Free Speech May Become Costly

If you have read much of this blog you know that I have very little use for the ACLU- The American Crazies and Looneys Union.

But I just found out about a new law- passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by the President- that can be used to restrict free speech.

And the ACLU agrees with me. Or I agree with them; its one or the other. Either way this is not a normal situation. They are a little more fiery over at the Blaze (pun intended).

When the Lion lies down with the Lamb time.

When these tow both agree that his is a bad law, then it must be a bad law.

And the vote in the House wasn't even close. 288 to 3, with 42 not voting.

The Senate was even worse. This travesty passed by UNANIMOUS CONSENT.

And you thought the Republican were going to protect us, and help take this country back.

Yeah; good luck with that.

Did you hear about this in the news? Maybe Limbaugh talked about it? Hannity maybe?

Nope, nope and nope.

It just might be time to oil up the shootin' iron.

Eleven Years Ago Today

Today is the eleventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York.

That's not news, is it?

I'm not sure how I feel about today. And the reason I lack a clear feeling about today is because of the media.

Any one over the of 16 remembers the attacks. Most of us watched them live, and watched the reporting go from a tragic and unexplainable plane crash to an attack. When the Pentagon was hit it became even plainer that there was an orchestrated attack under way.

We watched live as the second plane hit the second tower. We continued to watch live as almost 3000 fellow Americans died. Some by their own hand, in preference to dying in the towers themselves.

We were angry then. We should be angry now. But the images have faded. Where is the video that we all saw that day? The images of the planes hitting the towers; the smoke rising and the bodies falling? The video of men and women both running from and running to the towers? The images of a beautiful blue sky marred by the smoke and dust?

But these images are dangerous. They call out for revenge. On September 12th we were ready to go. Point us to an enemy and get the Hell out of the way. We were eventually pointed to Afghanistan, and then Iraq. As President Bush famously said: "Your either with us or against us".

We have fought Al-Qaeda for almost 11 years. We have found and killed Bin-Laden. We have cut  multiple heads off of the terror snake, but still we aren't done.

And it seems we are losing our resolve. The war has gone on too long; too many deaths. Too much treasure.

The problem is if we quit Al-Qaeda wins. They will get stronger. They will attack us again. and the war will go from being fought by the military in the Middle East to being fought with innocent lives in the Midwest.

Communism became the enemy of the West in the 1930's. We started fighting them in the 1950's, and beat Communism in the 1990's. Every President from Truman to Clinton fought Communism.

We didn't quit. We won.

We had constant reminders of the evils of the enemy. Even though most of the victims were their own citizens, and not ours, we fought. We had a resolve to win.

In 2002 we had a resolve to win this war too. Until the press politicized it; made it Bush's War. Constant reminders of the cost of the war were on TV.

But never footage of the reason for it.

There is the reason I am not sure how to feel about today. It is still politicized, and not just the War on Terror, but even the events of that day themselves.

Right down to Obama spiking the Bin-Laden football as often as he possibly can.

We haven't seen the cost of the war in the last few years. But I guarantee you we will as soon as Romney is sworn in. The death tolls will be come front page news again, and the anti-war protesters, recently dwindled down to a few die-hards (no pun intended) will start to gain in numbers again.

Today is not so much about remembering the men and women who died in the opening salvos of the War on Terror, as it is a weapon to be used by the media to gin up support for or opposition to the President, depending on whether he is friend or foe.

I'll take few minutes today, not just to remember the fallen heros of 9-11, but also those brave souls who have given the final sacrifice in the ongoing war.

And do my level best to forget the media even exists.

Out and About on the Internets

I was visiting at The Borderline Sociopathic Blog For Boys when I ran across this post of his, and I just had to share, for several reasons.

First, it is a wooden model. Anybody with access to a couple of trees and chainsaw could make one. Okay, that maybe a simplification, but you know what I mean.

Then there is the way the video explains the entire process, as they add parts to the model to make the next step of the firing process happen. they manage to take a hundred years of weapon development and make it seem like this was all a logical progression.

If you think about what they were trying to do with this video, you have to marvel at the genius behind it.

In the 1940's they had to take men from all walks of life and introduce them to semi and fully automatic weapons. Not just to fire, but to maintain, troubleshoot and depend on, up to the cost of their life.

The pace is a little slow, but then was done 70 years ago; well before the invention of the music video.

Now I've got the bug; somebody may get one of these for Christmas....

I meant the gun, not the video.

The Issue is Jobs, and Work

I have been a fan of Mike Rowe's for years. You can't beat on hour spent with Dirty Jobs. When I found this bit on Instapundit this morning I was not surprised. Mike did something similar a few years ago (I linked to a shorter version then) in a video. Its long- about 20 minutes- but really for the first time somebody with at least a modicum of authority, and a healthy respect for what work is defends working and workers.

And I have been saying the same thing for years myself.

Most of the job and labor related government agencies are not about protecting jobs, but all about destroying manufacturing in this country. OSHA and EPA are the worst.

Lets face it; you take some college educated idiot who has most likely never worked a day in his life, much less in the industry he- or she- is now in charge of regulating, and now they have the authority to force a manufacturer to change any aspect of their process for any reason. Or, more importantly, no reason at all, other than the agencies say so.

For instance, in the early part of the video Mike talks about castrating lambs. He runs through the procedures as approved by PETA, SPCA and a few other alphabet soup outfits. He then sees how the process is actually done, and then compares it with the results of the process as approved by the folks who don't do it.

What a surprise; the approved method is a mess, compared to the way it is done, if done without interference.

OSHA has determined first and foremost that you, as an employee, are stupid, and will not do anything to protect yourself from being killed. Having spent 20 years in industry, I have met these people. They are out there. We don't need a million regulations to stop most people from harming themselves; we need one regulation allowing an employer to fire the idiots.

I have worked with folks who have reached into an operating machine, and damn near lost an arm because of it. Guys who finished welding two pieces of metal together, tried to grab the hot metal with a welding glove on, couldn't, and then removed the glove to grab the hot metal, and seriously burned their hands.

I could go on, but you get the picture. Have you ever read the warning labels on, say... a bottle of shampoo? Warnings like "Do not take internally"? Your first thought is: 'who would be that stupid?' That warning is there because somebody WAS that stupid, and either he or his heirs won a lawsuit over that stupidity. Its the same in manufacturing.

A new machine tool- a machine meant to process a raw material into a finished good, like a CNC Mill or Lathe- has probably a dozen or more labels; each one named after the lawsuit that caused it. In each case, somebody too damn stoopid for their own good did something that harmed them, and their reason for getting hurt was that nobody told them what they did was stoopid. And for some reason employers can't fire you for being stupid.

Instead they need to listen to some fool who never worked a day in their lives tell them how if they had done such and so, the incident wouldn't have happened, so so now they need to do such and so and the other thing as well. The employer smiles and nods (he really can't do anything else), implements the new procedure, and few a few weeks puts a disciplinary report in the "Permanent File" of any employee who violates the inane new rule, and then quietly goes back to letting intelligent folks get the job done.

The question is why? I see three options:

1) The Federal Government is so concerned about YOU that they will use the full power of the government to protect YOU:

2) The Federal Government wants to end manufacturing in this country:

3) A Federal bureaucrat sees a way to make sure next year he has more money to spend; more peons to boss around and a bigger salary, if he can prove this is a BIG issue.

Yeah I tend to lean toward 2 and 3 myself.

Lets hope we can change that come this November.

A Busy Saturday Morning

This morning I am sitting on my back porch, listening to the rain hit the roof. I like sitting on the porch in the mornings, drinking my first cup of tea and enjoying the waking world. Usually I can watch the birds flitting about on their birdy business, and watch the squirrels run along the trees.

But today the weather has kept them indoors, or at least they're not playing out in the rain.

The weather almost kept me in as well. It is about 60 degrees, and when the breeze blows it feels a little chilly. But I have my tea to keep me warm. And the battery from my laptop.

I like a covered porch. Like this morning, I can be sitting on the porch swing, watch the breeze shift the tops of the trees and see the rain hit each leaf as the drops head to the ground; feel the cool damp air and feel like I am a part of nature.

While being dry and comfortable. Better than camping out.

It took me all summer, but I finally have Morning Glory blooms. I don't see them most mornings; I'm always in a rush to get to work by the time I leave the house. No time to stop and see the Glories. There is most likely a metaphor there, but if there is I'll let you work it out.

But this morning the rain has dampen their spirits some. each bloom is hanging down, and not stretching out to reach the morning sun.

I planted them late, around Memorial Day, which explains why I didn't get my first blooms until almost Labor Day. I also must have been mistaken, or planted the wrong variety. I believe my Dad had some Morning Glories planted on the sunset side of the house, and they would open in he evenings, when the full sun hit them. Mine are on the sunset side of the house. I was hoping to have a grand display of blooms every evening, while I was rocking on the porch with a cigar, and enjoying the end of the day. But, it didn't work out this year.

Really, otherwise, why plant a flower you can only enjoy 2 days a week?

As Usual, I Got Lost On the Internets

Out and about on the Internets, I found this.

UH; What?

Okay, I understand the show, and understand the reason why folks would want to watch the running of high steel.

That's not my problem.

But what does this have to do with weather?

I mean any more so that any other outdoor job? I would think a show about farming and farmers would be more apropos on the Weather Channel.

I guess they're looking for diversity.

Maybe they should change their name to the Whether Channel?

Life Imitates Art

I just can't help myself. This year the elections are following O Brother, Where Art Thou? so closely its uncanny.

Just after the Republicans had a couple of Hispanic speakers at their convention- Governors and Senators- the Dems pull up the Mayor of San Antonio Texas as a speaker.

Reminds me of this scene:



The Money Line is of course:
Junior O'Daniel: We could hire our own midget, even shorter than his.
Pappy O'Daniel: Wouldn't we look like a bunch of Johnny-come-latelies, bragging on our own midget, doesn't matter how stumpy.


And since the Republicans had a speaker who has changed sides because of Obama, the Dems had to have one too. The Repubs had Arthur Davis, the Democratic Representative who seconded the nomination of Obama 4 years ago.

The Dems had a Former Republican Firefighter. Is that the best Party Traitor they could find?

Throwing up their midget, no matter how stumpy. I tell ya, this year the parodies are writing themselves.

Cars I Have Known VII

Here is one of those apparent good deals that requires close study. I know what this guy is talking about, Been there, done that.

Well, still doing that actually. Several years ago a guy offered me a 1988 Mercedes 190e for 300 bucks. I thought it was a steal. It was only after a few repairs that i found out which one of us was the actual thief.

Don't get me wrong; it is a fantastic car. It'll hit 70 in a heartbeat, rides like a cloud and still has some sport manners in the corners. But it has..... ISSUES. Some are because it is 24 years old. Some seem to be designed in.

Like the fuel pump relay. The electric fuel pump will quit randomly, and usually at the most inopportune time. Usually where there is no where to pull over and you have a line of cars behind you. It is a simple fix. Open the hood; pull the cover off of the relay housing; pull the fuel pump relay; jump pins 3 and 8; replace the relay; start the car; replace the relay cover, close the hood. Except sometimes you have to repeat steps 3-6, as the car won't start the first time.

So why not just replace the relay? Because the problem could either be the fuel pump relay or a separate relay that controls voltage to the automobile. each relay is $120, and I have a problem throwing $250 at a $300 car. Luckily I am still finding a few of them in the junkyard. So between finding used parts cheap and doing the work myself I have been able to keep it going.

But I can see where paying somebody to maintain an old MB can bet expensive. Parts are available to repair almost every aspect of the car. But those parts are expensive, and a good MB mechanic is at least $75 an hour. You can count on dropping a grand each and every trip to the shop. If you have that kind of money, paying somebody else to keep your old car on the road may be worth it.

But you can easily see how a car that a few years ago sold for 50k new, is now worth $300; if you can get it.

The picture is not my 190e, but mine is red. And I think it is that red color that has attracted the attention of the local constabulary.

I have been stopped by police exactly 4 times in the last 20 years. All four times I was driving the 190e. all four times I got a ticket for not wearing my seat belt. All four times it was the same cop.

Yep; driving a Red Mercedes can get expensive.

A New Guilty Pleasure

I saw This on Instapundit today, and I think I have found a new guilty pleasure.

The article that lead me there, President Obama To Receive Honorary Green Beret, Induction Into Special Forces Association, was hilarious, once I was sure it was satire. Some of the other titles are obviously satire.

At least, I hope. But then, a course like this would have been welcomed, back in my day.

They have a whole section for each branch of the Service. The Air Force Section has articles on such varied topics as:

Brave Airman Sends Steak Back At DFAC, Fights For Well Cooked Meal; and ISAF Drops Candy To Afghan Children, Kills 51.

There seems to be a certain lack of political correctness involved here; classic satire.

Back in my day we didn't have this Internet thingy, but we did have the bathroom walls. In an effort to control the writing on the walls, our young second lieutenant had legal pads hung in all of the stalls in our duty section. 

There were various things written on the pads, including a rather lengthy treatise on how we need to rise up and act as one to fight the tyranny of the Strategic Air Command.

I don't know whether it was my handwriting that was distinctive, or maybe it was the writing style or the opinions expressed where identifiably mine, but the next afternoon when I showed up at the office, I was immediately called into the NCOIC's (Non-Commissioned Officer, In Charge {and no, I'm not making that up}) office, and was confronted with my previous post, as it were.

After being asked if I had written the treatise, and confirming I had, I was told it was very well written satire, but there were other young Airmen in my section who may not be as well versed in the art of satire, and may take the satire as truth, and things like this may cause those other young Airmen trouble within the unit.

I smiled, nodded, and confirmed I would not write any similar treatises, for the sake of my fellow young Airmen.

All the while I was wondering: "What makes him think this is satire? I was serious as Hell!"

Sunday Night at The Fair

The Sunday before Labor Day is always our day at The Fair. I say THE Fair, as if there is no other fair in the world. Around here, The Fair is more important than the State Fair, any other County Fair, or even a Worlds Fair. When you are asked in Campbell County if you are going to The Fair, everybody knows what you mean.

The Alexandria Fair and Horse Show has been running since 1856. It was cancelled 3 times in it's history, during The War, in the 1860's. It's still pretty much the same. The horse shows run all 5 days, and are  prime draw, and make The Fair unique. Other Counties have demolition derbies or tractor pulls. The Fair has a world class horse show.

Outside of the Horse Show, The Fair is pretty much like any other fair. A dozen rides or so, the hustler games lined up outside the rides and the food booths. And Beer; gotta have a few cold beers.

The food booths are as varied as the people at the fair. Over here you can get hot dogs, brauts- with sour kraut and horseradish-and hamburgers and cheeseburgers. In the mood for Chinese? Around the corner, next to the Pizza trailer. Philly cheese steaks? A couple of booths over, between the booth with the big alien drink containers and the one selling deep fried everything. And I do mean everything. Deep fried Twinkies and Oreos? Old hat now. Deep frying has gone healthy. How about a serving or two of deep fried green beans?

Yep; deep fried green beans. They taste like a deep fried onion, but look kinda like a french fry. Proof I guess that you can improve the taste of anything by deep frying it.

Last night was a typical Sunday night at The Fair. We usually go on Sunday night because of a competing event down on the River that draws most of the idiots. It makes the rides more accessible and the crowd is a little more genial. Last night we were able to take my grandsons for the first time to The Fair. They couldn't wait to hit a few rides and play a few games. They each caught a fish at the Fish Pond, and took home a stuffed Elmo, and rode the Merry-Go-Round twice. Number 1 and his Dad took a ride down the Big Slide, and it was hard to tell who was grinning wider; My Boy, or his.

They were just starting to go up for a second ride when the rain hit. a light sprinkle at first, so we abandoned the rides and went to find shelter in the Beer Tent, and then the Grandstand. The rain wasn't too bad, but all of the sudden we got hit with the remnants of Issac. Wind started blowing tents over, and started driving the rain up under the roof of the grandstand. Luckily the wind quit before the hard rain fell. Buckets of hard rain. It was time to hit the road. Through superior planning on my part we were close to the gate we parked near (it is also close to the beer booth; what can I say?), so we sent the too oldest boys out to fetch the cars, and we bailed with a minimum fuss and rain.

It wasn't quite a regular The Fair night.  We didn't see any of the Horse Show (the picture is from a few years ago), and missed stopping for a pair of Funnel Cakes on the way out. And we were home in time to watch The Fireworks in TV. The Fireworks are a lot like The Fair; we have the only ones around.

But that is another story.

Summer's Last Hurrah

Labor Day Weekend. This is supposed to be it. Summer's End.

The season itself won't end until late this month, and the school kids summer ended a couple of weeks ago. And for those of us who work for a living, Summer really has no meaning anymore; its just a time when we pay air-conditioning bills instead of heating bills.

So why do we mourn the end of Summer? I suppose we can equate the seasons of the year with the ages of a mans life. Spring of course is the age of youth; of childhood. When any path is open and all things are possible. Spring gradually, almost imperceptibly, gives was to young adulthood- Summer.

By Summer the courses are clear, and hopefully well chosen. All things are in their prime We have the freedom and the ability to do as we please; the only constraints are time and money, yet both seem to be in vast supply. School is in the past; whether 12, 16 or 20 years worth, and the view forward seems limitless.

Fall arrives like the season; all at once and like a cold slap in the face. What once was easy is now difficult. Like the song says; it now takes all day to do what I once did all day. Things that were once beauty personified are now wilting and turning brown. The days begin cold and warm slowly, and sometimes don't warm at all. The trees, once so resplendent in all the shades of green, are now starting to show bare limbs, and pulling out their fall wardrobes of warm reds, oranges and yellows.

Fall is in someways a rewarding time of year. We are rewarded for our work in the garden all year with beans and corn; the fall colors are a visual delight; something looked forward to because of their varied and limited displays.

Fall in life is rewarding like that too. Careers are fully matured and usually offering rewards not given earlier. The children are grown and no longer your responsibility, and the only child-rearing you do is occasionally watching the grandkids. Grandkids, another fall reward. But we are not talking about the rewards of Fall; we're talking about the passing of Summer.

I think that we, who barely notice the end of Summer, really feel a need to commiserate with it's passing. We don't notice the change with a demarcated line, like the difference between Summer and School, but we feel the change; we smell it in the air; feel it in our bones. Summer is over, and Fall begins.

Then Winter sets in, all cold and miserable. But we don't want to talk about Winter today. Today is Summer.

At least for a few more days.

Friday Night At The Movies VI

Last night was another DVD night. After last week's post about Macho movies I did some thinking about the most Macho movie and added to the post that I thought John Wayne's last film, The Shootist, was about the most Macho movie around. So last night I watched it again.

Briefly, Wayne's character is an aging gunfighter who has just had a diagnosis of terminal cancer. After his doctor describes what his last days will be like, he plans a birthday party and invites the three best gunslingers in town. The shoot'em up is inevitable, and in the course of the battle, The Shootist is killed, dying the way he wanted to, not in a bed having strangers tend his every need.

Set in January of 1901, the movie sets up the death of one era, and the beginning of another. The age of the Gunfighter in the Old West is over. Civilization, Law and Order and Technology have arrived. Carson City Nevada has paved streets, indoor plumbing, electric lights and motor cars. The lawless West that created men like Wayne's character, J.B. Books, is disappearing, and soon so will the men themselves.

And you can't beat the cast: John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Richard Boone, Harry Morgan and Ron Howard. Made in 1976, it was Wayne's last movie, and one of his best. My basic criteria are met- a good story competently told- and as usual the film is beautifully photographed.

Why do I consider this the greatest Macho movie? First, J.B. Books, has a very natural reaction to his diagnosis, and his progression from the diagnosis to his final actions are logically made. A man who has faced down many enemies is given another battle. This one he knows he cannot win, so he redefines what winning will be. Even so, in the end, although his wish is to die in a gun fight, and he has set up a battle against 3 gunmen, his will to live causes him to defend himself. Almost too well.

Second, John Wayne had fought and beat cancer in the late 1960's, and was diagnosed with the cancer that killed him a couple of years later. He knew the fight his character was fighting was personal, and knew it personally. Just how much was real and how much was character is anybody's guess. You also have to read into the movie if Wayne knew this would be his last film or not.

I think he knew. He was almost 70 at the time, and the making of a movie is a long and arduous process. By that point he had made over 250 movies, starring in over 140, and I think he wanted to go out well, not as a has been. He wanted his last film to be the culmination of his career, not the last gasp of a wanna be has-been.

This film is that. From the opening sequences- clips from some of his older movies, starting with Red River- through his various talks with Ron Howard's character Gillom Rogers, J. B. Books becomes John Wayne, not the reverse. I forget who said it, but someone once said the greatest character John Wayne ever created was John Wayne. You knew what he stood for, and would defend that position to the best of his ability.

Third, this movie is about a man who has lived his life on his terms, always in control. He was now facing not death- death he was always prepared for- but facing a loss of being in control. So while he is in control he decides to control everything he can, including the end.

And it almost works. Books does die at the end of the final gunfight, but not from the bullets of competent men, but shot in the back by a shotgun-toting bartender.  The final scenes are integral to the movie, and to the message. J. B. Books lived his own way, and died his own way.

But it was his way. It was a way of life developed for a specific time, and that time had passed as well.

Macho has taken on a definition that includes crazy and ignorant actions. I'm not a fan of that definition, and I think it has been developed to emasculate men. You want a true definition of Macho? Watch The Shootist.