- Robb does a review of a holster maker in my neck of the woods. I’ll have to stop by and give his wares a look.
- Flier389 relates a great story of an encounter he had with a mama bear and her cubs once upon a time.
- Mr.G’s has a great write up on gun control and how it seeks to make slaves of free men.
- Warning, this post from Auntie J. is sweet enough to make you adjust your insulin.
- TinCan Assassin is going to have a lot of fun raising his daughter. The force is strong with this one.
- Shepherd K. has good news about his new little one, and learns the parent’s lesson of “If you build it, they will spew upon it”. I would have commented with some words of encouragement, but didn’t see a comment link.
- DefenseTech has a quick write-up on a concept design for a stealthy military cargo plane. Looks neat, but my totally non-flying self has to ask why you would need a fleet of cargo aircraft to replace the C-5 that use technology designed to make bombers survivable over an area defended by a sophisticated anti-air infrastructure. I could see having a few for dropping supplies behind the lines or dropping in paratroopers covertly, though.
- Big Hollywood is reporting that some of the big Obama contributors in Hollywood are pulling their support of the President after he came out against SOPA and PIPA. Gee, that’s too bad.
Blogs Roundup
Posted by daddybear71 on January 20, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/20/blogs-roundup-7/
Thoughts on the Evening
- I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: It’s better to be shot and lay on the ground for an hour than it is to be captured, flex-cuffed, and questioned.
- Apparently the United States military is recruiting rhinos now. One of them powerslammed me when I was uncooperative about being flex-cuffed.
- Note to self: When being questioned and you are asked what you do for a living, telling the interrogator “I used to be a soldier until I took an arrow to the knee” might be very funny, but it will not endear you to said interrogator.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 20, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/20/thoughts-on-the-evening-2/
Maddening Linguistics Question
OK, this is making my brain itch, and I need your help.
I’m an upper Mid-West transplant, so Southernisms sometimes don’t work for me.
My question to the crowd:
When referring to the set of furniture in a given room, is it a “suite” or “suit”?
Example:
“We went to the store the other day and bought a new bedroom suit”
My mind says it’s “suite”. But four different Kentucky people, including my lovely and long-suffering wife, say “suit”.
Also, when referring to the little shelf that sits at the base of a window, is it a “sill” or “seal”? Again, several Kentucky people use “seal”, while I’ve always said “sill”.
Please help. It’s making my head hurt.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 19, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/19/maddening-linguistics-question/
Ratchet
I don’t think it surprises anyone when I say that I’m pro-gun rights. But you can’t be for the 2nd Amendment if you’re not just as strongly for the other amendments. I don’t agree with the anti-gun bloggers and activists, but I will do nothing to stop them from making their arguments and I will resist those who try to shut them up. I have a visceral dislike for those who prey on our society, but I am even more opposed to those who would deny them proper legal representation, a fair trial, or have them convicted on evidence gained through illegal means. I have a lot of respect for law enforcement, but I have nothing but contempt for those who use their power as a policeman to abuse other citizens. I have my own religion, and I don’t agree with the tenets and practices of some other religions, but I’m not going to try to impose my faith on someone else or prevent them from exercising their own faith so long as they don’t hurt someone else.
Our country was created when a group of people took the stand that their rights as Englishmen were being violated by a distant monarch. They believed that each of us is endowed at birth with several rights. A condition of ratifying the Constitution was that amendments to it that restrict the ability of the government to infringe on those rights be ratified along with it. The Constitution doesn’t grant us any rights; it just lists out those things with which the government may never interfere.
Over the past 100 years or so, those rights have been chipped at by those who believe they are doing good. Honestly, they usually do it because we clamor for them to do something for us. Each time we go to the government for a solution, we ratchet down our freedoms a little more.
1917:
“We’re at war! Bolsheviks are taking over Russia! We have to keep foreigners and malcontents from endangering our American way of life! Do something!”
Click – Espionage Act of 1917
Click – Putting Bolsheviks and anti-war activists in jail
1920:
“People are getting drunk and causing misery in our nation! Do something!”
Click – 18th Amendment
1932:
“25 percent of us are unemployed! People are hungry! The nation is tottering on the edge of revolution! Do something!”
Click – Commerce Clause abuse
1934:
“Gangsters are using guns to commit crimes! Do something!”
Click – NFA 34
1941:
“We’re at war! There are a lot of immigrants in the country that come from our enemies! Do something!”
Click – Internment of citizens of Japanese, Italian and German descent
1968:
“People are assassinating political leaders! Anyone can get a gun wherever they want! We don’t feel safe! Do something!”
Click – GCA 68
1972:
“Hippies are getting high! The fabric of society is tearing! Do something!”
Click – Drug laws and the War on Drugs
1986: –
“People are still buying machine guns in this day and age! Do something!”
Click – Hughes Amerndment
1986
“Gangs are selling a new form of cocaine to poor people! I don’t like that! It should be illegaler than selling me that powder form that I like to use on weekends! Do something!”
Click – Crack Cocaine Laws
1994:
“Criminals are using scary looking guns to kill people! Innocent children are dieing in the street! Do something!”
Click – Brady Bill
1990’s
“People are saying or writing things that offend me or piss me off! Do something!”
Click – Hate speech codes
1996
“People are exercising the fair use part of copyright! I’m not making money off of it! Do something!”
Click – DMCA
2001:
“We’re at war! We need new security organizations to make us safe! We have to give our police new powers so that they can fight terrorism! Do something!”
Click – PATRIOT Act
2005:
“Those people are living on land that I want so that I can make money! They’re standing in the way of progress! Do something!”
Click – Kelo v. City of New London
2010:
“People don’t have health insurance and the cost of getting health care is rising! I don’t want to take the steps to make it more affordable because those would be hard! I don’t want to pay for it myself! Do something!”
Click – Obamacare
2012:
“People are still using the Internet to exercise the fair use part of copyright! I’m still not making as much money as I want to! Do something!”
Every one of those clicks is a part of our birthright being locked down so that we can’t exercise it, and I’m only hitting the ones that are at the top of my mind at the moment. There are many more, and we are locking ourselves down so well that demanding that we be left alone to exercise our rights gets us labelled as dangerous. Each and every one of them happened because a significant portion of our population demanded that the government do something to make their lives better. They do it out of want or fear, but rarely think about the consequences of their demands. Now their unintended consequences are killing our republic. Each time the government provides or restricts something, it becomes easier for something new to be done that restricts our rights.
In a way, we’re a bunch of frogs that have been demanding that someone turn up the heat under our pot of water every so often, and now we’re almost boiled.
What we need to do is get back to basics in our nation. We need to all sit down, look at the Constitution, including those parts we don’t care for, and start yanking the leash of government to get it out of those parts of our lives in which it has no business. We need to stop looking at the government as the provider of solutions, and start accepting that life is hard and that we have to take care of ourselves.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 19, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/19/ratchet/
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on January 19, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/19/todays-earworm-66/
30 Days of Reagan – Day 17
How do you tell a Communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 19, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/19/30-days-of-reagan-day-17/
30 Days of Reagan – Day 16
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.
My Take – Pretty much says it all. Government does not create wealth, and it cannot lift people out of poverty. Government does best when it stays out of our way. We clean up the messes, build the economy, and care for one another faster, more effectively, and less expensively than when the government gets involved.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 19, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/19/30-days-of-reagan-day-16/
Disappointment
On this date in 1989, I made my first trip to the Oakland MEPS station to take my initial physical, sign my enlistment contract, and enroll in the Delayed Entrance Program for the Army. It was the day after my 18th birthday, and I was ready to take on whatever opportunity I could find to get out of the Bay Area.
It was the day I had my first big disappointment in adult life. You cannot imagine the crushed feeling when I realized that when the recruiting sergeant offered me “M.I.”, he was offering me Military Intelligence, not Mobile Infantry.
I do wish I had a camera to capture the look on his face when I said “Mobile Infantry? We can do that? Cool! Sign me up!”.
Next big disappointment: I had to stay in the Bay Area for another 8 months. The next slot for me to go to basic training that lined up with language school at Monterey was in August.
Two in one day, and I couldn’t even have a beer to make it all better.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 19, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/19/disappointment/
News Roundup
- From the “What’s In A Name?” Department – The twin spacecraft currently orbiting the moon have been named “Ebb” and “Flow” by an elementary school in Montana. I personally liked “Ren” and “Stimpy”, “Shaggy” and “Scooby”, or “Mork” and “Mindy”, but to each his own.
- From the “Portable Pornoscan” Department – Police in New York have unveiled a new way of finding out if someone is carrying a gun. Their new toy would note when the infrared radiation from a human body would be disrupted by a gun, which would allow police to stop a suspect and investigate. The claim is that it would only be used when there is probable cause for a search, but I don’t buy it. No tool given to the authorities is immune from abuse. How would a legal CCW carrier signify to police that they are legal unless they do something takes away the “concealed” portion of CCW without being hassled by every police officer who points this thing at them? If this is successfully developed and deployed, I suggest that all people start carrying around blunt triangle shaped pieces of pot metal so that the signal to noise ratio goes to hell for Officer NotSoFriendly.
- From the “Really?” Department – A new study asserts that nitrogen, one of the most common elements on our planet, is bad for the ecology. Now, I’ll accept that misuse of nitrogen based fertilizer and contamination of rivers and oceans is bad. But I’d prefer to find a way to mitigate that damage than go back to the days when scientists used math to predict how many people would starve to death because we were overcoming the ability of the planet to produce enough food for everyone. Then again, maybe that’s the point.
- From the “Happy New Year” Department – Fox News is reporting that the State Department plans to disapprove of the proposed oil pipeline from Canada to Texas, which would have added more petroleum to our stocks, provided jobs to build and maintain the pipeline, and reduced our dependence on oil from such bastions of democracy as Venezuala and Saudi Arabia. However, there are concerns about the environmental impact of the pipeline, especially as it crosses several sensitive areas in the midwest. So to my Chinese readers, please take this as an early New Year’s present from our country to yours. Canada has already said that if we don’t want to buy their oil, they’re more than happy to ship it to their west coast and put it on tankers for y’all. Gung hei fat choi!
- From the “Not Good Enough” Department – The TSA has announced that screeners at Kennedy Airport were mistaken when they made elderly women remove a back brace so that it could be x-ray’ed and expose a colostomy bag for inspection. The screeners in question will be given ‘refresher training’ on how to deal with travellers with medical conditions. How about this: If you think that elderly grandmothers pose a security risk dire enough that you’d make them disrobe in an airport, you’re too screwed up to be a TSA security screener. Instead of refresher training, these bozos should be shown the door, given a firm handshake, and told to find somewhere else where they’re better qualified to make a living.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 19, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/19/news-roundup-33/
No Free Ice Cream Today
Today, I’m joining other bloggers and some major Internet sites in not posting anything in order to protest SOPA. Basically, if this becomes law, most of the content in the Internet will go away. If I piss someone off, they will find a way to make what I link to or embed a copyright issue, and my blog goes bye-bye with little to no recourse.
Congress has tabled the bill for now, but nothing stops them from bringing it up later in one form or another.
Please reach out to your Congresscritters and let them know how you feel about this legislation. SOPAStrike has good tools and information if you’re so inclined.
I’ll be back tomorrow.
Posted by daddybear71 on January 18, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/01/18/no-free-ice-cream-today/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 