There Ought To Be A Law

As Fr. Frog gets older (and (a lot) grumpier according to some folks) I find that there are an awful lot of things that get my flippers (and those of my associates) in a frazzle. The following lists some of my hot buttons--things that I find really get my blood pressure up-- in no particular order. Now I don't mean to imply that everyone is like the examples below (politically correct, sensitive statement), but there seem to be an awful lot of them out there. More chlorine is needed in the gene pool. I frequently update items so check through the below. It's a long page, but I think worth the read.

"When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you, you know your nation is doomed." -- Ayn Rand

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats." -- H. L. Mencken

I apologize for the slow updatingof this page lately, but I'm so upset at what is happening to our country that I might start using "offensive" and "insensitive" words.

Phone loops and voicemail revisited. It seems like the phone system menus are getting out of hand. My wife and I have been dealing with these, especially with medical offices. Either there is no selection to get where you want go, and/or no way to reach a live person. If you get to a voice mail no one ever returns your call. The other fun one is you call a phone number for a local office and wind up talking to a central home office in a different city or getting another phone tree. If you actually get a live person they have know knowledge of the local office you were trying to reach, and voice mails go unanswered. If you leave a voice mail (if you can) no one ever responds . How the heck do they stay in business.

When will the population of our country wake up and realize that what the left fears most is whites and blacks coming together, working together, and loving their country?

Never let anyone take away your freedom for "the greater good." Freedom IS the greater good

Don't you just hate it when when you try to contact a doctor who works in multiple locations and all calls only go to one location and a round-robin menu with no way to either contact the doctor about a new prescriptions, or to reach the location you last saw the doctor. In addition almost all the people who do answer a phone when you press any menu number in desperation can barely speak English and there's usually so much background noise that you couldn't understand the persom anyway. This is how medical care is "progressing?

So the fossil fool in the White House wants us to limit our AC use this summer so "the grid" won't collapse, but he wants everyone to be forced to use electric cars. How stupid can people be? (Don't bother answering that.)

Food for thought. When Cain killed Abel God didn't blame the rock. He blamed and punished Cain. The evil is not in the rock. It's in the heart of the killer.

Those "eco-friendly" thin plastic water bottles. Someone definitely wasn't thinking this one out. While full and sealed they seem all right, but once you try to unscrew the super-sealed tops the bottles collapse in your hand squiring water all over, usually on clothing that shows the wet spot. I actually saw one bottle break before the user could get it open.

Have been hearing from lots of folks around the country that foods don't last like they use to. Milk, "fresh" veggies, meats, and other products seem to go bad way before their "use by" dates. In addition, many pre-packaged veggies have bad product in the bag. Some times the stores will give you a refund, but many times they won't claiming you mis-stored them. One person opined that maybe it is being done deliberately to prevent the peons from hoarding stuff. Given the recent performance of our gubbermint I'm beginning to think that the idea is not so tin-foily anymore.

These days I find myself looking at all the idiots running loose in public like this

Well, well. Who'd have thought they lied. After being sued it turns out that both Pfizer and government agencies admit they lied about the fact that the Pfizer vaccine they were giving everyone (voluntarily or by coercion) was never FDA approved, and what everyone was getting was the test vaccine authorized under the EUA. Nothing to see here. Move along.

The recent debacle in TX. As more and more information comes to light there is mounting evidence that the responders deliberately did not immediately engage the shooter so the body count would deliberately rise for better anti-gun publicity. The Border Patrol "SWAT" team that was ready to go in was repeatedly denied entrance by the feds until the BP basically told them to "stick it" and went in and killed the shooter. Considering that Texas is starting to implementing a plan to arm and train teachers, it's very fishy that this occurred when it did. Do not put it past the current socialist administration to do anything to further their evil plans. You are on your own.

I've read a lot of history books, and one thing I have learned is that the people who fight against free speech are NEVER the good guys.

Right now I have so little faith in most of the human race that I look both ways at a roundabouts.

Aw come on now... With the panic-demic effectively over it still amazes me how scared some sheeple still are. Saw a person today driving her car, with the windows rolled up, wearing rubber gloves a mask, and a face shield. What's the old saying: "Fear of death won't prevent dying, but it will prevent living."

"A body of men holding themselves accountable to no one, ought not to be trusted by anyone." -- Thomas Paine

Masks? Consider this. If wearing masks is so effective in curbing the spread of the WuFlu, why didn't the prisons make inmates just wear masks instead of release dangerous prisoners. Check the packaging of the masks people get and you'll note that almost ALL of them stipulate "Not for medical purposes." Yet we have to appease the idiots who feel "safer" when you wear a mask even if they are really cosmetic. And have you noticed how those democraps and communists (but then I repeat myself) in DC can gather in any size group they want without wearing masks, or observing social distancing. But not the "little people.

ENOUGH! When blm and antifa can threaten and attack both citizens and the police with impunity, burn, seize, or destroy public property, and impede lawful commerce, commit murder, and get away with it, but citizens in fear for their lives and property are arrested and prosecuted for defending themselves, it is time to end this crap with "extreme prejudice" and harsh penalties. Looters get shot on sight. Rioters threatening to harm people or who actually harm someone, get shot on sight. Rioters destroying public or private property get tear gassed (or better yet use DM nausea gas) and imprisoned at hard labor repairing the damage they did. Might just be easier to shoot them on sight too. They want violence? They have no idea what real violence is--but they'll be learning.

Absolutely disgusting! The mobs threaten and businesses rush to change their name and remove traditional figureheads, and bow and grovel before the rabble. They obviously don't remember that appeasing the alligator only means that you'll get eaten last. But you will get eaten. What happened to courage and standing up for yourself? Next thing I expect is that "white bread" will be deemed racist and removed from the market.

The recent festivities around the country. I don't care what your grievance, real or imagined, is - you do NOT have the right to interrupt lawful commerce, loot, destroy other's property, or harm another person. Looters should be shot on sight as should those who threaten or harm others or their property.

Who was that masked man? The fact is that face masks do little to protect you from the WuFlu if your eyes are exposed. They might have a little effect to keep you from spreading germs, but not much else (and that assumes an effective mask). If it makes you feel safe wearing one do so -- but do so correctly. I see more and more folks with their noses uncovered and in many instances their mouth is barely covered. If I wouldn't get hassled for violating "social distance" edicts I like to go up to those folks and snap the mask over their noses (and maybe even staple them in place). Even sillier are the cheap or homemade masks made from loose weave cloth that offers no protection from anything. But hey! They say we should wear masks

It's getting scary out there. Between the "red flag" laws some sates have, and blue state governors calling for people to anonymously report people not complying with their (the governor's) directives or people who have/do things that scare them, we are fast becoming like the communist countries. Those people so "reported" are presumed guilty without a trial and have to fight the system to get their rights restored. There has even been a case where a woman's children were seized by CPS because she didn't wear a mask.

Political BS of the opposition trying to discredit the president. America does not need to see the tax return of a billionaire who became a public servant. America needs to see the tax returns of public servants who became millionaires while being "public servants."

The "pandemic." If you are driving alone in your car with the windows up, and wearing a face mask, you probably shouldn't be let out unescorted. By the way, if you accepted the "stimulus" check, he IS your president. Speaking of "masks. First they do nothing for your safety if your eyes are exposed, or you don't wash or sterilize them between uses. Second, they have to cover your nose too. The only thing a properly used mask does is to prevent the wearer from expelling and particulate mater if they cough or sneeze. Washing your hands and not touching your face or eyes is a more effective prevention.

Just a thought. If cultural appropriation is wrong then how does a society benefit from diversity?

Shipping times. My new hot button is firms that promise "fast" shipping, say within 2 days of placing your order, and even send you a UPS/USPS tracking number. When you check it turns out to either be a bogus number or the package doesn't get to the shipper for many days past the indicated date. Yet there are vendors who are able to get things out and actually into the mail system within 24 hours.

Food for thought. America does not need to see the tax return of a billionaire who became a public servant. America needs to see the tax returns of public servants who became millionaires while being public servants.

Meaningless labels. "I'm a peaceful person. I'd couldn't hurt anyone." You can't truly call yourself "peaceful" unless you are capable of great violence. If you are not capable of violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless. An important distinction.

So where are they. It use to be that if someone made threats against the president or his family, that they would quickly get a visit from the Secret Service. The latest socialist crazies are calling for the assassination of the president or a violent coupe to remove him from office. Yet no one seems to be getting a visit from the suits. Why is that? If a conservative even uttered in jest about one of the socialists it would be front page news, cries for arrests, and renewed calls for taking our firearm.

Talk about wrong priorities. Every day talk shows lament animal cruelty, overweight people, "climate change," Facebook posts, and other foolishness, but no one talks about abortion and the murder of the unborn, because the pregnancy was "inconvenient" to the mother. No wonder civilization is going down hill.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics. The socialists are fond of quoting "statistic" to further their goals. However, they seldom, if ever, cite a source reputable source, and when one checks valid sources the socialists "statistics are usually far from actuality or are padded with unrelated "statistics. Unfortunately few people take the time to check the facts.

"Free" balance transfer checks. Ever get those offers of free balance transfer checks from your credit card companies? Besides not being free, if someone takes and opens your mail they can write a check against your account and it's up to you to prove it wasn't you who wrote the check. This aggravates me about the same amount as having to opt out of companies sharing your information without your permission.

Kids eating Tide pods, adults who don't know what gender they are, eliminating God from everything, and elected officials who hate America. Trust me, guns are not the problem.

(Said in a whiney tone) I want my safe space! Wake up buttercup. There are NO safe spaces unless you take responsibility for your own safety. Signs, talismans, or "secure" areas are just illusions.

With all the ongoing (induced) racial strife, I've often wondered if diverse groups can ever get along. A friend informed me that they are perfectly capable of getting along, provided there was some distance between them. He thinks several light years would about perfect.

Why are we giving free stuff and benefits to people who entered our country illegally and who basically hate us, when we have plenty of citizens who could use a little help?

Here's an idea President Trump should pursue. Let's trade trade all of our communists and liberal socialists who hate America for the democratic protesters in Hong Kong.

To stop sober drivers from getting hurt by drunk drivers let's just ban all sober drivers from driving. OK? That's the socialist's plan for "gun control."

Why shouldn't 16 year-olds vote? Because you need some life experience to keep you from falling for the first idiot politico who promises you free lunches for the rest of your life? After all there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Have you ever stopped and thought about how much time we could save if the liberal idiots of the world were fitted with shock collars to prevent their stupidity from affecting others?

Time to wake up folks. There is no such thing as government funded programs. They are all TAXPAYER funded programs.

Another one of our many problem is an upswing in revisionist history, including attempts to suggest that the great men of the past should have been guided by the "morals" and "ethics" of the present, and then try to interpret historical documents written in a different age using modern definitions of words rather than how they were used back then.

Got called a "racist" by a "social justice whiner" because I told a Hispanic beggar who tried to accost me in a parking lot to get away from me. (I then told the SJW to go back to whatever hole she climbed out of. (Wow! 2 strikes inside of 2 minutes!) Cries of ˜racism," "sexism," and all other forms of discrimination have only made it harder for anyone to see real racism, assuming it even exists. Claiming ˜racism" has become an easy stick to use to beat someone with, and the net result that the true worth of the word has declined to effectively nothing. It has pervaded our society to the point where a so-called ˜x-ist" must prove their innocence, rather than the accuser prove his guilt. But how do you prove a negative? These days, I never believe any charges of racism until I am given substantial proof, (I never have been) simply because it is far too easy to say the word. Unfortunately, the socialist just don't get it.

Drug prices. My wife takes a medication that has consistently gone up in price to ridiculous levels (even with insurance). On the advice of a friend she has now started getting it from a Canadian pharmacy, and including the postage it costs less than the insurance co-pay. It is EXACTLY the same product she was getting in the US. In fact she noticed that the lot number of her first order was the same lot as the last batch she got in the US, and guess what -- it shipped from Florida. (As the saying goes, "WTF?")

I'm not a vengeful person, but if I suffer an injustice or a wrong at someone's hands, I will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that it won't happen again. You have been warned. Does that make me some kind of "x-ist?"

So where did we screw up? It is a principle of law that a person is responsible for their own actions. If they should happen to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they are still responsible for themselves as they chose to enter a state of diminished rationality. Yet everyone always has a dumb excuse.

What is needed to make our country stronger is to elect politicians who know their place; no more government agencies or employees thinking that they are above the law, and an educated citizenry that accept both the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

The socialists are now trying to use a Theodore Roosevelt quote to justify their attitudes. ("Patriotism is loyalty to the country, and not loyalty to a president.") Of course when the president is loyal to the country that makes their heads explode since their aim is to destroy the country.

"Thought for the day. Instead of investigating a billionaire who became a politician, they should be investigating politicians that became millionaires." -- Unknown commentator

They have no idea. A friend reports that his flaming liberal neighbor told him that "You're not the only people who have guns. "WE" have guns to" and stated that she had just come from a range and had shot half-a-box of ammo. Keeping a straight a face as possible my friend replied, "Half-a-box, wow!" He then shattered her illusion of greatness by telling her that he shoots close to 2,000 rounds of pistol and rifle ammunition a month practicing his skills, and many of his friends shoot even more. Crestfallen, she walked away in shock.

I don't do Facebook, but every so often my wife shows me some cute video. I was thinking that if all those people who spent their time posting videos and other stuff to Facebook actually did some productive work, we might have a colonies in the Alpha Centauri system by now.

So some millionaire just paid off the student loans of a graduating college class. Isn't that nice of him. However: 1) the students (or their parents) took on the loans themselves and should be responsible for them; 2) How many of those students got a degree in something truly worthwhile and will be productive members of society, rather than a degree in some PC studies and will now be selling french-fries or living with mommy and daddy; 3) These students have been shown, and now will think, that others will pay their way and take care of them, rather than learning self-responsibility. If I were that millionaire and had money to burn, I might have offered to pay off their loans, AFTER they proved themselves to be successful and self supporting for a year or two, rather than giving them a freebee handout. The decline continues.

The idiocy continues. Now a kalifonistan legislator is threatening the President by saying they will ban gasoline powered vehicles. How's that gonna work out for the millions of drivers in that god-forsaken state? Go ahead, you idiots. It'll mean more and cheaper gas for the rest of us, while you continue you slide into the socialist sewer. Now they also want to give free Kalifornia provided healthcare to all the illegal immigrants living there. No wonder people are bailing out in droves.

So you're educated? I really hate it when people confuse education with intelligence. You can have all sorts of degrees and still be stupid.

I'm not a mind reader! On this website I offer to send you various information packets if you send me the stated cost and a self-addressed, stamped envelope. So why do I frequently get mail with a cash payment and SASE, but nothing about what they wanted to order? Not even a phone number or an email address to reach them to ask. This necessitates me trying to locate a phone number for them (usually without success) and then having to mail them about what they wanted.

Huh? If your parents break the law to get you into college you should be expelled from school, they should be indicted, charged and convicted of a felony and go to jail. BUT ... if your parents break the law to get you into the country you should be given a free education, free healthcare, and you and your parents should be given amnesty. Is something wrong with this picture??

Problem solved! Take all those poor "refugees" and dump them in those "sanctuary cities" just after cutting off all federal funding and assistance. Let the socialists put their money where their mouths are. By the way - how many liberals who are screaming that the illegals must be allowed in and taken care of, have ever opened their own homes to any? [Update: This was actually suggested and the socialists are having fits at the thought. Maybe they should build a wall.]

At this point in time, I'm convinced that most people were put on this planet to test my anger management skills.

Can I get an "Amen?" Communist Chuck Schumer says the wall would be expensive and ineffective. I say congress is expensive and ineffective.

Delicate sensitivities. They recently put up a new cell tower near our high school. To prevent liberal heads from exploding at sight of an evil cell tower disrupting the scenery they put "branches" on it to make it look like a tree. Didn't work. It just looks like a green fuzzy cell tower. I wonder how much money was spent on that boondoggle?

The wall. Pelosi said we needed to pass Obamacare first to see what's in it. Two can play that game, so let's build the wall to see if it works.

Anyone else think that we we have far too many laws and too many "law enforcers." We need quality and intelligence, not quantity.

Intuitively obvious to the casual observer. Let's see now. You can't pray or read the bible in schools, but you can in prison. Perhaps if kids were allowed to read the bible and pray in schools they wouldn't have to in prison.

Those self important millennial Gen-X idiots. They have lots of information, but no education or wisdom. Data, but not knowledge. This, coupled with the "Everyone is Special" parenting gives them a grossly inflated sense of their worth. I fear their Great Relearning will be particularly painful. (This may be THE statement of the last 10,000 years.)

The lying idiots in the MSM. Sure the fires in Kalifornistan are terrible, but why does the media have to lie about them. They're blaming President Trump, "global warming," conservative politics, and anything else they can think of, yet they ignore the fact that it was Gov. Moonbeam's idiotic policies and refusal to allow the Forest Service to clear the undergrowth that has allowed these fires to start and continue. Does ANYONE actually, other than socialists, believe anything the media says anymore?

Doesn't anyone give a damn about getting your business? Lately it seems that businesses can't be bothered to answer email queries of return your calls. Have been trying to get someone to do some minor external repairs on my home that I can't physically do any more. All calls go to an answering machine that assures me they'll call me right back. Even businesses that someone referred me to. Haha! Never hear from them not even to say that they are swamped and unable to respond in a timely manner. I finally caught a handyman type in the Fry's parking lot and asked if he could help out. Followed me home, made the repair in about a half hour, and did a good job. at a reasonable price. Gave him an extra $20.

Call it like it is! I wish that people (and especially the press) would refer to that mob of people approaching the US from the south as what they are. They are NOT immigrants. They are NOT migrants. The are NOT "undocumented workers." Unless, and until, they enter legally through a port of entry they are simply criminal invaders. I don't care how screwed up your home country is. Unless they apply to immigrate are granted review and processing to become citizens, they are breaking our laws by being here. That is CRIME. -- It is not "immigration". Immigrants are invited and want to become US citizens. If I break the lock on your back door and enter your home, demanding free stuff, I am not an "undocumented house guest" and you do not owe me dinner and drinks and the use of your car. Think about it!

Here's something to think about that was pointed out to me.. Given that Indian reservations are legally independent "(foreign) nations" and as such are exempt from our laws, why are we we sending welfare checks to them and allowing access to our welfare system?

Aw gee! How does it feel when your lives are threatened? Apparently Soros, Hillary, Holder, and a few other "no civility" socialists received so-called "bombs" in the mail, and the media is all a dither about it. "Those violent "deplorables! How could they do such a thing." Of course it is ok with the media when the goons of the socialist threaten the lives of the president, vice president, and their children,, shoot at republican congressmen, and violently attack peaceable conservatives or anyone they don't like. In my mind I think they sent the "bombs" to themselves in order to get sympathy from the voters prior to the mid-terms. Xrays of the devices seem to indicate they were non-functional. There are also questions about the delivery methods. Something is very fishy here. Definitely a "red herring" here. Of course the media doesn't care.

Election mailings and posters. Enough already! In the past two weeks we have accumulated a stack of large mailings four (4) inches thick! If the candidates took the money they've spent on repeated mailings and poster and did something useful with it, we could probably pay down a large portion of the national debt.

A thought. If the socialists thought for one second that the illegal immigrants were voting Republican, you'd be able to see the border wall from space. In a similar vein someone suggested that President Trump offer citizenship to any illegal who swears to vote only Republican--that'd get'r done too.

"White Privilege." The dignity to suffer life's woes without whining, rioting, looting, or blaming others.

Governments have an unthinking horror of guns in private hands. There are no shortage of alleged justifications - guns are dangerous, guns enable crime, guns should only be used by "experts," guns bring out the worst in people - but they all boil down to a simple desire to keep power out of the hands of commoners. Yes, guns can be turned against criminals and used for many sports, but they can also be turned against tax men, corrupt policemen, and corrupt politicians, That is the reason they want to ban guns.

Hmmmmm? Isn't it strange that the people who howl the most for civil rights are the least civil among us?

Anyone noticed how the economy is strong, unemployment is down, black unemployment is at an all-time low, and all you hear from the MSM is silence and complaints.

I tried. I really tried. I tried to see things from a liberal perspective. As it turns out, my head won't fit up my butt."

Facing the facts. "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." -- John Adams. Of course to the liberal/socialists feelings are more important than facts, especially when the facts don't agree with the liberal agenda. (Besides, "facts" are racist.")

The liberals are such hypocrites. They continue to try and smear Pres. Trump with all kinds of allegations of sexual impropriety long before (and now after) he became president. Yet they totally ignore their own people. JFK's frequent indiscretions, Bill Clinton's sex acts in the Oval Office with a subordinate and his links to the "Lolita Express" under age sex trade, Hillary's alleged lesbian affairs in the White House, and the predilections of numerous liberal members of congress. They hate Pres. Trump, conservatives, the improving economy, and their loosing control over the country that they will stoop to anything, and I mean ANYTHING, to discredit conservatives, and the MSM gladly goes right along with them. Pay attention to their calls for violence, and be prepared. It IS coming (although they'll try to blame conservatives and guns.

"Experts" again. I have been seeing a lot of shows lately on history, the military, aviation, and other areas that interview supposed "experts" in the subject at hand, but. who don't have the slightest idea of what they are talking about and who blather forth blatantly incorrect information on the subject they are supposed to be experts in. Doesn't anyone check these guys out? A sign of the times?

Lately I have seen a rash of new traffic signs all over the place. A "T" intersection where there is a wall in front of you there are now signs pointing that you can only go left or right. "Pre-stop signs" warning that there is a stop sign ahead (that you can already see). How about the "Speed Reduced Ahead" signs that are followed by a series of signs, posted 25 yards apart stating 50, 40 ,30 and finally 25. Not to mention the fact that all these big signs have reflectors all over the posts holding them up so you won't drive into that big 2 foot square red sign. Does someone have an uncle in the traffic sign business, or has civilization become so stupid that .... Don't bother answering that.

Something to think about. When democrats say that Trump is out of control, what they mean is that he's out of their control, and that's driving them bonkers." -- Via Patriot Post

I feel so safe now. More kabuki security. New banking regulations prohibit a cash deposits, of any amount, to any account, by other than the actual account holder, and even then the account holder has to provide "positive ID" like a drivers license before depositing cash. This is allegedly to "protect us" from money laundering drug dealers. The real purpose is to start getting more control over cash transactions and person to person commerce that runs below the tax horizon.

This is a very important reminder to us that Independence Day isn't just about having an extra day off and enjoying watermelon and hot dogs with family and friends. The British were monsters and they ruled the world with an iron fist. That policy was contrary to human nature and, accordingly, their reign was unsustainable. They've now gone the way of socialism now and look where that's gotten them. I wonder how far behind them we are, on the road to moral and societal destruction.

The liberal, wacko socialists are now openly calling for violence to be used against the Trump administration, conservatives, and their families. I refer them to Rudyard Kipling's poem, The Wrath of the Awakened Saxon. (But I doubt if any socialists even care about history.) If they keep threatening us, our families, and children with violence, or God forbid, are actually stupid enough to do something, they are going to see violence in return on a scale unseen in several hundred years. Liberal philosophy will only be discussed in the past tense in hell. They have been warned. If you've never read the poem, click here and be enlightened.

So the US is disengaging from the UN's alleged "Human Rights" group.? May I remind you who is on that committee these days? (https://www.unwatch.org/2017-membership/)

The Trump administrations flipping the bird to this "group" is now considered "turning out the shining light of America." Never mind the well-documented rapes that the UN's so-called "peacekeepers" have committed upon various populations over the years. That fits right in with "human rights", yes? This sort of rank stupidity, along with the frothing-mouth nonsense that has been engendered by the media over this and related issues (e.g./the very policy hillary clinton announced with regard to kids being used as human shields for illegals coming across the Mexican Border) has reached the point that frankly I'm shocked that there hasn't been a complete schism between groups in America. Personally I think the US should just leave the UN, toss them out of the US, and use the building in NY for low income housing. After all it's just a hate America club.

"Public Assistance." What's wrong with this picture? I just witnessed a woman and baby checking out at the food store. Baby is wearing "designer" baby cloths and the woman is dressed to the "nines," wearing a huge diamond ring and a gold wedding band, talking on the latest cell phone. She paid for her purchases with a WIC card, and saunters out and gets into a Lexus. Something is very wrong with the program.

How strange. The liberals want to ban firearms, but they refuse to do anything to change the attitudes that cause violence, and to foster a culture of personal responsibility and integrity. Of course they and their personal security staff are to be exempt.

A friend recently opined. "Isn't it interesting how just before pro-gun legislation is up for a vote, some wack-job appears and shoots a bunch of people causing such legislation to come to a halt as the liberals mount a new assault on the Second Amendment (rather than on stopping and punishing criminal behavior). We were on the verge of removing the NFA restrictions and taxes on short barreled rifles and suppressors, and getting national reciprocity with CCWs. Then the Florida idiot shows up (and the local law enforcement just stands around and does nothing to stop the shooter). It's happened too many times in the past for it just to be coincidence any more. (And yes, the socialists/liberals WOULD gladly stoop to such things to further their goals of the suppression of the citizenry and freedom.

Let me see if I understand all this. The FBI was warned twice about Cruz, the Sheriffs Office once, there was 45 contacts with law enforcement about Cruz, his brother, or his residence, including him threatening his mother and brother. The SRO who was disarmed by school policy stood outside and did nothing as the shooting was occurring, and these idiots blame the NRA and a type of weapon for the shooting. And by the way, from what I have read about other such events the perps were "on the radar" before hand but no one took preemptive action. So the problem is simply guns???? S U U R R E it is.

What strikes me about the Florida shooting is that the school, local law enforcement, the neighbors, the FBI, and likely animal control had had abundantly clear warning that Cruz was going to hurt people. Possibly because our society has set up numerous protected classes not held accountable for their actions or poor decisions, nothing was done.

Now that the bodies are cold and buried, the MSM and progressive socialists are not shouting about the Broward Cowards and utter failures of the school and local LEOs and the FBI, but about the damn gun. The real message here is: The System is not going to do anything to protect you. Law enforcement not only has no duty to protect an individual but will even ignore the safety of a school full of children. If a Hispanic psychopath or a crowd of BLM protestors want to kill you, we'll let you die. But by the way, give us all of your weapons.

It's not a gun issue it's an issue of a society who promotes violence in the movies and on TV and video games. It's an issue of a society that refuses to accept consequences for one's actions and personal responsibility. It's an issue of a society that teaches and promotes helplessness and victimhood.

Consider.... In Africa lions attack and eat gazelles. The gazelles defend themselves with their horns. You can not protect gazeles from lions by cutting off their horns.

If only one person in that school had a gun. Oh wait! Only one person did - the assailant.

Just wondering. If liberals don't believe in biological gender, then why do they protest for women's rights?

Privacy revisited. All you folks out there taking pictures with your digital cameras and cell phones, and posting them all over the internet, may be interested to know that many such devices embed the GPS coordinate of where you picture was taken by default and the data is easily read.. Not that Google, Farcebook or a lurker thereon, or big brother would be interested in the picture of your kid at Day Care and its location. Most devices allow you to turn of location services for many of their applications. You have been warned.

There was a lawyer's commercial on the boob tube that said that over 400,000 people are killed every year by doctor's medical mistakes. That's a lot more than are killed by guns.. Ohmygod..... We need to ban doctors. After all it's for the children. We won't mention the almost 3,000 babies aborted (murdered) every month.

They can't keep drugs of the street. They can't keep drugs out of the elementary schools. They can't even keep drugs out of federal prisons, Yet they want me to disarm myself and "trust" they can keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Yeh, right.

What's the difference between today's #MeToo male persecution movement and the Salem witch trials? The witches were tried before they were punished and it wasn't political.

Memo to the socialists. If you won't stand up for our flag, then don't live under it. There are plenty of countries that should be more acceptable to you

Pencils. Remember when pencils were made with real wood? Nowadays many pencils are made of plastic "wood" and as far as I can tell they are all crap. They don't sharpen evenly because the leads are off center, the plastic outside wrappings jam pencil sharpeners, there are a lot of broken leads, and the eraser tips smear instead of erasing. This is "progress?"

Enquiring minds want to know. How come all these women claiming to have been groped, etc. YEARS ago have waited until now to accuse men. Especially when the timing of their complaints is politically expedient. Hey guys! Remember that hot little chick you messed around with back in high school? She's gonna be coming for you, especially if you're now in politics. Welcome to a repeat of the witch hunts of the late 80s.

Really tacky Christmas decoration - Lot of folks like to put up decorations and lights for the Christmas season and many are truly beautifully done. However, some folks need to slapped up against the side of their heads. Most of the houses around us have tasteful lights and displays but a couple look like a junk yard of inflatable things with lights just thrown all over everything. One house, we call it the fusion reactor, has enough garish lights (a lot of them a UVish color blue/purple that is painful to the eyes) to be visible from space and they blink and glare like the warp core on the Enterprise. The force of the photons makes your car swerve as you drive past it.

Lack of manners and politeness in all things. One of the things that really irks me is the lack of please and thank you in the "modern" world. This is being reinforced in our culture by devices like Siri and Amazon's Alexa. You just demand things and they happen. "Siri, play a song;" "Alexa, order this item." No please or thank you and children are learning to demand things. Siri and Alexa, please require manners to work.

While what happened in Las Vegas is a tragedy, it makes headlines because it is a single incident with many casualties. To put things in perspective, Chicago is just one Democrat controlled big city, and so far in 2017 (early October) there have been 497 people shot and killed in Chicago, and 2395 shot and wounded. Where's the outcry.

I recently pointed out to a local Muslim loving idiot, lesbian that Islam requires the death of homosexuals, turns women into property with no rights, and preaches that all "non-believers" either convert, pay a tax, or be killed. Her response was to start screaming and shouting that I was a racist, homophobic bigot. These idiots simply refuse to accept facts.

In one of Robert Heinlein's books he describe a period in history called "the crazy years" where civilization went nuts. It's here folks. Now displaying a cotton boll is racist. Guess they could wear polyester. Oh wait, polyester was invented by a white guy. Racist again.

Well at least one thing is now out in the open. Amazing isn't it how many republican congressmen have revealed themselves to really be democrats/socialists.

Go figure. Black people who were never slaves are fighting white people who were never Nazis, over a confederate statue erected by Democrats, because Democrats can't stand their own history anymore and somehow it's Trump's fault.

To the socialist idiots trying to destroy anything related to the historic southern states, think about this quote. "Lets remember that the founder of the Democratic Party, Andrew Jackson, was a slave owner. Robert E. Lee opposed both slavery and secession." -- Dinesh D'Souza

The other face. With the Republicans pretty much in control it is interesting to see the true colors of some of them as they support the socialist initiative, and stand against the Republican platform. Why don't they come clean about who/what they really are.

So some whinny liberal groups are planning "hate Trump" protests and rallys in the beginning of July. The organizers have stated that they cannot guarantee that property won't be damaged and people (who don't agree with them) won't be attacked. WTF? This sounds like a terroristic threats to me. Same with those who publically threaten the president and call for his death. (That's a federal offense.) Time to shut them down - HARD. In addition, it should be made clear that any areas that they might destroy (and usually such areas are where THEY live) will not be eligible for federal assistance.

Snowflakes? The term has come to mean those whinny liberals who are having a mental melt down because they didn't get their way in the election. My wife has come up with the term "hail stone" to describe the conservatives who are getting on with the task of making America great again.

Bloated software. Recently had to install a new PC running Windows 10. Besides all the invasive settings in the OS what is really annoying is the software bloat. All of the programs I used under XP were clean and to the point, and intuitive. The Win 10 version are loaded with "features" most people will never use and a cluttered, non-unintuitive. To do what use to take 3 clicks now involves sometimes 6 or more clicks through a glitzy interface loaded with blinking graphics and zillions of in your face options. Several of the new programs contained all sorts of glitches and would not do what was expected or corrupt data when files from a previous version were imported. A call to one software company resulted is what was basically a "tough shit for you" comment. This is progress?

Speaking of moving out. What happened to all those screaming liberals who said they'd leave the US if Trump became president. Hey a-holes! Your flights are ready to board.

Hollyweirdos. What are those idiot actors and actresses in Hollyweird smoking? Half of them can't put a coherent sentence together without memorizing a script, while the rest go through drugs, alcohol, and spouses at a blazing speed, as well as never having held a productive job in the life. All of them seem to think that they are the intellectual superiors of the rest of the country when it comes to any subject, especially science ("dramatic climate change"), politics (all conservatives are evil monsters), gun control (ban all guns even though they make millions depicting "gun violence," but then they get to keep their gun toting body guards), and international relations (Yea ISSI, Boo Israel). Yet the ignorant liberal masses are more concerned about everything they do, every scandal their involved in, who's screwing who, and the clothes they wear, than about real world issues. A major pox on all of them.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Want to really annoy your liberal acquaintances? Just point out the McCarran-Walter Act, a.k.a. the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, that allows for the "Suspension of entry or imposition of restrictions by the President, whenever the President finds that the entry of aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. The President may, by proclamation, and for such a period as he shall deem necessary, may suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or non-immigrants or impose any restrictions on the entry of aliens he may deem to be appropriate." The last president to use it was Democratic President Jimmy Carter 37 years ago, in 1979, to keep Iranians out of the United States. But he actually did more. He made ALL Iranian students, already in the United States, check in with the government. And then he deported a bunch of them. Seven thousand were found in violation of their visas, and a total of 15,000 Iranians were forced to leave the USA in 1979. Therefore, one should surmise that since the Quran forbids Muslims to swear allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, that technically, ALL Muslims should be refused immigration to OUR country.

Getting information straight. Notice how when the news of the OSU attack hit the news it was identified as an "active shooter" event, even though the perp (barely acknowledged as an Islamist), used an evil assault automobile and an assault kitchen knife. The only "active shooter" was the cop who shot him DRT (and was then castigated for shooting him in spite of his trying to kill a bunch of people).

Hate speech??? If some conservative posted something negative about Hillary Clinton or her minions on Facebook, chance are it was removed and the poster's account closed because of "hate speech." However, now the whiny liberals are calling for the assassination of Trump, and the subversion of the voting process, not to mention threatening white conservatives. Yet Facebook does nothing about such posts. Couldn't be a double standard there??

"If Trump wins I'm leaving the US!" (said with a whiny tone). Ok you butt heads. Put your money where your mouth is and pack up and leave--and don't come back. Our country doesn't need people like you. I suggest destinations like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, and Venezuela. Since you hate the US so much, you'll be giving up your citizenship too, right?

By the way .... Thank you veterans. Most of us appreciate your service and sacrifice. Those that don't, can kiss our asses.

Alright already! Our side won. Your side lost. Quit your incessant whining, crying, and hysterical emotional outbursts you jerks. Put on your big girl panties, get on with your life, and stop sobbing that you didn't get your way. Gee! You might have to become productive citizens instead of leaches.

Well what did they expect? Some poor little "didndonuttin" robs a store at gun point, and then points his gun at the responding police and gets himself fatally shot. In response, his family is decrying the police and whining about why did the cops have to shoot their poor little baby. What's the old saying about not doing stupid things? You point a gun at me or anyone else, you should expect to get shot--probably several times.

The continuing story. With the latest revelations of the Clintons illegal and immoral activities, does anyone think there's a snowballs chance in hell that they will even be indicted, convicted, and imprisoned? I pray that justice will truly prevail. However, no matter what the results of the election are the current jerk-in-chief will no doubt grant a full pardon to the Clintons and probably himself. Historically ANY crime, no matter how vile, committed by democrats or socialists, is perfectly OK and acceptable, while any indiscretion, no matter how minor, committed by republicans, conservatives, and Christians, becomes close to a capital offense. The founding fathers are spinning at high RPMs.

Liberal propaganda at work. Anyone else notice that when liberal publications or web sites display pictures of Shrillary and Trump that her pictures are taken after a 5 hour makeup session and probably airbrushed, while the pictures of Trump are the worst pictures they can find anywhere in the known universe. (Of course if they printed unretouched photos of her it might scare folks.)

Politics? Even notice that no one is talking about the real issues. Lots of personality attacks and "he said/she said" to cloud the real issues of the day along with smoke and mirrors. And ... have you noticed that 99.999% of the elected officials say, "I am going to do ..." rather than stating they will serve the people and do what they want to do." All these idiot seem to believe that they (and only they), know what is best for us. Where's a comet when you need one?

Double standards. Notice how anything a conservative does or says from the moment of their birth to the present moment that could be construed as not PC, can and will be used to smear them. On the other hand anything liberals do or say, no matter how egregious or morally bankrupt, doesn't matter at all, and nobody calls them on it (especially the MSM).

Hospitality. When I was growing up it was common to invite friends and neighbors over to share a meal once in a while, or maybe just a desert. My wife and I enjoy having company and breaking bread with friends and associates. However, out of maybe 40 different people, only three folks have ever reciprocated, and in fact none of the others seem to never have anyone to their home. We are all good friends so it isn't like there are personality issues. We don't have a fancy home and we don't anything fancy nor expensive, just simple good food and friends and it's hard to figure out what's up. One suggestion made to me was that many people these days are either embarrassed about their homes and simply don't want others to know how they live. Such a shame.

Guilt! A group of kids came back from a church mission trip to a town in Mexico, where they helped build some facilities for the locals. What got me is that they all claimed they felt so sad that the Mexicans had practically nothing (even though by their own admission the local people were happy) while they (the kids) had so much. One girl said she felt guilty for having so much while they didn't. WTF!??? Why should anyone feel guilty for having things that they worked for. Because you have hard working parents (or because you are hard working) and you could acquire nice things is no reason to be on a guilt trip. This political correctness of equal entitlement to all has gotten way out of hand. It's being taught in the schools and spread by the government that if you have more than someone else you are an evil racist. What a line of crap! Have you noticed that the evil, embezzling, cheating, government employees, with their mansions, body guards, and perk show absolutely no guilt about anything. If you even suggest that they should give up some of what they have they are horrified. Guilt? Not in their vocabulary.

Crying wolf. Every so often something circulates on the internet about how some horrific event is going to take place, with dates and places stated. Then after everyone gets worked up about it nothing happens. This has been going on for a long time now and people are starting to joke about, and ignore the threats. However, one of these days after such an event announcement, and when everyone says "Ho Hum" we are going to be caught unprepared for a major mess. Stay awake, Be aware. Be prepared. It IS going to happen.

Now you see. Well it's clear that the socialist/liberal politicians have risen beyond the law and are free to lie, cheat, steal, and endanger our country, with no fear of prosecution, while the slightest transgression, real or imagined committed by ordinary people is prosecuted (persecuted?) to the fullest extent of the law and frequently beyond the law. The justice (just-us) department has now proven itself to be corrupted beyond hope and the head of then FBI was exposed and was taking payoffs from the Clintons while investigating them. Just look at how the current administration is trying to prosecuting people who question or show proof that their "climate change"/"global warming" data is bogus. It's been going on for millions of years by itself folks pushed by mother nature and not by greedy capitalists. America, you let this happen and you may soon be reaping the seeds of your own destruction. I pity people who live in or near the big cities.

If there is any doubt about whose side the current administration is on, consider that they changed the word "Allah" in the Orlando terrorist's phone transcripts to "God" so Muslims wouldn't get offended. Also note that when anti-gun legislation is defeated because the people speak, nobummer and his minions get upset that they didn't get what they wanted and threatens to do it through illegal executive orders. Whinny little spoiled children. Also note that the perpetrator passed numerous background checks, and the fact that the club was a posted "gun free" zone in a "shall issue" state that has numerous CCW holders. As I've said before, "If only one person on the scene was armed. Oh wait! Only one person was."

Ever notice how the typical liberal, socialist, or " millennial" believe that they are NEVER wrong. NO ONE is allowed to tell them anything that they don't want to hear. (Like facts, rather than feelings.) Information, no matter how accurate, from other than liberal sources is always the work of Satan and invalid. As Ronald Reagan once said, "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so."

Whenever there is a mass murder, a kid gets killed by alligator, or whatever, we hear, "How do we make sure this never happens again?" This is said earnestly, as if the commentator is not totally brain dead, with a voice dripping with concern and compassion. I find myself talking to the TV, "Shoot all the alligators in the United States. If you don't like that, you probably won't like my terrorist solution."

The religion of peace? All the PC liberals, especially women, seem to love Islam and hate those evil bigoted Christians. Yet they conveniently overlook the fact that Islam mandates the execution of gays, adulterers, and those who "dishonor" their families. They treat women like property, and abuse women and children as a matter of course. Just recently there was an item in the news where a male doctor saved a woman and her newborn baby when the midwife couldn't help. The father's thanks? He shot and killed his wife and the doctor because the doctor had seen the wife's exposed body and "dishonored" him. They simply don't play well with others in the modern world. If you think Islam is so great feel free to move to an Islamic country (an give up your US citizenship).

There is no hope for humanity! We've dumbed down to unrecoverable levels. It seems someone gave an ape an iPhone set up to take pictures and it snapped several "selfies" that were published on the internet. The PETA folks got all upset at this because they claimed that the ape owned the copyright for the pictures and that they were used without consent or payment. They actually had lawyers file suit on behalf of the ape. They lost the suit but are considering an appeal. And the courts wasted their time on this?.

Yup! We sure got it. Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc'-ra-cy): A system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

"I feel threatened by your interest in me..." What is it with so many people today, that if you take an interest in their "job" or their responsibilities, offer to help them, or offer a good suggestion on how to possibly improve things or make life easier for them, they suddenly get defensive and feel that you're after there job or position. The slightest idea sets them off. What ever happened to working together for a better end result rather than someone's "kingdom." This seems to be prevalent everywhere but particularly with women in various positions.

Waiting (and waiting, and waiting). You get sick. You have to wait 2 weeks to get a doctor appointment (for $130), so by the time you are seen the problem may be long gone. When you get there early for your 9 am appointment, you have to wait for an hour to see the doc. He then sends a a prescription to your pharmacy via computer (no more paper prescriptions) and then you have to wait hours for them to get around to filling it. Don't you wish that, just once, you could bill them for YOUR time at the same rates these folks charge?

"Gun Control ad nauseum. With all the babble about "gun control" coming from the current administration, I haven't heard a single politician say how they are going to take guns from criminals, just law abiding, honest citizens. Since they think of themselves as the aristocracy they want to keep the means to resist them out of the hands of the common folk. While they realize that private arms can be used against criminals (perhaps I repeat myself), they could also be used against tax men, corrupt police, and most shockingly their bureaucracy. They won't tolerate that. Of course they will never give up their arms, nor their armed body guards and security staffs.

No comment necessary. Smart cars. Smart phones. Smart TVs. When will they start making smart people?

Retribution. Let's see now. Islamic terrorists kill Russian citizens and Russia bombs them. Islamic terrorists kill French citizens and France bombs them. Islamic terrorists kill American citizens and our government's response is to try and take firearms away from American citizens. IDIOTS!

Ugly rifles. What's going on with firearms manufacturers? The latest crop of synthetic stocked bolt action rifles are positively ugly with their "designer" stocks having all kinds of convoluted sculpturing, thick plastic trigger guards, and the like. Ditto with inexpensive .22 rifles.

Can someone explain the logic of the liberals? When some nut case kills a bunch of people they want to make it harder or impossible for honest folks to obtain firearms for their protection (but of course their bodyguards are always exempt), and when someone suggests arming more good folks to resist the bad guys the liberals have a major hissy-fit and grow weak kneed and light headed. One idiot told me that fighting back would either be racist or would violate the attacker's civil rights! WTF? When I asked "what about the rights of the victim(s) he could only blubber and say "only the police should have guns." Are these people living in the same world as the rest of us?

Thanksgiving Day. Not many people these days think of Thanksgiving Day as something other than a time to get together and stuff their faces to bloating, and to spend money on mega-sales in stores. It was originally a religious holiday, a time to thank God for his blessings and bountiful gifts during the past year, but these days thinking about God is not politically correct. It is at this time, on Thanksgiving Day, that we, both privately and as a nation, should gather together with family and friends, and as the Pilgrims did, and give thanks to God for all His blessings; the wonderful, good, and bountiful things we have experienced in the past year—for our rich land, our families and friends, and all our “stuff.” We need to remember that blessings can come in many forms besides prosperity. Friends who stand by us in tough times, prayers from others, an inspiring passage of scripture, a smile from a stranger, a sermon, or even that “still, small voice.” Have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving Day.

Idiocy. I'm sorry for all those killed in the Paris terrorist attacks. However, what do you expect when you open your borders to thousands and thousands of people who refuse to assimilate, form their own enclaves where the local police are afraid to go, and believe that you and your culture are associated with Satan. Can I get a "DUH!" here folks? Coming to a country near you. Of course the powers that be try to blame these atrocities on white, racist, gun owning Christians, and want to even further erode your unalienable right to bear arms, all while ass-kissing the followers of the "religion of peace."

Human Rights. Everyone talks about them, but no one seems to understand what the term means, and no one EVER talks about RESPONSIBILITIES.

The fundamental problem with human rights is that there is no such thing as a human right. By definition, a right is something that is not only self-evident, but impossible to remove. Few, if any, of the human rights cited by lawyers meet that definition. Regardless, it is self-evident that rights come with responsibilities, yet the vast majority of the population demands the former without the latter. Such a system cannot survive for long. Note that no one has a "right" to stuff or status that they didn't work for, especially at the expense of those who work. You don't have a right to free phones, medical treatments, housing, TVs, jewelry, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but you are NOT entitled to them. See the unalienable rights in the US Bill of Rights for a good definition.

There's no hope for humanity! It use to be that you cleaned up your yard after your dog left his deposits. Now there's a service that will come out and clean up your dog's bombs in your yard on a weekly basis for "only" $50 a month. How civilization has fallen! What's next, a service that raises your kids? (Oh wait! A lot of folks think that's what schools are for.)

Useless email graphics. The big thing nowadays is to load your email's signature block with all kinds of cute graphics that do nothing but take up hard drive space in the recipient's email "attachments" directory. Just removed almost 500 MB of junk signature graphics from a friends PC. I wish there was a way to auto delete graphics in signatures.

Lets see now. The wack job that shot the two reporters live and on camera was an avowed homosexual activist and among other things found in his apartment was the rainbow "Gay" hate flag. Based on his behavior it is obviously that homosexual activists are violent, racist, bigoted, heterophobics and their "rainbow" symbols of hate should be banned in all forms. In addition, all LGBT organizations and their supporters need to be investigated, prosecuted for hate crimes, and shut down. It's only fair that they should receive the same treatment as conservative organizations are getting. Hmmmm? Of course the rabid liberals are calling for more gun controls, "background and mental health" checks while ignoring the fact that the perp was on the radar as a whack job but no one did anything about him. If only one person on the scene was armed. Oh wait! Only one person was.

...and the recent event in Oregon. While billed as another "school mass shooting" it was apparently a fight between some students. While the usual and cry for more "gun control" started, what is not reported it that it was another "gun free" zone and the school had recently voted down having armed campus police and allowing CCW holders to carry. If only one person on the scene was armed .... Sigh!

Ain't like it used to be. One thing I noticed on a recent air flight was that there is very little interaction between passengers nowadays as they all have their heads in their I-pads and smart phones. I did watch one woman in an airport walk into a post while texting and walking. She gave herself a bloody nose. (Chuckle, chuckle!) The lack of attire on young ladies in the airports provided random entertainment while a large number of males looked like they were washing their cars.

Further ridiculous stupidity. Now some jerk is claiming that the black & white POW/MIA flag is racist. So now the colors black and white must be banned as racist. I'd make a further comment but the language would be unsuitable for public use (and probably be considered racist too.)

By now most conservatives realize that leftists are not interested in debate nor the facts. Leftists are not open to having their opinions challenged or changed by a clear and convincing presentation of fact, because their views are rooted in their agenda and their agenda is the only thing that interests them. Their agenda is to grind people like us into the dirt. They'll play the debate game when it suits them, but when circumstances are favorable they'll drop the pretense of mutual respect and use force. When they bather that they will do so, "Eff Yoo" is an appropriate response. It clarifies the situation and saves a lot of misdirected effort.

Well ... DUH! Went out to breakfast and was annoyed by 2 women pissing and moaning about how their healthcare insurance costs have gone way up, and how the government should do something. When they finally left I noticed that they drove off in a new BMW with an obama sticker on the bumper.

The unarmed Military. Good grief what is more stupid than unarmed military personnel and the "be afraid of guns" mentality currently being pushed by the government on the military. At the least, ANY NCO or higher who has qualified should be mandated to be armed any time they are in uniform. The current crop of appointed PC upper officers are more concerned that there might be a negligent discharge that about soldiers being killed. At least some right thinking state governors are letting their on duty National Guard members to be armed while in uniform. Now we hear that a Marine who was armed with a personal weapon during the recent recruiting office incident and who may have saved lives is going to be charged by the military courts.

Speaking of the Confederate battle flag, and those a-holes who are trying to remove the flags and headstones from Confederate grave sites ...

Confederate soldiers ,sailors, and Marines that fought in the Civil war were made U.S. Veterans by an act of Congress in in 1957, U.S. Public Law 85-425, Sec 410, Approved 23 May, 1958. This made all Confederate Army/ Navy/ Marine Veterans equal to U.S. Veterans. Additionally, under U.S. Public Law 810, Approved by the 17th Congress on 26 Feb 1929 the War Department was directed to erect headstones and recognize Confederate grave sites as U.S. War dead grave sites. Just for the record the last Confederate veteran died in 1958.

So, in essence, when you remove a Confederate statue, monument or headstone, you are in fact, removing a statue, monument or head stone of a U.S. VETERAN.

The "Look! A squirrel" phenomena. To distract folks from the really serious issues around us the media makes hyperhype over things like the Confederate battle flag, a business refusing to do business with someone, and other really trivial things--and the people fall for it. IDIOTS!

We're a free country and in the United states you are free to live as you wish; unless you are white, straight, conservative, a Christian, a gun owner, a southerner, or question or criticize the government. The idiots are now running the asylum.

Wake up people. There are all sorts of laws on the books, yet the a-holes in Washington routinely violate or ignore them and thumb their noses at anyone who tries to call them on it, to the point of using the FoFD (Forces of Fancy Dress) to persecute their critics -- and the general population doesn't care about these travesties.

Apparently starting in 2016 the drivers licenses from AZ and several other states will no longer be accepted a valid ID when flying between states (requiring you to have a passport to fly if you are from these states), because these licenses do not conform to the "real ID" specifications issued by the federal government. Yet there seems to be no problem issuing "real ID" (fake ID) licenses to illegal aliens with fake social security numbers and no proof of citizenship. Thus the claim that it is for safety is a joke. It's about control folks! There has even been some talk about requiring "papers" for all interstate travel in the future. "Und vy are your papers not in order comrade?" Apparently, for the convenience of AZ residents who fly AZ will issue a compliant ID for $15. Two years ago I was flying back to AZ from nj and was repeatedly ask by a TSA pre-screener why I was going to Arizona - all the time he was holding my AZ drivers license. I kept telling him to look at the license. After he started getting very nasty I simply told him "to get out of your damn state." It's time folks.

Out of control. Someone asked me why no one has called nobummer and his associates on his illegal use of the limited powers of his office, his executive orders used to circumvent the congress and the law of the land, and his other unconstitutional actions, and removed him from from office and prosecuted him. Two reasons. First, everyone in the government, on both sides, see themselves as superior to the rest of the citizens (peons) and they consider themselves to be the ruling class with privileges while the rest of the people have to serve them. They no longer are bound to serve the people or the country. Second, is the general apathy of most people in this country, who as long as they have their "free benifits," their TV, and their cell phones don't care about freedom. This is getting scary folks!

Wimpy handshakes. What's with this limp wristed, effeminate handshake that a lot of men seem to give these day? A handshake between men is supposed to be a full contact, firm grasp, with a brisk shake, but more and more I get something akin to a warm, dead fish with the finger tips that makes me want to go and wash my hand. The wussification of men is well under way. Sheese.

"Coming out." Just because you've decided you're gay does not mean it's a national news event. The current rash of celebrities who have been touted and celebrated in the media as "heroes" because they announced they are gay is ridiculous. They get more coverage than real heroes, and national events. I don't care if you like having sex with your tomato plants on rainy days. What you do in the privacy of your own home is your business. There no need to make a media circus about it unless you really aren't that comfortable with what you are doing and are seeking support and recognition to assuage your doubts. (Hmmmm?) Have you noticed that when some celebrity announces they are a Christian, or a conservative they get ZERO or negative coverage.

Think about this. Has anyone asked the question, "How could so many people across the country spend so much time at night marching, rioting and looting, if they had to get up and go to work the next morning?"

Judging others. We are told by the administration not to condemn the followers of Islam based on the actions of a few nuts, but it is alright to condemn all gun owners based on the actions of a few nuts.

"It's not fair" - spoken with a whiny tone. The next person I hear whine "it's not fair" is liable to receive an injury. Life is not fair! Fair is where you go to get cotton candy and ride the Ferris wheel. Get over it, get off your butt, and stop expecting everyone to make your life easy. I don't recall anyone crying about fairness when I was growing up. If you won, you were the winner. Every one else lost. Now, every child is supposed to receive a " participation trophy," since we can't damage their fragile egos. The way I see it, if you have no losers, you have no winners. As Coach Lombardi once so wisely said, " Second place is the first loser. " I suppose that sentiment like that is out of place in this "enlightened" age, but I wholeheartedly agree with the idea. It's short, simple, and easy to understand. If competition (even if it's just with yourself ) isn't important, then why is it called the human "race? "

Dangerous diseases. So I asked my Doctor, "Doctor, what are we going to do about this dangerous virus from Africa?" And he said, "I don't know, he has two more years in office." Nuff said.

The Ferguson, MO mess. Even though the evidence shows that the officer acted properly, radical black leaders are offering rewards of several thousand dollars for anyone who locates the officer and his family, and have stated that until white people are afraid that there will be no positive change. They have even intimated that the officer should be killed. If a white person made such comments they would be immediately arrested and charged with "making terrorist threats," "threatening a member of law enforcement," and "inciting to riot," and thrown in jail. Don't hold your breath folks. If this situation "goes loud" it isn't going to be pretty.

Education? Common Core??? More like common stupidity. Current education programs teach students more about their rights than about their responsibilities or about vital living skills. We are graduating children from high schools who can't even perform common life skills like budgeting their money, balancing a check book, making change, and who barely know anything outside of their little circle. History? Nah. Civics? Nah. Geography? Nah. The Constitution? Irrelevant. Reading and comprehension skills? Nah. Work ethic? Nah. Useful skills? Nah. Literacy? Nah. Now there are exceptions, but those kids succeeded in spite of common core and most likely would succeed at anything they applied themselves to. Don't get me started on lazy, uninvolved parents who think that schools are supposed to raise their kids and who attack the teacher when little Johnny or Susie gets an "F" because they didn't do any work and failed every test.

Greek yogurt. When I was growing up yogurt was a quite thick substance. When the "lite" craze descended upon the world yogurt thinned out considerably (less yogurt for the same price). Now, once again thick yogurt reappears as "Greek Yogurt" and "full of more of the benefits of yogurt" (for a higher price). We've come full circle once again and the masses think it's something new and wonderful. I think "classic yogurt" would have been a better name.

Changing lanes without signaling. Changing lanes without signaling can get you an expensive ticket in most states, and it is simply rude as well as unsafe - especially when done in front of a tractor trailer traveling at speed. Even worse are the folks who put their signal on after they are half way into your lane (usually at less than a car length in front of you). The really bad ones are the ones behind you who decide to pass you after you have put on your turn signal and started to change lanes.

Google. Google is out of control. I recently received a complaint from a vendor that I recommended on my website. The recommendation was a short positive review and their URL. Apparently they also pay Google to artificially raise their standing on search engines and Google is whining that I have an "unnatural link" on my website and that I am hurting their ranking by giving them a positive review. This is nuts! Now only Google can list someone's URL? THAT'S unnatural.

Good grief! A dangerous communicable disease with a high mortality rate breaks out in an African country, and our government refuses to prohibit anyone who's been in that area entrance to the United States, nor to quarantine them for the incubation period.. Why? Is that considered to be evil "profiling." Has our government totally lost common sense. (No need to answer that.) We need to bar anyone with a passport that says they've been in "in the zone" since the first case, until 30 days or more have passed from the day they left. If they don't like it that's TS. However, finally someone has grow a (small) pair and several airports have started a simple screening process for ebola on flights arriving from overseas. Probably too little, too late.

Liberal hypocrites. I know a couple who are screaming liberals and Al Gore disciples. Between them they own 4 homes, two of which they rent and they alternate between the other two. While they scream how evil conservatives are causing global warming, all of their houses are poorly insulated, they run AC and heat basically 24/7, they let their cars idle for hours, and they waste food. They complain that we should give stuff to the poor and tax people more yet they whine about their taxes and how much medical insurance costs them. They drive gas hog vehicles. They refuse to prepare for disasters and power failures and then whine how they lost all the food in the refrigerator. Having a small generator is too dangerous to consider because of the gasoline issue, and of course they are antigun. Sheese!.

"The experts say ...." I'm getting tired of the liberal news media saying, "The experts say ...." when they try to justify their view point. What expert? What's his name? What are his credentials? Has his opinion been through peer review? Silence. Yet when the conservative bring out actual vetted experts their opinions are laughed at or ignored.

We're so safe. Why is it that anytime a Muslim lunatic kills people while screaming "Allah Akbar" it is anything but a terrorist incident. Maybe workplace violence, a deranged conservative gun owner, or even George Bush's fault, but it's never a "terrorist attack." Yet the government wants to imposes more and more restrictions on the rights of our citizenry in the name of "stopping terrorism." What will it take for the government to grow a set and admit what things are? The nuking of Chicago or DC? Same with crime.. If a white shoots a black it is immediately a "racist" issue, but if a black shoots a black or a white it becomes a non-issue.

Here's a crappy one. Cat litter boxes. For a long time we had one of the "sifting" litter boxes for our furpeople. It was just a stack of simple pans, 22 x 16 x 5, with one of the pans perforated to sift the litter. Cost about $12. Simple and it worked. When our "last" furperson died we tossed the litter box because it was cracked and we didn't expect to be hired by a cat for a while. (Ha!) Our newest furpersons are a big cats. Do you think we can find a large, simple, sifting litter box for them? Everything now is either electrified, disposable, fancy brand name, or way too small (most about 18 x 12 x 5), not to mention costing $25 up to almost $200! Has the world gone nuts? Our first new furperson was using a small litter box from my shop that I use to use for separating tumbling media from cases and he had to work to fit into it and was giving me dirty looks. I finally found some large pans that he actually could fit into but had to perforate one myself to make a sifter.

Drive through mail drop off. Many post offices these days have a drive through lane so letters can be just dropped into a mailbox without getting out of one's car. You would think that folks would have their letters in a bunch so they could, drive up, drop off, and drive on. Yet every time I have used the drop off lane almost everyone in front of me fumbles around for a couple of minutes getting their letters together and then because they are so far from the mailbox that they have to open their car doors to reach the mail chute. Grrrrr!

Wood. What is with the crap lumber being sold today? I needed 6, 8 foot 1 x 3s for a project. Nothing special, just some straight boards to build a frame. Went to the local Home Depot and had to go through two big bundles, under the watchful annoyed stare of an employee, to find 8 boards that didn't look like a screw thread and were of equal width. Every one did have some warp in some direction but I could make do. Came home and cut them into 4 foot sections for the project. Two of the pieces developed splits as soon as they were cut in half and one board twisted 30 degrees as it was cut--totally unusable. I wound up splitting some old 2 x 4s I had to make usable 1 x 3s. Sheese!

Just read that the Department of Agriculture has a request out for a load of .40 S&W caliber submachine guns (with those evil 30 rd magazines!) The Department of Agriculture? WTF? Are they preparing for the attack of the killer tomatoes, those evil Halloween killer pumpkins, or are they going after those dangerous domestic terrorist gardeners who sell their produce to their neighbors? The federal government is totally out of control.

Ridiculously priced "greeting cards." Thinking of sending a card to someone? Anything with a decent sentiment is between $5 and $8 for a folded piece of cardboard and I saw one card for $10.95. Are they out of their minds? While less expensive cards are available they frequently seem to be written by a monkey with a typewriter. In talking with a couple of friends, they all indicated that they no longer send cards for most occasions, and prefer to put the money towards a meaningful and useful gift, which is what my wife and I now do.

The federal restrictions on short barreled rifles and shotguns should be eliminated. It makes no sense. They should be treated as just another firearm. Same with (noise) suppressors.

Noise suppressors, wrongly called "silencers" have long been a staple of movies. They don't "silence" a firearm but rather dramatically reduce the sound of firing (but not the supersonic crack of the bullet.). Here in the US they have been tightly regulated since 1934, even though their criminal misuse has been effectively nonexistent. While they are legal to possess, one has to jump through federal hoops and pay a $200 transfer tax to own one. In Europe and the UK where all kinds of draconian firearms legislation exists, they are consider nothing but an accessory that can be freely purchased without any restriction. Go figure. In the US with anti-gunners trying to close down ranges because of alleged "noise pollution" it makes absolutely no sense to required transfer taxes and registration for them. They should be easily available to any firearms owner, especially for .22 RF arms. Strangely this was proposed a while back but the manufacturers of suppressors worked against it because it would have forced their ridiculous prices lower. It has now been taken up again.

Women in the combat arms. This has got to be one of the dumbest things currently in vogue. Women complain that they "don't get no respect" and then they want to be one of the boys on the front line. What will happen when a woman runs out of meds and has her period far from the nearest drug store in the middle of a firefight? What happens if a woman is captured in combat by an enemy who holds no respect for women and she gets raped. What about the normal sexuality between men and woman? The Navy has found that in spite of of all the regs, separate facilities, and over-watch that a lot of women are turning up pregnant on their ships. What will happen if that woman is on the crew of a ballistic missile sub that goes stealthy for months at a time? The negatives keep piling up but the PC crowd doesn't care - as long as everyone is "equal." Just because some women (maybe a misuse of the term) could handle the combat arms skills and training does not mean that they should be combat personnel. Bad juju here.

Security "signs." I got roped into driving for a second grade class trip for a class my wife was subbing for at her old school. Went to some local "National Monuments" and of course all the federal buildings at them had the obligatory 1' x 1' "Security" signs (they made me feel SO secure) warning that "revolvers" were not allowed inside to protect everyone. What was interesting about the signs was that the picture of the revolver was a cartoon like drawing which reminded me of the revolvers in the animated flick "Roger Rabbit" or a Loony Tunes cartoon. Barely identifiable as a firearm-more like a water pistol. Maybe the likeness of a "real" gun is just too scary for them. (And no, I was not carrying an evil revolver.)

"Non-essential workers? During the recent "government shutdown" we heard sob stories about how various agencies had to furlough "non-essential" workers. WTF? If they are "non-essential," why are they even on the payroll? There's the problem! DUH! Some friends have opined that most of the people in congress and otherwise on the federal payroll are really "non-essential." Works for me.

Tablet PCs. The tablet PCs are all the rage and probably can be very handy. However, what's with the stands and external keyboards that turn them back in a laptop? Also, what's with laptops that have those huge screens that make them so big that you need a desk to use them?

Running out of money. We hear a lot about Social Security running out of money. Why don't we ever hear about welfare running out of money? Working Americans paid their Social Security taxes, but welfare recipients pay no taxes. Odd, isn't it. (Maybe not.) Also, how about some congressional pay cuts or deferrals to help the budget?

The recent "event" at the Washington Naval Base. Anyone notice the fact that on a military base there were no armed military personal to respond. Outside assistance had to be called for which took valuable time. No guns allowed on a military base? Good grief! We have become a nation of wimps.

First, is the lack of civility among people. People treat other with a palpable attitude of contempt most of the time. Please and thank you are seldom heard.

Second is the entitlement attitude--the "gimme attitude." Most folks think that just because they are breathing they can have what they want, RIGHT NOW.

Forth is a lack of consequences for misdeeds. Children do and say what they want and nothing happens. Government officials lie while under oath in congressional investigations (something that would get a mere mortal imprisoned), cheat, and steal in clear violation of the law and nothing happens to them.

Fifth, is our loss of our sense of humor. No one seems to be able to laugh at themselves any more. Everything offends everyone. Say, did you here the joke about the frog going into a bar? Oh never mind, It might upset some poor amphibian.

I feel so much safer now. One of the things I have been looking for are plastic snap-on lids for SPAM cans. I have a huge pile of them for storing nails, screws, and such.. The lids are common in Europe but unavailable here. I queried the SPAM Museum (yes there is actually a museum about SPAM in Austin, MN) and a nice lady replied that they are not allowed to sell SPAM in the US with lids because the FDA "prohibits" storing meat products in the original can, once opened. It simply boggles the mind.

Pay attention now! With the increasing occurrence of attacks on non-blacks by blacks (euphemistically called "polar bear hunting" or "the knockout game" by the lowlife perps, the lessons we need to learn include avoiding urban cesspools to the extent possible; being in condition yellow all the time; being ready to move or fight as needed; and not counting on bystanders to do anything to help. Oh, yeah - one more thing. Blacks are currently being whipped up into a frenzy by the media and politicians continually pointing out that THEY are under attack by white (and "white Hispanic") racists. Of course these so-called "games" are either being ignored or under reported by the media. (Unless an attacker is a white.)

The incompetent POTUS has screwed up the economy to the extent that everyone is hurting and the unemployable, chronically-criminal, underclass more so than most. They have to blame someone and it's "whitey". It is becoming increasingly clear that the chance of encountering black on white violence is higher than ever before. Of course these attacks are for the most part ignored by the politically oriented media. Everyone needs to watch their butt out there. If it quacks like a duck, it IS a duck!

Train hard. Keep your head in the game. Don't let politeness or political correctness dull your edge.

In a recent outrage committed by a person who "looks like Obama" (BHO started that phrase, so I think it's a correct observation), a perp went on a spree of abduction and rape and then got his birth certificate revoked by the cops. Again, be in condition yellow. Do not permit your location to become the secondary crime scene rape/torture room by submitting to being tied up. Be equipped, ready, and willing to fight.

However, I do have a difficult time with scum like this being killed by the police after harming a dozen or so victims.

Amnesty revisited. Amnesty for all the illegal aliens currently in our country? Lessee now. By being here illegally they have broken our laws and are criminals--and the socialists want to grant them amnesty? Hey! Here's a novel thought. How about amnesty for US citizens? We are, after all, an oppressed group. We seem to be picked on and pushed around by every group. Why not equal rights for us? Tax breaks for all taxpaying, law-abiding citizens; restoration of ALL rights for citizens convicted of non-violent crime (maybe even some violent crimes since many illegals have histories of criminal violence); forgiveness of any back taxes owed; and I'm sure you can think of other things. How about if you've been paying into Social Security all your life, you get a break on taxes? Of course this is just wishful thinking on my part. After all, somebody has to foot the bill for the ever-expanding group of welfare sponges and professional victims, right?

(And to put things in perspective do some research and see what happens to you if you are caught entering Mexico illegally.)

The Constitutional separation of church and state. All the liberals get their panties in a wad over this one. But wait! There is NO Constitutional separation of church and state, anywhere in the Constitution. The oft mentioned First Article reads

Do you see he word separation anywhere? No where in the Constitution is the display of religious material, principals, or the observance of a religious holiday on public or government property prohibited. The articles only reference to religion is that the government can't establish an state religion, nor can it prevent people from practicing their religion. To construe that to mean that government should ban all references to religion, especially the Christian faith, and all religious expressions from all "public" places, schools, and the courts, is absolute and utter nonsense!! The erroneous notion of a total "separation" between the two is based upon the assertion that Thomas Jefferson's 1802 private letter to the Danbury Baptist church proclaimed that the Constitution ensured all manner of "separation of church and state"). Whether Jefferson's comment was right or wrong is of no matter. There is NO constitutional separation of church and state. Period! Read the Constitution yourself.

"To those who cite the First Amendment as reason for excluding
God from more and more of our institutions everyday; I say The
First Amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the
people of this country from religious values; it was written to
protect religious values from government tyranny." -- Ronald Reagan

Racism. As far as I can tell the democrates and their administration are the most divisive and racist administration in the history of our country. Since they came into power I have seen more racial hatred towards whites and other non-blacks exhibited by blacks and supported by the administration than ever before, and that in turn is causing more hatred against the blacks by other races. I have seen absolutely ZERO healing taken place since the evil one entered the white house. The recent Zimmerman acquittal and the resulting near hysterical back lash is a case in point. Zimmerman was being viciously beaten by his black attacker, Trayvon, a fact that was even confirmed by some of the prosecution's (persecution's??) witnesses. However, it is apparently OK in the eyes of many for a black to attack or kill a white person. But if the attacker is killed during the attack by his victim that's a big no-no. So much so, that the socialist administration is getting set to re-prosecute Zimmerman on civil rights charges. (NO one cares that Zimmerman's civil rights were violated though.) If Zimmerman had been killed by Martin nobody would have been upset and it would have been a minor news item on page 5. Pure crap. Since the verdict there have been a number of attacks on whites perpetrated by blacks as "revenge." In one case the victim was told "this is for Trayvon" but none of these attacks are being reported as racist attacks. Gee! I wonder why.

Now it appears that an employee of DHS who is involved in the ordering of arms and ammo, has been running a web site calling for a race war and the killing of whites. Couldn't be a racist thing, could it? Nah! This got swept under the rug too!

"Equality." The current obsession with "equality" is getting on my nerves. Except in a political sense people are not equal. Everyone is better or worse than someone else in a particular example of their capacities, and pretending this isn't true is not only truly silly, but immoral. Unfortunately, these days "self-esteem" is more important to most people than self respect. If anyone is better, smarter, or works harder than another then someone else is liable to "feel bad" and we can't have that, can we. Self- respect, like happiness, is a by-product of accomplishment, and accomplishment is available to everyone in some kind of endeavor. However, accomplishment does not come without effort, and the person who refuses to persevere because the struggle is difficult deserves neither achievement nor happiness.

Update 2013-11-25. "Equality" becomes extremely egregious when standards are lowered so that more people can become "equal." If the job requirement is to be able to carry a 100 pound load, 1/2 mile it has to be the same for all comers. If a 5' 5" woman can carry that load as specified, fine and dandy, but to lower the requirement for her to only 50 pounds puts others in possible danger.

Accountability in the government. How can it be when a government department head is called to the table by congress and questioned about their actions they can get away with refusing to answer and no one holds them to contempt charges, whereas a citizen who refuses to answer a government agent risks immediate jail time. Members of the government can openly break law after law, and violate their oath of office, and nothing happens to them. Same thing with hateful speech. Several socialist members of congress and news reporters equated the NRA and its members with terrorist organizations and suggested that they should be "hunted down." This resulted in many threats of harm or death to the officers and members of the NRA. If such a statement or actions were made against the "Southern Poverty Law Center" and its officers or any of the various radical black organizations, those making the statements would be arrested and branded as racists. And of course there are those congress critters like Pelosi and Feinstein who blatantly state that they don't care what the people (their constituents) want and that they will do what THEY want. Hang 'em all, and then feed the hogs.

Bad publicity. Some wacko causes a horrific event and his picture and name are plastered all over the media even if he is already dead. These goblins know that they're most likely going to die, and the majority of them are intentionally planning it that way. They just want to make sure that the world knows their names (and what they see as their fantastic deeds) and the socialist media complies . There are several talk radio host who refuses to ever mention any of their names or display their pictures, either during the initial incidents or afterwards. They simply refer to them as "this worthless piece of garbage", "another pathetic loser" or "a couple of more deranged wanabes." That's all they are, and all they'll ever be. So why the free publicity? No names or pictures of them should ever be mentioned.

On a similar vein. Lately as soon as a report comes in that a shooting has occurred the media automatically states that the firearm is an (evil) AR-15.

Solar Power. APS here in Arizona has been pushing folks to "go solar" for several years. Lots of folks, including us, have put up solar panels and are reaping the benefits. Now APS has announced that because so many people are installing solar they aren't selling as much electricity as they use to so they want to put a stiff surcharge on those folks who are using solar or get a large general rate increase that would negate the advantages of having solar. DUH! Maybe they should just try to eliminate waste within their company. Update, 11/13: They did not get their wish.

Reasonable Gun Laws? What a crock! Not a single law will ever stop bad people from doing bad things yet "there has to be a law" that does nothing but punish good people. Here's my list of "reasonable" gun laws laws. First, nullify ALL firearms laws on the books, everywhere - local, state, and federal. Then ...

An armed and trained citizenry, being necessary to the security of a free people and a free state, the right of citizens either individually or corporately, to acquire, keep, bear, train with, transport, and use arms, ammunition, and their accouterments, shall not be infringed upon, limited, restricted, licensed, nor taxed, in any way and the provisioning of arms and ammunition shall be encouraged among the citizens of our country. All previous national, state, or local firearms regulations are hereby null and void. The following are the only permitted regulations and apply nationally.

Here's hypocrisy for you. On the news last night was a blurb about how the BATF is ramping up the anti-straw man purchase campaign again to protect us from second party sales. Of course, completely missing from the news report was the fact that the largest straw man purchase in history was recently done by agents of the BATF themselves while buying guns for the Mexican drug lords via the "Fast and Furious" program-- which has been effectively been buried from sight. Also the reporter claimed that one Phoenix gun dealer was acting responsibly by requiring purchasers who didn't have a CCW to fill out a form 4473. (Which is required for ALL dealer firearms sales--all the time) They don't have a clue what laws are all ready on the books.

More hypocrisy. In New Mexico, a bill was proposed in the House to basically declare any new Fed gun laws as null and void. There was a big conniption fit on the part of the liberals, such as "You can't pick and choose what parts of the law to obey!" Oh? Ok. So y'all will be repealing that "sanctuary city" deal in Santa Fe real soon now? Gonna get your minds right about the law, eh? ...silence...

It isn't about "law", it's about what they want, and they want it right now. Kinda reminds me of bratty 3 year olds.

I am well and truly disgusted by the recent "events" in kalifornistan. Dorner deserved to be apprehended and severely punished and I'm glad he's dead, but look how things went down.

Hyperagitated scared cops irresponsibly fired on two wrong vehicles (major Rule 4 violation) wounding several innocent people and spraying a residential area with stray rounds--using those evil high capacity, bayonet lugged equipped, death dealing assault rifles (the ones they want to ban from private ownership) and shotguns, and where is the hue and cry from the state and federal governments? (I'm sure the injured women will receive a large cash payment but the officers who fired those shots will never suffer for their egregious misbehavior.)

The cops also wanted their families to be able to get guns quickly to "protect themselves" yet ordinary citizens have to jump through hoops and waiting periods in kalifornistan to buy a firearm to protect themselves.

Then once the perp was cornered they apparently, (from the radio chatter) DELIBERATELY used incendiary tear gas rounds to burn down a building and with it the perp, and they joked about it on the radio. It's one thing if the building burned accidentally but to deliberately torch it is another thing. That is not the way our country is supposed to be run. Is there any wonder why the "them vs. us" mentality gap is getting wider and wider and why fewer and fewer people say they really trust the police?

Do you think that any of the officers involved would hesitate to shoot citizens for any cause that seems "reasonable" to them? "Why'd you shoot that guy?" "Oh, he owned guns, was a Christian, was a Tea Party member, look bad, etc." As time goes on I am afraid we are going to see more such things. When I was growing up the cops were our friends. One of the local cops coached the high school rifle team. Cops would stop and talk to people and visit their neighborhoods. They'd stop and give kids a lift if their bike broke. They were our neighbors and friends. Now they are more like an army of occupation.

New police candidates. Now days it seems that the young studs going into LE are there primarily because they get a badge and a gun that they can intimidate folks with, and they ignore their community roots. They use any excuse to bring out the military equipment and parade about in their tacticool gear--look at me I'm a bad ass.

When I was growing up the cops were our friends. They were members of the community who voluntarily took up a tough and potentially dangerous job to protect the community and they realized that they were part of that community. Kids would turn to them for help, and they were there for the community. One of them helped to coach my junior-high school shooting team. They were respected and my home town use to have a yearly police/fire appreciation picnic to thank them.

There are still a lot of good folks maintaining the peace and I fully support them, but I fear that their ranks are dwindling quickly, and that things are looking worse and worse for freedom and rule of law.

Self esteem, revisited. There was a comedian some years ago. whose stage name was Bernie Mac. I'm not sure what his given name was, and it's not that important. He was a member of the comedy troupe "The Original Kings of Comedy " along with Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D.L. Hughley . Bernie Mac once told an audience during a show, " I don't care if you like me. I like me." That works! In this day and age of critically sensitive, horribly damaged egos and professional victims, a simple sentiment like that would do wonders to boost someone's opinion of themselves. That, and just a smile directed at someone who wants to be miserable and seems bound and determined to make you miserable as well does wonders. Of course, you could always throw out the old Chinese phrase, " May you live in interesting times " . It's surprising how few people comprehend that, what with information available at all hours. Maybe it's just that people don't read anymore. They just take what's spoon fed to them by the powers that be. Argh!

The elite and their fear of self reliance or skill at arms by the "peasants." They classify normal behavior as a mental disorder to justify prescribing more drugs, or, in this case, to take away individual rights. One of the great issues of our time appears to be the ability of our opponents to redefine anything to suit. And what beats the hell out of me is how do they get away with it? Where are the media asking them - "Excuse me?

Fine. Two can play this game. I propose we create new terms for the crippling mental illnesses that affect these people. Hoplophobia (fear of weapons) was an inspired creation, but didn't go far enough. These cannot be expressed in one term, so let's go ahead and create a few. How about a term to describe a condition characterized by the presence of two or three, or more, of the following:

9875.32.x Major Development Dysfunctional Disorder - Reality Denial type (MDDD-RD)

The persistent belief that having more money than someone else automatically makes you better, smarter, or more important than the other person.

The persistent belief that magical powers and/or someone else will take care of the problems, real and imagined, in your life, without you having to do anything yourself.

The persistent belief that you are safe from all dangers because someone else is taking care of them.

The persistent belief that there is an endless supply of money that magically appears (from sources other than yourself) to fund all the feel-good programs you can imagine.

Add more diagnosis codes as you like, but you get the idea. I suggest any nomenclature refer to the patient's stunted emotional and logical development, stalled at the childhood belief in the unlimited power of the parent to protect the child from any negative outcomes. I really think I'm on to something here.

I believe in evil. I have seen it first hand. Unfortunately, most people these days won't even admit the existence of evil any longer. Instead, they try to find some way to rationalize the evil that is done--frequently blaming an object rather than the perpetrator. After all, we can't be judgmental, can we.

Believing in evil, I came to the conclusion that evil cannot..., MUST NOT..., be condoned or rationalized. Evil must be acknowledged and evil MUST BE CONFRONTED.

Sometimes good doesn't win. I accept that. That changes nothing. You must stand, even with the risk that you may not be around to see evil defeated. And that is why I have followed the path that I have with my life. We MUST stand against evil. Nothing else is acceptable, and to capitulate is shameful. I have the skills to confront evil, I have the desire, and I have done so. I hope I still have the courage should the time come again. In any case, nothing else is acceptable.

The school shooting in Connecticut. While it is a tragedy, stop and think. Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Third time is enemy action. Just in time for the upcoming socialist's push to ban all semi-autos and the push UN gun control in the US, we have a horrific shooting in a school with young children killed apparently by a parent. (Huh? I thought you can't have guns in schools.) Of course the shooter used those evil hicap, semiautomatic, assault, sniper, death dealing, plastic handguns and who knows what else while wearing "military" clothing. While I hope it isn't the case, do you really think that some people in the government wouldn't stoop to instigating something as evil as this to get more restrictions passed? Of course the media and even some officials are already distorting relevant facts like the shooters "evil assault rifle" was found in his car in a clean, never fired condition--yet the politically appointed medical examiner is proclaiming that everyone was killed by multiple shots (those awful hi-cap mags you know) of 5.56 mm ammunition. There has been so much conflicting information from "reliable, official sources" it boggles the mind. Huh! But the media would never lie to us. Right? Estimates are that the sociopathic killer in Newtown broke 20 existing gun laws, including entering a "gun-free zone" with a gun. Murder is also against the law no matter the weapon. And what do the socialists want to do? Why pass more laws. I did some research and I cannot find a single mass school shooting in the US prior to 1994, when this bill was passed. For the purposes of this discussion, I will define a "mass school shooting" as one in which three or more people were killed. I have found 14 such incidents in the United States between 1997 and the Newtown, CT, incident of yesterday. That is an average of one incident every two years. ALL OF THESE OCCURRED AFTER THE ENACTMENT OF THE GUN FREE SCHOOLS ACT OF 1994! Let me emphasize that—every mass school shooting in the US occurred AFTER it became illegal to possess a gun on school grounds

If only one person in that school had been armed .... Oh wait! There was only one person armed in the school.

Time to start laying the blame where it belongs. 1) The lawmakers who created gun free school zones and prohibited good citizens carrying arms in them; 2) The shooter; and 3) The ineffective mental health system that refuses to act when problems are brought to their attention.

All the "gun free ZONE" crap does is to tell evil people that there will
be no resistance to their deeds where these signs are displayed.

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things
worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." -- Cesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishment

As an interesting point consider that with just one single exception, the attack on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson in 2011, every public shooting since at least 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns, and "no gun" warnings are displayed.

"Snowbirds" Here in Arizona we have a seasonal phenomena called "snowbirds." These are folks who come here in their RVs and cars for the winter. On the whole we find them to be arrogant, rude, demanding, and disrespectful, not to mention most are terrible and rude drivers. Most are totally freaked out if they see anyone "packing." For some reason the women are the worst and treat locals terribly. We like the money they bring to our economy, but otherwise can't stand them. Why can't they just act civilized? The next one I hear say "please" or "thank you" will be he first. As one old timer said, "It's tourist season. What's the current bag limit on snowbirds?"

Happy Holidays? Season's Greetings? No buddy, this is the C H R I S T M A S Season. It is a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ that has been celebrated around the world for over 1650 years (starting some time between 354 and 376 AD.) If you can say Happy New Year or Happy Thanksgiving, or Happy Hanukah, you can say Merry Christmas. I have Jewish, Hindu, Daoist, and Buddhist friends and they not only wish me a Merry Christmas, they are not offended when I wish them the same, or when I acknowledge their special days or celebrations. My current response to those who refuse to accept a "Merry Christmas" greeting is to tell them to have a miserable holiday.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all you good people of whatever faith.
May the joys and blessings of this season be upon you and your families

And what about Independence Day? The proper name is I N D E P E N D E N C E D A Y, and not the "4th of July" which is the fixed date of observance.

Of course it wouldn't be politically correct to remember that we fought for our independence from another country's oppression, or that we should have pride in what we accomplished. Maybe those in the socialist politicians who think they are our betters are worried about "round 2" happening.

With all due respect ,what we celebrate on this day is NOT independence. In point of fact, it's revolution. The Declaration was a statement to the government, in that time and place -- the king -- that his subjects would not comply, nothing more, nothing less. It did not make our ancestors free or independent. They did that themselves with blood and fire and a good many of them gave their lives in the process. They had asked politely to be left alone, they had complied with the "law" to the limits of integrity, honor and self-respect and they were answered with force. If that all sounds a tad familiar perhaps we should spend a few quiet minutes today asking ourselves some very uncomfortable questions.

If it only saves one child.... Some child is injured or worse, killed by a negligent firearms discharge and the liberals bleat "we need to ban guns... if it only saves one child." I have a better idea, how about teaching a simple course in firearms safety in the school system? While I think it should be mandatory, it could be an elective, but we teach kids to be safe around the home, cars, fire, sex, and drugs so why not firearms. A friend of mine suggested such a course to a blithering liberal soccer mom who was whining about some neighbor's child who was injured by a pellet gun. When he said "if it only saves one child ..." she was reduced standing there stammering. Her mind went blank. She just could not understand educating children how to act to be safely and responsibly around firearms.

Threats of violence. Seems that certain groups liberal/socialist supporters are threatening to riot and have blood run in the streets if they don't get their way. Why is it that they can make such "terroristic threats" and nothing happens? However, if some conservative white person says something like "bring it on" or "looters will be shot" on TV he'd probably get arrested for "inciting to riot." If they loot it's because they are looking for food, but if a someone is prepared he's a selfish whack job domestic terrorist. (See post below about looters.). I have also noted that now that the ignorant masses sucking the government teat tilted the election to the socialists that they are now threatening to "go after" those who voted in opposition.

"Disasters." While I'm sorry for the losses on the east coast, and especially in New Jersey, I'm really confused. Those folks knew hurricane Sandy was coming for what, a week, and most people did nothing to get really prepare until it was too late. In California, with more morons per capita than anywhere, and where "the Big One (earthquake)" will hit without notice; they tell everyone to keep a MINIMUM of three days of supplies because it will take at least three days for relief to get to them. Now I'm sure that when the Big One hits, just like New Jersey, there will be millions of non-prepared sheeple wandering around looting or crying for the CNN cameras about where is FEMA and government assistance? I'm just really tired of the "poor, poor, pitiful me" song and dance by the unprepared. If you build next to the ocean or, below sea level (as in the case of Katrina) you should expect to get wet at some point. Same principle with building on a major fault zone.

Looters - My stepson lives in New Jersey and is recovering from hurricane Sandy. He reports that there have been armed looters in his neighborhood--which was not damaged--and that shots have been fired. Far as I am concerned, looters are right up there with child and animal abusers and should be considered "freebies" by the authorities and any citizen should be able to shoot or hang them on sight with no legal repercussions.

Some people just don't have a clue. A friend in New Jersey who made it through hurricane Sandy OK thanks to some forethought and planning reports that a women neighbor was aghast at the destruction and was wailing, "How could the government let this happen?" (Can't blame it on the government.)

Preppers on TV? What kind of an idiot would broadcast on TV that he's a "prepper" and show off his location, supplies, and equipment, and discuss his plans? They're simply hanging out a "Here's the goodies. Come and get them." sign for looters. I understand that one of the TV preppers was in fact targeted and robbed shortly after bragging on the air. IDIOTS! The nail that sticks up usually gets hammered.

Zombies? Ok folks, we've had some fun with the zombie craze but it's getting really old now. Of course companies are making money hand over fist with this craze, but the next person who tries to sell me zombie hunting equipment is liable to become one. Besides, we already have a clutch of real zombies--in Washington--to worry about. Now I'm not a tin-foil hat type, but I recently read an op-ed on the zombie craze. The author opined that one thing he had noticed was that the zombie craze tended to desensitize people to gruesome violence and mayhem, as well as the "rounding up" of certain classes of people by the authorities. Just a coincidence? Nothing to see here. Move on, move on.

Folks who borrow things. Don't you just hate folks who borrow something from you and then return it broken, dirty, or dull. (We won't even discuss folks who have to be asked to return what they borrowed.) A friend of mine loaned a very expensive piece of reloading equipment to a "friend" and got it back badly damage with no apology or offer to pay for repairs. To say he was "upset" is to put it mildly. One of the things I always do when I have to borrow a tool or anything else, is to return it in better shape than I received it. I sharpen the blades, clean and lubricate the item, and ensure all screws are tight and that all the parts I received go back with it, and fill the gas tank. I have even gone so far as to replace a broken part that was broken when I borrowed the tool. I have a couple of friends who will not loan anything to anyone but me because they know I take care of things.

The recent movie theater shooting in Aurora, CO. Lots of unanswered questions about the perpetrator and where an unemployed person got the money for (reportedly between $10,000-and $20,000 worth) of equipment that he had. (And of course all the misrepresentations by the media from "machine guns" to "body armor.") However, the big unreported item was that the theater was posted "No Guns Allowed." YUP! Another "kill us zone." If one or more patrons had been armed the outcome would have been a lot different and much shorter. Of course the socialist media and politicians are blaming those evil guns for causing the problem. One "mediot" claimed that if someone else had had a gun there that there would have been a gunfight. How horrible! [As a follow up there were apparently a couple of CCW holders in the theater who had dutifully left their pistols in their car. At least one was shot.]

On the other side of the scale is the issue of just how much responsibility do YOU have for saving others. Because of the liberal court system in many places a CCW holder or other honest citizen who responds to such an attack is likely to be arrested, charged, and treated worse than the perpetrator. While some folks claim that you have a "duty" to help I've never seen one of them mortgage their house or give up their savings to help defend someone who gets prosecuted (persecuted??) for shooting a bad guy to save others. Most of the folks I associate with state that they will act to save themselves, their family, and those who may be with them, and possibly an innocent child. But they stop there, saying that they'll be glad to be a good witness, but that others need to take the responsibility for their own safety. I agree.

Hyper sensitivity. For some reason I am seeing more and more people who are REALLY over sensitive to real or imagined criticism or comments. Things that use to be ignored or shrugged off now get some people so upset that they can barely function and they whine and complain, and expect someone else fix the "issue" and make them feel better rather than dealing with life.

Racism? Why is it if a white person says something derogatory about, or defends himself from an attack by a black or latino it is immediately a "racial/bigotry issue" demanding national attention.. However, if a black or a latino says something derogatory about whites, injures or kills a white person in the commission of a crime it seldom even makes the news. If non-minorities do anything or say anything the liberal establishment doesn't like it becomes a race issue. Yet one jerk black hollyweird actor went on record saying that if you don't vote for the current "idiot-in-chief" you are a racist and several black "leaders" have called for an armed uprising should "incumbent" loose. Seems like only whites can ever be racist. I find it interesting that in the FBI uniform crime report that Hispanics are lumped in as "Caucasians" if they are a criminals but listed as "Hispanic" if they are a victim. No massaging the data here. Nah.

WTF? I was channel surfing I happened to land on a program called "After Armageddon" which purported to be a look at how things would be after TSHTF. Among the various "experts" was one imperious looking and sounding woman who declared, "Adults will have to look after their children as well as themselves and that will cause additional stress." Huh, as in, before the government was taking care of the kids for them????

Charitable organization. Most of these really get me. They have highly paid staffs and high overhead and only a small percentage of what you give actually gets to those in need. In addition, many of them contribute part of your donation to liberal/socialist organizations behind your back. Before you are pressured into contributing to any of the national "charity" organizations spend some time to find out where your money really goes. The Salvation Army gets a big THUMBS UP for their work.

"Social Networks." What is with folks who have the need to post everything they do and think and buy on the various social networking services like Facebook and Twitter. Do they really think that they are so important that the world needs know every time they sneeze and does anyone really care about the inane comments that others post. It's gotta be related to the "It's about me" generation. (By the way divorce lawyers and prosecutors have a field day with Facebook pages.)

But I'm entitled to.... You owe me ....Wrong! You aren't entitled to anything but the air you breath, to be left alone, and to pursue your happiness (not to be happy). Neither I, nor anyone else, owes you anything other than to leave you alone. Since the dawn of mankind individuals have had to work (and usually work hard) to obtain food, shelter, whatever luxuries they desired, and to provide for their families. If they didn't work at it, they died. Just how did the concept that you should be able to live off the efforts and possible generosity of others, just because you are lazy, or to be given a position in which you have no competence or skill, ever get stated? I'm liable to hurt the next idiot who tells me that I or society "owes him." I worked hard, managed my money, and sometimes struggled, for what I have today. You need to, too. I will not (and do not have to) live my life just to make your life easier, nor will I expect you to do the same for me. (To paraphrase Ayn Rand)

And the "I don't get no respect" bleat. You don't automatically get respect. Respect, it is something you earn, through your integrity, your abilities, and hard hard work.

The current political situation. I think the real problem theses days are a combination of ...

While we may be able to slow the slide into the sewer by showing some care in who we elect, unless the current situation suffers a drastic change by either purge or a natural disaster, I don't see the US, as a bastion of freedom-or anything else, lasting very much longer. While we can hope I'm worried from watching the news lately that it seems the clutch of RHINOs is more worried about discrediting their opponents in their own party that in getting the socialist-in-chief out of office and setting our country back on its true course.

Is it just coincidence or what? While there are a lot of rude obnoxious people out there, it seems that within the last couple of months that folks with pro-Biden stickers on their cars are now at the top of the ROJ (Rude, Obnoxious, Jerks) list. Why would that be? (Big grin.)

"Opting out." We have recently started receiving a lot of mail about opting out of various vendor's "information sharing" programs. I want to know why they automatically opt you in, without your permission and then make you jump through hoops to protect your privacy. Kinda backwards in my opinion.

Ethanol in gasoline. Argh! What were the idiots thinking when they came up with this scheme--converting food products into a gasoline additive? Adding ethanol to gasoline (usually in a 10% ratio) lowers the energy content of the gas giving lower mileage, and corrodes the fuel system. It is not permitted in gasoline used for aviation purposes. (I wonder why.) It is particularly nasty to small engines like lawn mowers, chain saws, and generators and manufacturers of these items warn against using ethanoled gas. A local small engine repair place reports that over 80 percent of his business is due to ethanol damage. The problem is that pure gas, while available, is often very hard to find. And now our wanna-be political masters are talking about raising the ethanol levels to 15% across the board. Maybe they should be soaked in ethanol (and lit).

Consider this. 1) It requires 1 1/2 gallons of fossil fuel to generate 1 gallon of ethanol. 2) Ethanol is hydrophilic (absorbs water ) . So, it can't be transported by pipelines, since they carry water & other impurities. Ethanol must be transported by truck. We burn fuel to move fuel. WTF? 3) Ethanol is an oxygenate. It allows the fuel it is mixed with to burn more oxygen. However, that also means that the engine will run at a higher temperature. So, unless your engine is constructed to run at higher temps, it will literally " burn up " faster due to more wear at those conditions. The ethanol lobby doesn't want those facts to get out, but all it takes is a few minutes online, a decent search engine, and a little patience.

The militarization of police departments. These days some police units look like they are combat troops in Afghanistan, loaded up with all the cool toys from APCs to .50 cal rifles and everything in between. Full SWAT teams are called out on the flimsiest of excuses to dynamically "take control of a situation." Doors are smashed in using tracked vehicles, and teams of up to a dozen heavily armed police proceed to "take control" of whoever is present. While there are certainly numerous situations where overwhelming force MIGHT be needed, such as situations involving known violent groups as drug labs, more and more these teams are being used for non-violent targets and offenses just to intimidate the public. I was braggingly told by a metropolitan SWAT team member that in his opinion they deliberately overdid their responses about 90% of the time just because they wanted to show the bean counters that they needed all the firepower and to intimidate the "civilians." As far as he was concerned if you were targeted for a raid, you were going down whether or not you had done anything wrong and that they'd ensure you did something wrong and that it would get news coverage. He even admitted that planting "evidence" was a common thing, especially when no criminal activity was discovered or "leaking" detrimental and untrue statements about the person raided to local news papers. What's wrong with this picture?

And in a similar vein, why is it that the police (and for that matter government agents and agencies) are held to a different standard of conduct than other civilians? (Yes, police are civilians.) If they wrongfully raid a house, kill or injure innocents (whether accidentally or deliberately), threaten citizens, get caught planting "evidence," or act in a manor that endangers others for no reason, the chances are that there will be no, or only minor, consequences and the whole affair will be covered up and hopefully forgotten. Police are citizens like the rest of us, but who have made the career choice to protect and serve the public, and they should be held to very high standards. Just because you carry a badge and a gun does not make you superior to the rest of the people in the community nor give you a right to abuse your position. You are NOT the master.

Let's see if I get this straight. US troops in Arab places cannot: fart (the latest regulation); swear; drink; have a bible or religious symbol visible; talk about women, booze, or sex; Chaplains (excuse me , moral officers) cannot display the symbols of their faith; and I wouldn't be surprised if there was no pork or bacon on the menu. We don't want to offend them now, do we? However, our soldiers can be shot, maimed, or killed, and our gubermint pours billions into their countries and pays them record amounts for their oil. What am I missing here?

The "news" media (again). What is it these days with the news? Everything is a "catastrophe,'' "a terrible disaster," "crisis," "cataclysm," "dire, "global pandemic" or "unprecedented disaster," complete with teary expressions and the wringing of hands in hopelessness. I think Michael Crichton was right in his book, State of Fear, that the best social control is to keep people in a perpetual state of fear. People are afraid of strangers, foods, medicines, crime, the environment, the weather, and germs (shudder) Everything is evil or going to hell and we must be afraid. Be werry werry affwaid! (But the government will protect us.) [Expletive deleted]) I think news agencies should be banned from using adjectives. While danger is very real, fear is a choice. What ever happen to reporting the news rather than making up stuff to frighten the children or denigrate our president.

The throw away culture - part 2. These days nobody seems to fix anything. They just throw it away and buy a new one. If you do try to get something repaired the labor charges are often more than the original cost. We have a Bissel "carpet cleaner" that we use a lot. The unit recently stopped spraying. A local repair place didn't really want to be bothered (and at $50 an hour neither did I). I did a little Internet digging and found the pump unit for sale at a parts company for $16. I called them to see if they had it in stock, which they did, and the tech also suggested replacing the solenoid valve at the same time ($11). Ordered the parts. Not having much appliance repair experience, when they came in, I carefully inspected the unit to see how things were assembled, labeled the parts as I removed them so I knew how to put them back, and with about an hours worth of my time I had it working again just like new. Didn't even have to use any "adult language."

Same thing some years ago with a dish washer. It started making a clanging noise while running. Call to a service man got me the info that it was the pump/impeller unit and that it would cost $150 plus the part to repair when he could get to it. Hmmmm! I got the part number of the pump from the manual, and ordered it from the manufacturer for $40 delivered. When it came, it took me less than 25 minutes to pull the unit out from under the counter, replace the pump unit and put it back under the counter using just a screw driver to remove some hose clamps and a 3/8" socket wrench. Our neighbor who happened to stop by while I was working couldn't understand why we just didn't buy a new washer. DUH! Lets see now, $40 for a pump vs. $350+ for a new unit. Yup! Tough decision.

These days nothing seem built to last--even marriages and relationships. I've seen numerous (and expensive) appliance die within weeks of purchase, cars that have upholstery that self destructs within a year, and scores of tools, toys, and assorted things, that fall apart very quickly. What ever happened to pride in workmanship and attention to doing things right, and making an effort to succeed.

But maybe there is a ray of hope. Recently I contacted the New Balance company (of sneaker/walking shoe fame) about an odd problem I was having with the material their shoes were made of on two pairs of sneakers. Nothing major, just looking for an explanation and not replacement, as I'm probably hard on shoes. To my surprise they said they would replace the two pair I had that exhibited the problem, even though I told them that they were probably a year old and well worn. They said that they were proud of their products and would stand behind them.

It's the (our) law. During a recent trip across country I saw numerous signs proclaiming "xxxxx. It's the law" for things that were just common sense issue. I guess that's the socialist's response to everything--pass a law. Some samples. "Defacing public or private property is against the law." "Drinking while driving is against our law." "Crossing this intersection against the light is against the law." "Wear your seat belt--It's our law." Maybe passing more laws should be against the law.

Germ obsession. These days everyone seems to be paranoid with germs to the point of ridiculousness. Growing up we washed our hands now and then but didn't worry about germs too much unless we had a cut. These days the use of disinfectants, antibiotics, and sanitizers, is rampant and our kids are not building up immunities to common germs. I've actually seen a person put on rubber gloves before pushing a shopping cart and several who won't touch door handles or pets. Saw one woman absolutely freak out when a friendly puppy licked her daughter's hand. Good grief!

Its sad what passes for just about any profession or service these days! The Age of the Common Man has been replaced by the age of UAM (Universally Accepted Mediocrity). I sometimes doubt if even one person out of five hundred today cares enough to actually learn something, do their best, or even knows what "the best" means in their particular endeavor. Not only does the average person no longer care about excellence, they don't even know that the concept exists!

Well, Osama bin Laden has finally been dealt with. One of the most evil people in modern history, a man directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of countless innocent people--some in the most gruesome manner-- and the sworn enemy of freedom and Christianity, is now explaining his misdeeds to his god. Good show SEALs!

However the liberal, socialist media wrung their hands over the "legality" of his killing, some suggesting that he should have been captured so he could be "rehabilitated." One idiot claimed that his civil rights were violated and that the property that was seized should be returned to his family and followers. They are aghast that "enhanced" interrogation techniques were used to get the information leading to his demise, and that we didn't tell Pakistan, a country with definite connections to Osama, that we were coming to get him. Not to mention the fact the the person masquerading as our president does everything but (well he actually has) apologize to the Islamic world and directs that bin Laden be given a "respectful "Muslim" burial by our military.

Where the hell were these $^%&*@!*! media assholes when innocent men and women were beheaded live on TV, when the followers of bin Laden set off bombs in stores, restaurants, and on trains, killing hundreds including children, and flew hijacked planes in the World Trade Centers. Where is the media outrage when a young Muslim girl who was raped (by a Muslim man) was stoned to death because her family was insulted by her "behavior." And on, and on.

If these media assholes hate this country so much why don't they move to another country, say maybe Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan. They can take George Soros, Pelosi, Biden, Schummer, Holder, Lautenberg, Obama, and a bunch of other socialists with them. I'll even chip in to buy them their tickets.

Some horrific act occurs--a violent criminal steals a firearm and goes on a killing spree, terrorists kill scores of innocents, a drunk drives his car into a crowd, a wild animal kills a jogger, etc., etc.--and the bleeding hearts and the media cry, "There ought to be a law...." We now have so many laws that a whole industry thrives trying to interpret (and circumvent) them, and none of these laws have the slightest effect on stupid people or those who would do wrong. (Did anyone ever stop to think that, by definition, criminals are those who make their living breaking laws and that only those who are honest feel bound by laws. Hey! We have laws against, murder, kidnapping, and rape, and they occur with alarming regularity.) DUH!

I'm sure all of you have noticed the socialist media bias on the recent shooting of a congresswoman and federal judge in Tucson. In spite of the fact that the deranged wacko who shot her had been ranting about her and about her voting against Nancy Pelosi and how she had to die on various internet sites, and the fact that he was a known (but ignored) psychopath, the media and the socialist in the government are trying to blame the event on George Bush, Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, "conservative hate mongers," "hi-cap" magazines, and AZ's supposedly lax gun laws. Nah! No media bias here.

A GI in the tension and stress of urban combat, after having his comrades killed by "wounded" terrorists shoots a "wounded" terrorist in front of a news reporter and the world reacts as if that soldier was Adolf Hitler incarnate, screaming about "rules of war," brutality, and "fairness." Yet when a terrorist beheads an innocent person live on TV or blows up a bus full of school children no body seems to get really upset. They are TERRORISTS! I say kill 'em all on sight, and make sure they are really DRT (dead right there) several times over.

Maybe some of those haters of the soldiers should be stuck into urban combat for a while, right up front with the guy going through the door first. (And since most of them are anti-gun let 'em go through the door first unarmed singing happy songs.)

A stupid (and probably anti-gun) actor puts a .44 magnum loaded with blanks in his ear, pulls the trigger and blows his brains out, and his estate sues the gun manufacturer. A man gets drunk and drives his $150,000 sports car into a bridge at 100 mph and his estate sues the beverage manufacturer, the car manufacturer, and probably the bridge builder. A woman puts a hot cup of coffee between her thighs and drives off in her car burning herself and she sues the restaurant chain. A jogger, alone and unarmed in a wilderness area, is attacked by a wild animal and she sues the state government.

Products ranging from airplanes to plastic bags now carry warnings that you risk death and dismemberment (or worse) if you do something incredibly stupid with them. Cups of hot coffee now all carry warnings "Warning! Contents Hot." Duh? Plastic wrap and bags carry warnings not to put over your face. Sets of kitchen knives have "Danger! Sharp!" warnings advising the user not to put fingers under them. There are even signs on computer keyboards warning of risk of injury by using them! Could this be next?

Just recently, I saw the warning to top all warnings. I know some people are allergic to peanuts, but come on now. On a bag of peanuts distributed in-flight on America West Airlines was the following warning. "Warning! Produced in a plant that processes peanut products." Good grief! No kidding?

It use to be that people actually had enough brains to know that firearms, knives, hammers, drills, automobiles, hot things, chemicals, and wild animals could do you serious injury if mishandled. If they did something stupid they owned up to it, accepted the consequences, got on with life, and didn't try to blame others for their stupidity. Lawyers are getting rich suing companies because someone used a product in an obviously stupid manner and got hurt. And the liberal judges are allowing such stupid suits and we're paying for it with increased prices!

It's getting out of hand! I recently got a new cell phone. Twenty four (24!!!) pages of the137 page manual was nothing but "safety warnings" cautioning against such things as putting the phone in the microwave, listening at too high a volume, and not letting small children or furry little creatures play with the phone.

Someone once suggested taking all the warning labels off of everything and letting Darwin do his thing. I agree. There really ARE more than enough idiots to go around.

Then there is the trend for the government to "protect" us by passing laws banning certain firearms or other "things." Firearms are banned because they simply "look" evil, have black plastic furniture, or have such things as flash hiders, vertical grips, or bayonet lugs, or folding or "pistol grip" stocks. Bayonet lugs? When was the last time you heard of a 7-11 being held up at bayonet point? In some jurisdictions simply changing the configuration of the wood stock makes you a felon with the attendant loss of rights. Large capacity magazines? I felt so much safer when new magazines over 10 round capacity were banned. (NOT!)

Consider this. Someone is pointing a pistol with a magazine capacity of 15 rounds at you. Then they remove10 rounds from the magazine and point the pistol at you. There, don't you feel safer? Wouldn't matter even with 2 rounds or a single shot. As for sustained fire, with a modicum of training a person can learn to swap magazines in about 1 second. Now (2004-09-13) that the stupid "assault weapon" ban has expired most folks generally don't have to worry about these things but there are still some jerks out there trying to blame all crime since the "big bang" on such things, in spite of the fact that there was no "blood in the streets" when the ban ended. Yet some folks are now calling for the ban to be reinstated. Why? For what purpose other than to control the peons?

Things" should not be regulated nor banned, only the misuse of them. It doesn't matter if you own an 300 mph capable car, a real "assault rifle" or a look-alike, a .50 caliber rifle, a .50 caliber M2 machinegun, a flame thrower, a fighter jet, a tank, a hammer, a 100 round magazine, a knife, a book, a model rocket, a 32 ounce soda, 5 gallons of gasoline, or anything else. If you misuse them then you suffer the consequences, until then who cares. Also saying that "you don't need xxxx" or "there is no legitimate use for "xxxx" is a stupid comment. You don't need a 6,000 square foot house, million dollar diamond jewelry, a $90,000 car, a $400 set of carving knives, a 70" TV, a $2,000 dress, a cellar full of expensive whiskeys and wines, a library full of old books, 15 pairs of sneakers, or a double-chocolate fudge cake, either. For that matter what you eat, drink, put into your body, or do to your body shouldn't matter either. Unless of course you actions harm someone or someone's property. Then the hammer comes down on you. Until then .... who cares. Of course the real reason for banning "things" is to control the people. Those who would control us have an innate fear of people who show self control and self reliance.

A "felony" used to be a very serious - usually violent - crime. Now the new trend is to make even minor and non violent offenses a "felony" or to treat them as a felony, and thus proscribe the person from ever owning a firearm or voting. (Remember, it's not the sentence you actually get but rather the maximum sentence that could be imposed that counts. More and more "crimes" have statutory sentences of 18 months or more--even if that sentence is never imposed). In addition, states like NJ are violating ex post facto and passing laws that are retro-active, turning otherwise honest citizens into "felons" who then have their doors kicked in to "protect" the public. The government is NOT interested in public safety and order; never has been and never will be. Even if everyone lived by the Golden Rule the government would still find ways to make that a crime so that they could lord their power over the citizens and make the government employees superior to the ordinary people. I have also been told by a person in the know in Washington, DC that at one time consideration was given to denying "medical services" to convicted felons under the Nobama No-healthcare package, until it was pointed out that such a condition would eliminate a large part of their constituency. Consider this...

And while we're on the topic. There should at least be an easy and inexpensive process for "felons" (and misdemeanor conviction where sentencing could be 18 months) to have their ALL their rights fully restored at the completion of their actual sentence. They have paid for the misdeeds. An attorney friend tells me that the vast majority of felony convictions are and have been non-violent convictions, so there is no real reason to deny restoration of all rights. Actually, I see no reason why even some "violent" felony offenders shouldn't be able to have all their rights restored perhaps after a period of say 10 years with no further offenses or indictments. To permanently deny rights after the completion of a sentence make no sense to me. Personally I'd feel safer living next door to a "felon" (even a "violent" one) who had his gun rights restored and who owned guns, than next to most government employees, politicians, or agents of the state.

Speaking of CCW (Conceal Carry of Weapons) "licenses." First of all I don't like the sinister implication of the term "concealed." It implies you are hiding something evil that you shouldn't have. "Discreet carry" is the term I prefer. Second, I do not believe that any "license" should be needed to go armed. It's a right and possibly a duty. Currently (3/2019), Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, New Hampshire, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missourri, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming have the right idea--Constitutional carry, and some other states are considering it.. However, given that the government is license crazy I think they have the process backwards for "CCW." Discreet carry is just that, discreetly carrying out of general public view so the rabbit people won't freak out. If they simply have to license something, it should be open carry as that is what could alarm the bleeding hearts and those with "delicate sensibilities." Warning! Armed citizen present. May be disturbing to some viewers. Of course maybe they are really worried about all the criminals who would get a nasty surprise if they attacked a person who was carrying "discreetly." Unfortunately, such a thing would have to be written to ensure that someone who accidentally exposes their firearm is not prosecuted for "open carry."

... and. How about the restrictions discreet weapons permit holders face. Folks with CCW permits undergo a tighter background check than law enforcement applicants in many cases (and frequently get better training), yet they can't carry in many places--especially Federal buildings--because they can't be "trusted." And those "gun free" school zones--which are better termed "Please kill us" zones. Why not just hang out a sign that reads "If you want to rob or kill our kids feel free to do so in complete safety." Of course someone with malice on their mind will simply ignore such laws (What! You mean signs aren't magic talismans of protection?) and know that no one will resist them as they go about their evil rounds.. Those idiots who actually think such laws make them safer tell people that when confronted by a bad person that all they have to do is dial "911." "Don't resist! You might get hurt!" they bleat. Of course since it can take quite a while for the boys in blue to show up (assuming that you can actually call them), whatcha gonna do while you're waiting and the bad guy is coming toward you? Bleed? Die? Of course if YOU, an honest citizen ignores the signs and winds up saving a life because you had the forethought to be armed, you will be the one going to jail.

I recently had a salesman for a local alarm company knock on my door and try to sell me an alarm system. Told him I wasn't interested. He replied, "But what will you do if someone breaks into your home?" My reply was, "The only problem that would cause would be whether my wife or I got the first shot." He gave me a shocked expression and walked away.

Of course there is always the issue of political correctness. You can actually be arrested and jailed in many places because you utter something about another person or their life style under your breath, or tell a joke that someone with too much time on their hands overhears. (And the time is apparently upon us where criticizing the government is being added to that list. They are already trying to close down conservative TV and radio programs that question the government's actions.) Meanwhile the utter lack of morals, self control, and honesty among members of the socialist government and their agents is "OK." If you disagree with someone's lifestyle, beliefs, or actions; or if you choose to associate with like minded people, then the socialists, the media, and the so-called "minorities" call you a bigot or a phobic even though THEY can put down anyone they choose. Try setting up a "white college fund," a "conservative white caucus," a "German-American college fund," or "White Americans for xxxxx" and see what happens. If someone says something that "offends" you, you have 3 options. Put on your big-girl panties and deal with it; politely explain that you're upset; or punch their lights out. Don't go whining to your lawyer or the press.

By the way the PC term "homophobic" needs to be stricken from the language. Phobic, from the Greek phobis means an abject paralyzing fear of something. I know many people who are disgusted or revolted by such things but just because someone does not agree that homosexuality is a moral life style, or just because they prefer that their children not be influenced by it, does not mean they are paralyzed with fear by them. Everyone does not have to agree with those of different views. We just have to treat everyone with common courtesy. The gay and PC crowd uses term like these to make it seem that anyone not in full agreement with them is an evil bigot. And while we are on the subject, we should eschew the term "gay" to refer to homosexuals unless of course a particular homosexual is indeed cheerful and carefree.

And speaking of "correctness" why is it ok for Muslims, blacks, and "minority groups" and their leaders to say anything vile, hateful, racist, or biased that they want to about other races (especially Caucasians, Christians, and Jews), to defame the icons of the Christian or the Jewish faith, or the founders of our country. The media is silent with them, but when a Caucasian, Christian, or Jew says the slightest slur (real or imagined) about them, their beliefs, or their leaders, the resulting uproar is in the news for days.

Friends indeed. Another thing that really gets me is the shallowness of many "friendships" and number of people with the "What's in it for me," or the "It's about ME," attitudes these days. People may claim to be a friend and turn to you when they need help, but the first time you find yourself in tough times or are in some need they are conveniently no where to be found. We had this happen with a single mother and her daughter that my wife and I helped for several years, until my wife retired and finances got tough. Suddenly they wanted nothing to do with us and not even a "thank you." Or, if it suits the occasion or people need to look good, they can speak ill of you to others yet smile to your face if you have what they want or need. If they hear something bad about you suddenly they are gone--they don't even bother to ask you. All they want is to take from you. The old adage of "a friend in need is a friend indeed" seem to be the mantra of people these days. I have experienced this enough times personally and have had others speak of it enough that I truly believe that true friendships, honesty, integrity, and morals are dying in our civilization. I see people manipulating "the system" and outright lying to get everything they can (even when not really entitled to it) and they think nothing of doing so. Maybe it's the current culture of instant gratification and self-aggrandization that is the root cause, but it is very sad. I treasure my circle of real friends. And remember that this runs both ways. Stick by your friends, keep your word, and do what is right.

Even traditional neighborhoods are having problems. When we first moved here the neighbors on either side of us came over, welcomed us, introduced themselves, and offered any assistance that we might need to get settled. Several of these folks have since died or moved and the people who replaced them are very unfriendly and aloof. When my wife went over and introduced herself to one new young couple to welcome them to the neighborhood she was very rudely rejected and they basically ignore everyone here. Nowadays its seems like many people don't want to be bothered with anyone but themselves and I hear things like this from all over. Won't be sharing my supplies with them when the SHTF.

What part of ILLEGAL alien don't you understand? If they are here illegally or have overstayed their visas, round 'em up and send them back. No ifs, ands, buts, nor excuses. If they can't stand their governments, may they should work for changes in their own countries rather than mooching off the US. It's not our fault their country is screwed up. Don't come here and mooch off of my tax payments and the public welfare system, not pay taxes like the rest of us, and expect me to have to translate every stinking sign, document, and product's label, into your language because you are too lazy to learn the defacto language of this country, and then fly the flag of your former country. Maybe we should give each illegal alien a rifle and 100 rounds of ammo and send 'em back to "reform" their own country. And while we're at it lets nail those businesses that knowingly hire illegal aliens--especially those in communities with any unemployed US citizens.

I have friends in the UK and Europe who want to immigrate to the US but can't, because of quotas and visa restrictions. They are successful, self-supporting businessmen and women who would be contributors to our society. Yet some folks want illegal aliens to get all the social service benefits available, many of which are denied to hard working citizens. Of course, hard working, successful people tend to vote conservatively while illegal aliens vote for whomever lets them stay here and get free benefits. Maybe we need to introduce reciprocity and handle immigration violators the same way that their countries handle foreign citizens who violate their laws. I wonder how certain countries would react if we enforced the same laws that they have against non-citizens.

Amnesty? If they give ILLEGAL aliens, who are by law "criminals," blanket amnesty and rights then they MUST also give a blanket amnesty and restoration of rights to all US citizens (both those in jail and especially those who have completed their sentences) whose rights have be abrogated. (If I am not mistaken violation of immigration laws can get you sentenced to 18 moths or longer which "felonizes" the violation.) They talk about giving amnesty to those foreigners who break our laws by coming here and living off the "system," yet a US citizen who accidentally checks the wrong box on a federal form or commits a non-violent "crime" can lose their rights and it is just about impossible these days to get them restored.

And... It use to be that immigrants came to America and became AMERICANS. They had to (and wanted to) learn English and about our history and culture before they became citizens (and the wanted to become AMERICAN). The illegals come here, live in enclaves, fly the flag of their former country, and expect US to adapt to them. As Theodore Roosevelt once said

This is a big hot button for me. Ever have a question about, or problem with, a product and go to the company's or manufacturer's web site? You dig through stuff and find the "contact us" page or their email address. There in big bold print is a "click here to email us" button. You click, fill out the form, or do an email, and send it, and then... NOTHING. Even when your email is a query about making a purchase. Same problem with government agencies, organizations, and many informational web sites. Never a response. If they don't answer, why do they have a "contact us" page? Heck, some companies don't even respond to written requests sent with an SASE. And, what about the sites which have ZERO contact information? Or, even "better" the sites which only have a customer (non)service telephone number at $35 a call?

Speaking of telephone customer support. How about those help-lines where the person can barely speak English and where it is obvious that they are reading from a script and have no idea about trouble shooting. Some companies won't even talk to you without getting a credit card number to charge you an outrageous fee for crappy support. I recently had a problem with a piece of electronic equipment which stopped working. After going through 3 "technicians" who were progressively stupider and stupider I was told that I had to send it back for repair (at a flat rate cost of some $80--almost as much as the device cost). Something didn't sound right to me and I did some Internet research and eventually found out that the unit would sometime lose it's settings and freeze if unplugged while turned on or there was a power hit. By simply holding down one of the control buttons, plugging it in, and then turning the unit on, the unit would reset itself and work again. Not only did the "technicians" not know or reveal this fact, it isn't even in the manual.

I recently emailed a company about obtaining a replacement cover for my old UMAX 1220S document scanner. Simple request, for a user replaceable part. I was informed that I needed to call their tech support (at $35 per call) as my scanner "needed repair." Another 3 emails later (trying to get them to understand I didn't need a repair, just a part), they finally said that: 1) the part is not available, and, 2) they do not sell parts to consumers because they need to be installed by qualified individuals. Considering that the cover is identical to that on some of their current models (I know I checked) and the fact that when you buy the scanner you have to install the cover yourself, they are full of horse pucky. Duct tape works miracles and is was working after 3 years of heavy use, but I won't be buying their brand again. My new (and better) scanner came from another company.

And here's another. I got a new Nikon digital camera and wanted a lens hood for the lens. According to the manual the model I wanted was an HB-33. However, according to all the stores it was either on long back order or discontinued. Contacted Nikon and they said "find an HB-33." I asked if the HB-45 lens hood that is designated for a newer model of the same lens would fit. "No! Find and HB-33" Hmmm! Dead in the water? Then my stepdaughter who lives in NY and has the same lens checked with a camera store she passes and discovered that: 1) the HB-33 was discontinued; and 2) that the HB-45 fits both lenses perfectly and the dimensions were the same as the old HB-33. She sent an HB-45 to me and it is a perfect fit in all respects. Contacted Nikon tech support again and informed them of the facts. Received a reply that the HB-45 will not fit on the old model lens (in spite of the fact that I had one mounted on the lens in my hand). DUH! [Update: To someone's credit I received an email from a different tech recently stating that he had actually checked and found that the new HB-45 will, in fact, fit on the old lenses and that it is the replacement for the HB-33. He was going to get the word out to the rest of the support group. At least someone still has brains.]

And another. A while back I bought a TomTom XL GPS unit for our car and paid for a 3 map upgrade package. All I had to do was log into their website, click, click, click and download new maps into the unit. HA! The downloads took 6 hours on a high speed connection, and would either freeze at the halfway point or the data was corrupted and scrogged the unit (luckily I backed it up before updating). I have no problem with large downloads from various other vendors, so the problem isn't me. Called their tech support and asked if I could get the update(s) on CD/DVD because of all the problems I was having. Nope, they don't do that. What am I supposed to do, as I have paid for a 3 time upgrade in advance that I now cannot use I said.. Their response was, "I guess you are out of luck." They would not refund my money either. A letter to the company president went unanswered.

How about "thank yous?" Now we shouldn't expect to get recognized and have our name in neon lights for everything we do, but what ever happened to the words "Thank you," and "Please?" I half expect to see them missing in the dictionary soon. A genuine kind word can go a long way. And then there are the folks who simply do what they should be doing and think that because of that fact that the world owes them something more than a simple "Thank you."

Speaking of "thank you," remember to thank those folks in you life for their friendship, and for the things they do for you. I had a woman in my parish who came to me one day very distraught. She had lost her best friend of almost 50 years suddenly and was terribly upset that she never thanked her friend for her life long friendship and love. Remember to let those around you know how you feel about them before it's too late.

Ever buy a package of some product in the food store and notice the legal disclaimer on the picture on the box, "Serving suggestion only?" Do you really mean that some people think that the plate, the table setting, and the kids are actually in the box. Disclaimer on a vacuum cleaner box that had a picture of the machine in a room: "Furniture not included." GOOD GRIEF!!!! And then there are those disclaimers at the end of movies, "Any similarity between actual people and events and the story and characters portrayed is purely accidental." Well maybe if the movie is based loosely on a real life event, but you mean to tell me that people actually believe that Star Trek, The Terminator, Shrek, and Roger Rabbit are real? Some movie makers do have a sense of humor about this though. Several years ago I watched a movie that had a great disclaimer at the end.

How about the "Do not attempt. Trained professional on a closed course" on those automotive adds that show the new Mark 7 Super SUV jumping buildings and running through rock slides. If people are stupid enough to try those stunts do you actually think they can read the warnings?

My new favorite "box comment" comes from one of the new microwaveable "steamed" dishes which come in their own bowl, so you can eat right from the microwave. On the box is the wonderful suggestion--"Meal can also be enjoyed by placing steamed food on a plate and topping with sauce." NO SHIT !!! What will they think of next! Why didn't I come up with that idea? Excuse me while I go pig out on some greasy fast food for solace.

Ever go to a store or restaurant and run into a surly clerk or waiter? Bet you have! Don't you love it when they come up to the table and say, "Wadda yous guys want?" Whatever happened to "service" and politeness in most business? The really service and customer oriented businesses are so rare these day as to stand out like a day-glow orange sign. Luckily, living in a small town the majority of businesses here still care about their customers but the misfits are beginning to creep in.

All of this also works in the other direction too. There is no reason to berate or to be surly to a clerk or a waiter either, or for that matter any sales person. I once got stranded in an airport when the airline cancelled all flights from that airport leaving two young lady ticket agents to deal with the public. While it was a "very bad thing" it wasn't these ladies' fault. Yet the display of foul language and bad manners by the passengers was disgusting. When I finally got to the counter I made it a point to be calm and polite and acknowledge the fact that it wasn't their fault. I just asked that if it was all possible that I get out of there by 7 pm and that I'd take any flight--even multi-hop "red-eye" ones. She thanked me an said that she would do her best and call me. About 45 minutes later I was called to the counter by the smiling young lady and given tickets for another airline and directed to go to a gate immediately. Upon arriving at the gate I was ushered into a first class seat on a non-stop flight that would get in 2 hours before my original flight would have. I also go out of my way to thank a restaurant server and if I see them, the cooks, for superior service and will frequently point them out to the manager. This has frequently resulted in a free dessert or a discount coupon from the manager. At a local restaurant that a friend and I frequent for breakfast, the grill and cooking area is open to the rest of the building. I make it a point to thank the cook before we leave. Now every time we go there it seems like our (already large) portions are larger than usual. Politeness counts!

How about smiling? Most folks seem to go around with a broom up their nether regions and look like they'll bite your face off if you say anything to them. If you smile at them what you get in return is a dirty look. If you are so unhappy either stay home and mope or get some professional help.

Here in AZ we have a real beauty. Folks move here from the crowded Socialist Republik of Kalifornistan and then try to turn us into what they left. They get all in a tizzy when they see someone carrying a pistol, freak out when a wild critter shows up in their back yard (especially when it eats their poor little Fluffy that they let run loose to crap in someone else's yard), put up huge gated dense-pack developments on prime land, and waste water like there's no tomorrow. And of course there's always their "get out of my way I'm in a hurry" attitude they display on the road and in stores. I've also noticed that there is distinctly more roadside trash appearing. I'm all for a competency test and proof of common sense before you can move here.

Cell phones. Sheese! What did we do before they were invented? I carry one too, but is anything so important that you have to talk or text while driving? I've come within inches of being hit by jerks on their cell phone while they were trying to turn a corner. They walk around a store yelling into the phone, or carry on a loud, meaningless conversation or arguments in the middle of a restaurant. Recently I was nearly hit by an idiot who was driving and talking on the cell phone and who failed to stop for a stop sign. As he missed me by inches he took his other hand off the steering wheel and flipped me "the bird." It's not like you are carrying the nuclear launch codes or the fate of the nation depends upon your phone call. I even had one go off in the middle of a funeral I was conducting--and the jerk answered it and started talking! Luckily, one of the ushers was very polite (and 6'4"). The individual did not come back in and I didn't ask the usher where he hid the body.

I really love those people who call and call you when you can't answer or are busy, and who don't leave a voice mail about what they wanted. Then they complain that you didn't answer their call. If it isn't important enough to leave a message, don't expect me to call you back. If I do try to call them back, they never pick up and their "mailboxes are full so I can't leave a message.

A while ago I was sitting in my parked truck when an idiot woman backed into me while talking on her cell phone. No damage to my truck but she had a nice crease in her trunk. After ascertaining that I had no damage she then drives off still talking on her cell phone and turns into the path of an oncoming vehicle with the right of way. Major damage to both vehicles. I hung around and when the police showed up I mentioned that she had been talking on her cell phone when she had moments before backed into my parked truck and again when she had the second accident. The cop rolled his eyes and looked over at the woman, who was still animatedly still talking on her cell phone. He thanked me and as he started walking over to where she was, pulling out his citation book. More chlorine in the gene pool please!

Texting? Texting can be handy in some circumstances, but why do people send dozens of messages back and forth when the whole question at large could be answered by a 30 second voice call? I won't even start on those idiots who try to text while driving. (While I'm not a fan of more laws, AZ recently (4/'19) made texting and hand held cell phone use while driving an official "No No.")

Litterers. Don't you just hate it when you see all the trash on the roadside or in a wilderness area? Hey! Why can't they carry a small bag in the car and dump their trash when they stop. I won't even go there about dirty diapers left in shopping center parking lots. And then there are the idiots who toss their cigarette out the car windows. Bad enough in town but when they do it in a dry wilderness area.... Both should be a capital offense enforceable by anyone who catches someone littering.

The following comments were written by Deroy Murdock and published in the Federalist Digest.

One of the things I offer on this website is an archival research service that will locate and provide copies of articles from almost 80 years of back issues of the American Rifleman magazine. Frequently an individual will request a copy of an old article without knowing the exact date or title. It takes a lot of time to locate such articles. When I reply to them that I have located the article(s) in question, I never hear back from them so I've wasted my time. Grrrrrr!

How about "warm-body" voters. I bet that a very large percentage of voters can't even recite (or come close to reciting) 4 of the 10 articles of the Bill of Rights as written, let alone tell you what the candidates really stand for. With public education freely available for all (including ILLEGAL aliens), I'm all for competency tests for voters and positive ID. What's wrong with required proof of citizenship and identity, and the ability to understand English, to vote in this country? How does that inconvenience the poor or non-driving public when someone can get an "official state ID for free or only a couple of dollars upon proof of citizenship. Personally I believe that it should be a requirement that you had to either serve in the military or in some kind of national service corps for 2 years and be able to to recite the Bill of Rights in order to vote, or to hold public office. I can here the bleeding hearts crying, "That isn't fair!" Voting isn't a right it is a privilege of being an involved citizen.

Don't you just hate this. You are watching a program and when it goes to commercial the sound becomes so loud it rattles your windows. Is that so you can hear it if you are in your kitchen getting a snack? Well, what if you thought ahead and have all your goodies next to you. It's bad enough that commercials have all that fine print on the bottom or have fast talking people to tell you every side effect that might happen if you use their product. I'm all for requiring that commercials should have an ID encoded in the video stream and all TVs should have the option to cut the sound for commercials.

By the way, there should be a limit on the number of commercials allowed during a program. Not long ago I taped a 1 hour program from a major network and when I played it back there were over 23 minutes of commercials during that "1 hour" show. (Update 2011-01-26 - Just counted 29 minutes of commercials in a 1 hour program.)

A correspondent reports - "Both times when I was in the Army stationed in Germany, I remember that one of the three German TV stations (ARD, ZDF, or BR) would broadcast a program that took roughly 38 minutes. This was followed by 20 minutes worth of commercials. No interruptions. What a novel approach!!!"

Ah, those "feed the children" of poor countries ads. Chances are that the kid pictured in the commercial was staged and the child in question could now be your 29 year old neighbor. They should have a date posted on the bottom of the commercial to show exactly when the commercial was first made and a statement declaring what percent of the money collected actually goes to helping others. Better yet, don't send money to some other country when we have plenty of folks in need here. Heck, that kid will probably grow up and demonstrate against those "evil Americans."

The Motor Voter Law. A 15-year-old goes into the DMV to get a Learner's Permit and is given voter registration paperwork. Huh? Later, the clerk asks specifically for that paperwork and when it's not returned filled out, the clerk wants to know why. It happens again several months later when the now 16-year-old goes in to get a Driver's License. These attempts have been witnessed enough by many people that I've often wondered how many under-age and alien drivers get pressured into illegally registering to vote, or for that matter how many of those registrations are used by unscrupulous individuals to falsify votes, as that ACORN organization was caught doing.?

Meetings. One of the big things that I don't miss since I retired from the rat race is meetings. How many times have you sat in a long meeting that accomplished nothing of value, while you had import work to do? How many thousands of hours are wasted each year doing nothing. In 30 years of the rat race I attended exactly two (2!!!) meetings that actually accomplished something important in a timely manner. Both meetings took under 10 minutes and everybody stood. (No doughnuts, either.)

Personal attire (or lack thereof). Have you noticed the general decline in dress and personal pride. Folks wander about and even travel looking like they just got out of bed (or looking like they want to take someone "to bed"). Men look like they need a haircut, shave, and a bath, or like they were working on their car. Teachers dress like they are working in the garden. Every day I see women and young girls out in public wearing(?) clothing that barely covers them with everything flapping in the breeze, and makeup that would do a professional hooker proud. Now I'm not a prude and I enjoy the sight of an attractive female as much as any man. However, belly buttons, bra straps, nipples, butt cracks, butt cheeks, tights sucked up into your genitalia, and the top of ones pubic hair showing while shopping or in a restaurant is NOT sexy, nor is constantly tugging on your super short skirt that has a hem line just below your butt cheek.. Of course if some scantily clad female notices you looking at her you're in danger of getting a sexual harassment suit thrown at you. Hey! Try looking in the mirror before you go out in public and don't advertise if you don't like window shoppers!. (And just HOW do they get into those jeans?)

While a woman who has a great body might pull some of the above off, why is it that a lot of women with really gross, flabby bodies wear revealing clothing-that reveals way too much information.

And not to leave out the males, what about those boys (and even some adult(?) men) with those ill-fitting, dirty, baggy pants that look like they're about to fall off with their underwear and butt cracks showing, and their heads (Oops! I mean hats) on backwards, and that seemingly can only use words that would make my old drill sergeant blush. Only snipers, baseball catchers, and photographers are entitled to wear their hats backwards--while working. I haven't seen any of these bozos carrying baseball mitts, cameras, or rifles.

Speaking of hats. One thing that really irks me is men who wear their hats in restaurants, theaters, churches, and other indoor situations. Didn't your mamma ever teach you any manners? A gentleman removes his hat.

What's your degree in? The current preoccupation with a person's "credentials" or background rather than their abilities is at an all-time high. The qualification for just about any major job nowadays requires the applicant to have a "degree" or some kind of "professional certification," a major criminal and financial background check, and 87 references. Seeing the level of intelligence and common sense (or lack thereof), the inability to write coherently, or to use proper grammar, that is coming out of many of our schools of "higher" learning," the hypocrisy of many "professional" certifying organizations, and the lack of a work ethic, I wonder how any real work gets done. In 30 years of the rat race the smartest, most capable people I encountered were usually those without fancy degrees or credentialing. When a problem arose or something needed to get done those were the folks who rose to the occasion.

Now I don't begrudge those who seek higher learning as some people really invest a lot of time and effort and achieve great results, but that doesn't automatically make them "better," "smarter," or more qualified than someone else. I've seen lots of Master's Thesis's that were poorly written, incomprehensible garbage, yet the person got a degree. Judging from conversations I've had with folks another problem is that newly minted degree holders with zero real world experience frequently think they know more that the folks who have been in the field for many years. My wife who has been an award winning teacher for 33 years with a Masters plus and supervisory credentials reports that the current crop of folks coming on board with education degrees seems to think that they are magically superior to everyone else even though they can't effectively teach without the latest high tech equipment and have no control over their classrooms. Many of them can't spell or write a coherent sentence either.

Maybe what is really needed is a degree in common sense. You have your MCmnS??? Yes?!? You're hired!

How about those busy-bodies. No matter what someone does or no matter what someone's abilities or qualifications are, these idiots gossip and complain about everything that person does. They obviously don't have a life so they have to try and run everyone else's. I see a lot of this in, of all places, the church. There are wonderful people who take their faith seriously and give freely of their time and talents to help others, and to keep the church running smoothly. However, the pea-brained idiots sit on their butts and complain about what others do. Would you believe that replacing a damaged chair on the side of the altar that an acolyte fell off, resulted in 2 months of finger pointing and name calling. In addition, if they personally don't like something someone has done, they will gossip, accuse, and complain about that person behind their back, or will repeat someone else's unsubstantiated comments, complaints, or accusations as fact, but they will NEVER actually talk to the person involved or verify the truth of the gossip.. I find it REALLY hard to treat such people in a Christian manner some times.

And lets not forget those lazy folks who take someone else's idea and try to take credit for it, and then get upset when they are found out or don't get all the laurels or when the real originator is acknowledged.

Loud music. How about those folks who walk about or drive with their "music boxes" and radios turned up so loud that they rattle the widows and your intestines. (Maybe that's where the research labs came up with those new "sound weapons.") HEY YOU! Turn it down. Not everyone has your taste in music(?). Oh never mind. You're probably deaf.

Priority Shipping. Don't you just love this one? You order a product online or over the phone and request priority shipping at extra cost so you'll receive it quickly. However, it takes the vendor 10 days just to process your order and prepare for shipping, so what good is priority handling. Considering that most vendors, both online and brick & mortar, have computer based inventory handling, why can't your order be processed and shipped within 24 hours? Also, considering that many medium and large sized items such as consumer electronics are shipped in the manufacturer's packing, with just a label slapped on, what's the delay? I know it can be done because there are vendors I deal with who ship within 24 hours or less of getting my online order. I've actually placed an order by phone or over the Internet in the morning, received confirmation that it was shipped the same afternoon, and had it on my doorstep in 2 days.

I recently ordered a VHS tape of an old program. Cost me $20 for the tape and $2.98 for S&H. The actual postage on the package was $2.25 and the padded envelope it came in runs 65 cents at a local business supply store when purchased in bulk--and it arrived 3 days after I ordered it.. A while back I ordered some electronics cables at 0730 hrs local time over the internet from a company in California and had it on my door step at 1630 hours THE SAME DAY! When I called them about the super fast delivery the rep explained that it was their new quantum mechanics based shipping system that shipped what the customer wanted before they ordered it. ;-) It can be done!

And while we're on the subject, how about those shipping and handling fees? You order a small item for say $15 and then find that the S&H is $10.95 on an 2 oz item. I even found one company that offered "free" shipping but charged a value based "processing fee" that started at $6. Processing fee? You grab the item off the shelf, stuff it in a box and stick on a computer generated shipping label. The other problem is those who base S&H on the value on the amount of the purchase, with the cost going up. If you order a small part that costs say $50 you wind up paying a ridiculous shipping charge and when the package arrives it come in a small package that only cost $4 to ship. Just another rip off.

And even more. In the Amazon Market Place you sometimes have a choice of vendors for an item each with a different selling price. But guess what? Their shipping charges vary so that your final delivered price is almost identical. As an example a 4 MB SD memory card showed prices varying from $19.95 to $25 and shipping & handling running from $8.95 to $3.50. If someone can ship for $3.50 why can't the others, especially when the item weighs under 2 ounces?

Considering that many small items will fit in Priority Mail packaging available free from the USPS and the fact that if you use their "Click n Ship" online labeling program (also free) you can generate an instant shipping label, and the online generated flat rate is (now-2022) $9.45) for anything that will fit in a 5.5 x 9 x 1.5 inch flat rate box. Where is all the rest of the $$ going? (Don't answer that!) Heck, many small items will fit in one of those padded envelopes which you can buy for under a dollar and First Class postage can be $1.50 or less.

Out of state sales taxes. Ever order something online from a company in another state, and find that you have to pay your state's sales tax? (Supposedly, if they have a "presence" in your state they can/have to do that. But even then I wonder just how much, if any of it, actually goes to the "tax.") I once asked a company for a copy of their authorization to collect taxes for my state because I could not find their "presence" in my state, and was refused. In turn I refused to complete my order with them--and it was a substantial order. Another company, that didn't charge sales tax, got my business and I saved over $20.

Television sound tracks. Have you ever listened to a television program or a DVD and were unable to make out the dialog because the background music overpowered the voices? And, if you turn up the volume to the point that you can almost make out the voices, your neighbors complain about the loud music coming from your house. Why do the producers do that? Is the dialog so stupid the writers don't want you to hear it?

Bright exterior house lights. Where I live we have a "dark skies" policy. By general consensus folks don't have bright or ill directed lighting outside of their homes so all can enjoy the great night skies. We recently had a someone move into the area who installed a very bright light by their driveway that isn't even on a motion detector. It's on all night. Really kills the night views. When asked by neighbors to dim it or put it on a motion switch he claimed that his wife wants it on bright all the time to deter criminals. Hey buddy. First, B&E is almost unheard of around here, and second, the last time it happened in the neighborhood the perpetrator got lead poisoning. Go back to California please and take your light with you. (Update. These folks moved out and the new owner disconnected the light so he could enjoy the stars.)

How about people who add you to their "jokes" E-mailing list. Don't you hate those folks who send you all manner of forwarded (and forwarded and forwarded) jokes, chain letters, and silly pictures without you asking for them? Not to mention those "virus warnings" that everyone knows are hoaxes. It's bad enough if you are on a broadband connections but absolutely unconscionable for folks with slow dial-up connections. Sometime I wish I could hit 'em with a 100 meg file full of junk just so they can see how annoying such things can be.

On a similar vein how about spammers? Do they actually think people believe their adds and claims, often written in broken English? I guess there must be enough jerks out there to make a profit from as spam keeps increasing. Personally, I think spammers should be horse whipped, tarred and feathered, disemboweled, and the consigned to the seventh circle of hell and their families sold into slavery--and that's for the first offense.

And let's not forget telephone solicitors. I'm on the "Do Not Call" registry yet I still get annoying calls at all hours from "unknown caller" and several 800 numbers. One number called every 10 minutes over a 2 hour period. When the call goes to an answering machine every time you think they'd get the "message." I even got a call from some idiot doing a "survey" who I told that I wasn't interested, and to remove me from his calling list. I hung up. Thirty seconds later he called again and told me I had no right to hang up on him. I hung up on him again and reported the number to my phone company who blocked that number. Now days the in thing is to spoof the caller's phone number. This reached an incredible level of stupidity when I was called by my own number.

The news media. With particular attention to today's headlines. Isn't it amazing how much fuss everyone is making over some cartoons which some terrorists claim insults all of Islam? Yet when Christians, Jews, and other religions have their beliefs, leaders, and icons "insulted," defamed, or desecrated by a Muslim or anyone else, or the followers of these faiths are persecuted, jailed, or murdered by Muslims the media takes no notice. Then of course, all we ever hear on the nightly new is how bad things are going "over there" in the war on terrorism. Meanwhile the tremendous successes and progress we have had and are having are ignored. Same thing with violence in the news. We hear about how some nut killed a bunch of people, but almost never hear about when a honest citizen stops a crime with their firearm. (And I have it on good authority from friends in the media and in the police business that this does happen with great regularity.)

With the current socialist administration in DC have you noticed how every "terrible event" is blamed on Republicans, conservatives, George Bush, Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and now President Trump?

Note: If you've not tried it, the website http://www.gethuman.com has a very handy list of numeric sequences to press to get to a human being as quickly as possible.

And in a similar vein. Ring, ring.... "You have reached the desk of George Dumbass at International Galactic Associates. I'm either on the other line or I've stepped out of my office. Leave a message at the beep and I'll call you right back." Actual translation, "You've reached George Dumbass who's the only person in this place. I'm either sleeping, eating lunch, or I just don't wanna answer the phone. If you're stupid enough to believe this message you can leave a message which I'll probably just delete without listening to it."

Graduated income taxes? Just because YOU work harder and make more money why should you have to pay a greater proportion of your income to taxes? (And then have to find all kinds of sneaky loop holes in the tax code to reduce your taxes.) If we had an across the board flat rate tax on every person, business, or corporation, with few, if any, exemptions, life would be so much simpler AND we'd have more than enough money to run the government. Let's say a flat 10 percent of your gross income--no deductions with the possible exception of up to 10 percent total of your gross to certified charitable or religious organizations, and no tax for an inheritance to a family member. Think of the money the government would save by downsizing the IRS to just a large enough staff to process the payments!. Add up all your income from all sources, take 10%, and that's what your tax bill would be. That would be equitable to everyone. The government has no authority to use your money to give to others.

Those who claim that the "rich" have a "duty" to help the less fortunate often try to quote scripture (even though for other things Holy Scripture is denigrated) as justification for taking money from the rich to spread out to the poor. While we are to help the poor and needy we are not required to let them live on the dole and reap benefits the rest of the people work for. Holy scripture refers to the care and feeding of "widows and orphans;" in other words those who are helpless. We are under no obligation to have to help (or continue to help) those who are capable of working or helping themselves but who refuse to do so and fail to avail themselves of opportunities help themselves to a better position in life. To repeat what was said previously, I will not (and do not have to) live my life just to make your life easier.

And why is it that so many churches and various "Aid" organizations spend so much money and materials on other countries when we have plenty of needy right here in our own country.

Hey! How did we ever survive growing up without the government mandated warning and nutritional labels on our food? Do they think that the majority of people actually read those warning and nutritional labels. Even bottles of WATER carry nutritional labels--0 carbs, 0 calories, 0 fiber. 0 intelligence??? Good grief! Recently, while enjoying a gin and tonic I noticed that there was no nutritional label on the gin bottle. How come? It has more ingredients than a bottle of water.

Growing up, we drank WHOLE milk (not skim, 1% or 2%), ate bacon, hamburgers, red meat, real ice cream, drank soda, drank beer, and still managed to stay healthy and happy. It wouldn't be politically correct to talk about the fact that that the "family meal" is almost unheard of these days; the fact that people have become gluttons, stuffing their faces far beyond the need for food; that kids use to play outside instead of sitting in front of the TV, video games, or the computer for hours; and the fact that people have no common sense when it comes to eating right--preferring to just "grab something." Much easier to simply pass labeling laws.

And of course, it's the fault of fast food vendors when people stuff themselves or eat it all the time and get fat. I like an occasional thick juicy bacon cheeseburger with onion rings but I don't eat them all the time. What ever happened to good old fashion self-control? It's now illegal to sell soda in sizes larger than 16 oz in New York City Good grief! Big brother at its worse. Knowing how much NY likes guns it is probably now a felony to possess larger than 16 oz sodas (Assault soda????) Sell a big soda, lose your rights.

And don't forget all those "organic" foods. Guess what? "Organic" actually means a compound containing the element carbon--which is in everything. "Organic" as related to food production is defined by several wildly varying government standards concerning the use of pesticides and fertilizers.. One of the standards allows a product to be called "organic" if only 39% of the ingredients are, in fact, organic. "O g Trans Fat" means actually "no more than .5g of trans fats per serving." "Includes" actually excludes everything else. Let's not forget that the evil carbon dioxide that the left continually heaps curses upon is organic so it should be good, right? After all, it's what those living "organic" organisms, called plants, require to breathe. Not to mention that there is no scientific proof that "organic" food is any better or healthier for you than "regular" food

And then there are those diets. No carbs at all, all carbs, paleo, vegetarian, no wheat, no red meat, Mediterranean, Oriental, all fruits, no fats, lots of fats, the list goes on and on, ad infinitum. Not to mention all those "scientific" studies proving that each one of them is the best for you. <expletive deleted> While the body seems to adapt to all kinds of diets, the "diet" works best long term is one that encourage exercise, moderation and portion control, and a balanced diet (which in my opinion does not resemble the government food pyramid). The one thing that everyone seems to ignore is the effect of all the sugar in everything. To satisfy everyone's sweet tooth way to much sugar is used. When baking I frequently use half or less of the sugar called for--and things still come out sweet. And as mentioned above, show some self control. If you lead a sedentary life you need less food than if you are very physically active all the time. Eat to live--not live to eat. (Or just wait for the next "scientific" study and a new diet.) Update 6/2019: A friend tried the "moderation" diet above and lost 12 pounds in 10 weeks. It can be done.

"Safety sealed for your protection." Food stuffs, medicines, and various other products now come in "non-removable" packaging. Medicines and food not only have a foil seal under the lid but the lid is then shrink wrapped to the bottle and the bottle is then sealed in a "tamper evident" box. I was recently given a DVD that came in a hard, injection molded clear over wrap that required heavy shears to cut through only to find the case shrink wrapped and sealed with 3(!!) tape seals under the shrink wrap. It really says something about our society when products have to be double or triple sealed to prevent some jerk from tampering with them. I was so tired and hungry after trying to open that package that I went out and stuffed myself with greasy fast food! I couldn't help it. The super-sized French fries and 32 oz soda made me do it.

Animal Rights Activists. Yup, animals have rights. Right next to the mashed potatoes. The west wasn't won with salad. These folks whine and complain about pets living a "subservient life" and want to stop the production and consumption or use of all meat and animal related products. (Now don't get me wrong, I don't endorse cruelty or needless suffering-but these folks go far beyond that.) A couple of years ago one activist got riled up when a bear that was attacking a child was shot and claimed the bear's rights were being violated! In the mean time they want to be able to kill unborn children any time they want to because they are an inconvenience to them. I think their priorities are a bit out of whack here. Of course recently there was a news story about a bird watcher who was traumatized when she saw two eagles fighting. She was "terribly affected" by the violence. Good grief!

The other day I was standing near the meat section at a local store talking to a friend about elk and venison and how I had a bunch in the freezer. A woman standing nearby overheard the conversation and remarked "Oh, you're one of those who kills defenseless animals. PIG!" Looking at the packages of steaks and pork chops in her shopping cart I remarked (in a rare moment of brilliance), "Oh, so your cow and pig died of natural causes." She stood there for a second wide eyed with her mouth open and flapping and then hurried away. I though my friend was going to fall over he was laughing so hard. Maybe HER meat came from the steak and pork chop factory.

Have you noticed "product shrinkage?" Thirteen ounce "pound" cans of coffee, 1.75 quart and now 1.5 quart "half-gallons" of ice cream, fewer tissues in the box, smaller candy bars or fewer in the same sized package, smaller rolls and English muffins, and on and on. My wife recently pointed out to me that toilet paper rolls have shrunk about 1/2 inch in width. I have even noticed that the peanut butter, liquid soaps, and shampoos we buy seems to have a thinner consistencies. Of course the price has remained the same or in many cases has actually risen.

How about the current rush to use politically correct gender neutral terminology in place of traditional male terms and titles. This is a real joke in my humble opinion. If someone gets their undies in a wad because of the use of a historical male pronoun, they obviously have: a) too much free time on their hands; and b) a lot of unresolved self esteem issues. Some of them want any word with "man" or "men" in it to be removed from the language. Are you a "huperson??"

And how about those politically correct "under privileged," "under utilized," "functionally challenged," and the "undocumented guest workers." I'm sure you can come up with more inane terms too like "man made disaster" instead of "terrorist attack."

A follow up to the above. In my humble opinion one reason for the above rant and for many of the rants on this page is that we have lost our sense of "ought" as a society. With our county's founding Judeo/Christian moral principles having been pretty much discarded by both the government and the populous, our sense of doing all things the best that we can has gone out the window. Mediocrity is the buzz word of the day. Just "good enough" is ok. After all, if something or some one is demonstrateably better than something or someone else, there will be a loss of "self esteem" or worse--someone might be ashamed, and we can't have that. BARF! This will be (has become) the downfall of our country. As long as you feel good about yourself nothing else matters. BULLCRAP!

Lifetime "public assistance." Why do some people think it's their right to live on the dole and take no responsibility for their own lives. While there are some folks who because of medical problems or temporary hardship truly need some form of assistance (a.k.a. welfare) I believe the vast majority are freeloading. When there is no requirement to actively seek a job, nor to attempt to make one's self marketable, nor to show self-control in the area of procreation, there is a big problem. I see many people using public assistance, food stamps, or what have you in the store while talking on the latest variety of cell phone, dressed to the hilt in the latest fashions, loaded with fancy jewelry, and who then climb into fancy cars and drive off. What's wrong with that picture? Welfare should be a short term solution, not a lifetime source of free income and you should have to show that you are drug free and working to get off of assistance! By the way the government has NO Constitutional authority to give YOUR money to someone else under the guise of "helping" them. You have no obligation to help those who won't at least try to help themselves. This will only get worse with the current slippery slide to socialism in this country. See rant on flat rate taxes above. Isn't it interesting that we hear how the social security system (funded by people who work) is running out of funds, but we never hear that the welfare system is getting low. Hmmm?

On the other hand there are some serious flaws in the system for people who truly try to get off of the welfare merry-go-round. My wife once taught at a post-secondary secretarial school and there were many young single moms enrolled in a public assistance program to give them marketable skills. It was quite successful. While enrolled and doing well the students continued receiving assistance for living expenses, housing, and child care, and were pre-placed in jobs with local businesses. However, on the day the student graduated all assistance stopped since they now "had a job." Yet it would be a week or two before they received their first paycheck so they were left with little to live on until they got their first check. Many outstanding students couldn't make it. If the "termination of assistance" was based upon the date of their first pay check there would have been a lot more success stories and more people off of welfare. My wife and I actually helped a couple of really good students until they got their first pay check just so they could succeed. All 4 of them eventually paid us back too, even though we did not expect them to.

Handicapped Parking Abuse. Ever watch as someone with a handicapped license plate or window tag, pulls into a handicapped parking spot and hustles into the store with about as much a handicap as an Olympic sprinter and comes out easily carrying heavy packages. If the handicapped person is not in the vehicle why are they taking a spot that a truly handicapped or disabled person might need? Laziness? Greed? Stupidity? Family members with no problems, seem to be the worse abuser of the privilege. Mental handicaps like laziness and stupidity are not approved for handicapped parking. When I had my knee replaced my doctor gave me one of the temporary window tags, so I wouldn't have to walk too far right after surgery. Though good for 6 months I used it one (1) time, after a rough therapy session when I couldn't find a close "regular" slot. I figured that there might be someone out there who didn't have a leg that might need the spot more than I did.

The cost of healthcare. Our healthcare insurance recently sent us a statement of benefits for some tests my wife had. The "billed amount" was $370. This was "discounted" to $70 and that amount was accepted as payment in full from the insurance company for the visit by the doctor. Same with my knee replacement with billed amounts running to 4 and 5 digits discounted 85 to 90 percent by the insurance and accepted by the doctor and hospital. Hmmm! If we didn't have insurance we would have had to foot the entire bill? What's wrong with this picture? Not to mention how it is discouraged or effectively illegal to buy medicines at a lower price from Canada, even though the medicine was made by a US firm and shipped to Canada. We're being protected from what? Even stranger is that many drug plans no longer will pay for or even discount ED medications like Viagra, but they will pay for women's birth control. Huh?

Speaking of healthcare insurance... Too many folks seem to equate "insurance" with a free ride. The whole idea of any insurance policy is to cover unexpected major or catastrophic expenses. We have auto insurance but we don't get free maintenance and tires from it, and we have home owners insurance but we don't get a free paint job every year nor get free maintenance and cleaning do we?

We ALL need to be responsible for our own care to some realistic amount, say $500 - $1,000 yearly per person or some reasonable percentage of gross income of a family, say 1% to 5 % of gross income might be reasonable. Of course reigning in the out of sight service and medication costs and runaway malpractice insurance costs would go a long way to helping things. (Right now even some minor procedures or maintenance medications are close to "catastrophic" costs.) Shortening the time frame when medications must be offered as a generic would help too. As to "government provided healthcare," I get nauseous when I think about the mess that has caused. A little known major down side to "government health care" is that they then have the final word on just what treatment you get and who is eligible for such care. I have a friend in Europe whose mother was denied an operation because she was "too old" (78) and died a year later. I also have a friend here in the US who's mother had the same condition and received the needed surgery through her private insurance at age 77 and who is still living and is now 84 and in excellent health. Horror stories of people waiting years for needed treatment or medications, or who were denied treatment under socialized medicine abound. No thank you! Of course the members of the government will be (are) exempt from any mandated insurance programs, just like they are exempt from participation in social security. Let's simply clean up the existing system, manage costs, and in turn get the best medical care in the world.

Useless software on PCs. You buy a fancy new personal computer and when it arrives you find that it is loaded with crippled sample software you can't use and don't want, a gazzilion Internet service provider's software, and all manner of other useless stuff. Why can't you buy a bare-bones PC with just the operating system and any software needed to support the hardware supplied? Considering that PC vendors won't sell you a bare-bones box and the fact that they don't even include an operating system install CD what's a person to do? (The hidden "recovery software" simply restores the PC to the state it was when you bought it with all included garbage.) The last PC I got, I built myself just to avoid all the garbage even though it cost me a bit more. For some strange reason(!?!) it is much more reliable and stable than most of the commercial "loaded" PCs.

Product rebates--Oh yeh! First of all why don't they simply discount the price by the rebate amount, rather than having you fill out forms, cut out labels, and copy invoices and then send them in? It also seems to me that in this age of computers there is something wrong with having to wait 8 to 10 weeks for your rebate check to arrive. Then, there are those shady companies that never even process your rebates and then claim they never got it. I have a friend who sent in a rebate form for a $125 rebate. Being a cautious type he sent it with a "return receipt" and 2 months before the rebate program ended. After 3 months with no rebate he inquired and was told it was never received--even though he was holding a signed receipt for the delivery. When the company was informed of this they hemmed and hawed until he mentioned that he was turning this matter over to his state's attorney and notifying the company's home state attorney general and the postal inspector about mail fraud. Amazingly, he had his rebate check in 5 days.

As an aside, a friend in the marketing business told me that "rebates" are a marketing scam. They boost sales revenues because less than 35 percent of rebates are ever claimed, or the rebate is denied due to technicalities like not sending in all required paperwork, so the company makes more money than it would without the rebate program. Mess 'em up! Claim your rebate. Send in everything required, send it "return receipt requested" in time to get to the processor within the deadline, and keep copies of all papers.

How about all those medical & health studies? "A new report just out says that eating / drinking / doing XYZ is good / bad / will extend your life / will shorten your life." Don't like the report? Wait 6 months for a new study that will have a different recommendations. If one gets some regular real exercise, and eats a balanced diet one can most likely survive all things in moderation. However, sitting on a lard butt, getting no exercise, smoking packs of cigarettes, and stuffing ones self with junk can do you no good.

There is a story that came out of the WWII era that I like. After the war a medical team studied a little village in Italy where the people were uniformly of quite old age but in excellent health, in spite of eating what the west would consider "bad" foods. However, they otherwise did fairly strenuous physical labor, ate moderately, and lived in a low stress environment.. The medicos initiated a long term study of the townspeople. During the study, that lasted many years, modern life came to that town and people left their fields and physical labor for modern employment in the town. To the medicos' surprise people started dying of heart and circulatory problems at a young age. There's a moral in there some place.

Lazy, self-absorbed "parents." My wife, who use to teach third grade at a local Christian school complains about this. Parent's without any religious convictions will send their kids to a Christian school so they will receive a "good" education out of the "government school" sphere of influence. Then the kids come to school unprepared, homework not done, and are disruptive in class. When the kids get a poor report card or the parents are called about a problem or potential problem, the parents blame the teacher or get hot because the teacher "doesn't appreciate" their little monster. If teachers refuse to give in to the child the parents go nuts. My wife had one little girl who had been a continual problem in previous grades and had been coddled by her parents and public school teachers. My wife refused to give in to the kid and after the first marking period the child actually buckled down and started doing well. However, the child's mother didn't like all the homework the child was doing and pulled her out of the school, and within a month the child reverted to her previous bad habits and the mother now complains to all who will listen what a hard time she is having with her daughter.

If you are not going to invest the time and effort to properly raise and care for them don't have children (or pets for that matter).

Speaking of parenting, what about those parents who let their kids use words that would make a drill instructor blush. I have come across numerous examples of kids telling the parents to "shut the "F" up," or ""F" you"" in public and the parents show no reaction. (Maybe they are afraid that the kids will report them to Child Protection Services if they attempt to discipline them.) I do know one mom whose daughter threatened to do just that when told she couldn't go where she wanted to. Her mom simply responded "Go ahead. They'll take you out of our home, and either put you in a group home or dole you out to some foster parent whose only interest is the money they get from the state." The girl shut up and has never threatened her parents again.

Shoddy workmanship on expensive stuff. Every day I hear from folks who have spent $1200 to $1700 or more on a "custom" pistol that arrived with a poor trigger, had stoppages out of the box, or had other major defects that should have never made it out the door. The same thing holds true for appliances, cars, computers, software, and lots of other stuff that should work correctly "out of the box." Then when you try to get things fixed right you get a runaround. Not to mention that some of their "repair" services are often a joke. I have one friend who had his new microwave go belly up after the first week. He took it to the vendor for repair and after 3 weeks got it back. Being a suspicious type he had put some clear nail polish over several of the case screws. When he got the unit back the seals had not been broken, and guess what, the unit didn't work either. He took the unit back again and pointed out the seals and was finally given a new unit off the shelf. Had another friend with a expensive custom pistol that jammed with great regularity. Sent it back to the maker several times with no effect. He was about to get rid of it and for grins brought it over to me one day. Inside of 5 minutes I found that the extractor was badly machined and had numerous rough edges and nicks. Couple of minutes with a stone took care of the problems and we took it out to shoot. 400 rounds later it hadn't had a single malfunction but we replaced the extractor on general principals. Why couldn't the manufacture find the problem?

I have recently been hearing about lots of out of the box inoperable firearms from major manufacturers too. One auto pistol didn't have the firing pin hole drilled completely through the breech face, another had a short and broken firing pin installed. A fairly high end bolt action rifle arrived with no follower or spring in the magazine and another one had the firing pinhole in the bolt face so off center that the firing pin would strike the edge of the primer. A high end revolver came out of the box with the cylinder so badly out of time that the holes were visibly out of alignment with the bore. Factory furnished magazines so badly dented that they couldn't be loaded. The list goes on and on. How does such crap get out of the factory?

The "Gadget Complex." I love this one. Folks are led to believe that if they have or use the new "Framitz" that they will automatically become better / sexier / smarter / more desirable / etc. You see a lot of this these days, especially in the shooting sports, photography, and "glamour" fields. "Out there where the ranges are long and the game is tough you need the new Remingchesterby 8.431 Ultra Long Magnum and the Burkahlpold 22 x 95 super zoom scope," or "For pictures like a pro, you need the new Leicanikon SC30000 50 MP camera and the 18 - 500 mm UltraZoomy lens." No mention is made about acquiring marksmanship skills or an appreciation and skill for creating pictures. Of course if you are a man and use the new Adonis body spray you'll have the chicks falling all over you, or for the women if you wear the new Bareass brand makeup with "Glamourglitz 5000" you'll have the man of your dreams. Doesn't matter if you are a stupid schmuck with the personality of a cow flop. This attitude has got to be due to the "someone else will take care of me" mentality so prevalent with the politically correct crowd.

Those "free" checks the credit card companies send you. First of all if you read the fine print there is always a "catch" or a fee. Second, if some bozo intercepts your mail or you stupidly don't destroy the checks before you trash them anyone can write a check against your account. This happened to an elderly parishioner at my church to the tune of almost $3000 and it took her months to straighten the mess out and get her credit rating fixed. Apparently someone at the assisted living unit where she lived was going through people's mail and taking the credit card checks. While you can supposedly "opt out" of these offers, in practice getting them stopped is frequently not easy.

What about cable/satellite TV channels? To paraphrase Carl Sagan, "Billions, and billions of channels" most of which you don't want. Why can't they simply offer an ala carte channel selection (which apparently they are not allowed to do by law???!). That way you'd get want you really watch without all the useless fluff and not have to wade though the zillions of channel listing. It's not difficult to do, but for some reason the gubermint has decreed that they are not allowed to do such things. Our vendor boasts about their "hundreds of channels" but out of over 900 channels in the lineup (including numerous that are duplicates) we actually watch (maybe) 25 and most of the time less than a dozen. We won't mention the programs that are repeated on numerous different channels (and that are running in the same time frame).

The "bait and ignore" scam. We finally ditched cable TV for Direct TV satellite hook up. The usual stuff with a special rate and HBO/Cinemax/etc. free for 3 months with payment via credit card. Upon startup I told them that at the end of the 3 month period to cancel the HBO stuff and I was assured it was in my file. On our first statement was a $9.95 charge for an optional maintenance plan which I did not request. Called them up, had it removed, and a credit issued. OK so far. Thirty days before the free HBO period was up I called again and reminded them to cancel the package and was assured the instructions were in the file. Get the statement and guess what--a $35 charge for the HBO package. Called them up and was told there was no instructions received, nor in my file, about canceling so I was liable for the charge. Asked for a stupidvisor and after 10 minutes of arguing with him I was finally issued a full credit for the $35 and was told the package was cancelled. (I checked the next day and to my amazement, it had been cancelled.) Other than the above idiocy the service and picture quality is great but prices keep rising. However, see the rant above about "billions, and billions of (useless, unwanted) channels."

As a follow up, after the first year of service the rate increased almost $30 which I knew would happen. I called them up and said that I couldn't afford the increase and would like to cancel. I was immediately transferred to another person who within 5 minutes reduced my rate back to the original one for an additional year. Hmmmmm? (And, then they told me to call back every year to get the discount.)

Those TV channel "logos. Your favorite show comes on and there in the lower left or right corner of the picture is an annoying logo, and sometimes even an animated logo or a commercial message. It isn't enough that they have 5 minutes of commercials every 10 minutes of program time, they also have to annoy you during the program. There has got to be a special place in hell for the jerk who came up with the idea.

The general wimpification of society. Just read that the Brits are using "non-lethal" means to fight piracy and will only use water canon and "sound canons" to fight off folks armed with AKs and RPGs on the high seas.. Don't want to hurt anyone ol' chap. The hue and cry is don't resist, don't fight back, give 'em what they want. If they kill you or yours that's ok, but if you save your life by killing them YOU are the evil one and will probably be prosecuted. The Russians, to their credit, got it right. Capture the pirates, disarm them, and put them back on their own boat--and then blow it out of the water!

I was standing in line at the post office the other day with a woman in front of me. The space at the counter cleared but the woman didn't move (and she was staring right at the clerk). Finally the clerk said in a loud voice, Well, are you coming up? Can I help you? The woman replied. Oh, you didn't tell me I could come up to the counter." DUH! Baa! Baaa! The sounds of the sheeple. Don't do anything until your masters give you permission. Just march into those rooms and take a shower.

Ah, the bleating of the sheeple. The next person I hear whining about those who take responsibility for their own safety and who want us the call the "professionals" when confronted with an evil doer, may get hurt. These wimpy, wussy, useless air wasters expect someone else to care for them all the time and are horror struck when it is suggested that they actually think or do something for themselves. Many of them seem to actually be afraid of people who can and do take responsibility for themselves. When a disaster strikes they stand around with tears in their eyes bleating with high pitched voices about how terrible it is and then condemn those who were prepared as selfish, because they won't give the poor unprepared people their supplies.. A friend of mine recently started using the term "castrati" for such people. Sounds like this description fits.

We received several large boxes at my former church. When nobody had anything to open them with I pulled out my Spyderco Delica and opened the box and I was greeted by the fearful bleat, "Oh my God! He's got a knife" from one of the women present. You would have thought I had dropped my pants. Of course her state of helpless desperation was further reinforced when I commented that I couldn't very well shoot the box open with my pistol. Baa! Baa!

Preoccupation with inconsequential increments or what Jeff Cooper use to refer to as "PII." (P-Double I) People get all in a thither about hundredths or thousandths of a second in timing in sporting events, hundredths of an inch in bullet trajectories, pennies in cost, and other tiny increments that have no effect in the real world. The latest thing in shooting is spin drift and coriolis effect. While they exist and can be generically computed there are so many unconsidered variable that can drastically alter what happens so what you get is really a guess.

The Crazy Years? In some of Robert Heinlein's sci-fi stories he describes a period of time called "The Crazy Years" where society (during his "future history's" 1960s - how odd???) had, as a whole, literally gone crazy, with extremely odd behaviors and actions, like electing a 5 year old as president, banning satellites from over flying a state, a 2-year old winning a TV jackpot, voting age raised to 41, and a dirt eating fad being the norm. Chalk it up to "global warming," the economic and political situation, pollutants, or whatever, I an running into more and more people I know whose behavior has drastically changed. One person I worked with for almost 8 years and who was a kind, calm, and rational person has become totally unglued accusing me and apparently many others of having nefarious plans and evil intentions. Folks are edgier, testier, more paranoid about things, blaming others for every problem they have and are in general more prone to faster blow ups over inconsequential things. Many others have told me they are witnessing the same things. It's scary. (Update 1/20: Now we send our vegetables to congress rather than eating them.)

Taking out you frustrations on your friends and associates doesn't do anything except create more tension. Lets all try to be kind, courteous, and thoughtful during these tough times. We need to hang together or most assuredly we'll hang separately. Peace be with you!

The "tactical" crazies. Besides the fact that most articles in the gun magazines could be written using a form letter, and contain little real content, the latest trend seems to be that everyone in the photos is attired in tactical gear and body armor, looking like a high speed low drag special ops trooper. Most also sport what some associates of mine call the "tactical grimace" (some of which would do a Haka proud).

Grrrr! I'm a bad-ass gun writer!!

Come on folks, do you think this really sells product? If you need to pretend you're an expert ninja you are beyond help. Those that can, do it quietly. Those that wanna be, dress up.

Failure to use or keep updated antivirus software. Ninety-nine percent of spam and E-mail viruses could probably be eliminated if everyone installed antivirus software on their PCs and kept it updated. There is no excuse not to have it as there are numerous very effective AND free packages available out there for the download. I recommend the freeware version of AVG available at (http://free.avg.com/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition)-- although I use the paid version for it's extra security features, and MalwareBytes (http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php). Even the built-in Win 10 "Defender" AV software is very good.

Remember, once your antivirus software is installed you need to keep it updated. AVG and many others do that automatically if you are online.. However, I know several people who cancel the update process of their antivirus software as a matter of course because they don't want to be bothered waiting--and then wonder why they got a virus.

"But I read it on the Internet." Personally, I think the Internet can be a great information tool (especially this site). Unfortunately, a lot of opinions posted on websites are just that, personal opinions or un-provable statements, since there is no peer review. Most of the so called "verification sites" like Snopes are suspect and many have a liberal/socialist political slant. You need to use common sense and investigate statements before spreading things far and wide. Many sites need to have a disclaimer on their pages:. "Warning! May contain suppositions, personal ideas, simulations, or unproven statements. May in fact be fact free!" God gave you a brain! Use it now and then. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

"Standard" clothing sizes (NOT!) Why can't they make all clothing to a standard size? Depending on who makes it my wife needs a 10, 12, or 14 size dress. I nominally take a 16½-34 shirt according to the tape measure but again, depending on the manufacture, it can be a 16-34, 16-35 or a 15½ -36. Same with shoe sizes and pants sizes. I nominally take a 38 x 31 pants size but even with the same brand a 30" leg works one time, and is too short the next. Had some jeans with a 30" leg that were just a little short so the next time I ordered the same brand and type I got 31" that were almost 2" too long. Grrrrr!

Bad grammar and spelling. This seems to have gotten out of hand these days. I see misspelled words all over the place, including University web sites, airline tickets, product catalogs, manuals, TV news bulletins, store signs, e-mails and newspapers. I realize that spell checking software doesn't catch everything but it is apparent that 99% of printed matter is never proof read, and never corrected.

As for good grammar, politicians, TV personalities, preachers, teachers, and the vast majority of the populace seem to have forgotten how to speak and write. I'm not against some slang thrown in to a conversation now and then but using the wrong case, improper verbs, double negatives, and poor phrasing gets on my nerves. Some people say who cares, but if you won't pay attention to the little details, you probably aren't going to pay attention to other things of importance. I wouldn't hire anyone who didn't care to speak and write correctly for an important job, let alone put them in charge of something important.

Me and my bro's rely due try two not half such errs on my web cite. If in you find any bitchin ers pleese let me nos so me can make thing betterer

Patriotism. If you remember during the days after 9-11-01 you saw many, many, new American flags flying. After a while there fewer and fewer flags being flown. It became passé to be a patriot. It was a fad. After months of being left outside in the weather, many flags became tattered and torn and were never replaced. If you are going to display our nation's flag, do so properly and do so with honor. Whether a actual flag, a flag sticker, or a uniform patch if it gets worn, faded, or tattered replace it. VFW posts will accept old flags and honorably dispose of them.

In addition, I see fewer and fewer people rendering proper respect to our flag. At a local parade I only saw three people on the entire street stand and render honors to the flag as it passed in procession. The mounted honor guard was so upset at this that they returned the salute to the three of us who rendered honors to the flag and said thank you as they passed. To render honors to the flag in procession all persons should stand and come to attention. Those in uniform give the appropriate formal salute. US military veterans may now render a military hand salute if they desire. Citizens not who are not veterans or otherwise not in uniform salute by placing their right hand over the heart and men with head cover should remove it and hold it to left shoulder, hand over the heart. Members of organizations in formation salute upon command of the person in charge.

Interest rates. With the economy in socialist shambles and banks paying out only infinitesimal interest rates on savings and checking accounts, I have noticed that banks are raising their interest rates charged on credit cards, as well as penalty fees, to cloud level heights of 29% and higher even for outstanding customers. While we generally don't run a balance on our cards so it doesn't affect us much, the card interest rates are ridiculous. The banks claim the higher rates are to make up for their "loses" and bad debt (somebody has to pay for all those defaulted charges! by illegals and those with a zero credit rating) but it seem an awful lot like scalping to me. Just who got the banks into their predicaments anyway.

Experts & Professionals. These days there seems to be a lot of folks described as (or describing themselves) as experts or professionals who are apparently neither, and who show up on TV programs, the news, or in magazines. They make obvious mis-statements, carry a haughty demeanor, and are frequently down right obnoxious. Doesn't anyone vette these folks? Those TV military and weapons shows are especially bad with their arrogant or otherwise idiotic "experts." Just once I like to see a well done show on militaria or weaponry that actually presents the facts without the emotional hype, stupid comments, inaccuracies, and the other nonsensical garbage so prevalent on these shows. Half of them don't know the difference between a "clip" and a "magazine" and if I hear, "... the devastating power of..." one more time the safety of the TV set may be in jeopardy.

Heroes. Nowadays a "hero" seems to be anyone in the spotlight. Just because someone makes it out of a tight situation, or wins a sports game, doesn't make them a hero. A hero is someone who voluntarily goes from a position of safety to a position of danger on someone else's behalf. Military people, firefighters, and peace officers tend to dominate the examples, but you can find plenty more examples outside their ranks. Think of people who assisted runaway slaves, or hid Jews in occupied Europe at the risk of their lives. Courage is the primary trait.

Besides heroes we have what are called "role models." These include the pilot who sets a crippled aircraft down in a river; the mountain climber who survives a catastrophic fall; the nurses and doctors who accomplish a difficult save. Competence rather than courage is the focus. This is where there's a place for sports figures. They're not heroes, but their abilities, and more importantly the hard work they put in to develop them, are certainly worthy of admiration and emulation (in most cases). We could probably include folks of great mental achievements such as Archimedes, Einstein, Newton, and the like.

Consequences (or lack there of). These days it seems like anyone can pretty much get away with any behavior or attitude without worrying about consequences. It use to be if you used foul or insulting language, did something incredibly stupid, or just simply wrong, stole from another, or disrespected your parents, that you suffered the "consequences." Nowadays, it isn't politically correct to have to "suffer" for your misdeeds as that would cause you a "lack of self-esteem." No wonder the idiots are running the asylum.

Airline reservation change fees. What is with the airline reservation change fees? Airlines are charging $150 or more to change a reservation. Maybe if you totally cancel a flight and they lost business, but when you simply alter the date you are planning to return on, it is criminal to say the least. After all, they are not losing business just moving it to a different day, and it is all done by computer with a couple of key strokes. I have a friend who had a medical emergency and had to change a return date on a flight and return before his wife did instead of with her. For this privilege he paid $150 "change fee" plus a higher fare. The flight he returned early on was only half full and his wife reported that the original flight was over-booked (even with his absence) and 2 passengers were put on another later flight and given a credit. Can you say grand theft airline? The rip off must be to pay for all those delicious meals they serve you. We try to fly Southwest Airline because they avoid such fees.

I have also noticed lately that most of the airlines charge more (substantially more) for a one way trip than a roundtrip. As an example a fee of about $410 for a round trip from Phoenix, AZ to Newark, NJ, but they charged $670 for a one way trip PHX to EWR. Are they crazy? (I already know the answer.)

Photo radar. It's not about safety, it's about making money (and the photo radar company gets a cut, by the way.) Some places have had them installed only to have people find out that the trip limit was set AT the speed limit to generate higher revenue. Given the inherent errors in your dash board speedometer a ticket is guaranteed. In addition, the citations you get mailed to you say "your speed was "approximately" xx," and not the exact speed and they are not an actual serving for a violation according to many attorneys. They also make no allowance for traffic flow. A friend got nailed while in between two cars in the right lane while getting passed by cars in the center lane. He refused to pay the exorbitant fine and never heard anything further.

Polls and their wording. There is a poll by USA Today that has been circulating around the Internet for quite a while. The question asked is

For the purposes of the poll the correct answer is "Yes." However, the question itself is in error. The Second Amendment (and the Bill of Rights as a whole) does not GIVE any rights but simply STATES what some of our unalienable rights are. Rights are NOT given by a government, to be limited or taken away at their whim--they are given by our creator and are inherent in our being. They cannot be taken away no matter what a government thinks. Polls like this are deliberately mis-worded in this manner to try and convey the idea to the uneducated masses that the government can "grant" them rights.

The above was written by a friend of mine and posted here with his permission. It echoes my sentiments exactly.

Idiot (and perhaps illiterate?) consumers. I have a friend who runs a business that sells ballistics software and firearms pressure measuring equipment. Both products come with an online user's manual and a bound, printed manual is available for a moderate fee. The manuals are clearly written and explain the theory, setup, and use of the product, as well as troubleshooting. Yet most of his day is spent on the phone answering questions whose answers are in the manuals. Why do folks expect to run advanced software and hardware without first reading the manuals?

Mission statements. Just about every organization including churches have to have a mission statement these days, defining in lofty words, what they are (supposed to be) doing. Perhaps it would be best to just get rid of the people that think a mission statement is necessary. Anybody worth having should already know the primary purpose of the enterprise.

Our Mission

To provide overpriced services and materially defective merchandise to the receptive ignorant members of humanity, in the cheapest and apparently most ecologically friendly manner, while treating them like the stupid peons they are, and taking all of their money in a manner calculated to get us the greatest profits in a timely manner.

Probably the only "mission statement that makes any sense is, "Do your job and do it well." Probably too simple for actual use.

Cinco de Mayo????? Officially, Cinco De Mayo (5th of May), is a Mexican holiday that commemorates the victory of the Mexican Militia over the French Army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. Interestingly, it is not a major Mexican holiday nor is much attention given to it in most of Mexico. It was popularized in the US some years ago by several beer companies as an excuse to party and we are now having it shoved down our throats here in the US in the name of political correctness. The most important holiday in Mexico is the 16th of September, their Independence Day.

Tax increases. Here in AZ we are having tough times like the rest of the country. With the citizenry having been terrified by the media into believing that the sky would fall and the world would end if Prop100, a "temporary," 3-year, 1% increase in the sales tax wasn't passed, they succumbed to the pressure and hype and passed the measure. We are now all faced with having less money to live on, while nothing will actually happen to the budget deficit, and teachers are still being laid off. Of course, few taxes once passed really ever get repealed.

With ordinary folks loosing their jobs or being forced to take large pay cuts to stay employed how are we supposed to pay higher taxes, and with higher taxes what new businesses will want to relocate to Arizona. We, the little people, are just supposed to grin and bear it for the "common good" we are told.

However, it seems not everyone has to bear the hardships. One budget measure that apparently was never considered was for state and local government officials, and especially the fat-cat federal government employees to take five to ten percent pay cut like many of the folks they supposedly serve are having to do. If they really "feel our pain" let all federal, state and local officials show it by tightening their personal purse strings and accepting a pay cut for the good of Arizona or the nation. (Considering the recent federal congressional pay raises it's clear they really don't care.) Maybe Governor Brewer should take the lead and return 10 percent of her salary to the state coffers. If salaries are a matter of a union contract then let the unions show solidarity with the rest of Arizona and the nation and voluntarily accept pay cuts. I won't hold my breath though.

I don't care much about less "government services." I want less government--local, state, and federal.

The "Arizona Immigration Bill," AZSB1070. If you listen to the liberal diatribe against this bill that was recently passed in AZ and that has a 75%+ approval rating of AZ residents, you'd think it mandates the rounding up, incarceration, and execution of ILLEGAL aliens. Soccer mommies have their little darlings out on picket line along with illegals carrying signs that read "We demand our rights." By their own admission none of them have actually read the bill and most of the socialists in congress admit the same thing. Maybe they simply can't read. Even the stupid Feds are trying to sue AZ for enforcing the laws they should be enforcing all over the country. All the bill does is to state that AZ's immigration laws will mirror existing (but unenforced) federal laws and that they WILL be enforced in AZ. The illegals from Mexico cry profiling, yet we don't seem to have a problem with blond Swedish Lutherans crossing the Mexican border and besides given the number of activities one normally has to show some proof of identity for, IDing someone stopped for a traffic offense or a possible crime is no big deal.. If you are here legally you don't have a problem. If you are here illegally you have a problem. Interestingly Washington has ordered the INS to stop releasing statistics on OTM (other than Mexican) illegals coming across the US/Mexican border. I wonder why. (Not really.)

Of course no one is up in arms over the most recent rancher killed by illegals on his ranch, nor of the rapes and robberies going on perpetrated by illegals.

Now the socialist mayor of the city of Los Angeles (a "sanctuary city") wants to boycott Arizona because we are enforcing federal laws and protecting our borders and our citizens, and the governments of Mexico and several Central and South American countries are DEMANDING that the law be rescinded. Considering that LA gets the majority of it's water and electricity from Arizona, and that the protesting countries are where the illegals are coming from, who are they to demand anything. My only comment is ...

"Law Enforcement Use Only" A lot of products, from knives to flashlights, and especially ammunition, as well as some training programs carry a "Law Enforcement Use Only" statement, as if there was something magical about it. You mean that the ordinary citizen is not considered worthy to have as effective ammunition to defend themselves as someone in uniform? Considering that possession by mere mortals is not prohibited in most cases; that a similar (or sometimes identical) product is often available in a different packaging and SKU; and that the LE only ammo is pretty much readily available on the market if you know where to look, or via a friend in the business, why do they insult us with such gibberish? Besides, one can reload equivalent stuff. As to "LE Only" armorer's classes why can't normal folks learn the ins and out of their firearms too. Regarding "tactical training" I supposed they think that mere mortals shouldn't know such things, but most of the doctrine comes from civilian or military channels and considering that there are a number schools teach the same things to civilians the whole thing is silly if not just stupid. Of course lots of them probably think only the police and military should even have access to guns and ammo.

Not to long ago I observed some government "agents" doing some "training/qualification" on a local range. They were so bad it was hilarious. Their "leader/instructor" saw me rolling on the floor laughing and came up to me and very snottily said "You think you can do better, asshole?" Unable to resist I said yes, took one of their M4 carbines and cleaned the last two stages they fired, in 2/3s of their time. (I was 66+ at the time.) The incredulous looks I got were priceless and no further comments were made. Yet I can't take an "LE Only" course. I feel so safe.

Airport Security(?). The recent bomb scare from Yeman has caused a rash of new airline security programs, none of which will have the slightest effect on the recent or any other problem. Invasive full body x-rays (or a full body, full touch pat down), additional harassment of travelers, and snottier TSA folks. The US needs to take a clue from the Israelis who actually have a realistic and effective airline security system in place--without all the invasive crap that goes on here--and no one has hijacked an Israeli plane in a very long time. They profile, they don't kow-tow to politically correct policies of not checking certain people because they might get upset, and their security starts before you enter the terminal. They realize that the problem is not 5 year-old little girls, 90 year-old grandmas, sportsmen traveling with checked firearms, Swedish Lutherans, or nail clippers, and act accordingly.

I'm getting really sick and tired of the warnings on just about everything that read, "This product is known to the State of California to contain Yyyy" which is hazardous to your Zzzz." Who the heck is California to warn anyone about anything. Considering its restrictive, corrupt, socialist, and bankrupt government, perhaps anything from California should have a printed warning like this. "The State of California is known to the rest of the country to be obnoxious, invasive, corrupt, and hazardous to your rights and freedoms."

"Oh my gosh! My computer crashed and I've lost everything. Can you help me?" DUH! Ever hear about backing up your data? There are online services (some are even free) where you can back up data. You can get a huge external disk drive for about $75. Even if all you do is to manually copy your data to the drive once a week instead of using a dedicated backup program, at least I won't have to listen to you wail about your life going up in smoke.

With the price of hard disks coming down a friend of mine has done the ultimate backup. He clones his entire SATA hard disk to an identical drive, using an inexpensive HD duplicator, once a week and then verifies that his system will run from the cloned drive. While there might be easier ways it works and he has the comfort in knowing that the "backup" is fully functional and that if needed all he has to do is swap hard drives and he is back in business.

Lotteries and financial responsibility and planning. I have always wondered about those folks who hit the lottery, big time, and who are then bankrupt in a year or two. It boggles my mind (probably not a difficult thing to do) that someone could burn through 30 - 50 million dollars (or even 2-5 million) in a couple of years and have nothing left to show for it. Just what are they doing with all that money? Burning it for heat? I have a hard time even figuring out what to do with 2 to 5 million that doesn't involve a couple of large donations to some hospitals and charities. If you are lucky enough to hit the lottery and need something to spend your money on, feel free to send me a cashiers check with the amount of your choice and I will put it to good use and might even make more money from it. I'm not greedy so even a measly couple of hundred-thousand would be welcome. In return you will have my undying gratitude. I'm serious. Click here to contact me for the address to send your check.

"Blocked" DVDs - I recently rented a DVD and was forced to wade through literally 15 minutes of game advertising, promotions, and previews. The DVD would not allow me to "skip" them or to go directly to the main menu. The folks who designed this abomination are going to the same place I have reserved for spammers.

"Human Engineering"/Ergonomics Do people who design equipment ever: a) talk to the folks who will be using or repairing it; or b) ever actually use or repair it themselves? I see firearms with impossible or awkward to operate controls, moving parts that will hit the shooter's hands in a normal shooting stance, mushy and indistinct triggers (which can usually be corrected with after market parts or 5 minutes of polishing, and razor sharp external edges. Automobiles that require a lift, special tools, or in some instances major disassembly to get at oil and air filters and spark plugs. Computers that require a major effort to replace or upgrade components. Even power tools and household appliances aren't immune to "idiot engineering. The "operators manuals" are a joke. 27 pages of "warnings" about how you shouldn't stick something in your eye and about voiding the warranty, but not a single decent instruction on what to do if the device hangs up--even when the solution is as simple as removing the battery for 5 minutes.

"Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens" ("Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.")

If you agree with me and have your own favorite "annoyance" send it to me and if you say "please," maybe I'll post it here.

Stress is the body's response when the mind overrides the natural inclination to choke the shit out of someone who desperately needs it.

"Any similarities between these comments and persons, animals, or any combination there-of, living, dead, vegetative, unborn,
or from the galaxy G487, or a parallel dimension, is purely accidental. If anything resembles you don't bother writing me hate mail or calling your lawyer.
My lawyer is bigger than yours, his kid can beat up your kid, he shoots (very well), and we have some great places to hide bodies here in Arizona.

There Ought To Be A Law... (Some reflections on what's wrong in our society)

There Ought To Be A Law...
(Some reflections on what's wrong in our society)