Ex-Commie Doom Prognostication

A Russian bloke by the name of Igor Panarin predicts that the U.S. will disintegrate by 2010. I'm not sure that I completely buy his prediction on how things will go down, but I do think it's interesting that notable people moving in high circles could openly espouse such an idea.

Reading a bit about him I see that he's basically a Russian talking head - like one of our Sunday morning pundits. According to one site, he moves around in Kremlin circles quite a bit, so maybe he's a step above punditry.

He's also a professor and published author. Okay - maybe two steps above punditry, seeing that many TV pundits in this country have no more qualifications than hosting a radio talk show in Albuquerque and a high school diploma. On slow news days the 24 hour news channels will probably put you on with just a diploma.

In any event, for an apocalypse junkie like me this is interesting stuff.

Shootin' Sunday

My brother and I went shooting again Sunday morning. He brought his AR-15 and Glock .45, I brought my SKS and shotgun.

After the buck of the .45, SKS, and shotgun the AR-15 was a bit like shooting a pop gun. I love it, don't get me wrong, but it felt almost like a .22 or something. The kick is just nothing on that gun.

We murdered the standard assortment of cans and plastic bottles. It was good to brush up on the ole marksmanship skills. I also needed to sight in my red dot scope again since I had to tear down my SKS recently in order to clean it.

Home Brewing

Santa treated me right this year. My wife got me a great home brewing kit. I started my first batch of beer last night (True Brew IPA). I have to say that when I peeked in at my fermenter this morning and saw the bubbling in the fermentation trap I experienced a little perk of pride similar to when your child says its first word or takes its first step.

I really enjoyed the process of brewing. Ninety percent of the work is done up front, for those who know even less about brewing beer than I do. The output of this upfront work is called wort. My wife seemed to think the smell was weird, but I liked it. You could definately tell I was brewing an IPA. The smell of hops was pretty strong.

I still have a while to go before I can actually drink the beer. After placing the wort in the carboy for fermentation, you let it sit for a week to ferment. After this you bottle it and wait for another 2-3 weeks before you drink.

This will be a nice skill to have, should TSHTF. Of course I'll have to advance my skills beyond using kits if I plan to brew post-gridcrash. I am currently looking into hops cultivation, as well. It would be nice to have fresh hops for brewing (gridcrash or no), so I plan to grow enough hops for my own personal brewing uses.

Another point of interest is the water source I use for brewing. While the city water at my house is good, excellent compared to other municipally sourced water I've had, the water from my parents' well is outstanding. I may brew another batch soon with the well water and see if there's a noticeable difference in the taste of the final product. If there is, my Mom will get to see me a bit more often as I come out to her house to get water!

And the best part is that this will save me a lot of money. I am a big fan of the beer (so is the wife), but I won't drink crap beer. Budweiser? Hell, no! Headache in a bottle, is more like it.

No, the beers I like tend to be in the $8-$12 range per six-pack. With this IPA kit coming in at $30 and yielding 48-50 bottles I am looking at roughly $50 in beer saving each batch I brew (8 store-bought six packs at about $10 each being $80).

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and good tidings to anyone whose holiday I may have missed.

Take this time to cleave to family and friends. Forget about the world outside and just appreciate those who you love and who love you.

The world will still be there in a few days... waiting with all of its problems. It's important to just take a breather once in a while.

Gridcrash

We are teetering on the edge, my friends. The auto industry nearly collapsed, and still may in the near future. Three million jobs down the toilet - nearly. Can you imagine the fallout from that?

• Three million people (nearly all at once) added to the already bulging unemployment rolls.
• Three million more people without any health insurance...
• Three million more people with drastically reduced buying power. A real problem since our economy is fueled 2/3 by consumer spending and all.
• Hundreds of thousands more foreclosures in relatively short order... this could have easily sent an already weak new housing market into oblivion.
• The possible collapse of foreign automakers' operations in North America. All of these companies worked with the same suppliers that would have gone out of business if GM, Chrysler, and Ford went down. How many more people would that have put out of work?
• Repeat all steps above as service industries related to auto plants, parts, dealerships, etc fold - everything from fast food joints, to stores, to office supply companies, etc, etc, etc.

We are staring economic oblivion right in the face. If you haven't woken up to just how close we are to another Great Depression, then you need to pay attention. The Fed finally admitted to a recession dating back to December 2007. As of the very moment of that announcement, we were in the longest running economic downturn since - you guessed it - the Great Depression.

Each new day we wake up still in this recession is another day added to the record of the longest recession ever. Most economists think there is no chance we'll come out of this in 2009.

Once the mightiest manufacturing sector the human race had ever seen - the Big Three - now is reduced to begging for taxpayer money like some homeless child. What's worse is that the guys who got us into this mess, Wall Street, came asking for twenty times as much money and got it without so much as a batted eyelash.

Let someone who actually makes something come ask for a paltry sum in comparison and it's like the Spanish Inquisition. What does that say about us? It says if you're white collar and take a shower before you go to work, then you can do no wrong. Be as greedy, corrupt, and stupid as you want - we'll bail you out no questions asked.

But if your collar is blue and you shower after you get off work, then expect to be demonized when you come asking for a loan. Expect to be treated with suspicion. Why? Because we don't respect hard, honest work these days. We respect money, and the making of it, above all else.

We respect it above hard work.

We respect money more than honesty.

We respect the acquisition of wealth no matter the means.

In short, we are sick. We have lost our center - and I don't mean that in any sort of religious manner. I don't mean that with any political bent whatsoever. I mean that when we don't respect that which made us great, then we will be great no longer.

Hard work and opportunity used to be at the center of the American ethic. We no longer respect hard work in and of itself and I fear that the same opportunities that were afforded me coming up will no longer be available or attainable to my children.

Why? Because the wealthy and elite have been allowed to run our ship aground - again. The difference is that back in 1930 people actually lived closer to the land, They knew how to darn socks and plant crops and raise animals. Many didn't have electricity.

Nowadays the dispossessed will not know what to do when there's no supermarket. They won't believe any of it until it's already happened - until the lights actually go out.

Well, my friends - I am not one of those people. I have a piece of land to retreat to when the sh!t hits the fan. This land has a source of clean water - a source spring. I have guns and seeds. I have the skills needed to protect my own (first aid, CPR, marksmanship). I have the skills needed to provide for my own (hunting, fishing, basic gunsmithing, gardening, construction, electrical engineering). I have a library of books dedicated to things like making drinking water safe, emergency shelter, gardening without petroleum fertilizers and pesticides, composting, shelter, and more.

Batton down the hatches. Gridcrash is a-coming.

Stockpile Progress, Part 2

As of now, my Apocalypse Stockpile consists of:

• Guns
• SKS, mounted on a Tapco Fusion Kit with BSA Red Dot sight (350 rnds)
• Remington 870 Express 12 ga. shotgun (100 buckshot, 50 slug)
• Ruger GP100 .357 Magnum Revolver (250 .38 rnds, 100 .357 rnds)
• Ruger 10/22 with 30 shot clip (1000 rnds)
• Outdoor Gear
• 3 tents (6 person, 4 person, 2 person)
• collapsible trench shovel
• Solio solar battery charger
• mini propane camp stove (3 fuel cells)
• deluxe first aid kit
• 6 rain ponchos
• hatchet/hammer
• machete
• buck knife
• 4 sleeping bags
• freshwater fishing gear (pole & decently appointed tackle box)
• 4 camp cook kits
• 6 lightweight plastic plates
• complete set of 6 utensils (fork knife, spoon)
• hand crank flashlight
• hand crank AM/FM/ShortWave radio
• various other cooking gear
• flint and steel kit
• waterproof matches
• stakes
• 100' rope (500 lb test)
• compass
• small binoculars (Bushnell)
• Army ALICE pack
• more... (can't recall at this point)
• Food
• 12 MREs
• 2 Other MRE-type meals (backpacking dinners)
• 5 lbs dried lentel beans, stored in an airtight container
• hermetically sealed can of various non-hybrid vegetable seeds
• 36 energy gels (little packets used by runners to speed electrolytes to your system)
• Miscellaneous
• playing cards
• silver coin (for water treatment)
• 100 M80's

There's more. This is what I can recall off the top of my head.

Camping, Shooting, and the Decline of America

A bit of a scattershot entry here, but what the hell?

• The Vice President of the United States admits to the world to authorizing torture
• Chrysler shuts down all plants for a month

Oh, God. We've really and objectively gone to hell in a handbasket.

In that spirit, I am going shooting with my brother and kids this weekend. A .45 or two, maybe a .357, and my .22 Ruger will be in the mix.

I'm trying to setup a camping trip with a couple of my brothers and maybe some friends for some time this winter. We'll probably camp on the back portion of my parents' property in Barboursville.

I really want to try out some of my camping gear which I just haven't gotten a chance to use yet.

A Life Saved, Pay No Mind

I had the most bizarre experience last night. I keep thinking about it and when I do it keeps striking me as surreal.

I was at a local restaurant eating with three of my four kids when I noticed a girl sitting at the next table choking. Her Mom had a panic-stricken look and just kept asking her 9 year old daughter if she could breathe. The kid stood there choking... obviously unable to respond.

So after about 10 seconds of this I jumped up and went over and asked the Mom if she needed help. She said, "Yes, help!"

So I did. I may not be remembering the timeline perfectly here, but it went something like this:

• I pried the kid's mouth open and stuck my finger down her throat, trying to sweep out whatever was in the way. I actually felt something in there. It would later turn out to be a piece of pineapple. 10 seconds.
• She gagged and I thought for a second she was going to gag up the blockage. She didn't. Another 5-10 seconds waiting to see if she'd start to breathe.
• I stuck my finger down her throat again, and felt the object again (just on the tip of my finger). This time I really tried to aggravate her throat to induce a more powerful gag response, which worked but failed to dislodge the blockage. 5 seconds.
• Slap her on the back hard to try to get her to gag up the blockage. No luck. 10 seconds. Mom is really freaking out at this point. I'm not sure what she's saying, but it's repetitive and hysterical.
• There is a crowd of waitresses starting to gather at this point.
• I picked the girl up and gave her a good Heimlich thrust (I've actually been trained and certified on this). 5 - 10 seconds.
• She still isn't breathing. Now my heart is pounding in my ears. I'm really scared this kid is going to die. In a bit of a panic I give her a hard Heimlich. Her chest pops pretty loudly.
• 5 more seconds pass and I put the girl back down on her feet, grab her face with one hand, forcing her mouth open. I then jam my finger in starting at the corner of the mouth so I can get my finger in there deeper. I stretch her cheek pretty violently getting my finger as far back into her throat as I can.
• I still can't pull out the blockage, but I do manage to shove it down further, inducing a huge gag and I feel the blockage slip down and away from my finger.
• I pull my finger out of her throat (covered in pineappled bile up to my wrist) and am rewarded with a shuddering, raspy, and giant gasp of breath.
• I sit down, numb and relieved and absently start to wipe my hand off.
• The kid collapses in her Mom's arms, crying... the waitresses disperse.

I went to the bathroom and washed my hands. I came back and a waitress (who witnessed the whole thing) brings me my check. I'm a little surprised by this. Not that I did it for a free dinner, but if I owned that joint I'd comp the dinner for the guy who just stopped a little girl from dying in my restaurant!

Mom says nothing to me. The waitresses say nothing. My kids are the only one who react at all. The little girl seemed to want to come over to me at one point, but her Mom pulls the child back to her. No one in the restaurant so much as looked at me as I walked out.

Like I said, I'm not asking for a parade or anything, but the fact that no one reacted at all was just strange. Very bizarre. Surreal is the word that just keeps coming to mind. You just saw a little girl come close to death and... nothing? That's some high drama and... nothing?

What does it say about us when we can witness something like that and not react?

My kids, understandably, wanted to talk about nothing else in the car. At least my two oldest wanted to talk about it. My four year old may not have been able to compute what went on. I do remember she had a bit of a slack-jawed look on her face when I sat back down at our table. She was chatting about Christmas as we drove moments later, so I guess she was okay with the whole thing.

WTF Have I Been Saying?

Notice what year 2008 ranks in there with? 1931. The worst year for the S&P ever... worse than 1929, for Christ's sake.

You'll have to click the image to get a full sized version to read it well.

Prognostication

Let me tell you something here - if the US Auto Industry collapses then I officially deem this nation no longer a superpower. The long ride we've had as a preeminant global force will be done with if the industry that won World War II for us goes away.

There was a scene from Band of Brothers that leaps to mind where Webster (along with the 101st Airborne Division) is riding in the back of a long convoy of trucks along a highway where 300,000 German POWs are marching in the median going the other way.

They are walking and riding in horse-drawn carts and Webster screams at them, "What were you thinking!? Look at you! You have horses!! Say hello to Ford and General Motors! You ignorant, servile scum! What are we doing here? You interrupted our lives for this?!?!"

The idea that a nation could attempt to dominate the modern world on horseback was preposterous.

Our manufacturing base is without a doubt the central cog in our military machine. The auto industry is the wheel upon which almost all teeth in the industrial cog are mounted. When that goes, the last of anything we actually make is sure to soon follow.

A Year Late, A Couple of Trillion Dollars Short

The National Bureau of Economic Research finally declared a recession this week. Fucking genius, fellas. I guess what we've all known for, oh, about a year is now "official."

Thanks. Good to know you're on top of this for us.

Recession, anyone?

And why hasn't an official declaration of "recession" been made? The Dow dropped another 400+ points yesterday with no end in sight - a 6 year low for the markets.

Some headlines today:

• Job losses rise as recession plays on
• BREAKING NEWS: Jobless claims jump unexpectedly to 16-year high as labor market weakens
• Prospect for auto bailout dims
• Auto Bailout Breaks Down
• Markets in Europe and Asia follow Wall St. drop
• Weekly jobless claims surge to 16-year high
• Allied forces train merchant seamen to counter piracy
• Financials need at least $1 trillion: analyst
• GM finance arm seeks bailout
• Don’t junk the auto industry
• Markets look puny after big selloff

I normally avoid CNN and Fox like the plague, but the point here was to illustrate that across the news spectrum there is almost nothing but doom and gloom economically. This is one of the many reasons there is a crisis in faith in the government today. When they can't acknowledge what is plainly in front of them, why the hell should we have any confidence in them?

Gut Punch Correction

(Click for larger image)

Slight correction from yesterday. It seems the Dow has lost 42% (rather than 40%) of it's value from its high on October 9th, 2007 of 14,164 down to its low of 8,175 as of October 27th, 2008.

Gut Punch

516,000 jobless claims last month.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4AC40B20081113

Dow Jones Industrial Average down 411 points yesterday. The Dow has lost over 40% of it's value from its high.

No sign of it stopping, either.

Batton down the hatches people.

The Challenges Facing Obama

Regardless of how you feel about the recent election of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States, you have to recognize that he is inheriting one of the most difficult set of circumstances since FDR in 1933. He has to face:

1. A spiraling stock market and weak economy with jobs disappearing at an alarming rate.
2. Two wars whose cost are siphoning off this weakened economy.
3. A federal budget that has been in deficit spending and totally out of control for eight years
4. Underfunded and underperforming schools
5. An unprecedented environmental crisis

Whatever your feelings about John McCain, you have to give him credit for the tone and content of his concession speech. He is absolutely right. This is a time of unprecedented national crisis. He is absolutely right that we need to come together and work together to resolve these issues in a bipartisan manner.

I hope he will be instrumental in leading the effort on the Republican side of the aisle. I hope President Obama will reach out to him and try to work with the Republicans, leading the Democrats in this spirit of bipartisanship. We need a spirit of national unity to address these problems.

Our status as a superpower is threatened. No nation can be a power without a dominant economy. Right now our power is based on limitless borrowing. With the economic crisis deepening around the world, this pool of borrowed money will soon dry up.

Regardless of where you stand politically, you have to be in favor of:

1. A strong economy with good jobs that will stay here in America.
2. A federal budget that is under control and that invests in America first.
3. A strong and effective education system. This is the foundation of the middle class and the middle class is the foundation of a strong America (economically and socially). An educated workforce is the kingpin in the inventive and entrepreneurial capacity that has made America great.
4. Energy independence. Energy independence makes us stronger economically and reduces our political and economic dependencies on hostile and unstable regions of the world.
5. Infrastructure. America's infrastructure is crumbling. Roads, bridges, electrical grid, and Internet are all in need of maintenance, replacement, expansion, and updating.

That's a lot of common ground! This is something that should excite us, all this common ground! The four points above could easily occupy any President for at least one, maybe two, terms. If you don't like the idea of a President Obama, then wouldn't it make you feel better if you knew he was occupied with issues that you could agree on?

Don't get me wrong, I think the charge of socialism is an idiotic one. But, if you think he's a socialist, then wouldn't it make you feel better to know that Obama was occupied fixing bridges, helping Detroit retool to make the next generation of fuel efficient cars, and fixing our schools? The alternative, in your mind, might be that he erect statues to Karl Marx on Constitution Ave in DC, I guess...

So if we all agree that there is a crisis (pick one), and we all agree that it needs to be solved, then can't we all compromise in that spirit and come up with solutions and actions that effect Americans directly? Jobs, the economy, and the environment can all be addressed with the same initiative - the Green Economy.

A Green Economy would:

1. ... invigorate the auto industry, making jobs and helping the environment by producing cleaner, more efficient cars.
2. ... create jobs by building out a whole new infrastructure for distributing electricity ("the grid")
3. ... in addition to weaning us from foreign oil, a $700 billion a year drain on our economy, the new electrical grid would create jobs in order to maintain this new grid. These jobs would be outsource-proof. A Chinese worker cannot maintain a distribution station in Nebraska.
4. ... create jobs in the manufacture and research of new technologies like wind turbines and solar panels. With proper tax incentives we could make sure that these jobs stay in America over the long haul.

Notice how these points all feed into each other? The jobs created by a new auto industry help the economy and the environment by producing a whole new wave of efficient cars.

The creation of a new, clean, and renewably-based electrical grid creates jobs and helps the environment by distributing energy gathered from wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal sources.

All of this reduces oil consumption which has the dual effect of helping the environment and removing a major strain on our economy.

All of this would both spur and be spurred by a necessary boom in research. This would stimulate our universities and education system, creating the next generation of scientists and engineers who will be the future of American innovation.

All of these points are completely non-partisan in nature. Republicans and Democrats alike can come together around this core set of principles to do what's right for America and Americans.

Religulous

I went to see Religulous tonight, the new film by Bill Maher. We have this great old theatre here in town which has but a single screen. It's the only commercial venue in town where this sort of film is par for the course.

Do not let the reviews you may have read fool you about this flick. It is very much anti-religion. I say that as a matter of fact and without judgement for or against the movie - or religion, for that matter.

The basic gist of the movie is that anyone who approaches religious belief with certitude is a fool. Religion is foolish and dangerous. Dangerous because the apocalyptic fantasies that are at the core of so many religions are now possible due to man's recent grasp of apocalyptic technologies.

Technologies such as nuclear weapons which, along with pollution, are listed as some of the ways man's technologies could facilitate the apocalyptic fantasies contained within various scriptures. I would add biological and chemical weapons to that list of apocalypse-enablers.

Bill Maher says at one point, "The only thing worse than prophecy is a self-fulfilling prophecy."

To close the film, he sums it all up with, "Grow up or die." Meaning religious faith is immature and its foolish tenants can lead to our destruction given man's grasp of modern technology.

I am agnostic, myself. I don't claim to be wise enough to know what the answer is. I agree with the assertion that religious institutions are prone to corruption and have been so for centuries and millenia. Centuries and millenia of corruption have most likely lead to a perversion of the teachings of Christ, Muhammed, Moses, whoever.

The Grim Reaper of Greed

alternate title - Power Word Kill Rich Whitey

Recession Finally Admitted by the Fed

Finally there are rumblings from Washington that seem to admit to a recession. I think the American people have been tuned into the reality of an economic downturn for quite some time.

As of now, the Dow is down another 502 points. The other day it was up by around 900, but I knew that was mere volatility. This downturn won't stop until the actual fundamentals of the world economy are repaired.

The U.S. especially needs to put its economic house in order. We need to start making things again. That is what is fundamentally at the core of our floundering economy - we don't make anything any more. We make money off of money. We flip houses. We use credit.

There are many things that have gone awry, don't get me wrong. However, increasing manufacturing jobs in America would have the effect of decreasing unemployment, putting more money in the pocket of Americans. Two thirds of our economy is based upon consumer spending.

I think retail stores are going to take a major hit this Christmas. Americans are losing their jobs, their homes, and their confidence. Watch the stock market in late December and early January. Look for a big drop when the retail numbers prove to be abysmal.

I think the turnaround here will take a good long time. I think Americans have been shocked into waking up from a credit card coma. Spending will slow. Savings will increase. Less cheap crap will be bought in stores. Bad news for China, really.

If Americans are smart and we have good leadership we can come through this better and stronger. If the focus is on technology and research into alternative energy we have a chance. If America leads the way with a whole new fleet of battery driven and alternatively fueled cars we can again be the auto manufacturer of the world. If we invest in infrastructure like schools, roads, a new solar and wind electrical grid, and college we can again become competitive.

If our leaders have the political will to raise taxes we might be okay. If we are honest with ourselves then we see that raising taxes is unavoidable if we are to address our national debt and other needs simultaneously. If Americans can change their ways and refrain from spending what they don't have then each of us may yet find economic salvation.

If we hold our leaders accountable on the issues that matter to all of us we can save ourselves from ourselves. Issues like education, roads, jobs, a stagnating economy, and the environment are all interrelated and can all be solved on a single line of attack.

The simplest answer is usually the best answer. I usually denounce Occum's Razor as a means for oversimplification of complicated issues and ideas. In this case, however it is right on.

Problems like crumbling roads, vaporizing jobs and a worsening environment can all be solved by investing in green technology and providing government subsidies for green infrastructure projects. This would lay the foundation for jobs and a revitalized economy. It would allow us to export this technology and put America back on the economic map as a producer and exporter rather than an importer and borrower.

More Americans with good jobs boosts consumer confidence and provides the fuel for two thirds of our economy (consumer spending). More good jobs means a larger tax base. Government subsidies for technology research means many many small businesses getting startup money from either the government or venture capitalists.

And to cement the continued growth of this new economy you invest in education. A smart workforce is an efficient and innovative workforce. You also ensure this new boom is sustainable with massive infrastructure investment in both existing and new techologies (as they come online). Improve roads and build a new sustainable electrical grid. This will create jobs in and of itself as well - this will feed back into the positive cycle by putting more money in the pockets of Americans and growing the middle class.

That is a lot of "ifs." Believe me, I am aware of that fact. Every pay period I am putting a little bit towards survival gear and supplies. I am trying to hope for the best, but I am planning for the worst without a doubt.

EDIT: At close of trading today the Dow was down 733 pts.

Chaos Reigns

• Wells Fargo slipped 3.7 percent
• The S&P financial services companies' index fell 5.6 percent
• Bank of America fell 4.6 percent
• The Dow fell below 10,000 for the first time since October 2004
• JPMorgan Chase slid 5.7 percent
• Shares of energy companies were a top drag, with the S&P energy index down more than 7 percent
• Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp fell 1.2 percent
• Chevron Corp lost 4.7 percent
• Shares of economic bellwethers ... General Electric ... shares dropped 5.2 percent
  

And now the wolves are fighting over the carcasses strewn everywhere. This from Reuters...

"Citigroup said it is suing Wachovia and Wells Fargo, and it is seeking more than $60 billion in damages over Wells Fargo's competing bid for Wachovia."

FUCKING CHAOS REIGNS!!!!!

The Butt-Rape of Main Street

Mao Tse-Tung and Lenin might have been on to something. How many times do we have to be screwed by the titans of industry before we wake up? When does enough become enough? When do we pick up the gun?

I'm not advocating it - not yet. I'm just wondering when it is that people get so fed up with the bullshit being shoved down their throat by Washington and Wall Street that they go armed into the streets. Bullshit like:

1. "We can't have national healthcare because it's too expensive. But you sure as hell better cough up a $700 billion bailout in just a few days!"
2. "Bankrupt due to medical bills? Well, see we just made it easier for the hospitals to take your house. Oh, you're welcome!"
3. "We have to cut education spending because we just can't afford it. We have this $10 billion a month war of choice we have to fund."
4. "Sorry about college being unattainably expensive, but we just can't afford to help you with that. See, we have these regulations we need to loosen and then we'll be cutting the taxes on those who benefit from that deregulation."
5. "Hey, remember how I outsourced your jobs and stagnated your wages? Yeah, haha! Good times. Hey, I got real fucking stoned and was doing some plain retarded stuff with that mortgage I sold you... yeah, yeah. I repackaged it and sold it for like 20 times what it's worth. Hey... I need to jack your payment by like 120% to try to cover my losses."

These same guys that have had Main Street bent over the barrel, slapping us in the face with the cock of outsourcing and donkey-punching us with stagnant wages now want us to pay the bill for this date rape.

Wall Street to a crying Main Street, skirt torn and dirty: "Hey, sorry I punched you in the fucking mouth, called you a 'whiner', and then ass-raped you in the alley behind the restaraunt I told you we'd eat at. Who am I kidding? I'm not sorry for that. I actually ended up taking Congress out to dinner, Main Street. Yeah - I know you're bleeding, but I need you to pay for my date with Congress. Yeah, and you better pay right now or things will get fucking awful."

Fuck them. No matter what there's going to be pain - bailout or no. There was a bailout during the Great Depression and the Depression still happened. Fuck these assholes. Let them all lie in the bed they've made. Let the chips fall where they may and we'll just have to deal with the fallout.

We don't even know if the bailout will help. This is the actual consensus of the economic intelligensia. They admit it. How did they come up with $700 billion as the pricetag for this bailout? Just a guess...

Grrrarrrr! I could just scream. Nah - I'll go shooting instead.

Beauty. Sweet human charity.

I quoted of FDR, the phrase "economic royalists"... The following is the speech I quoted it from. Read it in it's entirety. I read it for my first time in 11th grade Government class and it made me weep for the pure beauty of it. It still jerks a tear or two from me today.

What strikes me is the fact that, excepting references to specific years, this speech could just about apply word-for-word today.

Read it. Think about it and know that this was a non-partisan call for unity in a time of desperation for millions of Americans.

----------------------
Senator Robinson, Members of the Democratic Convention, my friends:

Here, and in every community throughout the land, we are met at a time of great moment to the future of the Nation. It is an occasion to be dedicated to the simple and sincere expression of an attitude toward problems, the determination of which will profoundly affect America.

I come not only as a leader of a party, not only as a candidate for high office, but as one upon whom many critical hours have imposed and still impose a grave responsibility.

For the sympathy, help and confidence with which Americans have sustained me in my task I am grateful. For their loyalty I salute the members of our great party, in and out of political life in every part of the Union. I salute those of other parties, especially those in the Congress of the United States who on so many occasions have put partisanship aside. I thank the Governors of the several States, their Legislatures, their State and local officials who participated unselfishly and regardless of party in our efforts to achieve recovery and destroy abuses. Above all I thank the millions of Americans who have borne disaster bravely and have dared to smile through the storm.

America will not forget these recent years, will not forget that the rescue was not a mere party task. It was the concern of all of us. In our strength we rose together, rallied our energies together, applied the old rules of common sense, and together survived.

In those days we feared fear. That was why we fought fear. And today, my friends, we have won against the most dangerous of our foes. We have conquered fear.

But I cannot, with candor, tell you that all is well with the world. Clouds of suspicion, tides of ill-will and intolerance gather darkly in many places. In our own land we enjoy indeed a fullness of life greater than that of most Nations. But the rush of modern civilization itself has raised for us new difficulties, new problems which must be solved if we are to preserve to the United States the political and economic freedom for which Washington and Jefferson planned and fought.

Philadelphia is a good city in which to write American history. This is fitting ground on which to reaffirm the faith of our fathers; to pledge ourselves to restore to the people a wider freedom; to give to 1936 as the founders gave to 1776-an American way of life.

That very word freedom, in itself and of necessity, suggests freedom from some restraining power. In 1776 we sought freedom from the tyranny of a political autocracy-from the eighteenth century royalists who held special privileges from the crown. It was to perpetuate their privilege that they governed without the consent of the governed; that they denied the right of free assembly and free speech; that they restricted the worship of God; that they put the average man's property and the average man's life in pawn to the mercenaries of dynastic power; that they regimented the people.

And so it was to win freedom from the tyranny of political autocracy that the American Revolution was fought. That victory gave the business of governing into the hands of the average man, who won the right with his neighbors to make and order his own destiny through his own Government. Political tyranny was wiped out at Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

Since that struggle, however, man's inventive genius released new forces in our land which reordered the lives of our people.. The age of machinery, of railroads; of steam and electricity; the telegraph and the radio; mass production, mass distribution-all of these combined to bring forward a new civilization and with it a new problem for those who sought to remain free.

For out of this modern civilization economic royalists carved new dynasties. New kingdoms were built upon concentration of control over material things. Through new uses of corporations, banks and securities, new machinery of industry and agriculture, of labor and capital-all undreamed of by the fathers-the whole structure of modern life was impressed into this royal service.

There was no place among this royalty for our many thousands of small business men and merchants who sought to make a worthy use of the American system of initiative and profit. They were no more free than the worker or the farmer. Even honest and progressive-minded men of wealth, aware of their obligation to their generation, could never know just where they fitted into this dynastic scheme of things.

It was natural and perhaps human that the privileged princes of these new economic dynasties, thirsting for power, reached out for control over Government itself. They created a new despotism and wrapped it in the robes of legal sanction. In its service new mercenaries sought to regiment the people, their labor, and their property. And as a result the average man once more confronts the problem that faced the Minute Man.

The hours men and women worked, the wages they received, the conditions of their labor-these had passed beyond the control of the people, and were imposed by this new industrial dictatorship. The savings of the average family, the capital of the small business man, the investments set aside for old age-other people's money-these were tools which the new economic royalty used to dig itself in.

Those who tilled the soil no longer reaped the rewards which were their right. The small measure of their gains was decreed by men in distant cities.

Throughout the Nation, opportunity was limited by monopoly. Individual initiative was crushed in the cogs of a great machine. The field open for free business was more and more restricted. Private enterprise, indeed, became too private. It became privileged enterprise, not free enterprise.

An old English judge once said: "Necessitous men are not free men." Liberty requires opportunity to make a living-a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for.

For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor-other people's lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness.

Against economic tyranny such as this, the American citizen could appeal only to the organized power of Government. The collapse of 1929 showed up the despotism for what it was. The election of 1932 was the people's mandate to end it. Under that mandate it is being ended.

The royalists of the economic order have conceded that political freedom was the business of the Government, but they have maintained that economic slavery was nobody's business. They granted that the Government could protect the citizen in his right to vote, but they denied that the Government could do anything to protect the citizen in his right to work and his right to live.

Today we stand committed to the proposition that freedom is no half-and-half affair. If the average citizen is guaranteed equal opportunity in the polling place, he must have equal opportunity in the market place.

These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the Flag and the Constitution. In their blindness they forget what the Flag and the Constitution stand for. Now, as always, they stand for democracy, not tyranny; for freedom, not subjection; and against a dictatorship by mob rule and the over-privileged alike.

The brave and clear platform adopted by this Convention, to which I heartily subscribe, sets forth that Government in a modern civilization has certain inescapable obligations to its citizens, among which are protection of the family and the home, the establishment of a democracy of opportunity, and aid to those overtaken by disaster.

But the resolute enemy within our gates is ever ready to beat down our words unless in greater courage we will fight for them.

For more than three years we have fought for them. This Convention, in every word and deed, has pledged that that fight will go on.

The defeats and victories of these years have given to us as a people a new understanding of our Government and of ourselves. Never since the early days of the New England town meeting have the affairs of Government been so widely discussed and so clearly appreciated. It has been brought home to us that the only effective guide for the safety of this most worldly of worlds, the greatest guide of all, is moral principle.

We do not see faith, hope and charity as unattainable ideals, but we use them as stout supports of a Nation fighting the fight for freedom in a modern civilization.

Faith- in the soundness of democracy in the midst of dictatorships.

Hope-renewed because we know so well the progress we have made.

Charity- in the true spirit of that grand old word. For charity literally translated from the original means love, the love that understands, that does not merely share the wealth of the giver, but in true sympathy and wisdom helps men to help themselves.

We seek not merely to make Government a mechanical implement, but to give it the vibrant personal character that is the very embodiment of human charity.

We are poor indeed if this Nation cannot afford to lift from every recess of American life the dread fear of the unemployed that they are not needed in the world. We cannot afford to accumulate a deficit in the books of human fortitude.

In the place of the palace of privilege we seek to build a temple out of faith and hope and charity.

It is a sobering thing, my friends, to be a servant of this great cause. We try in our daily work to remember that the cause belongs not to us, but to the people. The standard is not in the hands of you and me alone. It is carried by America. We seek daily to profit from experience, to learn to do better as our task proceeds.

Governments can err, Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales.

Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.

In this world of ours in other lands, there are some people, who, in times past, have lived and fought for freedom, and seem to have grown too weary to carry on the fight. They have sold their heritage of freedom for the illusion of a living. They have yielded their democracy.

I believe in my heart that only our success can stir their ancient hope. They begin to know that here in America we are waging a great and successful war. It is not alone a war against want and destitution and economic demoralization. It is more than that; it is a war for the survival of democracy. We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world.

I accept the commission you have tendered me. I join with you. I am enlisted for the duration of the war.
----------------------

God help your black soul if that speech doesn't move you. God help us that our leaders don't speak like this any more...

hot FUCKING damn, baby!!

Oil your guns up, brothers! It very well could be coming.

$700 billion dollars in wealth lost in a day. Poof! Gone literally overnight... To give you some perspective, that's as much money as we spend on foreign oil in an entire fucking year.

That's right, Patriots! Every single dollar that you and every other suburban and urban dwelling idiot spends on gas for your gleaming SUV in an entire year across the entire nation vaporized yesterday. One day. A handful of Wall Street elites wiped out as much wealth as the entire nation ships to the terrorists in petro-dollars in an entire year.

Who are these people? These are the economic royalists of which FDR spoke. These are the robber barons who murdered coal miners by the dozens in West Virginia in the early 1900's. These are the same people who fought the 40 hour work week, fought against child labor laws, fought any unionization.

It doesn't matter where you are in the political spectrum. The stark facts of history tell us that if it weren't for the blood of the union movement in this country that we would all be working 80 hours a week for little pay and absolutely no benefits. Our children would work in factories if the elite had their way.

How do I know this? Because they have children working in their factories all over Asia. They can't do it here any more, so they outsource their child labor to poor countries in the Pacific Rim. They laid off your uncle five years before retirement so they could pay some poor child 5 cents an hour to work in atrocious conditions. Because they're brown.

Not really. They'd do it to your white American kids, too... if they could.

Now they cry for a bailout after inventing irresponsible mortgages to keep inflating to ballooned housing market of the last 10 years. Wages not matching the rise of housing? Here's an ARM. Here's an interest-only loan. Here's a NINJA loan (No Income No Job Applicant) for you immigrants.

"Hey! I have an idea, Tad!"

"What's that, Theodore?"

"Let's package up these shakey mortgages into overvalued securities and sell them at 20 to 1 over their face values on the international markets!"

"Will people buy them?"

"Well, we're Bear Sterns, Tad... even if these securities go bust we'll just get the taxpayers to bail us out!"

Motherfucking hell. They've done it again. Do you think the brakes can truly be put on this massive downturn overnight? No, sir. This thing will have momentum. How much is hard to say at this point.

Oil your guns, brothers. For tomorrow could be the beginning of the end.

Patriots, None and All

Don't talk to me about patriotism. None of you. This coming from a man who is not the patriot he could be.

First of all, the word is tainted in the modern context. Patriotism is not a bumper sticker or a ribbon. It is not the hollow words "support the troops." It is not blind allegiance to the flag.

You may believe that you support the troops, but what have you really done but say the words? Did you buy a t-shirt or did you put a magnetic ribbon on your SUV?

That same gas-guzzling behemoth that ships your petro-dollars to Saudi Wahhabi princes who then use that money to fund terrorists? Good job, Patriot.

Do you pay attention to politics? Do you vote? Do you volunteer your time or money? What civic virtues do you believe in? Do you actually know which candidates hold those same values? Do you even know what a "civic virtue" is?

Or do you vote a single issue and listen to slanderous mischaracterizations and vote on who you "feel" would be the best candidate?

Are you so ignorant that you wouldn't even know how to answer many of the questions above?

Enough questions. Too many Americans are satisfied to be ignorant. From rednecks and gang-banging thugs to soccer moms to businessmen in suits; ignorant one and all. Fat, dumb, and happy.

Modern pop culture is an incredible force for stupidity and ignorance. The Paparazzi and the obsession of the moment makes us stupid via distraction. Brad and Angelina adopted another baby? Who fucking cares!? MTV has been turning our teens into idiots for over two decades now.

Millions expend their energy tracking the lives of the famous when they should spend that energy in a way which might actually benefit themselves or their community. Watch C-Span if you must be a voyeur of the famous. You might just learn something.

Patriotism is love of the American Dream, not the flag or a President. Patriotism is a burning fire whose fuel is blood and sweat. With that blood and sweat we purchase freedom and opportunity. It is in serving country and community that we sweat and bleed. Service is the coin of patriotism.

And so we're clear on this - unquestioning patriotism actually goes by another name altogether. It's called fascism and it's completely un-American.

If I have to hear one more able-bodied man under the age of 50 tell me about how he supports the troops and we should invade Iran I will just loose it. Go volunteer if that's the way you feel. They'll take you these days, believe me. Shut the fuck up and put your own ass on the line if you think we should start a war that would spread across the Middle East, because you can't have my kids.

I swear to God, if this war is going on by the time my son turns 18 I will murder anyone who tries to take him off to fight in that tragedy. I mean that - I will stab you in the eye if you try to take my babies to go fight in a petro-war started by a retarded addict from Crawford.

But these same chickenhawks won't volunteer themselves because they are cowards. They are scared all the time because they're ignorant and they believe the local newsman when he says that there's "something in your house waiting to kill your children!!!" So of course they believe the President and other high officials when they intimate that Iraq will detonate a nuclear bomb in America.

These same officials who got six deferments themselves during Vietnam now want to commit our soldiers to wars everywhere. Fucking hypocrites. Fucking cowards. That's what enrages me about these couch-potato commandos: they assume since I don't like Bush and I think Iraq was a mistake that I must be some hippy-dippy left wing pacifist.

And in case you were wondering - yes, I have served a stint in the military myself. I was lucky enough to serve in a time of relative peace and under a President who didn't casually squander the lives of the military. I have spent time behind a trigger in the name of America. Have you?

I am no pacifist, ladies and gentlemen. I own 4 guns and I have served my country. I hate the Grateful Dead and love punk, metal, and rock. There's not a damned thing pacifist or hippy about me. Those who truly know me think I'm a bit on the militant side, as a matter of fact.

I volunteer my time and money to the causes I believe in. I serve on my neighborhood's HOA Board, I volunteer for candidates I believe in, and I put my proverbial money where my mouth is.

I recycle, am energy-conscious, I walk or bike to work, and I instill these actions as values in my children. Because what's more patriotic than taking care of the environment we all share? What is more an intrinsic part of our national heritage than the actual physical nation we leave our children?

And I think I should be doing more.

Hilda Gets an Eye

I just added a "red dot" sight to Hilda. A friend of mine loaned it to me and said if I liked it I could make him an offer. It's a pretty cool little item.

For those who are unfamiliar with what a red dot sight is, basically it's a lense against which a laser is projected (the red dot). The lense sits atop your rifle. To use it you keep both eyes open and look past or through the scope. The effect is an optical illusion of a red dot being projected downfield onto where the gun is pointed.

It was so cool that the wifey actually held Hilda! Guns make her nervous - or she just doesn't like them. I couldn't say for certain if they actually make her nervous. In any event, she held Hilda and peered through the scope.

There were ooh's a and ahh's as I toggled throught the different sight options. You can either have the laser project a red dot, a crosshair, or "T" style sight. Frankly I was quite surprised that she deigned to touch the gun. As I walked over to her I full expected her to recoil and go "Ewwwwwww... guns!"

Maybe this Sunday I'll work on sighting it in.

Wigging Out

My wife is getting a wee bit wigged out these days when I start talking about the Apocalypse. Odd, since she was the one who suggested I start this blog.

And just for clarity's sake - I don't mean Apocalypse in the Biblical sense. I mean gridcrash. I mean massive economic depression or civil disorder on a grand scale. We stare so many imminent crises in the face that they’re tough to list. Let’s try, though!

1. Economic Depression




1. Oil - with oil prices only going one way in the long haul and with global supplies shrinking and demand rising, we’ll go through the last half of the world’s oil a lot faster than we went through the first half. Oh, yeah. We’re way past Peak Oil.


2. Inflation - Such a rise in energy costs will definitely increase inflationary pressures, leading to a whole list of woes. Add to that the housing market bust and credit crunch and the dollar has had better days.


3. Debt! – The United States has become the biggest debtor nation in history. Ever. Let me clarify that a bit… Shithole-istan is less of a debtor nation than the U.S. Fucking Mexico looks at us and goes, “Holy frijoles, look at those guys, amigos. Hide your wallet!” Oh yeah – and debt relative to income in this country hasn’t been this high since – you guessed it – the Great Depression! So chin up, America! We’re #1! We’re #1!


4. Manufacturing Job Loss – America used to be a manufacturing powerhouse the likes that the world had never seen (until China). Now with all of those jobs just about gone (and I mean all of them) what are we going to do? We can’t all be in service jobs. Somebody has to make something in order for the economy to work.


2. Global Warming




1. Too little, too late – we may have gotten started too late to reverse this, especially considering the developing world has no touchy, feely reservations about cutting down rainforests or burning coal and oil. Plus idiots in this country still insist on driving alone to work in a giant, gleaming SUV.


2. Weather Pattern Changes – It looks like a symptom of global warming is a massive change in things like hurricane strength and frequency but most importantly, global rainfall patterns…


3. Water Shortages – Atlanta. Right now. Need I say more? Now imagine a massive drought strangling Southern California or Las Vegas.


3. The Dumbing Down of America




1. Not a Cliché – I am certain that literacy rates in the U.S. are much lower than supposed. I think this for a number of reasons. Chief among them is the fact that people that would be counted as literate I would count illiterate. You’ve all gotten the email(s) from a coworker where the purpose or gist of the email was completely inscrutable. These people can read, sure, but they aren’t capable of stringing together a coherent thought in written form. Don’t act like you don’t know someone (or many people) like this. Many of these idiots have college degrees!


2. Failing Education System – Most public schools in rural and inner city America are in critical condition. Many suburban schools are in serious condition. Fewer and fewer kids are graduating and going to college, especially considering the constantly rising cost of college.


4. Gridcrash




1. Energy shortages – due to the short-sightedness mentioned above, we may not have the political and social will to implement the changes in our energy infrastructure on the scale and with the speed needed to avoid critical shortages in energy including regular brownouts and blackouts.


5. Civil Unrest




1. The Final Symptom – Once enough of the above situations manifest themselves, people will get fed up on a scale that we haven’t seen in many decades in this country. If any one of the above situations gets too far out of hand we could see riots, famine, and widespread migration. Never mind if a combination of situations should go too far afield...

Looking at all of this I choose to prepare. This is what makes her a bit uneasy. I tend to be right about things on the macro level.

For instance, I was at this bar with a friend of mine in February 2003 and he asks me, “So what do you think about Iraq? What’s gonna happen there?”

To which I replied, “Well, we’re invading. That part’s fait-accomplis. You don’t mass that much men and equipment just for show. They’ll cross the border for sure. Now as far as the war goes, we’ll sweep aside Saddam’s army like it was nothing. The occupation is what’s gonna kill us.”

Another example – we have a friend who’s a real estate agent. We were at some party (maybe a kid’s birthday?) about two years ago and I said, “Hey – what do you think about the housing market? I mean, wages aren’t nearly matching the rise in housing costs. When’s this bubble gonna burst?”

“Bubble!? There’s no bubble…” (N.I.N.J.A. loan)

The point is that Stacey may be getting nervous because she’s afraid I’m going to be right again. She sees me stocking up on non-hybrid seeds, ammunition, manuals on everything from organic gardening to wilderness survival to edible and medicinal plant guides. I don’t know. The last time she and I spoke about these matters, she had a real nervous look in her eyes.

Stoney Point Hood Militia, part deux

Brother with Hilda in KungFu Action Stance

Bro and I simultaneously shooting at a target

My son shooting the Ruger.

Hilda moonlights...

Stony Point Hood Militia

Just kidding, of course. We're not a militia... but we're armed like one! The pic on top is my brother with the Bushmaster and my friend with his S&W .357 snubbed nose. The one below is my buddy with the Bushmaster.

Hilda's First Run

I took Hilda out to the range for the first time post-makeover. I have to say that it's like shooting a completely different gun. The pistol grip, adjustable stock, and lighter weight give the gun a very different feel.

With the telescoping stock I can adjust the length of the weapon to fit me perfectly. The pistol grip gives the weapon a much more natural and stable carriage when sighting in and the lighter weight further enhances stability when aiming the weapon.

After a brief series of jams (two, to be exact) the weapon put another 50 rounds downrange without a single jam. I am confident that, had I brought more bullets, there would have been no more jams. So the composite magazine seems to perform well. I'm probably going to go ahead and order two more.

So many things about this makeover excite me, but the prospect of having a source of reliable magazines for Hilda has to be near the top of the list. I have a total of four metal, thirty round magazines for Hilda, only one of which actually works.

That's been my experinece, at least. Maybe if anyone actually reads this blog (doubt it) they could share any SKS magazine issues they may have experienced. I have had the worst luck with them. No more, though. I think this Tapco Fusion kit may have been the best gun investment under $300 that I've ever made.

Another Day on the Range

More pics to come... The top two are me shooting my buddy's AK-47, and the one at the bottom is me holding my brother's Bushmaster. My friend brought the camera, and I'm waiting on pics of Hilda in action.

Hilda Makeover

Things have been busy lately, hence the lack of posts.

Anyway - I recently completed a project to take my SKS off of it's original wooden body and stock and replace it with a Tapco Fusion system. And what a difference it's made.

I now have a pistol grip, composite body, stock, and magazine, as well as a telescoping stock and rail for mounting a sight. It now no longer looks like an antique. I have a shoulder strap and the pistol grip has a stash.

It took me about three hours to complete. Before you laugh, keep in mind this was the first ever gunsmithing of any kind I have ever undertaken. In terms of understanding how to do it, the Y00Tube video I linked you to above is very helpful.

I should mention that the strap was bought seperate from the Fusion system (for about $10). All told, the bill came out to $120 with shipping. I would link you to the Tapco site, but it seems to be down at the moment. [edit] Tapco site is back up. Here's a direct link to the kit I bought.[/edit]

I ended up removing my bayonet. Hopefully one day I'll replace it with a bipod.

Tomorrow morning I'm going out to Barboursville to try it out. I'll post on how that goes. This will be the kids' second time out to the range.

Born in the Wrong Century

Sometimes I think that I was born in the wrong century. Lame, right? That's what they make Renaissance Fairs for, right? Wrong. You got me all wrong. First off, the century and place I feel I might have thrived in was a place that would brutally beat and rape a Renaissance Fair goer.

Maybe a little background is in order here. A large portion of my heritage is derived from Germanic and Irish sources; mostly Germanic, though. My grandmother has traced our roots (on my maternal grandfather's side) all the way back to 14th century German nobility in central and eastern Germany.

"Aha!" you say, "The 14th century was the Renaissance! Busted! You're a Renaissance Fair geek!"

Ummm, no. Fourteenth century Germany (or at least the vast majority of it) had not yet experienced the fruits of the Renaissance. It was largely a dark and brutal place still existing under a mostly medieval feudal system. The powers of Europe conspired to keep Germany divided into small, warring baronies devoid of any central, national leadership. This provided the major European powers with a buffer zone right smack dab in the middle of Europe.

In any event, my people were some of these constantly warring minor feudal lords. Warlords, really. My grandma has a photo of her and my granddad in Germany in the 50s standing at the site of one of our family's keeps. Well, there's a 3 inch ring of stone left of the foundations of the keep at the top of some hill by a river in Germany. But that's where it once stood.

The point? Yes, yes. I have a bit of a temper. My family is famous for it, actually. I think I control it better than anyone in my family, but it's definately there. At work I am pretty flawless at concealing it but oh boy is it there.

Sometimes I feel like I could just cleave people's skulls and grin like a maniac with grey matter dripping from my face. Scary, huh? I think I freak people out when I tell them that I feel this way.

"Wow, man. That such and such in that meeting... what an ass! It would be most satisfying to beat him to death with a large club."

I omit the full mental picture I am experiencing, of course. It involves continuing to beat this jackass until his head is a red smear on the ground and the twitching in his limbs has ceased.

I fully realize that these sorts of feelings are totally out of place in our touchy-feely society. The whole point of this post is that they would have served me quite well in fourteenth century Germany.

Gunshow Review

This weekend I went to the C&E Gunshow in Richmond, Virginia. All in all it was a mixed experience, I have to say. Let me break it down into these 5 categories:

1. Website
2. Selection
3. Vendors
4. Facilities
5. Atmosphere

Website - 2 stars out of 5

Pretty bad, although they did just overhaul it over the weekend. Before it had a black and white repeating gif background, was rife with misspellings, and had scrolling banners. It still has the scrolling banners, but at least they're not blinking now.

http://www.cegunshows.com/

Selection - 5 stars out of 5

Anything you could ever want is what you could find. They had everything from AK-47s to AR-15s to Glocks to Siggs to G22s to MG-34s to Tommy Guns to Mosin Nagants (for $89!) to M1 Garands to Ruger Revolvers to S&Ws of all varieties. There was more, believe me. Much, much more.

They had ammo of every variety, knives (from the practical to the purely ridiculous), and accessories that ran the gamut from helmets (modern and antique) to holsters to ammo cannisters to gunsmithing tools and the list goes on.

Vendors - 4 stars out of 5

The vendors were all very knowledgeable and courteous. They didn't really pressure you, either. Every vendor selling guns that I saw had at least one laptop station set up with Sprint or Verizon Cards for High Speed Internet access in order to process background checks. The longest wait I heard of that day for a background check to process was 30 minutes. Not bad at all.

So why the 4 out of 5 rating, you ask? Certain vendors seemed like they were catering to the hard right wing elements out there. I mean the really hard right wing element. Like swastika hard. Certain vendors seemed to have just a little too much Nazi paraphenalia for my comfort. It wasn't like they were carrying WWII collectibles in general. Nope - just the Nazi stuff. I avoided these vendors completely in terms of my purchases.

I did speak with a couple of these purveyors of Nazi ... ummm - "goods." Only one would engage me on the topic of the Nazi paraphenalia when it became clear that I was probing for non-purchase related reasons. He simply stated that there's a market for the stuff at these shows and he's just turning a buck.

His argument, if you stop thinking right there is a good one. Legally that is where it stops. But these guys weren't simply turning a buck. There were plenty of vendors out there turning plenty of bucks there that day and without Nazi BS cluttering their stalls.

But legally that's fair enough and he has every right to sell this legal merchandise. But for a crowd which claims to be the reddest and the whitest of the red, white, and blue I have to take issue with those vendors who sport the Nazi goods. I mean - really? Naziism and fascism are about as anti-American in spirit and cause as you can get.

Chances are your granddad fought alongside mine in WWII. Or at least they served somewhere in that conflict. Would they approve? It's doubtful that they would do anything short of roll over in their graves (my grandad, at least) if they knew that Americans were glorifying the monstrous empire they fought and died to protect the world from.

Anyone who embraces fascism is a short-sighted political pervert who should be ashamed to hide behind the liberties that the Constitution offers them, seeing that under fascism those freedoms wouldn't exist. Ironic, ain't it?

Facilities - 2 stars out of 5

Meh. That's about all I have to say on that. Meh. There weren't enough bathrooms - there were long lines all day. The place got very hot as the day wore on. There was absolutely no shade outside, either. The only thing the facility itself had going for it was its size. It was a large venue that could fit many vendors.

Atmosphere - 3 stars out of 5

A very mixed bag. Everyone was very polite, but there was a bit of an edge to the crowd. For instance, there were Brown Shirts there. About three of them. There was also a bit of a skinhead presence. They didn't cause any problems, though. Maybe four or five guys?

The minorities that attended tended to travel in groups. I don't know why this would be, but it might have had to do with the Nazi paraphenalia and Brown Shirts walking around.

The one bright spot is that there was a booth for Sportsmen for Warner. Not that a Democratic candidate's booth makes it a bright spot for the simple fact that he's a Democrat. No, I mean more that you definately had a right-wing presence there and it was good to see at least a little bit of a center-left presence as well. The fact that a bit of balance was tolerated was a good thing, is all I'm saying.

Gunshow Cherry

I get my gunshow cherry popped tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes...

Gadget Pr0n

I got an iPod Touch recently. All I have to say is:

"Oh, God! ... ungh... jism!"

My wife laughs at me and says I'm turning into a Mac-fag. She's such a homophobe! I'm totally kidding on that one. In fact, she's a hag in need of a fag to pal around with. So seriously, if you're gay and you live in Charlottesville and you have no hag... boy, do I have the primo hag for you! Leave a comment and I'll give you my wife's contact info.

Haha! Like there are any gays that read this site! Guns 'n' hikin' 'n' campin' 'n' gamin' 'n' civil liberties arguments 'n' political rantin'... All things the gays like, right?

Anyways - it seems you can't discuss Apple technology without talking about the gays! That's why my wife is giving me crap about the deep and abiding love I have for my iPod Touch. I'm a pretty anti-Apple, pro-PC partisan when it comes to computing. I do not consider iPods computing, though.

To tell you the truth, the iPod touch comes as close to computing as any mp3 player ever has, though. You can surf the web on this thing via hotspots. There's a small selection of applications you can install on the device and a small array of built-in apps. I can check and write email from my iPod. I can get the weather at the touch of a button and stocks as well. So the iPod Touch comes close to computing.

Maybe you could call it limited computing, at best. The applications are more like a set of features than real apps, however. It isn't a computer until I can write and compile code on the device and not just for the device.

None of this detracts from the awesomeness of the iPod Touch, however. It is an amazing little device with the slickest interface I have ever seen on anything. Period. I haven't had to so much as open the owner's manual. That is the mark of a truly usable device. When you don't have to refer to the owner's manual at all then you know your UI is great.

So, in order to not be a playa hata I must give it up... Fucking awesome job, Apple.

Oh, word.

Weekend Outings - Busts!

Seems like the two big outings I had planned for the weekend fell through in one way or the other. I was going to take the kids shooting out in Barboursville on my parents' farm with my step-Dad's old Ruger 10/22. After that we were going to go out to a friend of my Mom's place a few miles down the road to have a cookout.

Well, as far the the shooting goes, that was a complete failure. I knew the gun had a bad rear sight and I pre-ordered a new rear sight for the gun which had arrived on time. Victory, right? Well, not so fast. I couldn't get the old rear sight off without getting really aggressive about it. Since the gun isn't mine I just left the sight on my step-Dad's desk in case he wanted to try his hand at it.

On top of that, the barrel was plugged with what I can only guess was some sort of corrossion. To that end was left a little vial of some sort of ballistic corrosion cleaner, a cleaning rod, and some wipes. Okay - I guess I was to clean the gun, too. And I did try - for about 30 minutes. I made some headway with the solvent and cleaning rod. Every time I pulled one of the pads out off the barrel, it was filthy.

I managed to get the rod about two inches back into the barrel, but no more. The barrel was still fouled and my faith in this weapon was now severely shaken. I did oil the bolt up a bit (it was stiff as hell). I guess this old Ruger had been neglected for quite some time.

I thought I remembered my grandmother having some old bolt-action .22. So I asked her and she said, "Oh, I think I have something like that." So I followed her back to her wing of the house and she reaches into her dresser drawer and pulls out a loaded revolver! It was some old .35.

I said, "Grandma! This is loaded!"

To which she replied, "Oh, yes. Ready for action."

Haha. I love that lady! So I asked her if she had a .22 rifle.

"The only rifle I have is the one in the lamp."

Now, my Grandma isn't crazy despite her highly advanced years. She does have a rifle-lamp. It's an old Springfield 1903 (complete with ridiculously huge bayonet!) in an old-style wooden rifle stand that has a lamp built into it. It's actually very cool. Totally steampunk.

No worries - I took the kids out anyways. I had brought my shotgun and some target shells with me out to Barboursville. I taught them all some gun safety. Understandably none of them wanted to shoot the shotgun. I would've let them, too - standing there helping them manage the gun the whole time, of course.

Well, that was quickly finished. I only had 25 shells. Next on the slate was the cookout. We got there and there was a total lack of kids in the 10-14 age range. My kids (10 and 13) quickly got bored playing with the younger kids who were all eight and younger.

We stuck it out for a while, though. Just as the band was about to start playing, it started to rain. Between the soon-to-be-busted nature of the cookout and the bored state of the kids we decided to pack it in and go home.

Oh, well.

Gun Show in Richmond

Man, am I turning into some sort of redneck or what? Haha. See, I can use the word redneck without offending people because I grew up in Barboursville, Virginia, by God!

Me and a group of my buddies are going to a gun show in Richmond in a couple of weeks. I won't link the website because, man is it ghetto!

Tiled animated gif wallpaper? Check.

Misspelled scrolling banners? Check.

Rants about ATF agents and civil liberties? Check.

Mad ghetto.

Stockpile Progress

I had to scale down on some of my stockpile goals. It's just too much money. I may get there over the long term, but in the short term I have accepted the following goals:

COMPLETED:

Remington 870 Express Pump Shotgun
SKS Assault Rifle
GP-100 Ruger .357 Magnum Revolver

300 rounds .38 special
50 rounds .357 magnum
360 rounds 7.62mm x 39 FMJ
500 rounds .22 cal rimfire (fer critter & bird hunting)

INCOMPLETE:

Shotgun Loader Kit
Gunpowder (qty?)
Shot (qty?)
Other Loading Supplies (qty?)

100 rounds 12 gague 3 in 00 buckshot (have 30)
50 rounds 12 gague 3 in slugs (have 5)

3 Heirloom Apple Trees to plant in Barboursville (have 0)
high quality non-folding blade knife

Financially this puts me nearly 3/4 of the way there. I'm probably going to a gun show in Richmond soon, so maybe I can find some deals on ammo, a knife, and maybe even a loader kit and loading supplies.

Hillbilly Haiku

Biscuit on my shirt
Gunpowder buffets my face
Barboursville breakfast

Teh H4x0r

Main Entry: Teh H4x0r
Phoenetic Pronunciation: \tay hack-sore\
Function: noun
Date: Late 20th century

1. an elite computer programmer, technician, engineer, or systems architect.
2. anyone who can bend a computer to their will.
3. me, muthafucka!

<--------------------->

I've been banging out so much code over the last week. My job entails much more than just programming, but I've been finding all sorts of ways to solve problems with my code-skillz lately.

On any given day I could be called upon to perform Oracle database administrative tasks, develop .NET code for web apps or services, troubleshoot client side problems, advise on third party solution architecture, or manage and coordinate project teams and activities. Oh yeah - I forgot I also do both end-user and technician level training classes. I've probably forgotten a task or two...

All of this and I serve on a rotating weekly on-call schedule with three other guys. On-call is 24/7/365 between the four of us. Hospitals never sleep, you know. Oh yeah... haha. I also develop the training material for the classes I give as well as develop the documentation for all of the systems I develop and/or support.

Anyways - back to the code. Over the last week or so I have been a veritable Indian sweatshop of code output. In this short period of time I have:

1. Added a historical record revision tracking system to our web based Change Control system (which I wrote originally)
2. Created a record reconciliation routine with excel spreadsheet output and configurable parameters to compare items sent and items received between two different systems here at the Hospital.
3. Detected, isolated, coded a fix for, tested, and deployed said fix for an issue with an Oracle monitoring service (that I wrote originally) whose output had come under criticism. In all honesty, it was a bug in my software but it was a bug that only manifested itself when a certain other group did something they should never do to my precious server.
4. Overcame our LAN group's excessively restrictive security policies in order to coordinate a vendor installation of software on a load balanced server arrangement. ("That didn't work?" Hmmm... troubleshoot, test, troubleshoot, test. Call LAN group "Hey, open up permissions on such and such registry key.")

All that and I fielded a few HelpDesk tickets, too. I'm on call this week.

Teh. Fucking. H4x0r.

Teaching the Kids to Shoot

My Dad taught me how to shoot using a BB Gun back when I was 8 or so. The first real gun I ever shot, however, was my Step-Dad's Ruger 10/22 Rimfire (also at 8 years old).

My oldest son is 13 and my oldest daughter is 10. It's high time I taught them how to shoot a rifle. My Step-Dad still has his old Ruger and has consented to letting me use it to teach them the way of the gun.

I'm psyched. I think, oddly enough, my daughter may enjoy it and take to it better than my son. My son is more of the cerebral type (nothing wrong with that) and my daughter is much more the physical. We'll see.

I hope the replacement rear sight I ordered over the phone with Ruger gets here in time for their visit weekend after next.

In With the New

I have recently replaced Harry with a new revolver. See below:

Ruger GP100 .357 Magnum Revolver
Reliability:	Very High
Accuracy:	Good (as pistols go)
Stopping Power:	High firing .357 mag, Moderate to Low firing .38
Time to Fire:	Low
Ammunition Commonality:	.357 is Somewhat Common, .38 special is Common
Simplicity:	Very Simple
Ammunition Capacity:	Low (6 rnds)
Manageability:	.357 round is Moderate while .38 is very manageable

Of course I'll get out there and shoot this bad boy ASAP and let you know what the deal is in terms of its accuracy. I'm hopeful.

The grip on this revolver is especially comfortable. It just fits well in my hand (I have big hands) and the rubberizing is very nice.

I'll wait util the accuracy results are in before I name this one. I don't want to get attached to it, only to have to trade it in like I did with Harry.

The Might and the Majesty

My wife and two of my kids went to D.C. this weekend. We took Amtrack up and walked everywhere we wanted to go. During our stay we went to the Natural History Museum (dinosaurs!), the Washington Monument, and the Carousel on the Mall. Doesn't sound like much to do for an entire weekend?

Ha! You try doing all that with a 14 month old and a 4 year old on foot!

I haven't been to D.C. in a while, but what never ceases to amaze me is the majesty of the place. The train station, Union Station, is gigantic. It's as big as many major airports. The main lobby is beatiful tile floor with large statues all around. The exterior of the building is also quite impressive, with massive stone columns and granite everywhere.

Much of D.C. is built this way. All sorts of federal office buildings all over the city were built with a fortune of granite. And these buildings are nothing special - they're just office buildings. The curbs in DC are granite, for Pete's sake! Then toss the Capitol building in the mix along with all of the monuments and memorials and you have a city built to impress.

Of course this is all by design. For its day I'm sure Rome was much, much more impressive than D.C. There are plenty of other majestic sites in other cities all over the world today. Back in the heyday of Rome this was not the case. Rome was the largest city in the world and had public buildings and spaces unrivaled. The Circus Maximus and the Colliseum would be impressive structures even if they were built today.

It's no coincidence that there are columns a-plenty in D.C. and stone all over everything. Nothing screams permanence like expensive, heavy stone. The Egyptians knew it, the Greeks knew it, the Romans knew it. D.C. is intentionally built to evoke images of glory and empire and permanence.

But those images are all illusions, for nothing is permanent. The structures still stand in many cases, but the civilizations and vibrant life that once filled them are long gone. Egypt was swept away as an independent power by the Greeks, the Greeks by the Romans, and the Romans by a series of barbarian tribes. The Byzantine East survived for a millenium longer, but even they fell to Ottoman Turks eventually.

At least these ancient civilizations fell to invaders. We will probably fall to our own stupidity and corruption without the benefit of foreign aggression. History buffs, please spare me the lecture. I know that each of these civilizations were weakened by internal strife and corruption which set the stage for their conquest from without. I was merely pointing out that we won't even need that push from an external force in order for us to fall over.

Rome and Egypt and Greece never had to deal with a shifting climate and a population addicted to a cheap energy source which made life obscenely easy. They never had to deal with fundamentally dwindling resources with no frontiers left to colonize and exploit. There's no release valve for the pressures we are under today.

Where can you send excess population to go live now? The North Pole? When we run out of food or water where can we go to get more? Ummm... Mars? When the oil runs out and petroleum-based fertilizers aren't available to super-charge our soil any more, how do we feed our 7 billion person population?

Am I crazy? I hope so.

Atlanta doesn't think so. They're in a tough way down there. Maybe a foreshadowing of things to come? Take a look at Lake Allatoona, one of the major water sources down there.

What I'm saying is that no army can stop a drought. No bomber can make crops grow. Our military can't save us like it saved the Egyptians and the Romans and the Greeks for so long. Figthing this enemy takes a lot more smarts and cooperation than anything the ancients faced.

I'm just wondering if we're up to it.