Just because the Difster asked...

No, I'm not mad. I'm just trying to get a good pic.



And I still can't get one.

Check out the snowy parking lot outside (window on the low right hand corner).

Thanksgiving, Part II

I'm thankfull the Pitt Bull did not attack my son and chose to attack me instead.

I'm thankfull that I was digging a snow fort and had a spade in my hands, instead of some wimpy snow shovel, to defend myself with.

I regret letting the four legged menace get away. I was purely on the defensive. I should have done my best to knock his teeth out, blind him, and take his head off. Maybe breaking a leg or two in the process. I really thought I was going to get mauled or at least bit.

Four days after the fact, I was still laying in bed last night thinking what would have happened if [Son] had been attacked instead. Thank you God.

I never saw a spandex clad liberal weenie jump in his truck so fast and drive away. Irresponsible moron.

Thanksgiving

Things I am thankful for, in no particular order:

• An earthly father who made/makes it easy to accept a loving Father in Heaven,
• A mother who makes him whole,
• A loving wife,
• Our son who is a blessing from god,
• The Dodge I won, I still don't know what we'd do without it,
• The friends I have,
• A Father in Heaven who loves us all so much he'd sacrifice His Son for us,
• A vague understanding of just how incredible that love is (I couldn't have done it),
• Having overcome my stuttering so long ago,
• My gifts, abilities, and talents,
• My side job customers who just seem to keep coming and returning,
• The 10" of fresh snow that fell yesterday and the promise of more, much more, over the holiday weekend,
• My sister and her sobriety,
• My brother and his family,
  
• The circle of bloggers that I run type with. You educate me, make me be a better man and Christian, and entertain me. I hope that I'm returning the same benefits to you.

There is more to the list. I'll keep thinking of them all day long.

Now go enjoy the day and call someone that you love, but haven't spoken to in a long time.

One More on the Wagon

I was about a month past due to get a haircut. The only time I get to myself is early morning or after everyone goes to bed (which is the early morning so I'm being redundant).

There are no barbershops open at this time.

Yesterday I got home from work, went upstairs, and put the smallest guard on the clippers we have for my sons haircuts (he's terrified of them and other than some minor trimming on my hair, haven't been used) and proceeded to give myself a buzzcut.

My haircut now looks like the Difsters, except I have a moustache and a patch on my chin (nothing faggy, kinda like one John Wayne had in one of his older black and white Westerns).

My Take on Movies, the Subliminal Appeal

I've mentioned it before, I think a movie that does good, one that commands our dollars for 90something minutes of colored light and sound, needs to tap into some active vein of our culture. Some artery in our subconscious flowing with fear, love, concern, a need to laugh, anything relevant, will make us spend replacable money and irreplacable time in a theatre.

We've been told that our government can now take our property and that secret rules are being written to strip away our privacy and security in the name of safety. There may be those who fear our government has become to powerful and stopped serving the best interests of the people and started serving the best interests of itself. For those people, I think this movie will fit the ticket nicely.

Now I must admit I am a fan of Charlize Theron, but I haven't seen all her movies, especially Monster. I don't want to see her homely nor do I want to see a lesbian movie (but it does fit one of my pet theories that most, if not all, dysfunctional women(people) usually have some inordinate amount of abuse and lack of love in their childhood) so the cons of seeing that flic outweigh the pros. I picture her best as a 1940's beauty, wearing a wisp of silk, painted on the nose of my 4-engine bomber returning from a mission deep in Germany, a beauty from an age gone by.

I hope this movie lives up to my expectations.

My Two Cents on ADD

Bane tells a story on his dealings with an ADD diagnosis which, pretty much, ties into my understanding of the issue:

My youngest Marine got diagnosed with ADD way back in Middle School, and put on Ritalin by my ex. We lived apart. I was told that he began to make real progress in school. Then he started acting out, so she gave up and violated court orders and gave him to me (which eventually happened with all four kids).

So, I come to pick him up, and he is 'slow' and morose, not like him at all. She hands me his pills, and overwhelmed me with instructions as to times and dosages, and we took off on what was nearly a day long drive home. Eventually, he began to come out of his 'cloud', and the time for another dose approached. He went from flat affect to agitated before my eyes. I asked him if he wanted a pill, and he begged me not to. Why? I asked, and he said 'because they make me feel stupid...slow.'

I took one, and it kept me awake and alert and chatty the whole rest of the trip. I made a deal with him, there in the car. We get to my place, I buy a paddle, and whenever he screws up, he has to let me whup him, or he's back on the pills. We shook on it, and I bought the paddle, a truly imposing piece of boardage. I had him bend over and gave him a test whap, and we both thought he was gonna seize up and die for a second or two. He survived, and I never had to use that paddle again.

At times in my life, I've tried to provoke men with violent tempers to see if they would, or could, loose it with a much bigger guy.

I'm sorry to say, and in one case in particular, very sorry, that I've failed every time. I fully believe that most uncontrollable discipline cases just lack a person of respect in authority. I've read of schools (an unusual case) where the administrator noticed that female teachers were the ones with the ADD cases. Their solution was to take the children in question and transfer them to a teacher with a 'stronger personality'. Usually the transfer involved going from a female teacher to a male teacher.

There are some things about men, even 10 year old men, that women will never understand and that other men know without even thinking about it.

The Taliban Should be Scared, Very Scared

It seems that the Muslim Belligerants in Afghanistan fear the shotgun. So what is the US Military doing? Looking for a bigger scarier (just wait for the liberal Democrats reaction when the public start buying it) shotgun. The model with the 18" barrel and 8 round mag looks like this:

There is also a 13" barrel and a 32 round drum magazine.

The reason why 'sawed off shotguns' are not legal for the public is that they are not a military weapon. This could also change that. If this gets adopted as an official weapon of the US Military, that law will be rendered null and void.

I think the only thing this baby needs is a duckbill to spread out the pattern and be chambered for 3" magnums.

UPDATE:
I'll take that back about the duckbill. While duckbills are cool and I'd love to have one, they may not be the best accessory on this weapon.

Seems that there is also a 12 gauge explosive round. This might not go so well with a deformed muzzle.

It's a fin stabilized round with a 2 meter lethal blast [I'm not sure if it is a raduis or diameter since this info was relayed to me verbally and the teller wasn't 100% sure].

Seems that this war is giving some creative guys the opportunity to cash in on their hobbies/jobs.

Just imagine clearing a building with 32 rounds, 00 buck staggered with high explosive, ready to rock and roll.

Who Pays the Dept?

I read this and am dissapointed, to a degree.

I despise the arrogance with which criminals say "I paid my debt to society" and act as if they are owed something for paying it. Am I supposed to be impressed that they served their time? Do they expect a reward? They seem to act as if they do.

I say that as long as the victims of the crime feel a loss, the dept has not been paid. This makes most crimes unreparatalbe and since the criminals don't even pay reparations to the victims, no dept is paid. Just the criminal is punished.

So why am I dissapointed? The loss that Carlie's parents, friends, and neighbors feel will never, ever be made whole and the punishment willnot fit the crime.

I'd like to hold the judge and lawyers who set Joseph Smith free accountable and punish them as well. They do have a significant degree of responsibility in setting a known sex offender free. But that will never happen.

This county has, or at least pretends to have, a system of checks and balances everywhere, except one. Judges and lawyers are in the same boat, they benefit from the laws and they make/interpret the laws with nothing to hold them in check.

The lawyers get rich, the judges wield excessive power, and a child is raped and murdered, a dept to society that will never get paid.

Carlie will be forgotten about by this nation in a few weeks as more children are raped and murdered by violent sex offenders on parole, arraignment, or whatever legal loopholes set them free. Where will it end?

13 Differences between Women and Men

1. NAMES:
If Laurie, Linda, Elizabeth and Barbara go out for lunch, they will call each other Laurie, Linda, Elizabeth and Barbara.

If Mark, Chris, Eric and Tom go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla, Peanut-Head and Scrappy.


2. EATING OUT:

When the bill arrives, Mark, Chris, Eric and Tom will each throw in a $20, even though it's only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want the change back.

When the women get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.


3. MONEY:

A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.

A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need but it's on sale.


4. BATHROOMS:

A man has five items in his bathroom: a toothbrush, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel from the Marriott.

The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify most of these items.


5. ARGUMENTS:

A woman has the last word in any argument.

Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.


6. CATS:

Women love cats.

Men say they love cats, but when women aren't looking, men kick cats.


7. FUTURE:

A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.

A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.


8. SUCCESS:

A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.

A successful woman is one who can find such a man.


9. MARRIAGE:

A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.

A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change and she does.


10. DRESSING UP:

A woman will dress up to go shopping, to water the plants, empty the garbage, answer the phone, read a book, and read the mail.

A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.


11. NATURAL:

Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed.

Women somehow deteriorate during the night.


12. OFFSPRING:

Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams.

A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.


13. FINAL THOUGHT:

Any married man should forget his mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the same thing.

On Moloch

Following the duscussion from Vox's, it is my understanding that the pain of being incinerated is so intense that the infants cannot cry.

I had a friend who became a pathfinder in the US Army. In one school he was trained in knife fighting. Seems that they have a training manniquen they use for perfecting a fatal and silent backstab. From what I understand, the wound is so painfull, that you cannot cryout as you bleedout through a sliced kidney. Thus it is with being incinerated in the outstretched arms of a flame engulfed brass god (emphasis on the lower case 'g').

The expression on the infants face was, of course, a rictus of excruciating pain. How could the parents miss that you may ask. Of course, good question. Here's the answer: The quivering grimace was explained as a giggle of incredible joy which, indeed, it did look like.

What parents could object to something that brought their child joy, especially if everyone else is doing it?

Well, now I'll ask what parents can object to something that educates their child, especially if everyone else is doing it. Just as being incinerated didn't bring joy to an infant, our public school's primary task is not education, but socialization into a society that may be objectionable to most parents.

Achtung: Passen Sie die Vögel

The large red headline jumps off the homepage of Der Witz. It translates to "Attention: Beware the Birds!" At first I thought it was a bird flu article being hyped, but upon reading it (I had to translate it through the google language tool first) I realized it was something far more ominious facing mankind.

Below is part of the explanation by Dr. Otto Krähe of the Dusseldorf Macro Evolutionary Universität:

Ve haf reason to believe that birds are evolving at a faster rate than the Earths larger species, such as Homo-Erectus, due to their small size and high generational turnover (i.e. due to their short lifespans) cycle.

There are two outcomes possible from this process. The first is an evolved super bird, smarter than the humans, who does not wish to share the earth with us. Our computer models show the human race being wiped to extinction by this mutated avian in 2 to 6 years.

The other possibility is a de-evolved bird. This beast would be a fierce raptor with characteristics dating from the Cretaceous period. Our best computer models show this species exterminating mankind in 3 to 8 years.

The worst case scenario is the de-evolved uber bird, a Cretaceous beast with an evolved intelligence. Against a creature such as this, mankind would last no longer than 18 months.

And there you have it. Birds and mutation are going to spell the end of mankind.

The article goes on to promote the WBO as the most capable means of meeting this challenge.

I for one don't believe it.

Preschool is Good, Right?

WND has the whole article here, but the most telling quote is below.

On average, the report finds that the earlier a child enters a preschool center, the slower his or her pace of social development, while cognitive skills in pre-reading and math are stronger when children first enter a preschool program between the ages of 2 and 3.

While I won't argue the point about slower social development, I will call BS on the claim to 'stronger cognitive skills in pre-reading and math'. If this was the case, we'd be seeing improved math and reading scores from the PS since we are now graduating kids young adults that had pre-school social conditioning prior to their formal schooling. Right?

Instead we see a steady decline in literacy rates and math scores (unless you make the testing easier). If pre-school offers a tangible benefit, where is it? Are our PS so bad that they squander it? Could be, but I doubt that pre-school offers any benefit at all, other than a guilt free (at least if you don't think about it) day care.

Flock, Flock, Flock

I had my incomplete bird flu parody in draft mode, saved I thought.

That was more than 6 posts ago.

It rolled off the end of the blogspot buffer and is, now, gone. I didn't think I was posting that much.

I'd still like to do it. Who knows...

Amazing, but True

Myth has it that the yo-yo was originally developed as a weapon.

Just imagine a rock that you can throw again and agian and that the other guy can't ever pick up and throw back at you.

If so, I'd hate to get in a fight with this guy.

Crime in San Francisco to Skyrocket

I havn't looked to find a posting on it, but I did hear about this on the radio as I woke up this morning.

Legal ownership of guns is now prohibited in San Francisco. One only has to look at Great Britian, Washington DC, Detroit, Austrialia, etc. to see what is going to happen next. Violent crime is going to skyrocket.

My prior employer has a plant in England. Frequently one of their engineers would visit the Tech Center and I'd bump into him in the CAD bullpen. After failing miserably to rationally discuss guns and crime with him I just took the easy route and provoked him to emotional outbursts. It was easy, especially with a like minded CAD operator that would turn the conversation on a dime:

"...make that your tertiary datum and use a true position tolerance of KILL ANY DEER LATELY?"

"WELL, I GOT MY SON A NEW RIFLE AND WE JUST HAD TO TRY IT OUT. WE GOT 3 DEER LAST NIGHT."

"ANOTHER GUN IN YOUR HOUSE? I BET YOU DON'T GET ROBBED LIKE THEY DO IN ENGLAND."

By now the Brit would have taken the bait and dropped whatever he was doing and be on his way to tell us the evils of gun ownership. We had statistics to back us, he had the PETA member CAD operator who'd join him since guns kill cute little animals when they're not defending your home and person.

Yea, but if God didn't want us to eat animals, why'd He make them out of meat?

Now where I work, all of us hunt and fish and some of us are armed. We wouldn't fit in at all in San Francisco, would we?

The French vs. the Insurgents

First, I'd like to point out that rioting French youths are actually insurgents. They are citizens of the counry that they are causing the trouble in, unlike the foreign belligerants in Iraq that the Legacy Media calls insurgents.

The French lost Morocco and Algiers to Muslims fighing for their independance. They also lost to the communists in Vietnam, but only after they pulled out the French Foreign Legion and replaced them with French troops. Seems the Foreign Legion in the late 40's and 50's was made up, largly, of ex-Waffen SS stormtroopers who valued the new French identity that came as partial payment for enlisting and completing their time of service.

Why'd they pull out the FFL? Seems that the communist global news media (anyone notice a trend here?) was embarrassing the French by pointing out that they were using the best soldiers on the earth old Nazi's to fight the Viet Mihn. The French response was to remove their capable soldiers with a colorful history with some the communist media approved of.

Most everyone, at least anyone who knows their military history, will tell you the French lost in Vietnam in 1959 at Dein Bein Phu. I think they lost when the pulled the FFL. The rest of the world just didn't see it till '59 when the Viet Mihn defeated the French forces.

I'm tempted to run on and on on a Vietnam history, but I'd be digressing if I did that. My point is the French have a very poor military history when it comes to fighting insurgents. They also have a poor history of defending France from invasions or revolutions.

If I was Osama, I'd attack my enemy where he was softest. France seems like a soft target right now. I'd go for a cultural revolution there.

Time will tell if the Muslim riots in France are just social turmoil that will burn itself out or a corrdinated and controlled move by the men facing Mecca.

You live in Florida if:

My sister living in Florida just shared this with me:
You have FEMA's number on your speed dialer.

You have more than 300 'C' and 'D' batteries in your kitchen drawer.

Your pantry contains more than 20 cans of Spaghetti O's.

You are thinking of repainting your house to match the plywood covering your windows.

When describing your house to a prospective buyer, you say it has three bedrooms, two baths, and one safe hallway.

Your SSN isn't a secret, it's written in Sharpie on your arms.

You are on a first-name basis with the cashier at Home Depot.

You are delighted to pay $3 for a gallon of regular unleaded.

The road leading to your house has been declared a 'No-Wake' Zone.

You decide that your patio furniture looks better on

the bottom of the pool.

You own more than three large coolers.

You can wish that other people get hit by a hurricane and not feel the least bit guilty about it.

You rationalize helping a friend board up by thinking "It'll only take a gallon of gas to get there and back"

You have 2-liter coke bottles and milk jugs filled with water in your freezer

Three months ago you couldn't hang a shower curtain; today you can assemble a portable generator by candlelight.

You catch a 13-pound redfish ---- in your driveway.

You can recite from memory whole portions of your homeowner's insurance policy.

At cocktail parties, women are attracted to the guy with the biggest chainsaw.

You have had tuna fish more than 5 days in a row.

There is a roll of tar paper in your garage.

You can rattle off the names of three or more meteorologists who work at the Weather Channel and every single newscaster and reporter at all of the major stations in town.

Someone comes to your door to tell you they found your roof.

Ice is a valid topic of conversation.

Your "drive-thru" meal consists of MRE's and bottled water.

Relocating to South Dakota does not seem like such a crazy idea.

You spend more time on your roof then in your living room.

You've been laughed at over the phone by a roofer, fence builder, or a tree worker.

You don't worry about relatives wanting to visit during the summer.

Your child's first words are "hunker down" and you didn't go to Ole Miss!

Having a tree in your living room does not necessarily mean it's Christmas.

You know the difference between the "good side" of a storm and the "bad side."

Your kids start school in August and finish in July.

You go to work early and stay late just to enjoy the air conditioning.

You get phone calls from family members saying they've found bread at a store 6 miles away... and you hurry to get there.

You wait in line for 45 minutes for a loaf of bread and don't mind because at least you have bread.

A battery powered TV is considered a home entertainment center

True Wisdom Comes from the Barrel of a Gun

I have no time, but found these and just wanted to share them:

"Mr. Rat, I have a writ here that says you are to stop eating Cheng Lee's cornmeal forthwith. Now, It's a rat writ, writ for a rat, and this is lawful service of same! See? He doesn't pay any attention to me. (BAM! he shoots the rat) You can't serve papers on a rat, baby sister. You either kill him or let him be." - Rooster Cogburn


Attorney: How many men have you shot since you became a marshal, Mr. Cogburn?
Rooster: I never shot nobody I didn't have to.
Attorney: That was not the question. How many?
Rooster: Uh… shot, or killed?
Attorney: Oh, let us restrict it to killed, so that we may have a manageable figure!
Rooster: Well, twelve to fifteen, stopping men in flight and defending myself.
Attorney: Twelve to fifteen? So many that you cannot keep an accurate count! I have examined the record, Mr. Cogburn. A much more accurate figure is available. Come now — how many?
Rooster: Counting them two Whartons… twenty-three.
Attorney: Twenty-three men in four years. That makes about six men a year!
Rooster: It's a dangerous business.

R.I.P. Rosa Parks

I graduated with an engineering degree from an engineering college.

I always knew that I'd graduate. I hadn't put enough work into my degree to have earned a sense of ownership and pride, instead I just skated through on natural abilities.

I was excited about who our commencement speaker would be. I was looking forwards to some geek who had developed something whiz-bang. When I heard that it would be Rosa Parks I was dismayed. I tried to listen, but never heard a word she said.

The only real dealings I've had with blacks were on the college football team, but then again we were all (mostly) engineering majors who wanted to play football past highschool. Not a nigger amongst them (in fact, every niggardly person I've ever known has been white).

While in college I had a date with a Negress, not just a pretty face, but a beautiful face and a lithe athletic body that spoke of power and speed (she had the 440 record at some high school in Detroit), but was oh so feminine. I never heard a conscious thought eminate from her mind and while some dim, yet undeveloped part of my brain suspected that she was smitten, I remained with the cerebrial challenge of playing Risk with my friends as my major form of enjoyment. That and partridge hunting, beer drinking, and cross country skiing (as the seasons permitted).

That was it, one date. Then my parents found out and exploded, which surprised me. My dad was the radical science teacher in the early 70's with the moustache that so offended the sensitive and proper school board. My parents are the Liberal Democrats who pretend to think they are Republicans.

The same people who couldn't stop talking about how nice it was when the huge black linebacker brought his white girlfriend over for Easter dinner had conniption fits at the thought of their son kissing a black woman. This was when I realized the level and magnitude of racism that negros face every day, at times coming from directions least expected.

Tying this into Billy D's Conspiracy Wednesday, I could almost see the CIA killing Martin Luther King in an ongoing effort to keep the black man down, but then I see the Rev. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Luis Farrakan, et al, and I figure that they do a pretty good job of it themselves without any help.

Maybe Rosa Parks was just tired that day or maybe her act of civil disobediance came from a deep well of moral courage. I don't know. I do applaude her for the respect that she earned that day. I just wish they would have picked an astronaut or someone who worked on the Manhattan Project to speak at my commencement.