers in harm's way every day.

Marine awaiting Bronze Star killed by IED

A North Carolina-based Marine in line to receive a medal for valor died in Afghanistan on Thursday, according to the Defense Department and media reports. Sgt. Christopher R. Hrbek, 25, a field artillery cannoneer with 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, was killed in Helmand province, according to the Defense Department.

The New Jersey Bergen County Record reports that Hrbek was killed when he stepped on an improvised explosive device.

The Westwood, N.J., native was going to be awarded a Bronze Star with combat “V” for saving the life of his sergeant major, who stepped on an IED under enemy fire Dec. 23, the paper reported.

“I told him, we are proud of you for doing the right thing,” Hrbek’s step-father, Jaymee Hodges, told The Record. “He didn’t think about it, he just did it. He loved being a Marine.”

Hrbek was a local firefighter who joined the Corps in January 2003 in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. His two step-brothers are New York City firefighters, according to The Record.

He served two tours in Iraq between September 2007 and March 2009, according to a II Marine Expeditionary Force release. He planned to become a drill instructor when he returned from deployment this spring, his step-father said.

Semper Fidelis, Sargent Hrbek.

Sacrifice still exists everywhere, and everywhere the elect of each generation suffers for the salvation of the rest.
--Henri Frederic Amiel

One More Thought on Trijicon

If printing prayers to Odin and Thor on my riflescope would cause my enemies to be upset, feel fear, and lose their will to fight, I would do it. I rather like this one:

Odin, far-wanderer, grant me wisdom,
Courage, and victory.
Friend Thor, grant me your strength.
And both be with me.

I hope they don't like the Bible references on the scopes. I hope it upsets them. I hope every one of them wonders if their buddies were killed by "Jesus rifles". I hope they are sitting there worrying about it when the Angel of Death steps into their foxhole.

If I was an atheist, I would hope the same thing, because the U.S. is my team, and I'm still rooting for a win.

Victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay it's price.
-- Sun Tzu

Time to Buy a Trijicon

ABC News is reporting that Trijicon puts Scripture references on their scopes. When questioned, Trijicon says they have been putting the references there since the company started making scopes. They use standard Bible referencing, like JN8:20, for example. As you would expect, there are people that think this is wrong, bad, un-American, and probably some sort of crime.

"It's wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws," said Michael Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that seeks to preserve the separation of church and state in the military..."It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they're being shot by Jesus rifles," he said, "The coded biblical inscriptions play into the hands of "those who are calling this a Crusade."

He's right about one thing, it plays right into my hands. I like it. If it upsets, puts off, and ruins the morale of the enemy, we should be doing it. If it strengthens, emboldens, or gives comfort to our troops, we should be doing it.

Is it a crime? Trijicon makes a product. If I want to buy it, I give them money. If I don't want to buy it I don't. If, after I buy it, I want to file off and repaint the scope, that's my business, too. The U.S. Government bought more than 100 million dollars of these scopes in 2008. The notation is right on the side of each scope. It's not like they hid it. I'd be really curious how quoting the Bible is a crime.

On a practical note, I like Trijicons ACOGs and would have one if it didn't cost more than the rifle I was going to mount it on. The prices seem to run from one to two thousand dollars for the models on their website. Still, if you have a loved one going in harm's way, and you want to get them a great going away present, this is something to think about. Think of it like a St. Christopher's medallion with a useful purpose.
Semper Fi, Trijicon. If you're making one for me, I'd like one inscribed with the following.

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.
--Psalm 27:6

Letting the mask slip

MSNBC television and syndicated radio host Ed Schultz has a circuit breaker failure discussing the special election in Massachusetts. Thanks Ed, at least for one shining moment, you told the truth.

All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
--John Arbuthnot

Pat Robertson

One of Marko's commenters had this to say about Pat Robertson's recent comments about God, Haiti, and making long terms pacts with the Devil.

How do you make an agnostic atheist religiously intolerant? Keep giving microphones and cameras to people like Robertson, and then have religious folks fail to say “what a douche – he’s nothing to do with us”.

While I am not a good Christian, I have some beliefs, and I would like to respond: "Pat Roberson is a giant douche and has nothing to do with me and my beliefs."

If you want to do the Christian thing in Haiti, you go there and save one person’s life. Then you save another. When the immediate crisis is over, you stay. You spend your time making the place better. Which is what we as Americans are doing. Our tax dollars are sending the Marines and the Army to Haiti in our name. We are now the only meaningful government in the country.

Did I mention that Pat Robertson’s comments about Haiti make him a giant douche? That any god that would kill his followers for any reason, let alone for living on a specific piece of dirt that someone else ruled two hundred years ago isn’t worth pissing on, let alone worshiping (thanks Tam).

I am a lousy Christian. Still, my understanding of the core teaching is that God =Love. To the extent that I love and care for the least of my brothers, I have kept the faith. When I fail in that task, I am not being a Christian. It is worth pointing out that the call to love my brothers would include everyone, from Bin Laden to Pat Robertson. I fail all the time.

And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.
--Thessalonians 3:12

Haiti

By now everyone who has an internet connection knows what happened in Haiti. The recent earthquake destroyed what little there was. An unknown number of casualties, certainly numbering in the tens of thousands, chaos for the survivors.

Haiti was already one of the poorest counties in the world. They have no working government, no capability to rebuild. Even with our best efforts, many more people are going to suffer and some will die. It is the United States leading the effort, under the thin veil of the United Nations. The U.S. military are the first responders, Marines to be closely followed by the Army, but there are other organizations involved.

A good friend of mine works for the University of Miami. I got an email from him today. The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine already had an established presence in Haiti, doing community health projects and helping train local physicians. Within 24 hours of the quake, they had additional personnel on the ground and now have a field medical facility in the UN protected zone.

This commitment comes at a high cost. If you have been watching this unfold and wondered how or where to make a meaningful donation, you could do worse than to send a check made out to the “University of Miami-Global Institute” to P.O. Box 248073, Coral Gables, Florida, 33124. I am sure of this one, and sure that the money donated will be use to support this ongoing medical outreach.

Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment.
--Jean De La BruyFre

The U.K. in the grip of Global Warming

The U.K. from space last week.
The British police try to respond to the crisis.

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.
--Joseph Goebbels

Watch Lists

Mikey Hicks, age eight, shares his name with someone on a government watch list. Since he was two, he has been subjected to greater scrutiny whenever he flies.

That means, among other things, the government hasn't been able to update their database to correct this stupidity in six years. Sure makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about how well the system is working.

Here's the little terrorist for you to look at and remember. His parents probably bought him a Cub Scout pocketknife, too.

Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
--Joseph Campbell

Warmth and Friendship

The universe is cold. We live in a narrow band of warmth at just the right distance from a nuclear furnace. When the tilt of the planet moves us just a few degrees, the temperatures we need to survive have to be artificially created.

Sitting a brick platform in my living room is an iron box. A civilized method to provide heat, a big step up from huddling around an open fire. It requires many hours of work every year to cut split and stack enough truckloads of wood to get through the winter. This sustained cold spell saw my stacks dwindling at an alarming rate.

Last weekend, I spent Saturday afternoon cutting and splitting a dead oak tree with a friend. It is a true friend that will spend a cold afternoon in the woods working a splitting maul and loading a truck. Because what he help you provide for your family is fire, and fire is life.

A friend is the man who knows you, and still likes you.
--Elbert Hubbard

Next up -- The Sky is Falling!

Global Cooling.

Ok, we tried global warming, but what with the growing arctic ice, the frozen orchards in Florida, and the fact that England looks more like Hoth as it struggles to find the supplies and equipment to keep the roads open, global cooling looks like an easier sell. How long before they try telling us that the global cooling is caused by excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

But it's supposed to be freezing!
--C-3PO, in The Empire Strikes Back

M-1 Garand, 03 Springfield

The Civilian Marksmanship Program provides nationwide support for shooting and firearms training. Our club is affiliated, and we host matches for the shooting discipline commonly called a Garand Match.

You can use any of the .30 caliber rifles that were issued to the U.S. military during the 20th Century. That includes the M1903 Springfield, M1917 Enfield, M1 Garand, M1941 Johnson, and M-1 Carbine. The two most commonly seen at matches are the M-1 Garand and the '03 Springfield.

The match uses a standard military target, from prone, sitting, and standing, 10 rounds from each position. Each shot has a possible score of 10 for a center hit, with scoring rings out to 5. The rifle has be "as issued", no modifications to improve accuracy, no scopes, and you use military surplus ammo.
Try a Garand Match. You'll find yourself in good company, experiencing a piece of American history.

In my opinion, the M1 Rifle is the greatest battle implement ever devised.
--General George S. Patton

I Should Know Better

I should just stop looking at the New York Times. Friday, on the editorial page, there was this insightful op-ed by Charles Blow.

In it, he compares the tea party conservatives to a cross between Hee-Haw and zombies. He also mixes the line between conservatism and Republicans, and suggests that efforts to elect some real fiscal conservatives is "purging" Republican moderates and leading the Republican Party to oblivion.

For some reason, the left is determined to take the most productive, creative economic engine in the history of the world and destroy it. They have done this in an incremental way, but is finally approaching success. Mr. Blow seems inordinately pleased with this.

So, here's a question, Mr. Blow. Do you live on some planet where the collapse you seem to be anticipating with such glee won't affect you? Because all this change has consequences. The left's plan for ever increasing control and taxation will not work in the long term. It will just strangle the remains of the economy it feeds off of. There won't be factories, corporations, or enough rich people to tax to pay for anything. We aren't going broke, Mr. Blow, we are already past broke, we're trillions of dollars in debt.

I do have a pessimistic outlook about the coming years. It is related to the grief I feel for our children and grandchildren, who will only know the world you envision. Government regulation, limited opportunities, and a rigid lock-step educational process designed to prepare them for life in the People's Republic of America.

I vote for freedom. The freedoms celebrated in the words of the Constitution. I vote for less taxation. I vote for limiting the power of government to control and intrude on the lives of citizens. I am not a Republican, and I reject the big government ideas of men like John McCain, just as I reject the failed ideas of Pr. Obama.

I am a conservative libertarian. I am for the maximum freedom of every individual. That makes me hard to put in a little box and dismiss. It certainly does not make me a Republican.

If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.
--Carl Schurz

Prostate Biopsy

Here's my key learnings of the week.

1) Don't get old.

2) The result was negative. I get to die of something else later. I was relieved.

3)The little pamphlet said, "Aftery your biopsy, you may notice some blood in your urine, feces, and semen." That's like saying it might get cold in Fargo this week. Imagine a blood filled gland the size of a plum. Now imagine stabbing that gland repeatedly with an icepick. It would have been more honest if I had been told, "The next time you have pee, poop and have sex, it's going to look like you cut an artery."

5) Sometimes just getting to the site of the organ to be biopsied is a major pain in the butt.

6) Dignity is an illusion.

Humor is an affirmation of dignity, a declaration of man's superiority to all that befalls him.
--Romain Gary

Winter camping

Winter camp, circa 1969. The gear was, as usual, inadequate. Wool coats and mittens. Cotton pants, flannel shirts, 40 degree sleeping bags and an extra wool blanket. No one owned anything synthetic or waterproof.

The patrols were using Baker tents, something that looked like half of a Wall tent with one straight side that had a flap to cover. No floor, no pads, lots of places for wind to get in. This is a side view of the exact design. Heavy green cotton canvas, treated with something to make it waterproof. It snowed about 10 inches after we set up camp Friday night and we woke up to dig out our tents and fire pits. The snow continued into the morning, off and on, and the wind pushed it into drifts in the open areas. We huddled around patrol campfires, cooked breakfast and boiled water for hot chocolate.

There was a large central fire ring in the area we were camping, and after morning cleanup the older Scouts were tasked to clear it. The Eagle Scouts and the adults found a large dead tree and spent the morning cutting and splitting. When they were done, we had a large pile of ready firewood and we put it to use.

The patrols moved in to the central area, working off of the larger shared fire. It became possible to dry your socks. It even became possible to ignite and burn your socks if you didn't keep an eye on them. The Baker tents were moved and set so they ringed the fire about 10 or 12 feet back, the large flap open and flipped back.

The heat reflected into the tents, and we worked on advancements, tended the fire, washed our dishes, and spent as much time as possible inside that ring of warmth. As evening came on, we cooked dinner by patrols, sharing and helping each other more than usual across the Troop.

By evening, camp was a pretty cozy place. The snow had stopped and the sky had cleared. The winter stars were bright. We had a long campfire, singing songs, and hearing stories told. At Taps, the Scouts retreated into the tents, flaps open. The adults sat by the fire, talking and smoking.

Sometime during the night, as the fire died down, we closed the flaps. Deep in the sleeping bags, wrapped in wool, the cold was kept at bay.

Sunday morning was clear and even colder. Getting out of the sleeping bag and getting dressed was the toughest part of the day. The fire was rekindled and the morning spent much like the day before. Just before lunch time, there was the sound of a truck working it's way up the camp road. A dump truck with a plow cleared a path to the parking area. All our gear was loaded into the truck, and then we hiked out to the paved road. We piled into the heated cars, wet and dripping, and drove back to town.

It was a challenging campout. I don't remember what we had planned, only how it turned out. When I got home, my dad said, "I thought for sure you guys were coming back yesterday because of the weather." It didn't occur to me for years that we really didn't have any good way to get out of there on Saturday. We just used what we had and worked as a Troop.

I threw away my burnt socks.

But the place which you have selected for your camp, though never so rough and grim, begins at once to have its attractions, and becomes a very centre of civilization to you.
--Henry David Thoreau

Well, Duh-huh

More Ex-Guantanamo Detainees Resorting to Terror, Officials Say

"As many as one in five former Guantanamo Bay detainees are suspected of or are confirmed to have engaged in terrorist activity after their release, U.S. officials said, citing the latest government statistics."

The link has lots of detailed information.

We had them. We let them go. They went back to trying to kill us. What did we expect? Does this information mean the government is going to change it's catch and release policy?

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.
--Albert Einstein

Regrets

Four young men break into an occupied home. They attack a mother and her 11 year old daughter with a machete. The mother is killed, the daughter left for dead. The young girl had the presence of mind to play dead and she survived.

How can this be any worse? In court documents release today, one of the men told police that they had gone to the house deliberately to kill and his only regret was leaving the girl alive.

911 is always minutes away. See to your own safety, and the safety of those in your care. I suspect that she never imagined anything so awful could happen to her and her daughter, and so when evil arrived, she was unprepared. I don't know if a different mindset and access to weapons would have saved the Cates. I only know how it turned out and what we learned today about the animals that committed this crime.

The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.
--Joseph Conrad

PBP

For years, I've had this joke that women have 3 weights, PrMP, PMP, and PBP. That would be PreMarriage Peak, Post Marriage Peak, and Post Baby Peak.

That there is some weight she sees as her upper limit when she dating, and she will stay below it, dieting, exercise, whatever it takes. After being married, she relaxes. Call it the post marriage fifteen. Have a baby and she relaxes more. This is not a kind, or politically correct observation, but it is funny.

Now it turns to be scientifically valid. Annette J. Dobson, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Queensland in Australia lead a study of 6,000 women over a 10 year period. After spending all that money, they concluded that it was a troubling health risk for women to get married and have children due the observed weight gain.

After adjusting for other variables, the 10-year weight gain for an average 140-pound woman was 20 pounds if she had a baby and a partner, 15 if she had a partner but no baby, and only 11 pounds if she was childless with no partner.
--The New York Times, January 4th 2010

Permit Renewal

So, I took the class, got fingerprinted, went through 90 day background and waiting period, paid a hefty fee and finally got a concealed carry permit. This was five years ago. I have carried whenever possible for five years.

Now it is time for renewal. I went to the courthouse. They gave me the same forms I filled out last time, along with two new ones. Now I have to release my medical records and provide my military discharge papers. I have to fill out a new longer form. The fee is $85.00. I have to be fingerprinted again. Then I have to wait for the background check to be completed. All while I am still carrying on the current permit.

Oh, and it's now only permissible to show up during certain hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays to do this. In a building where I am not permitted to carry.

How exactly is this a right? Whose permission am I seeking to be a free man? Why am I paying for it? When does the Constitution apply? How much of this constitutes infringement?

...the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
The Bill of Rights, December 15, 1791

The Rallying Cry

Bill Whittle reminds us who we are. I wish I had that kind of eloquence. The video is 10 minutes long, and it is the most important words you will hear today.

Some lights do not go out, some causes do not die.
--Bill Whittle

Shoe Bomb Test

FBI video of a successful detonation of a "shoe bomb" similar to the one worn by Richard Reid and more recently by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

We live in a world of guns, bombs and terror. To conquer hate seems a nigh-impossible task.
--Theodore Bikel

Maybe, Maybe Not

That pinkbelly move is devastating.

There is a fine line between dreams and reality, it's up to you to draw it.
--B. Quilliam

Energy Rationing in Venezuala

The fairy tale of socialism hit the reality wall in Venezuela.

Venezuela begins 2010 with electricity rationing in the form of limited store hours, higher rates, and this announcement from the government, "Chavez announced a sweeping campaign to reduce widespread energy waste, stressing that rationing was necessary to avoid a systemic collapse".

Communism fails everywhere, everytime, under every circumstance that it is tried.

Communism possesses a language which every people can understand - its elements are hunger, envy, and death.
--Heinrich Heine

Stunned

In a Reuters news article today, there was this stunning statement:

The Obama administration announced plans for closer screening of airline passengers from 14 countries. They are Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.

With the exception of Communist (and atheist) Cuba, every one of those countries is Muslim. So why would we be screening people from those countries more closely? Aren't we profiling now? Is this profiling on race, religion, or country of origin? Whatever it is, it is the first ray of common sense in the airport security arena in years. Because whatever America is doing, somebody is damn sure at war with us.

I usually close with a quote. Today, I will need two to illustrate the problem.

We, God willing, will continue to fight you and will continue martyrdom operations inside and outside the United States until you abandon your oppression and foolish acts.
--Osama bin Laden, October 18 2003

The United States is not, and never will be, at war with Islam.
--Barack Obama

Another Victory for the Enemy

Flight diverted because of Christmas ornament is the headline. Northwest flight 2364 out of Detroit for Orlando diverted and landed in Nashville because someone decided a small package was suspicious.

The package turned out to be a Christmas ornament.

So, with no action whatsoever, they score a small victory. Every extra cost, and the cost of a divert is real, is a victory. It is time, money, fuel, people missing connections, etc. If we continue to only play defense, we will beat ourselves.

We are going to have to see this for the war it is and get in the fight. Just trying to prevent attacks, everywhere and all the time, is a losing game. What if they decide to quit attacking airplanes and start attacking elementary schools?

The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.
--John Steinbeck