A Mammoth? Really?

A government employed engineer working in Siberia claims to have shot this video purportedly of a mammoth crossing a river. I make no claims as to the veracity of the video. Would it be cool though if they did locate an isolated vestigial population of wooly mammoths?

A Soldier Died Today

This is not mine. I found it today and I thought it was worth sharing. I have no idea who wrote it. If you know, please let me know so that I can properly attribute it.

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.

And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew whereof he spoke.

But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For old Bob has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.

He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his passing,
'Tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Someone who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?

The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.

It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a Soldier--
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end?

He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:
"Our Country is is Mourning,
a Soldier Died Today."

Vintage Wisdom

I spent some time the other day reading a website that featured a large number of quotes from notable people. I ended up fixating on some quotes from our founding fathers and marveling not only at their wisdom, but also in the prescience of these quotes when protracted in the light of current events.

Wisdom is immutable, so I thought I'd share a few gems that I found.

---

Thomas Jefferson

---

"The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object."

"The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to."

I wonder what Jefferson would have thought about the passage of the health care Obamanation against the will of the people.

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all."

"It was by the sober sense of our citizens that we were safely and steadily conducted from monarchy to republicanism, and it is by the same agency alone we can be kept from falling back."

See Tea-Partiers... TJ approves!

"The government is best which governs least."

...and how!

"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear."

I like that one...

"It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself."

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

Contrast that with this one from Adolph Hitler:

"How lucky for those in power that people don't think."

Back to Jefferson...

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniencies attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

Ah Obamacare...

"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power."

Our government has forgotten this. We move ever further to the nanny state where all of our decisions are made for us by an all-knowing government. We simply must reverse the trend and return true liberty to the people of this nation. Unfortunately, too many have been "educated" into not appreciating the taste of liberty. They'd rather feast at the trough thinking this is a good as it gets...

"History, in general, only informs us what bad government is."

Boy have we been making history lately, then!

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt...If the game runs sometime against us at home, we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake."

Let's hope that this again shall come true.

"...a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."

YEAH!

---

Benjamin Franklin

---

"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."

Amen.

"Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature."

...and too many these days have engaged in unwise re-gifting... handing this gift right away to the government in exchange for what?

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch."

This is an interesting quote, because you see my friends we are NOT a democracy. We are a republic. There was wisdom behind this because our founding fathers wanted to prevent mob rule in favor of a more measured and considerate path forward. Clearly, none of them however ever intended the government to simply ignore the will of the people.

---

George Washington

---

"The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments."

..and on we toil.

"It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it."

You see this is exactly how the progressive crowd works. The presuppose that they and only they are smart enough to know what is best for you. They wish to outlaw guns for example because the ownership of a gun might tempt one to crime. God knows the simple man is too weak to avoid that temptation.

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

Seems some in DC have forgotten the servant part.

---

Patrick Henry

---

"The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them."

Yeah how's that hopey-changey transparency thing working out for you in Washington? There isn't any.

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."

At this point why do we even have our elected officials swear to defend the Constitution? I know that I took an oath to defend it and I have never been released from that oath. That is why I feel compelled to speak out. Our elected officials, on the other hand are more interested in propagating their own power than anything else. Propagating their own power is the antithesis of defending the Constitution.

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel."

Trust me I do, much to the chagrin of our "progressive" friends!

---

John Adams

---

"The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing."

Wow! how well stated. We are seeing it today. Speak ill of the the establishment and suddenly you are "racist" and a "mob".

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself."

...Hence the wise establishment of a republic. We need to work to get back to one. A loose association of sovereign states governed only centrally in those things that truly do effect them as a whole.

---

Samuel Adams

---

"The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule."

You see most of our founding fathers were really anarchists. They were also realists, but first and foremost they believed in each person ruling and restraining themselves. They were realistic enough to understand that some order would need to be imposed, but they tried to make the establishment of that imposed order very difficult.

"The Constitution shall never be construed...to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."

Really? I thought it established the right of the states to have a National Guard... How interesting also that the National Guard can now be co-opted by the federal government against their will and against the will of the state governor. Further, former service persons can be impressed in federal service against their will for undetermined periods of time. That little jewel was buried in the thousands of pages of the Obama-care law... When starts the press gangs I wonder.

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."

I like this one as well, that's why it's found a home in the right margin of this blog.

"If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."

Vain? Wow! Who might fit that description?

---

James Madison

---

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."

Again, think back to that quote I mentioned earlier from Adolph Hitler. Arm yourselves people (and not just with firearms). Go out, read the words of the founding fathers. Understand the design that they created. Appreciate its elegance and strive to protect it!

---

Thomas Paine

---

"When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon."

What does this say for our country? Millions sit home each night blankly staring at World or Warcraft or American Idol. It brings the words of the progressive prophet, Timothy Leary to mind. "Turn on, tune in, drop out".

"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly."

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

I have long thought that we are too distant from the days of toil and need. That our founding fathers bought for us such a sublime freedom that we've not been required endure hardship to preserve it. People have grown complacent about their freedom and do not treat it with the requisite esteem.

"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."

See what I was saying about these guys being anarchists?

---

Ronald Reagan

---

Yeah, yeah Ronald Reagan isn't a founding father. I'm very well aware of that, but notice how some of his quotes fall right into line with their thinking...

"Our natural, inalienable rights are now considered to be a dispensation from government, and freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp as it is at this moment."

"We've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of government himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?"

---

Bill Clinton

---

Again, not a founding father (god forbid), but notice the contrast...

"The new rage is to say that the government is the cause of all our problems, and if only we had no government, we'd have no problems. I can tell you, that contradicts evidence, history, and common sense."

A Meme

Meme-
NOUN:
A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.

ETYMOLOGY:
Shortening (modeled on gene), of mimeme from Greek mimma, something imitated, from mimeisthai, to imitate.

The other day I received an e-mail from my pal DI over at at the Defiant Infidel blog. I eagerly opened it, thinking that it perhaps contained one of his famous well written missives or perhaps a few of his entertaining pictures. What I found when I opened it instead was DI tagging me with a meme.

This is the first time I've been tagged with a meme in all the years that I've been blogging. This particular meme asks me to share 8 random "factoids" about myself then tag five others with the meme.

In DI's response to the meme he and his co-blogger Dena addressed the following 8 factoids:

1.) Home
2.) Dogs
3.) Fears
4.) Pet Peeves
5.) Movies
6.) Hobbies
7.) Odd Food Preferences
8.) Political Concerns

I thought this a good list of topics and decided to plagiarize it and issue my own set of responses. So here goes:

HOME

I grew up mainly on a dairy farm in south central Pennsylvania, but when my father became disgruntled with the new owners of the farm we began a process of moving around from place to place. At an early age (17) I joined the Army and the vagabond lifestyle continued. Then I adopted software development as my career and it by its very nature requires one to move frequently. Therefore I have no single place that has so seized my imagination enough to make me call it home. Home to me is my family. Where they are, I am at home. I suppose at some point I will eventually find some spot on this planet that makes me want to stay there, but so far none has leaped out. I suppose there is Northern Idaho. When I first descended into the valley that contains Lake Coeur d' Alene I was taken with it's beauty and ever since then I've thought about eventually retiring there. Then there's Alaska. It's always captured my imagination. I remember being a kid in elementary school and our teacher told us about Alaska and how people could still homestead land there. The idea of a place still being so wild really got it wedged in my mind. I'm drawn by something inside me to the wild places of the earth and as the last great frontier in this nation; Alaska has a certain allure.



DOGS

There are few things that have enriched my life like having a dog in it. As a child I grew up with mainly large dogs (German Shephards, Collies, St. Bernards, Dobermans). I loved every one of them. But, as I've grown older and have taken up the previously mentioned vagabond lifestyle I have by necessity moved over to small dogs. It's just easier to find rental places that will allow you to keep a small dog than it is to find a place that allows you to keep large dogs and with all of the moving around, who wants to buy? My first wife was pretty much anti-animal. So that precluded the ownership of any kind of animal. Mainly because she would find a way to use anything that brought you joy as a weapon to cause pain. My current wife however is fixated on dogs. She brought with her a love of poodles, but as far as she's concerned any dog'll do. So while we were wandering through a pet shop in Montana we happened upon an odd little white fluff ball. Well it turns out that it was a Miniature American Eskimo. Bianca came home with us immediately after licking my wife's nose because after all, "how could she put it back down after that?" Since then, we've added Priscilla a poodle/bischon mix and after the much rued death of our teacup poodle Coal we rescued another American Eskimo named Vivian from a puppy mill that had gotten closed down.



FEARS

I try to eject all fear from my life. Nothing irks me more than surrendering control of my life and that is precisely what fear is. I suppose there will always be fear of something in your life, but I do try to rid myself of all phobias. I fear being unable to protect my loved ones from harm. I fear the things that are outside of my control, like the direction the country is being taken in.

PET PEEVES

I have many pet peeves. It drives me nuts when someone is driving slow enough to make you slip into the passing lane and then once there, the idiot speeds up so you can't pass them. That drives me nuts. Inefficiency drives my crazy. I hate looking at an inefficient practice or something that wastes time. I also hate people that just sit on their asses and scream at their kids. Look fat ass, your kid knows that you're too lazy to get up and make them listen so screaming only serves to annoy me!

MOVIES

I have a saying about movies. If a movie has guns and explosions, who needs a plot? That should pretty much cue you in to my movie preferences. I enjoy action movies and war movies. I also like science fiction and some select comedies. For example I hated Rocky Horror but absolutely loved Clerks II (my favorite comedy of all time).



HOBBIES

Honestly said, I have too many hobbies, but I'm the type whose mind doesn't shut down. I get bored very easily. So I get into a lot of odd things. I like astronomy, electronics, robotics, writing music, playing guitar, computer programming, blogging, writing in general, hunting, shooting, medieval reenactment, armoursmithing and general tinkering. The list goes on from there, but you get the general gist of it.



ODD FOOD PREFERENCES

I have no odd food preferences. In fact, I prefer very much to stay with the tried and true. Everyone is always trying to shove some odd thing or another onto my plate but the days of being forced to eat whatever was placed in front of me ended when I left my father's home. Beyond that a number of allergies tend to limit my adventurousness. I'm allergic to garlic and mushrooms. The mushrooms are no big loss, but I do love the taste of garlic and it is an allergy that has suddenly appeared with a vengeance. I can't even endure the scent of garlic. I also am very anti-sea food. The number of aquatic critters I'll eat is very limited. I just don't like the taste.

POLITICAL CONCERNS

Well I have many. Mainly I rue the great distance we have traveled from the intents of the founding fathers. I see a nation that is growing more and more divided. The chasm between us is growing wider and deeper and nothing seems to bridge the gap. Not even the devastation that was wrought on 9/11 was enough to heal the gash for very long at all. We seemed to close in, shake hands and then immediately return to our battle lines. There was a time when being Americans united us as a folk enough that the disagreements remained at the very least congenial. These days the traded barbs are growing less and less civil as time passes and I fear it is only a matter of time until it truly comes to blows. It also seems as though there is no real party to represent the people any more. Both of the political parties represent only their own vested interests. For example, neither party would dare consider tackling term limits, true election fraud prevention or limits on lobbying no matter how much popular support there is for such things. It seems like the parties are fomenting this loss of congeniality to divert attention away from the fact that both of them are pulling more and more of the power out of the hands of "we the people™" and consolidating it in theirs.

So that folks is my response to my very first ever meme. as a part of this meme I must pass the torch along to five unwitting recipients. I therefore pass the torch to:

Sniper of the Sniper Blog
Zelda of The Urban Grind
Extreme of Rightwing Extreme
The brand new baby blogger over at Kharis Syringia

and

My lovely wife

Political Compass

Found this on another site... Where's your political compass? Click here to take the test and get your own results. Here are mine:

New Gun Forum Established

My friend Mad Ogre and the folks over at FBMG have started a new gun community forum called "We the Armed". It's a great group of folks. Take a moment, go on over there and sign up for a login and add your two cents to the fray.

Exploring

The family and I recently made a trip around northeastern Oregon to do a little exploring. I shot quite a few pictures from that trip and have decided to share what I think are the best of those images. Please do let me know what you think of them. I hope you enjoy them.

Indoctrinate-U

Rather than typing some long winded description, just watch the videos and let them describe themselves.

Davey Crockett Lives On

A 5 year old Arkansas boy, Tre Merritt recently netted a 445 Lb. black bear while out hunting with his grandfather. This is quite a feat of marksmanship for such a young man. Beyond that a 445 Lb. Black bear is quite a trophy animal regardless of the hunter's age. It turns out that this youngster is the great great ... grand son of Davey Crockett.

Well the ignorance of liberals is on full display for all to see just like it was in the case of the young pig hunter that I posted about some time ago.

"When your 5 years old and you sit up in a tree with your "Paw Paw" waiting on some unexpecting animal so you can blow its brains out: You now your a redneck.They probably celebrated by teaching him how to drink shine out of a jug and then make a corn cob pipe.I can hear the banjo's playin'now!"

"I hope his white trash, loser father/grandfather are really proud of themselves. What a great thing to teach a kid! Climb up into a hunting stand, and kill whatever poor animal happens to wander by you. I hope Karma kicks in, and these morons find themselves face to face with bear, with no gun in their hands, one day soon. And, kudos to the media for glorifying killing innocent animals for fun! I'm sure little Billy Bob Ray will have lots of fun with his new bearskin rug! Does it scare anyone besides me that a 5 year old can kill with no guilt at all? Scares me for the future."

"Has Arkansas not evolved at all? To show this as a accomplishment is amazing. I will not watch a station that airs this as a personal interest story. WHERE IS THE GAME AND FISH COMMISSION? THIS KID NEEDS TO BE JAILED!"

You can click the title of this post if you feel like reading the rest of the moronic posts from these tools.

Look morons. Your forefathers hunted to feed their families. Many these days in rural locations still hunt to feed their families.

Sure, you believe that mankind has evolved beyond a need to hunt. That fits right in with your belief that mankind has evolved into some finer being in so many other ways. Let me tell you this though... Evolution does not occur on the timescale of human history. Being the supposed educated elite, you should know that. You have mistaken a transient time of plenty for a permanent situation. Even so, the "finer", latte slurping, metrosexual, effete, hybrid driving pansy that you are trying to turn everyone into is useless in any environment. Beyond that your beliefs regarding this supposed evolution are just that... beliefs. As such, they are grounded in just as much science as anyone else's religious beliefs... you know the ones you guys discount out of hand.

Hunting is a vital survival skill that some of us teach our children. Those who do believe that it is better for our children to be able to survive not only in times of plenty but also during those inevitable times of famine that you mistakenly believe to be a permanent thing of the past. I sure hope you do not expect my children to set a place at their tables for your ill-prepared whelps when that famine eventually does come.

What am I talking about... These people are free-loading liberals. Of course they'll expect to feast at my children's table.

What? You do not believe that an impending famine awaits? What do you think will happen to food production if your pet global warming scenario happens to come true? Me and mine, we can swim can you?

A Benchmark Passed (FINALLY!)

I've been operating this blog since September 2004. I've been collecting the locations of visitors ever since then because I find it interesting to see that someone from an interesting place like Fiji for example, reads my posts.

Well today I managed to attain a benchmark I have finally had a reader from every state in the U.S. On the surface, one would think that is an easy benchmark to reach. I mean I've had readers from 91 countries, including at least one visitor from every province of Canada. I've had visitors from exotic places like Namibia, Paraguay, Vanuatu, Nauru, Pakistan and Iran...

In fact I had collected visits from every state but one by 04/28/2005, but I've had to wait until today to collect that one last visitor from the one hold out state.

What is the state you ask? Could it perhaps be a rural state with a very low population like Wyoming or Alaska perhaps? Nope... I had visitors from both of those states by mid-January of 2005. The last state to present a visitor to my blog was (drum roll please)... West Virginia. So whoever you were from West Virginia's Wesleyan College that visited my blog, thank you for finally completing that benchmark for me! Why the heck did I have to wait YEARS for someone from West Virginia to show up? I know y'all have internet connections there (or am I mistaken?)

If you are curious which state was the 49^th to offer up a visitor, it was Mississippi and that was clear back on 04/28/2005!

Airline Hell

Well I made it back home... No thanks to the damned airlines. It's crazy these days. You can guarantee with nearly 100% certainty that something will be wrong with your flight. This time I got stung both coming and going.

Flying to my destination, one flight that was over an hour and a half late taking off. We got the special treat of sitting on the tarmac without any air conditioning in brutal heat while we waited, for what; I have no clue. Once airborne, the plane had no catering on board other than luke-warm bottled water. There wasn't even ice to cool it. The magazines in the seat back pockets were also missing & here I was looking forward to ordering an over-priced laser sighted golf putter from the sky mall catalog!

Then, because we were so late, I barely made my connecting flight. I arrived at the gate right as they were buckling the plane closed, but I managed beg until they allowed me to get on board. My baggage on the other hand did not make the flight. It arrived hours later requiring a return trip to the airport to pick it up.

Flying back home I had a tight connection and I had to dash from one end of the Las Vegas airport all the way to the other. So, having rushed through the airport at break-neck speeds. I arrive panting at the gate just in time to hear that the plane had been delayed and would be 40 minutes late. Of course 40 minutes late in airline speak means two hours.

So I thought to myself, well if the plane's delayed, at least there will be more than enough time for them to get my baggage transferred. I was concerned about that because of the tight connection time. So I arrive back home only to find that my optimistic hopes of having my baggage arrive with me was a pipe dream. So another trip back to the airport to pick up my baggage was required. I mean it could have been worse right? My baggage could have simply vanished. I've had that happen too.

Now I ask you... What in the hell has happened to the airline industry? I can remember being served meals on airplanes. I can remember booking a flight and actually arriving when the ticket said I would and actually arriving WITH my baggage. Airlines weren't going out of business left and right back then either. You know what else wasn't happening? The airlines selling the same seat twice! Way back then, computers weren't anywhere near as powerful as they are today and yet the airlines were still able to tell if they'd sold all of the seats on the damned plane or not. Every flight I've been on in the past few years, they've been asking for volunteers and offering free flight vouchers because they over-booked the plane. Perhaps if they didn't over book the flight in the first place then they wouldn't have to give away so many free flights. If they didn't give away so many free flights, they could actually sell those seats and make some money. If they sold those seats for money, perhaps they'd earn more money and would be able to afford to give a damn about their customers.

The airlines just don't give a damn any more. They have you buy the jockey shorts and they know it. They treat you like cattle and if you dare lose your cool because they've abused you beyond the limits of human endurance - they just call the cops and have you ass raped in jail.

The airline situation is absolutely unacceptable. It has been years since I've actually arrived when the airlines said I'd arrive. I lose my baggage about ¼ of the time.

Personally, I'd be happy to pay a bit more for my tickets to be treated like a customer. But hell even that doesn't seem to work. If you pay the extra money for first class (provided they even offer it on your flight) all that buys you is a bigger seat on the late plane.

I would mention which airlines it was, but does it really matter? They ALL treat their customers with nothing more than utter disdain. So any review of one airline over another is moot. It would be nothing more than a comparison that stated one airline treated their customers slightly less shitty than another. I mean the airlines are probably the only organization with an approval rating at or below the U.S. Congress.

So I ask you, what can we as consumers do to change the way the airlines treat us?

Just for shits and grins

I started counting up the number of states that I've either lived in or visited. I came up with 27. Is that alot? I don't know. Drop a comment, I'm wondering how many states other folks have been in...

Sometimes the impossible is indeed possible

The linked article revolves around a brain damaged fire fighter who recently and unexpectedly started talking again after years of silence. It just goes to show that the human mind is a very fickle thing. For everyone that supported the killing of Terri Schaivo, can you say with 100% certainty that just such an unexpected turn around was not in store for her? In this society, we give convicted murders every chance to avoid a death sentence, but those who are least able to defend themselves, the infirmed and unborn are given no chance of reprieve. What does that say about us as a folk?

The Rarity of Common Sense

A $500 dollar prize was recently won, by Ed Gyetvai, of Oldcastle Ontario for submission of this warning label on a toilet brush:

"Do not use for personal hygiene."

The article lists a few more of these stupid warning labels as well. All of us have seen them, nearly everywhere we go and on nearly everything we touch.

Here's a quote from the article that I found interesting:

"There are many cases of warning labels saving lives," said Joanne Doroshow, executive director of the Center for Justice and Democracy in New York. "It's much better to be very cautious ... than to be afraid of being made fun of by a tort reform group."

I just simply must comment on this sentiment. There's a time honored system that we are attempting to sabotage. That system is called evolution. With the demise of that system, we are indeed harming ourselves as a species in the long run. People who are too stupid to know that their McDonald's coffee cup contains a hot liquid are being allowed to survive and reproduce! That is leading to a corruption of the species and most probably contributing to the rise of liberalism!

...and before Paul or Sean get their panties in a bunch... I'm kidding of course!

My Favorite Shakespeare Passage

This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.