Qoute of the Day

"We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look." -- Ronald Reagan

It finally happened

Well, it finally happened. I was involved in an accident yesterday because someone got in too big of a hurry. As some of you may know, I drive a semi-truck for a living. I was making a TIGHT right hand turn into one of my customers parking lot. Because it was such a narrow turn, my trailer had to leave the right hand lane to make it. As I was getting ready to turn I turned on my signal showing which way I needed to turn. I then blocked BOTH north bound lanes so people behind me could see my intentions. I also almost came to a complete stop. During my turn even though my trailer left the right hand lane my tractor was in the right hand lane. The person that was in too big of a hurry tried to pass on the right hand side of me. WHICH IS WRONG TO BEGIN WITH! Left side = passing side Right side= suicide. Come on people, use some GOD GIVEN COMMON SENSE! (wait. I forgot. Some don't have any common sense.)
Anyway, maybe this post is just to get some road rage off my chest before I use road rage on the roads and some one gets hurt or worse. The good news is that no-one was hurt. Just some damage to vehicle. People PLEASE give trucks plenty of room. I know there truckers out there that shouldn't be driving because they are way too aggressive. Thanks for letting me vent.

Abridgement of Freedom

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." -- James Madison

Food for thought.

Time Erodes All

I took this photo of an old 1947 Cadillac and post processed it trying to give it an infrared (or at least near infrared) look. I really like how it made the rust spots and sun-faded paint come alive to give this relic of an bygone era a touch of extra character.

Morgellons Disease

There's an interesting article on Morgellons disease, the condition that isn't recognized as being real by many doctors and scientists, even though the physical symptoms seem to be quite noticeable. Read about it on NewsOK.com.

I've heard of this disease before, and it seems most common in Florida and Texas, though there seem to be cases popping up all over the country. It'll be interesting to see where the research leads to with this one.

I'm generally skeptical about things like these, but for some reason my gut instinct is telling me there's something very real and extremely serious with this... whatever it is.

Freedom

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." -- Ronald Reagan

Mail Delivery: Senseo Coffee Machine

The USPS pulled up and delivered a package for me about half an hour ago. Inside the box was a free Senseo coffee machine that I got directly from Philips. I figured since they were kind enough to send it to me with a package full of the little coffee pods that I'd go ahead and give it a try. It's quite a bit bigger than I imagined it would be, since I've never seen one before at the store.

They sent the medium roast coffee pods, and using a large mug (to fill it I either had to press the double cup button once and the single cup button once; or the single cup button 3 times) it made a pretty decent cup of coffee that's just a tad on the weak side. A single medium-roast pod using the double-cup button makes it just about the right strength, though I would prefer a darker roast, which will be what I buy at the store.

I figured it'll cost a tad more per cup than bulk drip coffee and filters, about 2.5 to 3 cents per cup depending on where you buy the pods, whereas regular drip coffee and filters equals out to around 7 cents for a whole pot. Still a heck of a lot cheaper than a buck for a cup of truck-stop coffee at the Flying-J, or that pseudo-hippie left-wing nuevo-riche Starpukes joint where you pay about 7 bucks for two swallows of hot water that tastes like they might have dragged a coffee bean through it.

Anyways, the Senseo critter seems like a good idea for the time being. Single servings of fresh-brewed coffee on demand, hardly any waiting. Auto-shutoff so you don't burn down your house. But not sure I'd be willing to pay retail for the machine itself, I'm a bit of a cheapskate and $60 to $75 retail for one of those critters seems kind of steep to me, especially when I can get drip machine at Big-Lots for about $10+tax.

Plecia Nearctica: Love Bugs

Plecia nearctica, they're everywhere. Once again it's their season. They're out in force and mating like crazy. They're nasty too, the 28 mile round trip to town and back left the front of the truck covered in them. One trip like that smears up the windshield so bad that it has to be washed after every trip. They are a major pain in the butt, and what makes it worse is the stuff in their little carcasses rapidly eats the paint of any vehicle. They have to be kept washed off and the paint waxed at least weekly during this time of year, to keep visible damage from occurring. What makes it worse is they are attracted to vehicle exhaust, so they cloud the roadways and swarm you when you're stopped. Heck, they were so thick in the air when I was mowing the lawn yesterday I just about had to wear a respirator to keep from inhaling any.

At least the local plethora of tree-frogs and skinks are eating well.

Website Text & Backgrounds

Fox News changed the format of their website http://www.foxnews.com, and quite frankly I liked it the old way better. The format change prompted me to rant a little bit. Their new format is too bright. I hate text on a white background on the internet. It's fine for paper, but it sucks when reading on a monitor.

Here's the deal, and more and more people are starting to say the same. Staring at a screen that is mostly white is about as bad as staring directly at a soft-white lightbulb. It begins to hurt your eyes after a short while. A lot of people are finding that a slightly darker background or a dark background with light text is far easier on the eyes, since a monitor is backlit. In essence, a monitor really is like a big lightbulb with text, colors, and pictures.

Of course there are the funky colored text on colored backgrounds can get pretty awful too. Ever try to read a site with red letters against a funky brown background or lime green letters against blue? Okay, those are the exceptions, but they are out there and I generally click away from them as soon as they load.

Anyways, I haven't yet had any complaints about my format yet, though I'm sure they will come. I tried to get a mix of background shading that doesn't hurt the eyes, isn't too bright or too dark, which lets the black text show with plenty of contrast. For me, it's easy to read, easy to see, doesn't give me headache looking at it. But then again, I went through any number of variations until I hit on something that (at least to me) didn't look awful.

Bona Fide Nutjob Blogger

Normally I don't go around insulting other people's blogs, but I'm going to make an exception in this case. As I was browsing through the various blogs on the internet, I stumbled across this guy's blog, who calls himself "James F. Marino" and named his blog "9-11 The Mother Of All Black Operations".

This guy is so far out in left field he's not even in the park. He claims he's the subject of government mind control techniques, but truth be told, I think he's more like the subject of controlled substance abuse. Now I thought maybe this dude was just doing some short rants for amusement, but his posts go on and on and on, and it's in every post of his, which seems to be pretty darn regular. This guy has some serious problems if he really believes the B.S. he's spouting off about, and frankly, he probably belongs in a room with padded walls and floors.

Since he deletes all comments that disagree with his, I'm posting about it here where he can't delete anything, nor do jack about it.

He's being stalked and harassed by the U.S. Government -- Sure, after all the government has nothing better to do with it's time. Dude, if the government had a problem with you, they'd either kill you or lock you away somewhere for the rest of your life.

He's a subject of government mind control -- James, if that really is your name, if the government really was controlling your mind, don't you think they'd keep you from publishing this so-called secret information you have on them?

The government is paying street gangs to harass him in his neighborhood -- Yep, live in a bad area and act like a nut-case and the gangs are gonna pick on you. It doesn't mean the government is paying them, it means you need to quit doing things to attract their attention. Quit playing neighborhood spy for instance.

The government has secret agents renting a house just down the street from him -- Dude, every neighborhood has some excessively private people with odd schedules. Get over it, they aren't out to get you. If they were, you'd already have been "gotten" by now.

The guy thinks that President Bush is Adolf Hitler -- That's really original, blame the President on all your woes, typical liberal bullshit blaming the President on your own failings in life. If I remember right, Hitler tried to exterminate an entire race of people based on their religion. I haven't yet seen any reports of Bush trying to do that, if anything he's trying to stop the nutjob terrorists who try and kill others based on their religious beliefs.

The government's constant harassing of him has caused his wife to leave him -- Hey, umm, James, hate to break it to you, but it was more likely your paranoid delusions that made her feel unsafe around you, thereby causing her to flee for her life in fear of you.

I could go on and on, but I've had enough fun at this guy's expense. The sad thing is, there are actually people out there who believe the kind of nonsense he's spouting off about.

First Amendment Rights

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.


First off let me tell you that if this makes you mad, oh well. Because I WILL NOT apologize for what I believe. Nor will I hold it against someone for having a different belief than myself. I REFUSE TO BE POLITICALLY CORRECT!!! Political correctness is for wimps.
Now with that being said I want to go over the third part of the first amendment. "or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press". If you have a blog, like this one, where you put down your thoughts, (whether right or wrong, and I can be wrong a lot) you are using FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND POSSIBLY PRESS. I get tired of hearing someone on the radio say, " I have to be careful here as not to offend somebody". Why can't more people be like some of these people:
Andrew Wilkow, Mike McCarville, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, G. Gordon Liddy, and Cam Edwards. You may or may not like or agree with one or more of these people, but as long as I have listened to most of them, I believe I can say that I have disagreed at one time or another with at least most of them at least once. But, they have always TOLD IT THE WAY THEY SEE IT! They are not afraid to say what they feel. They also research quite a bit more than I do on any given subject. That does not say that they are always right. Just that they say what they believe. The main reason I believe more about what they say than anyone else is because they don't sugar coat anything. They tell it like it is. I may disagree through ignorance, but can people just agree to disagree? No one is above anyone else. I get tired of the bitching and complaining about "somebody offended me." Everyone is offended by something. If you are offended you can always, 1. Quit listening 2. Quit reading 3. Change the channel. JUST QUIT YOUR BITCHING! IT OFFENDS ME. I don't think that your suing for political correctness will change anything. You need to either shut your trap, or change. (Now I could be very wrong about this next statement) I think that a lot of the rage in the world today whether be it road rage or any other type of rage stems from people having to be politically correct all the time. We need to make a stand to get rid of all of the political correctness. It seems to me that the same people that are screaming for political correctness are the same ones that trying to take away all our rights. Like the right to bear arms. They are the ones that took prayer out of schools. ( Or so they tried, as long as there tests in school there will be prayer whether they like it or not.) All these people that are trying to take away our rights need to be taken out of office. We have been fighting overseas for our freedom. Let's bring the fight home for our freedoms. Let's be free the way our forefathers intended us to be. Let's " petition the government for a redress of OUR grievances", let's fight to maintain our freedoms before they are all taken away.

Drivers Who Carry Guns & Roadrage

Taken from Popular Science article "Science Confirms the Obvious!":

"2. Gun-Toting Drivers are More Prone to Road Rage The Study: Is an armed society a polite society? Guns and road rage, Accident Analysis and Prevention, Jan. 2006

The Findings: After cold-calling 2,459 American adults with an anonymous questionnaire, researchers from the Harvard Injury Control Research Center discovered that directing indecent gestures at other motorists was significantly more common among suburbanites, binge drinkers, Northeasterners, those who think most people can't be trusted and, yes, those who admitted that they keep guns in their vehicles.

Why Bother? The paper says it best:If someone is giving you the finger, it may be useful to have some sense of whether or not they have a gun. Co-author Mary Vriniotis adds that states have recently loosened laws allowing motorists to drive while packing heat. The implication is that if lethal weapons are more readily accessible, hostile driving incidents could turn ugly more often. Knowing which populations are prone to road rage could help policymakers devise awareness campaigns or other strategies to help curb its frequency."

Let me put it like this: Horseshit, pure and simple.

1. If it were true, where are all the highway motorist-to-motorist shootings taking place that I never hear about in the news?

2. 2,459 persons out of a population of how many millions (estimate 296 Million +/- a few) of people in the U.S. is not a fair representation on any level of what might statistically be an accurate representation.

3. I've found when carrying a firearm in a vehicle I tend to become more polite and less aggressiveressive towards others, for the simple reason that I know the importance and responsibility of carrying a firearm in public.

4. So far every gun owner I've ever talked to about this subject has acknowledged having the same state of mind as I stated in #3.

5. Open carry of a firearm can help prevent road rage and aggressiveness of driving of other motorists toward you. When Johnny Speedracer sees a rifle or shotgun in the back glass gunrack of a pickup-truck, chances are he doesn't want to anger occupants of said vehicle. I've never been cut off, flipped off, or whatever when a gun is visible, only when not. Hmmm. Guns can help prevent roadrage and aggressive-driver caused accidents. See, guns actually make the roads a safer place.

6. It simply looks to me like they used this article as a means of doing another plug for the anti-gunners.

Neanderthal News

Read it on FOX News.

"Neanderthals might have held out in isolated refuges for thousands of years longer than previously thought, a team of scientists reported in the Web site of the journal Nature on Wednesday."

I've got news for them,they're still alive and well, holding out in isolated refuges just fine, and I happen to know this because I know some living breathing persons in the mountains of North Carolina who fit the description perfectly. See, you don't have spend thousands and thousands of dollars on scientific pooh-pah, all you have to do is just get out of your happy zone and go door to door in the backwoods of the Apalachians.

Crab Grass

Crab Grass, originally uploaded by Western Wisdom.

This was one mean blue crab. I guess you could say it was in a crabby mood. I suppose you'd be pretty irate too, if you were about to be dunked in a pot of boiling water.

September 11, 2006

America Will Never Forget the Tragic Events of September 11, 2001

Lethargic Saturday

I decided to just do some light blogging today, and post some pictures of my trip to Keaton Beach, FL I took back in the spring of this year. It's a quiet little beachfront hamlet on the Gulf of Mexico. It doesn't get very crowded, even during tourist season there never seems to be much of a crowd.
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This is Keaton Beach looking to the south-south west. Notice the plethora of sunbathing bikini clad women lined up shoulder to shoulder along the beach.

Here you see the pier where the fishing is best for the landlubbers without boats. There's lots of Grunts, Gar, and Ladyfish in these waters, but if you're persistent you can stock up Mullet, Grouper, and Mackerel. These waters are also filled with tons of Blue Crabs.

Now that we're at the end of the pier, standing under the covered gazebo, we sit back and breath a sigh of relief that we made it all the way to the end without being tossed over the side by those hordes of angry fisherman lining the railings.

Here's the beachfront looking north-west. It's hard to image how all those people playing in the surf can bear these overcrowded conditions. Be careful, there's sharks in the water!

This is really a high-falutin' place, it even has truck parking.

Time to go, I hope we can make it out before dark, it's going to be close what with the bumper to bumper traffic jam-packing the only access road in and out of town. All those skyscraper beachfront resorts really draw in the crowds.

Cleaning and Storing Your Firearms

When cleaning the barrel, always clean from the breech end of the gun, preferably using a rod guide to keep solvents and grime out of the action. The last 6 inches of the rifling is the most important for accuracy, with the crown being the most critical. If you must clean from the muzzle end, such as with semi-automatics, use a muzzle-guide to keep the rod from contacting the rifling.

It’s also best to use a stainless-steel or coated one-piece cleaning rod such as those made by Dewey. Stainless is best, brass is mediocre, and aluminum is a poor choice. The softer the metal of the rod, the more chance there is of the metal holding bits of crud and acting like an abrasive and scratching the lands of the rifling, eventually destroying the accuracy of the barrel. One piece rods are best for strength, and also because multi-piece rods sometimes don’t line up properly making it that much more prone to contacting and damaging the barrel.

Start out by wetting a patch with solvent and swabbing the bore thoroughly to get it saturated, or use a foaming bore cleaner. Let it soak a few minutes and then take a bronze or stiff nylon bore brush and scrub the barrel about a dozen times in each direction. Your barrel will probably be very cruddy at this time. Instead of trying to patch out all the crud, take a paper-towel and ball it up so it fits into the bore very snuggly, and push it through with the cleaning rod, this should have pushed out most all of the big crud, leaving only hard-fouling to be removed. A BoreSnake can be used for this step instead, but don’t stop and call it quits after using the snake, be sure to continue with the rest of the cleaning steps to remove stubborn copper fouling.

At this point you’ll want to wet another patch with solvent and soak the barrel again for several minutes. Follow up with a dry patch. Repeat the solvent/dry-patch routine until the dry patches come out clean without any hint of dissolved fouling on them. You can tell if you are still getting copper fouling out of the barrel because you will see a blue or green tinge on the patch. I’ve found that one of the best all-around bore cleaners is Birchwood-Casey Bore Scrubber®. It does a fine job on powder, copper, and plastic shot-wad fouling. Lead fouling always takes some elbow-grease no matter what product you use, but Blue Wonder™ Gun Cleaner does a good job on everything, plus makes short work of carbon buildup. I generally try to save the Blue Wonder™ Gun Cleaner for the tough jobs, as it’s really some potent stuff and not really necessary for every day cleaning tasks, as it strips everything from the surface of the metal (and I have a hunch it softens a gun’s bluing too) and must be followed up with a thorough oiling afterwards to prevent rust; if you inadvertently miss a spot, leaving it dry and unprotected, you will know a short time later because you'll see a rust patch on that spot. That's the nice thing about most other bore solvents, is that they leave a slightly protective coating that will keep the metal from rusting for a short time, should you not thoroughly apply a rust-preventative.

Once the cleaning is done you can wipe down the bore and rest of the gun with a good coat of rust-preventative. I’m rather fond of either Corrosion-X or BoeShield T-9 for rust-prevention inside and out. Be sure to lubricate the actual moving parts of the firearm with the proper manufacturer recommended lubricants. (Normally oil is used on the slides, rails, etc. {although Corrosion-X claims superior lubricating qualities} and white lithium-grease on pressure points such as bolt lugs.)

When storing the guns, be sure to wipe them down with a fresh coat of rust-preventative at least once a month. If not being shot for extended periods of over 6 months, I generally give the whole gun a thorough cleaning and re-lube the gun every 6th month. Long-term/low-maintenance storage solutions for guns being stored over a year or more could include coating the gun with a good preservative such as Cosmoline, but can be difficult to remove later on. I have a feeling BoeShield would be excellent for long-term storage, but I have not yet tested it for such.

Be careful of the solvents you use, some will ruin the finish on wood stocks; others will destroy a synthetic stock in no time at all. A synthetic stock generally needs nothing rubbed on it, while it’s best to rub a wooden stock with a silicon cloth or use a carnauba wax. Avoid oiling the stock with gun-oil like the old-timer’s did, once the wood becomes saturated with so much oil, the wood will become soft and begin to break-down.

It’s best to store rifles or shotguns that have rubber or similar recoil pads in a horizontal position. The recoil pad can become deformed from the weight of the gun resting on it for extended periods of time. Of course this is not practical with current trend of gun-safes going around, so if you have to go with a vertical-storage safe instead of gun rack or cabinet with horizontal storage, try and opt for a safe that has provisions for barrel-down storage. Steer away from the cheap gun lockers with the foam padding, the foam attracts and holds moisture and will rust your guns quickly. Any time guns are stored in an enclosed area with little air-flow, humidity can become a concern. Lighted gun cabinets work well if the lights are left on inside it around the clock, as the heat from the bulbs will help to dry the air. Unlit gun-cabinets can easily have these added, or if you prefer, you can add a dehumidifier such as the electric GoldenRod dehumidifiers or use the re-usable Hydrosorbent Silica Gel packs that can be dried out in the oven numerous times.

Never store your guns with the barrel plugged, any moisture inside will not have a chance to escape or dry out and will eventually cause rust and pitting, and harmful fumes from solvents not thoroughly flushed out can also cause unwanted damage to the metal. This seems like common sense, but obviously it isn’t as I’ve seen more than a handful of people do exactly that. Also, never store your guns in a foam-padded gun case, again, the same as the cheap gun-lockers, the foam will attract and hold moisture causing your guns to rust. Yes, stainless steel guns will rust too, just at a slower rate (it’s stainless in the essence that it will stain-less, not be stain-proof).

Never store your guns with pressure on the firing pin springs as this will serve to weaken them over time. For guns with enclosed hammers, or hammerless guns, if allowed by the manufacturer dry fire the gun to release the spring tension, otherwise use snap-caps. I recommend the metal ones as they last longer than the plastic ones. My last set of plastic ones were Tipton 12-guage shotshell snap-caps and they both cracked after about the 6th use.

I hope that you've found some useful tips and suggestions that will serve to help keep your guns in excellent condition for as long as you own them.

How To Break-In a New Rifle Barrel

I received an email recently asking me why people break-in their barrels and how they do it. They also asked about the best way to clean and store their firearms. So instead of just replying to the one who asked, I also decided to post the answers here on W-W. Today I will cover new-barrel break-in, and tomorrow I will cover proper cleaning and storage of firearms.

The purpose of breaking-in the new barrel is to try and squeeze every bit of accuracy potential out of the barrel. The break-in shots will help smooth the rough surfaces of the barrel, while the frequent cleaning will remove the fouling that fills in or builds up on the rough surfaces needing smoothed out, so that each shot will smooth out the barrel, instead of just building up excess fouling with each consecutive shot. A properly broken-in barrel will not only be more accurate, but will foul less and clean easier than a barrel that has not been properly broken-in
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If it is a particularly rough barrel, one might consider first using one of the various barrel lapping kits from Brownells or Midway USA.

Give the gun a thorough cleaning before shooting it for the first time. This will remove any dirt, preservative, fouling from factory test shots, lapping compound not removed from the factory, etc.

Before shooting, run a dry patch down the bore to remove any oil or rust preventative.

It will take about 20 shots to break the bore in. Use only copper jacketed bullets for this procedure. Do not use any bullets with special coatings such as Moly, Lubalox, or other proprietary coatings, no matter if it's black, blue, green, purple, orange, polka-dot, houndstooth, or black-watch tartan.

For the first 10 shots, clean the bore with a good copper solvent between each shot. Allow the solvent to work for several minutes before swabbing the bore dry. Make sure you clean the barrel well enough each time that no traces of copper fouling are present.

For the next 10 shots, repeat the same procedure, except clean the bore every other shot.

Once all twenty shots have been fired, give the gun a thorough cleaning and now the rifle's barrel should be broken in and ready for duty.

Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter is Dead

Read the whole story on FOX News.

I guess when you choose to do the things he does, it's bound to happen sooner than later. I suppose I shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but his motives were questionable. Perhaps this is justice for endangering the life of his one month old baby by carrying him into a pen of live crocodiles... you know, the biblical saying from Galatians 6:7 "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Maybe I've taken that out of context, maybe not.

I didn't much agree with his anti-hunting doctrine either. I guess it just goes to show, even though he wanted to be the animal kingdom's best friend, the animal kingdom didn't feel quite the same way about him.

More Criminal Control = Harsher Punishments

I don't know about y'all, but I get mighty sick every time I think about how easy criminals in this country have it. All these liberals seem hell-bent on making sure criminals in this country get lots of sympathy and comfy accommodations during their brief periods of incarceration. That is, if they even get sent to prison in the first place.

I've visited several of the prisons in this country, and I have to tell you, I was surprised at how good they had it. It's no wonder they didn't mind being prisoners, heck, if I fell on hard times, I wouldn't mind being a prisoner either in some of these prison-resorts.

Let's look at some of the things these criminals are being punished with:

A roof over their head.
A warm bed to sleep in every night.
3 full meals each day.
Hot showers daily.
Recreation facilities that in many cases are better equipped than public recreation centers.
Air-conditioned buildings in the summer.
Heated-buildings in the winter.
Cable T.V. is provided in many instances.
Medical and dental care.
High school diploma and college education programs.


How much do they have to pay for all this? Nothing, zero, zip, nada. They get it all for free at our, the taxpayers' expense. They don't have to go to work every day, they don't have to worry about paying the bills. They get it all handed to them just for being bad. Heck, in some ways they have it better off than about half of the working class stiffs do.

Many of these criminals are in prison their third, fourth, etc., times because they can't handle the responsibilities of the real world. They don't WANT to have to deal with the responsibilities of living in society. I've talked to numerous inmates that felt that way, but one will always be the most memorable.

My (now ex) step-daughter's biological father was released from prison several years ago. When he got out I did everything I could to lend him a hand to get him on his feet, he just didn't want to deal with it. All he'd talk about was trying to figure what kind of crime he could commit so he could go back to prison. I asked him, I said "Look, you just got released, why are you so intent on going back? Why don't you enjoy your new-found freedom for a while? Go straight, try and live a decent life." He wouldn't hear of it. He basically told me everything I've already told you. He couldn't handle the pressures of being free. He felt alone, and vulnerable in a big, open world. He didn't have guards protecting him every night, the excuses just went on and on. He couldn't handle the responsibility of working a real job, paying bills, or anything else. He wanted everything handed to him. In prison he didn't have a care in the world, never worried where his next meal would come from.

So a few days later he robbed a liquor store, took all the money, beat the owner nearly to death with a club, and walked down the road with a bottle of whiskey in his hand getting drunk until the cops picked him up a couple hours later. All so he could once again have all his needs taken care of for him.

As long as liberal lawmakers continue to oppress the free and look after the humanitarian treatment of criminals in this country, the problem is never going to be solved. We need harsher punishments for first time offenders. We need to take away all the comforts that these prisons offer. It would do wonders for reducing crime in this country if criminals had only harsh punishments to look forward to, instead of living on easy-street. Yeah, it's not so bad when your only worry is about getting shanked by a fellow inmate with a grudge. That's just one worry out of hundreds of others faced by living in society.

Get rid of the recreation facilities. Get rid of TV entertainment. Get rid of the educational opportunities (that one really gets me, all we're doing is producing smarter criminals). Make them get out in the hot sun and freezing cold 7 days a week for 14 or 16 hours a day doing hard manual labor. Take away their A/C and heat. Take away their padded bunks and give them a concrete floor to sleep on. Take away their nice meals and feed them dry dog food once a day. Get rid of the free medical and dental care; let them suffer, if they suffer in agony or die, too bad, they gave up their rights when they became criminals. Let them bathe once a month, and rot in their own filth the rest of the time.

If they committed a crime like murder, child molestation, etc. give them the death sentence. Don't give them a second chance to re-enter society so they can do it again. The same goes for multiple offenders of lesser crimes, if they've proven they can't reform, don't waste our tax dollars caring for them for the rest of their lives, give them the death sentence.

Harsh punishments like these will come a long way to making would-be criminals stop and think before they act. Yes, there will still be crime. There will still be crimes committed in the heat of the moment, and out of desperation, but I can guarantee there will be far less of them, and even less second offenders.

Quit treating those who defend themselves against criminals as if they themselves were criminals too. A man who has to take matters into his own hands to defend his family, life, home, and property should be praised and rewarded for the hero that he is, instead of being subjected to lengthily and unnecessary trials and investigations which rip apart his home and family life, as well as being scrutinized and condemned by the liberal media.

Compassion and humanitarian efforts are not for our country's criminals; save them for the needy and hungry citizens of this country who really need the help.

Defending Against A Knife Attack

Hat-tip to Cam Edwards from NRA News http://nranews.com for bringing up an interesting topic on his radio show last night. For those who missed the show, during the last half-hour of the show he basically replayed a "Man In The Street" segment where some lady said no-one needed guns to defend themselves against a knife-wielding wacko. (Well, that was one of many amazingly stupid things she said, but the one focused on for the most part.)She also states that brass knuckles are all one needs to carry to protect themselves from an attacker. Listeners then called in or IM'ed in with their responses to her insanely stupid reasoning.

In several, if not most, states it's illegal to carry brass knuckles. It doesn't matter if you're the good guy or the bad guy, if you have brass knuckles on you in public then you are committing a crime whether you use them or not.

I personally don't want to have to get close enough to a knife-wielding wacko to get cut and stabbed trying to punch the guy out with a set of brass knuckles. Getting hacked up with a knife is one the last things I'd want to happen to me, and a gun will most assuredly allow me to neutralize the threat without risking getting seriously wounded or even killed.

So that leaves brass knuckles out of the reasonable defense against a knife category.

How about another knife? Let's cut to the chase here (pun intended). Any weapon or instrument that doesn't shoot a potentially lethal high velocity projectile, whether it be a knife, baton, club, brass knuckles, lead-glove, etc., will require you to get into the personal zone of the assailant. This puts you, the defender in serious jeopardy.

Anyone who's ever seen the results of a knife fight or knife attack knows just how serious and gruesome knife wounds are. They aren't like the little cuts you get when accidentally nick yourself in the kitchen slicing an onion. Knife wounds from an attacker are generally very deep, long slices or stabs that will open you up like nothing you can imagine, and there's a great chance it'll sever a major artery or otherwise slice open internal organs. You will bleed, and you will bleed out fast, and chances are you will die before help ever gets to you, that is if you even get the chance to call for it. And that's if you're the winner, folks.

No thanks, I choose life and walking away a healthy, living person. Thanks to right to carry laws in most states, we get the chance to defend ourselves with guns that can put the attacker down quickly and from a safe distance.

But just carrying a gun is not enough if you drop your guard. You've got to constantly be aware of your surroundings. You've got to quickly formulate defensive plans on the spur of the moment and adjust your plan as the environment changes around you. You need to be able to recognize potentially hostile persons and dangerous areas. Never walk into an area unless you have a quick escape route, avoid blind corners, dark alleys, and the like. Don't play the tough guy and try and walk right through the middle of a gang, swallow your pride and cross the street, or turn around and find another less hostile route. The list of do's and don't go on and on and there is a never ending list of variables being thrown into the mix.

Get some self-defense training, obtain your concealed carry license, and teach yourself to stay on alert whenever you venture out. Don't be a victim if you don't have to be, and before the crap hits the fan, remember that it's better to have and not need than to need and not have. Your life, health, and safety is your own responsibility, and no one else's, not even the government's.

The Man Behind "The McCarville Report Online"

Mike McCarville is doing a series on his blog The McCarville Report Online entitled: “10 Political Figures I'd Want Watching My Back...And Why”.

If you've never visited Mike's blog before, now would be a good time to start. He's throwing away the political labels for this series and is giving you his politically unbiased opinion on the characters of the persons he'll be covering in his ten part series.

For those of you unfamiliar with Mike McCarville, I’ll try and give you a sense of who the man is.

Mike McCarville began writing at Del City High School as the Teen Correspondent for The Daily Oklahoman-Oklahoma City Times. After high school Mike spent part of his time in the U.S. Army’s PIO (Public Information Office) at Ft. Belvoir, Va., and also did a weekly radio show.

After being discharged from the Army, Mike enrolled at the University of Oklahoma and went to work in the Norman Bureau of The Daily Oklahoman-Oklahoma City Times, moving on to join the OKC staff in 1962.

From that time on, Mr. McCarville states that he bounced around from the Tulsa Tribune, Norman Transcript, and Oklahoma Courier, and then rejoined the Tribune in 1967 as State Capitol Correspondent.

In 1968 Mike became press secretary to Governor Dewey F. Bartlett. 1971 brought on a change to his becoming Assistant News Director at KWTV. In 1972 Mike co-managed Bartlett’s U.S. Senate campaign, ultimately becoming the Campaign Consultant.

1980 was a landmark year for Mike McCarville when he founded The McCarville Report, Byline Magazine for beginning writers, and Ford Owners Newsletter.

Mike went on to work part-time for KTOK News as Investigative Reporter. He became a full-time employee in 1993, began the talk show in 1996 and left the station December 31, 2005, having been on 10 years and 4 years as Program Director.

During all those years Mike explains that he did freelance writing for numerous publications which were national, regional, and local.

I asked Mike to recollect some of the most memorable moments of his career, and there were certainly some exciting, scary, and historic moments that he recounted: “The May 1999 F5 tornado...I was on the air. April 19, 1995, Murrah Building bombing...I was there within 10 minutes, spent almost three weeks on site nonstop. September 11, 2001...went on the air immediately. Lots of other moments as well: My interview with Jesse Jackson when, as my final question, I asked what he did for a living. "Well," he said, "I talk to people like you...have my CNN show...." He didn't know what to say. A moment I'll forever savor!”


When asked what prompted him to do his 10 part series entitled: "10 Political Figures I'd Want Watching My Back...And Why", Mike responded, “I was prompted to do this series because there are so many fine people in both parties out there that few know about; just my way of telling their stories based on my personal experiences with them.”

I asked Mr. McCarville, “With all the biased reporting floating around, how did you manage to keep your journalism so politically uncolored?” His reply was as refreshing as a spring breeze after the rain: “As for keeping bias out of my pieces...that's just the way I'm built, I guess. I strive to be fair and I've been around long enough, with enough experiences, that I recognize there are numerous sides to every story. I prefer to look at the positive sides.”

Mike has certainly led the way in well-balanced and unbiased journalism. His career has landed him a reputation for being one the few voices of truth in the chaotic and demanding world of journalistic media. No wonder the name Mike McCarville quickly became a well-revered household name throughout great state of Oklahoma.

Many thanks to Mr. McCarville for taking time out of his schedule to allow me to conduct this interview.

Christmas and the ACLU: W-W Style

Everyone in the blogosphere seems to be blogging about this message they're getting in the email. I got one too, so after you read it, or if you've already read it before, go to the bottom and read my take on the idea.

This is coming early (really early) so that you can get ready to include an important address to your list.

Read on........ What a GREAT idea!Fun with the ACLU......Wanna have some fun this CHRISTMAS? Send the ACLU a CHRISTMAS CARD this year.

As they are working so very hard to get rid of the CHRISTMAS part of this holiday, we should all send them a nice, CHRISTIAN, card to brighten up their dark, sad, little world.

Make sure it says "Merry Christmas" on it.

Here's the Address, just don't be rude or crude. (It's Not the Christian Way, you know!)

ACLU
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York, NY 10004

Two tons of Christmas cards would freeze their operations because they wouldn't know if any were regular mail containing contributions. So spend 39 cents and tell the ACLU to leave Christmas alone. Also tell them that there is no such thing as a "Holiday Tree". . . . It's a Christmas Tree even in the fields!!

And pass this on to your email lists. We really want to communicate with the ACLU! They really DESERVE us!!

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Okay, at first this might seem like a good idea. Everyone's saying, "Let's all send Christmas cards to the anti-Christian folks at the ACLU, that'll really show 'em!"

It'll show them all right. It'll show them what a bunch of morons people can be spending their hard earned money on none other but people they don't like. So the ACLU gets a bunch of mailbags full of Christmas cards. What are we going to really do to them? Inconvenience them for a few days? Whooptie-Doo.

Use a little logic and don't waste your money on a Christmas card to send to them, nor the cost of a stamp. With the price of the average Christmas card costing between $2 and $5, take the money spent on that one card, write out a check and send it to your favorite Christian-Rights organization that fights to keep your Christianity from being banned in this country. If everyone would do this instead, think of all the extra funding that would be used where it's REALLY needed.

I guarantee the money you give a Christian rights group is much more needed, and would be a bigger help in the long run, than that of wasting your money to cause a temporary inconvenience to ACLU by sending them a card.