Picture Post

I paid a visit over at Carol's blog. There I found this rather cogent political cartoon:



Following it eventually yielded a few more Michael Ramirez cartoons that I liked from Townhall.com:

A Picture Post

Here are some pictures that I saw posted and in the comments over at the Blonde Sagacity blog that I liked and have blatantly stolen to post here:

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

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.

Read This

Click the title link. Read it and try to keep a dry eye. Fellow blogger and Babylon 5 fan G'Kar was killed in action in Iraq. He left a post to be posted on his behalf in the event of his passing. While I did not know the man well, his words spell out in no uncertain terms the very high human cost of any war. My heart goes out to his wife and family.

All too often us old veterans speak using words like "duty", "honor" and "glory". We use these words because they helped to motivate us to achieve the things which were required of us during our service. They lent an air of nobility to the deprivations and sacrifices that we endured. Then, as we age, these words become ingrained in our psyches and they are held in a very special place for us. We think back to our glory days and wax nostalgic for those words and the settings in which they formed our sole solace. Then we thump our chests and voice our bellicose boasts. Seeing words such as this soldier's last post are good for us old war dogs. They help temper our volatile natures and remind us that those words, "duty", "honor" and "glory" are very little comfort to a young lady who will hug naught but a folded flag to her breast this eve instead of her soul mate.

h.t. MadOgre

Omaha Mall Redux

Joe's Crabby Shack has been carrying some in depth coverage of the Omaha Mall shooting incident. A bit of a debate has erupted not only in my comments section of late, but also in other comments sections all over the blogosphere as to whether a determined, properly equipped and capable citizen could have made a difference in this situation.

Joe is carrying the sequence of events as seen from the perspective of someone who was there when the shooting was happening. Take a little time and follow the link above and read this man's account.

This gentleman paints a picture of being able to have taken the assailant down, if he had been properly armed to do so. He describes the shooter being a short distance away and in silhouette. Since the event and I surmise mainly out of survivor's guilt he purchased similar targets and practiced at similar ranges and claims to have proficiently placed lead on target.

Some in my comments section seemed to portray the belief that we should simply accept these sort of events as a price of freedom. Further there were attempts to discount the motivating effect that the news media has when they glorify these assailants with unceasing media attention.

Neither is true. Those statement portray a person who is resigned and conditioned to accept mediocrity.

We do not need to stand by and accept the death of those around us. Further we do not need any special training to lend aid. Consider if you will the shooter himself. He was nothing more than a teen. He certainly did not have any special training to prepare him for what he did, and yet every target he engaged (including himself) he killed.

Third parties regularly step in and aid in times of need in other ways... What would be said of a person who witnessed a rape and simply walked away without helping? What would you think of a person who saw a child being beaten who did not intervene? Should people simply look the other way when a neighbor has a car accident and needs first aid? I hope you see the point I am attempting to make. Good people help others. Expecting people to do otherwise is foolish.

The next point I wanted to address was this... It appears that this kid stole the weapon he used from someone else, his step-father. A good many are calling for the gun owner to answer for the crimes committed with his firearm. That is simple lunacy. Would you punish an automobile owner if his vehicle was stolen and used in the commission of a crime?

Further there are calls for the kid's parents to answer for the actions of their child. While I could understand that if parents were the sole influence on their children, but as we all know, our children have the liberal minions meddling in their mind from a very early age; planting ignorant notions and sewing seeds of discontent.

I've seen the difference in what my children are being taught at school and what I was taught. You know something? Sure our teachers still spanked us in class... Sure, my 6th grade teacher was a survivor of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis who referred to persons of Japanese descent as "nips", "Japs" or "slant-eyed gooks" in front of us... And no one would have thought twice about any of us kids carrying a gun to school (in fact they had hunter safety and marksmanship classes at the elementary school!) but we certainly didn't have all these massed shootings back then. We didn't have open gang warfare in the streets to the extent that we do now in our inner cities either. So perhaps there's something wrong with what they are being taught.

Oh, and one final thing to point out that's posted over at Joe's... All of the signs banning weapons have mysteriously been removed by the mall operators. I wonder why that might be... Could it be that they are concerned that someone might sue because they were denied the right to defend themselves or could it possibly be that they finally determined that such signs are indeed no defense against deranged, determined assholes?

A Small Reminder

My buddy Og' over at MadOgre.com has and excellent run down of the trail of death in Hitlery's past. He's enumerated every suspicious death, well timed suicide and unsolved murder. Add to that the massed pardons that I enumerated here. Seriously people, this country can not afford another Clinton presidency.

Oh So True

Found over on Daddio's Dark Side.

August 28th, Mark Your Calendars

On August 28th the Brady gang is having a little shindig. They're holding a nationwide day of protest. Well since the NRA is pretty much an absent entity in the battle against these goons, David Codrea over at the War on Guns blog has proposed a little counter protest of our own. He has proposed that August 28th be a day to support of local gun dealers by buying a box of ammo. You know you're going to need ammo any ways so you might as well make a little time to stop by your local gun dealer to buy some ammo next Tuesday to support this effort. It is time that we gun owners start making as much noise as all of the socialist scum that would disarm us if we maintain our silence. In advance of next Tuesday, call you local gun shop to see if they are supporting this counter-protest.

For my part and since you can never have too much ammo... I intend to buy some!

Bashman Speaketh!

Harken unto the schizophrenic but wise words of Bashman! The video is kind of long, but oh so worth every minute! Once you're done digesting this tasty morsel, drop on over to Bashman's blog and enjoy everything that this guy has to offer. He is truly a genius!

Michael Yon's in the News

Imagine my amazement to find Michael Yon mentioned in the MSM! I've read his blog for quite some time now and I must say that he is my favorite war correspondent. If you haven't read his dispatches yet, please do! I think you'll enjoy them as much as I have. Just follow the link to his blog over in the sidebar.

20 Lessons

Kat over at the Middle Ground blog has handed the Democrats everything they need to know to win the next election. Kat's always a great read. If you haven't stopped by there give it a try. You'll be glad you did.