Bryan Adams - Never Let Go

Can you lay your life down
So a stranger can live
Can you take what you need
But take less than you give
Could you close every day
Without the glory and fame
Could you hold your head high
When no one knows your name

That's how legends are made
At least that's what they say

We say goodbye
But never let go
We live, we die
Cause you can't save every soul
Gotta take every chance to
Show that you're the kinda man who
Will never look back
Never look down
And Never Let Go

Can you lose everything
You ever had planned
Can you sit down again
And play another hand
Could you risk everything
For the chance of being alone
Under pressure find the grace
Or would you come undone

That's how legends are made
At least that's what they say

We say goodbye
But never let go
We live, we die
Cause you can't save every soul
Gotta take every chance to
Show that you're the kinda man who
Will never look back
Never look down
And Never Let Go

Never Let Go
Never Let Go
Never Let Go

Gotta take every chance to
Show that you're the kinda man who
Will never look back
Never look down
And never let go
We say goodbye
But Never Let Go
We live, we die
Cause you can't save every soul
Gotta take every chance to
Show that you're the kinda man who
Will never look back
Never look down
And Never Let Go
Will never look back
Never look down
And Never Let Go
Never Let Go
-------------------------------------------------
The song's from the movie The Guardian. Top Gun in water. Kevin Costner is a Coast Guard rescue diver who's entire team got killed on a mission. He himself has a House-like injury to his arm for holding a rescued sailor for 3 hours.
Costner is canned, and sent to instruct the next generation of divers. Whereupon he meets Ashton Kutcher, who's also got a "everybody died around me" story. The two butt heads, because, stereotypically, the teacher is a jerk and so is his student. Everything gets better and better, and they become fast friends.... The ending hinges on Kutcher's dedication, the way his life is replicating Costner's. "I'll never let go!" "I know that."

3 great lines from the song, and I've got them written on the whiteboard in my room:

Never look back
Never look down
Never Let Go

Don't regret, don't be scared, don't give up. Funny how words to live your life by can come from a pop song.

I Love This Time Of Night

I really do. Where I'm sitting, the window's open, and I can feel some cool breezes, smell the night air. My rats are playful in their cage next to the computer, and if I stick a finger in, they'll lick it and let me pet them.

Driving home, the night was warm, and the sky was sort of a plum-ish black, lightened by the city lights in the distance and the orange halos of the streetlights. There were no cars, or what cars there were, were silent. The movement of the car let a nice eddy of air in, nice and cool.

I love this time of night. It is peaceful beyond belief.

Introspective

You ever run into those individuals with whom interaction is like pushing two N poles of a magnet together? They have a repulsive aura?

I knew a guy like that.

I'll call him Pat, but only because I refuse to use the name I really call him.

He made my first semester of college nearly unbearable. He was a complete and utter idiot, who was convinced he was knowledgeable on every subject. He talked loudly and at length about nothing worth the breath, and by the time the semester ended, he was known to the class as "The ****-head." Running into him from time to time since then, he's flaunted his great success in the computer world, despite the fact that he looks like a dirty drunk (and I'm convinced that he is), and his clothes are a monument to dirt and sweat stains.

There's a girl who frequents the bookshelves directly behind my department. She is, honest to God, the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I can walk through all our music and movies and not pick out anyone more attractive on any of the covers.

Not making any statements regarding my own state of mind here, just putting out there an objective, observable fact. She's far and away more good looking than anyone I've ever dated (or tried to), and that's kinda hard, IMHO.

I see and hear she's getting talked up by some guy tonight.

Heck, I'll let you make the inference here.

Pat.

Listening to their conversation, I was amazed. She's of of his league by like, 42 levels, and he was perfectly at ease. He picked a complete stranger who was out of his league, and by the time they parted company, he'd come away with her address, email, and place of work.

He picked at her weaknesses, got her kinda sad, tried several different angles into the conversation (religion, and when that didn't work, New-Ageism, which did), changed his language and behavior to match hers...he completely and utterly manipulated her.

I know this guy's a jack***. Everyone else who's met him does too. But...dang. I was impressed.

And then I got to thinking. That ain't a good thing.

If Pat, who's a jack*** can do this, why can't I? What I mean by that is, if someone truly obnoxious and repulsive can talk up anyone far above their station in life with ease, can be totally comfortable where any sane person should be embarrassed, why aren't I able to? Why do I struggle with certain human interactions? How come I, who have far better people skills, am unable to manipulate people like that?

I often joke to my friends that I need to re-evaluate my life.

I think I do.

Hillary Endorses Communism

Or socialism, or progressivism, or the democratic party...in other news, water is wet, right?

BTW, sorry for the lack of updates. I've been working full time, and it's been 5 days on, 1 off, 5 on. I have to go spend the majority of one of my next days off (next Tuesday or Wednesday) sitting at the DMV to renew my temps. Oh happy day.) On to the story.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070529/clinton_economy.html?.v=1

Selected quotes:

"I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society. I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none."

"There is no greater force for economic growth than free markets. But markets work best with rules that promote our values, protect our workers and give all people a chance to succeed. Fairness doesn't just happen. It requires the right government policies."

First John Edwards endorses the draft. Then Hillary Clinton endorses communism. What does it say about a country when, with one exception, the entire set of presidential candidates, from both major parties, could be legitimately hung for treason?

Apprehensive

So you all know some sick **** blew a hole in our front window a month ago with a 3/8 inch ball bearing. Either he was a really good shot or nearly really lucky, because he managed to put the ball through the space where heads would've been if we hadn't have been up for a commerical break.

Between then and now, someone's been prankcalling the house. They'll call once a day, and the answering machine will pick up either the sound of breathing, swallowing, or hanging up. It's been going on about 2 weeks now.

Yesterday morning, someone woke my mom up at 5 in the morning by slinging a mudball at our front window.

There is of course the possibility that all these things just happened to converge in the same frame of time. There's also the possibility that someone is or a collection of someones are trying to screw with us, and that has me slightly worried.

We've got deadbolts on the doors, motion lights, one hell of an alarm system in the form of our parrot, and lots of things close at hand that go boom. Unless you're the 68th Airborne, or Shiek Amadadoodie And The 101 Self-Immolating Neolithic Goatherders, getting in is going to be hard, and getting out is going to be harder and messier.

I still feel like I'm waiting for the other end of the hammer to drop though. I hope I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, I really do.

John Edwards Calls For A Draft

"One of the things we ought to be thinking about is some level of mandatory service to our country, so that everybody in America — not just the poor kids who get sent to war — are serving this country."

When asked to clarify, he said he did not mean that only the poor should serve their country. What he really meant was that EVERYONE should be forced at gunpoint to serve their country.

I cannot adequately express my rage right now. I will just say that more and more, politicians bring to mind the Mozambique Drill.

Bon Jovi - Story Of My Life

Yesterday’s a memory
Another page of history
You sell yourself on hopes and dreams
That leaves you feeling sideways
Tripping over my own feet
Trying to walk to my own beat
Another car out on the street
Trying to find the highway yeah
Are you going my way

This is the Story Of My Life
And I write it everyday
I know it isn’t black and white
And it’s anything but grey
I know that no I’m not alright
But I feel ok cause
Anything can, everything can happen
That’s the Story Of My Life

(guitar solo)

I gonna write the melody
That’s gonna make history
And when I paint my masterpiece
I swear I’ll show you first
There just ain’t a way to see
Who and why or what will be
Till now is then
It’s a mystery
It’s a blessing and a curse
Or something worse

This is the Story Of My Life
And I write it everyday
I know it isn’t black and white
And it’s anything but grey
I know that no I’m not alright
But I feel ok cause
Anything can, everything can
I been thinking and baby
You can help me write the Story Of My Life
What do you say?

(guitar solo)

This is the Story Of My Life
And I write it everyday
And I hope you're by my side
When I’m writing the last page

This is the Story Of My Life
And I write it everyday
I know it isn’t black and white
And it’s anything but grey
I know that no I’m not alright
But I feel ok cause
Anything can, everything can
I been thinking baby we can…
This is the Story Of My Life
The Story Of My Life
The Story Of My Life
This is the Story Of My Life
The Story Of My Life
This is the Story Of My Life
-------------------------------------------------
I love this song. It's a reflection on the collection of good and bad that make up a person's life. The lines "I know that no I’m not alright/But I feel ok" are especially telling - the narrator isn't particularly pleased about the direction his life has taken, but he's gonna roll with it anyway.

This song should've been a single.

Home Invasions Proposed By SanFran DA

(CBS 5) SAN FRANCISCO -- On Wednesday, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced a new round of gun control measures.

The announcement comes nearly one year after a judge struck down a law banning handgun possession in San Francisco.

"In the last 24 months, just to give you perspective, we've taken more guns off the street than we have in the last decade," Newsom said.

A total of 2,262 guns since the crackdown began. One part of the measure bans guns from any city owned property, not only in buildings like city hall, but also city parks.

Guns are already banned at some city buildings, such as schools. Mayor Newsom hopes to extend the ban to public housing complexes, but federal laws make that complicated.

The proposed legislation would also require people who commit crimes with guns to sign up with the police department, then probation officers could keep better tabs on them.

Another aspect would require all gun owners to store their arms with a trigger lock or in a lock box. Authorities say lock boxes would help to keep legal guns from being stolen and then later used illegally.

The idea is to remind legal gun owners how to behave.

"Just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn't mean that we're not going to walk into that home and check to see if you're being responsible and safe in the way that you conduct your affairs," District Attorney Kamala Harris said.

San Francisco's only gun shop is also a target. The proposed legislation would require it and any future gun shop to send the authorities a gun sales list every six months.

Even though criminals already don't follow the law, the mayor believes any gun crackdown makes the city safer.

"It is fair to say that a majority of gun crime is committed with illegal guns," Harris said.
-------------------------------------------------
Emphasis mine.

As I've said before:
Ignorance is a lack of knowledge
Stupidity is a lack of intelligence
Ignorance is cured by education
Stupidity is cured by a funeral

Where does active malice fit in there?

More From Jim Doyle

From our dear governor comes a bill proposing that cities be given the power to enact gun laws stricter than state law. No provision of course for reducing the absurd number of gun laws down to their appropriate level of 0, of course.

I remember, with much fondness what happened to a similar governor in Unintended Consequences. Governor, Taser, pictures of minors, heroin "overdose", some assembly required. *sigh* If only good men were willing to do such things today...

I'm kind of ambivalent about this law. It's all bad of course, no doubt about it. But alderman are a lot easier to strongarm than state senators. It's a lot easier to, say, find a pro-victim-disarmament alderman's address and pitch a brick through his window than it is to slash a senator's tires. At least this would put our enemies within striking distance.

I refuse to comply with laws that mandate my disarmament. I will never, under any circumstances, surrender the weapons I own. Ever. I will be driven from this state before I will give up my right to self-defense.

Jim Doyle can kiss mine.

Never Thought I'd See The Day...

...when Steve Kagen was the voice of conservatism and reason. He shocked me the other day by standing against his socialist ilk and voicing his opposition to the renewal of the "assault weapons" ban.

Today he appears in the local paper saying that he opposes criminal immigration, amnesty for already-arrived criminals, and that any criminal who's already crossed the border illegally should be deported.

WOW.

That is a break in the ranks of the Democrat party.

I'm starting to like this guy. He's still a bloody commie when it comes to finances, but where else are you going to find a Democrat who's, uh, liberal, on guns, and tough on the border?

Assault Weapons Ban Letter From Steve Kagen

Dear Vincent,

Thank you for allowing me to listen to your concerns regarding H.R. 1022, the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007. I appreciate you sharing your views on this important issue.

I support the Second Amendment, and therefore, I am opposed to H.R. 1022. We do not need any additional regulations on gun ownership. This bill would impose unnecessary restrictions on certain guns and rifles. I understand how sensitive an area this is for many people, and I will work hard to protect the Wisconsin heritage of hunting, fishing and out door recreation.

Thank you again for sharing your concerns with me. By working together, we will build a better future for everyone.

Sincerely,

Steve Kagen, MD

Member of Congress

------------------------------------------------
My opinion of Steve Kagen has been raised approximately one degree out of the negative. He's still a bloody commie when it comes to financing and redistribution of wealth, and let us not forget, he did not respond at all to any comments and concerns I emailed him about prior to his election...but, this letter is a good thing. The only true test however is whether or not he'll roll with this position when it gets down to voting.

More Government, YIPPEE!

I got to ask one of my teachers today for a letter of recommendation, and he tells me to go get the approval form from Student Services. I say "What?" He says it's a federal crime to give out letters of recommendation without an approval form.

So I mosey on over to Student Services. They say go to Student Employment. I think WTH and go across to Student Employment.

They say the only way they can release the forms to me is if I sign up for this State job-notification program. Basically, I can only receive Letter Of Recommendation Approval forms is if I declare I'm going to graduate within the next three years, and give the State-sponsored college permission to mail me job offers and keep track of me.

All I want are 2 ****ing letters of recommendation, and I have to give up my student ID, name, SSN, home address, phone number, and email to the state.

This is RETARDED!

I'm going to the range tomorrow.

James Schrader

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=594868
At Gander Mtn. today, I learned of this from a friend of James Schrader.

James buys old guns. Lots of them. Like, more than I'll ever even imagine owning, and in the words of Han Solo, I can imagine quite a bit.

To support his antique-gun-buying habit, he buys more than he wants, and sells the ones he doesn't want at a profit. Occasionally sets up a table or two at a gunshow, sells of some vintage Winchesters, gets the money to keep on buying. He's 61, and active in his church. Stand up guy.

At one of the gunshows, a dealer he knew approached his table, handed him an AR15. Sold it to him and mentioned in passing that it "might be full auto." Schrader says he'll check to see when he gets home, make sure it's not broken or anything. A few hours later, this dealer comes back, says "Hey, I've got a buyer, you still have that rifle?" Schrader did, and sold it to the buyer.

What Jimmy Schrader didn't know was that the dealer he'd known for 10 years had recently agreed to become an informant for the BATFE. He knowningly sold Jimmy an illegal rifle (buying and possession charges) and then got him to sell the rifle to another BATFE agent (transfer charges).

Jimmy was arrested on all of the above charges when leaving the gunshow. The guns he had were confiscated, as was his vehicle and cash. He was booked for the purchase, possession, and transfer of a Class 3 firearm without a license. Upon paying bail, he went back home and found that his house had been raided. 350 guns taken along with a substantial amount of cash.

At this point, Jimmy's waiting to be charged with a crime, and is spending his life savings trying to stay out of jail.

I don't know how to speak about my feelings on this without resorting to violent or profane language.

Another thing I don't know is how a person of decent upbringing manages to go out and of their own volition trick innocent people into committing multiple crimes, specifically to put them in prison. I don't know how you live with that, I don't know how you justify it to yourself and God, I don't know how you don't do it for the first time and then go home and put your gun in your mouth.

Anyone who does that is SCUM. They are as low as murderers. They deserve a swift trial, where their own actions can be brought against them as evidence and the excuse of "just following orders" is not allowed, and a date with the executioner 2 days later. In the 48 hour interregnum, they deserve the opportunity to file one appeal. Also in that time, they should be placed in prison, in general population, wearing jumpsuits identifying them as police officers.

After 48 hours, they should be drug out to a field, made to dig a ditch, and then they should be shot, once in the head. Kick 'em into the ditch, and forget the stain they left on the planet in their living years.

Gods I'm mad right now.

Tales From Retail Pt.10

10.Of all the things I’ve seen in 2 years and change working retail, this next one takes the cake.

In walks a mother and 3 kids. One’s a boy about 10 years old. The other is, I assume, his sister – about 15, and dressed in an unholy convergence between goth and emo. The final kid is a little older, maybe 17 or 18, and he looks normal too. I assume it’s a family.

I ask if I can help, then resume doing odds and ends behind the counter. The counter is along the wall, perpendicular to the browsers. This means I can look down one entire aisle, and though your body would be blocked to me, I can see every head in the store.

To my left, in the aisle along the wall, the only one of which I have an unobstructed view, I see in my peripheral vision, an enormously fat person. He’s like…two people wide.

I turn my head, realize I just observed an intimate moment, and guiltily stare straight in the opposite direction. Then I look again. It’s like watching a train crash in slow motion, Technicolor. The goth girl and the ten-year old are…ahem…facially bonding…at a subatomic level. Nothing obscene…yet…and I’m here to tell you it could’ve gone that way quickly. Frisky does not begin to cover it.

Meanwhile, the mother of one or possibly both of these little twits, and one of their siblings are standing next to them, whilst calmly discussing DVDs, completely aware that one or both of their children, one of which is barely out of diapers are…uh…doing a function check on the human anatomy in front of them.

Finally the family makes their selection, comes up to the register, and then the oldest boy darts off, exclaiming about forgetting something. He returns a few seconds later with a marijuana poster in hand. Whereupon, the mother informs the two star-crossed lovers that they should each get one too.

Some people remark upon my dim view of human nature from time to time. I think this could be part of the explanation.

Didn't Expect To Hear From These Idjits Again

Didn't hear much from the Queen-of-the-ding-a-lings Sarah Brady after my last letter. I suspect it burned through the screen of whichever monitor was unfortunate enough to display it. Today I got another letter from them. Here's my response.


Hello:

Given your organization's nature, I understand it might be difficult for you to comprehend certain things. Crime rates, natural rights, and logic all seem to be outside your grasp. Now it appears simple requests for the removal a name from your subscription are as well.
Perhaps I'm arguing with an automated system, maybe not. If there's a person reading this: Get me the HELL off your subscription list. I don't want to receive any updates from you, I get all I can take of your repulsive and moronic agenda from the news media. I don't want to hear from you ever again, understand?

If I have any interaction with your group whatsoever, it will be in the form of trying to counteract, subvert, and in any way screw with your plans and agenda, or in some other way attempting to irritate you. In the meantime, quit soiling my inbox with your deluded, impossibly stupid missives.

As I said before, I hope this letter depresses which self-centered, filled-with-delusions-of-adequacy, ignorant troll reads it.

A Sight I'll Never Forget...

Finished Lost last night (loved it by the way, maybe the best of the season), and watched the news after. Big mistake.

Seems the thin blue line hereabouts is starting a 4 month program to clean up my city's north end. Two man patrols in police vans, ticketing people for any and all violations. I will never forget the sight of the man being led away in cuffs for riding his bike on the wrong side of the street.

Last year they handed out 3000 tickets due to this little initiative. Figure a min. of $100 per, that's nearly half a mil right there. Seems someone figures there's a bit of money to be made harrassing people over victimless crimes. Another example of the power corrupts motto...

They put the cuffs on him for riding his bike on the wrong side of the street!

Best solution - every time one of these two man teams goes out, they get hit with Tazers, their gear gets stolen, and they wake up in their undies with the their van gutted. Everybody goes home in one pieces, gets the message across.

I'm steaming furious right now.

I Love Screwing With The Bradys

http://www.ifcdata.com/clients/brady/english.asp

Apparently they're giving away free packs of anti-gun posters and pamphlets. I've got a hundred of each, in both languages coming to my house. No shipping either. If I get these, I'll order 200 next time.

Perfect way to fuel a bonfire, and I need targets.

The Most Fun I've Had In School All Year...

The top two fears people have are death and public speaking, and not in that order.

I've known what it's like to be shot at, and recently, so I figure giving my hour long public speech today should be a cake-walk. It is. I kicked some Basic Excel Class hinder.

Touching on the Merge And Center button, I said "I like to use this to create headings, column descriptions, that sort of thing. It takes many cells and combines them into one. Kind of like communism, only useful, and, you know, not evil."

Got a laugh out of the class, even the teacher.

The next presenter, a friend of mine, gets up to do his speech. He starts off by saying he resents my anti-Communist statement. In fact he is one, and it's working well in China.

Vincent's response:"Maybe. But they had to whack twenty million people to get there. That doesn't scream progress benchmark to me."

So. His presentation is on harrassment. Trots out the usual statistics, the vast majority of cases go unrecorded, 15,000 cases go before the court every year (and climbing), harrassment rates are climbing, 1 in 3 people will be harrassed, harrassment can be just about anything, etc and so forth.

Vincent is scribbling notes furiously. At a pause, I raise my hand. He calls on me.

"So, if harrassment can be any action that offends people, and the vast majority of cases go unrecorded, how do we know that said harrassment is taking place, could it non-existant, or could it be people making it up?"

He says that yes, that's a possibility.

"Also, harrassment convictions are what matter. If fifteen thousand cases go before the courts every year, increasing, and the number that get tossed out increase right along with them, that isn't exactly a rising tide of a problem."

"My site was kind of...biased..."

I don't remember exactly what I said next, but it was something similar to: "So what your basically telling me is that harrassment is sort of like divorce court. You can make crap up without consequences, and the guy always gets screwed?"

I'm one of those few individuals who is blessed enough to love my work.