Yup, Canadian Health Care Is So Awesome....

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=299282509335931

Canadian Health Care We So Envy Lies In Ruins, Its Architect Admits
By DAVID GRATZER Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2008 4:30 PM PT

As this presidential campaign continues, the candidates' comments about health care will continue to include stories of their own experiences and anecdotes of people across the country: the uninsured woman in Ohio, the diabetic in Detroit, the overworked doctor in Orlando, to name a few.

But no one will mention Claude Castonguay — perhaps not surprising because this statesman isn't an American and hasn't held office in over three decades.

Castonguay's evolving view of Canadian health care, however, should weigh heavily on how the candidates think about the issue in this country.

Back in the 1960s, Castonguay chaired a Canadian government committee studying health reform and recommended that his home province of Quebec — then the largest and most affluent in the country — adopt government-administered health care, covering all citizens through tax levies.

The government followed his advice, leading to his modern-day moniker: "the father of Quebec medicare." Even this title seems modest; Castonguay's work triggered a domino effect across the country, until eventually his ideas were implemented from coast to coast.

Four decades later, as the chairman of a government committee reviewing Quebec health care this year, Castonguay concluded that the system is in "crisis."

"We thought we could resolve the system's problems by rationing services or injecting massive amounts of new money into it," says Castonguay. But now he prescribes a radical overhaul: "We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice."

Castonguay advocates contracting out services to the private sector, going so far as suggesting that public hospitals rent space during off-hours to entrepreneurial doctors. He supports co-pays for patients who want to see physicians. Castonguay, the man who championed public health insurance in Canada, now urges for the legalization of private health insurance.

In America, these ideas may not sound shocking. But in Canada, where the private sector has been shunned for decades, these are extraordinary views, especially coming from Castonguay. It's as if John Maynard Keynes, resting on his British death bed in 1946, had declared that his faith in government interventionism was misplaced.

What would drive a man like Castonguay to reconsider his long-held beliefs? Try a health care system so overburdened that hundreds of thousands in need of medical attention wait for care, any care; a system where people in towns like Norwalk, Ontario, participate in lotteries to win appointments with the local family doctor.

Years ago, Canadians touted their health care system as the best in the world; today, Canadian health care stands in ruinous shape.

Sick with ovarian cancer, Sylvia de Vires, an Ontario woman afflicted with a 13-inch, fluid-filled tumor weighing 40 pounds, was unable to get timely care in Canada. She crossed the American border to Pontiac, Mich., where a surgeon removed the tumor, estimating she could not have lived longer than a few weeks more.

The Canadian government pays for U.S. medical care in some circumstances, but it declined to do so in de Vires' case for a bureaucratically perfect, but inhumane, reason: She hadn't properly filled out a form. At death's door, de Vires should have done her paperwork better.

De Vires is far from unusual in seeking medical treatment in the U.S. Even Canadian government officials send patients across the border, increasingly looking to American medicine to deal with their overload of patients and chronic shortage of care.

Since the spring of 2006, Ontario's government has sent at least 164 patients to New York and Michigan for neurosurgery emergencies — defined by the Globe and Mail newspaper as "broken necks, burst aneurysms and other types of bleeding in or around the brain." Other provinces have followed Ontario's example.

Canada isn't the only country facing a government health care crisis. Britain's system, once the postwar inspiration for many Western countries, is similarly plagued. Both countries trail the U.S. in five-year cancer survival rates, transplantation outcomes and other measures.

The problem is that government bureaucrats simply can't centrally plan their way to better health care.

A typical example: The Ministry of Health declared that British patients should get ER care within four hours. The result? At some hospitals, seriously ill patients are kept in ambulances for hours so as not to run afoul of the regulation; at other hospitals, patients are admitted to inappropriate wards.

Declarations can't solve staffing shortages and the other rationing of care that occurs in government-run systems.

Polls show Americans are desperately unhappy with their system and a government solution grows in popularity. Neither Sen. Obama nor Sen. McCain is explicitly pushing for single-payer health care, as the Canadian system is known in America.

"I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer health care program," Obama said back in the 1990s. Last year, Obama told the New Yorker that "if you're starting from scratch, then a single-payer system probably makes sense."

As for the Republicans, simply criticizing Democratic health care proposals will not suffice — it's not 1994 anymore. And, while McCain's health care proposals hold promise of putting families in charge of their health care and perhaps even taming costs, McCain, at least so far, doesn't seem terribly interested in discussing health care on the campaign trail.

However the candidates choose to proceed, Americans should know that one of the founding fathers of Canada's government-run health care system has turned against his own creation. If Claude Castonguay is abandoning ship, why should Americans bother climbing on board?

Gratzer is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a physician licensed in both the U.S. and Canada, where he received his medical training. His newest book, "The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care," is now available in paperback.
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To which the average American responds: It's never been tried properly! We can make it work this time! Do it again, only harder!

I don't want to see my healthcare destroyed by a bunch of slack-brained idiots. And that's exactly what's fixing to happen. The rest of the country may get the candidate they want, and if so, that's the candidate they deserve. They deserve to fail. They deserve their economy, their health care, their country failing.

The real Americans don't deserve it

The Line...

Between Civilization and something else, is very, very thin. Very first day after the hurricane, look at the store. Look at what the police are doing.

Yeah, I know it's old. But "some days, I fear for my republic." (tm)

I Love This Video

http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do?displayContent=171293&page=1

Long story short, Mexican bar is flying the flag of Mexico over an American flag. Torqued off veteran w/ a Ka-Bar remedies the situation.

That is righteous patriotism right there.

Yo, Homie!

Is U.S. ready to serve?
Obama repeated his pledge to boost the size of the active military. But he said the nation's future and safety depends on more than just additional service members.

"It also depends on the teacher in East L.A., or the nurse in Appalachia, the after-school worker in New Orleans, the Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, the Foreign Service officer in Indonesia," he said.

Obama had outlined many of the proposals offered Wednesday during appearances in Iowa last December.

Goals set for students"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set," he said Wednesday. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

He said he would make federal assistance conditional on school districts establishing service programs and set the goal of 50 hours of service a year for middle school and high school students.

For college students, Obama would set the goal at 100 hours of service a year and create a $4,000 annual tax credit for college students tied to that level of service.

In Chicago, meanwhile, billionaire investor Warren Buffett headlined two fundraisers to benefit Obama and the Democratic National Committee.

mccormickj@tribune.com
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So it's not enough that I spent thousands of dollars (private, no grants, loans, or scholarships allowed) paying for my own schooling. It doesn't matter that I worked my @$$ off getting a 3.7GPA. It doesn't matter that I'm 100% more dedicated than 98% of my fellow classmates. It means nothing that I've worked full time throughout school.

No.

Obama doesn't want me to graduate unless I turn in 100 hours of mandatory volunteerism. One would think that man would have heard a thing or two about slavery in his life, which is exactly what forcing anyone to work against their will is. And I'm guessing volunteering for the church, or teaching range safety is probably out of the question. Applicable charities will probably be registering 'hood rats (regardless of color, I've known a bunch of white ones) to vote and distributing clean needles or bull$#it like that.

I'm thinking about going back to school for another degree, and this might just turn me away. This sick **** wants to prevent me from graduating unless I play his ****ing reindeer games, and if I refuse to play along, I don't get my diploma, which is an effective bar to employment. This ******* is the antithesis of everything I believe, and a threat to my way of life.

I think I'll go watch relax now, by watching Collateral. My blogging name sake knew how to deal with threats. And he preceded dealing with them with "Yo Homie! Is that my briefcase?"

New Record

Wearing jeans and a t-shirt (as always) I ran 10 miles at the beginning of the week. 80 degree heat. Like before, I could've kept going.

Ran 6 miles on the 4th. It was nice running in the cool night air, seeing and hearing all the fireworks exploding overhead. Good times. If I'd been out and about at professional fireworks, I would've had a better time.

Oh well. If wishes was horses, we'd all be eating steak.

Shooty Goodness

So a couple of months ago, I bought a shotgun. Very nice piece, in a rather benign configuration. Innocent looking.

Innocent doesn't always translate into "easy to handle," so my dad and I decided to take on a father/son project involving metalworking, dremels, and about $300 worth of parts.

Lots of complications ensue. Parts don't go together right, the teeth on the dremel cutting wheel get shaved down, the grinding wheel eventually is discarded for a squirt bottle and a metal file, and various holes have to be drilled in various places where one shouldn't have to drill holes.

Getting the trigger back together was a chore and a half.

In its new configuration, it has a pistol grip and a folding stock (w/ rubber pad that is a godsend over the metal plate it had before). Took us roughly 10 hours total over 2 days, and that's pretty dang good.

Took it out today with 25 rounds of lowbrass bird and 5 slugs. Didn't cross myself before shooting it, like I have every other time.

And...it works. Something my dad and I built, with absolutely no experience, half-@$$ed directions, over the weekend, is now identical to something built by major custom gunshops selling for $1700.

The birdshot was actually fun - the recoil was nice, as recoil goes.

Then we hit the rifle range for the slugs. I fired the first one from a bench (@ 25 yards), my elbows on the table. BOOM! Pushed me back so hard it tore up my elbows on the carpetting. Shot the next four off-hand, two doubletaps.

Painful. Accurate, but painful.

The slugs grouped together in a size smaller than a pie plate (and definitely smaller than the target) at 25 yards. Seeing as I only stock slugs for that end-of-the-world scenario involving vehicles, that's good accuracy. Minute of pie-plate at 25 definitely equals minute of SUV.

On the other hand, my right hand goes numb now every time I touch my shoulder, and there's something grinding below the skin.

I'll keep an eye on this.

New Stuff

Bought Kane And Lynch:Dead Men on a whim. Better than Crysis. Better than a good chunk of Far Cry. Possibly the best game I've ever played.

Not too keen on the squad dynamics, but you don't need to play it tactically much of the time. Story is fantastic, Lehane noir quality. Bruce Willis is in the last stages of negociations to play Kane on the big screen, if that gives you any idea how awesome it is.

Weapons selection is great, and realistic. Love the Sig 552, and using a Ruger Mini-30 in a videogame is kinda weird.

Bought Theory Of A Deadman's Scars And Souvenirs (edited) last week. Possibly the best CD of the year. Every song could be a single, and they range up and down the thematic tree from humorous country/rock to ballad to fist pumping anthem. I love The Heroin Diaries, give it a 10/10, but this is much more solid, cohesive, and enjoyable.

And...someone please remind me that when I see a light at the end of the tunnel, it's usually a train. And so far it's batting 100 for running my *** over. That said, I love it when a plan comes together.

Call All You Want...

Obama issues new call for national service

Wed Jul 2, 2008 2:07pm EDT
www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0126054220080702

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama promised on Wednesday to create new opportunities for national service that would give Americans a chance to fight growing challenges on issues like poverty, climate change and education.

On a trip to Colorado, which Obama hopes to turn into an election battleground in his November White House race with Republican John McCain, Obama said Americans were ready to answer a new call for national service.

"I won't just ask for your vote as a candidate -- I will ask for your service and your active citizenship when I am president of the United States," Obama said.

"This will not be a call issued in one speech or one program -- this will be a central cause of my presidency," he said. "We will ask Americans to serve. We will create new opportunities for Americans to serve. And we will direct that service to our most pressing national challenges."

Obama, an Illinois senator, touted a package of proposals he first offered in December that would expand AmeriCorps, the domestic service agency, and double the size of the Peace Corps.

He also would offer more service opportunities to retirees and set goals for middle- and high-school students to serve 50 hours a year of public service, and for college students to serve 100 hours a year.

The speech was part of a week-long campaign focus for Obama on values and patriotism in the run-up to the Independence Day holiday on July 4.

Obama, who would be the first black president, has been dogged by Internet speculation about his patriotism and criticism from Republicans about his liberal voting record. Continued...

"Loving your country shouldn't just mean watching fireworks on the 4th of July," he said. "Loving your country must mean accepting your responsibility to do your part to change it. If you do, your life will be richer, and our country will be stronger."

Colorado Springs is in a conservative region of the state that is home to a military base, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the religious conservative group Focus on the Family.

Obama, who was scheduled to meet in the afternoon with military officials, renewed his call for bigger and stronger U.S. forces.

But the future of the United States does not just depend on the military, he said, "It also depends on the teacher in East L.A., the nurse in Appalachia, the after-school worker in New Orleans, the Peace Corps volunteer in Africa and the Foreign Service officer in Indonesia."

He criticized President George W. Bush for not taking advantage of a national desire to serve others shown by Americans after the September 11 attacks.

"Instead of a call to service, we were asked to go shopping," Obama said. "Instead of a call for shared sacrifice, we gave tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans in a time of war for the very first time in our history."

Obama cited his decision to become a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago after college as the kind of service that was beneficial to the community and satisfying.

"We need your service, right now, at this moment -- our moment -- in history," he said.

(Editing by David Wiessler)
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I have nothing constructive to add, nothing that doesn't involve profanity.

We Won!

Today, at about 9:14 my time, while I was madly refreshing Arfcom, I scrolled to the bottom of my recently refreshed thread and saw one word that gave me hope, just a little, but hope still, that the Republic is not lost.

Affirmed.

DC lost in DC vs. Heller. Scalia gave the 4 traitors who voted to deny Americans the right of self defense the worst legalese horsewhipping I have ever seen. Words like "absurdity" and "groteseque" are now preserved in American call, used appropriately to denounce the side of liberalism.

This is not "machine guns for all." Unfortunately. This means the forces of freedom have taken on small beach-head in the war against tyranny, and now it's time for the REST of the good guys to come sweeping in behind. If my math is right, exactly 1 minute after I read "Affirmed," the NRA filed suit against Chicago and Illinois, challenging THEIR gun bans.

It's nice to be on the offensive for a change. Yes, I know, Feinstein, Shumer, and Boxer have not been hung by the neck until dead, but this is the first time in history that I've heard of a gun law being struck down.

Here we go.

I close with a note from Ted Nugent:
---------------------------------------------
A “SUPREME” COURT? I CAN DO BETTER
by Ted Nugent

It is glaringly obvious that a critical lesson in history 101 is due in America, for it appears that not only does a lunatic fringe of anti-freedom Americans dismiss our founding fathers’ clear declaration of independence and succinct enumeration of our God-given individual rights, but some Americans have the arrogance and audacity to question whether the right to self-defense is indeed one of these individual rights. Dear God in heaven, who could be this soulless? How about 4 out of the 9 so called “Supreme” justices of the land. God help us all.

Who could be so asinine as to believe that a free man has no such right to keep and bear arms for self-defense? What kind of low-life scoundrel would know that courageous heroes of the U.S. Military would volunteer over and over again to sacrifice and die for such self-evident truths, then turn around and spit on their graves by discounting the very freedoms that these brave men and women have died to protect?

Will these supreme legal scholars also affirm an individual right to choose the religion of our individual choice? Do they authorize our individual freedom of speech? Can you imagine? Them is fighting words my friends, and the line drawn in the sand has never been more outrageous.

Recent USA Today and Gallup polls showed a whopping 73% of good Americans know damn well that we are all created equal, and that we each have an individual right to protect our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. What kind of jackass doesn’t know this? Allow the guitar player to translate for the soul-dead among us.

Keep-this means the gun is mine and you can’t have it. This does not mean I will register it with a government agency. The government works for “we the people,” not the other way around, regardless of what Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein or Barack Hussein Obama or 4 supreme justices may try to tell you.

Bear-this means I’ve got it right here, on me, either in my grasp or damn near. This does not mean locked away in a safe, trigger-locked or stored at the local sporting club.

Shall not be infringed-this of course is another way of saying Don’t tread on me, for we will not be your willing crime victims, subjects, servants or slaves, so don’t even think about it.

When the evil King’s gangsters came to collect unfair taxes from Americans, we tossed their tea into the drink. When they came to disarm us into helplessness against their old world tyrannical ways, we met them at Concord Bridge and shot them dead till they quit treading on us. Any questions children? I didn’t think so.

Corrupt men cannot be trusted, hence the right of “the people” to choose the individual church of our choice, to speak our individual ideas and beliefs, to have individual freedom from unwarranted searches and seizures, and ultimately, to exercise our individual right to keep and bear arms so that evildoers cannot do unto us that which we would not do unto them. Get it? I would love to meet the human being who would argue these points with us. We would be looking at a fascist, and of course fascists, by all historical and empirical evidence, must be eliminated.

If you value the American Way, if you believe in the words and spirit of the US Constitution and our sacred Bill of Rights, if you know in your heart that you have the right, the duty, the spiritual obligation to protect yourself and your loved ones from evil in all of its forms, then you had best contact each and every one of your elected officials right away and let them know that you know exactly what the Second Amendment says and stands for. Remind them about the “shall not be infringed” clause.

It will not be the fault of the rotten anti-Americans out there who don’t believe in individual rights that rape and pillage our Constitution, it will be the fault of those who know better but failed to speak up. Now is the time to fortify America, and we better inform the Supreme Court just who truly is the “Supreme” Court of America-We the people. Individual people with individual, God given rights. The real America. Live free or die.

Breaking Records

Broke my previous record of 5.5 miles last Sunday - 6 miles.

Today I broke my record again - 8 miles. Ran my 4.5 route, then my 1.5 route, then a mile to the gas station and back again. My hands and shoulder went numb (I'm thinking dehydration) around mile 6. Kept running though, and here I am 8 hours later and my throat's STILL dry. Only reason I quit was because I was getting bored. Coulda run another mile, mile and a half.

Mind you, I ran 8 miles in 85 degree heat while wearing jeans and an UnderArmor t-shirt. That makes me feel even better.

Good Shoot

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2086555
Nevada Family Court Judge Allegedly Shot Over Divorce Ruling
Courts Boost Security as Judge's Increasingly Become Targets
By NANCY WEINER
June 16, 2006

The shooting of a family court judge this week in Nevada points to an alarming phenomenon in which those involved in emotional and acrimonious cases are taking their frustrations out on the judges.

On Monday Nevada Family Court Judge Chuck Weller was shot in his office by a man he dealt with in a divorce case.

The suspect, Darren Mack, is a multmillionaire father of three whose relatives say was deeply upset over Weller's rulings in his divorce case.

"He felt that the financial remuneration that was awarded to his wife was totally unjust and unfair," said Mack's cousin, Jeff Donner.

Mack allegedly used a sniper's rifle to fire through the window of the judge's third-floor office window, shooting Weller in the chest. He was hospitalized and survived the shooting.

Later that day Mack's estranged wife, Charla Mack, was found dead in the garage of her home. Darren Mack was also charged for the slaying and remains a fugitive.

New Protections for Family Court Judges
Mack's campaign against Weller began months in advance, according to the judge's spokesman, who said the suspect found plenty of company in his frustrations on the Internet.

One blogger called the judge a terrorist. Another complained he was a bully and abusive. A third compared him to Hitler.

Family court judges across the country said, sadly, that such venom is not unusual. These courts are actually considered by many judges to be even more volatile than criminal courts because the plaintiffs have so much at stake -- custody, visitation rights, money -- and emotions are often at the breaking point.

"We draw the ire of some people who are incapable of thinking objectively because the pressures of divorce and custody matters sometimes drive them to the bitter end," said Judge Charles McGee.

In New York state, every family courthouse is now equipped with a day care center. The policy was put in place after a Brooklyn parole officer shot and killed his estranged wife in a courthouse hallway packed with children.

"We terminate parental rights sometimes, which is the equivalent of the death penalty in civil courts. That's not something that goes down very easy," said Judge Stephen Rubin, president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

Many of the nation's courthouses have been made more secure since Sept. 11, 2001. Monday's shooting prompted the introduction of legislation to replace courthouse windows with bulletproof glass.

As for Weller, he survived the shooting but went straight from the hospital into hiding, where he's likely to remain until his attacker is caught.
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Found this a couple of weeks ago when people were talking about individuals "pushing the reset button." Figured it'd make a good follow-up to what I just posted.

The gist of the story is that well-known crooked judge for divorce court broke up a family, and the father "pushed the reset button" with a rifle. What I got from the retelling I heard was that Weller bought it, DRT. Apparently not.

Dang.

Darren Mack, the guy who shot Mr. Weller, was no choirboy. As I understand it, he later murdered his ex-wife.

That said, Mr. Weller has a history of screwing men over in divorce court, backing them down with promises of asset forfeiture, stuff like that. And the law is stacked against men so much in divorce court that if they get screwed, it's 99.999% of the time the fault of the court/judge.

Used to be, not getting married and not having kids was a way for a guy to protect himself. Still is, except in NJ.

Anyway. Good shoot. Too bad he didn't kill him.

This needs to keep happening until the divorce laws are reformed, until fathers have rights, until men aren't looked at as gravy trains by the law.

I'm thinking Chucky is going to at least think about taking a round to the chest every time he steps into his court room, and that's the way it should be.

Post script: What caliber for judges?

NJ Idiocy

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-13/12137649544110.xml&coll=1

Palimony ruling sets precedent in Jersey
Justices: Cohabitation is not the only factor

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
BY TOM HESTERStar-Ledger Staff
In a decision described as the first of its type in the nation, the state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a couple does not have to live together in order for one partner to sue the other for palimony after a breakup.

The high court ruled that judges should consider the "entirety" of a couple's relationship, and that cohabitation is only one factor in deciding whether they had a "marital-type relationship."

The ruling overturned an appeals court decision last year that said there is no basis for a palimony suit unless a couple lived together.

"It is the promise of support, expressed or implied, coupled with a marital-type relationship, that are the indispensable elements to support a valid claim of palimony," Justice John Wallace wrote for the court.

The high court was ruling in the case of a former North Bergen woman who was attempting to sue a prominent, wealthy and married Manhattan ophthalmologist for palimony after he ended a 20-year relationship.

"This is the first ruling of its type in the country," said William Goldberg, the Hackensack-based attorney for the defendant in the case, retired ophthalmologist Francis L'Esperance, 75. "I don't remember any case in the United States ever permitting recovery where cohabitation did not exist. This is the first case that says there does not necessarily have to be a 'bright-line' requirement that cohabitation must exist, but it certainly is the most significant factor."

Alan Zegas, a Chatham-based family law attorney, said the decision is precedent-setting.
"The court appears to be evaluating the case in terms of requiring lower courts to examine whether promises were made that would cause one of the partners to believe a relationship existed, that it was similar to a marriage," he said. "I think the door is now wide open on these types of claims."

The justices left it up to Superior Court judges to determine when there is grounds for a palimony suit. Palimony is a court-ordered allowance paid by one member of an unmarried couple following a breakup. Alimony payments involve married couples.

"The Family Court is well equipped to consider highly personal facts and to determine whether a plaintiff's claim for support based on a marital-type relationship has merit," Wallace wrote.
The New Jersey courts have ruled since 1979 that cohabitation was necessary to bring a palimony suit. Prior to that year, the courts would not enforce support claims involving unmarried couples or married couples not living with their spouses.

The ruling did not help the woman who made the palimony claim, Helen Devaney, 47, now of Brooklyn. The justices turned away Devaney's contention that an unsuccessful effort to conceive a child with L'Esperance in 2003 "demonstrates that their relationship was sufficiently akin to a marriage."

They found she did not present enough evidence to uphold her palimony claim. L'Esperance, a pioneer in laser eye surgery, provided Devaney with money and a condominium in North Bergen.

Devaney was 23 and L'Esperance 51 when she went to work for him in 1983. After a few months, their relationship became intimate. She knew he was married, but he told her he planned to get a divorce. The couple saw each other no more than two or three evenings each week and sometimes one day on the weekend. During the seven years Devaney lived in the condo, L'Esperance spent no more than seven nights there, according to the decision.

The justices noted the trial judge found Devaney relied on L'Esperance's promises to take care of her and she eventually became financially dependent on L'Esperance.

"As the trial judge so aptly phrased it," Wallace wrote, "'the parties' relationship was best characterized as a dating relationship.'"
----------------------------------------
It's long been known that men get screwed in divorce court, child involved or no. Looks like New Jersey isn't even requiring marriage to a factor in divorce court. It used to be that not marrying was a possible option for a guy to be in a relationship and safeguard his possessions. Not so much in New Jersey now.

The stupidity is strangling. How do people come up with this crap.

More Government Overreach

Senate Housing Bill Requires eBay, Amazon, Google, and All Credit Card Companies to Report Transactions to the Government
Broad, invasive provision touches nearly every aspect of American commerce.

Contact: Adam Brandon
Phone: 202-942-7612
Email: abrandon@freedomworks.org

Washington, DC - Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd's 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America’s small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill's managers without debate this week, would require the nation's payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government.

FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey commented: "This is a provision with astonishing reach, and it was slipped into the bill just this week. Not only does it affect nearly every credit card transaction in America, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express, but the bill specifically targets payment systems like eBay's PayPal, Amazon, and Google Checkout that are used by many small online businesses. The privacy implications for America's small businesses are breathtaking."

"Privacy groups like the Center for Democracy and Technology and small business organizations like the NFIB sharply criticized this idea when it first appeared earlier this year. What is the federal government's purpose with this kind of detailed data? How will this database be secured, and who will have access? Many small proprietors use their Social Security number as their tax ID. How will their privacy be protected? What compliance costs will this impose on businesses? Why is Sen. Chris Dodd putting this provision in a housing bailout bill? The bill also includes the creation of a new national fingerprint registry for mortgage brokers.

"At a time when concerns about both identity theft and government spying are paramount, Congress wants to create a new honey pot of private data that includes Social Security numbers. This bill reduces privacy across America's payment processing systems and treats every American small business or eBay power seller like a criminal on parole by requiring an unprecedented level of reporting to the federal government. This outrageous idea is another reason to delay the housing bailout legislation so that Senators and the public at large have time to examine its full implications."

From the Senate Bill Summary:

Payment Card and Third Party Network Information Reporting. The proposal requires information reporting on payment card and third party network transactions. Payment settlement entities, including merchant acquiring banks and third party settlement organizations, or third party payment facilitators acting on their behalf, will be required to report the annual gross amount of reportable transactions to the IRS and to the participating payee. Reportable transactions include any payment card transaction and any third party network transaction. Participating payees include persons who accept a payment card as payment and third party networks who accept payment from a third party settlement organization in settlement of transactions. A payment card means any card issued pursuant to an agreement or arrangement which provides for standards and mechanisms for settling the transactions. Use of an account number or other indicia associated with a payment card will be treated in the same manner as a payment card. A de minimis exception for transactions of $10,000 or less and 200 transactions or less applies to payments by third party settlement organizations. The proposal applies to returns for calendar years beginning after December 31, 2010. Back-up withholding provisions apply to amounts paid after December 31, 2011. This proposal is estimated to raise $9.802 billion over ten years.
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There's a line of dialogue from Collateral that springs to mind:

bangbang...bang

So As I Don't Go Forgetting...

...What I Want To Remember...

Yesterday was part 2 of the last entry. So much I'd like to say, so much I won't.

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.