Innervation

Dear Joan puts it down in plain language. Nicely done...


And then there is the matter of True Colors Showing in Honduras commentary. (H/T to a new favorite...) Perhaps best coverage here. Do I see it as a sort of preview of the future? Somewhat, yes.

A fine quote below found here...it was what I thought life was for quite some time because I was keeping to my own knitting and just assumed that is what everyone else was doing. I was rather surprised to find out just how wrong I was. I believe I was 16 at the time.

"One reason for this situation is that "We the People," who are supposed to
monitor our government, are 300 million individuals, each evolved to be able to
digest only a tiny fraction of the knowledge necessary to keep such a huge
society working. In the free market, when each of us sticks to our own knitting,
prices and competition weave our efforts together into a remarkably productive
whole that is no part of anyone's intention.

But when We the People try to plan large swathes of society consciously, we
succumb to what Hayek called "the fatal conceit." We simply are not mentally
equipped to govern society with the same effectiveness, subtlety, and prudence
that each of us is evolved to bring to the governance of our own personal
affairs. So it's no surprise that governments with vast powers routinely behave
stupidly: they are attempting to do the impossible while being overseen by the
ill-informed." Sincerely,Donald J.
Boudreaux

In other news...we've met some interesting people lately, not on the net, and it has proven quite beneficial. On deck is a lovely S&W the hubby wants to buy for me to replace my knockoff 9mm. It is a M&P version so no safety, has interchangable grips so there is a small one for my stubby mitts. I am 95% sold on it - we'll see if we can hit the range with it in the next few days to make a final decision. And then we can start looking at holster styles. With my gimpy shoulders, I am thinking about a cross-draw type but...that leg drop thing is so damn sexy. And I BET it would work under some floaty skirts, too. Hmmm...

At any rate, it's gear time and I like it. I like it a lot.

This Light? It's Intellect...

Damn it if the V-man hasn't set another one down for the ages...I LOVE a well-turned phrase but that man absolutely hones them.

Perfection.

For whatever it's worth - I credit my mom with having taught me the few basics all women should know. You can live on very little when you have to, laughing over the barren soup bones rattling in a pot.

I am so glad she isn't here to see this...

That Light In The Tunnel...

...it's a train.

"The fact is that if the socialist initiative were stopped in its tracks this very day, we would still face a government that is impossible to bear over the long run. It's that destructive, already."

That succinctly puts the way I've been feeling lately. None of the t-shirts, calls to reps, tea bags or talk shows will mend this. It won't halt it, it won't reverse it and it sure as hell won't make it go away.

Instead, like my pessimistic self, I plan for the worst. I figure it's better than doing nothing and bitching about it. On the up side, I will at least not "...go gentle into that good night." I do hope all my friends are doing likewise...

And be sure to have your print-version of freedom - it won't be long before all the helpful words aren't allowed. Gather the knowledge while you can. A manual, you might say, for your life after.

It's funny - it makes me grimace, sometimes, to think about my lifetime and what I have known. And to imagine it all gone to useless dust because I'm too damned old to hump my ass on a front line. I'll do my best, certainly, but truth is I'm a bit long in the tooth to make it very long in a real battle. Still, there is something to be said for the sagacity of age.

What the hell - you never know. You just never know what life will hand you.

Useless Wants

Sure, the budget is set - multicam will be the wardrobe purchase of choice for a few months. But a girl can't help but look on some things with...a certain hankerin'...

A Man's Gotta Eat

My sister sent a message indicating another "cannery day" coming up and would I care to do it again. You bet your LDS ass I do. I'll put in an order to King Arthur Flour for 25 lbs of it and a lot of Texmati rice - perhaps some more beans and oatmeal. As before...and sugar. Sugar will be a damned commodity, I fear. (And the dog food, damn it. Must remember the dog food...)

The gentleman here mentions China and their African interests. They need a new continent, after all, and they've surely the means to make green what is now barren. And a generous amount of spacefor the mass graves necessary to make room for that plenty...

Food. You'll need it. It won't be around. The kindly LDS folks do not care who you are or what you are. All are welcome to order and can what they will. I highly recommend a visit to their site. If you want some sobering up? See how much you'll need to get through a year.

A Victim of Circumstance

An accurate rendering of the situation? Likely, yes. I am always willing to wait for verification but...something tells me she's not getting up ever again.

Will it tip the scale? Will the weight of that forever all-seeing stare be enough?

Money - It's A Crime

The manner in which I matured forced me to doubt everything until personally verified - trust no one, believe nothing, and look to motives for any action. It has perhaps made me more cruel, or less fun, more discerning, and very suspicious. That said - it makes me think that much of this could be quite true.

Many people cannot even imagine just how small a world it is in some areas of endeavor. That relationships are made and kept, even if only tapped once a decade, for future usefulness. I've been privy to some ugly things and it only reinforced my beliefs.

It makes for interesting reading, nonetheless, and some familiar names will showup here and there. Names one would have thought were long forgotten...

You Knew What He Was

I had a thought that would not leave me as I drove in to work this morning. For some reason, this story's final line kept repeating in my mind as I considered the current state of the union. "You knew what I was when you picked me up."

The Vast Insipids brought the snake to our collective breast. And this is why - though I loathe the fact - I have to agree with Billy that voting is not a solution. As I've said a number of times before, I don't have a ready answer to "what the hell else do we do, then?" All I know is that I am NOT happy to see all the "change" going on because their grasping hands pulled a switch.

Is there anyone that can keep track of all the abominations? Can they, and all their links, be contained in one place? It needs to be. Perhaps something akin to the Lincoln-Kennedy trivia match except, perhaps, make it USSR-US. After all, he is checking every box on the form to turn a republic into a totalitarian regime. It might be nice to see how many boxes are left - you know, just to know how close we are to The End.

I'll have to think on this...A Flow Chart of the Demise...(Of course, it would have to hold this somewhere...)

Another Pre-Bay

Need to add a few things to your go-bag? Maybe just gear up for hunting later? Well, here's the list...

(2) summer weight ripstop BDU Blouse - Large Regular – Woodland Camo - $5 per
(1) pr summer weight ripstop pants Large Long – Woodland Camo - $15
(1) pr winter weight pants Large Long – Woodland Camo, never worn - $15
(1) BDU blouse Winter weight Large Regular – Woodland Camo - $5
(1) BDU Blouse Winter Weight Large Regular - Black - $5
Lot: $40

SOLD: (1) shoulder holster Bianchi Model X15 Medium light brown leather w/ bark color elastic, gently used - $20

Photos can be sent if desired, same for measurements. Just leave a comment...

The Job

I consider rather often these days the steady decline before me and figure I'd better have something with which to match it. So...it's come to this. Oh, it works. Yes, it does. But it sure does disturb that lovely ennui my body has been enjoying.

And then there is the acquisition of ammunition -sweet, tasty boxes...heavy, though. Ah, and should one be interested, these little things ROCK - and now adorn the stock of my Mossberg. Clearance, my friends...and it holds the wee Kahr 9mm quite nicely! We bought a few of those little pouches, confident they'll be useful for nearly anything. The shell holder on the front is Velcro - pulls off and you can add whatever else you like.

Time, I think, to start training, though. Too long between range visits - and the outdoor range we adore is bloody damned hot in the summer. Might be time for some Airsoft training guns. Stay inside and try to not put out an eye.

The rest? Hell, just trying to keep up...tracking the monster as it ravages everything in reach. Baffling, really, because I always assumed that people who suffered under such treatment did so because they didn't fight. Now? I see that it's the boiling frog thing...the water's just tepid and cozy right now. But my ass is getting warm.

Your Six

I've counted myself a friend of Billy Beck for 20 years. I've read nearly everything he has written. But I grow weary of the snippy types who will - Jesus Christ what IS IT with you people?! - find the photo they feel does him least justice and use it as an indictment.

Are you each and all so goddamned sophmoric that you cannot look beyond the hair, and listen to the only sense in this whole fucked up world these days? Think, you, of how much I hate it when yet another moron with a badge gives him ammunition against the job.

I detest when his words are torqued around so that they fit an agenda, or allow someone to rationalize their own ambitions. Let his words stand, try like hell to understand them when he is obtuse (he won't give you a teat to suck on, damn it - work at the language!), and deal with the argument at hand. I believe he speaks the clearest truth there is if you want to make the effort to get it, and that's the thing about the truth - it fucking hurts.

I wish he'd have goddamned kids so that, when he is gone, that logic, the sweet, clean stream of fucking thought isn't whisked away. I wish he could find something worth saving in this entire fiasco. Hell, I wish I could do what he does in the name of personal freedom. But I am, admittedly, a chickenshit. I can't do it. I won't risk what he does. I know my limits of rebellion and, for now, they suffice. I live with the assumption that some day they will not and I shall be dragged from my comfortable hearth into the melee.

But you know how I manage when his words hurt me and mine? I remember that he has - and always has had -our collective six. I believe with all my heart that someday all those words will be held as a sort of primer for a new manner of thinking by others who have seen too many of them come to life - terrible, dark life.

Christ, it's almost embarrassing to write this. He needs no help from me, I assure you. And I am always rather mortified at the - yes, sophmoric - nature of my uneducated thinking. I am horribly illiterate. I cannot debate. I can hardly track along when he gets really stoked. But sometimes a person just has to stand up and say it: the truth hurts, sometimes. And sometimes it's your ox getting gored. And too often it's mine.

The difference is - I blame the ox.

Addendum: As always, he stoops to conquer. HA! See the photo here that is so much more suited to their needs. Bless him and his humility...

Glaring Omission

When I see an image like this I try to decipher it because I know editing can completely alter meaning. For whom was this honest revelation intended?

No matter how many photos I looked at (a few hundred) none of them really showed what was to her right in that shot. Because, to me, it appears she is looking just beyond her present company.

Was it this gentleman?

Or was it the elderly veterans further away? Had one said something to generate that basilisk glare? Or was someone speaking when her husband went on belaboring his point? Or was it intended for her husband? Perhaps she hadn't approved his speech in advance.

We can't tell just yet. But perhaps we see all we need to know, already. That she cannot even hide her contempt for a few short hours in public in a solemn ceremony...imagine the look she would give me. Or you.

That anger...it will boil over someday, you know.

Radical Road Show

I'd mentioned a few posts ago the book tour going on just now - Mary Katherine Ham hits it in this piece, "Seminar in Shamelessness The Ayers-Dohrn road show".

Once upon a time people were ashamed of their wrongs and tried thereafter to live a life of quiet goodness, attempting to repay the world for their transgretions.

Now, you write a book glorifying your actions and demand that you be held up as an example of what is best in this world.

It is a disgusting thing to see - the utter loss of sense and...decorum. However, it does make for much easier target recognition should the time come. Know your enemy.

Try To Remember

I cannot reach for words to express my distaste at the thought of the current President giving his usual raised chin appraisal of the long chains of crosses. Instead, I reach back in time to someone who had a better understanding...a nearer memory of the price paid.

Shall there be other shores -shores on beaches of Kansas farmland, Oklahoma grasslands, Rocky Mountain ranges? Some days I wonder...wonder at what might grow from such land fed on the blood of its citizens...

For now, all those who witnessed that scene, ate that sand, are leaving us. Soon that memory will be gone. And with it the regard and understanding of what that place means. It is a generation away from being left alone, forgotten. But for now...let's think of that place and that time and all those lovely young men...

Part 1


Part 2

Keep That City Life

I was talking with Trooper last night and the subject of the traffic in the old homestead came up. He spoke of holiday time on Barrett when he could see the wreck he was working and the next four wrecks a few hundred feet down the road. In the rain. In about 40 degree weather. On the motor.

And the five lane roads...here - look.
Nowhere near us do such things exist. That is right near where I once worked. I got on that monstrosity every day - twice! I cannot even imagine how I did it.

It was common to roll at 5-10 mph for about 20 miles, over an hour to get home when it was actually only about a 15 minute drive. We miss it not at all.


Instead, he's off to scoot some cows off a roadway. Talk about a traffic jam...

Yeah, we'll keep what we've got, I think.

Safe!

For now, anyway...

Oh, I've been in an absolute state for 48 hrs as my employer gave out the first notices. A bit of shuffling of deck chairs, perhaps, but this is about me, no? And remaining gainfully employed is damned good.

Mind you, I suspect August will present the very same situation but at least I've a few months to gather some plans about me...toss some ideas out and see where they go...

I've never experienced this situation (I've been so fortunate). The pleasure of that cloud passing is an amazing sensation...a kind of precursor, I think, when one is glad that it wasn't dear sweet You and someone else that felt the noose. There are worse nooses possible and terrible reasons to be glad...

(Eh, wot? A pessimist? Ah, well - guilty as charged.)

Lighten Up

Oh ho! All hail Rachel Lucas for this absolute GEM. "Glee club of the damned" indeed!

This is for you, darlin' Joan...

Well, why not?

What Kind of Soldier are You Your Result: Navy SEAL   You like to be very stealthy by using silencers but as soon as you get to your objective, blow up as much as you can and leave unseen. You work with groups of 3-8. You like to use technology when you can but the lighter the load the better you are.
Scout/Sniper	 
Infantry Soldier	 
Advanced Warfighter	 
Heavy Weapons Expert	 
Grenadier	 
Medic	 
What Kind of Soldier are You Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Lurching Toward Mediocrity

It has been quite the day...I shall not rewind it here - mostly because it is a Developing Story and there is no reason to tap out words that may be pointless in short order.

INSTEAD, allow me to direct you to this opportunity - fake though it may likely be - to poke at the bear.

"Sunday at 12:00 PM, and Monday at 12:00 AM In
Depth: Bill Ayers Send
questions for the author to Book TV ; ...His latest book, co-authored with with his wife Bernardine Dohrn, is "Race Course: Against White Supremacy." Prof. Dohrn will join the discussion during the last hour of the program."

Do I think any really challenging remarks will be addressed? Not much, no. Oh, they'll throw in some soft balls, certainly. They know how to play the game, after all. "We've answered that already..."

I am seriously saddened by what goes on these days. It's damned hard, really, to find any...pleasure in the good things when all I do is think about how much I'll miss it when it's gone.

I do still smell the roses, though. One might as well...