I had a few hours to myself this afternoon so I figured this would be a good time to update my blog. But when I sat down at the computer and tried to figure out what I was going to write about, I found that I had so many things going through my mind that it was going to be impossible to narrow it down to just one thing. Besides, it's been a while since I did a "Random Thoughts" post, so it's about time.
So, having said that, off we go!
If anyone in their right mind - which leaves out the POTUS and the entire Democratic party - thinks that there isn't a very real threat on this continent of another terrorist attack, then I suggest you go ask any Canadian about that. While you're at it, ask the family of Corporal Nathan Carillo what they think, but be prepared for a very emotional and not-so-politically-correct answer. And if you don't know who Corporal Carillo is, shame on you.
ISIS is a threat, like it or not. As much as the President wants to try and avoid using the word "terrorist" and admitting that ISIS is a real threat to the security of our nation, the fact is that what happened in Canada can also happen here. I also happen to think that it's not so much a matter of "if" it happens here, but "when." The terrorist who shot up the Canadian Parliament yesterday was a Canadian citizen, a "home grown" terrorist who recently converted to Islam. There are also unconfirmed reports that the Border Patrol has apprehended quite a few Americans who allied themselves with ISIS while trying to cross over the border from Mexico back into our country. Three guesses what they were doing outside of the country, and you only have to use one guess to figure out why they were trying to sneak back in. The fact of the matter is that we are wide open for a terrorist attack from one of these "home grown" terrorist simply because we don't know who they are - that, plus our President sat on his hands and did nothing while ISIS became an organized and deadly terrorist unit, a far cry from the "JV league" organization that The Great Pretender said they were. Once again, the incompetence of this man is brought out into the light for the world to see, and everyone sees it except the lemmings who voted for him and still support him.
And there's a very vital lesson that every Democrat, liberal, and gun-grabber in our nation can learn from the events in Canada. That lesson is this, and it's very simple: THE ONLY THING THAT WILL STOP A BAD GUY WITH A GUN IS A GOOD GUY WITH A GUN. The terrorist that shot up Parliament had already killed a soldier guarding the Canadian War Memorial first and was on his way to the Parliament chambers to shoot up everyone there - which also happened to include the Canadian Prime Minister. I'm guessing that the terrorist shot the guard at the memorial because he didn't know the rifle the guard was carrying wasn't loaded, and he thought the soldier would shoot him first. (Bet the Canadians start giving the guards ammunition now, huh?) But he had a surprise waiting for him when he got into the Parliament building - namely, the Sergeant At Arms who was armed. The bad guy counted on having a room full of unarmed victims waiting for him, and instead he found one - just one - determined good guy with a gun who promptly put a halt to the terrorist's activities and his life. Too bad for the terrorist, and hooray for the Sergeant At Arms.
For the life of me I can't understand why any rational human being with more than an ounce of common sense would think that disarming anyone would make them safer. The sheer stupidity of that lone belief just astounds me. The only thing that even comes close is the belief that gun control laws and "gun free zones" work. They don't, and the facts prove it. With one exception, ALL of the last 15 mass shootings that have taken place in this nation have taken place in a "gun-free zone." 99% of the shootings that take place in America involve a gun that was obtained by illegal means, either having been stolen or bought on the black market after having been stolen. And yet, the liberals and gun-grabbers continue to spew their misinformed and just plain incorrect ideology that "gun control saves lives." Stupidity at its finest.
And speaking of hypocrites - yeah, I know, I wasn't but it's a good segway - how about Missouri State Senator Jamilah Nasheed, a Democrat who has sponsored several anti-gun bills in the State Senate, getting arrested at a protest in Ferguson, Missouri? While she was arrested for a minor charge, the kicker is what she was found to be carrying when arrested. Seems that the Democrat senator, who is an avowed gun-grabber, was carrying a concealed weapon and a couple of extra magazines of ammo when she was arrested. And surprise of all surprises, she has a concealed weapons permit! I don't know about you, but to me this sends a very clear message which is that the good Senator thinks it's OK for HER to have a concealed weapon permit and carry a pistol, but she doesn't think it's OK for US to be able to do the same. Can you say, "HYPOCRITE?" Kinda makes one wonder just how many of these so-called "liberal" gun-grabbing Senators and Congressmen have concealed weapons permits and carry guns, all the while sponsoring bills to take that right away from you and me. Hmmmmmm....
I'm very glad to say that my prediction of Ebola becoming a full-blown epidemic has't come true, although I am afraid that since it's been pushed out of the headlines that people will stick their heads in the sand again and think that there's no threat. There is, people, and you can't ignore it. I also kinda wonder what would make the President pick someone with ZERO medical training and experience to be the head of the government's efforts to fight the Ebola outbreak. But then again, the lack of common sense and experience on the part of this President is well-known, so why am I surprised?
And that's about it for this time, friends and neighbors. Gonna meet with the Four Musketeers tonight at the local Quaker Steak and Lube, and I'm really looking forward to it!
IHC
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Friday, October 17, 2014
When Life Imitates Art
In 1995 a movie was released that starred Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, Donald Sutherland, Dustin Hoffman, and Cuba Gooding Jr. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but after seeing the movie I was absolutely scared to death that something like that could ever happen in our nation, and I prayed to God that it didn't. The movie was accurate (to a point, as much as most movies are), thrilling, and scary as crap. The movie was called "Outbreak," and it was about an outbreak of catastrophic proportions of a virus from South Africa.
The virus was Ebola.
Flash-forward to 2014, and we are on the brink of having life imitate art. We now have an outbreak of Ebola taking place in our nation, and so far it's been relatively minor - thank God. This one got started not by an infected monkey being brought into the country, but by a man who lied to the Customs folks when he entered our country about not having been to Liberia. Liberia, in case you aren't keeping up on current events, is where a full-blown pandemic of Ebola is taking place and is killing people by the thousands.
Yes, that's right, thousands. And now, thanks to the dishonesty of this one lone asshole, we are sitting on the brink of an epidemic of our own.
Well, to be fair, the lone asshole isn't the only one to blame. He shares a lion's part of the blame by bringing that crap into the country, but the other half of the blame lies squarely in the lap of the President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama.
Now, I don't know about you, but if I was sitting in the Oval Office and had just been informed by the head of the CDC that Ebola had been confirmed in our nation, I'd push every single mother-loving thing off of my calendar for the next whenever and would concentrate 100% of my attention and efforts to controlling the virus, preventing an outbreak, and getting rid of the damned thing. The crisis in the Middle East could wait - let the Arabs kill each other off, they've been doing it since before the beginning of recorded history anyway, so nothing I could ever do would stop it. No, I'd cancel all plans - including vacations and fund raisers - and would concentrate on what was happening in Texas, why it happened, crucifying those who let it happen, and making sure it didn't happen again. I'd clamp a lid down on that town so fast it'd make your head spin. Nothing would get in or out no matter what, and if you'd been exposed to the virus in any way, shape or form I'd lock your ass away for observation and let the lawyers figure out later on if I'd violated the Constitution or not. But the damned bug would NOT get out of Texas, period.
But it did. It did for several reasons, the first being the failure of the people in the hospital to follow established protocol when treating an exposed person. The second is because those people were then allowed to travel, and one of them did - by airplane.
Now, anyone who's ever had any type of training in biological/chemical warfare will tell you that aerial delivery is the most effective way to spread a contagion over a large area. Anyone who's ever had any type of medical training will tell you that if you want to spread a contagious bug through the population, all you have to do is get the carrier and a group of people in a small, enclosed environment where they're guaranteed to get exposed, and the bug will do the rest.
A small, enclosed environment - like an airplane. Like the airplane that a nurse who treated the now-deceased Ebola-carrying asshole got into the day after she treated him. The same nurse who is now positive for Ebola and who has infected God knows how many people on the airplane. If I had been on that plane I'd be at the hospital so fast my feet wouldn't even touch the ground.
So when all of this came to light the NObama administration had the opportunity to place all of the people who were involved with the treatment of the now-deceased Ebola asshole on a "no-fly" list, meaning that they couldn't get on an airplane and infect other people. This was after the nurse tested positive, by the way, not before. But did the Buffoon In Chief do this? No, of course not. He and his administration refused to take any measures at all to ensure the virus didn't spread by those who he knew had been exposed to it. God knows why not; I'm sure he and his Kool-Aid drinking lemmings will come up with what they think is a sound, logical reason for not doing it, but I'll say right now that anything they could possibly say is bullshit. As a result, we now have a medical staff member who got on a plane and then got on a cruise ship, and is now in self-imposed quarantine on the cruise ship just to be on the safe side.
So far, she's been the smartest person involved in this whole thing. But the thing is, IF she's a carrier - and that hasn't been confirmed yet since the ship is still at sea - just how many people did she infect? And what will the government - meaning NObama - do with the ship once it docks? My guess is they'll do the same thing they did before, which is nothing. They'll let the hundreds of possible virus carriers leave the ship and go off to infect the rest of the country. And when that happens, friends and neighbors, we'll be in the midst of a shit-storm of trouble because in case you haven't been paying attention, we as a nation do not have the resources available to handle the type of epidemic that we could very possibly be facing.
Life is about to imitate art, and we have NObama to thank for it.
No, he's not responsible for bringing the virus into the country, as much as a friend of mine and hundreds or maybe thousands of people would like to believe, but he is directly responsible for failing to take the necessary and common-sense precautions needed to prevent an outbreak. He sat on his hands and did nothing, just like he did when ISIS broke out in the Middle East, and as a result our nation faces a threat of biblical proportions.
Think I'm exaggerating? Think about this: Ebola has an AVERAGE mortality rate of 50%, depending entirely upon the medical capabilities of the area in which the outbreak takes place. In the previous outbreaks that have taken place in Africa, the mortality rate was as low as 25% but as high as 90%, with the AVERAGE mortality rate settling at 88%. Given the medical capabilities of our nation, I'd say that we're realistically looking at the 50% mortality rate, but I bet that's gonna be little comfort if any to anyone who comes up positive for the virus and knows that they have a fifty-fifty chance of dying. Oh, and did I mention that there's no cure for the virus? There have been survivors of the virus, but medical science can't explain why.
Another way to look at it is this: if 200 people get exposed to the virus, half of them will die.
HALF.
And all of this could have been prevented if the Federal government had exercised some of the authority that the liberals and Democrats have worked so hard to give it and clamped a "no-fly, no-drive, no-walk, no-go-any-damned-where" restriction down on the people in that hospital who treated now-deceased Ebola asshole. But the feds didn't, and now we're looking at the very real and very scary possibility of a wide-spread Ebola outbreak in our own nation.
Life is about to imitate art, but I truly hope not. If you believe as I do in the existence of an almighty supreme being and the power of prayer, now's the time to put both to use.
Our government sure isn't doing anything to save us, that's for sure.
IHC
The virus was Ebola.
Flash-forward to 2014, and we are on the brink of having life imitate art. We now have an outbreak of Ebola taking place in our nation, and so far it's been relatively minor - thank God. This one got started not by an infected monkey being brought into the country, but by a man who lied to the Customs folks when he entered our country about not having been to Liberia. Liberia, in case you aren't keeping up on current events, is where a full-blown pandemic of Ebola is taking place and is killing people by the thousands.
Yes, that's right, thousands. And now, thanks to the dishonesty of this one lone asshole, we are sitting on the brink of an epidemic of our own.
Well, to be fair, the lone asshole isn't the only one to blame. He shares a lion's part of the blame by bringing that crap into the country, but the other half of the blame lies squarely in the lap of the President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama.
Now, I don't know about you, but if I was sitting in the Oval Office and had just been informed by the head of the CDC that Ebola had been confirmed in our nation, I'd push every single mother-loving thing off of my calendar for the next whenever and would concentrate 100% of my attention and efforts to controlling the virus, preventing an outbreak, and getting rid of the damned thing. The crisis in the Middle East could wait - let the Arabs kill each other off, they've been doing it since before the beginning of recorded history anyway, so nothing I could ever do would stop it. No, I'd cancel all plans - including vacations and fund raisers - and would concentrate on what was happening in Texas, why it happened, crucifying those who let it happen, and making sure it didn't happen again. I'd clamp a lid down on that town so fast it'd make your head spin. Nothing would get in or out no matter what, and if you'd been exposed to the virus in any way, shape or form I'd lock your ass away for observation and let the lawyers figure out later on if I'd violated the Constitution or not. But the damned bug would NOT get out of Texas, period.
But it did. It did for several reasons, the first being the failure of the people in the hospital to follow established protocol when treating an exposed person. The second is because those people were then allowed to travel, and one of them did - by airplane.
Now, anyone who's ever had any type of training in biological/chemical warfare will tell you that aerial delivery is the most effective way to spread a contagion over a large area. Anyone who's ever had any type of medical training will tell you that if you want to spread a contagious bug through the population, all you have to do is get the carrier and a group of people in a small, enclosed environment where they're guaranteed to get exposed, and the bug will do the rest.
A small, enclosed environment - like an airplane. Like the airplane that a nurse who treated the now-deceased Ebola-carrying asshole got into the day after she treated him. The same nurse who is now positive for Ebola and who has infected God knows how many people on the airplane. If I had been on that plane I'd be at the hospital so fast my feet wouldn't even touch the ground.
So when all of this came to light the NObama administration had the opportunity to place all of the people who were involved with the treatment of the now-deceased Ebola asshole on a "no-fly" list, meaning that they couldn't get on an airplane and infect other people. This was after the nurse tested positive, by the way, not before. But did the Buffoon In Chief do this? No, of course not. He and his administration refused to take any measures at all to ensure the virus didn't spread by those who he knew had been exposed to it. God knows why not; I'm sure he and his Kool-Aid drinking lemmings will come up with what they think is a sound, logical reason for not doing it, but I'll say right now that anything they could possibly say is bullshit. As a result, we now have a medical staff member who got on a plane and then got on a cruise ship, and is now in self-imposed quarantine on the cruise ship just to be on the safe side.
So far, she's been the smartest person involved in this whole thing. But the thing is, IF she's a carrier - and that hasn't been confirmed yet since the ship is still at sea - just how many people did she infect? And what will the government - meaning NObama - do with the ship once it docks? My guess is they'll do the same thing they did before, which is nothing. They'll let the hundreds of possible virus carriers leave the ship and go off to infect the rest of the country. And when that happens, friends and neighbors, we'll be in the midst of a shit-storm of trouble because in case you haven't been paying attention, we as a nation do not have the resources available to handle the type of epidemic that we could very possibly be facing.
Life is about to imitate art, and we have NObama to thank for it.
No, he's not responsible for bringing the virus into the country, as much as a friend of mine and hundreds or maybe thousands of people would like to believe, but he is directly responsible for failing to take the necessary and common-sense precautions needed to prevent an outbreak. He sat on his hands and did nothing, just like he did when ISIS broke out in the Middle East, and as a result our nation faces a threat of biblical proportions.
Think I'm exaggerating? Think about this: Ebola has an AVERAGE mortality rate of 50%, depending entirely upon the medical capabilities of the area in which the outbreak takes place. In the previous outbreaks that have taken place in Africa, the mortality rate was as low as 25% but as high as 90%, with the AVERAGE mortality rate settling at 88%. Given the medical capabilities of our nation, I'd say that we're realistically looking at the 50% mortality rate, but I bet that's gonna be little comfort if any to anyone who comes up positive for the virus and knows that they have a fifty-fifty chance of dying. Oh, and did I mention that there's no cure for the virus? There have been survivors of the virus, but medical science can't explain why.
Another way to look at it is this: if 200 people get exposed to the virus, half of them will die.
HALF.
And all of this could have been prevented if the Federal government had exercised some of the authority that the liberals and Democrats have worked so hard to give it and clamped a "no-fly, no-drive, no-walk, no-go-any-damned-where" restriction down on the people in that hospital who treated now-deceased Ebola asshole. But the feds didn't, and now we're looking at the very real and very scary possibility of a wide-spread Ebola outbreak in our own nation.
Life is about to imitate art, but I truly hope not. If you believe as I do in the existence of an almighty supreme being and the power of prayer, now's the time to put both to use.
Our government sure isn't doing anything to save us, that's for sure.
IHC
Monday, September 1, 2014
"Raleigh Golfer," "Little Orphan Annie," "Navy Man," and The Golden Age of CB Radio
Got a text message from an old service buddy of mine last night inquiring as to when I was going to post something on my blog again, since it had been more than a month since I'd done so. I told him part of the truth, that part being that I've been so busy lately with work and all that I just haven't had the chance. The other part that I didn't tell him was because ever since I became a Freemason I've tried to change my outlook on things and have been hesitant to post something here because I was finding it hard to write about something of a positive nature. With the disastrous road our country is headed down under the non-leadership of the Buffoon In Chief and the goings-on in the Middle East that are about to make their way to our shores thanks to his indecision and total lack of leadership, it was tough to find something to write about that wasn't going to be me bitching about it all.
And then, thanks to a Facebook post today, I found it - the perfect thing, and as I'm quite sure you're aware of by now I'm talking about the Citizen's Band Radio, or CB for short.
I got into CB radio in the summer of 1973 thanks to a friend of mine from high school, Bobby Sanderford. Bobby was the coolest guy I knew, and one day he showed up in his '68 Olds SS with a CB radio mounted in it. He showed me how it worked, explaining the rules of the road to me: there were 23 channels but you could only talk on the first 11. The "upper channels" were reserved for business use, with the first 11 being designated as the "hobby channels." Channel 9 was the Emergency Channel, and you didn't talk on that channel unless you were reporting an emergency. There was even a volunteer organization called R.E.A.C.T. (Radio Emergency Associated Communications Team) that monitored Channel 9 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Channel 19 was the trucker's channel that all of the long-distance truck drivers used when travelling. That left a total of 10 channels that you could talk on, and in those days that was more than enough.
You had to have a license from the FCC to talk on the CB radio, although you didn't need the license to buy one. The license was $20 and was good for one base station and up to five mobile units, and was renewable every year. Talk time was limited to 5 minutes ("getting your nickel's worth") at a time, then you had to pause for 5 minutes to let others talk before you started up again. This rule was widely ignored because there was no need for it - there was plenty of space on all of the channels, so you could sit on a channel and talk for as long as you wanted and nobody cared.
The FCC was known as "The Candy Man," and the legends of the solid color van with the circular tracking antennae on top prowling around Raleigh looking for over-powered base stations were many. CB radios were limited by Federal law at an output of 5 watts, but just about everyone ran a linear amplifier, my family included. Once I got the CB bug I transmitted it to my parents and my sisters, and in typical style my father got us into it in a big, big way. My father has never done anything half-assed; his philosophy has always been, "If I'm going to do something I'm going to do it right!" and I can't disagree with that. I adopted the same philosophy and have lived by it my whole life, and it's served me well. Anywho, once the CB bug bit him it wasn't long before we had a mobile radio in his business car to use while he was on the road, a mobile in my mother's car for my mom and I to use, and a base station in the kitchen. The base station was hooked up to a 4 element Moonraker Directional antenna that was 75 feet up in the air in the top of a pine tree in our back yard, and after my father won an ABC 500 watt tunable linear amplifier from another CB'er known as "Red Bug" in a poker game and installed it into the base station setup, when we keyed up EVERYONE listened. Any TV within five miles of us that were in line with the direction the antennae was pointing heard us talking, and our "bleed over" could be heard two channels on either side of the one we were talking on. For those reasons we made it a rule not to fire up the ABC until really late at night, and I remember my father staying up until 2 or 3 AM talking to CB'ers in Guam or however far away he could bounce his signal off of the clouds. That was called "skip" and was illegal as hell, another reason we did it late at night.
When we set the mobile unit up in my mom's car we put two coaxial 108" white fiberglass whip antennas on either end of the back bumper instead of the short, trunk-lid mounted antenna my father used. CB radio antennas are directional, and if you had two of them on the back instead of just one you could both hear better and talk further. Since my mom's car was a white over butterscotch 1973 Ford Pinto, it made quite a impression rolling down the road with those two huge whip antennas swaying in the breeze. I jokingly called it the "fishing trawler," and the car became widely known around the Raleigh CB circles.
One of the things that Bobby told me was that you didn't use your real name on the CB radio; Federal law prohibited it, for some unknown reason. So everyone who talked on the CB had a nickname, known as a "handle," and the challenge was finding a "handle" that both applied to you and wasn't already in use by someone else. My father picked "Raleigh Golfer" since he was an avid golfer, and my mom picked "Little Orphan Annie" because that was her favorite cartoon character when she was growing up; my sister Dorothy was "Dewdrop," my sister Cindy was "Nuisance" (hung on her by my father and not very popular with her), and I picked "Navy Man" since at that point in my life I was planning on joining the Navy when I got out of high school. Bobby was "Ace High," and he was always the first person I called for when I got on the radio.
We applied for our license about the same time we started setting up our gear, and when it came my father framed it and hung it on the wall in the kitchen over the radio. Our license was KHW-2767, and the law required that you use it whenever you got on the air and called for another person. You were supposed to state the call letters of the person you were trying to reach twice followed by your call letters, and the person you were looking for was to acknowledge by stating your call letters followed by "Go ahead." Of course, most of the time you just keyed up and said, "How 'bout it, Ace High, you got your ears on?" and if he did, he'd answer back. We used the call letters every now and then, but not much. No one did, really. Every city has its own "monitor channel," the one channel that everyone listened to but didn't talk on; this was where you went when you wanted to see if a friend was on the air. In Raleigh it was Channel 11, so if I wanted to see if "Ace High" was on the air I'd go to Channel 11, key up and say, "How 'bout it, Ace High, got your ears on?" and wait for a reply. If he replied we'd immediately move to another channel to talk, leaving the monitor channel open for others to use for the same purpose. If you wanted to bring down the wrath of the CB Gods upon your head, all you had to do was get on the monitor channel and start beating your gums. You'd get about a dozen guys that would call you out right away, telling you in no uncertain terms that you don't talk on the monitor channel - all without cursing, because that was illegal and we didn't do it. Period.
We took to CB radio like a duck to water - at least, me and my parents did. Dorothy and Cindy weren't all that interested in it, but for the rest of us it was a daily thing. In the last part of my junior year and all of my senior year in high school I was a school bus driver, and I'd sit at the radio in the afternoons around five o'clock and wait for my mom to call me on the radio to tell me she was on the way home. When she did that I'd leave the house, get in my school bus that was parked in front of my house, and drive it to the elementary school a mile or so away to park it for the night. She'd meet me there and take me home, all thanks to the CB radio. Late at night on the weekends my father was always talking to someone on the CB; people with handles like "Dirty Bird," "Baker Charlie," "Red Bug," "Green Bug," "Little Daddy," "No Name," and "Wire Wheel" all became a close circle of friends.
As for me, the Pinto was pretty much mine at night and on the weekends, so I was always out and about. I did a lot of running around Raleigh, meeting up with other CB buddies at various locations around town, but the one location that always comes to mind and brings a smile to my face whenever I think of our CB radio days was the "KK," or the "Double K" as some called it.
The "KK" was the Krispy Kreme Donut Shop at the corner of Person and Peace Streets in Raleigh. That intersection is a "T" type intersection, with the "KK" being on one corner of the intersection and an old, deserted gas station being on the other corner. This was the local hangout for all of the CB'ers in Raleigh, and since the parking lot of the "KK" was kinda small we'd all park over in the gas station. On any given Friday or Saturday night there'd be anywhere from two to a dozen "mobiles" parked in the gas station, and someone always had the radio on, the PA speaker engaged, and the microphone hanging out of the window. That way if you heard someone calling for you on the monitor channel while you were standing outside of your car talking, you just walked over to whatever car had the PA on and the mike hanging out, picked it up, and answered the call. The cops pretty much left us alone because they knew we weren't there to cause trouble, and the fact that "Wire Wheel" was also a Raleigh city cop helped. Bobby and I were on the same company softball team (although neither one of us worked for the company), so a lot of times we'd break out the gloves and ball and toss it back and forth, listening to the AM radio and pausing when someone called for us on the CB just long enough to answer it. Either that or we'd sit around talking, drinking Cokes and eating donuts, just having a good ol' time and enjoying life.
That was the summer of 1974, and it was easily one of the two best summers of my life. Whenever I think of my days in Raleigh I invariably think of the CB radio, all of the friends we made, and all of the good times we had. (We won't talk about the deep-sea fishing trip we went on, the one where I discovered I get seasick and caused me to seriously reconsider my life's choice for military service.) Once I enlisted in the Air Force I changed my handle to "Blue Knight" since I became a Law Enforcement Specialist, and would attend the meetings at the "KK" every weekend that I was home and not out on a date - and sometimes I took my girlfriend with me. Thanks to the CB radio and the circle of friends we had made because of it, the good times seemed like they were going to go on forever.
And then that damned movie came out and ruined everything.
If you're a CB'er from that era you know exactly which movie I'm talking about without my even having to mention the title. For those of you who aren't from that era, the movie of which I'm speaking - the one that ruined the CB radio forever - was "Smokey and the Bandit."
After that damned movie came out the two things that every pre-teen or teenage boy wanted (besides Sally Field) was either a Pontiac Trans Am or a CB radio. And since Trans Ams were too expensive, guess what everyone got - yep, CB radios. That was THE Christmas gift of the year for 1977, and on that day the CB radio that I knew and loved vanished forever.
There were so many people talking on all of the channels that you couldn't get a word in edgeways to ask for a break. The monitor channel became non-existent as people who had no Godly idea how to conduct themselves on a CB radio began yapping about anything and everything, and 90% of them were kids. And I don't mean teenagers, I mean 10 or 11 year old kids. And they'd all do the exact same thing, every single mother-loving one of them, and it was irritating as hell. You'd be having a conversation with a friend and some kid would say "Break!" in between transmissions, and being the courteous person that you are you'd reply, "Go ahead, break," and let the kid find out if who he wanted to talk to was listening. After all, that was the way it went. Until that damned movie, anyway; after that, it went like this:
"Break!"
"Go ahead, break."
"What's your 10-20?"
Either that, or this:
"Break!"
"Go ahead, break."
"How about a 10-36?"
For those of you who don't know, a 10-20 is your location and a 10-36 is a time check. This was the kid's way of starting a conversation, by interrupting yours to ask for your location or a time check. After a very short while my replies were always, "None of your business!" and "Time for you to buy a watch!"
The channels got so crowded that the FCC turned the upper channels loose for "hobby" use, and shortly after that authorized an additional 17 channels to bring the total number of channels up to 40. Channel 9 even got crowded with kids asking for time checks, and the folks at R.E.A.C.T. just about had a cow. Demand for licenses was so heavy that the FCC passed a rule that until yours showed up you could use the letter "K" followed by your three initials and your ZIP code; shortly after that FCC expanded the call letters from three letters and four numbers to four letters and four numbers, dropping the fee down to a buck. And shortly after that, when the Feds realized that they couldn't keep up with the demand and had no way of enforcing the laws on the legions of "squeakers" yakking without a license, they dropped the requirement for a license altogether.
I was sorely tempted to abandon the CB radio entirely, but I hung in there. The fad took about 18 months or so to wear off, but by that time most of the people I knew from the good old days were gone, driven off by the "squeakers" of the "Smokey and the Bandit" craze. When things finally did calm down it was like a vast wasteland on all 40 channels - no one talking anywhere, at any time. The times that I enjoyed when I first got into CB radio were gone forever. I kept a CB radio in my car until 2001, using it mainly on the highways to talk to truckers while I was travelling and to the few CB friends I had at the bases where I was stationed. When I traded cars in 2001 I didn't transfer the radio to the new car, and it's been that way ever since. The bite of the bug finally wore off.
But I still think of those days, the days of the CB radio of the early '70s and the nights at the "KK," tossing softball with "Ace High" in the gas station parking lot, listening to my father talking "skip" at 1 AM, and turning the dial on the Moonraker to get it adjusted to just the right angle so I could talk to the guy in West Virginia. But most of all I think of the gatherings at the "KK," and I suppose every time I think of the CB radio I'll think of that little slice of CB heaven in Raleigh, North Carolina.
And I'll smile every time.
Keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down, good buddy, I'm 10-10 on the side.
IHC
And then, thanks to a Facebook post today, I found it - the perfect thing, and as I'm quite sure you're aware of by now I'm talking about the Citizen's Band Radio, or CB for short.
I got into CB radio in the summer of 1973 thanks to a friend of mine from high school, Bobby Sanderford. Bobby was the coolest guy I knew, and one day he showed up in his '68 Olds SS with a CB radio mounted in it. He showed me how it worked, explaining the rules of the road to me: there were 23 channels but you could only talk on the first 11. The "upper channels" were reserved for business use, with the first 11 being designated as the "hobby channels." Channel 9 was the Emergency Channel, and you didn't talk on that channel unless you were reporting an emergency. There was even a volunteer organization called R.E.A.C.T. (Radio Emergency Associated Communications Team) that monitored Channel 9 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Channel 19 was the trucker's channel that all of the long-distance truck drivers used when travelling. That left a total of 10 channels that you could talk on, and in those days that was more than enough.
You had to have a license from the FCC to talk on the CB radio, although you didn't need the license to buy one. The license was $20 and was good for one base station and up to five mobile units, and was renewable every year. Talk time was limited to 5 minutes ("getting your nickel's worth") at a time, then you had to pause for 5 minutes to let others talk before you started up again. This rule was widely ignored because there was no need for it - there was plenty of space on all of the channels, so you could sit on a channel and talk for as long as you wanted and nobody cared.
The FCC was known as "The Candy Man," and the legends of the solid color van with the circular tracking antennae on top prowling around Raleigh looking for over-powered base stations were many. CB radios were limited by Federal law at an output of 5 watts, but just about everyone ran a linear amplifier, my family included. Once I got the CB bug I transmitted it to my parents and my sisters, and in typical style my father got us into it in a big, big way. My father has never done anything half-assed; his philosophy has always been, "If I'm going to do something I'm going to do it right!" and I can't disagree with that. I adopted the same philosophy and have lived by it my whole life, and it's served me well. Anywho, once the CB bug bit him it wasn't long before we had a mobile radio in his business car to use while he was on the road, a mobile in my mother's car for my mom and I to use, and a base station in the kitchen. The base station was hooked up to a 4 element Moonraker Directional antenna that was 75 feet up in the air in the top of a pine tree in our back yard, and after my father won an ABC 500 watt tunable linear amplifier from another CB'er known as "Red Bug" in a poker game and installed it into the base station setup, when we keyed up EVERYONE listened. Any TV within five miles of us that were in line with the direction the antennae was pointing heard us talking, and our "bleed over" could be heard two channels on either side of the one we were talking on. For those reasons we made it a rule not to fire up the ABC until really late at night, and I remember my father staying up until 2 or 3 AM talking to CB'ers in Guam or however far away he could bounce his signal off of the clouds. That was called "skip" and was illegal as hell, another reason we did it late at night.
When we set the mobile unit up in my mom's car we put two coaxial 108" white fiberglass whip antennas on either end of the back bumper instead of the short, trunk-lid mounted antenna my father used. CB radio antennas are directional, and if you had two of them on the back instead of just one you could both hear better and talk further. Since my mom's car was a white over butterscotch 1973 Ford Pinto, it made quite a impression rolling down the road with those two huge whip antennas swaying in the breeze. I jokingly called it the "fishing trawler," and the car became widely known around the Raleigh CB circles.
One of the things that Bobby told me was that you didn't use your real name on the CB radio; Federal law prohibited it, for some unknown reason. So everyone who talked on the CB had a nickname, known as a "handle," and the challenge was finding a "handle" that both applied to you and wasn't already in use by someone else. My father picked "Raleigh Golfer" since he was an avid golfer, and my mom picked "Little Orphan Annie" because that was her favorite cartoon character when she was growing up; my sister Dorothy was "Dewdrop," my sister Cindy was "Nuisance" (hung on her by my father and not very popular with her), and I picked "Navy Man" since at that point in my life I was planning on joining the Navy when I got out of high school. Bobby was "Ace High," and he was always the first person I called for when I got on the radio.
We applied for our license about the same time we started setting up our gear, and when it came my father framed it and hung it on the wall in the kitchen over the radio. Our license was KHW-2767, and the law required that you use it whenever you got on the air and called for another person. You were supposed to state the call letters of the person you were trying to reach twice followed by your call letters, and the person you were looking for was to acknowledge by stating your call letters followed by "Go ahead." Of course, most of the time you just keyed up and said, "How 'bout it, Ace High, you got your ears on?" and if he did, he'd answer back. We used the call letters every now and then, but not much. No one did, really. Every city has its own "monitor channel," the one channel that everyone listened to but didn't talk on; this was where you went when you wanted to see if a friend was on the air. In Raleigh it was Channel 11, so if I wanted to see if "Ace High" was on the air I'd go to Channel 11, key up and say, "How 'bout it, Ace High, got your ears on?" and wait for a reply. If he replied we'd immediately move to another channel to talk, leaving the monitor channel open for others to use for the same purpose. If you wanted to bring down the wrath of the CB Gods upon your head, all you had to do was get on the monitor channel and start beating your gums. You'd get about a dozen guys that would call you out right away, telling you in no uncertain terms that you don't talk on the monitor channel - all without cursing, because that was illegal and we didn't do it. Period.
We took to CB radio like a duck to water - at least, me and my parents did. Dorothy and Cindy weren't all that interested in it, but for the rest of us it was a daily thing. In the last part of my junior year and all of my senior year in high school I was a school bus driver, and I'd sit at the radio in the afternoons around five o'clock and wait for my mom to call me on the radio to tell me she was on the way home. When she did that I'd leave the house, get in my school bus that was parked in front of my house, and drive it to the elementary school a mile or so away to park it for the night. She'd meet me there and take me home, all thanks to the CB radio. Late at night on the weekends my father was always talking to someone on the CB; people with handles like "Dirty Bird," "Baker Charlie," "Red Bug," "Green Bug," "Little Daddy," "No Name," and "Wire Wheel" all became a close circle of friends.
As for me, the Pinto was pretty much mine at night and on the weekends, so I was always out and about. I did a lot of running around Raleigh, meeting up with other CB buddies at various locations around town, but the one location that always comes to mind and brings a smile to my face whenever I think of our CB radio days was the "KK," or the "Double K" as some called it.
The "KK" was the Krispy Kreme Donut Shop at the corner of Person and Peace Streets in Raleigh. That intersection is a "T" type intersection, with the "KK" being on one corner of the intersection and an old, deserted gas station being on the other corner. This was the local hangout for all of the CB'ers in Raleigh, and since the parking lot of the "KK" was kinda small we'd all park over in the gas station. On any given Friday or Saturday night there'd be anywhere from two to a dozen "mobiles" parked in the gas station, and someone always had the radio on, the PA speaker engaged, and the microphone hanging out of the window. That way if you heard someone calling for you on the monitor channel while you were standing outside of your car talking, you just walked over to whatever car had the PA on and the mike hanging out, picked it up, and answered the call. The cops pretty much left us alone because they knew we weren't there to cause trouble, and the fact that "Wire Wheel" was also a Raleigh city cop helped. Bobby and I were on the same company softball team (although neither one of us worked for the company), so a lot of times we'd break out the gloves and ball and toss it back and forth, listening to the AM radio and pausing when someone called for us on the CB just long enough to answer it. Either that or we'd sit around talking, drinking Cokes and eating donuts, just having a good ol' time and enjoying life.
That was the summer of 1974, and it was easily one of the two best summers of my life. Whenever I think of my days in Raleigh I invariably think of the CB radio, all of the friends we made, and all of the good times we had. (We won't talk about the deep-sea fishing trip we went on, the one where I discovered I get seasick and caused me to seriously reconsider my life's choice for military service.) Once I enlisted in the Air Force I changed my handle to "Blue Knight" since I became a Law Enforcement Specialist, and would attend the meetings at the "KK" every weekend that I was home and not out on a date - and sometimes I took my girlfriend with me. Thanks to the CB radio and the circle of friends we had made because of it, the good times seemed like they were going to go on forever.
And then that damned movie came out and ruined everything.
If you're a CB'er from that era you know exactly which movie I'm talking about without my even having to mention the title. For those of you who aren't from that era, the movie of which I'm speaking - the one that ruined the CB radio forever - was "Smokey and the Bandit."
After that damned movie came out the two things that every pre-teen or teenage boy wanted (besides Sally Field) was either a Pontiac Trans Am or a CB radio. And since Trans Ams were too expensive, guess what everyone got - yep, CB radios. That was THE Christmas gift of the year for 1977, and on that day the CB radio that I knew and loved vanished forever.
There were so many people talking on all of the channels that you couldn't get a word in edgeways to ask for a break. The monitor channel became non-existent as people who had no Godly idea how to conduct themselves on a CB radio began yapping about anything and everything, and 90% of them were kids. And I don't mean teenagers, I mean 10 or 11 year old kids. And they'd all do the exact same thing, every single mother-loving one of them, and it was irritating as hell. You'd be having a conversation with a friend and some kid would say "Break!" in between transmissions, and being the courteous person that you are you'd reply, "Go ahead, break," and let the kid find out if who he wanted to talk to was listening. After all, that was the way it went. Until that damned movie, anyway; after that, it went like this:
"Break!"
"Go ahead, break."
"What's your 10-20?"
Either that, or this:
"Break!"
"Go ahead, break."
"How about a 10-36?"
For those of you who don't know, a 10-20 is your location and a 10-36 is a time check. This was the kid's way of starting a conversation, by interrupting yours to ask for your location or a time check. After a very short while my replies were always, "None of your business!" and "Time for you to buy a watch!"
The channels got so crowded that the FCC turned the upper channels loose for "hobby" use, and shortly after that authorized an additional 17 channels to bring the total number of channels up to 40. Channel 9 even got crowded with kids asking for time checks, and the folks at R.E.A.C.T. just about had a cow. Demand for licenses was so heavy that the FCC passed a rule that until yours showed up you could use the letter "K" followed by your three initials and your ZIP code; shortly after that FCC expanded the call letters from three letters and four numbers to four letters and four numbers, dropping the fee down to a buck. And shortly after that, when the Feds realized that they couldn't keep up with the demand and had no way of enforcing the laws on the legions of "squeakers" yakking without a license, they dropped the requirement for a license altogether.
I was sorely tempted to abandon the CB radio entirely, but I hung in there. The fad took about 18 months or so to wear off, but by that time most of the people I knew from the good old days were gone, driven off by the "squeakers" of the "Smokey and the Bandit" craze. When things finally did calm down it was like a vast wasteland on all 40 channels - no one talking anywhere, at any time. The times that I enjoyed when I first got into CB radio were gone forever. I kept a CB radio in my car until 2001, using it mainly on the highways to talk to truckers while I was travelling and to the few CB friends I had at the bases where I was stationed. When I traded cars in 2001 I didn't transfer the radio to the new car, and it's been that way ever since. The bite of the bug finally wore off.
But I still think of those days, the days of the CB radio of the early '70s and the nights at the "KK," tossing softball with "Ace High" in the gas station parking lot, listening to my father talking "skip" at 1 AM, and turning the dial on the Moonraker to get it adjusted to just the right angle so I could talk to the guy in West Virginia. But most of all I think of the gatherings at the "KK," and I suppose every time I think of the CB radio I'll think of that little slice of CB heaven in Raleigh, North Carolina.
And I'll smile every time.
Keep the shiny side up and the greasy side down, good buddy, I'm 10-10 on the side.
IHC
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Random Thoughts On A Saturday Afternoon
Got a lot running through my mind today, so rather than try to pick one subject and talk about it I figured it'd be a good time for a "Random Thoughts" post; my only challenge is where to start. There's so much good fodder floating around out there that it's hard to pick a starting point. Well, I guess I should just go with the obvious...and if you're a liberal, you may want to go to another web site or something because you're not gonna like what I'm gonna say.
Then again, I don't think many liberals read my blog to begin with, so I don't think that's an issue. In any event, here we go...
Could Nancy Pelosi be any more of an idiot? Or does she think that her followers are idiots? (Which most of them are, by the way, but that's beside the point.) A few days ago she got her prune-faced mug on the TV talking about the SCOTUS decision regarding the Hobby Lobby lawsuit, and of course she wasn't happy. Most liberals aren't, but what else is new? Anyhow, if you haven't seen the video of her comments then I strongly suggest you do so; after that, feel free to shake your head in amazement that one person could be so stupid or so intentionally misleading. I mean, really, does this woman ever read anything for herself, or does she just rely on her liberal staff members to feed her the stuff she talks about? Her claim that the decision declared several kinds of female birth control illegal is nothing but a blatant lie, and her statement about the decision being made by a male majority of judges is not only sexist but irrelevant. That little gem was thrown out there by Pelosi for one reason and one reason alone, that reason being to piss off as many women as possible. One can only hope that the majority of females in America are smart enough to recognize a lie, and are also smart enough to do the research on their own rather than listen to this lying, hypocritical windbag.
And if you needed any more proof that the mental health evaluation system in our nation is broken beyond repair and that no gun law in existence will help, just read up on the story in Texas. A few days ago a man with a documented history of domestic violence for which he had been arrested and convicted several times went on a rampage, killing two of his ex-wife's relatives and five of their six children. This lunatic got into the home by posing as a FedEx deliveryman complete with shirt; once in the home he tied up the six kids and then shot all of them in the head execution-style. By nothing short of a miracle one of the kids survived, having only been grazed by the bullet. The madman then waited for the parents to come home and killed them, too. Then he ran, being caught by police three hours later. He's now in jail after having been charged with seven counts of capital murder - and in Texas, that means the death penalty. And of course, all of the liberal gun-grabbers are screaming for more gun control, totally ignoring the fact that you can't detect crazy with a background check.
Speaking of classic examples that gun control doesn't work, let's talk about Chicago. Chicago has the most draconian and restrictive gun control laws on the books in the nation, yet it is also the murder capital of the United States. Over the 4th of July weekend there were 82 shootings and 14 deaths due to gang-related violence, and it's gotten so bad that now the mayor of Chicago, the former NObama minion Emmanuel Rahm, is calling for the federal government to step in and fix the problem. Of course, those of us with any common sense at all realize that if gun control laws really did work then there'd be no problem in Chicago, but the events in the city last weekend - and every day of the week - prove otherwise. If you want to solve the problem in Chicago, you need to do three things: 1) Repeal every gun control law on the books and then pass a "must issue" law so that the average citizen can arm themselves and fight back; 2) Organize said armed citizens into a cohesive unit to take the neighborhood back, and 3) vigorously enforce the laws already in place in regards to violence, armed robbery, shootings, etc. Hiring more police and giving a pay raise to the ones already in uniform wouldn't be a bad idea, either. But of course the liberals won't do this, and the "logic" of why not still escapes me.
Meanwhile in Mexico, an American Marine still sits in a Mexican jail, 104 days after being arrested for mistakenly crossing the border with a weapon, and the Buffoon In Chief still refuses to do anything about it. He's too busy ignoring the illegal immigration flood in Texas and getting his picture taken in a pool hall to worry about it, I guess. In the mean time a helicopter from the Mexican army crosses the border and fires on US Border Patrol agents; the Mexican government simply says, "Oops! My bad!" and the NObama administration lets them get away with it. One cannot help buy wonder why this is, and why the socialist, incompetent buffoon that the liberals and racists in our nation elected does nothing about it. But then again, I guess I just answered my own question, didn't I?
On the international scene, Hamas has been busy lobbing rockets into Israel for the past week, and Israel has been busy shooting every single one of them out of the sky before they could impact and kill anyone. Of course, the liberal news media has totally ignored this, but this week when Israel finally said, "Okay, that's enough!" and started shooting back, the liberal news media was all over that like ants on a 4th of July picnic. Never mind that Hamas has been using schools, hospitals and mosques to hide their rocket batteries, placing their own citizens in danger of being killed by a retaliatory Israeli airstrike; no, the liberal media would rather call Israel out for shelling said schools, hospitals and mosques to take out those batteries before any Israelis were killed. The media is totally ignoring the terrorist tactics of Hamas and is branding Israel the aggressor in a type of liberal-slanted reporting that is a total disgrace to anyone who calls himself or herself a professional journalist. And of course, our Imperial President is doing nothing about it. After all, he's not eligible for re-election again, so why should he care? There are barbeque restaurants in Texas that he hasn't visited yet.
I could go on as there are many other things to talk about but my fingers are tired, I'm kinda hungry, and I hear a bottle of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey calling my name. So that's it for now, friends and neighbors. Y'all have a good weekend, and I'll see you later.
IHC
Then again, I don't think many liberals read my blog to begin with, so I don't think that's an issue. In any event, here we go...
Could Nancy Pelosi be any more of an idiot? Or does she think that her followers are idiots? (Which most of them are, by the way, but that's beside the point.) A few days ago she got her prune-faced mug on the TV talking about the SCOTUS decision regarding the Hobby Lobby lawsuit, and of course she wasn't happy. Most liberals aren't, but what else is new? Anyhow, if you haven't seen the video of her comments then I strongly suggest you do so; after that, feel free to shake your head in amazement that one person could be so stupid or so intentionally misleading. I mean, really, does this woman ever read anything for herself, or does she just rely on her liberal staff members to feed her the stuff she talks about? Her claim that the decision declared several kinds of female birth control illegal is nothing but a blatant lie, and her statement about the decision being made by a male majority of judges is not only sexist but irrelevant. That little gem was thrown out there by Pelosi for one reason and one reason alone, that reason being to piss off as many women as possible. One can only hope that the majority of females in America are smart enough to recognize a lie, and are also smart enough to do the research on their own rather than listen to this lying, hypocritical windbag.
And if you needed any more proof that the mental health evaluation system in our nation is broken beyond repair and that no gun law in existence will help, just read up on the story in Texas. A few days ago a man with a documented history of domestic violence for which he had been arrested and convicted several times went on a rampage, killing two of his ex-wife's relatives and five of their six children. This lunatic got into the home by posing as a FedEx deliveryman complete with shirt; once in the home he tied up the six kids and then shot all of them in the head execution-style. By nothing short of a miracle one of the kids survived, having only been grazed by the bullet. The madman then waited for the parents to come home and killed them, too. Then he ran, being caught by police three hours later. He's now in jail after having been charged with seven counts of capital murder - and in Texas, that means the death penalty. And of course, all of the liberal gun-grabbers are screaming for more gun control, totally ignoring the fact that you can't detect crazy with a background check.
Speaking of classic examples that gun control doesn't work, let's talk about Chicago. Chicago has the most draconian and restrictive gun control laws on the books in the nation, yet it is also the murder capital of the United States. Over the 4th of July weekend there were 82 shootings and 14 deaths due to gang-related violence, and it's gotten so bad that now the mayor of Chicago, the former NObama minion Emmanuel Rahm, is calling for the federal government to step in and fix the problem. Of course, those of us with any common sense at all realize that if gun control laws really did work then there'd be no problem in Chicago, but the events in the city last weekend - and every day of the week - prove otherwise. If you want to solve the problem in Chicago, you need to do three things: 1) Repeal every gun control law on the books and then pass a "must issue" law so that the average citizen can arm themselves and fight back; 2) Organize said armed citizens into a cohesive unit to take the neighborhood back, and 3) vigorously enforce the laws already in place in regards to violence, armed robbery, shootings, etc. Hiring more police and giving a pay raise to the ones already in uniform wouldn't be a bad idea, either. But of course the liberals won't do this, and the "logic" of why not still escapes me.
Meanwhile in Mexico, an American Marine still sits in a Mexican jail, 104 days after being arrested for mistakenly crossing the border with a weapon, and the Buffoon In Chief still refuses to do anything about it. He's too busy ignoring the illegal immigration flood in Texas and getting his picture taken in a pool hall to worry about it, I guess. In the mean time a helicopter from the Mexican army crosses the border and fires on US Border Patrol agents; the Mexican government simply says, "Oops! My bad!" and the NObama administration lets them get away with it. One cannot help buy wonder why this is, and why the socialist, incompetent buffoon that the liberals and racists in our nation elected does nothing about it. But then again, I guess I just answered my own question, didn't I?
On the international scene, Hamas has been busy lobbing rockets into Israel for the past week, and Israel has been busy shooting every single one of them out of the sky before they could impact and kill anyone. Of course, the liberal news media has totally ignored this, but this week when Israel finally said, "Okay, that's enough!" and started shooting back, the liberal news media was all over that like ants on a 4th of July picnic. Never mind that Hamas has been using schools, hospitals and mosques to hide their rocket batteries, placing their own citizens in danger of being killed by a retaliatory Israeli airstrike; no, the liberal media would rather call Israel out for shelling said schools, hospitals and mosques to take out those batteries before any Israelis were killed. The media is totally ignoring the terrorist tactics of Hamas and is branding Israel the aggressor in a type of liberal-slanted reporting that is a total disgrace to anyone who calls himself or herself a professional journalist. And of course, our Imperial President is doing nothing about it. After all, he's not eligible for re-election again, so why should he care? There are barbeque restaurants in Texas that he hasn't visited yet.
I could go on as there are many other things to talk about but my fingers are tired, I'm kinda hungry, and I hear a bottle of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey calling my name. So that's it for now, friends and neighbors. Y'all have a good weekend, and I'll see you later.
IHC
Thursday, July 10, 2014
For JD
I got your message today, but your FB settings won't allow me to reply so I thought I'd do it here since I know you read my blog.
First and foremost, welcome home! Glad to hear that you got back safe and sound and are home again, even if it is only for a short while.
And of course I knew it was you. Who else could it possibly be?
As for the good words you said, well, all I can say is thank you. If I made that large and long-lasting an impact on you, then I did my job well in the four years that I wore the hat. My goal in going down there was to prepare America's young men and women for Air Force service, along the way instilling in them the values and disciplines that I was taught by both my parents and the Air Force. I knew that these values would help them in both their Air Force and civilian lives, and I'm very grateful to hear that I accomplished my goal. So thank you again from the bottom of my heart.
You should be very proud of all you've accomplished; I know your son is. I'm proud of you, too. Keep up the good work.
Go be with your family; I'm quite sure they missed you!
Be safe, and God bless.
IHC
First and foremost, welcome home! Glad to hear that you got back safe and sound and are home again, even if it is only for a short while.
And of course I knew it was you. Who else could it possibly be?
As for the good words you said, well, all I can say is thank you. If I made that large and long-lasting an impact on you, then I did my job well in the four years that I wore the hat. My goal in going down there was to prepare America's young men and women for Air Force service, along the way instilling in them the values and disciplines that I was taught by both my parents and the Air Force. I knew that these values would help them in both their Air Force and civilian lives, and I'm very grateful to hear that I accomplished my goal. So thank you again from the bottom of my heart.
You should be very proud of all you've accomplished; I know your son is. I'm proud of you, too. Keep up the good work.
Go be with your family; I'm quite sure they missed you!
Be safe, and God bless.
IHC
Friday, July 4, 2014
Appreciating the Fourth of July
To most Americans in this day and age, the 4th of July is nothing more than yet another holiday where you don't have to work, you can sit around and drink beer, eat hot dogs and hamburgers, and shoot off fireworks. To most retailers in our nation, it's an excuse for yet another sale in the relentless drive to make money, to garner a bigger share of the market than the competition.
To the folks who are serving in the military and those that have served in the past, the holiday means something completely different. We don't get the day off to party and celebrate; to us, the 4th of July is just another day on the calendar, one on which we get up, put on our uniforms, and go to work like we do every day - protecting the freedoms that everyone else is celebrating, the freedoms that our Founding Fathers put so much on the line for.
Just what did our Founding Fathers put on the line, you ask? Well, how about 'everything?' And when I say 'everything,' I mean just that. Their livelihoods, their property, their families, their lives - everything.
See, this is what the people of our nation today have either forgotten or, sad to say, have not been taught. Two hundred and thirty eight years ago the people of the colonies that would later become the United States of America were fed up with the way they were being governed and mistreated by the King of England, and they decided that enough was enough. A courageous group of men got together and discussed what they were going to do about it, and the only decision that they thought was feasible was revolution. They would rebel against the government that was oppressing them, even though they knew it was going to be a long, bloody fight that they most likely would not win. But to a man they all agreed that they would rather die as free men than live as subjects to an uncaring King. Thomas Jefferson then wrote a document that they all agreed to sign, all of the representatives of the 13 American colonies, a document that served as formal notice to the King that the colonies were fed up and were separating themselves in every way from England and the Crown. The document, of course, was the Declaration of Independence, and on July 4, 1776 a total of fifty-six delegates from the 13 colonies affixed their signatures to the bottom of the document, and America was born.
All fifty-six of them knew that they were signing what could turn out to be their death warrants, but they went ahead and signed anyway. They knew that the Crown would react by invading the colonies and trying to subjugate them by force, and they all knew that the first people who would be the targets of the invading armies would be the "ringleaders" - the men who signed the Declaration. They knew that they stood a very good chance of having British troops come onto their land, invade their homes and take them and their families prisoner, after which they would loot the property and then burn it to the ground. They all knew that the punishment for revolution was the gallows, and that no one in their families would be spared.
But they also knew that NOT to sign meant subjecting themselves to a life of oppresion, so they signed despite the fact that it could be the end of them and everyone they loved and held dear.
This, friends and neighbors, is patriotism. This, without a shadow of a doubt, is courage.
Our Founding Fathers put everything they knew and loved on the line to secure their freedom and the freedom of the nation, and the men and women in uniform today continue to do that. Our Founding Fathers risked their lives and the lives of their families to shake off the yoke of oppression and make America a free state, and our men and women in uniform risk their lives every day to protect and preserve the freedom that so many Americans now take for granted. The old saying is that you don't really appreciate what you have until it's gone; I just hope that it never comes to that when you're talking about the freedom that we as Americans enjoy.
I, like millions of other Americans, will be celebrating the 4th of July today; in a short while I'll be drinking beer, eating hot dogs and hamburgers, and shooting off fireworks just like everyone else, but with me there will be a significant difference. With every blossom of color in the sky and with every 'boom' that accompanies it, I'll be thinking of the sacrifices our Founding Fathers and all who fought for our country's freedom made, of the sacrifices I made in my time in uniform, but most of all about the sacrifices being made today by our nation's military to preserve the freedom which cost so many so much so long ago.
I hope you'll do the same.
Oh, and those fifty six signers of the Declaration of Independence? Nine of them were Masons.
IHC
To the folks who are serving in the military and those that have served in the past, the holiday means something completely different. We don't get the day off to party and celebrate; to us, the 4th of July is just another day on the calendar, one on which we get up, put on our uniforms, and go to work like we do every day - protecting the freedoms that everyone else is celebrating, the freedoms that our Founding Fathers put so much on the line for.
Just what did our Founding Fathers put on the line, you ask? Well, how about 'everything?' And when I say 'everything,' I mean just that. Their livelihoods, their property, their families, their lives - everything.
See, this is what the people of our nation today have either forgotten or, sad to say, have not been taught. Two hundred and thirty eight years ago the people of the colonies that would later become the United States of America were fed up with the way they were being governed and mistreated by the King of England, and they decided that enough was enough. A courageous group of men got together and discussed what they were going to do about it, and the only decision that they thought was feasible was revolution. They would rebel against the government that was oppressing them, even though they knew it was going to be a long, bloody fight that they most likely would not win. But to a man they all agreed that they would rather die as free men than live as subjects to an uncaring King. Thomas Jefferson then wrote a document that they all agreed to sign, all of the representatives of the 13 American colonies, a document that served as formal notice to the King that the colonies were fed up and were separating themselves in every way from England and the Crown. The document, of course, was the Declaration of Independence, and on July 4, 1776 a total of fifty-six delegates from the 13 colonies affixed their signatures to the bottom of the document, and America was born.
All fifty-six of them knew that they were signing what could turn out to be their death warrants, but they went ahead and signed anyway. They knew that the Crown would react by invading the colonies and trying to subjugate them by force, and they all knew that the first people who would be the targets of the invading armies would be the "ringleaders" - the men who signed the Declaration. They knew that they stood a very good chance of having British troops come onto their land, invade their homes and take them and their families prisoner, after which they would loot the property and then burn it to the ground. They all knew that the punishment for revolution was the gallows, and that no one in their families would be spared.
But they also knew that NOT to sign meant subjecting themselves to a life of oppresion, so they signed despite the fact that it could be the end of them and everyone they loved and held dear.
This, friends and neighbors, is patriotism. This, without a shadow of a doubt, is courage.
Our Founding Fathers put everything they knew and loved on the line to secure their freedom and the freedom of the nation, and the men and women in uniform today continue to do that. Our Founding Fathers risked their lives and the lives of their families to shake off the yoke of oppression and make America a free state, and our men and women in uniform risk their lives every day to protect and preserve the freedom that so many Americans now take for granted. The old saying is that you don't really appreciate what you have until it's gone; I just hope that it never comes to that when you're talking about the freedom that we as Americans enjoy.
I, like millions of other Americans, will be celebrating the 4th of July today; in a short while I'll be drinking beer, eating hot dogs and hamburgers, and shooting off fireworks just like everyone else, but with me there will be a significant difference. With every blossom of color in the sky and with every 'boom' that accompanies it, I'll be thinking of the sacrifices our Founding Fathers and all who fought for our country's freedom made, of the sacrifices I made in my time in uniform, but most of all about the sacrifices being made today by our nation's military to preserve the freedom which cost so many so much so long ago.
I hope you'll do the same.
Oh, and those fifty six signers of the Declaration of Independence? Nine of them were Masons.
IHC
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
10 Irrefutable Facts about Gun Control
Saw a spot on the news this morning where the Buffoon In Chief made the statement that "America doesn't have a monopoly on crazy people." Yeah, since we got one sitting in the White House, I'd say that statement is correct. Anyhow, The Great Pretender then went on to praise Australia on the outlawing and confiscation of all firearms in that nation, lauding their actions to "keep people safe."
Of course, what NObama didn't say - and won't ever say, not in public anyway - is that violent crime in both Australia and England, the two latest democratic countries to outlaw private possession of firearms, has risen drastically across the board since the firearms ban took effect. The reason for this is obvious, to those of us with any amount of common sense and reasoning, that is, but the liberals and Democrats will never admit it because it would be admitting that they're wrong.
The reason that violent crimes in those nations have dramatically increased are because now, in those two nations, with the exception of the police and the military, only the bad guys have guns.
So that's Fact #1: When only the bad guys have guns, violent crime goes up. The statistics from England and Australia prove it.
Fact #2: When the good guys have guns, violent crime goes down. The nationwide statistics from the FBI's annual report on crime in America prove it, and it all started with Florida. As soon as that state passed a "must issue" law concerning the licensing of citizens to carry concealed weapons, violent crime started to drop. And when they adopted one of the very first "Castle Doctrine" laws in the nation, the drop in violent crime increased. These are facts that cannot be disputed, no matter how hard you try.
Fact #3: It's a "people problem," not a "gun problem." The tired old phrase from the liberal left is, "Guns kill people," and the equally tired but still effective reply from the conservative right is, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Once again, this is an irrefutable fact which history proves and cannot be ignored. I own a dozen firearms, both rifles and pistols, and my firearms haven't killed anyone. And they never will. The reason? A firearm is a tool, and like all tools it will do whatever the person holding it uses it to do. Lay a fully loaded, cocked and ready to fire pistol on a table, and that pistol will stay there without moving until the end of time. The pistol itself will not ever - EVER - jump up off of that table and kill someone. It takes a PERSON to pick it up and use it. That person can use it for one of two things: lawful self-defense, or unlawful murder. The pistol has no choice in the matter because it's a tool. It's the PERSON who has the choice.
Fact #4: The murder rate in America involving firearms has been dropping for the past 12 years. Well, now, you never read about that one in the liberal newspapers or heard about it on CNN, did you? Well, friends and neighbors, that's the truth - the murder rate in which a firearm was used has been steadily dropping in the past 12 years. Oh, and by coincidence, that's just about the same time that Florida passed those laws and the rest of the nation started following suit. It doesn't take a genius to see the correlation between actions and results - unless you're a liberal or a Democrat.
Fact #5: The cities and states with the most stringent gun control laws have the highest murder rates. Chicago is notorious for having two things, those things being the most stringent gun control laws in the nation and the highest murder rate in the nation to go along with those laws. ANYONE who thinks that more gun control laws will solve the gun violence problem in America needs only to look at Rahm Emmanuel and the city of Chicago for irrefutable proof that gun control doesn't work. Next in line for the Murder Capital of the Nation Award: Washington, DC, a city with the second most stringent gun laws and the second highest murder rate in the nation.
Fact #6: Background checks don't work. This is true for a couple of reasons. First, statistics prove more than 80% of the shootings in our nation take place with a stolen or illegally obtained firearm. No way a background check is going to stop that. Second, no background check in the world is going to detect crazy, and it sure won't detect someone who went crazy after they legally purchased their firearm. Take the recent shootings in Nevada and California, for example. The two crazies - and that's what everyone, including the liberal media, is calling them - who kllled the two police officers in Las Vegas did so with weapons they obtained through private sales. (And before you tell me that this is the reason private sales should fall under the requirement for background checks, let me re-direct you to the description of the shooters as 'crazy.' Now shut up.) And the shootings at UCLA were committed by a crazy man who had submitted to a background check, passed the check, and then purchased his weapons legally - IN CALIFORNIA, where the magazine capacity is limited by state law to ten rounds. Yet this crazy man still killed seven people using three pistols with "limited capacity" magazines, and the background check failed to stop it.
Fact #7: "Gun Free Zones" don't work. And they won't work - ever. Want proof? Okay, here it is: Columbine - gun free zone. Norfolk Navy Yard - gun free zone. Aurora movie theater - gun free zone. Fort Hood - gun free zone. UCLA - gun free zone. Virginia Tech - gun free zone. Newtown - gun free zone. Jewish Community Center - gun free zone. Sandy Hook - gun free zone. I could go on, but I think you get the point. "Gun Free Zones" don't work for one simple reason: criminals and crazy people don't obey the law.
Fact #8: Disarming law abiding citizens won't keep them safe. Just ask the people in Chicago, Washington, England, or Australia.
Fact #9: Less guns equals more violent crime; more guns equals less violent crime. Says who, you ask? Harvard and the American Civil Rights Union, that's who. I'd quote the article and the study here but that'd take up too much time and space. I suggest you do a search for "Harvard Study on Gun Control" and read it for yourself. Be prepared to be surprised.
Fact #10: More people are saved by the lawful use of guns in America each year than are killed by the unlawful use of guns. Criminologist Gary Kleck estimates that guns are used by Americans in self-defense 2.5 million times each year, or about 6,850 times per day. This means that each year, firearms are used 80 times more often to protect human life than they are to take it. Out of these 2.5 million instances, Kleck estimates that 400,000 people would absolutely be dead if they had not been legally armed.
Simply put, the facts don't lie. Gun control doesn't work. It never has, it never will, and there's nothing that any liberal or Democrat can ever do to change that fact.
Now it's time for me to go get showered and dressed, and a part of that is deciding which pistol I'm going to carry today.
Lawfully, of course.
IHC
Of course, what NObama didn't say - and won't ever say, not in public anyway - is that violent crime in both Australia and England, the two latest democratic countries to outlaw private possession of firearms, has risen drastically across the board since the firearms ban took effect. The reason for this is obvious, to those of us with any amount of common sense and reasoning, that is, but the liberals and Democrats will never admit it because it would be admitting that they're wrong.
The reason that violent crimes in those nations have dramatically increased are because now, in those two nations, with the exception of the police and the military, only the bad guys have guns.
So that's Fact #1: When only the bad guys have guns, violent crime goes up. The statistics from England and Australia prove it.
Fact #2: When the good guys have guns, violent crime goes down. The nationwide statistics from the FBI's annual report on crime in America prove it, and it all started with Florida. As soon as that state passed a "must issue" law concerning the licensing of citizens to carry concealed weapons, violent crime started to drop. And when they adopted one of the very first "Castle Doctrine" laws in the nation, the drop in violent crime increased. These are facts that cannot be disputed, no matter how hard you try.
Fact #3: It's a "people problem," not a "gun problem." The tired old phrase from the liberal left is, "Guns kill people," and the equally tired but still effective reply from the conservative right is, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people." Once again, this is an irrefutable fact which history proves and cannot be ignored. I own a dozen firearms, both rifles and pistols, and my firearms haven't killed anyone. And they never will. The reason? A firearm is a tool, and like all tools it will do whatever the person holding it uses it to do. Lay a fully loaded, cocked and ready to fire pistol on a table, and that pistol will stay there without moving until the end of time. The pistol itself will not ever - EVER - jump up off of that table and kill someone. It takes a PERSON to pick it up and use it. That person can use it for one of two things: lawful self-defense, or unlawful murder. The pistol has no choice in the matter because it's a tool. It's the PERSON who has the choice.
Fact #4: The murder rate in America involving firearms has been dropping for the past 12 years. Well, now, you never read about that one in the liberal newspapers or heard about it on CNN, did you? Well, friends and neighbors, that's the truth - the murder rate in which a firearm was used has been steadily dropping in the past 12 years. Oh, and by coincidence, that's just about the same time that Florida passed those laws and the rest of the nation started following suit. It doesn't take a genius to see the correlation between actions and results - unless you're a liberal or a Democrat.
Fact #5: The cities and states with the most stringent gun control laws have the highest murder rates. Chicago is notorious for having two things, those things being the most stringent gun control laws in the nation and the highest murder rate in the nation to go along with those laws. ANYONE who thinks that more gun control laws will solve the gun violence problem in America needs only to look at Rahm Emmanuel and the city of Chicago for irrefutable proof that gun control doesn't work. Next in line for the Murder Capital of the Nation Award: Washington, DC, a city with the second most stringent gun laws and the second highest murder rate in the nation.
Fact #6: Background checks don't work. This is true for a couple of reasons. First, statistics prove more than 80% of the shootings in our nation take place with a stolen or illegally obtained firearm. No way a background check is going to stop that. Second, no background check in the world is going to detect crazy, and it sure won't detect someone who went crazy after they legally purchased their firearm. Take the recent shootings in Nevada and California, for example. The two crazies - and that's what everyone, including the liberal media, is calling them - who kllled the two police officers in Las Vegas did so with weapons they obtained through private sales. (And before you tell me that this is the reason private sales should fall under the requirement for background checks, let me re-direct you to the description of the shooters as 'crazy.' Now shut up.) And the shootings at UCLA were committed by a crazy man who had submitted to a background check, passed the check, and then purchased his weapons legally - IN CALIFORNIA, where the magazine capacity is limited by state law to ten rounds. Yet this crazy man still killed seven people using three pistols with "limited capacity" magazines, and the background check failed to stop it.
Fact #7: "Gun Free Zones" don't work. And they won't work - ever. Want proof? Okay, here it is: Columbine - gun free zone. Norfolk Navy Yard - gun free zone. Aurora movie theater - gun free zone. Fort Hood - gun free zone. UCLA - gun free zone. Virginia Tech - gun free zone. Newtown - gun free zone. Jewish Community Center - gun free zone. Sandy Hook - gun free zone. I could go on, but I think you get the point. "Gun Free Zones" don't work for one simple reason: criminals and crazy people don't obey the law.
Fact #8: Disarming law abiding citizens won't keep them safe. Just ask the people in Chicago, Washington, England, or Australia.
Fact #9: Less guns equals more violent crime; more guns equals less violent crime. Says who, you ask? Harvard and the American Civil Rights Union, that's who. I'd quote the article and the study here but that'd take up too much time and space. I suggest you do a search for "Harvard Study on Gun Control" and read it for yourself. Be prepared to be surprised.
Fact #10: More people are saved by the lawful use of guns in America each year than are killed by the unlawful use of guns. Criminologist Gary Kleck estimates that guns are used by Americans in self-defense 2.5 million times each year, or about 6,850 times per day. This means that each year, firearms are used 80 times more often to protect human life than they are to take it. Out of these 2.5 million instances, Kleck estimates that 400,000 people would absolutely be dead if they had not been legally armed.
Simply put, the facts don't lie. Gun control doesn't work. It never has, it never will, and there's nothing that any liberal or Democrat can ever do to change that fact.
Now it's time for me to go get showered and dressed, and a part of that is deciding which pistol I'm going to carry today.
Lawfully, of course.
IHC
Monday, June 9, 2014
Random Thoughts on a Monday Afternoon
No, I'm not dead or out of town or anything like that. I realize that it's been a while since my last post, and in my defense let me just say that the last month or so has been very interesting, very challenging, and very frustrating at times. Yeah, I realize this is no excuse for not having made any entries, but it is what it is. Sorry about the delay, friends and neighbors, that's about all I can say on that.
I've got so much stuff bouncing around in my head that I find it impossible to sort it all out into separate cognizant pieces, so I'll just do one of my "Randon Thoughts" posts and get rid of them all at the same time. This one may be kinda lengthy, so if you need to pee or go get a drink or something like that, now's the time.
Ready? Ok, heeeeeeeere we go!
Absolutely first and foremost, let's talk about the Buffoon In Chief, shall we? Man, there's so much fodder to fling at this clown that I hardly know where to start. I could start with his total lack of class, refinement, and respect by showing up at the D-Day Memorial Service in France while chewing gum, but I won't. I could also start with his flunky token white boy mouthpiece quitting his job as Press Secretary, but I won't. (Jay Carney, I don't know how you can sleep at night, you asshat.) What I will start with - and this should have been obvious - is The Great Pretender's decision to trade five high-ranking Taliban terrorist leaders for one American deserter/traitor. There's SO MUCH wrong with this decision that it almost defies description, and one cannot help but wonder what strain of "logic" the Buffoon In Chief used when he made this decision. You can't tell me that he didn't know about Bergdahl's activities with the Taliban once he was "captured," and you also can't tell me that he didn't know that Bergdahl had walked away from his unit. After all, even his parents knew that the traitor had mailed all of his personal belongings home before he was "captured." And if you do try and tell me that, then my next statement will be that either the intelligence-gathering capabilities of the United States have been too focused on gathering information on American citizens instead of the bad guys, or that the Buffoon In Chief simply chose to ignore it. I choose the latter. In any event, the trade was done without the approval of Congress and against the advice of every major military commander in the JCOS. NObama decided he wanted to do it, so he did it - and now he's reaping the rewards (sarcasm, folks). In the process he is also putting every American overseas at risk (regardless of what that asshat and clown John Kerry says) because the word is out among our enemies: if you want to get something from America, all you have to do is kidnap or capture an American and then make your demands. The US will give you whatever you want, because the Buffoon In Chief has broken the long-standing policy that America doesn't negotiate with terrorists - EVER. Hell, even Jimmy Carter was smart enough to know that the US never negotiates with terrorists because once you do you'll always have to do it, but apparently Barack NObama isn't.
And can you believe that NObama was actually gullible (or stupid) enough to believe that the five Taliban leaders would actually stay in Qatar and not rejoin the fight? (As for the choice between gullible and stupid, I vote for stupid.) I give it about a hot 60 days before those five Taliban leaders are back in Afghanistan leading the fight against our forces and killing more Americans, regardless of what John Kerry may say. Having served some time in the Middle East, I can tell you first-hand that the people of the Arab nations will put other Arabs first and foremost, and they absolutely will not honor their agreement with the Buffoon In Chief. And why should they? He's broken just about every promise he's ever made, and he's given so many ultimatums with no action on his part following said ultimatums that there's no reason that any nation in the world should either fear or take seriously anything he says. He's a buffoon, a blowhard, all talk and no action, a gutless wonder with no balls, and they all know it. They have no respect for him as a leader and as a result, they have no respect for us or our country. And we have no one to thank for that except NObama.
So while the Buffoon In Chief makes this disastrous deal with our enemies, one of our true American heroes and patriots sits in a Mexican jail cell on a bunch of bullshit, trumped-up charges with absolutely nothing being said or done by the NObama administration to secure his release. All it would take is one phone call from NObama to the Mexican president, and our Marine would be on his way back across the border in no time.
Then again, maybe not...the fact that the Mexicans are holding him at all in spite of the outcry in the press pretty much shows that they hold NObama in just as much disdain as the rest of the world does. Still, it speaks volumes for the priorities and the leadership abilities of NObama that he's sitting on his hands doing nothing and totally ignoring what's going on in Mexico. Maybe NObama should offer to trade John Kerry for the Marine? That would work for me!
And out in the Midwest and California, unfortunately there have been more shootings. I say unfortunately because obviously, it's unfortunate to say the least when innocent people get killed by madmen, and it's unfortunate for the rest of us law-abiding citizens because we now have to listen to the idiocy of the liberals and Democrats as they scream for still more useless gun control. And if you want proof that ALL gun control is useless, look at the shootings at UCLA - the shooter passed a background check, ALL of the weapons were purchased legally, all of the magazines were "low capacity" as required by California law, and yet the shootings still took place. Why is that, I wonder?
Simple: because you can't legislate insanity out of existence. The shooter was nuts, and his YouTube videos prove it. No amount of gun laws will prevent a madman from carrying out his plans, and this latest shooting is yet more proof that GUN CONTROL LAWS DON'T WORK. After all, MURDER is already illegal, isn't it? So along the line of "thinking" that more gun control laws will prevent more shootings, the shootings never should have happened in the first place because murder is already illegal. And we see how good THAT works, don't we?
But as soon as you or I utter those words, the liberals and Democrats will respond with, "Then we'll just have to outlaw guns altogether!"
Yeah, let's do that. Let's outlaw guns altogether...after all, it worked for LSD, meth, and cocaine, right?
And we won't even talk about the 2nd Amendment and why it's there.
Out in Colorado and Washington, the people there are enjoying the fruits of the new laws they passed to decriminalize the recreational use of marijuana, with Colorado particularly enjoying it. "Rocky Mountain High" has taken on a whole new meaning, and I, for one, am glad to see it. I have never understood why marijuana was illegal and why the Federal government doesn't take advantage of the HUGE monetary gain that is just sitting there waiting for them - provided they legalize weed nation-wide first, that is. The Feds make billions of dollars in taxes off of the alcohol producing industry, and if they were to legalize grass and tax it just like cigarettes they'd make more money from that than they ever would from alcohol. But the Feds continue to be caught up in the Draconian line of thinking that marijuana is such a bad thing that they refuse to take the obvious step and legalize it. Sooner or later they're gonna have to, because now that two states have done it the rest will surely follow suit - and my bet is on California being the next one to do it.
What, you can't believe a retired military cop would advocate the legalization of marijuana? Sorry to bust your bubble, but that's the way it is. The only reason I ever locked people up for it was because it's illegal, and that's also the only reason I never used it. (Well, okay, I used it once, but that was after I retired from the Air Force.) Once the stuff becomes legal, though, I'm gonna toke right up - just as I imagine a great many of us law-abiding citizens will. Time will tell.
And that's it for now. Gonna go down and fix myself a fresh glass of iced tea, sit on my ass, and do nothing but enjoy the first day of my vacation. Believe me, I've earned it.
IHC
I've got so much stuff bouncing around in my head that I find it impossible to sort it all out into separate cognizant pieces, so I'll just do one of my "Randon Thoughts" posts and get rid of them all at the same time. This one may be kinda lengthy, so if you need to pee or go get a drink or something like that, now's the time.
Ready? Ok, heeeeeeeere we go!
Absolutely first and foremost, let's talk about the Buffoon In Chief, shall we? Man, there's so much fodder to fling at this clown that I hardly know where to start. I could start with his total lack of class, refinement, and respect by showing up at the D-Day Memorial Service in France while chewing gum, but I won't. I could also start with his flunky token white boy mouthpiece quitting his job as Press Secretary, but I won't. (Jay Carney, I don't know how you can sleep at night, you asshat.) What I will start with - and this should have been obvious - is The Great Pretender's decision to trade five high-ranking Taliban terrorist leaders for one American deserter/traitor. There's SO MUCH wrong with this decision that it almost defies description, and one cannot help but wonder what strain of "logic" the Buffoon In Chief used when he made this decision. You can't tell me that he didn't know about Bergdahl's activities with the Taliban once he was "captured," and you also can't tell me that he didn't know that Bergdahl had walked away from his unit. After all, even his parents knew that the traitor had mailed all of his personal belongings home before he was "captured." And if you do try and tell me that, then my next statement will be that either the intelligence-gathering capabilities of the United States have been too focused on gathering information on American citizens instead of the bad guys, or that the Buffoon In Chief simply chose to ignore it. I choose the latter. In any event, the trade was done without the approval of Congress and against the advice of every major military commander in the JCOS. NObama decided he wanted to do it, so he did it - and now he's reaping the rewards (sarcasm, folks). In the process he is also putting every American overseas at risk (regardless of what that asshat and clown John Kerry says) because the word is out among our enemies: if you want to get something from America, all you have to do is kidnap or capture an American and then make your demands. The US will give you whatever you want, because the Buffoon In Chief has broken the long-standing policy that America doesn't negotiate with terrorists - EVER. Hell, even Jimmy Carter was smart enough to know that the US never negotiates with terrorists because once you do you'll always have to do it, but apparently Barack NObama isn't.
And can you believe that NObama was actually gullible (or stupid) enough to believe that the five Taliban leaders would actually stay in Qatar and not rejoin the fight? (As for the choice between gullible and stupid, I vote for stupid.) I give it about a hot 60 days before those five Taliban leaders are back in Afghanistan leading the fight against our forces and killing more Americans, regardless of what John Kerry may say. Having served some time in the Middle East, I can tell you first-hand that the people of the Arab nations will put other Arabs first and foremost, and they absolutely will not honor their agreement with the Buffoon In Chief. And why should they? He's broken just about every promise he's ever made, and he's given so many ultimatums with no action on his part following said ultimatums that there's no reason that any nation in the world should either fear or take seriously anything he says. He's a buffoon, a blowhard, all talk and no action, a gutless wonder with no balls, and they all know it. They have no respect for him as a leader and as a result, they have no respect for us or our country. And we have no one to thank for that except NObama.
So while the Buffoon In Chief makes this disastrous deal with our enemies, one of our true American heroes and patriots sits in a Mexican jail cell on a bunch of bullshit, trumped-up charges with absolutely nothing being said or done by the NObama administration to secure his release. All it would take is one phone call from NObama to the Mexican president, and our Marine would be on his way back across the border in no time.
Then again, maybe not...the fact that the Mexicans are holding him at all in spite of the outcry in the press pretty much shows that they hold NObama in just as much disdain as the rest of the world does. Still, it speaks volumes for the priorities and the leadership abilities of NObama that he's sitting on his hands doing nothing and totally ignoring what's going on in Mexico. Maybe NObama should offer to trade John Kerry for the Marine? That would work for me!
And out in the Midwest and California, unfortunately there have been more shootings. I say unfortunately because obviously, it's unfortunate to say the least when innocent people get killed by madmen, and it's unfortunate for the rest of us law-abiding citizens because we now have to listen to the idiocy of the liberals and Democrats as they scream for still more useless gun control. And if you want proof that ALL gun control is useless, look at the shootings at UCLA - the shooter passed a background check, ALL of the weapons were purchased legally, all of the magazines were "low capacity" as required by California law, and yet the shootings still took place. Why is that, I wonder?
Simple: because you can't legislate insanity out of existence. The shooter was nuts, and his YouTube videos prove it. No amount of gun laws will prevent a madman from carrying out his plans, and this latest shooting is yet more proof that GUN CONTROL LAWS DON'T WORK. After all, MURDER is already illegal, isn't it? So along the line of "thinking" that more gun control laws will prevent more shootings, the shootings never should have happened in the first place because murder is already illegal. And we see how good THAT works, don't we?
But as soon as you or I utter those words, the liberals and Democrats will respond with, "Then we'll just have to outlaw guns altogether!"
Yeah, let's do that. Let's outlaw guns altogether...after all, it worked for LSD, meth, and cocaine, right?
And we won't even talk about the 2nd Amendment and why it's there.
Out in Colorado and Washington, the people there are enjoying the fruits of the new laws they passed to decriminalize the recreational use of marijuana, with Colorado particularly enjoying it. "Rocky Mountain High" has taken on a whole new meaning, and I, for one, am glad to see it. I have never understood why marijuana was illegal and why the Federal government doesn't take advantage of the HUGE monetary gain that is just sitting there waiting for them - provided they legalize weed nation-wide first, that is. The Feds make billions of dollars in taxes off of the alcohol producing industry, and if they were to legalize grass and tax it just like cigarettes they'd make more money from that than they ever would from alcohol. But the Feds continue to be caught up in the Draconian line of thinking that marijuana is such a bad thing that they refuse to take the obvious step and legalize it. Sooner or later they're gonna have to, because now that two states have done it the rest will surely follow suit - and my bet is on California being the next one to do it.
What, you can't believe a retired military cop would advocate the legalization of marijuana? Sorry to bust your bubble, but that's the way it is. The only reason I ever locked people up for it was because it's illegal, and that's also the only reason I never used it. (Well, okay, I used it once, but that was after I retired from the Air Force.) Once the stuff becomes legal, though, I'm gonna toke right up - just as I imagine a great many of us law-abiding citizens will. Time will tell.
And that's it for now. Gonna go down and fix myself a fresh glass of iced tea, sit on my ass, and do nothing but enjoy the first day of my vacation. Believe me, I've earned it.
IHC
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Random Thoughts on a Wednesday Afternoon
My thoughts on some of the stories bouncing around the news today...
First and foremost: R.I.P. Bob Hoskins, a great talent and a great man. For those of you who are unaware of who Bob Hoskins was, he played 'Eddie Valiant,' the human detective in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," and 'Smee' in "Hook." If you saw him in either one of these movies, then you know just how great a talent he was. He will truly be missed.
And now, on to the hard stuff.
So Chicago, a city that is broke by its own admission, wants to spend $100 MILLION to build the NObama Presidential Library. Yeah, that makes sense - especially considering who the current mayor of the Murder Capital of the United States is.
And apparently, the old adage of "nothing stays secret forever" is about to come true for NObama and his staff at the White House. There's been some e-mails leaked to the news media which show that the White House staff was directly involved in grooming Susan Rice for her ill-fated media appearances the Sunday after the attacks on the embassy in Benghazi, with the idea of blaming the attacks on an anti-Islam documentary originating with NObama's staff. I believe it, and it's like this: if the staff knew about it, you'd better believe that the Buffoon In Chief knew about it. And if he says he didn't know, then how are we supposed to trust a man who can't run his own staff with running the country? Answer: we can't. This, of course, has been readily apparent to anyone with half a brain and a lick of common sense for the past 6 years - which leaves out Democrats and liberals, of course. Now I'm just waiting to see who NObama is gonna throw to the wolves to save his own skinny ass. Should be interesting.
Somebody tell me how this makes sense: a couple of black people enroll in a college in Virginia that is named in part after Robert E. Lee, knowing of the college's history and of its support of Lee, knowing of the events that take place there on his birthday every year, knowing that the Confederate Battle Flag is displayed there during these evetns, and then get their panties in a knot over the name, the display of his likeness, and the display of the Confederate flag on his birthday? Sorry, it's like this: you knew what you were getting into, so now that you're in it you have ZERO room to complain. You want to go to a college that supports your own self-styled ideas and ideals and be among people who think the same racist way you do? Then I suggest you enroll in Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia instead of Washington and Lee University. I guarantee you that you'll find a home there. You also won't find very many white people there, either, but nobody calls that college racist. Wonder why?
And speaking of racists, there's Donald Sterling to contend with this week. My first thought in all of this was, "Well, if you don't like black people, then why are you dating a girl who's half black?" Never mind the fact that she's 1/4 your age - we won't even go there. (Three guesses why SHE was dating HIM - and it ain't because of his sparking personality or dashing good looks.) My second thought was, "Who made the recording, and why?" And my third thought was, "Who leaked it to the media, and why?" If I was Donald, I'd be wanting to get to the bottom of that last one and when I found out who did it, I'd make sure he never did anything like that again. And for someone with his money, that should prove to be no big problem at all. In any event, poor old Donald has learned that in this day and age, if you're a white man who has an opinion that some people won't like, it's not even safe to voice said opinion in your own home in what you think is a private environment. I can't help but wonder, though, what the media reaction would have been if it were, say, Magic Johnson making those comments about white guys. Actually, I don't wonder about that at all - you'd never hear about it, because in this country in this day and age if you ain't white it ain't racist. (Which is, of course, total bullshit.)
While we're talking about racists and race-baiters, how about good ol' Al Sharpton calling for Sterling's head over his comments? To be expected, right? But what about Sharpton already knowing of Sterling's racist views, even going so far as to volunteer to headline the NAACP dinner in which that organization awarded Sterling its Lifetime Achievement Award? Achievement for what, exactly? By Sharpton's own admission, he knew of Sterling's views and the many lawsuits against him for those views, yet he supported him at the dinner anyway - and now is calling for his head. I guess you can add the term "hypocrite" to the list of titles you can bestow on Sharpton, among those being "racist."
It really sucks to be living in Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida just about now. If the people there aren't getting drowned in 20+ inches of rain in 24 hours they're getting blown away by troops of tornados hitting them from all directions. I don't know about you, but with the way the weather's been getting all freaky on us over the past few years, that kinda makes me think maybe something's in the works. I dunno, but right now all I can say is I feel sorry for the poor folks who've had their lives turned upside-down by the weather, and my thoughts and prayers go out to them.
And last but not least, thank God for the generic brand of Excedrin Migraine. I'd be wishing I was dead right now if not for that.
IHC
First and foremost: R.I.P. Bob Hoskins, a great talent and a great man. For those of you who are unaware of who Bob Hoskins was, he played 'Eddie Valiant,' the human detective in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," and 'Smee' in "Hook." If you saw him in either one of these movies, then you know just how great a talent he was. He will truly be missed.
And now, on to the hard stuff.
So Chicago, a city that is broke by its own admission, wants to spend $100 MILLION to build the NObama Presidential Library. Yeah, that makes sense - especially considering who the current mayor of the Murder Capital of the United States is.
And apparently, the old adage of "nothing stays secret forever" is about to come true for NObama and his staff at the White House. There's been some e-mails leaked to the news media which show that the White House staff was directly involved in grooming Susan Rice for her ill-fated media appearances the Sunday after the attacks on the embassy in Benghazi, with the idea of blaming the attacks on an anti-Islam documentary originating with NObama's staff. I believe it, and it's like this: if the staff knew about it, you'd better believe that the Buffoon In Chief knew about it. And if he says he didn't know, then how are we supposed to trust a man who can't run his own staff with running the country? Answer: we can't. This, of course, has been readily apparent to anyone with half a brain and a lick of common sense for the past 6 years - which leaves out Democrats and liberals, of course. Now I'm just waiting to see who NObama is gonna throw to the wolves to save his own skinny ass. Should be interesting.
Somebody tell me how this makes sense: a couple of black people enroll in a college in Virginia that is named in part after Robert E. Lee, knowing of the college's history and of its support of Lee, knowing of the events that take place there on his birthday every year, knowing that the Confederate Battle Flag is displayed there during these evetns, and then get their panties in a knot over the name, the display of his likeness, and the display of the Confederate flag on his birthday? Sorry, it's like this: you knew what you were getting into, so now that you're in it you have ZERO room to complain. You want to go to a college that supports your own self-styled ideas and ideals and be among people who think the same racist way you do? Then I suggest you enroll in Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia instead of Washington and Lee University. I guarantee you that you'll find a home there. You also won't find very many white people there, either, but nobody calls that college racist. Wonder why?
And speaking of racists, there's Donald Sterling to contend with this week. My first thought in all of this was, "Well, if you don't like black people, then why are you dating a girl who's half black?" Never mind the fact that she's 1/4 your age - we won't even go there. (Three guesses why SHE was dating HIM - and it ain't because of his sparking personality or dashing good looks.) My second thought was, "Who made the recording, and why?" And my third thought was, "Who leaked it to the media, and why?" If I was Donald, I'd be wanting to get to the bottom of that last one and when I found out who did it, I'd make sure he never did anything like that again. And for someone with his money, that should prove to be no big problem at all. In any event, poor old Donald has learned that in this day and age, if you're a white man who has an opinion that some people won't like, it's not even safe to voice said opinion in your own home in what you think is a private environment. I can't help but wonder, though, what the media reaction would have been if it were, say, Magic Johnson making those comments about white guys. Actually, I don't wonder about that at all - you'd never hear about it, because in this country in this day and age if you ain't white it ain't racist. (Which is, of course, total bullshit.)
While we're talking about racists and race-baiters, how about good ol' Al Sharpton calling for Sterling's head over his comments? To be expected, right? But what about Sharpton already knowing of Sterling's racist views, even going so far as to volunteer to headline the NAACP dinner in which that organization awarded Sterling its Lifetime Achievement Award? Achievement for what, exactly? By Sharpton's own admission, he knew of Sterling's views and the many lawsuits against him for those views, yet he supported him at the dinner anyway - and now is calling for his head. I guess you can add the term "hypocrite" to the list of titles you can bestow on Sharpton, among those being "racist."
It really sucks to be living in Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida just about now. If the people there aren't getting drowned in 20+ inches of rain in 24 hours they're getting blown away by troops of tornados hitting them from all directions. I don't know about you, but with the way the weather's been getting all freaky on us over the past few years, that kinda makes me think maybe something's in the works. I dunno, but right now all I can say is I feel sorry for the poor folks who've had their lives turned upside-down by the weather, and my thoughts and prayers go out to them.
And last but not least, thank God for the generic brand of Excedrin Migraine. I'd be wishing I was dead right now if not for that.
IHC
Friday, April 25, 2014
More Proof that Guns Aren't the Problem
If you've been keeping up with current events lately then I'm sure you've heard about the attack on a student in a Connecticut school by another student, end result being that the student who was attacked has died. And if you've read the story or heard it on the television, then you also know that this attack did not involve a gun - it involved a knife.
Actually, the last two incidents of violence in public schools have been committed with knives instead of guns, the first one on April 9 in Pennsylvania where a student attacked 22 other students with a knife and sent a lot of them to the hospital, and now this one in Connecticut where a student was killed.
And the liberals have been stone cold silent on the whole thing. Not one peep from the liberal camp calling for background checks on knife purchases, or limits of how many knives you can buy at one time, or outlawing knife shows or the selling of knives between citizens, or the acceptable limits on the length of the blade. Wonder why that is?
I'll tell you why that is: because all of the things I mentioned in the previous paragraph are stupid, and they're stupid because anyone with an ounce of intelligence or COMMON SENSE knows that they won't work. They also know - and here's the point that the liberals and gun-grabbers will never concede - that knives aren't the problem. Knives are a tool, nothing more and nothing less.
PEOPLE ARE THE PROBLEM.
These latest two attacks prove two things better than any conservative supporter of the 2nd Amendment (such as myself) could ever do: First, it proves that you don't have to use a gun to put a serious hurtin' on a group of people, and second - and most importantly - if someone wants to commit an act of serious and/or deadly violence, they're going to find a way to do it. PERIOD.
You want to solve the gun and knife violence in our society? Passing laws won't help and is certainly not the answer. After all, murder is already illegal, as is assault with a deadly weapon. But that didn't stop anyone, did it? Nope, it sure as hell didn't. And "Gun Free Zones" aren't the answer, either. Va Tech, Columbine, Aurora, Newtown, Fort Hood (Twice!), Columbia Mall im Maryland, The Washington Navy Yard, and the Jewish Center are all proof of that.
Background checks? Don't make me laugh. We already have a system of background checks in place run by the Federal government, and that has done absolutely ZERO to stop the mass killings for two reasons: either the guns used were obtained illegally (Columbine, Newtown, Aurora), or the crime was committed after the weapon was legally purchased (Virginia Tech, Fort Hood). Hell, even the guy who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981 bought his pistol legally, but that sure didn't stop him from shooting at Ronnie, did it?
Limits on magazine capacity? Okay, so the bad guys carry four magazines instead of 3. Big friggin' deal.
No, if you want to solve the violence problem in our society, placing blame on and taking action against the tools used isn't the way to go. You've got to address the PEOPLE doing the violence - after all, THEY are the REAL cause of the violence, not the tools they use.
In a nutshell, the cause of the violence in all aspects and facets of the American society today can, in my humble opinion, be traced to one thing and one thing only - the gradual moral, ethical, and religious breakdown of our society which has taken place over the past 40+ years, brought on by the liberal agenda forced on the American people in the name of "equality" and "fair treatment."
Think I'm crazy? Think about this:
In the America of today, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed numerous lawsuits against the US military for "forcing soldiers, sailors and airmen" to be exposed to religious artifacts and rituals - such as crosses on tops of chapel, crosses on the lapels of chaplains, and Sunday church services. This same organization has filed lawsuits against the Air Force at Shaw AFB, SC for displaying a nativity scene on the base, claiming that it "violates the Constitutional provision providing for the separation of church and state." (There's that non-existent phrase again.)
In the America of today, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed lawsuits against small town municipalities for displaying the Ten Commandments at the entrance to the county courthouse, citing that same mythical clause in the Constitution. (Kinda makes you wonder if any of 'em have actually read the damned thing, doesn't it?)
In the America of today, a first grade boy is suspended for kissing a female classmate on the cheek on Valentine's Day.
In the America of today, a third grader is suspended for biting his Pop-Tart into a shape resembling a gun.
In the America of today, a liberal group called The American Humanist Association filed a lawsuit in Maryland protesting the display of a cross in a World War I memorial, demanding that the cross be taken down. (Wanna guess why?)
In the America of today, immigrants who enter our country illegally are provided with state-issued IDs, driver's licenses, and free financial aid at the behest of the liberals in Congress while America's veterans are denied the medical treatment they both earned and need, some of them dying in the process, by a Congress who's more concerned about "offending" the delicate sensitivities of the criminals in our country than they are about taking a dump in the lap of the men and women who put their lives on the line defending our nation.
When I was a kid I was taught by my parents, by the people in my church, and by my teachers in school to respect my elders, respect other people, treat other people the way I would like to be treated, and to keep my mitts off of things that didn't belong to me. I was taught that lying was wrong, stealing was wrong, goofing off and expecting to be rewarded for it was wrong, and that honor was everything. Without honor you have and are nothing, a lesson that was taught to me early on by my parents and a lesson that I've never forgotten. (I've ignored it a few times and paid the price for it, too, but I've never forgotten it.)
All of what I just mentioned are lacking or flat-out missing in today's society, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out how that happened or who's to blame for it.
Well, primarily to blame, that is. Most of the time blame is a two-way street, and this case is no exception. The lion's share of the blame for the degredation of the moral character of our nation belongs to the liberals, but the conservatives share in it as well. We share in it because we have allowed it to happen and haven't stood up and said, "Now wait just a damned minute, this is wrong!" because - are you ready for this? - we were taught to respect others and their opinions. So we held our tongue and went along, not realizing that the trickle would become a stream that would become a river that would become a flood.
And now we're up to our hips in it, and the water's still rising.
You want to stop the violence in America? Simple. Here's how to do it.
1. Don't pass more laws. Enforce the ones we already have.
2. Stop giving money away to the countries that hate us and start spending it HERE inside our borders instead. Then you'll have the money to make #1 happen.
3. Start teaching your children about The Golden Rule and about whatever religion you were raised in. Start teaching them to respect themselves, others, and other people's property.
We are a nation that was founded on Christian principles, and it's those principles that taught us as a new nation how to act and how to treat each other. Those principles work, and the proof is that our nation is still here after 238 years.
Want proof that abandoning those principles will be the downfall of our nation? Pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV or listen to the radio - you'll get all the proof you need.
You want to solve the problem of violence in our nation? Treat the disease, not the symptoms. Guns are the symptoms, not the disease.
Fix the people, and the problem will disappear.
IHC
Actually, the last two incidents of violence in public schools have been committed with knives instead of guns, the first one on April 9 in Pennsylvania where a student attacked 22 other students with a knife and sent a lot of them to the hospital, and now this one in Connecticut where a student was killed.
And the liberals have been stone cold silent on the whole thing. Not one peep from the liberal camp calling for background checks on knife purchases, or limits of how many knives you can buy at one time, or outlawing knife shows or the selling of knives between citizens, or the acceptable limits on the length of the blade. Wonder why that is?
I'll tell you why that is: because all of the things I mentioned in the previous paragraph are stupid, and they're stupid because anyone with an ounce of intelligence or COMMON SENSE knows that they won't work. They also know - and here's the point that the liberals and gun-grabbers will never concede - that knives aren't the problem. Knives are a tool, nothing more and nothing less.
PEOPLE ARE THE PROBLEM.
These latest two attacks prove two things better than any conservative supporter of the 2nd Amendment (such as myself) could ever do: First, it proves that you don't have to use a gun to put a serious hurtin' on a group of people, and second - and most importantly - if someone wants to commit an act of serious and/or deadly violence, they're going to find a way to do it. PERIOD.
You want to solve the gun and knife violence in our society? Passing laws won't help and is certainly not the answer. After all, murder is already illegal, as is assault with a deadly weapon. But that didn't stop anyone, did it? Nope, it sure as hell didn't. And "Gun Free Zones" aren't the answer, either. Va Tech, Columbine, Aurora, Newtown, Fort Hood (Twice!), Columbia Mall im Maryland, The Washington Navy Yard, and the Jewish Center are all proof of that.
Background checks? Don't make me laugh. We already have a system of background checks in place run by the Federal government, and that has done absolutely ZERO to stop the mass killings for two reasons: either the guns used were obtained illegally (Columbine, Newtown, Aurora), or the crime was committed after the weapon was legally purchased (Virginia Tech, Fort Hood). Hell, even the guy who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981 bought his pistol legally, but that sure didn't stop him from shooting at Ronnie, did it?
Limits on magazine capacity? Okay, so the bad guys carry four magazines instead of 3. Big friggin' deal.
No, if you want to solve the violence problem in our society, placing blame on and taking action against the tools used isn't the way to go. You've got to address the PEOPLE doing the violence - after all, THEY are the REAL cause of the violence, not the tools they use.
In a nutshell, the cause of the violence in all aspects and facets of the American society today can, in my humble opinion, be traced to one thing and one thing only - the gradual moral, ethical, and religious breakdown of our society which has taken place over the past 40+ years, brought on by the liberal agenda forced on the American people in the name of "equality" and "fair treatment."
Think I'm crazy? Think about this:
In the America of today, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed numerous lawsuits against the US military for "forcing soldiers, sailors and airmen" to be exposed to religious artifacts and rituals - such as crosses on tops of chapel, crosses on the lapels of chaplains, and Sunday church services. This same organization has filed lawsuits against the Air Force at Shaw AFB, SC for displaying a nativity scene on the base, claiming that it "violates the Constitutional provision providing for the separation of church and state." (There's that non-existent phrase again.)
In the America of today, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed lawsuits against small town municipalities for displaying the Ten Commandments at the entrance to the county courthouse, citing that same mythical clause in the Constitution. (Kinda makes you wonder if any of 'em have actually read the damned thing, doesn't it?)
In the America of today, a first grade boy is suspended for kissing a female classmate on the cheek on Valentine's Day.
In the America of today, a third grader is suspended for biting his Pop-Tart into a shape resembling a gun.
In the America of today, a liberal group called The American Humanist Association filed a lawsuit in Maryland protesting the display of a cross in a World War I memorial, demanding that the cross be taken down. (Wanna guess why?)
In the America of today, immigrants who enter our country illegally are provided with state-issued IDs, driver's licenses, and free financial aid at the behest of the liberals in Congress while America's veterans are denied the medical treatment they both earned and need, some of them dying in the process, by a Congress who's more concerned about "offending" the delicate sensitivities of the criminals in our country than they are about taking a dump in the lap of the men and women who put their lives on the line defending our nation.
When I was a kid I was taught by my parents, by the people in my church, and by my teachers in school to respect my elders, respect other people, treat other people the way I would like to be treated, and to keep my mitts off of things that didn't belong to me. I was taught that lying was wrong, stealing was wrong, goofing off and expecting to be rewarded for it was wrong, and that honor was everything. Without honor you have and are nothing, a lesson that was taught to me early on by my parents and a lesson that I've never forgotten. (I've ignored it a few times and paid the price for it, too, but I've never forgotten it.)
All of what I just mentioned are lacking or flat-out missing in today's society, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out how that happened or who's to blame for it.
Well, primarily to blame, that is. Most of the time blame is a two-way street, and this case is no exception. The lion's share of the blame for the degredation of the moral character of our nation belongs to the liberals, but the conservatives share in it as well. We share in it because we have allowed it to happen and haven't stood up and said, "Now wait just a damned minute, this is wrong!" because - are you ready for this? - we were taught to respect others and their opinions. So we held our tongue and went along, not realizing that the trickle would become a stream that would become a river that would become a flood.
And now we're up to our hips in it, and the water's still rising.
You want to stop the violence in America? Simple. Here's how to do it.
1. Don't pass more laws. Enforce the ones we already have.
2. Stop giving money away to the countries that hate us and start spending it HERE inside our borders instead. Then you'll have the money to make #1 happen.
3. Start teaching your children about The Golden Rule and about whatever religion you were raised in. Start teaching them to respect themselves, others, and other people's property.
We are a nation that was founded on Christian principles, and it's those principles that taught us as a new nation how to act and how to treat each other. Those principles work, and the proof is that our nation is still here after 238 years.
Want proof that abandoning those principles will be the downfall of our nation? Pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV or listen to the radio - you'll get all the proof you need.
You want to solve the problem of violence in our nation? Treat the disease, not the symptoms. Guns are the symptoms, not the disease.
Fix the people, and the problem will disappear.
IHC
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Some Questions for "Moms Demand Action"
Keeping the old Mafia proverb of, "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer" in mind I decided a few days ago to take a look at the "Moms Demand Action" Facebook page. I wish I could say I was surprised by what I read there, but the only thing that surprises me about it is the depth of the ignorance and the level of outright stupidity that I saw there. Here are some examples taken ver batim from the Facebook page:
Sandy Huseby Gun safety .. do you side with moms and kids? Or outlaws?
So, Sandy, I guess you lump law-abiding citizens who don't share your opinion in with the outlaws?
Paula Gagnon McGill For the sake of innocent people we need background checks!
News Flash, Paula, we already have them - and they don't work.
Michelle McBriarty Even with background checks, guns still kill innocent people.
Actually, Michelle, people kill innocent people. The guns are just a tool.
Maria Resendes A 18 year can't drink in most states, but they can buy a gun i don't understand it...
Uh, not quite, Maria. Rifles and shotguns, yes, but handguns - no. Federal law requires you to be at least 21 years of age before you can legally purchase a handgun.
Randy Rivas The NRA is the problem in preventing more gun violence, which is a fact!
How so, Randy? By defending the Constitution? And would you care to name a source for your "fact," or is that only a fact in your liberal delusional world?
Anne Galbraith And, for the record, Columbine was not a "gun free zone"--they had an armed guard--a 15 year veteran of the Sherrif's office who fired four shots at Harris but was not able to stop him.
News flash, Anne - Columbine High School most certainly was - and remains - a "gun free zone." And for your edification, a "gun free zone" is a place in which no one but police or armed guards are allowed to have weapons.
Melissa McClennen Guns kill, fool!! Put them in the wrong hands and you're dead.
Melissa, have you met Michelle? You said it in your statement, by the way - it's the people with the "wrong hands" that actually do the killing. Take the gun out of those "wrong hands" and put a knife or a hammer in its place, and the killing will still take place.
Nik Kripalani Lets make gun owners face background Checks today.
Nik, have you met Paula?
And I saved the best for last:
Gail Rider Craig NRA sprays testosterone over the US regularly to increase gun sales.
Thankfully, Gail is NOT a relative of mine. If she was, I'd have to disown her. Stupidity of this level should be illegal.
This is but a very, very small sample of the ignorance and downright stupidity that you can find on the "Moms Demand Action" Facebook page, and you can find the same crap on their web site as well.
The really bad thing is that the people who run this band of lunatics are fully aware of the misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies that they're spreading. I say this because when I visited the page two days ago, I wrote a comment on the page's timeline in which I asked several questions. The questions I posed asked anyone on the page to explain to me how background checks would have prevented the shootings at Newtown, Columbine, Aurora, Norfolk, and Virginia Tech. I also made a comment in that post that I didn't expect any answers because I felt it a sure bet that the page admin would remove my post before anyone had a chance to read it.
And son of a gun if I wasn't right. The post I made is gone, and in addition to that the administrators have taken the extra step to block me from being able to make any additional posts, even if I "like" the page.
Methinks someone is afraid of the truth.
Well, if there's one place that the admin can't shut me up, it's here. My only hope is that somehow, some way, this post finds its way onto both the Facebook page and the web site for "Moms Demand Action," because I'm going to pose some really hard questions that I'd just love for "Moms" to answer. I'm not counting on it, but here they are anyway.
Question #1: The original question from two days ago - please explain to me how background checks would have prevented the shootings at Newtown, Aurora, Columbine, Norfolk, and Virginia Tech. While you're at it, throw in the shootings at Fort Hood (both of them) and the Jewish Children's Center.
Question #2: Considering that we as a nation already have in excess of 25,000 gun control laws on the books, how do you expect more laws to make a difference?
Question #3: Why are you focusing your attentions and efforts on law-abiding citizens instead of going after the thugs, punks, and thieves who are the ones actually doing the killing?
Question #4: How is making it harder for a law-abiding citizen to purchase a gun going to reduce the crimes committed by said thugs, punks, and thieves? Why punish the innocent for the crimes of the guilty?
Question #5: Why did you ignore my questions on your Facebook page, and why did you block me from making more comments? Are you that afraid of the truth, or do you already know the truth and don't want your minions to discover it?
I'll be the first person to say that the shootings which have take place in our nation over the past 15 years or so are deplorable, inexcusable acts of violence in which the perpetrators should be justly punished. Unfortunately, that punishment can't happen because the killers, for the most part, are cowards who commit suicide after committing their crimes. But I'll also be the first to say that ANY effort of ANY kind to restrict the Constitutional rights of law-abiding American citizens who choose to own a firearm is WRONG, and I will oppose any and all said efforts until my dying day. I see no logic whatsoever in placing yet more restrictions on law-abiding American citizens while totally ignoring the criminals who are committing the crimes.
"Common sense" gun laws do not exist, nor will they ever exist because what one person may deem to be "common sense" may not be deemed as such by another. To me - and thousands of others like me - there is no "common sense" in passing yet more useless legislation that will be routinely and roundly ignored by the ones doing the killing. This is why they call them "CRIMINALS," by the way.
And that, friends and neighbors, is a fact.
IHC
Sandy Huseby Gun safety .. do you side with moms and kids? Or outlaws?
So, Sandy, I guess you lump law-abiding citizens who don't share your opinion in with the outlaws?
Paula Gagnon McGill For the sake of innocent people we need background checks!
News Flash, Paula, we already have them - and they don't work.
Michelle McBriarty Even with background checks, guns still kill innocent people.
Actually, Michelle, people kill innocent people. The guns are just a tool.
Maria Resendes A 18 year can't drink in most states, but they can buy a gun i don't understand it...
Uh, not quite, Maria. Rifles and shotguns, yes, but handguns - no. Federal law requires you to be at least 21 years of age before you can legally purchase a handgun.
Randy Rivas The NRA is the problem in preventing more gun violence, which is a fact!
How so, Randy? By defending the Constitution? And would you care to name a source for your "fact," or is that only a fact in your liberal delusional world?
Anne Galbraith And, for the record, Columbine was not a "gun free zone"--they had an armed guard--a 15 year veteran of the Sherrif's office who fired four shots at Harris but was not able to stop him.
News flash, Anne - Columbine High School most certainly was - and remains - a "gun free zone." And for your edification, a "gun free zone" is a place in which no one but police or armed guards are allowed to have weapons.
Melissa McClennen Guns kill, fool!! Put them in the wrong hands and you're dead.
Melissa, have you met Michelle? You said it in your statement, by the way - it's the people with the "wrong hands" that actually do the killing. Take the gun out of those "wrong hands" and put a knife or a hammer in its place, and the killing will still take place.
Nik Kripalani Lets make gun owners face background Checks today.
Nik, have you met Paula?
And I saved the best for last:
Gail Rider Craig NRA sprays testosterone over the US regularly to increase gun sales.
Thankfully, Gail is NOT a relative of mine. If she was, I'd have to disown her. Stupidity of this level should be illegal.
This is but a very, very small sample of the ignorance and downright stupidity that you can find on the "Moms Demand Action" Facebook page, and you can find the same crap on their web site as well.
The really bad thing is that the people who run this band of lunatics are fully aware of the misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies that they're spreading. I say this because when I visited the page two days ago, I wrote a comment on the page's timeline in which I asked several questions. The questions I posed asked anyone on the page to explain to me how background checks would have prevented the shootings at Newtown, Columbine, Aurora, Norfolk, and Virginia Tech. I also made a comment in that post that I didn't expect any answers because I felt it a sure bet that the page admin would remove my post before anyone had a chance to read it.
And son of a gun if I wasn't right. The post I made is gone, and in addition to that the administrators have taken the extra step to block me from being able to make any additional posts, even if I "like" the page.
Methinks someone is afraid of the truth.
Well, if there's one place that the admin can't shut me up, it's here. My only hope is that somehow, some way, this post finds its way onto both the Facebook page and the web site for "Moms Demand Action," because I'm going to pose some really hard questions that I'd just love for "Moms" to answer. I'm not counting on it, but here they are anyway.
Question #1: The original question from two days ago - please explain to me how background checks would have prevented the shootings at Newtown, Aurora, Columbine, Norfolk, and Virginia Tech. While you're at it, throw in the shootings at Fort Hood (both of them) and the Jewish Children's Center.
Question #2: Considering that we as a nation already have in excess of 25,000 gun control laws on the books, how do you expect more laws to make a difference?
Question #3: Why are you focusing your attentions and efforts on law-abiding citizens instead of going after the thugs, punks, and thieves who are the ones actually doing the killing?
Question #4: How is making it harder for a law-abiding citizen to purchase a gun going to reduce the crimes committed by said thugs, punks, and thieves? Why punish the innocent for the crimes of the guilty?
Question #5: Why did you ignore my questions on your Facebook page, and why did you block me from making more comments? Are you that afraid of the truth, or do you already know the truth and don't want your minions to discover it?
I'll be the first person to say that the shootings which have take place in our nation over the past 15 years or so are deplorable, inexcusable acts of violence in which the perpetrators should be justly punished. Unfortunately, that punishment can't happen because the killers, for the most part, are cowards who commit suicide after committing their crimes. But I'll also be the first to say that ANY effort of ANY kind to restrict the Constitutional rights of law-abiding American citizens who choose to own a firearm is WRONG, and I will oppose any and all said efforts until my dying day. I see no logic whatsoever in placing yet more restrictions on law-abiding American citizens while totally ignoring the criminals who are committing the crimes.
"Common sense" gun laws do not exist, nor will they ever exist because what one person may deem to be "common sense" may not be deemed as such by another. To me - and thousands of others like me - there is no "common sense" in passing yet more useless legislation that will be routinely and roundly ignored by the ones doing the killing. This is why they call them "CRIMINALS," by the way.
And that, friends and neighbors, is a fact.
IHC
Thursday, April 10, 2014
The NObamacare Nightmare, Act II
By now I'm quite sure that everyone has heard about the fiasco that NObamacare has been since the rollout more than six months ago. First it was the web site not working, then it was the realization that the Buffoon In Chief had flat-out lied to the American people when he uttered the quote for which he will always and forevermore be most well-known, said quote being "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan." This truth was revealed when people began losing their health care plans that they liked because the plans weren't available under NObamacare, or their employer/doctor stopped carrying them due to NObamacare.
Then there was the sticker shock when the people who fell victim due to The Big Lie and lost their health care plan got a look at the deductibles and costs for NObamacare, which were sky-high as compared to their old plans - you know, the ones the Buffoon In Chief said they could keep. (No, I'm not gonna let that one go. Not ever.) Finally, there were the cases of people with terminal illnesses who were being kept alive by medical treatment suddenly losing said treatment because their new health care plan under NObamacare didn't offer the treatment the way their old health care plan did - you know, the the ones the Buffoon In Chief said they could keep. This point was driven home when a Congressman was one of those unfortunate one to step forward and speak out.
Well, if you thought all that was bad, then stand by for some really bad news. Act II of the NObamacare Debacle is about to begin.
Today the Internal Revenue Service announced that it would begin the process of tracking down and punishing those who either failed to sign up for NObamacare or who had signed up but hadn't made any payments.
What, you didn't know that the IRS was involved in NObamacare? I guess you should have made sure Pelosi and all the other liberal morons in Congress had actually read the bill and knew what was in it before they passed it.
What? You didn't know that you actually had to pay for NObamacare? You thought it was free? Were you just not paying attention, or are you a special kind of stupid?
Well, for all of those liberal sheep out there who chose to trust the liberal Democrats in Congress I got some really bad news for you, and here it is. It's in two parts, so hang on to your underwear.
First, the IRS is the branch of the government that is charged with tracking down and extracting payment from those who either didn't sign up for NObamacare or who didn't pay for it. They'll do this by levying a tax on you and sending you a bill that they will expect you to pay; if you don't pay the bill, they'll seize your tax refund and use it as payment. And if you don't get enough of a refund to pay the bill in full, guess what? They're gonna keep on doing it until you either set up a payment plan with them or they'll seize next year's refund as well - and they'll keep doing it until the bill is paid. That means no tax refund until the bill is paid.
And you'll still have to sign up for NObamacare in the mean time.
Second, NObamacare isn't free. You have to pay for it. If you didn't know this then I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you're one of those people who voted for NObama because he would give you all of this free stuff, and maybe you thought NObamacare was going to be modeled after the free cell phone program, I don't know. All I know is if you didn't know by now that NObamacare isn't free and that you are required by law to purchase it, then you must have been living under a rock for the past four years. The fact that the Federal government is requiring the citizens to purchase a service provided by the government but not paid for in full by the government has been a bone of Constitutional contention for the past four years. I am of the opinion that this is a violation of the 10th Amendment and that NObamacare is therefore unconstitutional, but that hasn't been decided completely in the courts yet. In the mean time the law stands, and all of you liberal freeloaders out there who voted for NObama because he was going to give you free healthcare are now getting exactly what you asked for.
And I have ZERO sympathy for you.
I have a feeling that the worse this debacle known as NObamacare gets, the more people are going to realize that they voted for the wrong man. The bad thing is that it's too late - NObama can't run for a third term, and the only way we'll be able to get rid of him is if he does something stupid enough to get impeached. Even then, the offense would have to be so heinous and so repugnant that not even the staunchest liberal in Congress could support him, because if that's not the case the same thing that happened to "Slick Willy" Clinton will happen to NObama - the House and Senate will vote along party lines, and NObama won't be convicted.
And the good news about that is that means we won't have Joe "Go Buy A Shotgun" Biden as President.
In the mean time, I'm just going to sit back, watch the liberals who voted for NObama get what they asked for, and laugh my ass off.
Then, in November of this year and November of 2016, I'm gonna vote Republican.
IHC
Then there was the sticker shock when the people who fell victim due to The Big Lie and lost their health care plan got a look at the deductibles and costs for NObamacare, which were sky-high as compared to their old plans - you know, the ones the Buffoon In Chief said they could keep. (No, I'm not gonna let that one go. Not ever.) Finally, there were the cases of people with terminal illnesses who were being kept alive by medical treatment suddenly losing said treatment because their new health care plan under NObamacare didn't offer the treatment the way their old health care plan did - you know, the the ones the Buffoon In Chief said they could keep. This point was driven home when a Congressman was one of those unfortunate one to step forward and speak out.
Well, if you thought all that was bad, then stand by for some really bad news. Act II of the NObamacare Debacle is about to begin.
Today the Internal Revenue Service announced that it would begin the process of tracking down and punishing those who either failed to sign up for NObamacare or who had signed up but hadn't made any payments.
What, you didn't know that the IRS was involved in NObamacare? I guess you should have made sure Pelosi and all the other liberal morons in Congress had actually read the bill and knew what was in it before they passed it.
What? You didn't know that you actually had to pay for NObamacare? You thought it was free? Were you just not paying attention, or are you a special kind of stupid?
Well, for all of those liberal sheep out there who chose to trust the liberal Democrats in Congress I got some really bad news for you, and here it is. It's in two parts, so hang on to your underwear.
First, the IRS is the branch of the government that is charged with tracking down and extracting payment from those who either didn't sign up for NObamacare or who didn't pay for it. They'll do this by levying a tax on you and sending you a bill that they will expect you to pay; if you don't pay the bill, they'll seize your tax refund and use it as payment. And if you don't get enough of a refund to pay the bill in full, guess what? They're gonna keep on doing it until you either set up a payment plan with them or they'll seize next year's refund as well - and they'll keep doing it until the bill is paid. That means no tax refund until the bill is paid.
And you'll still have to sign up for NObamacare in the mean time.
Second, NObamacare isn't free. You have to pay for it. If you didn't know this then I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you're one of those people who voted for NObama because he would give you all of this free stuff, and maybe you thought NObamacare was going to be modeled after the free cell phone program, I don't know. All I know is if you didn't know by now that NObamacare isn't free and that you are required by law to purchase it, then you must have been living under a rock for the past four years. The fact that the Federal government is requiring the citizens to purchase a service provided by the government but not paid for in full by the government has been a bone of Constitutional contention for the past four years. I am of the opinion that this is a violation of the 10th Amendment and that NObamacare is therefore unconstitutional, but that hasn't been decided completely in the courts yet. In the mean time the law stands, and all of you liberal freeloaders out there who voted for NObama because he was going to give you free healthcare are now getting exactly what you asked for.
And I have ZERO sympathy for you.
I have a feeling that the worse this debacle known as NObamacare gets, the more people are going to realize that they voted for the wrong man. The bad thing is that it's too late - NObama can't run for a third term, and the only way we'll be able to get rid of him is if he does something stupid enough to get impeached. Even then, the offense would have to be so heinous and so repugnant that not even the staunchest liberal in Congress could support him, because if that's not the case the same thing that happened to "Slick Willy" Clinton will happen to NObama - the House and Senate will vote along party lines, and NObama won't be convicted.
And the good news about that is that means we won't have Joe "Go Buy A Shotgun" Biden as President.
In the mean time, I'm just going to sit back, watch the liberals who voted for NObama get what they asked for, and laugh my ass off.
Then, in November of this year and November of 2016, I'm gonna vote Republican.
IHC
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Random Thoughts on a Tuesday Evening
Got a lot of thoughts running through my head that all deserve a posting here in my blog, so I figured the best way to get 'em all out is to write about all of them in the "Random Thoughts" format. So here they are.
I see the CEO of Mozilla has learned the hard way that in the America of the 21st Century, the quickest way to lose your job and find your ass out on the street is to say something bad about same-sex marriage. In short - and from my point of view - what has happened is this: a man voiced his opinion, which he is perfectly free to do; it clashed with the opinions of a minority, and the liberal lapdogs with the assistance of the liberal media took it from there. What I don't understand is why it's okay for those in favor of same-sex marriage to proclaim there views without retaliation, but it's not okay for someone to proclaim a differing point of view without being publicly eviscerated and having their lives destroyed. And if anyone should dare to call the liberals out for their point of view, the next thing you hear is "hater" and "racist" being slung around. See, that's the difference between liberals and conservatives - conservatives just want to be left alone to live their lives their own way, while liberals want to shove their lifestyles down everyone's throat and force them to live their lives the liberal's way. And I'm sorry, folks, but that just ain't right. Kinda gives "tolerance" a whole new meaning, and it ain't a good one.
The mystery of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 deepens. More than a month has gone by and we still don't know squat about what happened to the aircraft and the passengers on board. At first I thought it was a terrorist attack, but now I'm not so sure. The latest news about the search aircraft and ships having heard a ping from the black box was encouraging, but now it appears that even that lead has gone dead. I feel sorry for the families; I mean, everyone knows the plane and people on it are lost, but it sure would be nice for them to get some closure. And until they find the plane - IF they find the plane - that won't happen. Sad.
On the local scene, the liberals here in South Carolina are still raising hell about it now being legal to carry concealed in bars and restaurants. These clueless wonders are still laboring under the liberal misinformation and liberal stupidity that we CWP holders are going to go into a bar and get rip-roaring drunk, then commence to shoot the place up. They all say that they'd feel safer if we, the law-abiding citizens, left our guns in the car, yet they say nothing about and intentionally ignore the fact that the bad guys won't do that. The bad guys are already carring concealed in bars, they're already drinking, and if you've been paying attention to the news in Columbia then you know from the last shooting in Five Points that they're already shooting the place up. These liberal morons are so entrenched in their liberal mindset that they refuse to understand what's already happening. They think that a simple sign is going to keep them safe, that if a restaraunt or bar owner posts a "NO CONCEALED WEAPONS ALLOWED" sign on the door that's going to ensure that no one in the place has a gun. The truth of the matter, which they all intentionally ignore, is that the only people who will obey the sign are the law-abiding citizens - if we choose to go into the restaraunt or bar at all. (I, for one, will absolutely not ever enter an establishment that posts such a sign. I'll take my money elsewhere.) The bad guys with the guns, the ones who are already breaking the law, will totally ignore the sign and continue on with what they were doing. I would love to have a liberal explain to me how this is making them safer. But I'm not holding my breath.
Speaking of liberal stupidity, did you hear about the college student out in California who was participating in a "pro-life" rally and was physically attacked by a professor? Seems that the college professor, a black lady who is pro-choice and thinks she knows everything because "I have three college degrees!" took it upon herself to physically attack the white protestor (yeah, I put that in there for a reason; Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, where are you?) and take her sign away from her. When the student tried to get the sign back the professor shoved her three times. I'm proud to say that the asshole college professor was subsequently arrested and charged with theft and misdemeanor assault, but I'm sad to say that now there's a petition being passed around by the liberals calling for the student to be expelled. One of the supporters of the petition even went so far as to label the college student a "domestic terrorist."
I see. So if someone has the opinion that unborn children shouldn't be killed in the womb but allowed to be born they're a "domestic terrorist," but a liberal who says that it's okay to do that are, what? Upstanding citizens? In this screwed-up liberalized America, it appears to be that way.
And while I'm thinking about it, would someone please explain to me why it's okay for atheists and liberals to have their opinions and voice said opinions from every streetcorner and billboard in America without fear of retaliation or retribution, but it's not okay for a Christians or conservatives to do the same without immediate retaliation and retribution? The last time I heard, "tolerance" went both ways, and both sides were entitled to their opinions and the voicing of them; apparently the liberals in our nation have taken a page out of the liberal Congress' playbook and "redefined" the term.
So can you tell I'm getting pretty fed up with liberals? I am a product of my environment, and I make no excuses for it.
On a wider topic, I'm taking bets on just how long it takes Putin and the Russians to lay claim to more territory in the Ukraine. Any takers? I'm also taking bets on whether or not our gutless wonder of a President will do anything about it. I'm giving very high odds that he won't.
But to close this out on a positive note: my health is good, I have a wife who loves me, my dogs are pretty fond of me as well, I have some really cool friends, I'm employed, my bike is paid off, my truck is paid off, Gina's bike is paid off, and the Mustang will be paid off soon. All in all, life is good! The Big Biker - or the GAOTU as I've come to start calling him - has been pretty damned good to me, so I can't complain. My journey on that level of time from whose bourne no traveler returns has been a good one so far, and I'm looking forward to what's up ahead.
IHC
I see the CEO of Mozilla has learned the hard way that in the America of the 21st Century, the quickest way to lose your job and find your ass out on the street is to say something bad about same-sex marriage. In short - and from my point of view - what has happened is this: a man voiced his opinion, which he is perfectly free to do; it clashed with the opinions of a minority, and the liberal lapdogs with the assistance of the liberal media took it from there. What I don't understand is why it's okay for those in favor of same-sex marriage to proclaim there views without retaliation, but it's not okay for someone to proclaim a differing point of view without being publicly eviscerated and having their lives destroyed. And if anyone should dare to call the liberals out for their point of view, the next thing you hear is "hater" and "racist" being slung around. See, that's the difference between liberals and conservatives - conservatives just want to be left alone to live their lives their own way, while liberals want to shove their lifestyles down everyone's throat and force them to live their lives the liberal's way. And I'm sorry, folks, but that just ain't right. Kinda gives "tolerance" a whole new meaning, and it ain't a good one.
The mystery of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 deepens. More than a month has gone by and we still don't know squat about what happened to the aircraft and the passengers on board. At first I thought it was a terrorist attack, but now I'm not so sure. The latest news about the search aircraft and ships having heard a ping from the black box was encouraging, but now it appears that even that lead has gone dead. I feel sorry for the families; I mean, everyone knows the plane and people on it are lost, but it sure would be nice for them to get some closure. And until they find the plane - IF they find the plane - that won't happen. Sad.
On the local scene, the liberals here in South Carolina are still raising hell about it now being legal to carry concealed in bars and restaurants. These clueless wonders are still laboring under the liberal misinformation and liberal stupidity that we CWP holders are going to go into a bar and get rip-roaring drunk, then commence to shoot the place up. They all say that they'd feel safer if we, the law-abiding citizens, left our guns in the car, yet they say nothing about and intentionally ignore the fact that the bad guys won't do that. The bad guys are already carring concealed in bars, they're already drinking, and if you've been paying attention to the news in Columbia then you know from the last shooting in Five Points that they're already shooting the place up. These liberal morons are so entrenched in their liberal mindset that they refuse to understand what's already happening. They think that a simple sign is going to keep them safe, that if a restaraunt or bar owner posts a "NO CONCEALED WEAPONS ALLOWED" sign on the door that's going to ensure that no one in the place has a gun. The truth of the matter, which they all intentionally ignore, is that the only people who will obey the sign are the law-abiding citizens - if we choose to go into the restaraunt or bar at all. (I, for one, will absolutely not ever enter an establishment that posts such a sign. I'll take my money elsewhere.) The bad guys with the guns, the ones who are already breaking the law, will totally ignore the sign and continue on with what they were doing. I would love to have a liberal explain to me how this is making them safer. But I'm not holding my breath.
Speaking of liberal stupidity, did you hear about the college student out in California who was participating in a "pro-life" rally and was physically attacked by a professor? Seems that the college professor, a black lady who is pro-choice and thinks she knows everything because "I have three college degrees!" took it upon herself to physically attack the white protestor (yeah, I put that in there for a reason; Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, where are you?) and take her sign away from her. When the student tried to get the sign back the professor shoved her three times. I'm proud to say that the asshole college professor was subsequently arrested and charged with theft and misdemeanor assault, but I'm sad to say that now there's a petition being passed around by the liberals calling for the student to be expelled. One of the supporters of the petition even went so far as to label the college student a "domestic terrorist."
I see. So if someone has the opinion that unborn children shouldn't be killed in the womb but allowed to be born they're a "domestic terrorist," but a liberal who says that it's okay to do that are, what? Upstanding citizens? In this screwed-up liberalized America, it appears to be that way.
And while I'm thinking about it, would someone please explain to me why it's okay for atheists and liberals to have their opinions and voice said opinions from every streetcorner and billboard in America without fear of retaliation or retribution, but it's not okay for a Christians or conservatives to do the same without immediate retaliation and retribution? The last time I heard, "tolerance" went both ways, and both sides were entitled to their opinions and the voicing of them; apparently the liberals in our nation have taken a page out of the liberal Congress' playbook and "redefined" the term.
So can you tell I'm getting pretty fed up with liberals? I am a product of my environment, and I make no excuses for it.
On a wider topic, I'm taking bets on just how long it takes Putin and the Russians to lay claim to more territory in the Ukraine. Any takers? I'm also taking bets on whether or not our gutless wonder of a President will do anything about it. I'm giving very high odds that he won't.
But to close this out on a positive note: my health is good, I have a wife who loves me, my dogs are pretty fond of me as well, I have some really cool friends, I'm employed, my bike is paid off, my truck is paid off, Gina's bike is paid off, and the Mustang will be paid off soon. All in all, life is good! The Big Biker - or the GAOTU as I've come to start calling him - has been pretty damned good to me, so I can't complain. My journey on that level of time from whose bourne no traveler returns has been a good one so far, and I'm looking forward to what's up ahead.
IHC
Monday, March 24, 2014
Constitutional Carry in South Carolina
In the past few days or so the Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, announced her support for legislation that would allow both open and concealed carry in South Carolina without requiring a permit for either. This is called "Constitutional Carry," and is something that is already being considered in several other states. Needless to say, the social media debate on this topic is in full swing, and of course being the ardent supporter of the 2nd Amendment as I am, I'm involved in it. One of my friends on Facebook made an initial post on it in which she said she thought it was a bad idea and called it a "freeway to tragedy." She also said, "As an instructor and educated gun carrier, I can not imagine our public being told they do not need the education. We see 'experienced' shooters with absolutely NO safety or law knowledge until they come to our class. The only reason they do is they are forced. I support all gun rights but this will be a HUGE mistake." Here's what I said about it all:
"First, let me say that I am a huge believer in training in the use of firearms. I believe that anyone who chooses to carry a firearm for self-defense should be properly and adequately trained in its use, for their own safety if for no other reason.
"Having said that, let me say this: I am a fanatical supporter of the 2nd Amendment, and am a firm believer in the LITERAL definition of the amendment. "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED" means just that - NO infringements, NO limitations, NO government requirements of ANY KIND. PERIOD. Nowhere in the 2nd Amendment does it say "shall not be infringed except for mandatory training," just as it doesn't say "shall not be infringed except for background checks." As has already been said, using the logic of requiring a state-approved training course before you can exercise your Constitutional right is the same kind of logic used to fight against concealed carry, and in my humble opinion flies in the face of and violates the 2nd Amendment. I see ANY kind of government requirement at any level of government as an infringement upon our Constitutional rights. I agree with Governor Haley on this one and will support her in any way I can."
There were two immediate comments to my remarks that I wish to address here, as my reply is going to be a tad more lengthy than Facebook will allow. I can also say what I want here without the liberal censors at Facebook censoring me out. So here's the first comment:
"'A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.' It seems some people know 4 of the words very well in the 2nd amendment. Education is something alot of people don't have very much of."
My immediate reply to him was, "What's your point, John? Or is there one?"
The second comment was this:
"the (sic) constitution was written in a time of musket balls and not fully automated weapons.... Im all for gun rights too, but this bill will get ppl killed, we are already pretty high on homicides, cdv, and deaths caused by cdv, yet last in the nation in education. We have to take things like that into consideration. There is nothing our state needs more than a bunch of untrained trigger happy morons."
My initial comment to Jessica was, "So, Jessica, using that straing of logic, anything except quill and paper should be unconstitutional since that was all they had when the Constitution was written." I followed that up with another comment that said I had a lot more to say to both John and Jessica but would save it for later when I wasn't at work and had access to a real keyboard instead of the smartphone I was using. Jessica made the following reply:
"no, (sic) but of course you assume that is the same logic! I'm simply stating, I AM taking into consideration, people, mental illness, and weaponry has advanced far more than anyone who wrote the constitution could have ever imagined, and quite frankly some ppl do NOT need to be allowed to carry PERIOD. at all! That is my opinion and you are very welcome to disagree and quite frankly say what you want about it. It is my opinion and I will hold that strongly! Nikki Haley has done nothing for our state! We have only gotten worse on the things that need drastic improvement. IE education. But that doesn't matter, as long as ppl can carry their guns every where right. Priorities. I'm pro gun. I have guns and I carry them. But there are other things our fine governor could promote before making sure we remain a dangerous state."
Well, now that I'm home and have access to a decent keyboard, here's my reply to all three comments made in regards to my original post.
John has since answered my question thusly: "Ray my point is we the people who believe in the Constitution and live by it are the "Well regulated militia" Law abiding people need the education and training associated with carrying a firearm. It is just plain common sence (sic)...is there a way that can happen and be accounted for that would be in the best interest for all, other than a regulatory commission overseen by SLED?" (For those of you who don't live in SC, SLED stands for South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.)
Well, John, it's like this: I agree with what you said 100%. And no, I don't think there's a way this training can happen as a requirement without violating the 2nd Amendment. And SLED doesn't make the laws, they just enforce them.
To Jessica: In regards to your first comment, the line of "logic" that says the Constitution doesn't apply to automatic weapons because they didn't exist when the Constitution was written is anything but logical. It's borderline moronic, to be honest, and shows a depth of lack of understanding on the part of the person uttering it to be nothing short of stupendous. Like I said, using that line of thought the First Amendment wouldn't apply to anything written on a typewriter or a computer because they didn't exist when the Constitution was written. And don't say it's not the same thing because it most certainly is. There's absolutely no difference between the two just because one of the amendments is addressing guns.
As for your statement about the state already being high on homicides and the last thing our state needing is a bunch of untrained trigger happy morons, let me ask you this: who do you think is doing all the shooting in our state now? The law-abiding, responsible, mature citizens who follow the law and obtain the required permits, or the thugs, punks, thieves, and assholes who steal guns or get them on the black market and then use them to commit crimes? How can you even consider comparing the two groups to one another with any shred of decency or hope of being taken seriously? And how can you possibly think that this bill will get people killed any more or any faster than they're already getting killed by said thugs, punks, thieves and assholes already mentioned? Are you really that naive? If so, I suggest you cancel your subscription to "The State" newspaper, stop watching CNN, and broaden your horizons just a tad. What this bill will do is allow people to carry the means to defend themselves as the 2nd Amendment originally intended, nothing more and nothing less.
In regards to your second comment, I would not be so bold as to state what someone 200+ years ago thought would or would not exist in this day and age. The technology certainly wasn't there, but the imagination was. Besides, when you get right down to it, that's irrelevant as the framers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights took great care to construct a document that would apply just as strongly now in 2014 as it did in 1787 when it was ratified, and I think they did a damned fine job of it. We in this day and age are the ones who took a remarkably simple document and screwed it up with over-interpretation, misinterpretation, extrapolation, and intentional disinterpretation. Sure, there's such a thing as mental illness, just as I'm sure that there was in 1787 as well, but neither the Constitution or the Bill of Rights addresses that for one reason - the mentally ill have the same Constitutional rights as we do, like it or not. Yeah, that's gonna be a thorny problem for someone to handle later on down the road, so I'll leave that for people with more intelligence than me to figure out. Right now I'll just tell you that you can't use that as an excuse to talk bad about the proposed bill - not in my eyes, anyhow.
You also stated that "some ppl (sic) do NOT need to be allowed to carry PERIOD." If you're talking about convicted felons, I agree with you wholeheartedly; if you're not, then just who are you talking about? And how do you propose to decide who can be "allowed" to carry and who can't, and how are you going to get around the 2nd Amendment in doing so? I'd love to hear your ideas on this.
And judging from the last few lines of your post, I have a feeling that your issue isn't so much with the bill itself but with Governor Haley. It's glaringly apparent to me from your comments that you despise the woman, and those comments also lead me to believe that you're not the "pro gun" person you claim to be - or at least not to the degree that you think you are.
You and others like you all fail to see the facts for what they are, those facts being that where the citizens are allowed to arm and defend themselves, violent crime drops. If you don't believe me then go to the FBI's website and read their report on violent crime in the United States since the passage of the first "must issue" CCW law in Florida in 1996 and see for yourself.
Lastly, thank you so much for allowing me to have my own opinion, disagree with yours, but most of all to say what I want about it.
In closing, let me go back and reiterate to all who may be reading this what I initially said in my first post: I'm all in favor of people getting the training needed to be able to handle a firearm safely, and will support such training unless and until it takes the form of a requirement by law to do so. At that point you have violated the 2nd Amendment, and such a requirement is thereby unconstitutional and something I will fight against until my dying day.
"SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED." It's as simple as that.
IHC
"First, let me say that I am a huge believer in training in the use of firearms. I believe that anyone who chooses to carry a firearm for self-defense should be properly and adequately trained in its use, for their own safety if for no other reason.
"Having said that, let me say this: I am a fanatical supporter of the 2nd Amendment, and am a firm believer in the LITERAL definition of the amendment. "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED" means just that - NO infringements, NO limitations, NO government requirements of ANY KIND. PERIOD. Nowhere in the 2nd Amendment does it say "shall not be infringed except for mandatory training," just as it doesn't say "shall not be infringed except for background checks." As has already been said, using the logic of requiring a state-approved training course before you can exercise your Constitutional right is the same kind of logic used to fight against concealed carry, and in my humble opinion flies in the face of and violates the 2nd Amendment. I see ANY kind of government requirement at any level of government as an infringement upon our Constitutional rights. I agree with Governor Haley on this one and will support her in any way I can."
There were two immediate comments to my remarks that I wish to address here, as my reply is going to be a tad more lengthy than Facebook will allow. I can also say what I want here without the liberal censors at Facebook censoring me out. So here's the first comment:
"'A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.' It seems some people know 4 of the words very well in the 2nd amendment. Education is something alot of people don't have very much of."
My immediate reply to him was, "What's your point, John? Or is there one?"
The second comment was this:
"the (sic) constitution was written in a time of musket balls and not fully automated weapons.... Im all for gun rights too, but this bill will get ppl killed, we are already pretty high on homicides, cdv, and deaths caused by cdv, yet last in the nation in education. We have to take things like that into consideration. There is nothing our state needs more than a bunch of untrained trigger happy morons."
My initial comment to Jessica was, "So, Jessica, using that straing of logic, anything except quill and paper should be unconstitutional since that was all they had when the Constitution was written." I followed that up with another comment that said I had a lot more to say to both John and Jessica but would save it for later when I wasn't at work and had access to a real keyboard instead of the smartphone I was using. Jessica made the following reply:
"no, (sic) but of course you assume that is the same logic! I'm simply stating, I AM taking into consideration, people, mental illness, and weaponry has advanced far more than anyone who wrote the constitution could have ever imagined, and quite frankly some ppl do NOT need to be allowed to carry PERIOD. at all! That is my opinion and you are very welcome to disagree and quite frankly say what you want about it. It is my opinion and I will hold that strongly! Nikki Haley has done nothing for our state! We have only gotten worse on the things that need drastic improvement. IE education. But that doesn't matter, as long as ppl can carry their guns every where right. Priorities. I'm pro gun. I have guns and I carry them. But there are other things our fine governor could promote before making sure we remain a dangerous state."
Well, now that I'm home and have access to a decent keyboard, here's my reply to all three comments made in regards to my original post.
John has since answered my question thusly: "Ray my point is we the people who believe in the Constitution and live by it are the "Well regulated militia" Law abiding people need the education and training associated with carrying a firearm. It is just plain common sence (sic)...is there a way that can happen and be accounted for that would be in the best interest for all, other than a regulatory commission overseen by SLED?" (For those of you who don't live in SC, SLED stands for South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.)
Well, John, it's like this: I agree with what you said 100%. And no, I don't think there's a way this training can happen as a requirement without violating the 2nd Amendment. And SLED doesn't make the laws, they just enforce them.
To Jessica: In regards to your first comment, the line of "logic" that says the Constitution doesn't apply to automatic weapons because they didn't exist when the Constitution was written is anything but logical. It's borderline moronic, to be honest, and shows a depth of lack of understanding on the part of the person uttering it to be nothing short of stupendous. Like I said, using that line of thought the First Amendment wouldn't apply to anything written on a typewriter or a computer because they didn't exist when the Constitution was written. And don't say it's not the same thing because it most certainly is. There's absolutely no difference between the two just because one of the amendments is addressing guns.
As for your statement about the state already being high on homicides and the last thing our state needing is a bunch of untrained trigger happy morons, let me ask you this: who do you think is doing all the shooting in our state now? The law-abiding, responsible, mature citizens who follow the law and obtain the required permits, or the thugs, punks, thieves, and assholes who steal guns or get them on the black market and then use them to commit crimes? How can you even consider comparing the two groups to one another with any shred of decency or hope of being taken seriously? And how can you possibly think that this bill will get people killed any more or any faster than they're already getting killed by said thugs, punks, thieves and assholes already mentioned? Are you really that naive? If so, I suggest you cancel your subscription to "The State" newspaper, stop watching CNN, and broaden your horizons just a tad. What this bill will do is allow people to carry the means to defend themselves as the 2nd Amendment originally intended, nothing more and nothing less.
In regards to your second comment, I would not be so bold as to state what someone 200+ years ago thought would or would not exist in this day and age. The technology certainly wasn't there, but the imagination was. Besides, when you get right down to it, that's irrelevant as the framers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights took great care to construct a document that would apply just as strongly now in 2014 as it did in 1787 when it was ratified, and I think they did a damned fine job of it. We in this day and age are the ones who took a remarkably simple document and screwed it up with over-interpretation, misinterpretation, extrapolation, and intentional disinterpretation. Sure, there's such a thing as mental illness, just as I'm sure that there was in 1787 as well, but neither the Constitution or the Bill of Rights addresses that for one reason - the mentally ill have the same Constitutional rights as we do, like it or not. Yeah, that's gonna be a thorny problem for someone to handle later on down the road, so I'll leave that for people with more intelligence than me to figure out. Right now I'll just tell you that you can't use that as an excuse to talk bad about the proposed bill - not in my eyes, anyhow.
You also stated that "some ppl (sic) do NOT need to be allowed to carry PERIOD." If you're talking about convicted felons, I agree with you wholeheartedly; if you're not, then just who are you talking about? And how do you propose to decide who can be "allowed" to carry and who can't, and how are you going to get around the 2nd Amendment in doing so? I'd love to hear your ideas on this.
And judging from the last few lines of your post, I have a feeling that your issue isn't so much with the bill itself but with Governor Haley. It's glaringly apparent to me from your comments that you despise the woman, and those comments also lead me to believe that you're not the "pro gun" person you claim to be - or at least not to the degree that you think you are.
You and others like you all fail to see the facts for what they are, those facts being that where the citizens are allowed to arm and defend themselves, violent crime drops. If you don't believe me then go to the FBI's website and read their report on violent crime in the United States since the passage of the first "must issue" CCW law in Florida in 1996 and see for yourself.
Lastly, thank you so much for allowing me to have my own opinion, disagree with yours, but most of all to say what I want about it.
In closing, let me go back and reiterate to all who may be reading this what I initially said in my first post: I'm all in favor of people getting the training needed to be able to handle a firearm safely, and will support such training unless and until it takes the form of a requirement by law to do so. At that point you have violated the 2nd Amendment, and such a requirement is thereby unconstitutional and something I will fight against until my dying day.
"SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED." It's as simple as that.
IHC
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