Breakfast in AK

Ended up chatting with [wife] this morning and didn't have time for breakfast when I left for work.

I keep a stash of instant oatmeal at work for occasions like this. That and the instant hot water at work make for a very quick breakfast.

Instead I was greeted by a pile of freshly smoked Salmon in our little kitchenette area when I got to work. Third time this week that people have brought in smoked Salmon.

That beats instant oatmeal anyday for breakfast.

State of Conflictation

I'm a good guy. At least I try to be. I don't follow Bane's links to his graphic content (anymore). I avoid pr0n. Then what do I do? I post links that I would not want my wife to know about.

Bane calls himself a 'Bad Christian' but he is very honest. Probably more honest than me. Me, I have my little secrets. What's that make me?

Human, I guess.

What did Paul say? "I don't do the things I want to do and do the things I know I shouldn't." Something like that.

I guess human nature hasn't changed in 2000 years, has it?

Drag is, well, a Drag

If you have lots of bandwidth, watch the movies. If not, look at the pics.

I have always wanted to learn to windsurf. If I ever do, I'll just have to put hydrofoils on a windsurfer.

Instead, I'll Post This...

I have a truely Alaskan (well, almost) video clip I'd like to post, but it's large enough I'm having trouble with the e-mail shuffle that I have to go through to get content posted on the net.

But now, while I have your attention, I need to shout this:
There are those who'll spout that the US prison system is racist since the number of minorities in it does not reflect the ethnic profile of this country. They would have you believe that the disproportionate number of whites in prison shows a racial bias by our court system.

I'd like to use a little logical razor I keep concealed in my watchband and disembowel this arguement right before your eyes. Who knows, with some luck, we may even see another silly idological arguement slip into the grue and become entangled in the entrails as we watch.

Can allegations of racism in the US Courts be substianated by the disproportionate number of minorities in prison? If it can, then the same logic must be applied to the disproportionate number of men in prison to show that the US Courts are more sexist than they are racist.

According to 2002 data about 35% of the prison population is white. In a nation that is 75% white (not sure the year of this data), the prison population is about 47% of what you'd expect. This is almost half.

Now looking at gender, the US's population is over 51% female. June 2004 saw 2,131,180 prisoners, of which 103,310 were female. This is less than 5% of the prison population. A number that is out of proportion by a factor greater than ten, if you are to follow this logic.

Maybe they are in prison because they did it. Maybe there are differences between men and women.

So there we have it. A lame cry of racism writhing and slipping on the ground and a silly feminist position entangled in the grue.

APPENDIX (pun intended!):
What got me started on this is the 5 Muslim men recently arrested. The MSM tells you that they are Muslim and leaves the conclusion to you. It is as if they cannot bring themselves to say anything bad about what the intentions of the Wahabi and other Muslim extremists is.

They are dancing the line of interpretation as well as Kerry, Hillary, or Gore ever did. The Liberal Elites can take no offense in this reporting since they are saying nothing negative about these practicioners of a peaceful religeon. Everyone else draws the conclusion that they were planning a terror attack that was thwarted and the media reported this accurately. How can two groups with such opposing views accept the same story?

Simple, the MSM tells stories with gaping holes and lets us fill in what we want to hear. We do this without thinking about it. Next time you hear a news story, not a train wreck like the 4 fathers getting electrocuted at the Boy Scout Jamboree that is sure to develope feelings of sympathy for those involved, but has absolutely nothing to do with you, me, or National Security, but a real news story, listen for what they don't tell you.

What's this have to do with prison populations? Simple. Some cultures are more violent and prone to killing than others. Some may be sub-cultures like Gansta Rappah's or national cultures like Wahabi Islam. But identifying one as such doesn't make you racist.

Must be French

What would an American Man do in this situation? Laugh? Provide a superior sample? Anything, but settle having being bested, by a woman, in what is obviously a mans sport.

These two weren't speaking English. Must have been french [sic].

Marine Rules of Combat

I think I've seen Bane reference Rule #1.

Here they all are.

Make no mistake. They are only listed on a 'joke page' because they will entertain you in the same way that you laughed when you saw Indiana Jones shoot the large sword weilding muslim. They are true but fundamentally so brutal in nature that our 'civilized' brains have to sneak them in the little side door called humor.

Just remember that today we think of Wyatt Earp as a great gunfighter. The reality was that he'd sneak up, club them in the head, knock them down, and then shoot them. But you know what? He won the gunfights and that is what counts.

World War II, RTS, Online

Go here for the full war.

...
benny-tow: haha america sux
Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me i dont fight u, cool?
Hitler[AoE]: sure whatever
Stalin: cool
deGaulle: **** Hitler rushed some1 help
Hitler[AoE]: lol byebye frenchy
Roosevelt: i dont got **** to help, sry
Churchill: wtf the luftwaffle is attacking me
Roosevelt: get antiair guns
Churchill: i cant afford them
...

I was tempted to add the Rosenbergs, references to the Argonne and Normandy, Rommel, etc... to it. I'm sure having US Rangers at Point du Hoc would have brought further crys of "America's a hax! Cheater" from Hitler.

Winners of the British Television Advertising Awards

Go here, open the box, select BTAA Awards, select Winners 2005, then spend way to much time browsing the best of British tv advertising.

UPDATE:

This ad is the only one really worth watching. Maybe that is the reason I found it on Sondrak's site.

This one made me think of Bane since it is a song about hating and there's lots of violence and destruction in it.

In Memoriam?

It looks like his blog is dead, or at least dormant.

Here is his first posting which makes me wish he was still posting and posted frequently.

Winning the War at Any Cost

Anchorage is a transportation hub for North America. Everything being flown to/from North America from/to Europe, Asia, or the Middle East goes through here. Transportation companies, Fed Ex, everyone, have large pieces of their infrastructure here with the people to manage it. Sunday I met one of these managers at a BBQ and he got to talking about what gets transported.

The menu had asparagus, which got him talking about asparagus and where it comes from. He told us that the US now gets its asparagus from Columbia. Why? Well, to combat the farmers making money growing coco plants for cocaine, the U.S. gov't subsidizes them to grow asparagus, which they then fly to distribution centers throughout the U.S. so we can eat it.

So we can buy it 'fresh' it is harvested very green and stored in an inert gas, probably nitrogen. Then to 'ripen' it, it is then subjected to an oxygen rich atmosphere. I don't know if this reduces the nutrition of the food or not. In fact, we may benefit from this process since we get asparagus at the 'peak of ripeness'.

What I see as ridiculous is them flying a vegetable across two continents to 'fight a drug war.'
The American asparagus farmers now cannot compete with a government subsidized competitor. What is ironic is it is their own government that is subsidizing their competition and forcing them out of business.

Where's John Cougar singing about and for the American Farmer when you need him?

So it doesn't matter if it costs $20/pound to fly asparagus from South America to North America, it'll get paid to fight the drug war. Who pays this? Us the taxpayer, that's who.

Are you starting to get angry? Out gov't is using our tax dollars to put American farmers out of business and cocaine is still readily available everywhere in this country.

To me this sounds like a big waste of our money.

ASIDE:

I just checked. It costs $3.85 to ship a pound from Anchorage to Miami 3 day priority mail (Express mail was over $17). It probably costs more than this to fly produce internationally, but I'll use this value as a basis for a quick and dirty analysis.

Our gov't is about 12% efficient. For every dollar spent, 88 cents goes to overhead, and is essentially lost. This means that for our gov't to achieve a $3.85 value, it'll spend $30.80 since the bureaucracy will eat up $26.95.

No wonder my taxes are so high.

It's worse than I thought.

Call Me an Outdated Intolerant Bigot...

I love my country and everything it stands for. The good that is America was forged by generations of hard work, technological advances on top of prior advances, and the blood and lives of soldiers. This is what I see each and every time I see an American flag.

Now have to wonder this: Why is the PC crowd so motivated to protect everyone from judgement and failure? The greatest nation on Earth was built in an era where children failed tests and some even flunked to repeat a grade, other children played on teams that lost, and still others were cut from a team if they weren't good enough. Their egos and self esteem survived. If anything, they seemed to be stronger for it in the long run.

Look at what they achieved.

Look at all that they achieved because they had the emotional hardware/software to overcome hardship!

To learn how to overcome a major failure or hardship in life, I think overcoming a minor failure or hardship in life is a good first step. Our children are being denied any opportunity to deal with minor setbacks and disapointments. How are to learn how to deal with life?

Conversely, they are being denied any real victories since they know that everyone wins and that they haven't achieved anything unique or special. This, I think, is more damaging to their self esteem than the loss of a game or failing grade that they are being deprived of.

What is the generation that never learned how to deal with a small problem going to do? Turn to a very big (global) government to do everything for them? Maybe.

Me, I'm counting on the kids being homeschooled to lead this country through the 21st century.

RIP, Longshot Saloon

It was the beginning the of the Summer of '82. The long hot days turned to dusk about 10:00.

Summer jobs, fishing, weight lifting and running in preparation for a freshman year of playing college football all seemed to end with me and a friend sitting on a bench across the street from the Longshot talking about going inside and ordering a beer at the bar. Not just any beer, but something on tap. Something a man orders at the end of a long hard day. Something refreshing.

We were giants with a thirst.

It just took us over half an hour to work up the nerve to walk in, hoping that they wouldn't card us. The drinking age was 21 and we were 18. Loki and his mischief was somewhere else, or was he at our backs? We entered with a nod from the bouncer and ordered beers. Somedays I think that was the best beer I've ever tasted, sitting there in the Longshot with my oldest friend. A guy who'd jump on a grenade for me and who knows I'd jump on one for him.

By the time the summer was over, we'd have worked up the nerve to walk in, pretending we belonged there.

Later we learned that the bar was owned by the city manager, the sherrif, and our town's first self made millionare. Drugs, prostitutes, and guns were run throught it. Neighbors would complain about the guns being tested in the alley behind the bar, but the sherrif always buried it.

Yea, I thought drinking the beer was cool, but I could have bought anything, anything at all in there.

It was still the best beer I've ever drank.

APPENDIX A

There is a Longshot Saloon here in Anchorage. The siren song of that name calls to me. Fond memories beckon. I salivate at the thought of a beer that the nectar of the gods envy. I'll preserve the memories and not go in. It'll be sure to disapoint.

If I ever to lure [Friend] up here with my fishing stories, I'm sure we'll have to go in and who knows, there might be prostitutes in the back, hot guns being appraised, dealers looking for a buyer, all of which we're naively unaware of and the best beer ever on tap.

Stolen From a Forwarded E-Mail

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24
hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the
2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in
front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very
large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf
balls.
He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it
was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into
the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open
areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if
the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the
jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more
if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table
and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the
empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to
recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are
the important things--God, your family, your children, your health,
your friends and your favorite passions--and if everything else was
lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The
pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house
and your car. The sand is everything else--the small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is
no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will
never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take
your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be
time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf
balls first--the things that really matter. Set your priorities.
The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee
represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just
goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

I'l leave Her for You as Soon as Joe Graduates...

The stereotype is that the other woman hangs on for years waiting for her man to leave his wife so that he can provide everything for her that his current wife doesn't appreciate. Right?

After reading this, I think I understand the mechanics of this dynamic better.

The guy probably loves his wife, he's probably just looking for some exciting sex. But when it comes down to choosing between sex and love, he always chooses love.

The irony is that the other woman will take this action as proof that he is a great guy because he's staying committed to his wife.

How to Deal with a Bully

If you let one wimp menace you, soon another will try.

Not that China is a wimp. It's more of a bully. But if we blacken Mexico's eye, China might just think twice about provoking us.

Not that this is the first time that China has threatened American cities on the West Coast.

Not that ignoring to China's threats will make them think that they can get away with acts of belligerance.

Not that WND hypes anything. Remember Y2K? I do. I still read WND daily, but when I think back to Farah crying that the digital sky was falling right up to "Zero zero, party over, oops, out of time" and the nothing that happened after Y2K, I had to re-evaluate WND's veracity.

I think China's a threat. A much bigger threat than we ever thought Y2K was going to be.

I am conflicted. The only news source that tells me what I want and expect to hear about China, I take with a grain of salt.

Back to my original point, if the liberal democratic president, who did nothing about the known communists in his staff and the Pentagon, had let General MacArthur win the Korean war, we'd have one thriving Korean capitalistic nation today, have lost no lives in Vietnam, have Vietnam be a thriving capitalistic nation, and China would have more respect and fear for the US and probably be further along the road to a free market and it's citizens owning property which is probably in our best interests as well as their own.

Yea, if we had blackened China's eye in the 50's they'd have gone home crying and learned how to play nice as well as learning that you don't push the big nice guy to far. I think this is a lesson we need to treat Mexico to.

No more of this double mindedness, we need to be, either a stauch ally or a terrible foe, not something stuck in between, that is neither.

High School English Assignments

I can remember getting assignments to write a paper or story of 800 words or more and having to use adjectives to reach it. I struggled to put words on paper.

Now I can't say anything here without bloviating for screens and screens.

And yes, two of the most evil teachers I had in high school were English teachers.

Army of Zombies

I always get suspicious when a point of view is supported with antecdotal stories, but this makes me think that Vox is right about the real estate bubble being ready to burst.

When the market needs support like this to keep going, I wonder how long it's been dead.

This unusual market action is not an isolated case. Consumer reports most recent issue states that over half the recent mortgages in CA and AR (or was in NV?) are unconventional interest only mortgages. Why? So people who can't qualify to buy a house can still buy a house.

If a person/family doesn't qualify to buy a house under one system, reevaluating them under a different system that shows them able to make the first years payments should raise some red flags. This system sounds like some NEA testing program where all students get an "A" so no ones self esteem is harmed. Everyone is happy now, but later when the real world hits, that "A" won't mean diddly squat if you can't read, write, or do simple math.

Same goes for houses. Getting a house today might make you feel good, but what happens when the rate goes up and you can't affort it? Same thing that will happen when your boss realizes you can't read or put the right number of cheeseburgers in the bag. You'll be gone.

Interest Only is being sold to naive buyers. They either aren't being told that it is an ARM where the rate will change at a later date in years or more. If the rates go up, so does your payment. Also at this time, you start paying on you principle. That's a double whammy that most people aren't expecting. In the Consumers Report article their example, I'm sure was worst case, but the initial payment of ~800$ went to over ~1,800$. Yep, it more than doubled.

I've always had a problem with realators. They act like they are your friend, but really want you to buy the biggest house they can sell you. The larger the house you buy, the more money they make.

I doubt that realators are warning their clients about the pending financial problems with the new unconventional mortgages that are putting money in their pockets. If the do tell their customers, I bet they conclude their sales pitch with a line like "But don't you plan to be making more money by then?" What guy is going to say "No" to that. We are all hard working optimists. Of course we'll be making more money, but it'll already be spent.

So, if the market hasn't tanked in the next three years, it'll get hit by a wave of forclosures like an army of zombies. Big dead houses everywhere. The current owners will have no equity to put into another house. What will happen to property values then?

Maybe the Chinese will buy them.

A conventional loan has something like $1.59 out of the first $1,000 payment going to principle. If you can't afford less than $2/month on a conventional loan, there has to be something really fishy on a loan that can put you in the same house.

I Bet He Never Does That Again

Here's a story of a doctor who may have accidentally aborted a number of his own children. His gut reaction tells you how the medical community feels about abortion, if they are thinking about the children.

Mao on Sex

Maybe if Hitler wasn't suffering from the neurological effects of tertiary syphalis he'd have been able to kill more than 11 million civilians. Who knows, maybe he'd have approached the 9 digit figure that Chairman Mao had massacred. Both men were evil, one was nuts, the other brilliant.

US Rangers study Mao. His writings are widely recognized as being insightful and accurage in the study of revolution.

Mao teaches that a revolution is broken down into 3 steps. They are:
1) Issueing of subversive propaganda,
2) Covert acts of aggression (guerilla war), and lastly
3) Overt acts of aggression (open acts of war).

When I see things like this:


I have to wonder, are the leaders of the perverse sexual revolution now in phase 3 of the war?

Why do I say perverse? Because I strongly suspect that they are not telling Suzie to 'make love' with Johnny because they are both in love. I have a hunch that they are going to push the limits of the people who attend.

The sexual perverse preach (and yes, I do mean to imply it is a religion) how do you know that you wont enjoy it if you don't try it. Yea, how do I know that I'm not a cloistered bestial necrophiliac? I mean, I've never tried humping roadkill.

Covert or overt, seminars like this are acts of war, and they are targeting our children. Does that get you riled up? It does me, but what can I do?

Last weekend I had a volunteer from AKPRIG stop by for me to sigh a petition to 'get big money out of Alaskan politics.' When I asked him what difference this would make, he said 'none.'

The house I'm renting is owned by a liberal Dem. This was days before I shaved off my foo-manchu with soul patch. I know the lib Dems have a database of all houses in the state. This guy probably thought he was going to get two signatures and a donation. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Now if I'm supposed to believe that this young man is spending the best hours of the best days in the summer doing something that isn't going to make a difference, I'd have been dumb enough to sign the petition. Instead I politely informed the activist that every car I've seen with a "big money out of AK politics" also had bumper sickers for Kerry, Abortion, Bushitler, etc. and that I had no intention of supporting anything that was welcome in this camp. I then explained to him that I had few minor issues with the 'big money' that was in politics and that I was very concerned about the poorly funded (as if Soros doesn't have money, ha) groups who would jump in and fill the void. He couldn't really leave since I had the clipboard which I paged through long enough that I couldn't believe he didn't ask for it back.

I was very tempted to take the clipboard with several petition signatures and just go inside. I kept thinking 'what would Bane do?' Simply taking the clipboard would probably be the gentleist thing that Bane would have done. I handed it back to him.

He informed me that I had a right to believe the things I did. I was relieved.

Now I sit here, activists are knocking on my door, homosexual groups are renting commercial property that I pass on my way to work (their big rainbow sign irks me twice a day), and I see things like 'Screw Abstinance' and think back to Mao. Maybe it's time for me to do something revolutionary. There is a cultural war going on.
What are you going to do?

UPDATE:
I thought blogger ate this. I was upset. But here it is, waiting patiently in my posts. It's just not posted yet. Maybe now?

For Those About to Read, I Salute You

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895? (LOOK CLOSELY... THAT'S EIGHTEEN NINETY FIVE!)

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS -1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph.
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of "lie," "play,"' and "run."
5. Define case; Illustrate each case.
6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620,
1800, 1849, 1865.

Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.'
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate
pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.

Notice that the exam took SIX HOURS to complete. Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it?
Also shows you how poor our education system has become.

Yea, but could his grandfather put a condom on a cucumber in the 1st grade? It's all a matter of priorities.

So, when you mention that you are homeschooling your child to a family friend who is employed and brainwashed by the public education system and they gasp "How will [your child] be properly socialized?" may, you know the answer. Not that the public educator gan grasp your point of view, but you are homeschooling your child so they get an education of at least the 8th grade level by 1895 standards, something the public education system fails to do.

UPDATE:
If today's arithmetic followed the 1895 standard and taught the children math through applicable story problems, no one today would be buying tacos and burgers with credit cards. I shake my head when I see people buying fast food with a mechanism that will have the vast majority paying for the food for the rest of their lives with interest.

Worse than a Curse

Pediatric Oncology. I cannot think of another string of words that weighs heavier on my soul. These two words make me shudder and raise the hydration of my optomometric orbs almost to the leaking point. Their effect on me is worse than a curse.

My son is healthy. I have no personal tales of the ghoul, thank God, that is hunted by this discipline.

With the greatest respect, I salute the physicians who take this path. I don't know how they can do it.

Tick, tick, tick

Does anyone need to read this to know what their goal is?

I'm also very suspicious of the country who will rise as the new Superpower if the USA falls. Nah, they'd never be motivated to help the mullahs and imams, would they.

Cheap Gas, Lotsa Tax

I was reading ARMOR GEDDON and Neil, the blogger posted a complimentary e-mail from a Frenchmen, Herve, towards the US Military. In his e-mail he listed reasons why the French hate the US. He believes it's mostly about jealousy, the jealousy the selfish have-nots hold towards the haves. One of the roots of jealousy he mentions is the cheap gas in America.

My employer is involved in Alaska politics. One of his strengths is finance, funding plans, and budgeting. He will lose the crowds attention in 10 seconds when he goes into line-item detail of some financial subject from memory. I think his inability to publicly speak in easily marketable sound bites ended his political career.

He was one of the Council of 55 that went to the state capital a year, or so, ago to review proposals to modify the 34 billion dollar Permenent Fund (yea, that's the source of our annual check from the state which was a big pleasant surprise for me and, unfortunately, a draw for welfare parasites). He knows what makes the state tick financially and talks with us about it.

One fact that amazed me was that it costs 30 cents* a gallon to get gas to the pump, including the 'evil' petrolium companies profit. The rest of what we pay for gas is State and Federal tax.

Same goes for France, except that they don't have to ship the crude as far as the States since they are closer to the source. Their 6$/gallons of petrol are mostly tax.

So France taxes itself into tiny little cars, then hates us because we don't let ourselves be taxed as much. This reasoning makes no sence to me. Maybe stinky cheese causes stupidity? Or do you just have to be stupid to eat stinky cheese?

I am glad to see that some Frenchmen still have a brain and backbone. In the 40's Herve would have been ambushing German supply convoys and rescuing downed Allied pilots.

*This price is about a year old.

Enough?

In his blog, Billy D. says:

The world you knew is gone, and it's not coming back without a fight.

I think this is the defining statement of our day. It's just a question of how far you have to be pushed till you either fight back or surrender.

The US was pushed past the rubicon 9-11. Silly names like "War on Terror" and cheap talk about the "Religion of Peace" wax meaningless compared to the actions and effect that the US Military is having on the militant Muslims and some of the nations that support them.

Europe seems to be accepting of terrorism. While terrible, I don't know if the London bombings will be a catalist for England. Their threshold of terror is higher and simple bombings are not on the order of magnitude of 9-11. While scaring the British people, I don’t know if these bombings will raise the ire of the British Nation.

Maybe Al-Quieda learned a lesson 9-11 and has reverted to simple terror rather than provoking a nation. Individual people may be easier to scare, but not a government.

Maybe Al-Quieda fears further provocation of the US.

Maybe Al-Quieda has been disrupted enough that simple bombings are all it is now capable of.

Time will tell.

I'm mystified why Winston Churchill was not elected till the day he died or chose to quit politics. It's like the Brits cut their balls off after WWII when they voted him out of office. What were they thinking?

The Iron Lady showed the world the resolve that can flow in the veins of the British. Like a fierce warhorse, long since retired to service as a plow horse, then once again, pressed back into service, the British stood and faced an enemy more threatening than the Wahabi led Muslim Nation that now threatens us.

Yea, Libya was once the badman of the Middle East/Muslim World. Where are they today? Same for the USSR. Where are they today?

Like the tired plowhorse, England overcame years of easy service and showed noble traits that were almost forgotten under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher. But, like President Reagan, the Iron Lady and her leadership is gone. Where is Britain headed today?

I think one of the defining traits of an excellent leader is their ability to make you do the things that you don't want to do so that you can achieve the things that you want to achieve. Anyone can lead you to do the things that you want to do. It doesn’t take a leader to do that.

Great accomplishments usually require sacrifice and hard work. These two things go against human nature, at least for the majority of us.

Getting back to the London bombings, I think Al-Quieda is at Mao’s second phase of a revolution, covert acts of aggression. They are not capable of winning open acts of aggression. Al-Quieda will have to stick with beer hall putsches and thugs in the street for now, but as shown in the 1930’s, this can be quite effective for intimidating Europeans and gaining power.

A generation has passed, but I believe that the Brits have the grit to turn, stand, and fight as a unified nation in their blood. It’s just up to them to chose to do so. I just don’t think a couple of bombings will be enough to motivate the Brits to do so.

I mourne the event that will unite the Brits against the Muslims. It will be a monumental tragedy. But on that day, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, The Duke of Wellington, and others will be proud as they hand the balls back to their nation.

Why Wellington? He had what it took to stop running, turn, fight, and win. The Brits have it in their history to do so. They just haven’t done it, yet.

I Need a Drink

I'll be at the Antwar Saloon. Come on by. I'll buy you a drink.

UPDATE:
I wanted to buy Felix a drink, but he was out.

To Funny Not to Share

Subject: Tech Support
Dear Tech Support,Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources. In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, Hunting and Fishing 7.5, and Racing 3.6, no longer run; crashing the system whenever selected.

I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications! I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the un-install doesn't work on Wife 1.0. Please Help!

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REPLY:
Dear Troubled User:

This is a very common problem that men complain about.

Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is impossible to un-install, or purge the program files from the system once installed. You cannot go back to girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this.

Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony-Child Support. I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application "Yes Dear" to alleviate software augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.
Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance.Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0, Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2.

However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0!

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.

Content Ratings

I don't understand the ESRB ratings movies get nowdays. I've seen 'slime' contribute to an R rating. I don't understand it. Am I the only one not repulsed by slime? Don't people routinely get slimed on Nickelodeon? Should that be rated R?

Now I see 'quirky situations' contributing to the PG rating on Willie Wonka. What gives?

The one that really makes me wonder if Hollywood is not making fun of the whole rating system is when I see 'thematic elements' as contributing to a rating. What is a movie, if it is nothing more than a whole series of thematic elements?

If I ever see 'colored light and sound' as criteria for a rating, I'll know that they are making fun of the system. Till then, I'll just suspect that they are.

Inquiring Minds Ask

Billy D. asks:

How is Alaska treating you? I've always wanted to visit, do some fishing. Beautiful country. I've heard there's a reasonable amount of intolerance toward Christians. True?

A Christian in Alaska will see no difference in attitudes than he saw in Michigan, Colorado, or Montana. Especially in a large city like Anchorage. I suspect that a liberal cesspool like Juneau might harbor intolerant anti-Christian bigots, but probably not any worse than Boulder, CO.

We have lots of small churches, meduim churches, and some very large successful churches that impact the area. The second largest Christian church in Anchorage seems to draw the ire of the left routinely, but I suspect that that is because they are Baptists and are in 'your face' enough to push the comfort zones of the unchurched. The largest church here seems to fly below the radar, but everyone knows of it and appreciates all that they do.

Maybe the Babtists take the brunt in the roll of bad cop while the other big church plays good cop.

All in all, it is easy to be a Christain in Alaska.

Plan "A" was for [wife] and I to have children by the time she was 40. Plan "A" ran out of time and we moved to AK to implement Plan "B" also known as 'buy a plane and goof off.' For ten years we told our selves that we didn't want to adopt, but when a child was handed to us, our hearts had a different answer.

Now [son] will be turning 3 at the end of August. He is built like me and looks like her. [Son] looks more like his grandfather than any of his other 17 grandchildren.

The fishing here is great. Last fish I caught in the lower 48 was almost 20 years ago and had 4-6 golfball sized white tumors on it. With a gag, I lost all desire to fish.

Moving to AK, where the water is clean, I was exited about the thought of fishing. First time in 20 years I'd really thought about fishing and I was excited. I've since fished Salmon in glacial rivers 30' wide, not really thinking about what was bumping into my legs, unable to see into the water due to the glacial silt.

Far up the river the glaciers are grinding the mountians into microscopic dust. This silt turns the rivers grey and provides the 'scent' for the salmon to return home from wherever in the Pacific that they travel.

Tributaries flowing clear runoff also flow into the bigger rivers. This clear water flows downstream in swirls and eddies providing vision, through the water and silt, similar to what Superman's x-ray vision must be like in the presence of a lot of Kryptonite. You get a glimpse through the water and then it's gone, but the glimpse is all you need to realize that those bumps on your legs are salmon. Hundreds of salmon swimming upstream.

Once you start looking at the salmon in the clear water, you realize that they breach the surface of the river with thier dorsal fins occasionally. Out across the river there are hundreds of dorsal fins breaching. There must be thousands of salmon swimming upstream.

Civilization exists in a distant universe. Knowing that you are not the highest predator on the food chain keeps your senses sharp. The sun and the wind bring you home to the best memories of your childhood.

Hours pass, the sun is high promising hours of good fishing, but that world was contaminated by technology from this one. Foolishly one of us had a watch an it activated a virus that had lain dormant. It was after 11:00 and past time to go. There will be other days.

The best river fishing is remote places accessable by float or bush plane. The shoulder-to-shoulder 'combat fishing' in the public access places is acceptable.

Panning for gold is fun to think about, but in reality very frustruating since I've found none. I've struck out at known placer gold deposits where others I know always find some. I think what really frustruates me is not knowing where the gold hides rather than not finding any.

My day job pays well and is as secure as a job can be nowadays. I also do some midnight engineering on aircraft modifications that pays much much better and may turn out to be a full time job.

The mountains are incredible here. My wife surprised me the first time that she told me that they are more beautiful than the mountians in Montana. She loves her old Montana mountains so much I never thought she'd betray them like this. But there they are in all their glory still streaked with snow today, July 5th.

I'd say that the greatest intolerance in AK is the attitudes the natives have towards each other. The Klinket hate the Inuit almost as much as the Zulu hate the Sotho bloods hate the crips. The worst thing you can do to a native is mistake them for another tribe.

The first year we were up here, we were working the nursury at church and met a woman who spoke with an accent. Turns out she was 1/2 Russian, 1/2 native, but looked fully European-American. [Wife] says "You don't look Eskimo." I don't think her reaction would have been much different if [wife] had said "You don't look like a retarded Pollock."

Nah, Billy D. Alaska is more like a colony than a state, but it draws some of the best traits from the U.S. Christians are welcome, and if you like the outdoors, it is wonderful.

The Pussification of the American Man, Part 1

Not only is the path to manhood hidden in America today, there are several obsticals on it. One of these obsticals is the zero tolerance for violence that the public schools have been following recently.

I believe that the lessons learned from playground fights will help the participants along the path to manhood and that there is little to no chance of permanent injury or death since, as boys the participants in a playground fight are not yet truely dangeruous.

I think the most productive playground fights are ended by teachers soon enough that no one is the clear winner, but not so soon that the fighters are unmarked. There is nothing like a black eye or fat lip to teach the meaning of humility. There is also a measure of, not pride, buy call it strength that comes from standing your ground.

You also gain a measure of respect for the other who took your best and came out on par with you (at least men, women seem to lack the capacity of mixing hostility and respect). I have best friends that I fought in grade school. Once we put the conflict behind us, I believe that it made us better friends.

The biggest benefit to playground fights is that one learns that fighting usually isn't worth it. You can walk away from a fight the winner and be hurt. Sometimes you'll feel it days later. Sooner or later, one realizes that there are more productive ways to resolve conflicts.

I think that it is the lack of knowing that there are better ways to resolve issues that contributes to the increase of gun violence amongst kids today. There is a testosterone reinforced tendency to fight amongst men and boys. Like iron ore, it needs to be refined and worked till it is something that will serve society.

Playground fights can be a furnace that provides the first steps towards smelting a man's control over his emotions.

I see the zero-tolerance of fighting in elementary schools as nothing but a nationwide effort to pussyfy the American Man. At first I wonder if it is Satanic or Communist in origin, but since Communism is not of God, I already know the answer.

---

I feel like I'm posting a draft, but there it is.

I think this is more of a work in progress and will take several postings to cover the whole topic while I expect my readers (yea, both of them:)) to point out when I wander onto thin ice.

The Difference Between Men and Boys

Vox has blogged about rites of manhood and how American Society, as well as all 'civilized' societies, don't have a clear line of demarcation between boys and men. He has stated, and I agree with him, that there are rites of manhood in America, but they are hidden and optional.

So what is the difference between men and boys?

For Fathers Day, my church handed out a tiny little 50something page book. It was more of a booklet written by John Eldridge. I didn't get around to reading it till last night.

In it, the author states that all boys want to know if they 'have what it takes' and 'are they dangerous? and that they need their dads to answer this.

While I'd like to blog more on this, and may at a later time, I'll say right now that I think the difference between men and boys is this:

When a boy learns that he has what it takes and that he is dangerous, he becomes a man.

The Few, The Proud, The Underfunded

Bane says that if he had to do it all over again, he'd have joined the Marines.

Both times when the physicians at the MEPs in Milwaukee told me I was too tall to qualify as a Marine Aviator some seargant set upon me with the feriocity of a bulldog to join "The Best Ground Program in the World" where I could learn logistics and follow orders.

"What's logistics?" I asked the first time I heard the pitch.

Logistics was explained as ordering and scheduling all supplies, including toilet paper, for the troops as they were deployed. The recruiter then went onto inform me that toilet paper was usually taken for granted, but vital for smooth operations, and that I'd be amazed at how much toilet paper a group of men used.

I was in my final years of college. Extreme shortages of toilet paper caused me to go from a clumper to a folder when it came to wiping. Raids of the dorm toilets for the precious paper were common. I knew how important the stuff was.

While I'd have gone anywhere to fly, the question was, would I join the Marines to learn how to order toilet paper? Did I want to be surrounded by men who thought ordering toilet paper was a vital skill?

To the recruiters credit, he did explain that logistics was a valued skill in the civilian world and would get me a good job, but I was going to be getting my engineering degree shortly and thought that that would be more valuable than the ability to order t.p. on my resume.

Ah, but I digress...

Sometimes I wonder how things would have gone, had I joined the Marines. Then I read things like this from ARMOR GEDDON.

After a few more minutes of conversation, I realized for the first time that the Marines weren’t nearly as well equipped as soldiers in the Army. They had been shooting all night long with machine guns that were only effective for 600 meters at a target 1800 meters away. On top of that, they did not have any night vision equipment to speak of, and that’s why they kept shooting star clusters – to make sure no insurgents were climbing up the berm at them. When they saw how well we’d been equipped, they thought we must have been Special Forces.“No, I’m telling you most Army soldiers have this stuff.” I promised them. There had been a huge push to get us the latest and greatest toys when we deployed. Unfortunately, the Marines hadn’t been so fortunate, and they were at a huge disadvantage. For the first time, I could see how budget fights between the different services of the military could filter down to the lowest level.

Maybe Bane had more toys to play with in the Army than he would have had in the Marines.

Me? Had the recruiter told me that I'd get to shoot weapons, daily, that are illegal for most civilians to own I'd have signed right then and there. If I had the choice though, I'd have gone for the branch with the most and best toys.

This does beg the question "Why are American troops being sent out underprepared?" which is a whole other topic of much greater importance.