Mom

Age 88 and at home in her bed holding my brothers hand, my Mom passed peacefully on today to be with my Dad and the rest of our family and friends that have gone before her.

She was a great old dame.

Her passing is not a sad thing. She's been sick for years and in and out of the hospital for the last two, but her complaints were minimal, she just wished she could get up and do more.

She was a stay-at-home mom all through my brothers and my young years, but when we got into Jr. High, she decided to go back to work. Her money was for fancy things for the house...and buying crap for my brother and I, and having someone to talk to beside the dog.

Mom told my brother yesterday that she had a good life and that even though she would like to stay around, she was ready to go.

Is This A Surpirise???

I took a "test" today on "The Best Political Quiz" site. I gotta say, I was stunned by the result!

Well, It Didn't Take Long, Did It?

The G-20 Summit started today and....



within hours the destruction starts.

Thousands protest summit in Canada; vandals smash windows, torch police car
Published June 26, 2010
Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — Black-clad demonstrators broke off from a peaceful protest and torched a police cruiser in the financial district and smashed windows in a shopping district after veering off from the planned protest route.

A group, dressed all in black, smashed the windows of a bank, a coffee shop and some stores before heading to an area where Canada's largest banks are headquarted, smashing restaurant and shop windows there.

The roving band of protesters in black balaclavas then turned north and broke shop windows for blocks with baseball bats and hammers. They also broke windows at police headquarters.

Police with shields and clubs earlier pushed back a small group of protesters who tried to head south toward the security fence around the site of the G-20 summit. Some demonstrators hurled bottles at police.

And what is it that warrants all this destruction. (From Free Speech Without Focus
June 25, 2010 - 9:23 PM | by: Michael Tobin)

In the end, a staggering amount of money is spent on the manpower that maintains order while these demonstrators want to challenge it and I still don’t get the point. Most of the interviews I’ve done arrive at the goal of “Raising Awareness.” But in the attempt to raise awareness of everything, you communicate nothing.

A party for quasi-revolutionaries to wreck havoc on society is all this is. But don't worry too much. [emphasis:mine]

Toronto Police Sgt. Tim Burrows said authorities are quite pleased that the protests have been tame so far compared to what they've seen at previous summits. Hundreds of protesters moved through Toronto's streets Friday, but police in riot gear blocked them from getting near the summit security zone downtown.

Burrows said police will be watching splinter groups within the protest who he said have promised violence.

"From what we've seen in previous summits we're quite happy with what our protesters are bringing to the table with the exception of a few," Burrows said before Saturday's march.

"They've protested peacefully. There have been a few people that have decided that they wanted to step out of line and test our response and they found themselves where they should be."

Tame so far...setting a police car on fire and busting windows for blocks on end is considered tame now? Remember, this is just day one of two, but hey! grab the kids and attend after all according to a sponsor of the march:

The march, sponsored by labor unions and dubbed family friendly, was the largest demonstration planned during the weekend summits.

The Right Is Out Of Control

Just look at the news today.

Judge Faces Death Threats After BP Gulf Oil Drilling Moratorium Ruling

‘Green’ Energy Company Threatens Economics Professor … with Package of Dismantled Bomb Parts


Toronto G20 summit: car with extra gas and weapons found; arrest made


G20 lockdown cuts into downtown business
Hotels are full but restaurant tables are empty

T.O. man charged with possessing explosives in G20 probe

What? WHAT?

Oh! These are lefties?

Well it's a damn good thing they aren't Tea Partiers, or we could have had some real damage done here.


Asshats

Truth In Advertising

I think I may vote for this guy...he's honest.

Return From Rottfest

Actually I got home four days ago, but I had such a marvelous time, working on not enough sleep that I lost one day. I loved being there so much, that I stayed over an extra day. The few extra bucks for "Business Class" paid off right there, being I could change flights without penalty.

The Rottfest was a gathering of some of the nicest, most interesting and informative people I have ever meet. An eclectic group for sure. A military doctor, a long haul truck driver, LEO's, teacher...not to mention all the myriad jobs we had each had in the past.

There was three firearms instructors there, along with a pile of various long and short arms. Got to shoot a .45 and .40 semi-auto handgun, plus a custom built AR-15 ("Bad Karma") and 50 rounds through one of these bad boys:



An HK PS90

We even managed to break the indoor range we were shooting at. An armor piercing round got mixed into a clip and a weld on the backstop split. (I didn't do it!) I did get a couple on pointers on my stance and I didn't get yelled at for any mistakes in range etiquette or safety.

One of the guys offered to build a custom AR-15 for me at a price that is less than I could get a basic off-the-shelf one for here and I think I'd be a fool to pass him up on the offer.

I've already got my calendar marked for Rottfest 2011.

YeeeHaaww!!! An Update

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was heading to Texas for Rottfest 2010. I'm psyched for the trip and getting to meet the LC's that are going to be there...but (and why does there always have to be a but?) After I got my plane tickets, made arrangements for boarding my dogs and got the cash out of the bank needed for beer...er..for expenses, the "Check Engine" light comes on in my pick-up?

I swear my family seems to have a curse on it sometimes. When things are going smooth and you think you can relax and enjoy yourself for a bit....WHACK!!! something bad pops up at the last second.

Ah well. I'm not going to let it ruin the trip. The truck will be in the same shape when I get back. It'll just set back getting that HDTV I've been looking at for the last 6 months off a few more, and I'll have to keep using the semi-crappy battery eating Kodak camera for a while instead of that bitchen Nikon SLR I wanted to get for this trip.

If my truck is the biggest problem I have right now, I guess my life isn't really all that bad.

Have We Forgotten?

I'm coming in just under the wire here, and it doesn't make me happy.

I knew that this anniversary of our countries finest moment was here, and yet I almost let it slip past. I forgot to put my flag out this morning, and even though I finally realized what this day was, I put off posting.

I am ashamed!

There was very little on the news today about a day that shaped my entire life.

That D-day could pass with such little acknowledgment of the sacrifices of the generation before mine makes me fear more for the generation that is coming behind mine.

What is this day? What did it mean to those in Europe that where waiting for someone to throw off the oppression of NAZI socialism?

I give you a video of a French citizen who, even though he had to go through an interpreter, needed to express his feelings about what America did for his country.



God bless our soldiers both past and present. May we always stand for right and to free those who are under fascist regimes.

May we not forget what they did, EVER.

Why Do We Bother?

Once again our elected officials ignore the Constitution, the California State Constitution in this case.

California Assembly Passes Racial Preferences Bill
By La Shawn Barber • June 4, 2010 10:09 AM

[All emphasis:mine]

California legislators and the governor should carry a copy of the state constitution in their pockets and refer to it when writing and signing bills. It’s a useful guide, laying out what the people have a right to do and what the government shall not do. For example, Article I, Section 31 reads in part:

“The State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”

New law where things got crossed? No!

Thirteen years ago, 54 percent of voters passed Proposition 209, which added this language to the state’s constitution. But politicians act as though it doesn’t exist. Last October, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who swore to uphold the constitution, signed into law a bill that directs state departments to award government contracts to the lowest responsible bidder subcontracting 15 percent of the work to minority-owned businesses and five percent to female-owned businesses. The contractor who fails to do so will be rejected, even if he’s the lowest bidder.

Extra points for being not white or being a girl, being you know those people can't compete on their merits, and the hell with what it costs.

If you think that the lawsuit in the works over the above law would slow them down, think again.

The latest attempt to circumvent the law came yesterday, as the California Assembly passed a bill that would allow the (taxpayer-supported) University of California and California State University systems to consider skin color in admissions.

It doesn't matter what the Supreme law of the State says, theses elitists know better and in order to get an equal outcome, they write unconstitutional laws to attempt to achieve their goals. It doesn't matter that they tried this before and it didn't work, it just led to a high percentage of minorities dropping out of college because they were not prepared to handle the load.

If someone is not academically ready to go to University, that is what City Colleges are for. If you can complete 2 years at a CC and you've got the grades, then is the time to continue your education. Plus it saves a ton of money for all sides.

Even if racial preferences accomplished what social engineers and the professional civil rights industry hoped, they are discriminatory. Preferring one individual over another based on race means the other individual is passed over based on race. Has anyone read the U.S. Constitution and the Civil Rights Act lately?

As I’ve said so many times, I could recite it while comatose, the civil rights movement’s goal was to dismantle government-sanctioned and government-mandated racial discrimination. Blacks fought to be treated fairly as individuals protected by law, and not judged based on group membership. How things got turned around, where some blacks started demanding special treatment, is another topic for another post.

Nuff said

Love Your Children More Than You Love Death

With the Israeli's interdiction of the "Gaza Flotilla" this week I decided to take a little tour through You Tube land and see what videos were around on everyday life there. We always hear about the starving children and lack of water and gasoline, and I saw LOTS of videos depicting this. The thing I noticed about most of the videos with his perspective was that they were put out by "Human Rights" groups to show that their getting "much needed" supplies to the dying people of Gaza.

I took me a while, but I did find these, all taken in 2010:

Gaza Grocery Store



Seems to be a fair amount of food there and nobody seems be rushing the store for supplies.

Drive Through Downtown Gaza



Lotsa single occupied vehicles there for a place that has no gasoline.

Then I tripped across this and I think I may have hit a a clue as to why these people are having a hard time fitting in with the rest of the world.

Muslim Kindergarten Graduation Ceremony



Starts out cute doesn't it? Then 50 seconds in you start questioning what these 5-6 year old kids are being "taught"?

What is your Path?-
Jihad

What is your most lofty goal?-
Death for the sake of Allah

Allahu Akbar...Huh?

Let's compare here:

Kindergarten Graduation Video

YeeeHaaww!!!

Heading for Texas next week!

Going to Rottfest 2010 where I'll finally get to meet some of the people that I've been "talking" to for about 7 years now on the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler. Outside of a couple of plane changes in Dallas, I've never been to Texas and I'm really looking forward to visiting. It should be a good time. Beer, guns, BBQ...not all indulged at the same time (Mheh!).

This will also serve as a scouting mission. I have seriously thought about retiring to Texas, but being I've grown up in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, I'm not sure how comfortable I'll feel in a place where they say if you stand up straight, you can see into Oklahoma. I did survive a year in Phoenix, so I've lived in a relatively flat area before.

The flight should be interesting. Burbank to Las Vegas, sit (gamble) for an hour, change planes, fly to El Paso, then to Dallas. Coming home is even more fun. I actually go east first, well SSE, Dallas to Houston, then to Las Vegas, sit (gamble) for an hour, then home to Burbank. I even upgraded to "Business Select" (woohoo!), which give me the elite privilege of boarding in the first hoard AND one (1) free drink. I also can bypass the line up to the security checkpoint, but I always arrive early (an ACD I developed at around age 30), so that won't make a difference flying out. Coming home, I'll have to trust my hosts to judge traffic getting me to the airport with time to spare.

The trip will only cost me only one vacation day, so with my work schedule (4 on/4 off)I still will have what works out to 21 days off, if I took them in a block. I just won't have any money to go anywhere. I'm hoping to go to Korea next April to visit my son and see some of the Far East. If I don't go while he's over there, I'll never get there. (Of course if the NorKo's go berserk and actually start a war...I ain't going). Looking at today's airfares to Korea...I'm going to rack up a sh**load of credit card miles to afford the trip.

Just have to set up boarding the dogs and I'm outta here.

On Edge

I'm not sleeping easily these days.

Since March 26th, I've been a bit more on edge. I have a dog in this hunt. It's my boy. He's one of the 28,500 U.S. troops, facing 1,003,000 NorKo....and I'm hoping that his 540,000 ROK buddies are more motivated and better trained than I've been led to believe.

In the Koreas, Five Possible Ways to War

An Incident at Sea

Shelling the DMZ

A Power Struggle or Coup

An Internal Collapse

A Nuclear Provocation

When Chris enlisted I knew he could be put anywhere in harm's way, but Korea was one of those places that stuck him in a scenario that could go in any direction at any time. In the ME at least you know he's in a hot zone. In Germany, you figure he gets to travel and see some of the world. In Korea, even before the Cheonan, I was uneasy because it is soooo unstable there.

Our military is tied down in the ME, support is going to be slow getting to Korea if things go bad. Plus it looks like we are going to have to back Israel over the blockade incident which will require more assets committed there.

I guess I' just going to have to get use to restless nights for the next 14 months until his post is up. Of course I'll trade my anxiety to, at least, having things stay at the status quo.

An Alternate Reason?

I was listening to Talk Radio on the way home from work this morning and they we discussing the L.A. County Supervisors vote on a boycott of Arizona.

L.A. County votes to boycott Arizona over immigration law

I suppose the only thing that surprised me was that the vote was 3-2.

It did get me thinking though. I was wondering what other reason all these cities and counties would have to protest a state trying to enforce the law?

It suddenly dawned on me that their motive might possibly be SELF PRESERVATION!!!

When this law kicks in, illegals are going to flood out of Arizona, and they ain't going back to Mexico. Where are they going to go? L.A., San Diego, San Francisco, Boulder, Austin, New York, Oakland, Seattle, El Paso and Columbus. All these cities voted to boycott and put themselves on the list that the illegals are going to head for because they know they can find sanctuary there.

Kind of a double edge sword here. These cities are already quaking under the weight of paying for the amenities given out. What's going to happen when those 450,000 vacate Arizona and take up residence in their new barrio then apply for food stamps, WIC, go to the Emergency Room, ect. ? Now that they've advertised (again)that they are willing to take in people that don't pay taxes...and if you make 25K or under, you don't pay taxes...hell my kid the last time I did his returns not only got back what he paid, they decided he should get MORE back on top of that. If it was at least "Zero Sum", I might not have gotten upset, but he got a bonus thrown in. The taxes I paid got redistributed to him, plus I was getting the pleasure of providing his room and board.

The weeks around July 28th (the enactment date of SB 1070) should be interesting.