Running

In one week, I went from "average" to "farthest I've ever gone." Last Monday I went 3 miles. That's average. I try to run 2.5-3 miles every day.

Wednesday I ran 4 miles. That's respectable.

Friday I ran 5.5 miles, breaking my longstanding record of 4.5 miles. 77 degrees out, and I wasn't significantly winded at the end. It just felt like it was time to come home.

Saturday I ran 4.5 miles, and felt like dying. I ran my old 4.5 mile route, faster than ever. Got home and was light-headed, dizzy, cold, hot...it took 2 days for my mouth to quit drying out.

And my weight dropped down to 101.5. That's not stable weight loss, a lot of that was liquid. My normal weight is somewhere between 105.5 (ideal) and 107.5.

I'm liking this pushing the boundaries stuff. Gonna have to try it more often.

So As I Don't Go Forgetting...

What I Want To Remember...

Chinese food.

Rambo 4

THIS is a movie.

Starts with a horribly visceral scene of Karen refugees being shot and blown up by commies. No explanation for it, just "hey, this is what commies do." Worse, the commies seem to be apathetic or happy about it.

Rambo is hired to take a bunch of missionary violence-solves-nothing weiner types up river to a Karen refugee camp. Great line "If you're not taking weapons, you're not gonna change anything."

Predictably, the missionaries are kidnapped by the commies. Rambo is hired again to take a bunch of mercenaries to rescue them. Rambo interrupts another refugee torture session with a bow and a bunch of well-placed arrows, and as soon as you see an arrow come flying through someone's face, you just know this movie is going to set a new record for gore.

Rambo and the mercs infiltrate the commie camp, where the commies are doing all sorts of vile, typically commie things. Rambo rips the throat out of one - awesome scene.

The mercs rescue all but one of the missionaries, and Rambo, the last missionary, and one merc are left to trek back through the jungle. Soon, all of them are being followed by commies, and Rambo dispatches a bunch of them with a claymore and 60yo British Tallboy bomb.

Everybody but Rambo ends up captured, and right before their execution, Rambo decapitates the commie lieutenant, commandeers a truck-mounted .50, and shreds a guy in the front seat. Probably the single most violent scene in all of movie-dom.

The next "5 minutes of .50" are nothing but exploding bodies, gunfire, and death. Fortunately, the majority of the people exploding are commies, so you don't feel bad about cheering.

At the end, just when it seems the head commie is about to get away, Rambo steps out from behind a tree and disembowels him, nearly cutting him in half. Lovely scene.

Yes, this is a simplified, and humorous review. What's important to note is the message behind the movie: There are bad people doing bad things, and the only way to stop them is to kill them. No trying to understand them, no trying to reason with them, trying to civilize the uncivilized (or uncivilizeable), no "we made them this way," no America hating, bashing or blaming. Rambo recognizes evil, and makes it stop in the only way possible.

Col. Cooper has a quote that sums up this movie: An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing.

Now we need to see the next Rambo moved to Pakistan/Iran/Syria/Afghanistan/Iraq where he disembowels and decapitates the thousands of people who do stuff like string up blind boys and beat them to death for failing to learn the Koran.

Shooty Goodness

Took the 12gauge, the CZ452, and the Walther 22 out to the range yesterday. Ran through the last of my high-brass birdshot. Got my dad some trigger time with it. He normally doesn't like the higher recoiling guns, but really liked this one. I got a heckuva bruise on my bicep from the gun slipping off my shoulder right before I pulled the trigger.

Ran fifty rounds through the Walther, my dad probably a hundred. Only malfunctioned once, failure to chamber a round after the first shot. Decently accurate too, better than I remember. Minute of man at 45 feet.

I shot the .22 rifle at 50 yards, placing all my shots inside a little grouping about the size of a half dollar. Got to be one big hole such that I could see it from the line. I love a .22 with a scope, and the CZ is high-class quality.

Class

A mother in her PJs does yardwork while her stay-over boyfriend does the mowing. Her daughter and her stay-over boyfriend (both of them in PJs) converse in the garage.

Class.

You either have it, or you don't. That is all.

Sixx A.M. - Accidents Can Happen

Don't give up
It takes a while
I have seen this look before
And it's alright
You're not alone
If you don't love this anymore
I hear that you've slipped again
I'm here 'cause I know you'll need a friend

And you know that Accidents Can Happen
And it's okay
We all fall off the wagon sometimes
It's not your whole life
It's only one day
You haven't thrown everything away

Take some time
And learn to breathe
And remember what it means
To feel alive
And to believe
Something more than what you see
I know there's a price for this
But some things in life you must resist

And you know that Accidents Can Happen
And it's okay
We all fall off the wagon sometimes
It's not your whole life
It's only one day
You haven't thrown everything away

(guitar solo)

I hear that you've slipped again
I'm here 'cause I know you'll need a friend

And you know that Accidents Can Happen
And it's okay
We all fall off the wagon sometimes
It's not your whole life
It's only one day
You haven't thrown everything away
You know that Accidents Can Happen
And it's okay
We all fall off the wagon sometimes
It's not your whole life
It's only one day
You haven't thrown everything away

So don't give up
It takes a while
----------------------------------------------
Don't know why I'm posting this song tonight. What I did wasn't an accident. It's six months in the planning. This just feels like the best song for me tonight, even though there are tons better that I'll be posting.

I quit my job today. I've been working there 2.5 years, I love my work, I get paid decent, and the people there are the only friends I have.

This summer I'm taking an internship and classes at school. Goal is to graduate in December, and this is the only way to do that. The only cost is all my friends and $5000 worth of income, and that pales in comparison to the friends.

I set this up, planned this out with the possibility of become better friends with the people I care about. Strengthen the friendships through distance, and I now see I was more than likely wrong.

It's not your whole life
It's only one day
You haven't thrown everything away

Life So Far

My friend came back from the military, and I went shooting with him. He's moving to the southern part of the state, so we'll be seeing more of him this summer.

I got As in all my classes this semester, and didn't expect to. I got $200 back from selling my books, and didn't expect to.

I bought Crysis as a reward for doing so well in school. Lovin' it. That game is awesome.

My plan is coming closer to completion. Something very good and very awful happened on Monday, and...now I have to face the fact that everything I planned to do is happening. It's necessary, but I don't like it one bit.

I've been busy, and will blog more later in the month.

Event Horizon

This is the most terrifying movie I've ever seen.

I saw 25 minutes of it on UPN when I was 8 or so. Shut it off and had nightmares for the next week. Finally worked up the courage to rent it 10 or 11 years later, and it still scared the crap out of me.

I just bought it this afternoon, $10 at Best Buy. Still terrifying. Whoever came up with the "hell montages" needs serious professional help.

This movie is a small part of my overall plan.

Max Payne 2: The Fall Of Max Payne

Procured a copy of this a few days ago, and I've been playing it pretty much every night, usually until about 1 in the morning. Awesome game. Hard-boiled, dramatic, doesn't take itself too seriously. Good combat sequences, graphics are still good...what...seven years later?

If you find it, buy it.

Lifehouse - Hanging By A Moment

Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
I'm closer to where I started
Chasing after you
I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm Hanging By A Moment here with you

Forgetting all I'm lacking
Completely incomplete
I'll take your invitation
You take all of me now...

I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm Hanging By A Moment here with you
I'm living for the only thing I know
I'm running and not quite sure where to go
And I don't know what I'm diving into
Just Hanging By A Moment here with you

There's nothing else to lose
There's nothing else to find
There's nothing in the world
That can change my mind
There is nothing else
There is nothing else
There is nothing else

Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
I'm closer to where I started
Chasing after you....

I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm Hanging By A Moment here with you
I'm living for the only thing I know
I'm running and not quite sure where to go
And I don't know what I'm diving into
Just Hanging By A Moment here with you

Just Hanging By A Moment (here with you)
Hanging By A Moment (here with you)
Hanging By A Moment here with you
--------------------------------------------
Exactly four weeks, twenty-eight days from now, I will have made the what I believe will have been the biggest mistake of my life. Bigger than not turning around 3 minutes earlier on my last day of work. Bigger than never asking "her" what her name was, and that's probably the single most galling mistake I can remember.

I don't know what I'm going to be doing, twenty-eight days from right now. Walking home? Running, trying to outrun my decision? Maybe just talking on the phone, and trying to explain this to a person I'm going to owe an explanation to? Part of me wants to walk across the street to the home of an old friend, and take her up on her long-ago invitation to get roaring drunk.

I suspect I'll be sitting here, like I am right now.
Typing.
Having made the smart decision.
Done the right thing.

I'm manipulating the situation right now. Doing everything I can to spin this in my favor. I ran a "long con" once, spent over a year manipulating a situation into one perfect lie that made me feel like crap, saved my brother's relationship with the rest of the family, and screwed up something I had wanted for a long, long time.

I've been planning this since January. Putting the pieces together, figuring out the angles, manipulating the people involved. If I can pull it off, this is going to be the greatest thing I've ever done, and will end perfectly for me. I WANT to do this. It's time for a change, to shake things up, and this is the ONLY way to get what I want.

It does, however, involve some loss of control. And I know what I'm going to do - not what I want to do, I'm going to do what I've always done. The smart thing, the nice thing, the right thing. And I'll hate it, and I'll live with it.

This song rings true for me in several ways, and a couple of lines really stand out to me:

Desperate for changing
Starving for truth
I'm closer to where I started
Chasing after you
I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
...
Forgetting all I'm lacking
Completely incomplete
...
I'm living for the only thing I know
I'm running and not quite sure where to go
And I don't know what I'm diving into

Son of a...this all sounds so emo.

Damn it, I don't care.

27 days to go now.

Fun Times Pt. 6

The Fun Times category encompasses those unfortunate events that can be looked back on with anything other than horror. The prowler/burglar that became a flying squirrel chase. The TV turning itself on, prompting myself and my brother to do honest-to-God house-clearing.

------------------------------------------------

Went running yesterday around 4 maybe. Got home, showered, watched an episode of House. I notice out my bedroom window that's it's getting dark. 5:45 sees thunder and distant lightning. I shut my laptop off and unplug it at 6, as thunder and lightning start booming directly overhead.

I go down to the junkroom where my mom is using the computer and feeding the rats. At this point we've got torrential rains to the point where you can't see through the backyard, and the oak trees are waving like palm fronds. The sky is nasal-discharge green.

Mom says "hey, that'd make a good picture" goes to get her camera. Three things happen at once.

1.The back screen door is practically ripped open.
2.The garage door explodes inward (open) and something long flies in.
3.There's the noise of an explosion and all the lights go out.

Mom screams and dives to pull the backdoor closed. It's a fight against the wind. My first thought is "Someone just kicked the door in and I'm on the only end of the house without the appropriate equipment for shooting them." Second thought is a tree fell on the house and a branch came through the ceiling. It is dark as night in the house and I can't tell if there's structural damage, what's going on.

I go shut and lock the garage door. I go shut and lock the back door, run to the other end of the house and grab my Maglite and dad's weather radio. Mom's tripping on shoes and whatever flew in when the door burst open. Doorjam maybe?

I flick the light over the other end of the hallway - it's the curtain rod from over the window in the door. My brother's downstairs, taking a shower, and the next order of business is to get him light. No problem he yells up, there's an emergency light in the bathroom.

I'll expound on emergency lights in a little bit.

It still sounds like the end of the world outside, so we take the rats and the bird downstairs and set them on pool table, and I set about flipping the breakers to see which one will turn the power back on. None of them do. This wasn't a fuse that snapped, this is interruption of power to the house.

Twenty minutes later the worst of the storm is over. We go outside and find a tree branch snapped off, tore the powerlines down in the neighbor's yard. Later we discover that the powerpole in our backyard has been sheared off about five feet from the top, bringing the transformer down. No power for us for a long time. It's probably 7 at this time.

In the meantime we've lit candles, because it is DARK out and in.

We order a pizza and eat, and around 9 my brother and I go and get ice to keep the contents of the downstairs freezer frozen.

The power company gets here about 10:30 and commences wandering through the yards with flashlights, laughing and joking and looking around.

I go to bed in the junkroom around 11:00. The garage door won't close, so the house is pretty much open to whoever wants to come in. If you've ever watched Jericho, you remember the episode Rogue River, which ends with Jake sitting up in his family's livingroom with a shotgun waiting for trouble to show up. That was pretty much me last night.

Power was restored around 4 this morning.
---------------------------------------------------
Power outages are not normal occurances, but they're not alien either. I remember big chunks of the US going dark due to too much traffic on the electric grid a couple summers ago. I remember NY having a similar problem I think just last summer. Those problems lasted long than 10 hours though.

Emergency lights are one of the best things you can have in your house. $5-10 at Menards/Fleet Farm/Home Depot, and they plug into your wall outlets. In the event of an outage, they come on, providing 1-3 hours of constant power. These should be in every room of the house and will provide enough light to get you to a flashlight.

We've got 3 good flashlights, and that's not nearly enough. You should have one flashlight per room, if not more. A decent Maglite will set you back $20, and by my estimate, will provide 4-8 hours of constant power. You should have a decent stock of batteries, and check the flashlights often to see if their batteries are leaking or are running down.

Once you've got the situation assessed, it's time to light candles in the main parts of the house and turn the flashlights off. You should have LOTS of big candles. We've got 8 hurricane candles, which each provide about 16 hours of meager illumination, as well as probably 8 big decorative candles and maybe thirty candles ranging in size from drinking cups down to tea-lights. Candles don't do a very good job of illumination, so you'll need more of them. By my estimate, those eight hurricane candles would've lasted us three nights.

When my brother and I went to Walmart to get ice, I bought 4 packs of chemlights. They're in camping section, Ozark brand. They come 2-3 to a pack, and come in multiple colors. Bend them till they crack and then shake, and they provide strong light for about six hours. I snapped one at 9:30 and it was still going somewhat strong at 4:30. As soon as I pay off the eight shotgun magazines I bought, I'm going to fill a .30cal can with chemlights.

First aid kits should be kept on hand, and should be capable of addressing decently sized wounds. One of the first things my mom did once the storm was over was to go and check on the elderly immigrant couple on the corner, and wound up coming back to get supplies to clean and bandage a medium serious gash on the man's leg that he got from tripping in the dark.

Here's what I keep thinking - we lost power for 10-12 hours. Our main concerns were light, and keeping the stuff in the freezer frozen.

Now imagine it's the middle of summer and the grid goes down because everybody's running 3 airconditioners. Businesses AND houses are dark. No more fans, airconditioners, lights, computers, whatever man, if it's plugged in, it's dead. Now imagine that going 3 or more days. I don't know if that would affect water pumping stations, but I suspect so. Suddenly I don't feel so paranoid. Every population center, major or not, is 24 hours of no power away from a breakdown of social order. We've got about 40 gallons of water downstairs and tons of canned food, and right now it doesn't feel like enough.

Or imagine a major blizzard lasting 3 or 4 days. Ice dragging down powerlines, whiteout conditions making the roads impassible. Such a thing is not unexpected here.

A little hardship, and suddenly, I feel vindicated.

Patriot's Day

Wrote this for 4/19, and life got in the way of posting it. Here it is, finally.


I want you to imagine a small town. Let’s say it’s in Montana. It’s rural, but not isolated, small but not quaint. The majority of its citizens are churchgoers. The majority of them home school their children. They are doctors and lawyers and shopkeepers and most of them are farmers. They are, without exception, hunters.

The most interesting feature of this town is the fact that most of the men in the town are soldiers. From the age of 16 and on, the boys and men train outside the town as soldiers. Nearly every home in the town has at least one automatic rifle per person, and several of the townspeople possess rocket propelled grenade launchers.

Many of them hold anti-government views. The preachers continually harangue on the topic of taxation. Many of them are upset about perceived government abuses, like redistricting, the importation of foreign troops, and federal investigation of conspiracy theory groups.

In a nutshell, our small town is filled with heavily armed, religious anti-government radicals. Their religious leaders continually reinforce their extreme beliefs, and the parents continually indoctrinate their children in these extreme beliefs as well.

Obviously, the government sees this town as dangerous. It sees this small town as a place where domestic terrorists are born, bred, trained, and constantly reinforced in their beliefs. This town is an American version of Sadr City, it’s newspaper and pulpit the American version of Al-Jazeera. Radicals infest every layer and class of the population.

The federal government decides to defang the radicals in our small Montana town. Generously, they decide not to issue any arrest warrants. Instead, they’ll secure and destroy the heavy weapons like the rocket launchers, and then vacate the town, leaving the townspeople to continue their paramilitary training with their automatic weapons. This is an unprecedented move – if you or I were to possess machine guns without the proper permits, we’d be sent to prison for ten years.

But whatever their reason, federal officials have decided to spare the anti-government radicals in our small Montana town from prison. All they want are the heavy weapons.

They are not going to take any chances however. They send Humvees filled with men, eight hundred of them, to secure the town while the weapons are destroyed. As every able-bodied person, sixteen years of age or older is proficient with military style weapons equal to those possessed by the army, this is not considered overkill. Given the residents familiarity with the area and the extent of their paramilitary training – nearly to same level of proficiency as the soldiers – this is somewhat less than one would recommend.

Around eight in the morning on a crisp spring day, the humvees and troop carriers pull up in the town square and start disgorging the nearly one thousand men. Eighty of the town’s paramilitary group moves into the square, fully armed, to oppose them.

Faced with a threat to his men, the commander of the government force orders the civilians to leave immediately. Sensing the futility of going up against a force ten times larger, the commander of the paramilitary group orders his “soldiers” to withdraw. A few do, and the majority begins to warily fall back.

Suddenly, a shot booms out, and then the violence starts. No one knew who fired first. Men are running, shooting, shouting, and dying. The armed townsfolk, faced with certain death, run for their lives.

Eight of them are left dead on the town square.

Their blood up, the soldiers prepare to storm the houses throughout the town, looking for those who attacked them. Remembering his orders, their commander assembles them and proceeds to carry out his assignment searching peaceably for the rocket launchers and other explosives.

The only violence they employ before leaving the town is to hold the bar owner at gunpoint, whereupon he gives up the location of the illegal weapons. These, and their ammunition are destroyed by the troops.

Then, despite being attacked, despite the seriousness of the crimes for which they’ve been dispatched, they pack up and leave, having harmed no civilians and damaged no one’s legally owned property.

Communications being what they are, the surrounding communities hear about the raid very quickly. Local communities are quite similar, and mobilize their paramilitary forces just as soon as they hear about the federal incursion. They themselves fear being raided, and are considering coming to the aid of our small Montana town.

The highway traveled by federal convoy forces their vehicles to drive through a valley just before a bridge. As the convoy is crossing the bridge, the local paramilitary groups pull up at the out-end of bridge, and along either side of the valley, trapping them.

Faced with armed and threatening men, examples of which had opened fire on them hours earlier, the federal officers open fire. There is no confusion this time, everyone knows it’s the government troops who fired the first shot.

The Montana paramilitary groups open fire on the surrounded men. It’s as close to a massacre as one the federal government has ever faced. On that road, they lose nearly an eighth of their men, and nearly another quarter are wounded.

How would the government respond? How would the media respond? How would the American people respond?

How would you respond?

With praise? With support? With condemnation?

Would you stage a protest? Write a letter to your congressman? Send funds? Hold a candlelight vigil?

Show up with your rifle?

If you support them, praise them openly, drive down to Montana with your deer-rifle in the back seat, ready to defend the town, then you’ve just declared war on the federal government.

If you condemn them, accuse them, you just opposed the start of the first American revolution.

Throughout history, on this day, men and women have shown up with their rifles. They’ve held in their untrained, civilian hands primitive and unsuitable weapons, stared down the guns of better-armed and trained soldiers – more often than not their countrymen – and said –

No.

We are free.

And we would rather die than be anything else.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Militias are defined as civilian soldiers, or all able-bodied civilians capable of bearing weapons in defense of their nation, state, city, or family.

The Massachusetts men standing before the guns of the British military were a militia.
The Southerners standing before the guns of the Northern military were a militia.
The Jews standing before the guns of the Nazi military were a militia.
The Branch Davidians standing before the guns of the American military were a militia.

They were Patriots.

Quoted For The TRUTH!

#1)

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and was very much in favor of the redistribution of wealth.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the addition of more government welfare programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is you friend Audrey doing?" She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus, college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."

Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair! I have worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the Republican Party."

#2)

I was having lunch with one of my favorite friends last week and the conversation turned to the government's recent round of tax cuts. I'm opposed to those tax cuts,
the retired West coast college instructor declared, because they benefit the rich.
The rich get much more money back than ordinary taxpayers like you and me and that's not fair.

But the rich pay more in the first place, I argued, so it stands to reason that they'd get more money back. I could tell that my friend was unimpressed by this meager argument.

So I said to him, let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day 10 men go to a restaurant for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If it was paid the way we pay our taxes, the first four men would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1; the sixth would pay $3; the seventh $7; the eighth $12; the ninth $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

The 10 men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until the owner threw them a curve. Since you are all such good customers, he said, I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20. Now dinner for the 10 only costs $80.

The first four are unaffected. They still eat for free. [Ah, what a sweet deal that man who cleans the airport urinals for $6 an hour has. He eats for free! Or how about that woman who cleans your hotel room. She, too, eats for free! Except for the payroll tax taken out of their checks and the sales tax they pay. And the tax they pay on their gasoline and their phones if they can afford gas or a phone. Why should the rest of us pay taxes to help educate their kids and provide them with health care? They shouldn’t be allowed to have kids. And if they have them anyway, those kids don’t deserve decent schools and health care. Our first priority has got to be cutting taxes for the top, not providing good schools and health care
to deadbeat six year olds.] Can you figure out how to divvy up the $20 savings among the remaining six so that everyone gets his fair share? The men realize that $20 divided by 6 is $3.33, but if they subtract that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being paid to eat their meal.

The restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same percentage, being sure to give each a break, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so now the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of $59.

Outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. I only got a dollar out of the $20, complained the sixth man, pointing to the tenth, and he got $7! Yeah, that's right, exclaimed the fifth man. I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!

That's true, shouted the seventh man. Why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks! Wait a minute, yelled the first four men in unison. We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor.

The nine men surrounded the tenth man and beat him up. The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They were $52 short! And that, boys, girls and college instructors, is how America's tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes should get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table any more.

Uncomfortable

Class today, teacher gave us a list of ten, we were supposed to write down answers to questions she would ask. Answers to be somewhat coded, list just to be 1-10, no explanation. Be honest with yourself, no one's going to ever know what you wrote.

A couple of those questions caused physical pain to hear. And I put down blanks for them. In a coded notebook entry, with no explaining notes, with no one ever to read said entries, I could not write down what I wanted to. Could not even bring myself to THINK what I wanted to put down.

I'm being honest now, I could not be honest with myself. Could not face the thought of committing those answers, however vague or hidden to paper. Hell, to thought.

I don't like that.

How am I supposed to attempt something when I can't bring myself to even think it?

Teen Beating

Saw the video of the girl getting the crap kicked out of her by six other girls.

What a load of Fail all the way around. The victim doesn't seem to comprehend she's under attack, or doesn't take it seriously, even after she's pummeled on a couch. gets up, walks away, BAM!

This is how not to be under attack. Get the heck out of the area pronto. First action should always be to retreat if possible. Don't just get up and mosey on out, run like your butt's on fire.

When that is not possible, fight like a demon. That was assault and battery. You hit someone hard enough to render them unconcious, you've just hit them hard enough to cause brain damage or death. That is the very definition of deadly force.

Someone does that, it's time to fight. Pencils, knives, bites. You don't just take it.

Whatever she did or didn't do, that girl should've had a folding knife. I've said something similar before, and I'll say it again.

Sixx A.M. - Tomorrow

Where ya gonna be Tomorrow
How ya gonna face the sorrow
Where ya gonna be when you die
'Cause nothing's gonna last forever
And things they change like the weather
They're gone in the blink of an eye

Just look at yourself
Can you see where you are
Look at yourself
Now you can't hide the scars
Just look at yourself
'cause there's nowhere to go
And you know

Tomorrow
You're gonna have to live with the things you say
Tomorrow
You'll have to cross bridges that you burned today
Tomorrow
And everything you do
Is coming back for you
You'll never outrun what waits for you
Tomorrow

And are you terrified by sadness
And have you given into madness
You're running out of places to hide
'Cause everybody's got a reason
To justify how they're feelin'
Maybe you should open your eyes

Just look at yourself
Do you like what you see
Look at yourself
Is this how it should be
Just look at yourself
'cause there's nowhere to go
And you'll know

Tomorrow
You're gonna have to live with the things you say
Tomorrow
You'll have to cross bridges that you burned today
Tomorrow
And everything you do
Is coming back for you
You'll never outrun what waits for you
Tomorrow

Are you waiting for the reason to change?
Are you waiting for the end
'cause it came
Nothing's gonna stand in your way...

Just look at yourself
Do you like what you see
Look at yourself
Is this how it should be

Tomorrow
You're gonna have to live with the things you say
Tomorrow
You'll have to cross bridges that you burned today
Tomorrow...
And everything you do
It's coming back for you
You'll never outrun what waits for you
Tomorrow
You're gonna have to live with the things you say
Tomorrow
You'll have to cross bridges that you burned today
Tomorrow...

--------------------------------------------------

Great song. I don't need to explain this one. Actions have consequences. Reactions.

I just took a couple of steps forward in this unholy little exercise I mentioned a few posts ago. Got a couple of contacts out now. I'm making myself do this. And dammit, if this song doesn't fit.

More 12 Gauge Goodness

Took the big 12 out to the range in the pouring rain today because I wanted to function test the birdshot with an adjustment made to the gas system. Also, it doesn't look like Gander will be getting in any #4 buck any time soon, and I bought some Federal to try out. Wanted to try shooting some slugs for accuracy, but that was low on the priorities.

Shot the bird at the 25 yard range because I was afraid it'd bounce off the tires covering the dirt on the pistol range. Shot the buck and slugs at the 15 yard pistol range.

First round of bird fails to eject, and I'm ticked. I jack it out of the chamber, slap the bolt closed, and fire off the next four rounds semi-auto. Ejection varies between weak and frantic. Ten rounds of bird was enough to make a believer out of me - this gun will eat ANYTHING.

Next up is 5 rounds of Federal #4 buck. Absolutely shred the **** out of the target holder. The target looks I spent 6 hours with a .22LR. At this point, I cannot imagine any worse day that to get hit with #4 buck. It blew part of the target holder 20 feet into the air for cryin' out loud.

So I load up 3 Brenneke KO slugs (all the KOs I'd brought) and try shooting them for accuracy. NOW, I can imagine something worse than getting hit with #4 buck. I blow three holes the size of quarters in the target, one big ragged hole. My brother steps up with some Winchester Super X slugs, and while his accuracy is a little worse, the holes are still impressively big.

I've got 150 rounds of slugs downstairs, and I'll go out to Gander tomorrow and buy a couple boxes of birdshot, drive over to FleetFarm, and pick up the rest of the buck I need to fill an ammo can.

Oh yeah and, I've got 2000 rounds of Wolf 9mm on the way. I'm gonna be a busy little beaver next Saturday night. Everybody else'll be out dancing, I'll be watching Enemy At The Gates and filling 30cal cans.

That do say more than a bit about me, don't it?

Royal Scottish Dragoon Guards - Caledonia feat. Steve Balsamo

I don't know if you can see
The changes that have come over me
In these last few days I've been afraid
That I might drift away
I've been telling old stories, singing songs
That make me think about where I've come from
That's the reason why I seem
So far away today

Let me tell you that I love you
That I think about you all the time
Caledonia, you're calling me, now I'm going home
But if I should become a stranger
Know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had

Now I have moved and I've kept on moving
Proved the points that I needed proving
Lost the friends that I needed losing
Found others on the way
Kissed the ladies and left them crying
Stolen dreams, yes, there's no denying
I have traveled hard, sometimes with conscience flying
Somewhere with the wind

Let me tell you that I love you
That I think about you all the time
Caledonia, you're calling me, now I'm going home
But if I should become a stranger
Know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had

Now I'm sitting here before the fire
The empty room, the forest choir
The flames have cooled, don't get any higher
They've withered, now they've gone
But I'm steady thinking, my way is clear
And I know what I will do tomorrow
When hands have shaken, the kisses float
Then I will disappear

Let me tell you that I love you
That I think about you all the time
Caledonia, you're calling me, now I'm going home
But if I should become a stranger
Know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had

Caledonia's been everything I've ever had

-----------------------------------------
This was an instore play at the store where I work - only heard about a third's worth of the songs due to the instore radio. Brought the CD home a couple of days ago, and really discovered a new depth to it.

I don't know why it's reminding me of the topic that it does. It seems to be about a traveler (I think a soldier) that's settled in Caledonia, and then decides he needs to leave, despite how much he loves being there.

Well crap, that's why it reminds me of the topic.

In the next few weeks, I'm going to trade something that I absolutely love doing (and have done well for 2 years) for something that I absolutely hate doing. I'm probably going to lose a lot of my friends, and I know I'm going to lose a lot of money doing it, but it needs to be done. God willing, it will be temporary, but I have no idea. It is going to open up a bunch of possibilities for me, professionally and personally, but the idea of voluntarily giving up what I will be scares the hell out of me.

I took the first step towards this trade last night, and then the second major step this morning.

It's starting to seem real now.

12 Gauge Fun

Got my first shotgun (an auto) not so very long ago, and took it out to the range for a try.

Scared the hell out of me. I actually crossed myself before pulling the trigger on the first round of high-brass.

First off was five rounds of target load #8 bird. Failed to cycle, so I cycled the next four with the charging handle. Ran like 7 rounds of #4 field loads next. Much more recoil, but I managed it.

Then it was time for 5 rounds of 2 3/4 #4 buck. The gun seriously jumped, but it was controllable. I wasn't shooting for accuracy or sighting in or anything, just function testing. I held the gun a little tighter, fired off another round from the rest, then stood and ran the next 3 from standing off-hand.

Two Brenneke KO slugs were next. Felt about the same as the buck, maybe more vertical movement on the recoil. Then two Winchester SuperX slugs. More fields loads, more buck, finished up hand-cycling 5 rounds of birdshot.

The guys at the range were great. 2 of them, looked like they were from Benjamin Martin's militia in The Patriot. Real rough looking. They let me fire off 3 shots from a scoped H&R .243 single shot. I have to own one of those. Then they let me shoot a cylinder through a single action .357. Beautiful gun, great trigger. I did decently well with it at 25 yards too. I can't imagine going into combat with one, like people used to.

Packed up, headed home, and cleaned the shotgun out. Very dirty, so I'm glad they provided a wire bore-brush with the gun.

I have to get out and try tinkering with the gas system to get it to take the birdshot. Probably do that tomorrow.

I've figured out a .30 spam can holds 134 rounds of 2 3/4 shotgun shells, so I've got to buy up enough to fill a box each with slugs, birdshot (field or target, tomorrow will decide) and #4 buck. Probably order 2000 rds of 9mm tomorrow too. I'm going to do another one of my late night ammo stockpiling sessions next Saturday. Not only is it a way to celebrate Patriot's Day, but it's also prom night for a lot of highschools in the area.

When everyone else is out doing stuff with the opposite gender, Vincent watches war movies and boxes up ammunition. It's kind of a tradition.

Spring Is Here

The snow piles at the base of the drive way are shrinking, and the average temperature for the last few days has been in the fifties. I just looked at the thermometer, and it says sixty.

I love this time of year, and I love going running even more. I'm still coughing though, so no running for me. Dang it.

New Gun

I'm not going to say much about it because it's not something "registered," but I got a new gun today. It fills me with awe.

It will soon to be turned into something horrifying to liberals.

Now I've gotta go get some ammunition for it. Er. Some MORE ammunition.

Jericho

Watched the end of Jericho this week. There is not a big enough container to hold the amount of awesome that was this show.

First we start with the episode title: Patriots And Tyrants. An allusion to Thomas Jefferson's declaration that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants, it's natural fertilizer. ie a little revolution is good from time to time.

The episode itself starts with the most amazing declaration ever heard on TV, even more amazing than the line from Jake that I have on my bulletin board ("Every able-bodied person needs a gun. Sixteen years of age or older. Line up.").

Gray Anderson's aid:"X amount of time, a thousand person vote, and boom, the Second Amendment's gone."
Gray Anderson:"Yeah, it's a lot easier to pacify a country when its citizens can't shoot back."
Aid:"This isn't a stero manual, this is my country we're talking about"

Or something very similar.

Jake and Hawkins sneak into Cheyenne (the home of the new government) and steal a nuclear bomb, which they smuggle to the embassy of the Independent Republic Of Texas. From there, they fly it to Texas, where the Texas Air National Guard shoots down two fighter jets bent on making sure the bomb doesn't make it out of ASA airspace.

The episode ends (for Jake and Hawkins) with the promise of a Third American Revolution. The only thing that could've possibly been cooler would've been meeting the Texas President on the ground and finding out he's played by Fred Thompson. I think I would've had a heart attack if that had happened.

Meanwhile in Jericho, Major Beck disobeys his orders, releases the revolutionaries, and declares war on Cheyenne. The episode ends (for Jericho) with all the main characters looking up at the Gadsden flag and wondering about the coming war.

Scifi has already picked up the first season, and will probably get the second. If they order a third, I WILL buy all the tiers of cable necessary to get the Scifi channel. This show's worth $50 a month to me.

I can't imagine a more awesome show.

Sick

For only the second time in 4 years, I called off sick on Thursday last.

I had a fever of 103.5, could barely stand, and fine motor control was shot with the shakes, so bad I could barely call in. I did nothing but lie on my bed for 9 hours, finally getting up somewhere around 11pm. I went through, like, 4 t-shirts.

Finally burned the fever off on Sunday, and I'm now stuck with a cough and a stuffed up head.

I feel like hell.

See You In Another Life, Little Deity

One of our pets was a finch named Raven. We got her...God only knows when. Got her with 3 other finches, which all passed at times between then and now. We placed Raven's age at 9-10, which is pretty extraordinary for a finch. I think average life expectancy on one of those critters is like 3-5 years.

So, Raven outlived her expiration date by 3 sisters and 5-7 years. Pretty impressive. We used to joke that she the reason she was so longlived was that she was God, come down to visit.

We would say she died on Easter, but prefer to say she ascended into Heaven.

See you in another life, Little Deity.

50 Years Of Math

1. Teaching Math In 1950's
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?


2. Teaching Math In 1960's
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100 His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?


3. Teaching Math In 1970's
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?


4. Teaching Math In 1980's
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.


5. Teaching Math In 1990's
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it's ok. )


6. Teaching Math In 2007
Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?

Life Of Vincent

If there is a reason for being, some reason we've been put on this earth, I think I just completed one of my tasks.

Went to Gander Mtn the other day to look for ammunition (I've got a couple of coupons, otherwise I would've bought online) and I'm checking pistols on my way out. This construction worker looking guy has been ignored by the clerks, and he squats down next to the glass case, ogles a USP Compact 9mm, and says something to the effect of "I wonder if it's worth it." Said Teutonic handgun is around $900.

I say "Yes, it is."

He says "Do you know handguns?"

And we were off. For about 45 minutes, I did a better job of answering his questions than the store clerk did. He was looking for a handgun (9mm or 45ACP for home defense), because he was somewhat handicapped, and wanted to protect his girlfriend and their new baby. Kept him from making some major mistakes (he wanted to buy a used Hi-Point off his cousin for $200), and pointed him towards some quality cheap handguns (CD Browning Hi-Power and a Taurus PT92). Just listened to what he had to say, and gave him back answers that made him think about what he wanted.

He thanked me multiple times for my time and help, and I was happy for the rest of the day.

Something I Don't Get

What is it with my generation's obsession with not just drinking, not just getting drunk, but with getting absolutely and irredeemably hammered?

An on-again-off-again friend of mine turned 21 today, and my hand to God, the biggest thing in her universe is being able to buy her own alcohol. Never mind that she's been drinking HEAVILY with her mother's supervision for the last 2 years.

My best friend from highschool, guy was practically my brother, he's an alcoholic. Brilliant kid, school should give him a fast-track to a million dollar job I kid you not, and he nearly got kicked out his first semester for binge drinking. He's in debt up to his eyeballs because he can't hold a job due to his habit and spends all his money (not just spare, but freaking ALL) on liquor. His seventeen year old brother is heading down the same path.

A girl I grew up with, an on-again-off-again friend that I might not see for months at a time and then hang out with for days on end...just lost sports honors that would've gotten her a free ride scholarship...because she got busted for hosting an under-age drinking party. Best girls basketball player in the damn state and she burned a scholarship just like that.

I've got a coworker who constantly shows up for work hungover and inconveniences the rest of us by calling of "sick" because he drank himself into a stupor and tried to get rid of the hangover with dope and Vicoden.

W. T. F! Seriously. Why do people do this? There has GOT to be something I'm missing here, some piece of the puzzle I can't see. I'm not talking about having a drink after work. Or to relax. Or with dinner. I can see and understand that. I'm talking about pursuing with a fanatical single-mindedness a state of complete and utter intoxication. Day, after day, after day, and making that the centerpiece of your interactions with the rest of your species. Why would a person do that? I don't get it.

My brother said it best when we were talking about it today. "Put a whole bunch of people in the same social setting, provide enough alcohol that everybody gets completely hammered, and then pray that magically nothing bad happens. Where does that get fun?" I can understand alcohol's use as a social lubricant, I really can. I cannot understand making complete intoxication your life's purpose - literally LIVING for this drinking party or that.

And then I think of all the follow-up problems associated with binge-drinking, like drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, reduced and impaired judgement in hooking up...How is it my generation grew up (and I use that term in the loosest possible sense) with a lack of regard for consequences and responsibility?

I feel I'm not articulating my misunderstanding well. Like I'm not perfectly explaining to an obstinate toddler why you can't put a Poptart in the VCR - I don't understand how others can think any other way.

To put it simply, I don't understand why my generation binge-drinks, why they enjoy it. Someone please explain it to me.

So It Begins...

Running season officially started today. 45 degrees, little wind, sunny and beautiful. Ran one mile, after not having run all winter. Pretty dang good if you ask me. I'm not going to start out running little .5 mile sprints this year, I'm going to build up some distance right off the bat.

California Bans Homeschooling

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58137


Parents of 166,000 students
could face criminal charges
'Breathtaking' decision on homeschooling
now moving to California Supreme Court

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: March 05, 2008
9:11 pm Eastern


By Bob Unruh
© 2008 WorldNetDaily


A "breathtaking" ruling from a California appeals court that could subject the parents of 166,000 students in the state to criminal sanctions will be taken to the state Supreme Court.

The announcement comes today from the Pacific Justice Institute, whose president, Brad Dacus, described the impact of the decision as "stunning."

"The scope of this decision by the appellate court is breathtaking," he said. "It not only attacks traditional homeschooling, but also calls into question homeschooling through charter schools and teaching children at home via independent study through public and private school."

"If not reversed, the parents of the more than 166,000 students currently receiving an education at home will be subject to criminal sanctions," he said.

WND broke the story of the ruling against Phillip and Mary Long of Los Angeles.
The decision from the 2nd Appellate Court in Los Angeles granted a special petition brought by lawyers appointed to represent the two youngest children after the family's homeschooling was brought to the attention of child advocates. The lawyers appointed by the state were unhappy with a lower court's ruling that allowed the family to continue homeschooling and challenged it on appeal.

Justice H. Walt Croskey, whose opinion was joined by two other judges, then ordered: "Parents who fail to [comply with school enrollment laws] may be subject to a criminal complaint against them, found guilty of an infraction and subject to imposition of fines or an order to complete a parent education and counseling program."

The determination reversed a decision from Superior Court Judge Stephen Marpet, who ruled "parents have a constitutional right to school their children in their own home."

As WND has reported, the Longs had their children enrolled in Sunland Christian School, a private homeschooling program.

But Croskey, without hearing arguments from the school, opined that the situation was a "ruse of enrolling [children] in a private school and then letting them stay home and be taught by a non-credentialed parent."

Officials with the school said they asked Pacific Justice to work on the Supreme Court appeal because the organization "has been in full compliance with the requirements of the law for more than 23 years."

"We've never been given an opportunity to represent our case in the Court of Appeal," Terry Neven, the president of the school, said. "Consequently, we are excited that PJI will represent us before the California Supreme Court so that the rights of homeschooling families are preserved."

The ruling, on which WND previously reported, also issued a further warning of potential penalties for parents, this time in civil court.

It said under a section titled "Consequences of Parental Denial of a Legal Education" that "parents are subject to being ordered to enroll their children in an appropriate school or education program and provide proof of enrollment to the court, and willful failure to comply with such an order may be punished by a fine for civil contempt."

The school's website notes it offers a homeschool/independent study program that is accredited. It began in Los Angeles in 1986 with 24 students and now serves more than 3,000 families.

"While SCS is a Christian program, we enroll any family desiring assistance in teaching their own children at home. All we ask is that each family respect our values," the school said.

"The future of homeschooling (both public and private) in California requires the reversal of this decision," Neven said.

WND also has reported on concerns expressed by Roy Hanson, chief of the Private and Home Educators of California, about the way the ruling was issued.

"Normally in a dependency court action, they simply make a ruling that will affect that family. It accomplishes the same thing, meaning they would force [the family] to place their minor children into school," he said.

Such rulings on a variety of issues always are "done in the best interests of the child" and are not unusual, he said.

But in this case, the court said went much further, essentially concluding the state provided no circumstance that allowed parents to school their own children at home.

Specifically, the appeals court affirmed, the trial court had found that "keeping the children at home deprived them of situations where (1) they could interact with people outside the family, (2) there are people who could provide help if something is amiss in the children's lives, and (3) they could develop emotionally in a broader world than the parents' 'cloistered' setting."

Further, the appeals ruling said, California law requires "persons between the ages of six and 18" to be in school, "the public full-time day school," with exemptions allowed only for those in a "private full-time day school" or those "instructed by a tutor who holds a valid state teaching credential for the grade being taught."

For homeschoolers in California, Hanson said, "there may be everywhere from concern to panic, just based on not knowing what the [ultimate] results will be."

The Home School Legal Defense Association, the world's premiere international advocacy organization for homeschoolers, emphasized that the ruling made no changes in California law regarding homeschooling.

While the decision from the appeals court "has caused much concern among California homeschoolers," the HSLDA said, there are no immediate changes any homeschoolers need to address.

The Longs earlier told WND they also are considering an appeal to the state Supreme Court because of the impact of the order for their family, as well as the precedent that could be construed.

They have disputed with local officials over homeschooling and other issues for years, they said. In at least two previous decisions, courts affirmed their right to homeschool, they said.

The current case was brought by two attorneys who had been appointed by the state to represent the family's minor children in a dependency case stemming from accusations of abuse that resulted from the parents' decision to impose discipline on their children with spankings. The case actually had been closed out by the court as resolved when the lawyers filed their special appeal.

Phillip Long has told WND he objects to the pro-homosexual, pro-bisexual, pro-transgender agenda of California's public schools, on which WND previously has reported.

"We just don't want them teaching our children," he told WND. "They teach things that are totally contrary to what we believe. They put questions in our children's minds we don't feel they're ready for.

"When they are much more mature, they can deal with these issues, alternative lifestyles, and such, or whether they came from primordial slop. At the present time it's my job to teach them the correct way of thinking," he said.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Absolutely infuriating.

I don't like kids. I can see where some people might, but I don't. But if I had some that I were homeschooling, and the state came to me and said "We're arresting you for educating your children at home," I think I'd be tempted towards a certain response. If I lost in court, I'm almost certain that's the response I'd choose.

Barak Huessein Obama News

I don't have a link to it, but apparently the Obamanation is proposing to cap business owners salaries at 50 times what the lowest paid employee makes.

Lets say I make $10,000 per year. Many draw less than that due to lack of experience. That means that "Massive Bookstore Chain Owner" only gets $500,000, on which he has to pay taxes. That's roughly 1/5th of what "Massive Bookstore Chain Store Manager" makes in a year.

This is a ****ing travesty. Is $500,000 a lot of money? You bet. Should it be any of the government's business to regulate how much that business owner can make? Not just no, but HELL NO.

You know, let's just go over to the dark side. Elect Obama, he can ritualistically shred the US Constitution at his inauguration, declare the US to be another Socialist state like The Benighted Kingdom, and we can just get it over with.

I'm sick to death of this thousand cuts crap.

Bring it on.

Not A Lot Going On

...right now. Working, a lot. I've got lots of school. What free time I have, I spend plotting world domination and writing. Actually, just writing. Not a lot going on to blog about here. No political character has unveiled their new 5 year plan, though I'm expecting that from Clinton and Osama pretty soon.

Life is just a drag right now.

Vote Cthulu 2008!

Why vote for a lesser evil?

Seriously though, I voted for Ron Paul in the primary. It does no good, I know. And I'll still end up voting for that rat-b*st*rd McCain in November. But I've voted for the only worthwhile candidate while I could, and I feel good about that.

seaQuest DSV

I'm most of the way through Season 2. So far we've had aliens, time travel, giant alligators, Atlantean ghosts, aliens again, evil psychics, Greek gods, vampire demons...coming up we'll have more psychics, and aliens yet again.

This TV show is killing my braincells, and yet I can't look away. I REMEMBER this stuff! I watch it and I smile.

So cool.

The Brave One

This movie has it all. It joins such greats as Red Dawn, The Patriot, Shooter, and Uprising in the category of movies that should be shown, four times a year, to every child in public school, so long as we allow public schools to continue their malicious and unconstitutional existence.

Jodie Foster plays Erica Bain, who's engaged to Sayid from Lost. She's beaten near to death and he's killed in a spurt of random violence while walking their dog in central park.

Upon waking up, she's shaken. DUH. On impulse she goes to a gun store to buy a gun. This being the high-crime, gun-free utopia of The People's Republic of New York, the harried gun shop owner tells her to apply for a license and come back in thirty days. When she says "I won't live thirty days" he tells her "That's the law."

You have no idea how hard I clapped for that part. All the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

She's eventually sold a Kahr K9 by a guy who overheard the conversation, and she starts carrying it.

The second time she's the victim of random violence, she's a little better prepared. She terminates the man who kills the convenience store clerk who's store she's shopping in, moments before he could attack here.

Let's just think about this for a minute. We've got a woman, who was denied a gun by the government of New York, buying a gun AND carrying it illegally, defending her life successfully.

How DID this movie get made? Seriously. What bed-wetting liberal Hollywood producer was smoking crack when he greenlit this movie, and how can I send him some more crack to smoke? I want to see more of these types of movies.

Erica Bain then starts haunting the bad parts of the city, killing the people who try to take advantage of a petite, middle aged female, who's walking through the bad parts of New York alone.

Eventually she finds the scum who murdered Sayid and took her dog, and after some really, really good one-liners, kills all three of them, with the assistance of the cop who's been hunting the "vigilante" who's been stalking the city.

Along the way we have some soft girl-rock introspective moments, and a whole lot of Dennis LeHane style grit and angst as Erica goes from average Jane to someone who's not incredibly bother by taking out the trash, figuratively. One of the cool things that this movie doesn't delve into is her motives. Yes, she's hunting the city. Why? She obvious is distraught over the handful of notches on her gun's grip, why does she keep going back.

No easy answers, just lots of good old-fashioned American justice, and a couple really touching scenes with a dog.

Last year it was Shooter, which featured Mark Wahlberg beating up cops and shooting U.S. senators with the incredibly manly 1911. This year it's Jodie Foster illegally carrying a concealed weapon and being applauded for it. At long last, there's a part of this country that I don't fear for quite as much. Maybe Hollywood is finally pulling their head out of their nethers and taking a peek around.

Kane And Lynch: Dead Men

If Michael Mann made a computer game, this would be it. Hardboiled characters, blood, awesome weapon selection, gritty story...and that's just the demo.

If I weren't committing all my resources to preparing for Hillary 'Antichrist' Clinton or Barak Huessein Osama to usurp the White House, I'd own both this and Crysis.

Lyrics Double Header: Johnny Cash - What Is Truth

The old man turned off the radio
Said, "Where did all of the old songs go
Kids sure play funny music these days
They play it in the strangest ways"
Said, "it looks to me like they've all gone wild
It was peaceful back when I was a child"
Well, man, could it be that the girls and boys
Are trying to be heard above your noise?
And the lonely voice of youth cries
"What Is Truth?"

A little boy of three sittin' on the floor
Looks up and says, "Daddy, what is war?"
"son, that's when people fight and die"
The little boy of three says "Daddy, why?"
A young man of seventeen in Sunday school
Being taught the golden rule
And by the time another year has gone around
It may be his turn to lay his life down
Can you blame the voice of youth for asking
"What Is Truth?"

A young man sittin' on the witness stand
The man with the book says "Raise your hand"
"Repeat after me, I solemnly swear"
The man looked down at his long hair
And although the young man solemnly swore
Nobody seems to hear anymore
And it didn't really matter if the truth was there
It was the cut of his clothes and the length of his hair
And the lonely voice of youth cries
"What Is Truth?"

The young girl dancing to the latest beat
Has found new ways to move her feet
The young man speaking in the city square
Is trying to tell somebody that he cares
Yeah, the ones that you're calling wild
Are going to be the leaders in a little while
This old world's wakin' to a new born day
And I solemnly swear that it'll be their way
You better help the voice of youth find
"What Is Truth?"
------------------------------------------------
My brother made a mixtape when he was six. I remember sitting on the duplex living room floor picking out songs with him. We put it together from my dad's old records, big records from cardboard boxes, singles from plastic cases. That tape persisted for the longest time, I think the last time he played that he was fifteen or so. Tape's been a part of my life for the longest time, and this was, I think, the second song.

The reason I post this tonight is because I'm wrestling with a question very close to the premise of the song. Not "What is truth?" but "What is our duty to the truth?" Do we have an obligation to tell the truth, a duty to be exercised at all times? Is it worth destroying relationships for? When a person is unredeemable, does telling the truth even matter? Can a person ever be unredeemable? What is truth worth, at what point is the human cost not worth it?

And when I close my laptop and sit here, staring off into the darkness, I'll remember sitting on the living room floor with my brother. And I'll hear Johnny Cash saying "What is truth?"

Lyrics Double Header: Johnny Cash - Hurt

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you Hurt

I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stain of time
The feeling disappears
You are someone else
I am still right here

What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you Hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
-----------------------------------------
Yeah, I know, it's not Johnny Cash, it's Nine Inch Nails. Yeah, I don't care. I only listen to the Johnny Cash version.

The music video is touching. It shows him eating and drinking, alone, surrounded by wealth, remembering his life on the road, and more importantly, his wife (who'd recently passed away).
It's desolate and sad and it really is the picture of a man at the very end of his life. Very sad. I think, watching it now, that he would've given everything he had, and everything he'd ever been, to have his wife back again.

The way the song is played, it's completely haunting. Just that guitar, the piano, and his voice, all building to this crescendo at the end. It's relentless, just keeps driving. Meanwhile, the video goes into overdrive showing scenes from his life interspersed with scenes of crucifixition. Strange, but it works.

Sitting Here

My laptop says the time is 2:44am on February 1st.

I've just finished watching 3 horrible hours of seaQuest DSV Season 2. That show takes me back in time. Very few things can inspire wonder in me, and though the crabby old man in me winces at the worse-than-Red Dawn dialogue, the 7-year-old little boy in me is filled with wonder. I watch it and I feel like a little kid again, sitting on the floor in our old duplex, the angled fall sun fighting through the plants in the front window, hoping that my parents will let me finish an episode before bed. It's a nice feeling.

The reason I'm watching seaQuest at 3 in the morning is licking herself in the kennel next to my knee. One of our rats had surgery yesterday, and my mom watches here during the day, I watch her at night. I figure the next time I'll sleep overnight is probably Sunday or Monday night. I'll nap 2-3 hours at a time once or twice a day until little rat can be left unattended for more than 15 minutes.

I'm about 6 hours from being legally intoxicated due to lack of sleep. Four days of this to go. Welcome to Hell.

Another Safe

Bought another safe two days ago. Put it in my closet. After an unfortunate incident involving some out of control rage by a certain family member, all extra guns got locked up downstairs. I keep a 9mm in my desk for carry and for my nightstand gun, and various other family members do the same, but all the serious hardware is downstairs.

Ever since, it's bugged me that I don't have anything close at hand for serious social situations.

Now I do. Plus I now have a place to put my other safe (the one filled with investment info and precious metals). One of the best Benjamins I ever spent.

Thompson Is Out

It's been a while since I've blogged - life's what happens when you're busy making plans - but I wanted to say something about this.

It is absolutely insane to me that Clinton, McCain, Edwards, Guiliani, Obama, Romney, or Huckabee will be our next president. They. ALL. SUCK.

Thompson was the last great electable conservative, and he betrayed his conservative principles by dropping out, by not DOING MORE. When a republic is at stake, there's NOTHING you don't do to save it.

Looking at that list of candidates, I'm reminded of the tagline from the horrible movie Alien Vs Predator.

Whoever wins...we lose.

God's Gift To Shooters

Took my 2 newest rifles, Barak Huessein Osama and Rudy Guiliani out to the range on Wednesday. Never had fired them before, and I had a new piece of equipment I wanted to test while I was out there, a pair of Radians electronic earmuffs. The amplify the sounds around you and deaden gunfire, or so I'd been told when I got them as a Christmas gift.

I was scared to fire the rifles with the earmuffs on. I've had a 25-06 go off pretty much right next to my ear w/o hearing protection, and I really didn't wanna hear a 30cal amplified. I manned up and pulled the trigger. I can't imagine how I shot without them. They fade out the gunshot, and it ends up sounding like a video game. Awesome device. I never want to go shooting without them again. They are God's Gift To Shooters.

Oh yeah and, the rifles shot minute-of-paperplate at 25 yards. Next week, 50 yards!

Death Sentence

It's the movie The Punisher should've been.

Very simple plot too. Happy family man Kevin Bacon's son is brutally murdered in a gang initiation rite. Kevin Bacon then commences kicking @$$.

Actually a little more complex than that. He kills the first of the gang somewhat accidentally. They come looking for him, and he kills the next one very intentionally, in a rather terrific brawl that involves seatbelts, a car door, and a hockey stick.

They come looking for him again and kill the rest of his family.

Kevin Bacon says "Screw this law and order crap," loads up on rather mediocre weapons, and whacks the remaining 9 gangbangers in an abandoned mental institution.

Why you'd go into that situation with a revolver, a 1911 (OK, maybe if you were a diehard 1911 fan), and a SIDE BY SIDE SHOTGUN is completely beyond me. Bacon handles the guns fairly well, and it's rather educational to watch someone who's obviously not well trained blunder his way through a fight against a bunch of guys who hold their guns sideways. Shotguns are employed on both sides to great effect - but blowing people 12 feet backwards...completely unrealistic.

The best part of the movie is watching Kevin Bacon morph from an ordinary guy into someone who really doesn't care. About anything. Law, right, wrong...there's a point at the end where we expect much hand-wringing and liberal-lesson-imparting to occur, and it just...doesn't. It's an emotionally AND physically brutal movie, and I like that. I'm putting it on my must own list.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

I saw one of their last '07 shows recently.

Much more relaxed than they usually do before Christmas. They'd break off in the middle of a Christmas song to let Clark and Pitrelli dual guitars, and the theatrics during Old City Bar were comical rather than dramatic. Far less professional, but they really looked like they were having a good time. That band enjoys what they do.

The second half of the show they just let loose. Started off with Proud Mary and detoured all over their discography.

I thought it was cool that they worked in some of their less-well-known songs into the Christmas half of the show. Siberian Sleigh Ride, Wish Liszt, a whole bunch of others that rarely get played. I do so wish they'd do a Christmas Attic concert.

Well worth the $75 per seat fee. Probably worth double that.

3:10 To Yuma

Christian Bale once again shows why he's the best actor around. The last scene he has with his wife, where he explains why he's going is perfect. I'd love to see him do a movie with Michael Mann.

It's basically a reverse of The Fugitive, set in the Olde West. Outlaw is being escorted to jail, his crew tries to break him out.

Russell Crowe plays the main baddie, a man of few words who seems to see to the heart of everyone around him. He has a strange purity - he knows he's evil, and he's content with that.

Christian Bale plays a one-legged farmer who hires on to help escort Crowe to the 3:10 to Yuma train, which will take him away to be hanged. The "reveal" for why he joins up with the posse comes later in the movie, and is rather...wrenching.

Violent and appropriately bloody, with a dragged out gunfight at the end that wants to be Open Range but just isn't.

I Am Legend

Saw it recently. Decent movie. I like how they portrayed Will Smith as slowly going crazy. The atmosphere was well done, giving the impression that he really was the last man on earth...and the tension of night kept viewers on their toes.

The ending felt like a cop-out though.

And I take much pride in the fact that I'm fairly better armed than Robert Neville.

New Year's Eve

Didn't think anything would come of it this year. Sure, I'd tried to set up a bowling meet with some people from work. Didn't get much of a confirmation from anyone, and none at all from one in particular.

Got to the lanes late, thought all my friends woulda packed up and ambled on home. Nope. Everybody who'd said they might come, and then some.

Bowled the second best out of my group. Listened to horrible rap dreck, and 5 good songs, most of which came from the 80s. Made ascerbic comments on the state of society with my best friend. Watched a bunch of gangstas freak-dance next to us, and made ascerbic comments about them. Nearly puked on a cheese curd.

One of the best times of my life.

Then I get home.

It appears the other shoe is falling.

Every silver lining needs a cloud to appear behind.

But I still had one hell of a good time. Thanks guys. At the risk of sounding cliched, y'all saved my life last night. I thought I was alone in this, and then I come to find I got friends and more of 'em than I expected. I'm eternally grateful.

Jericho

Forget for a moment that it's produced by the Commie Broadcasting System, and that many of the situations the characters find themselves in are completely unrealistic, and that the end of the world would look much bleaker and the people much less well-coiffed than they appear.

This is dang good TV.

This show contains everything that is good about America.

~Resisting the trampling of civil liberties
~Self-reliance
~Good people pitching in to help one another
~A community led by strong men
~Preparedness
~The positive portrayal of firearms ownership

Hawkins's daughter asked him what he had a competition 1911 for and his reply was "Shooting." He then told her that it was high time she learned. She asked why, and he said "So you can defend yourself." Then there's the line I have written on my white board, about 2 feet away from where I sit right now "Every able-bodied person needs a gun. Sixteen years of age or older. Line up."

The fact that they portray the heads of the community as strong, human men is incredible as well. I thought males had been reduced to bumbling, out-of-touch, insensitive, lecherous lugs or out-of-control grown-up adolescents on TV. Gray Anderson, Johnston Green, Stanley, Jake Green...they think and act logically, and with a strong sense of character.

It's no wonder this show was canceled. This was anathema to everything offered on TV at the time. For all it's flaws, this is dang good programming.

The Kingdom

Got this movie for Christmas. I'd seen it twice in 2 days beforehand.

This may be one of the most important movies of the past five years. It opens with an absolutely stomach churning scene of Jihadists gunning down and blowing up innocent civilians in rather graphic fashion. Stuff like this needs to be thrown in people's faces on a daily basis - all we hear is the "it's OUR fault" chorus.

The scenes of the actual investigation are pretty boring, but again, what stands out is the repeated slamming home of the point that the Islamic culture, and especially the culture of the Islamofascists is as different from ours as night and day.

It "ends" on kind of a downer...they get a small cell, .gov calls it a victory and recalls them...and then on the way to the airport they're attacked. More bashing people over the head that Islamofascists are evil pigs - in the middle of a gunfight they take time out to try and behead Jason Bateman on film.

The real ending is much better. Jamie Foxx kicking some Islamofascist behind with a G3. And then an underfolding AK. Jennifer Garner greasing a guy with a folding knife. Everything a good movie needs, except perhaps a ten minute monologue on the evils of Communism and Hillary Clinton.

The End Of The Lightbulb As We Know It

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2007/12/19/faq-the-end-of-the-light-bulb-as-we-know-it.html

Congress banned regular lightbulbs. As of 2014, you won't be able to choose, in a supposedly free market, what kind of lightbulbs you want to buy.

The reason we have to put up with this crap now is because we didn't line the people who started it in the 20s, 30s, and 40s up against a wall and shoot them.

It's not just lightbulbs. It's freedom to choose in an unrestricted market. I want my America back, dammit.

The Deer Hunter

Got The Deer Hunter from the library the other day. I've always heard what a fantastic movie it is, and figured I needed to see it.

De Niro did a decent job with the material he was given. Overall though, the movie sucked. They spent too much effort trying to make it "real life" that they completely forgot there was supposed to be a fantastic epic in there somewhere. It could've been a great movie, but everybody (excepting De Niro) phones in their performances, and there's very little drama in the writing.

Plus it was way, way too long. Exactly 3 hours. You could've cut the first 45 minutes and not missed a thing.

Too bad, this movie had a lot going for it on paper.

Frustration

I feel like I'm getting stabbed in the back at work. Often I'm the closing employee, which means I'm responsible for the department from 3 until 11pm, which encompasses our busiest time.

Saturday, 2 people called off sick, leaving me the only person in the department from 7:30 until close. This is the second to last Saturday before Christmas. It was BUSY. Instead of sending me a cashier to work the register, or someone who actually knows my department, they sent me a woman who's never even BEEN in my department as a customer, much less an employee. And then they pull her out, randomly.

Yesterday, the second to last Sunday before Christmas, the manager walks into the department, sees that we're between rushes and says "*redacted*, you can go home, we need to save on hours." This was at 3.

*Redacted* was supposed to be there until 6. Ok, so one quarter of our employees goes home. From 4 until 6 we did 60% of our business. We had 2 people from other departments working with us for 45 minutes, and we still weren't able to do effective customer service.

Because I am a man, I dealt with it. Didn't like it, but I did my best.

On a brighter note, I'm thinking about buying a stock of Nyquil, and handing it out free - with a measuring cup - to any parent with a child under ten, when they enter my department. It would cut down on my stress level.

Ammo Prices On The Drop

Dunhams dropped 7.62x39 to $4.19. Gander Mtn. dropped it to $4.99. Fleet Farm dropped 5.56x45 to $3.99.

It's not $2.50 per 20 like I saw 2 years ago, but it's not $7.99 per 20 like I saw 3 months ago.

Makes me happy, it does.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - The Snow Came Down

A railway station
On a long forgotten line
No destination
But it always leaves on time
He buys his ticket
As the train prepares to leave
Don't want to miss it
On this night Christmas Eve

He stared into the night
No expectations
He watched the world go by
Without a sound
He saw the city lights
Arrive and fade away
While all that night
All that night
The Snow Came Down

No conversation
As the snow fell from the sky
His consolation
That the world is well disguised

He stared into the night
No expectations
He watched the world go by
Without a sound
He saw the city lights
Arrive and fade away
While all that night
All that night
The Snow Came Down

He stared into the night
No expectations
But in his heart he wanted to believe
That somehow someone would be waiting there
Upon this Christmas Eve

And when his train it pulled into that station
He saw there was a single pair of tracks
Within the snow and leading to that Station door
And he followed those steps back
And on this night of our salvation
Where dreams that have been lost
Can there be found
They walked away together
On that Christmas Eve
While all that night
All that night
The Snow Came Down
--------------------------------------------------
The song is about a lonely rich man who's been set up to meet his old girlfriend at a trainstation. He doesn't know this, he just knows to be there at a certain time. His train arrives at he sees her footprints in the snow, and they are reunited on Christmas Eve.

I love this song. The anguish with which the singer describes the man's journey is heart-wrenching. The instrumentation is incredible, little musical...I can only describe them as bookmarks...are hidden throughout the song, little repetitions that are so cool to find. And the writing is superb - I love how the end of the song is just the chorus rewritten multiple times. TSO has always had a way with words, going back to their Savatage days. They're some of the best wordsmiths in music.

December 10th has a very special meaning for me. Something that changed my life - sort of - happened on December 10th 2 years ago. This very day, 2 years ago. I've written it up, maybe someday I'll get around to telling y'all about it.

Last year, I believe it was on this date (but if it wasn't, I beg your forgiveness, I suck at remembering dates), a similar scene happened with me as described in the song. Falling snow, Christmas music, waiting to see Her.

Unlike the song though, She wasn't there.

I Love My Job

You know that scene in The 3 Musketeers where Porthos knocks a guy out with a Bolo from like a hundred yards away and then says "God, I love my job"?

Yeah. It's like that.

Moron in class today gives us a presentation on how we should have socialized healthcare. Then plays some of Sicko for us, which was entertaining only for the scene of Hillary being burned in effigy. You heard my "YES!" throughout the class.

Teacher asks at the end if we have any questions for the speaker.

I raise my hand.

"Vincent?"

"Please explain to me why it is you think you're entitled to have the government take my money?"

Stammers about socialized police forces, fire departments, prison systems.

"I can't incarcerate Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey in my home. I pay the government to remove them from society because we don't want to be around them. I can pay for my own healthcare. Why should I be forced to pay for yours?"

"I'll be forced to pay for yours as well, you'll be taking my money too."

"I don't want your money. I want MY money. I earned it. It's not yours."

Teacher breaks up the argument.

I figure he has a 5% chance of figuring out he's an imbecile. That's 5 percentage points more than he had this morning.

CSI: Miami...or...

...this crap kills brain cells faster than alcohol or asphyxiation.

Plot is thus: A private security firm filled w/ Blackwater types uses a prototype caseless rifle to kill three weapons smugglers. The head of the firm is then killed by his lieutenant and the previous head of the firm, and they sell this rifle to...unknown highest bidders.

The caseless rifle is actually based on real technology. It fires bullets electronically, and the weapon degrades during use. Not on TV. It's the size of a dog kennel, but at the beginning, it's employed by one person against three men in rapid succession. It "vaporizes" people...which was actually a funny animation. One moment they're here, the next they're jumping into a transition into a red stain.

The CSI team is able to track the firm's head's killer as he remotely erases the man's laptop. Looks like something from Star Trek.

Then there's the requisite showdown between Caine and the evildoer...Caine shows up right in time for the bad guy to make some ridiculously lame announcement about a suitable demonstration of the weapons power. Caine swerves his H2 and the back end explodes - it should've been shorn right off. The weapon is used again, and this time the Hummer is completely incinerated...Caine has escaped, and is now standing before this dog-kennel sized cannon. The badguy makes a lame quip about its power, and Caine shoots him in the head, then one-hit-kills a few other badguys at about fifty feet while holding his Sig 229 one-handed.

He then makes his own lame quip about using just one bullet, and the screen fades to black.

Watching CSI:Miami is like an intellectual I Am Legend. You feel like the last smart person on the planet. I've seen drooling Down-Syndrome patients with an insatiable lust for mashed potatoes who could pen better fiction.

I need to go watch some House clips on Youtube, get this bad taste out of my mouth.

The Greatest TV Quote Ever

Hello, sick people and their loved ones! In the interest of saving time and avoiding a lot of boring chitchat later, I'm Doctor Gregory House; you can call me "Greg." I'm one of three doctors staffing this clinic this morning.

This ray of sunshine is Doctor Lisa Cuddy. Doctor Cuddy runs this whole hospital, so unfortunately she's much too busy to deal with you. I am a bored... certified diagnostician with a double specialty of infectious disease and nephrology. I am also the only doctor currently employed at this hospital who is forced to be here against his will.

That is true, isn't it?

But not to worry, because for most of you, this job could be done by a monkey with a bottle of Motrin. Speaking of which, if you're particularly annoying, you may see me reach for this: this is Vicodin. It's mine! You can't have any! And no, I do not have a pain management problem, I have a pain problem... but who knows? Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm too stoned to tell. So, who wants me?

And who would rather wait for one of the other two guys?

Okay, well, I'll be in Exam Room One if you change your mind.

Edwards: Garnish Wages If Needed to Cover All

Edwards: Garnish Wages If Needed to Cover All

ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is hoping to stand-out from rivals on health care by portraying the plan of rival Barack Obama as leaving 15 million uninsured and portraying Hillary Clinton as lacking the candor needed to get to universal coverage.

"Barack Obama's plan leaves out 15 million people," said Edwards. "The truth is that some people will choose not to buy insurance even though it's affordable, knowing that the rest of us will pay for their emergency room visits."Listen to this moron. Some people will CHOOSE NOT TO BUY INSURANCE. Paying for their emergency room visits is just the same as paying for their insurance. And who is he to say that people shouldn't be able to REFUSE insurance if they don't want it?

"But it is just as bad to say that everyone will have insurance without a plan to get there," he continued. "Hillary Clinton says her plan will cover everyone through a 'mandate' but does not provide even the most rudimentary idea much less a detailed plan of how this 'mandate' would work."

Like Clinton (and unlike Obama), Edwards' health-care plan would require every American to have health insurance. Require insurance. We're not talking about "giving" everyone insurance (which will ultimately be the same thing) we're now just coming out and saying "Every American is going to have insurance at gunpoint." Does it make me a bad man to want to drag Edwards into the street and kick him?

But unlike Clinton, Edwards is now detailing how he would enforce his mandate.
Under the Edwards plan, when Americans file their income taxes, they would be required to submit a letter from an insurance provider confirming coverage for themselves and their dependents. Once again, the IRS gets involved. Remember, they were only supposed to tax the upper 1-5%. Guess not anymore!

If someone did not submit proof of coverage, the Internal Revenue Service would notify a newly established regional or state-based health-care agency (which Edwards has dubbed a Health Care Market). Market. Market! A place where people buy and sell things. A market isn't a damned government agency you dip**** with delusions of adequacy!

Those regional agencies would then evaluate whether the uninsured individual was eligible for Medicare (which covers those over 65), Medicaid (which covers the indigent), or S-CHIP (the State Children's Health Insurance Program which targets the working poor).

If the individual was not eligible for either of those existing public programs, the regional-health care agency would enroll the individual into the lowest cost health-care plan available in that area. The lowest-cost option could be a new Medicare-like public option or a private insurance plan. Well thank God private insurance companies aren't going to be put out of business.

The newly covered individual would not only have access to health benefits but would also be responsible for making monthly payments with the help of a tax credit.Let me get this straight. They're going to put a gun to his head and take his money, force him to pay for insurance upon threat of going to jail, and then they're going to give him a tax break. In what kind of crazy, screwed up moonbat world does that even begin to approach making sense?

The exact size of the financial obligation would vary according to a person's income (lower-income Americans would receive larger tax credits). Yet more punish the industrious economics. The nerve of those fellows...working!...and expecting to keep the fruit of their labor. I seriously question their compassion.

If a person did not meet his or her monthly financial obligation for a set period of time (perhaps a year, perhaps longer) the Edwards plan would empower the federal government to garnish an individual's wages for purposes of collecting "back premiums with interest and collection costs."More gunplay by the feds. If a person doesn't want health care and refuses to play ball, the federal government is simply going to rip their money away, reaching into their future paychecks to take payments for health care they didn't receive. And just how IN THE HELL is that going to affect their ability to pay for healthcare and other necessities in the present?

The process, according to the Edwards campaign, would resemble the process used to collect money from Americans who are delinquent on federal student loans or child support payments.
The Edwards campaign has not put a dollar figure on the amount that would be garnished from wages because the cost of the lowest-priced plan in that region could vary and is not yet known.

While raising the specter of wage garnishment could expose Edwards to the criticism that he favors a bigger, more intrusive government, he is hoping that Democrats will reward him for offering a plan that is bolder than Obama's and more candid than Clinton's.Reward him for proposing theft. For those who didn't catch it the first time, he thinks they'll reward him for THEFT! Man walks into my place of work, mouthing off about what he wants to steal, I'm going to call the POLICE!

"To get fundamental change in our health care system, we need a fundamental change in our politics," said Edwards. "That starts with being clear and direct about what we are going to do and how we are going to do it."Sure is a fundamental change you arrogant ****, and it's not a change for the better.

I read this and for some reason I think of Neil McCauly and Waingro in a hotel room. It's like a Rorshach ink-blot test.

...And They're Home!

The Barak Huessein Osama and Rudy Guiliani Commemorative Assault Rifles followed me home tonight. I broke them down (I love being able to do adjustments with a hammer!) and they're sitting in pieces on my workbench waiting for me to come downstairs tomorrow with a CD player and clean them for 5 hours.

Lessee here, assault rifle cleaning music...it'll either be:

~Scott Stapp
~Creed
~Nickelback/Hinder
~Theory Of A Deadman

Only in a free country do you have to make such choices.