John in Condition Yellow

Security Tips 101 for the Holidays

2011-12-13T15:15:00.007-07:00

Here's a few simple precautions to take when shopping for the holiday season (or any other time):

Shopping Online: Do not use public computers (such as those in public libraries) to order stuff online. It's an exposure of personal information, such as home address and credit card info.

Shop at retailers that are well known and trustworthy, and don't access website via links that were sent to you in emails. Always type in the website address.

Remember to update anti-virus software every day.

Shopping in stores: Keep all receipts and check them against monthy credit card and bank statements. If there are any discrepancies, notify the bank or credit card company immediately.

"Skimming" is the criminal act of attaching a credit card reader to a bank cash machine. When a customer swipes their bank card to get cash from their account, the skimmer records the number so that funds can be stolen from the account at a later time. Always check for odd-looking devices attached to the ATM before withdrawing cash.

At stores and restaurants, keep credit cards in sight when paying for items. If the waiter or store staff must take the card away, be sure they give you your card back, and not some other card.

Especially in crowded places such as stores, cash machines and bars be aware of people around you. if someone looks or acts in a suspicious manner, put some distance between you and them.

In a vehicle, store valuables in the trunk, or at least throw a blanket over them so criminals cannot tell if there is anything valuable in the car.

Connecticut Dodges a Bullet on a Magazine Ban

2011-04-18T17:16:00.005-06:00

Senate Bil 1094, that would have banned the possession and manufacture of magazines with a capacity of more than ten rounds, died in committee on Friday when the Judiciary Committee declined to vote on the bill. Bills like this are most certainly an infringement on the right to keep and bear arms, and do nothing to stop crime. I'm glad to see that the senators on the Connecticut Judiciary Committee see it that way. You only have to look at other countries that have enacted various types of gun bans to see the consequences. In Britain, restrictions on firearms have led to an increase in burglaries and home invasions, because criminals are no longer afraid of being shot if they break into someone's home. And as guns have become increasingly difficult to own, the increase in violent crimes involving knives has skyrocketed to the point where the stupid british politicians want to severely restrict ownership of knives and police actively request members of the public to turn in their friends who own a knife. Has anybody read George Orwell lately?
I personally have seen refrigerator magnets in a London police station that read, "If you know someone who has a knife ..." and then gives a phone number for a crime hotline.

We have to remember that gun control (and in some cases, knife control) is not about reducing crime, it's about politicians and governments making it harder for the people to protect themselves from crime (so that they become more dependent on government), and harder for the people to overthrow a tyrannical government. Every dictator in modern history has disarmed the population so that he could control them.

Where are they Now?

2011-04-04T08:48:00.008-06:00

Did you ever wonder what Harry Potter's enemy, Draco Malfoy did when he grew up?

Landed a cool gig as Vice President.

WWII Veteran is honored by the US Army Marksmanship Unit

2011-03-07T09:07:00.008-07:00

My friends at the US Army Marksmanship Unit, Ft. Benning, Georgia recently honored an 86-year-old World War Two veteran who was an Army sniper.

Medals are great, but for his service during WWII, the AMU gave this gentleman an honor that has only been bestowed on a non-AMU member eight times before: An AMU black hat.

Here comes the best part; they took him out to the sniper range and he shot not only a replica of the sniper rifle he carried in WWII at 300 yards but also the latest, hi-tec sniper rifle currently in use by the AMU at 1,000 yards. Click here to watch this great piece of video and see how well he did.

The Dangers of Gun Bill H.R. 308

2011-02-02T10:10:00.007-07:00

Following on the heels of the shootings in Arizona, congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY, 4 District) has introduced federal bill H.R. 308 The Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act. Unlike many previous gun ban bills that were an attempt to ban everything imaginable, this bill is very short. It is intended to "Prohibit the transfer or possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices, and for other purposes"

In other words, it is designed to reinstate the provision in the Clinton Assault Weapons Ban (1994 - 2004) that banned the sale of magazines with a capacity of more than ten rounds.

The H.R. 308 McCarthy bill, "magazine, belt, drum, feed strip or similar device that has a capacity of ... more than ten rounds of ammunition." and goes on to say that under the bill, it "... shall be unlawful for a person to transfer or possess a large capacity ammunition feeding device."

The bill does include a provision that keeps it legal for anyone who already owns any of the above mentioned feeding devices before the bill becomes law, to keep them.

This law is bad for a number of reasons:

First, this country is at war with radical Islamists. The troops who have been deployed since 2002 in the Middle-east use the same thirty-round capacity magazines in their M4/M16 assault rifles as civilians and law enforcement officers use in their AR-15 rifles. The troops use the same high-capacity magazines in their 9mm M11 pistols as civilians police officers use in their 9mm Beretta pistols. The sad fact is that the firearms industry that manufactures weapons for our military cannot survive on military contracts alone.

Without the money spent by civilians on these items, the firearms industry could not keep its doors open, and would not be able to supply our troops and our police officers.

Unless, of course, you want each magazine to cost the Pentagon ten times what it costs now.

Second, it isn't like we haven't already tried this legislation. The Clinton magazine ban was around for ten years. Did we see any reduction in crime because of it? NO. But one thing we did see was that pistols designed to run with higher capacity magazines were not always as reliable when running the hastily-redesigned ten-round magazines. Don't home-owners and the nine million people in this country who hold a concealed carry permit deserve to have a reliable pistol for their defense?

Representative McCarthy's passion for more gun control stems from the murder of her husband on the Long Island Railroad Commuter Train shootings in 1993 when a nutcase with a pistol murdered six people and wounded nineteen others. My heart goes out to her for her loss. But the answer to making the world a safer place is not to disarm law abiding citizens and put them at the mercy of those who wantonly and violently break the law. The answer lies in accepting the constitutional right of those citizens to arm themselves, if they choose, in order to successfully defend themselves and those for whom they care and are responsible.

And if that means carrying a pistol with one or more high capacity magazines, then so be it.

It's the violent nut cases of this world we have to curtail, defeat, and whose rights we should infringe upon, not those who already respect and obey the law.

Was this Harry Reid's former job?

2010-12-27T18:23:00.013-07:00

Have you ever wondered what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid did before he became a politician?
I think he was in radio. Click here to see Harry at work. He doesn't seem to have changed much.

Lame Duck Congress

2010-12-20T10:26:00.009-07:00

This week in Washington DC will mark the end of the Lame Duck session currently underway in the US Congress. This is the time between the conclusion of the mid-term elections for Senators and House members and the end of the current Congress. When the new congress convenes early in the new year, it will be comprised of those current members who have held on to their elected seats and also new members who won in last month's elections.

Right now, those members who did not win their re-elections are still working to pass laws in the last few frantic days of this session. They are called "Lame Ducks." The implication is that they are not in a position to achieve much. Lame ducks have the dubious honor of being able to pass legislation without being in office when it takes effect. It's like the high school kid who knocks up his school Principle's daughter and then runs off to join the French Foreign Legion.

Lame Duck is a stupid term. It implies a lack of ability to do anything. The dictionary defines "Lame" as weak, crippled or physically disabled, inadequate ... "Duck" is defined as to avoid or evade, and in the British game of Cricket it is a failure of the batsman to score. However, in the congress, these politicians are not lame ducks, they are still very dangerous and capable of inflicting massive damage--not least of which is their ability to spend this country into bankruptcy.

The term "politician" is derived from "poly" meaning many and "tic" meaning a blood sucking parasite. I had to look up "ian" in the dictionary and ... well, here's the actual quote from dictionary.com: "Suffix from the Latin - anus."

So there it is. In the last few days of Pelosi's First Reich, there is still time for them to leave a legacy of dangerous legislation that The Leader (Oops, sorry. I'm confusing him with the delusional, arrogant despot in North Korea) could sign into law.

Once again, Americans will be hamstrung by the legislation created by those whom they elected.
And they will become the real lame ducks.

Veterans day and Happy Birthday to the U.S. Marine Corps

2010-11-10T23:05:00.005-07:00

I was just about to blog Veterans Day, November 11 (which is also known in Great Britain and Europe as Armistice Day) and the birthday of the United States Marine Corps, November 10th, when I received the following from my good friend Jerry, a true patriot and also a Vietnam Veteran. He says it so much better than I can:

While this list of VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE doesn't come close to the
extensive list in my head and heart.... all of those since my earliest
memories, from the WW 1 Veterans who, with their crude prosthetic
devices and gas seared lungs, came home and dug coal, put down endless
miles of railroad, harvested an unimaginably massive hardwood forest,
layed the foundation for the industrial revolution and in their own
best ways dealt with their many demons right here in little old Buchtel
and many, many other such places, right up to and including todays best
and brightest..... it IS a respectful attempt to bestow HONOR AND
DIGNITY TO ALL who have stood tall and still do today when their country
calls. It is a modest and heartfelt effort to simply THANK THOSE who
offered it all.... left their families far behind; risked their lives
and yes, even worse; to keep our home on track of becoming the finest,
freest, most emulated, loved and feared nation in the short history of
modern man. No other nation has ever offered such promise, realized the
coming true of so many dreams, or stood ready to defend such great
ideals as has and done the United States of America. "THANKS" TO ALL WHO
WEAR THE TITLE, "VETERAN". GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES,
AS YOU HAVE INDEED MADE AND HAVE KEPT IT ALL POSSIBLE !! AND,TO THE
FEW, THE PROUD, THE UNITED STATES MARINES, " HAPPY BIRTHDAY" .....
SEMPER FIDELIS !!! SULLY

A musical tribute to our military branches

How to Ask Questions of Political Candidates

2010-10-18T10:35:00.004-06:00

Political candidates love to meet and greet voters face to face, and it's a great opportunity for voters to ask the candidates how they stand on a specific issue. But some candidates are very good at telling the individual voter what they want to hear, rather than what the candidates actual opinion is, and therefore how they are likely to vote on the issue.

For example, when a voter asks a candidate, "What about supporting the Second Amendment?" the candidate knows that he has to give some sort of pro-gun rights answer to that voter to increase the chance of that person voting for him .

Likewise, when another voter who asks the same candidate, "Why can't we just ban handguns?" that same candidate knows that depending on his real opinion on that issue, he can either open up to that voter and wholeheartedly agree with them, or at least soften his stance on the issue in order to appease them.

Matchsticks under the fingernails may be one way to get a truthful answer from a candidate, but there is a better way. And it's all about how the question is asked: "What about guns?" gives no indication how the person asking the question feels about the issue. Therefore, the candidate cannot fabricate an answer, he might as well say how he really feels and risk giving an answer that the voter disagrees with.

This approach can work with any candidate on just about any issue. Try it and watch them squirm as they try to figure out an appropriate answer. It's fun, and often very interesting.

Terrorism Against the West - A Chain of Events

2010-10-12T10:03:00.036-06:00

August 7, 1998 I was sitting at work, checking the news online when the news broke that two US embassies in Africa had been bombed by terrorists; one in Kenya and the other in Tanzania.
In January 1999, a US Government accountability review board report stated concerns over the "Inadequacy of resources to provide security against terrorist attacks ... and the relative low priority accorded security concerns throughout the US government ..."

The embassy bombings reminded me of the bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983 when 241 Americans were killed by a suicide bomber who drove a truck carrying six tons of TNT into the barracks.

In October 1985, the cruise ship Achile Lauro was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists in the Mediterranean Sea. The hijackers demanded that 50 Palestinians be released from jail in Israel. They murdered an American tourist in his wheelchair and threw his body overboard.

On Dec 21 1988, a terrorist bomb exploded aboard Pan Am flight 103 above Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 243 passengers, 16 crew members and 11 people on the ground. One of the terrorists responsible for the bombing was later tried and imprisoned in Scotland, but later released on humanitarian grounds because his doctor thought he only had three months to live. He's still alive and living in Libya.

At the World Trade Center in New York City in 1993, terrorists exploded a truck bomb in the basement of the North Tower, killing six people and injuring 1,042.

On October 12, 2000, the US Navy warship, USS Cole was attacked while it was refueling in the port of Aden in Yemen. A small boat carrying suicide bombers and an estimated 1,000 pounds of high explosive approached the side of the ship and blew up, causing a huge gash in the hull, killing seventeen sailors and injuring 39 others.

On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four US airliners and flew two of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and the fourth aircraft--thanks to the bravery of the passengers and crew, who fought back against the hijackers--into a field in Pennsylvania.

Madrid, Spain, March 11, 2004, in the worst terrorist attack in Spain's history, terrorists bombed four commuter rail lines into Madrid, killing 190 people and wounding 1800.

London, England, July 7, 2005, four terrorists blew up three London Underground trains and one bus, killing 52 civilians and wounding approximately 700 more.

On November 5, 2009, Nidal Malik Hasan, a US Army officer stationed at FT. Hood, Texas shot and killed 13 people and wounded 30 others. He survived being shot by a civilian police officer, who then arrested him. Today, a military court will determine whether to put the accused officer on trial.

Today, the civilian trial begins in New York City of a man accused of being involved in the bombings of the two American embassies in Africa. The judge has thrown out the prosecution's star witness.

I'm sure that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the West's support for the Pakistan government in it's efforts to neutralize the threat of terrorism from within its borders have all helped to reduce the threat of more terrorist attacks in the west. But it isn't enough. It seems to me that the average person in the street has not really woken up to the fact that there are no front lines and that this is not a conventional war. The only time the average person really thinks about terrorism is when they have to take their shoes off at the security checkpoint at the airport. That is not enough.

There are two important things to remember:
1. Everyone is a combatant.
2. Whatever methods and tactics prove successful overseas, sooner or later they will show up here in America.

Are we ready? Are we in Condition Yellow?

Johny Winter On Tour

2010-10-02T09:28:00.021-06:00

We got a chance to see legendary rock and blues guitarist Johnny Winter in a little bar called the Belly Up in Aspen, Colorado the other night. It makes such a nice change to sit and have a beer twenty feet from the stage instead of sitting in a huge, impersonal auditoreum surrounded by thousands of people. Johnny and his three-piece band (rythm guitar, bass, and drums) played for a solid ninety minutes with only one slight pause while he changed guitars. He kicked of the session with a rockin' rendition of Freddie King's "Hideaway" and just blew the audience away through the rest of the set with 50s rock 'n roll numbers like "Bony Moronie" and blues standards like Freddie King's "Tore Down."

And what would a Winter gig be without his version of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61"--which Johnny and the band played at double time, without missing a beat! Not bad for an old guy who has to sit on a chair for the entire gig; but his fingers are still lightning fast and his playing looks so effortless. Not surprising though, from an artist who regularly makes it into Rolling Stones Top 100 Guitarists list.

Keep on rockin', Johnny!

The Farnam Method of Defensive Shotgun and Rifle Shooting

2010-08-21T14:15:00.015-06:00

If I had to choose only one book as a reference for self defense using a rifle or shotgun it would be this second edition of the Farnam Method of Defensive Shotgun and Rifle Shooting[ISBN 978-0-9659422-7-0]. While principles remain the same, over time tactics and weapons can change to meet new demands. John Farnam is on the cutting edge of those changes. John has a practical way through his classes and by interacting with other professionals in this field to determine not only what tactics and equipment work, but also the circumstances in which they should be employed.
The book covers among other things: Operating systems, sighting systems, ammunition selection (and why), stoppage reduction (It is my opinion that if you’ve never had a stoppage in your weapon you aren’t training realistically enough for a self-defense encounter), fighting positions, weapon retention and a whole lot more. While the book is certainly a great addendum to formal police and military training, it shines as a textbook for the ordinary person who wants to protect themselves from violent career criminals and who recognizes that while having to defend oneself with a firearm is a remote possibility, when it does happen it is vital to have not only the best equipment one can afford, but also the best understanding of how to effectively and decisively use that equipment. This book (as much as any book can substitute for formal training on the range with a professional instructor) will show the reader how. The book is available from DTI Publications and also at Amazon.com

What Have We Learned About the Times Square Bombing Attempt?

2010-05-08T08:48:00.004-06:00

Do we really know what the true goal of alleged terrorist bomber Faisal Jahzad was when he built his car bomb and placed it in New York's Times Square?

Here is a man who appears to have connections to radical terrorist groups, and who is educated and intelligent. But according to statements made in New York, he built a bomb that was "amateurish".

We cannot rule out the possibility that the main purpose of planting the device was not to create an explosion, but to learn how security forces would respond to such a threat. It is not inconceivable that, as in other parts of the world such as the middle east, the larger plan would be to attract police into the area by planting a small device and then trigger a much larger bomb.

The most important lesson we can learn from this incident is that if we really want to know what our enemies have in store for us, we must look at what they are already doing successfully in other parts of the world. Terrorists swap ideas and training amongst different groups. Whatever works in Iraq or Afghanistan, Beirut or Israel will eventually be tried in the USA and the UK.

Congressman is Concerned that Guam may Tip Over

2010-04-01T15:45:00.002-06:00

Here's a You Tube clip of a congressional hearing in which congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) is questioning a US Navy Admiral about the congressman's concerns that the Island of Guam may capsize due to the number of people on it. Click here to see the video

No, I'm not kidding. No, this isn't an April Fools joke. You can't make up stuff like this.

I feel sorry for the Navy warrior who is required to answer questions that a five-year old might ask.

Back in the USSR

2010-03-22T19:40:00.004-06:00

A fundamental change occurred on Sunday with the passage of the healthcare bill. It's hard to understand why it seems to be so necessary to try to fix every aspect of healthcare in this country all at once. There is an old saying that the way to eat an elephant is to do it one bite at a time. But in the case of fixing the problems with the existing system, it seems that trying to do the whole thing in one gigantic bite is the preferred method.

Watching the voting on Sunday night, it reminded me of another time in another country when a fundamental change, years in the planning stage, that affected the citizens of an entire country was effected in the space of a few hours. The country was Germany, the year was 1938, and the event--when thousands of Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps, was dubbed Kristallnacht.

On Sunday, legislation masquerading as a bill to improve the health of the people of this country, was passed by the House of Representatives and in doing so, ushered in a socialist society.

Welcome to the new America, The United Socialist States of the Republic (USSR).

Wyoming Concealed Carry Law Straightened Out

2010-03-05T09:13:00.005-07:00

Last year, a legislative glitch occurred in Wyoming when the state's chief legal eagle, Attorney General Bruce Salzburg, was conducting a review of the reciprocity conditions between Wyoming and the other 49 states. The AG discovered language in the state's reciprocity law for carrying a concealed handgun which reduces Wyoming's reciprocity with many states. The fix was to create legislation to change the existing wording.

I was notified today by one of Wyoming's legal experts that the changes to clarify the legislation have been made and the governor has signed them into law. This is good news. Kudos to Wyoming state authorities for fixing the glitch.

Health Care Summit in D.C.

2010-02-25T11:00:00.006-07:00

I'm watching the President's Health Care Summit currently running live on Fox News from Blair House in D.C.

The country's top politicians are all assembled in a big room discussing and debating how to reinvent health care. I think our politiciens should be commended for holding a meeting that is broadcast live to the world. This is the way that politics should be conducted in a free and open society.

And now that we have them all right where Americans want them, let's give them all swords and lock the doors from the outside.

Gun Rights Restored to U.S. National Parks

2010-02-23T08:45:00.006-07:00

On February 22, a new federal credit card bill became law. The law included a rider that restores the right to carry concealed firearms in most of the nation's national parks by people who have a permit to Carry a Concealed Weapon (CCW) for the state in which the park is located. This is good news for law-abiding citizens who have had to risk attacks by violent criminals or aggressive animals while visiting the nation's parks. The gist of the law is that if the state in which the national park is located allows for citizens to carry firearms, then that same right is extended into the park.

Not all parks are included in the list; The Statue of Liberty, for example is exempted by the law, although it would have been exempted anyway for all regular people, because although New York City allows for concealed carry with a permit, only a few wealthy or politically connected people actually have them.

Is the law important? Yes, in 2006, there were 11 murders, 35 rapes, 61 aggravated assaults in national parks. it may seem a low number compared to some cities, but if you are one of the victims, then your statistic is 100 percent.

Its Still Snowing in Washington D.C.

2010-02-11T14:44:00.006-07:00

The people in Washington D.C. are used to snowjobs, but usually they take the form of speeches from lying politicians. But this week, the 2 - 3 feet of snow that's been dumped on the mid-Atlantic states and the nation's capital is real testimony to the climate crisis that scientists (who receive grant money for research) and famous people (who want to save the polar bears) would have us believe is caused directly by those of us who drive cars and trucks.

If that is the case, then why aren't these people jumping up and down in their winter coats in front of the TV and newspaper cameras, waving their snowshoes above their heads and yelling, "I told you so"?

And why are people asking:

(Cartoon: garyvarvel.com)

Criticism from the British press

2010-02-09T10:30:00.004-07:00

The following is an excerpt from an editorial that appeared in the British newspaper, the Daily Express:

" ... spread welfare dependency and attempted to dismantle our national identity through multi-culturalism .... He has run up debts that will take generations to clear and created a prohibitively expensive public sector. ... based around expanding the state, downgrading personal responsibility, destroying nationhood and rewarding victimhood."

The Express is complaining about the dismal job that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (Labour Party) has done, and how Britain couldn't be any worse off under a new Conservative government.

Why? Who did you think they were talking about?

Wounded Warriors

2010-02-05T10:21:00.006-07:00

In the years since this shooting war began shortly after 9/11 we've lost a lot of good people in combat, and a lot of our military personnel have been terribly wounded. They need the support of the people they volunteered to defend "from all enemies, both foreign and domestic."

Homes for Our Troops is one organization that is supporting these heroes by adapting homes for severely injured veterans.

Please take a few moments to watch this video of Trace Adkins and the West Point Cadet Glee Club. Just click here. and then please take a look at the Homes for Our Troops website by clicking here.

"What a Horrible Woman"

2010-01-28T08:52:00.010-07:00

Here's an interesting clip from CNN's Jack Cafferty reporting on the congressional delegation's trip to Copenhagen last month for the world climate change conference. It seems that aside from the actual delegates, there was a whole bunch family members and hangers-on who also got a free ride at tax payers expense, courtesy of the Speaker of the House, who, according to this CNN report, refused to answer questions about how much the trip cost US taxpayers.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, it seems that the state of Denmark isn't the only place where there is something rotten.

With the exception of Lou Dobbs' reporting, I've always considered CNN to lean a little bit towards the left in it's coverage, but perhaps those days are drawing to a close. Cafferty's monologue gets more worked up and scathing as he describes Pelosi. Just like the emperor's new clothes, even some news networks are waking up to a regime that is not what they expected. Here's the link to the video.

More Special Elections Before November

2010-01-27T09:41:00.014-07:00

In case we thought the special elections ended with Scott Brown's outstanding win in Massachusetts, there are more to come:

In Broward County, Florida ( Ground Zero for ballot recounts in the 2000 presidential election) The surprise mid-term resignation of Congressman Robert Wexler (D) puts the 19th Congressional District up for grabs. Traditionally, 19th District has been heavily Democrat, but this year, three potential Republican candidates are vying for the red seat at the special election on April 13th. According to the Florida Sun Sentinel, "state Sen. Ted Deutch, D- Boca Raton, is the odds-on favorite to become South Florida's newest member of Congress." the Sentinel goes on to say,"Three candidates are seeking the Republican nomination: Joe Budd, a financial planner; Ed Lynch, a contractor who ran against Wexler in 2008; and Curt Price, a retired Fort Lauderdale police officer who owns a business that sells safes. None has held elected office before."

Hawaii's First Congressional District is also up for a special election after Congressman Neil Abercrombie (D) resigned in order to run for Governor. Historically, Republicans in Hawaii have had about as much chance of getting elected as Rosie O'Donnel has of being hired as a pole dancer, but this year, may be different (the election, I mean ... ). House Rep. Charles Djou is running as the Republican candidate, while the Dems are fielding more than one candidate. The blog, Jumping in Pools explains that, "There will be just one election, where all candidates from both sides will be competing for a plurality, leaving the top vote getter as the victor who takes the seat, and resulting in a united GOP in excellent condition to sneak an Aloha victory."

Read more: http://jumpinginpools.blogspot.com/2009/12/upcoming-elections-of-importance.html#ixzz0dpjZSX73

Time to stock up on beer and chips. It's going to be an interesting election season.

Hitler Reacts to Scott Brown's Senate Win

2010-01-22T08:17:00.004-07:00

It's Friday. Time for a little fun.

Here's a very funny YouTube clip that probably mirrors the sentiments of some people in Washington and San Francisco.

Click here for the link.

Enjoy!

Never Let an Election Go to Waste

2010-01-20T10:36:00.003-07:00

Republican candidate for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, Scott Brown's win yesterday in Massachusetts may be a taste of things to come in the November mid-term elections when the entire U.S. House of Representatives and one-third of the U.S. Senate is up for re-election.

The electorate is fed up with Chicago-style politics in Washington D.C., and this morning I suspect that many incumbent Democrats and maybe quite a few Republicans are considering their options and wondering if they should run again in November.

I wish Scott Brown luck in his new position. I hope he works to restore fundamental conservative values to a party and a government that has tried for too long to be a big tent and encompass all people and all opinions. The correct word to describe this is not "Diversity", but "Fragmentation",

Personally, I'm almost as tired of the Republicans as I am of the Democrats. In some cases, it's hard to tell the difference. Having lived through several elections in a country that had first a three-party, and later a four-party system of government, I can only say that while our two-party system invites the frustrating procedure of voting for the lesser of two evils, a multiple-party system often splits the vote between the two most capable parties, thus allowing the worst party to actually be elected!

So, while I support the unofficial Tea Party and it's attempts to rein in the abuses of Democrats and Republicans alike, I don't see the Tea Party ever becoming a viable third party option. I would, however like to see the Tea Party replace either the Democratic or the Republican party. Neither one has earned the trust and respect of the American people for a long time.

Good News for Wyoming Concealed Carry Permit Holders

2010-01-15T11:47:00.004-07:00

I just received this from a reliable source. Currently, 48 of the 50 states allow some version of concealed or open carry of a handgun for personal protection. Wyoming is one of those enlightened states. They just need to tweak the wording to their legislation a little bit.

The right to self-defense is surely the most basic of all rights. Nobody would blame a dog for biting the person who kicks it; nobody would blame an animal for attacking the hunter who is trying to shoot it (I'm a hunter, by the way); so why would anybody question a person's right to defend themselves with a firearm when the alternative is injury or death?

But I digress. Here's the good news from the State of Wyoming:

OFFICE OF GOVERNOR DAVE FREUDENTHAL
State Capitol
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Ph. (307) 777-7434

January 15, 2010

******FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE******

Contact: Jonathan Green, Press Secretary
Phone: 307.777.7437
E-mail: jgreen3@state.wy.us

Gov. Freudenthal Backs Legislation to Restore Concealed Carry Reciprocity

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Gov. Dave Freudenthal has announced his support for proposed legislation to restore Wyoming concealed carry reciprocity after the current statutes were found to be ambiguous. Senate File 26 is sponsored by Sen. Cale Case of Lander.

Gov. Freudenthal said, “This is important legislation that ensures that lawful permit holders in and out of Wyoming can carry firearms as originally intended. I am very pleased that Senator Case has proposed legislation which remedies this problem and will take us back to a place where we have reciprocity with a significant number of other states.”

Last year, Wyoming Attorney General Bruce Salzburg discovered language in the existing law that would have significantly reduced the number of states to which Wyoming could grant reciprocity. Reciprocity is where two states agree to accept one another’s permits. Freudenthal and Salzburg agreed to postpone implementing a decision reducing the number of states who could legally carry concealed firearms in Wyoming, in order to give lawmakers an opportunity to craft a legislative fix. Salzburg believes the proposed legislation will clarify the statute and remove the problems with determining which states should be granted reciprocity.

“The existing statute requires the Attorney General to determine whether other states' concealed carry laws have requirements that are 'similar' to Wyoming's. The problem is that other states' laws are similar to Wyoming's requirements, in some respects, and markedly dissimilar in others. Because reciprocity is an important issue, I wanted more certainty regarding the scope of my statutory review of other states’ laws,” Salzburg said.

Sen. Cale Case is the primary sponsor of the legislation, with co-sponsors Sen. Eli Bebout, Rep. Edward Buchanan, Rep. Pat Childers, Rep. David Miller and Rep. Owen Petersen. The Governor sent a letter expressing his support for the legislation to the bill’s sponsors, Thursday.

Who Really Wants to Disarm Gunowners?

2010-01-07T16:29:00.012-07:00

Despite victories by pro-individual freedom groups in the United States to promote laws allowing carrying of concealed weapons for self defense, and lawsuits like D.C. v. Heller that reaffirmed the individual Right to Keep and Bear Arms, as declared by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the forces of darkness are gathering here and overseas to ban gun ownership by "mere" citizens around the world. Here's an interesting video about the international efforts to severely limit or ban private ownership of firearms. Just click here to watch it.

Throughout the world, throughout history, kings and governments that have held superior firepower over their citizenry have become less benevolent and more dictatorial, simply because they could. The Founding Fathers recognized this fact when they wrote the United States Constitution and made sure that the right of the people of the USA to own guns would always be there (along with other safeguards) to keep a balance of power between the people and the government.

If you don't think that totalitarian government is a possibility in the 21st century, consider the British parliament's decision to hand power over to the bureaucrats in the European Union. These people have done to Britain what the Nazis failed to do. Click here for the story. But of course, the government had already almost completely disarmed the population through a series of restrictive gun laws that date back to the early 1920s.

A Look Back: The Best Quote of 2009

2009-12-31T09:53:00.002-07:00

"We should be long past applauding politicians of any hue: they got us into this mess. The best deserve a probationary opportunity to prove themselves, the worst should be in jail."
Gerald Warner, The UK Daily Telegraph, January 20th, 2009 (Inauguration Day)

Northwest Airlines terrorist attack

2009-12-26T07:37:00.006-07:00

The Christmas day attack on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit by a passenger who ignited an incendiary device is an important reminder for all of us. If the passenger really is connected to Al Quaeda, as he claimed, it is another example of that organization's strategy to repeat it's attacks on a target until they are successful.

In 1993, Islamist terrorists lead by Ramzi Yousef detonated a bomb in the basement of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, killing six people and injuring 1,042. The attack was intended to bring down both towers, but failed. In 2001, however, the terrorists were back with a different method, crashing aircraft into the towers. As we know, this time they were successful.

On 22 December, 2001, Shoe Bomber Richard Reid attempted to ignite explosives aboard American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami. He was overpowered by passengers and crew and is now in jail.

In 2006, British authorities arrested three men accused of plotting to blow up at least seven trans-Atlantic airliners in one day over the Atlantic, by detonating liquid explosives.

This latest attempt on the Detroit-bound flight shows that Al Quaeda is still determined to bring down airliners. It also illustrates that they don't quite have the technology worked out yet, but as with the WTC bombing, they are persistent.

It also shows that increased security at airports is important as a first line of defense to stop terrorists and explosives getting onto airplanes, but as in this latest case, cannot be relied upon to prevent every single attack.

The most important lesson we can all learn from this is that once an aircraft takes off, the only people who can save themselves are the crew and the passengers. It doesn't matter how many F-16s are scrambled to escort the aircraft. Those fighter pilots cannot take out the terrorists on the aircraft, they can only shoot the plane down before it can be crashed into a target on the ground. It is vital that when a passenger starts to act in a threatening manner, such as trying to ignite a bomb, the passengers and crew act immediately and decisively to take him down with overwhelming physical force.

A Christmas Poem

2009-12-23T11:21:00.001-07:00

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,

Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times..

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many
people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our
U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people
stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq

Dear Al Gore

2009-12-23T11:19:00.005-07:00

Dear Mr. Global warming,

It was 23f at my house this morning. That is only slightly warmer than Hillary Clinton's personality. I thought you might like to see the weather forecast for Colorado and surrounding areas. I fail to see how global warming is such a problem when we are experiencing winter storms like the one that came through here about a week ago, accompanied by about six days of sub-freezing temperatures. That storm covered 895,000 square miles from the Rocky Mountains all the way to the east coast. I don't yet know how large the current storm is, but there are already forecasts that the airlines will have more trouble keeping their flights in the mid-west on schedule than those British climatologists had keeping their fabricated-data emails from public view. As I type this, my neighborhood is getting a snow-job that's almost as good as the stories about the ice cap melting and polar bears becoming extinct.

But don't take my word for it, here's the forecast from a meteorologist in Denver:
Snow will increase and spread across the state tonight. 9NEWS Meteorologist Marty Coniglio says that the southwest corner of Colorado will be hardest-hit overnight with other areas getting snow, just not quite as heavy, through the morning hours Wednesday.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect for the foothills west to the Continental Divide from 5 p.m. Tuesday until 5 a.m. Thursday. Locations within the advisory include but are not limited to Breckenridge, Estes Park, Bailey, and Idaho Springs. These areas could see 5 to 12 inches of snow accumulate by early Thursday morning.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY also includes Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, the entire Interstate 25 corridor and Eastern Plains locations out to Deer Trail from 8 p.m. Tuesday through 5 p.m. Thursday. These locations can expect 4 to 8 inches of snow to accumulate by early Christmas Eve day.

Winds will also be an issue the further east you travel with gusts up to 45 mph causing low visibility for travelers and blowing and drifting snow.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY also includes the Sangre De Cristos and Wet Mountains of southern Colorado, and the Walsenburg and Trinidad areas. Mountain locations can expect 5 to 10 inches of snow by Thursday, while lower elevations will see 4 to 8 inches of accumulation.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect for most of southeast Colorado, the panhandle of Oklahoma and north Texas from late Tuesday through Thursday. Expect 4 to 8 inches of snow to accumulate in locations like Lamar, Holly and Springfield by late Thursday.

A WINTER STORM WARNING is in effect for part of southwest Colorado, including the southwest San Juans and Durango vicinity until 6 p.m. Wednesday. Mountain locations can expect 10 to 18 inches of snow to accumulate by late Wednesday, while lower elevations will see 4 to 8 inches of snow.

A WINTER STORM WARNING is in effect for extreme eastern Colorado, western Kansas, and western and southwest Nebraska from 5 p.m. Tuesday through 11 p.m. Thursday. Locations such as Akron, Limon, Burlington and Ogallala, Nebraska can expect 5 to 10 inches of snow to accumulate by Christmas Eve. If you are planning to travel, gusts above 40 mph in the warning area could create near blizzard conditions with blowing and drifting snow.

Travel will be extremely difficult throughout Wednesday as this storm moves across the state.

Along with the snow, it will get much colder along the Front Range over the next couple of days. Highs will only be in the teens and twenties through Christmas Day, with extremely cold northerly winds. Some overnight lows could drop into the single digits.

Michael Morse, Firefighter and Author

2009-12-18T11:23:00.007-07:00

I've added a new link to John's Favorite Links, on the right side of this page. Michael Morse is a Providence, Rhode Island firefighter. I got to know Michael while I was working for the company that published his excellent book, "Rescuing Providence". Michael also helped me when I was researching some first aid information for my book on bugging out of dangerous situations.

I think I've made it pretty clear in some of my blog postings just how much I love and respect our military people; Our civilian emergency people are cut from the same cloth. When the rest of us listen to our survival instinct and run from danger, these guys ride to the sound of the guns, so to speak. Who can forget the firefighters on September 11, 2001 who were running UP the stairs at the World Trade Center, or who rushed to the Pentagon that same morning, to pull military personnel and others from that burning building? Same mindset, just hoses instead of rifles.

It's Always Nice to be Published

2009-12-12T11:01:00.018-07:00

One of the biggest kicks any writer gets is to see their work in print. Even if it's only an advertisement in the local paper that says, "Eat at Joe's" we all get a thrill in knowing that somebody is reading something we've written, tweaked, and sweated over.

So this month I was doubly thrilled to see my article, "Chopping and Changing: Personalizing a Fighting Handgun" in the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of Concealed Carry Magazine. The article describes what are arguably the basic attributes that a self-defense pistol may need, and some of the ways to chop and change a pistol for it's owner. I had the opportunity to tour the Robar facility in Phoenix, Arizona, where they do some incredible gunsmithing and refinishing on practical, tactical firearms. (Big thank you to Robbie and the staff at Robar for their hospitality).

Also this month, I got a call from the editor of American Cop magazine to tell me that my article which compares the IRA-5, a 9mm short-barrel rifle produced by Iron Ridge Arms in Longmont, Colorado, to a short-barrel AR-15 for police work such as SWAT team building entries, appears in the January/February 2010 issue of American Cop magazine. (Another big thank you to Oliver and the guys at Iron Ridge Arms).

Both magazines are available by subscription only, so you won't find them on the shelf at your local store, but they are both quality publications, and both are available for download off the internet.

The solution to the Fort Hood Shootings was There All the Time

2009-11-23T10:34:00.012-07:00

I've deliberately avoided rushing to comment on the shootings that occurred at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5th. I've been waiting for the dust to settle and for the general debate to at least consider alternatives beyond denying Muslims the opportunity to serve in the military, keeping Muslim soldiers out of war zones, increasing security, etc, etc, ad nauseum. But so far I haven't seen much else.

I don't see that racial profiling--although it makes sense when looking for middle-eastern terrorists--will help much if the next service person to shoot up an installation happens to be a crazy Methodist of Icelandic origin.

The solution to this particular type of problem has already presented itself, and it works. The perpetrator, a US Army officer was stopped by civilian police officers who shot him.

It used to be that officers and NCOs in our military routinely carried loaded sidearms. It was part of their job and their duty. Along the way, the military seems to have bought into the idea that guns are bad and that all problems can be solved by launching a B2 bomber or a guided missile. (This may be one reason why the Pentagon is constantly updating aircraft, ships and missiles, but our soldiers are still carrying virtually the same rifle their fathers did in Vietnam and Desert Storm. But that is a discussion for another time.) The truth is that on the battlefield, infantry is always required to hold a piece of ground. There is an old saying to the effect that in battle, the last one hundred yards has to be taken by men with rifles.

In the same way, soldiers carrying loaded pistols wherever they go are far more effective than those who are unarmed. Some people will say that having more guns carried by soldiers will make it more likely that another shooting may occur. But I say that guns in the hands of soldiers who are loyal to their country and their fellow soldiers does not increase the threat, it decreases it. As we have already seen, the real threat is a gun in the hands of the bad guy, when he is the only person who is armed. We've seen this at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and many other schools that purport to be "Gun Free Zones" and now we've seen it on a military base.

It's time to restore the time honored tradition that fighting men (and women) should boldly proclaim themselves to be warriors, both on and off the battlefield, and that they should act and dress accordingly. And that means carrying a loaded sidearm and being trained and confident in their capabilities to use it.

Today We Honor Our Veterans

2009-11-11T08:09:00.004-07:00

Our veteran service people have done more for their country than any other demographic. Not only have they defended this country through it's many wars and skirmishes, but the vast majority of them have gone on to have productive careers, continued to be good, contributing citizens and pillars of the community. Many more never came home.

But it is not by chance that we celebrate Veteran's Day on November 11th. Today is also Remembrance Day and Armistice Day in other parts of the world. This refers to the signing of the Armistice in France at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 to end World War One.

If you love your freedom, thank a veteran.

Not the Beginning of the End, but the End of the Beginning

2009-11-04T08:41:00.006-07:00

Yesterday's off-year elections revealed quite a mish mash of public opinion: gay marriage lost in Maine (the 31st state that has voted it down), Breckenridge, Colorado voted in favor of legalizing marijuana (despite the overriding state law that forbids it), the Republicans picked up two new governors in Virgina and New Jersey, and the Democrats took control of a Congressional seat in Northern New York State that hasn't been held by a Democrat since the last civil war.

Did I say, "last" civil war? Well if you think about it, our political system is a lot like a civil war. There are two clearly defined armies--red and blue--every two years they launch campaigns that result in a battle called voting at the polls, and once the votes are counted territory, huge pieces of land, comes under the control of the winner.

The Founding Fathers fought a real shooting war to gain independence from the British. It's hardly surprising that some of those facets of revolutionary war found their way into our Constitution. And it's hardly surprising that as a nation, as large and diverse as we are, that we seem to be so divided over political and social issues. But that's OK, I'll take votes over bullets and ballots over bombs any day.

Today, the day after those elections, marks the first day of the 2010 campaign season ("campaign" - there's another military term). But this one is a little different from previous campaigns. First, campaigns are starting earlier and costing more--even at local levels. Second, I think there is a lot at stake. Possibly more than we've had to deal with in decades.

In 2010 all the House members and one third of the Senate will be up for re-election. The current government has made it clear that it wants to remake America as a socialist nation. I grew up in a socialist country. At the end of World War Two, Great Britain was one of the three great superpowers that included the USA and the USSR. In the space of a half-century, it has been reduced by socialism to a third-rate banana republic. The implied message from the British government that I grew up with was simple: Pay your taxes and keep your mouth shut, and the government will take care of you from cradle to grave.

I didn't want to live that way, so I came here. Now I see the same sentiments growing among some politicians in this country. Pass a sweeping health care bill without reading it; Pass another gun ban bill that punishes law-abiding citizens, not criminals; avoid the issue of porous borders that allow illegal aliens, drug dealers, other criminals and terrorists to cross with impunity. None of these issues are about the issues, they are simply tools to completely remake this country as an entity where the government controls the individual, where the concept of a sovereign nation has no importance or relevence, and where the People can no longer point to traditions, and cultural traits and say, "this is what makes me an American."

But the tide may be turning. We no longer have to rely on three network TV channels and a bunch of (failing) leftist newspapers for our information. The internet and cable TV news has had a huge positive effect on First Amendment freedom in this country. And I think that will become even more evident between now and election day, 2010.

The Republic may be in peril, but I think the tide is turning. As Winston Churchill once said, "...[T]his is not the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning."

The Problem with Leftists

2009-10-21T08:46:00.007-06:00

I don't know where the following originated or I'd give the author credit, but it is simply too true to pass up. Notice that almost all of the liberal's reactions would have to involve a lawyer. Also, in fairness to some old-school, traditional liberals, I think the word "liberal" should really be replaced with the word "leftist". "liberal" in the dictionary refers to people who are broad minded. I don't think that can be said of leftists.

If a conservative doesn’t like guns, he doesn't buy one.
If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.
If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy.
A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a black man or Hispanic are conservative, they see themselves as independently successful.
Their liberal counterparts see themselves as victims in need of government protection.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don’t like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn’t go to church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it’s a foreign religion, of course!)

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

If a conservative slips and falls in a store, he gets up, laughs and is embarrassed.
If a liberal slips and falls, he grabs his neck, moans like he's in labor and then sues.

If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.
A liberal will delete it because he's "offended".

A Very Special Guest Blogger with an Important Message

2009-10-05T16:31:00.021-06:00

I've never turned this blog over to a guest blogger before, but this one is very special. Please take a moment to read this important message from my friend, Shelby.

Team: Shelby’s Saints!!!! City: Atlanta, GA
Venue: Centennial Olympic Park
Date of Walk: 10/17/2009
Registration Start Time: 8:00 AM
Walk Start Time: 9:30 AM
Length of Walk: 3 Miles

My name is Shelby Dowdy. I am 12 yrs old and I was diagnosed on August 13, 2009 with Type 1 diabetes. My life now consists of finger checks, insulin shots, and counting carbs. Join me and my family as we walk for a cure!!!!! If you aren’t interested in walking you can make a donation in my honor to help find a cure at the website below or I would be glad to turn it in the morning of the walk. If interested in walking or pledging please email my mom, Jessica Dowdy at jessicadowdy@bellsouth.net. If you would like to join our team, go to this link, http://walk.jdrf.org/ , click on register for walk, find our team in the list Shelby’s Saints, and register!!!

John's Been a Little Busy Lately...

2009-09-26T12:35:00.007-06:00

Phew! September is just zipping by. I've been preoccupied with a couple of big projects lately and haven't had much time to blog. First, my book, "The Street Smart Guide to Bugging Out and Staying Alive" is available from Delta Media as part of a book and CD survival package they put together.

That was followed by an invitation from radio talk show host Mark Walters to appear a couple of weeks ago on his Sunday evening radio show, Armed American Radio. This is a syndicated show, that is quickly being picked up by radio stations across the country. It's also available at the Armed American Radio website as a podcast. Just click here to go to Armed American Radio.

Finally, I'm a collaborating editor on a rewrite and update of "The World's Assault Rifles" by Thomas B. Nelson and Gary Paul Johnston, a massive volume of weapons from around the world, with plenty of photos and technical and historical information. It's being published by Ironside Publications, and it should be available around the end of this year, maybe very early next year.

I haven't had much time to comment on all the big things that are happening in the world: Iran's nuclear program, G20, the government's plan to have us plunge headlong into socialism via healthcare, the way our President avoided the Libyan and Iranian leaders at the U.N. this week (Teddy Roosevelt would have punched their lights out).

So instead, I'll just leave you with a question from another president...

9-11-01 Never Forget Those Who Died, Never Forget Those Who Killed Them

2009-09-11T07:10:00.011-06:00

Photo: Firefighters work to put out the fire at the Pentagon the morning of September 11th, 2001.

"Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward and freedom will be defended... make no mistake, we will show the world that we will pass this test." President George W. Bush

Today, we remember the attacks on our country that happened eight years ago and heralded a war that continues today around the world. More than three thousand people lost on the East Coast, countless tens of thousands of people--military and
civilians--dead or wounded around the world in the past eight years. This is a war that will last for decades. We fight an enemy that is driven by an ideological fervor to eradicate any civilization, any religion, any nation, and any person that disagrees with their beliefs.

We have witnessed attacks on other countries like Britain and Spain, we have witnessed horrible acts against individuals, like the beheading of journalist Daniel Pearl. We have seen countries like Afghanistan hijacked from its people by groups like the Taliban.

...and in this country, we waste time debating the morality of waterboarding suspected terrorists?

During another war, British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill said it best, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." - Winston Churchill, Speech in November 1942 British politician (1874 - 1965)

Writing my Elected Officials About Obama's Healthcare

2009-09-09T10:39:00.005-06:00

I just finished emailing my congressmen about my opposition to heath care. I sent emails to:
House Rep. Jared Polis, 2nd congressional district (D-CO), and Senators Mark Udall (D-CO) and Michael Bennet (D-CO). Here is the text of my letter, I'll post any replies that I receive.

"Dear ...,

I was born in England and later came to the United States as a Legal immigrant. I'm proud to say that I am now a United States Citizen (and a registered Democrat). One of the big reasons I left the UK is that I did not want to live in a socialist country. Now, with this new administration, I see the same red flags (no pun intended) being raised that I saw in the country of my birth. Socialized medicine is a failure.
It is a one-size-fits-all policy that treats the individual as simply another number. Here's a personal case in point:
A couple of years after my dad retired--after working his whole life and never being sick, or using National Health resources--he was told he needed to have cataract surgery, and the doctor put him on the list for the operation. A few weeks later, he was notified that because he's retired and does not need to see to drive to work, he was being bumped DOWN the list for a few months so that people who needed to see to drive to work could take priority.
I ask you, what kind of treatment is that that for someone who has worked and paid their taxes their whole adult life?

Any government program that is directly linked to the economy does well in good times and poorly when the economy tanks. In Britain, it isn't unusual for a hospital to close a wing for a year or two until there is government money available again.
In this country, We The People don't want government involvement in our lives, particularly in our healthcare system.
I say: Yes to tort reform. No to the Public Option. And especially, NO to further government intrusion in our lives in the name of advancing a socialist agenda.
Thank you for your time.

The People Who Got Us into this Mess

2009-09-07T09:35:00.011-06:00

The following article written by veteran journalist Charlie Reese has been around for a while, but as I sit here this Labor Day morning watching Fox News cover the ongoing healthcare debate, congresspeople's shenannigans, the President's picnic today with the union leaders who helped him get elected, the appointment of a manufacturing czar by the Whitehouse (with no oversight by the Congress)--not to mention the worst recession since 1983 and the growing mountain of public debt that this country has stacked up, I don't think I'm the only person in this country who is thinking, what is going on? What would Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin and the rest of the Founding Fathers think? And how did we really get to this point?

Well here's the answer from Charlie Reese:

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high

taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred Senators, 435 Congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices -- 545 human beings out of the 300

million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress

delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability

to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician

$1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it

is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in

this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.

No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.

The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for

originating and approving appropriations and taxes.

Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not

the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree

to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present

facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to

those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then

it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red ..

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ .

If they do not receive Social Security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they

want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists,

whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take

this power..

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy,"

"inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

Ted's Still Dead, Guess Who's Back

2009-08-27T08:57:00.006-06:00

With Ted Kennedy's passing, the family must be looking around for a new patriarch. But who is the logical choice for male head of the family?

Ideally wouldn't it be another forceful political personality with a solid political record and good name recognition?

I know...It's well-known Republican Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger! Oh, the irony!

Hasta la vista, Baby!

Ted's Dead

2009-08-26T11:39:00.011-06:00

U.S. Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (February 22nd 1932 - August 25 2009) has died from a malignant brain tumor at the age of 77.

This certainly marks the passing of an era. Ted Kennedy was the last of the four Kennedy boys born to Joseph Kennedy Sr. and Joan Fitzgerald Kennedy. Joseph Jr. died serving his country during World War Two when the airplane he was piloting blew up, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963, Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 during the presidential campaign. Senator Kennedy is survived by his son, Patrick, who is a member of the House of Representatives. But I think the political tour de force that was the huge influence the Kennedy family had on politics in America for more than five decades is pretty much over.

I cannot say that I agreed with much of Senator Kennedy's liberal political views. He supported many anti-Second Amendment bills that threatened the right of a free people, as individuals, to keep and bear arms.

In 1969 at Chappaquiddick, Kennedy's car ended up in the river, and Mary Jo Kopechne died. It seems to be generally agreed that the incident, with all the questions that surrounded Kennedy's actions at the time, nixed any real chance he may have had to follow in his brother John's footsteps to become President. But Kennedy did go on to a long career as a U.S. Senator, where he championed many worthy causes to benefit the individual rights of Americans (except for the right to own a gun, of course, and despite the fact that at least some of the time he was protected by people with guns).

Personally, I believe that Chappaquiddick prompted Kennedy to champion many worthy causes, such as civil rights and universal healthcare as some sort of atonement. Nobody can accuse him of being a slouch in the Senate.

But whether we agree or disagree with Senator Kennedy's politics, he was undoubtedly an icon.

Socialists get a Taste of Their Own Medicine

2009-08-14T08:26:00.009-06:00

In a recent Fox News poll, 52% say that "...the noisy protesters at town hall meeting are expressing authentic outrage. Some 52% think it is real outrage by concerned citizens--significantly more than the 29% who think the protestors are fake mobs planned by lobbyists and other opposition groups."

I've been saying for a couple of decades that the way to beat socialism is to use the same tactics against socialists that they use against us. Conventional wisdom says that conservatives don't protest in public. Generally speaking when you see a noisy rally on TV it's a group of people with left-leaning political views.

But now we are seeing huge numbers of middle-aged and senior people protesting publicly, and noisily by going to these town hall meetings to protest socialist healthcare. We saw a similar thing on Income Tax Day (April 15) when thousands of people, old, young, Republican and Democrat, organized the Tea Party rallies to protest big government.

Conservatives are behaving like socialists. They are protesting noisily, they are shouting down elected officials when they feel those officials are lying to them. In short, they are applying the tactics of the Left against the Left.

Is it any wonder that some socialists accuse these people of being part of fake mobs? After all, fake mobs, rent-a-mob, has been a tool of socialism for decades. So when socialists see the same tactics used against them, they automatically assume that those people are faking their anger and frustration.

The truth is that the genie is out of the bottle. Once people understand that the things they have worked for all their lives are about to be taken from them, they get angry.

Fake? I don't think so. More like the tip of the iceberg.

This Guy is One Tough Parachutist!

2009-08-07T11:10:00.012-06:00

One of the most exhilarating things I've ever done is a parachute jump with the U.S Army Golden Knights parachute display team (click here to read my blog story). These soldiers are true professionals, and excellent ambassadors for the Army.

Today, a former member of the Golden Knights, SFC Dana Bowman made a special parachute jump onto the grounds of Walter Reed Hospital. This is one of the Veterans Administration hospitals for our service people and veterans.

What makes Dana Bowman's jump even more significant than usual is that he lost both legs and his partner in a skydiving accident in 1994, when the two Golden Knights teammates collided in freefall at a combined speed of about 300mph. But within five months of his accident, Bowman went back up and made another jump. After the accident, he created a new career for himself as a motivational speaker, and he jumps regularly to demonstrate that the right mindset and attitude can overcome just about anything.

In case you're wondering about how SFC Bowman lands on two prosthetic legs, it seemed to me, watching the live coverage on Fox News this morning, that he lands on his butt!

Journalists Freed!

2009-08-06T14:23:00.008-06:00

I think most people breathed a sigh of relief when the two American female journalists touched down in California on Wednesday after being freed from detention in North Korea. Kudos to former president Bill Clinton for flying out to North Korea to meet with dictator Kim Jong Ill, and making sure that the release took place. It's for situations like this, that we are fortunate to have a few ex presidents on hand. They understand diplomacy, they have credibility around the world, but they are not directly connected to the current Administration, so there isn't much room for the other side to criticize them, or expect any concessions.

No, President Clinton was undoubtedly the right man for the job. Who is better qualified to pick up two young women--perfect strangers--and take them home with him?

Nobody should have to endure twelve years in a North Korean prison for straying across the border in what seemed to be a fairly innocent mistake. I mean, come on, when millions of illegal immigrants deliberately come across the U.S. border, we don't lock them up for twelve years, we argue about whether or not they are entitled to free health care!

Anyway, all kidding aside, I'm sure we are all glad that the two journalists are home.

Bill Clinton Goes to North Korea

2009-08-04T07:53:00.013-06:00

No, the former president isn't emigrating to avoid higher taxes on the wealthy. He's doing what I criticized Al Gore for not doing a few weeks ago: trying to secure the release of the two female american journalists who accidentally strayed across the border into North Korea, and ended up with a twelve year sentence to a labor camp.

CNN reports that while the visit is a private trip on Clinton's part, it has the blessing of the White House, because Clinton is also carrying a letter from President Obama to give to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. We can only speculate about the contents of the letter, but I think there are only two likely topics, either a request for clemency for the two journalists, or it's a request for North Korea to resume talks on ceasing its nuclear weapons program.

Lets hope that the former Prez is successful in bringing these two journalists home. But it does beg the question, why didn't the Secretary of State go? Remember back in the '90s when Bill and Hillary were running for the presidency? They said that if elected, America would actually get to-for-one, implying that Hillary would be a politically active First Lady.

How ironic that, now Hillary is Secretary of State, it's her spouse who is the other haf of the Secretary of State team.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2009-08-01T14:47:00.011-06:00

Unless you've been living in a cave in Afghanistan, you probably know that President Obama hosted a beer bash with black Harvard law professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge Massachusetts police officer Sgt. James Crowley, who arrested Gates. All three are seen here, presumably on their way to knock back a few cold ones. I wondered if this photo might have been photoshopped but it appears on the White House blog, so I'm assuming it's genuine.

I could ramble on about my interpretation of body language, but really, once you look at the photo you either get it or you don't.

A Fallen Hero Receives the Medal of Honor

2009-08-01T14:08:00.017-06:00

Our nation's highest military award for conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty, the Congressional Medal of Honor, has been awarded to Sergeant First Class Jared C. Monti of Raynham, Massachusets, who was killed in action on June 21st, 2006 during a firefight with Islamist terrorists.

SFC Monti was deployed with the Tenth Mountain Division in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. SFC Monti had already rescued one wounded soldier when he was shot and killed by Taliban forces while rescuing a second soldier.

Since 1861, the President of the United States, on behalf of the Congress has awarded more than 3,400 medals to individuals from the five service branches of our military. At least SFC Monti is in fine company.

The presentation of the Medal of Honor will be made on September 17 at the White House to SFC Monti's parents. A memorial scholarship fund has been set up in SFC Monti's name. Donations can be made by clicking here.

Justice Dept. Goes Easy on the Shoe Bomber

2009-07-31T09:28:00.019-06:00

The U.S. Department of Justice has decided to lighten up on convicted shoe bomber, Richard Reid.

Reid, you may remember, is the terrorist (oops! is it still politically correct to use that word?) who tried to blow up American Airlines flight 63 from Paris to Miami in February, 2002 by igniting explosives hidden in his shoe. Fortunately, a passenger noticed Reid trying to light the fuse, and flight attendants took him down and subdued him until the Boeing 767 landed in Boston.

Reid was incarcerated in federal prison here in Colorado along with other nasty pieces of work such as four of the terrorists--including leader Ramzi Yousef--responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, co-conspirator of 9-11 Zacharias Moussaoui, Jose Padilla -- the Dirty Bomber, and Bin Laden's personal assistant (use your imagination...) Wadih el-Hage.

Reid complained to prison authorities that he was being prevented from conducting daily group prayers as dictated by his religion. This seems a little strange to me: First, it implies that Muslims cannot pray alone, only in groups. Second, it seems like an excuse for a mini terrorists convention at the prison every day. Third, if Reid was so concerned about his religious freedom, maybe he should have considered the consequences before he tried to murder a plane-load of people, forever robbing 197 souls of all their freedoms, religious and otherwise!

But that's OK, under "special administrative measures"(SAM), the federal prison authorities have not been allowing Reid to contact the other terrorist prisoners, so who cares what he thinks? Well, since Reid is incarcerated on U.S. soil, he is protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and religion, just like the rest of us. And now, the Justice Dept. has seen fit to suspend those SAMs. Amazing. Next thing you know, we'll be closing the Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorists and sending the inmates to a tropical paradise to serve out their time...Oh yeah, I forgot; we're already doing that.

Senator Barbara Boxer is at it Again

2009-07-21T16:16:00.012-06:00

A while ago, US Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) reprimanded a Brigadier General during a senate hearing for calling her "Ma'am", saying that she worked hard to earn the title of Senator. Never mind that in the US military, it's customary to address women as Ma'am as a sign of respect.

Not content with upbraiding a senior military officer, during a recent senate committee hearing, the senator also offended Harry C. Alford the head of the Black Chamber of Commerce by presenting an opposing view to that held by the BCC on energy policy, from two other black organizations: The NAACP, and One Hundred Black Men.

Boxer might just as well have said that because Mr. Alford's Black Chamber of Commerce does not share the same official position as her, she found another black organization that does. The video tells the whole story (click here).

So how come we haven't heard complaints from Jesse Jackson or the Reverend Al Sharpton? Simple. Who's side would they take in a fight between a white liberal woman and a black conservative man? Better to stay out of this one altogether.

"God, Guns, Guts, and American Made Pickup Trucks"

2009-07-19T11:49:00.009-06:00

Here's an interesting piece of video from CNN. The reporter is interviewing a car dealer in a rural part of the United States, where they are giving away a free AK-47 with every purchase of a new vehicle. The car buyer must still obtain the rifle through a local gun dealer, and go through the usual criminal background check, etc. before actually taking possession and ownership of the firearm.

The interview is interesting because it highlights the difference in cultural attitudes between urban and rural people. It's worth noting that the CNN reporter is unable to clearly articulate her concerns about this gun giveaway, while the car dealer has no problems explaining why a legally-owned, semi-auto AK is a viable option for people who live 15 minutes away from the closest police response want to defend their homes from violent criminals. Click here to watch the interview.

You can also take the poll in the top right corner of this page.

Will Members of Congress Have the Same Healthcare as the Rest of Us?

2009-07-16T11:32:00.029-06:00

(Photo. Representative John Fleming (R- 4th District, Louisiana) meets with health care professionals at a Louisiana hospital)

Imagine a hypothetical situation some time in the not-too-distant future where you are sitting in the waiting room of a government-run doctor's office, waiting several hours to see a doctor:

The door opens, and in walks Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) she's there for her regular procedure, a short operation that the doctor calls a cranial-rectal separation (it involves a winch, a tow rope, and a baseball catcher's mitt). Anyway, in this imaginary scenario, she sits down next to you and begins to complain about the healthcare system.

"But," you say, "don't all members of Congress have their own health care plan?"

"Not any more," the Speaker grumbles, "Some republican house rep from Louisiana introduced legislation that makes congress use the same universal health care as the rest of you."

And here is where we leave fantasy behind and return to reality. Because, a Louisiana congressman has actually introduced legislation that will do just that. It will make our elected officials subject to the same government health care that the rest of us peons will have to endure.

Representative John Fleming (R- 4th District, Louisiana) has introduced House Resolution 615 that will make politicians give up their own expensive health care plans (The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program) and use the same government-run health care that they are trying to impose on the rest of us. Congressman Fleming was recently interviewed on Fox News, and stated that 48 Republicans have signed onto his resolution, while not one single Democrat has. Not One. But that's OK, you can go to the congressman's website and view the list of politicians who have agreed to abide by the same law as the rest of us. Is YOUR congressman there? Click on this link to find out. Incidentally, I'd like to thank one of Colorado's Congressmen, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R - 5th District) for signing on.

If you don't see your congress critter's name on the list, and you feel that what's good enough for the rest of us is good enough for our elected representatives, you can download a letter of support to send to your elected House Representative in Washington D.C.

It looks Like Judge Sotomayor will be Confirmed

2009-07-16T11:05:00.011-06:00

It's looking like Judge Sonia Sotomayor will make it out of the Senate hearings on her confirmation to the Supreme Court pretty much unscathed. I watched some of the hearings this week, and she does seem to have a pretty good idea of what judges should, and should not do.

I do wish she had been more forthright when questioned by republican senators about her view of the Second Amendment, particularly since it's likely that another gun rights case--such as last year's landmark Heller v. D.C. decision--will make its way to the Supreme Court some time during her career (which is a lifetime appointment.)

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that her judicial record is, "generally in the mainstream", "not an activist", and went on to say that he thought Judge Sotomayor would keep an open mind on gun rights. I think Senator Graham is a smart and capable man, and I hope he's right. The Second Amendment, which states that "...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." is, to most people, self-explanatory. All I ask is that any judge who has to make a ruling based upon those words from the Bill of Rights takes them at face value. I hope that Judge Sotomayor will do that.

One Democrat's views on Cap and Trade

2009-07-15T09:44:00.008-06:00

Recently, my wife wrote to Congressman Jared Polis, (Democrat, Second Congressional District, Colorado) asking him to vote against the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, also called the Cap and Trade bill, currently under consideration by the in Congress. Cap and Trade is the energy bill that if passed, would, according to the Heritage Foundation, cost each American household "3,000 per year".

According to Newsmax, House Minority Leader John Boehner claims the legislation will send many jobs overseas and put "millions of Americans out of work".

Newsmax also quoted President Obama as saying that under Cap and Trade, "...electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."

This sounds like a pretty serious piece of legislation. It sounds like there should be some pretty serious debate and discussion between legislators, and also between the Congress and the American public. After all, isn't that why we call our legislators in Washington "elected representatives"?

So when my wife wrote to Representative Jared Polis (Democrat, Second Congressional District, Colorado) we expected a detailed, reasoned response. Here's the congressman's email in it's entirety:

"Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition/support for H.R. XXX, the XXXX Act of 2009. I appreciate hearing from you on these important issues, and I apologize for any delay in my reply. Thank you again for contacting me on this important issue. Although we disagree on this issue, I hope my letter clarifies why I voted for this bill/ I hope my letter addresses your particular concerns.> If I can be of any further assistance on this or any other issue, please do not hesitate to contact me at (303) 484-9596. I also encourage you to visit my website,
www.polis.house.gov, and sign up to receive my e-newsletter."

Now I ask you, is it any wonder that Americans are so disillusioned and frustrated with our elected officials? The only conclusion I can reach, when reading drivel like this is that many of our politicians don't give a damn about our opinions. After reading a few replies like this one, how many citizens would simply throw up their hands and say,"forget this. it just isn't worth my time to write to these people."

...hmmm...could it be?...no...surely that couldn't be the reason.

Could it?

Will the NRA sink Judge Sotomayor's Confirmation to the Supreme Court?

2009-07-08T08:18:00.005-06:00

Maybe. The issue is that the Second Circuit Court ruled in the Maloney v. Cuomo case, that the Second Amendment does not apply to state and local governments, Judge Sotomayor, President Obama's pick to replace Justice Souter on the Supreme Court, joined the court's opinion. The result of this case implies that individual states may have the right to ban guns.

This means that if confirmed, Sotomayor would sit on the Supreme Court, in judgment of any gun rights cases that came along. It seems strange to me that the framers of the Constitution would have written the Second Amendment to protect the rights of individuals to keep and bear arms at the Federal level, but that they would have not intended that the same right would be extended to the individual states.

Stay tuned, this is going to get interesting...

Governor Palin Will Step Down

2009-07-05T06:12:00.004-06:00

Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska has announced that on July 26th, she will resign as Governor of Alaska, and hand over the state to the Lt. Governor Sean Parnell.

At this point, speculation abounds, but it seems she has three choices: Work to get other conservative republicans elected, prepare for a run for the Presidency in 2012, or run for a U.S. Senate seat as one of the two senators from Alaska.

It's interesting that the Governor made a couple of comments in her announcement today that her heart belongs to Alaska, and that she will continue to work for Alaska. To me, that sounds like she will run for a Senate seat, but to do that she must defeat the republican incumbent senator, Lisa Murkowski, who was appointed to that position by her father, Gov. Murkowski, the previous governor of Alaska.

My money is on a senate run. And we certainly could all benefit from that. Having Palin as a conservative, pro-gun senator from Alaska might help to offset the socialist bias that the senate now has, and the 60-vote Democrat super majority that the appointment of television clown and humorist Al Franken (Minnesota) delivered last Thursday with his win over the republican incumbent.

We'll see if I'm right, but my money is on the senate run. The Senate would certainly benefit from a female senator who has run a state, believes in the right to keep and bear arms, and is a conservative with a backbone. When was the last time we had one of those?

"We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident"

2009-07-03T23:44:00.003-06:00

To coin a phrase from the Marine Corps: This is my flag. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

It has flown outside our house for several years, and the wind and weather have taken their toll on it. So, it seems fitting that we replace it on Independence Day with a new, and this time, a slightly larger flag. But while times change, it is still Old Glory, the Stars and Stripes. It still conveys the same message that we are all free people, part of a democratic republic, and that (as it says in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence) "...We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness..."

Today, July Fourth, is Independence Day in America.

While the Congress officially separated the American colonies from Great Britain on July second, 1776, it did not officially approve the letter to King George (the Declaration of Independence) until July fourth. From that day on, Americans have always celebrated our independence from the Crown on the fourth. And it's always been a joyous and festive occasion!

John Adams, one of the original signers, wrote this to his wife, Abigail: "...I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

Let's celebrate! Happy Birthday, America.

Forget Hello Kitty, Meet Cornershot Kitty

2009-07-02T22:49:00.012-06:00

The Cornershot is basically a rifle stock with a hinge halfway. The back half of the stock fits into the shoulder like a rifle, while the front half allows a pistol and a video camera to be mounted. This means that the operator can not only see around corners, while staying behind cover, he can also film what he sees, and he can also shoot what he sees. I examined one of these devices at the SHOT show a couple of years back. It's a good tool for a law enforcement officer or a soldier because he doesn't have to stick his head out from cover to see what is going on around the corner. This is an Israeli product, but the idea seems to have originated with the Nazis during WWII, when they bent the barrels on some of their rifles and machine pistols (see photo).

Well now, the Cornershot comes with a fake cat (think glove puppet) that is hollow, and fits over the pistol. The back legs of the fake cat cover the legs of a bipod, if one is fitted. The purpose of the cat is to camouflage the pistol, so that a bad guy who spots it simply thinks there is a cat standing by the corner, watching him. By the time the bad guy figures out what is going on, he's probably been shot a couple of times. Click here to watch the video.

British Soldiers plus German Rifles equals Neutralized Terrorists

2009-07-01T17:54:00.020-06:00

The London Daily Telegraph reports that troopers of Britain's Special Air Service (SAS) made a nighttime High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) parachute jump on the outskirts of Baghdad recently. The covert insertion was part of a mission to locate insurgent leaders and bomb-making factories.

It's interesting that even with all the talk about U.S. forces pulling out of Iraq, there still seems to be an active terrorist presence almost on the doorstep of the Green Zone. But enough of armchair strategy.

Here's the interesting part of the story: The SAS has now added Heckler & Koch's new battle rifle to its armory, the HK417. So now you have British soldiers using German rifles. Sir Winston Churchill might have been shocked, but actually it's nothing new. Everybody from the SAS to the british Metropolitan Police Force has used the German-built HK MP5 submachine guns for more than twenty years.

You may be familiar with H&K's 416, a M16 clone chambered in 556NATO, but the 417 is the big brother. It's chambered in 762NATO, has the same controls in the same places as the ubiquitous M16 (so it's easy for troops trained on the M16/M4/AR-15 platform to switch to the 417) but is also capable of being used as either a Close Quarters Battle (CQB) weapon, or as a precision rifle for long distance engagements (okay, so it's also a sniper rifle). Simply change the barrel from the 12 or 16-inch versions to the 20-inch barrel, and add a long-range scope. Voila!

When the M16 rifle was first fielded in Vietnam in the mid-sixties, the idea was that the 5.56mm cartridge was lighter than the 7.62 cartridge, so more of it could be carried into battle. While this was considered a good thing, it did not take into account a couple of other important factors: The 5.56 mm bullet does not fly as far as its heavier 7.62 mm counterpart, and the 55-70 grain projectile doesn't always put the other guy down as effectively as the 147 grain bullet in the 762NATO round. Arguably, this did not matter too much in the jungles of Vietnam, where enemy soldiers weighed about 110 LBS, wore only light uniforms, and were most likely engaged from zero to maybe a hundred yards or a bit more. And don't get me wrong, the 556NATO cartridge does put the bad guys down. It's just that the devil is in the details: does it do it at long distance? Does it take more than one solid hit?

However, the 762NATO round does a much better job than the 556NATO of penetrating barriers and unarmored vehicles like cars and trucks. During the U.S invasion of Panama in 1989 to arrest Manuel Noriega, the U.S. forces used the standard M16 rifle almost exclusively. However, when they came across heavily barracaded villas owned by Noriega's henchmen, they found that the 556NATO round was unable to shoot through the barriers. There were a few urgent calls placed stateside to fly down some mothballed, M14 rifles (chambered in 762NATO) to fix the problem. Ironically, the M14 was the standard U.S. service rifle early on in the Vietnam war (and was replaced by the M16) but with it's wooden stock, 7.62 caliber, and twenty-round magazine, was considered by some to be outdated when compared to the sleek little M16 with plastic stock and pistol grip, aluminum frame, and smaller 556NATO chambering.

So in the deserts of the middle east, where distances to targets can go from zero to a thousand yards (and those targets are a bit heavier built than Vietnamese people) it makes sense to use a cartridge that performs at extended distances. Particularly when, like the SAS on their Baghdad mission, you infil by parachute and don't have to hump a lot of ammo all day like the guys in Vietnam did on patrol.

Different strokes for different wars, I guess.

NRA's Personal Protection Class

2009-06-28T21:08:00.007-06:00

It's been a hectic week. I spent some of it as part of a team teaching the National Rifle Association Personal Protection in the Home class to a dozen law-abiding citizens.

The purpose of the class is to teach people how to better defend themselves from violent attack. While the emphasis is on teaching students to shoot a pistol in a defensive situation such as a burglary while they are present in the home, the class also teaches how handguns work, ammunition selection, safe gunhandling and marksmanship, and there is also included a presentation from a law enforcement officer on Colorado statutes in regards to self-defense. Under state law, any person who passes a criminal background check, and who can provide a certificate from a recognized training organization (like the NRA) can apply for a permit to Carry a Concealed Weapon (CCW) which allows them to carry a handgun almost anywhere in the state.

About 48 of the 50 states currently allow some form of concealed carry. Some states have "may issue" laws, which means that applicants who meet their state's criteria (usually passing a background check and having a taken a suitable shooting class) may be issued a CCW at the discretion of the issuing law enforcement officer (usually a Chief of Police or a County Sheriff).

Other states have passed "shall issue" laws which say that if an idividual applicant satisfies the criminal background check, and the requirement for firearms training, then the issuing law enforcement officer "shall issue" a CCW permit to that person. This is a much more fair system, and is much more in accordance with the Second Amendment right to "Keep and Bear Arms."
The Second Amendment says that "The right of the the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." It does not say, ...not be infringed unless a cop decides to infringe.

NRA Certified Instructors teach classes in all fifty states. For more information, click here for the link to NRA's website.

Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood Live in Denver!

2009-06-22T10:51:00.029-06:00

I'm standing in a restaurant in downtown Denver before the long-awaited gig from former Blind Faith band members Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, wearing my 24-year old Clapton tee shirt, when this woman around forty years of age approaches me and gushes about what a big Winwood fan she is, and how she's so looking forward to seeing Clapton live for the first time. That's fine. I told her that I've been a Clapton fan since '74, but I've never seen Winwood live before. For a moment, it seemed like the seventies again; real Yin Yang. Cosmic, man.

So my wife and I get into the auditoreum and find our sixteenth row seats, and I look around, and I'm amazed at the diversity of the audience. Granted, most fans were like that lady in the restaurant, but there were quite a lot of kids in their teens and twenties, and--whoa! A veritable sea of grey hair! Seems that a lot of the original crowd who were in their twenties back when Eric was fronting for John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, and of course, Blind Faith, had also decided to show up live (the concert, not the crowd, well barely ... some of them) instead of just buying the Madison Square Garden concert DVD and curling up on the couch with the big screen TV and a glass of Chardonnay.

The performance kicked off with a crashing, pulsing rendition of Blind Faith's, Had To Cry Today, complete with some very good bright, pulsating stage lighting. It brought the audience to its feet, and that's where most of us stayed. It just kept rolling, and getting better and better for two hours. Steve Winwood, who is surely one of the most talented musicians to grace a stage for the past forty years is equally at home playing keyboards or electric guitar, but he also more than held up his end of an acoustic guitar duet with Clapton that featured Layla.

The band was tight. The other musicians, drums, bass, and two backup singers were more than qualified to be on stage and gave a great performanc. But there was one other giant on stage; Chris Stainton on keyboards. I think the first time I saw Chris playing with Clapton was in '79 or '80 on the Just One Night tour, that produced the double album of the same name. Stainton delivers. He's the guy who, just when you think the guitar solos can't get any better, pops up from behind the keyboard and delivers a blistering piano solo that just leaves the other band members as well as the audience, well, gobsmacked--as Eric would say. And Chris was certainly on form last night. The band was great: Cocaine, Voodoo Chile, Mr. Fantasy; Only two people should be allowed to play Georgia on My Mind in public: Ray Charles (who's dead) and Stevie Winwood.

Somewhere around the performance of Pearly Queen, I noticed how the stage lights were illuminating a lot of smoke in the theater. The atmosphere was starting to smell like someone set fire to the southern end of a north-bound mule. I looked ahead of me a couple of rows and watched two guys whose evident smoking and drinking had turned them from the graceful dancers that I'm sure they must be when they aren't smoking, to a pair of lobotomized chimps in concrete boots. I doubt they will remember much this morning about a truly professional, polished, and talent-laden concert. And at 150 bucks a seat, I guess that's why they call it Dope.

But I digress. Remember that 24-year old tee shirt that I bought in Chicago at the Behind The Sun Tour? I only wear it for Clapton concerts. It's almost as good today as it was back then. Clapton and Winwood, on the other hand, are much better.

Obama Takes Swift, Decisive Action

2009-06-18T23:59:00.007-06:00

A CNBC news clip shows the President taking swift and decisive action the other day. He saw a threat, evaluated his options, and carefully and surgically used deadly force to solve the problem. Almost sounds like Spec Ops, doesn't it?

During a taped interview, a fly buzzed around the president and landed on the back of his hand. He immediately killed it with a single swat. "Got the sucker," he confirmed, before continuing with the interview.

This did not sit well with the folks at People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) who don't like the idea that the president killed a living thing. They sent him a fly trap that is designed to humanely catch a fly without harming it so that it can later be released.

I think the president's actions were correct. I just wish he'd apply the same policy to terrorists. As for PETA's catch and release policy on flies, it's hard to argue with them on that issue when it is the same policy that the Obama administration uses for Guantanamo Bay terrorists.

Now if the president had caught the fly in the PETA trap, he could have had it flown to Bermuda and released there--just like that small group of GITMO terrorists were a couple of weeks ago. On the other hand, perhaps we should continue to treat terrorists like the president handles house flies and swat 'em dead at the first opportunity.

Dude, Where's My Constitution? Are You Sick of Big Government?

2009-06-17T15:36:00.013-06:00

Fox News pundit Glenn Beck read a letter on the air today from a woman who says she's been a lifelong Democrat and is frustrated with the headlong rush to socialism that the current administration is taking us.

Here's part of what she wrote: "The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written."

As I listened to the text of the letter, I had to agree with her. Here are a few of the things that she's angry and frustrated about and what she wants done about them:

"One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders..."

"Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. "

"Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. "

"Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say. "

"Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more."

"Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated."

"Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. "

"Nine, charitable contributions ... Charity belongs in our local communities ... Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves."

"Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us."

"Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? "

"Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now. "

"Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave."

You can read the full text of her letter at GlennBeck.com just click here. If you agree with her sentiments, you can sign the petition on the same page. I managed to sign it just before the website overloaded from the number of people trying to access it. That speaks volumes about how ordinary people feel about our country and how we are being screwed over by politicians from both parties.

David Letterman's Apologies to The Palins

2009-06-16T15:57:00.005-06:00

So. David Letterman has apologized for a second time to Sarah Palin and her two daughters for his joke in which he claimed that Yankees baseball player Alex Rodriguez impregnated Palin's underage daughter while she was watching the game.

I'm not going to get into the discussion about whether or not he meant it, whether of not he should apologize, or if the incident is enough to force Letterman to resign from his talk show, "Late Night" on CBS.

But in true Letterman style, I'll give you the top ten reasons why I think he should resign from his spot as a talk show host:

10. He's dull.
9. He's boring.
8. He's narcissistic.
7. He should make way for someone with fresh material.
6. I miss Johnny Carson
5. Is Arsenio Hall still available?
4. I don't think he understands why people found the joke offensive.
3. The Palin joke was simply in bad taste.
2. He isn't funny.

And the number one reason I think Letterman should resign: He isn't entertaining.

President Bush's Birthday Parachute Jump

2009-06-15T11:21:00.011-06:00

Not only have President Bush and I both jumped with the U.S. Army's Golden Knights parachute display team, but we've both jumped with the same guy -- Tandem Team Leader Sergeant First Class Mike Elliot.

This photo is of Mike and me about 8,000 feet above Wyoming. President Bush's first jump was during World war II into the Pacific ocean as a navy pilot when he was shot down. He has jumped with the Golden Knights on his 75th, 80th, and now his 85th birthday.

Here's the article I wrote shortly after my jump in 2005. Thank you, Golden Knights. And Happy Birthday Mr. President!

"You can tell when the jumpers are leaving the aircraft. They make a swoosh sound that I can hear up in the cockpit,” pilot Alan Aber told me, “When the new guys are trying out for the team, they aren’t used to jumping out of something that goes 105 knots. There’s a blast shield that folds over the rear doors when they are locked back in the open position. Sometimes they don’t push off far enough and they really smack into that blast shield. But generally it’s more embarrassing than anything else,” Aber chuckled. I chuckled too, thankful that I had not collided with anything when I made my skydiving debut the previous day out of Aber’s plane, a Fokker F27, used by the U.S. Army’s Golden Knights Parachute Display team to introduce lucky individuals like me to the sport of parachuting, and to promote the Army’s ongoing public relations campaign. My jump took place over Cheyenne, Wyoming, where I was strapped to Sergeant First Class Mike Elliot, an Airborne Infantryman and tandem instructor on the Golden Knights Gold Demonstration Team to literally hitch a ride on his parachute. Like many people, I have an irrational fear of heights; Standing on the observation floor of the Sears Tower in Chicago, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado have all triggered sweaty palms and the feeling that the great void around and below me would somehow reach up and drag me down into it. I had already decided not to dwell on putting my life in the hands of a stranger while jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft. At least by jumping with the Army I knew I was beginning my skydiving career at the top--no pun intended. Mike and I began by examining the tandem parachute: a 370 square foot elliptical nylon canopy and container which together weigh approximately 60lbs. Next, we reviewed the method by which we would leave the aircraft. “You’re going to look like this in freefall,” Mike explained as he slid belly down, arms and legs extended, onto a convenient coffee table in the Regional Airport building in Cheyenne. He played a short video showing Golden Knights jumpers freefalling in complicated geometric shapes with other team members, popping smoke, and generally having fun while on a collision course with planet Earth at 120 mph, all to the sound of some good rockin’ music designed to get your adrenaline level up. By the end of the film I was not only eager to jump, I wanted to invade a foreign country just for the fun of it! And maybe that’s the point of all this. At a time when many of our soldiers are deployed overseas, the Golden Knights don’t hide the fact that their mission is to promote the Army to the public. It’s called advertising, and these soldiers are wonderful ambassadors both for the sport of parachuting and for the Army.

Our third jumper was Staff Sergeant Joe Jones, who would jump with Mike and me and film our descent for the personalized video tape that all guest jumpers receive; capturing the rare privilege of wearing the Knight’s famed yellow and black jump suit. Joe’s parachute is a 120 square foot elliptical nylon canopy and container weighing approximately 20lbs.

In addition to display jumps at events like Cheyenne’s annual Frontier Days festival, the Golden Knights also field Style and Accuracy teams for both inter-service and civilian (inter)national competitions. In the Accuracy event, the team must touch down as close as possible to a target that is only a few centimeters wide. In the Style competition, the team jumps at 7500 feet and is judged by the number of different formations they can make, requiring that they separate and rejoin for each successful maneuver. Based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the Golden Knights unit is comprised of only 86 members: jumpers, parachute technicians, aircrew and support personnel. There are two demonstration teams: Black Team and Gold Team. I made my jump with Gold Team. I asked Mike Elliot the age of his oldest jumping partner: “A ninety-two year old lady,” Mike replied, “and President Bush senior has also jumped with us.”

A typical jump is made from one of the two Fokker F27 twin turboprop aircraft that the team purchased in 1985. Built in Holland, these aircraft were customized with an oversize door on each side of the fuselage, just forward of the tail, and were originally destined for delivery to the parachute regiment of an African army. But when the deal fell through, the aircraft were sold instead to the Golden Knights. “We had to fly them back from Holland in stages,” Alan Aber recalls. “We added fuel tanks inside the fuselage and hopped from Holland, to Ireland, to Greenland, and finally to the East Coast. We had a couple of factory pilots with us, but it still amounted to on-the-job training to get used to them.” The F27 meets some important criteria for the team: It is of the correct size to transport a team and all their gear from one jump location to the next, while being small enough to operate from short runways and fly slow enough (105 knots) for parachutists to exit the aircraft and stay together in formation.

Cheyenne, Wyoming, where I made my tandem jump is 6,000 feet above sea level. We jumped at 14,000 feet above sea level. As the airplane spiraled upwards in the thinning air, we passed around an oxygen bottle. At one point, I found myself getting light headed and took a few extra lungs-full. I had to sit on Mike’s lap in order to get his harness hooked to mine, and then we stood up and duck-walked down the aisle to the rear of the aircraft. As we approached the open door, with the green light above it, I hooked my thumbs into the harness. I looked out of the door and then it finally hit me that I was about to throw myself into the same nothingness that surrounds the Sears Tower. Oh well, too late to back out now. Pride took over and we stood in the door. As instructed, I lifted my feet, hanging in my harness, legs slid backwards in between Mike’s knees, my heels pointed up. I rested my head back against his left shoulder so that he had an uninterrupted view of the ground, and raised my hands in a surrender position. “Ready?” Mike asked.“Yes, I’m-“ Before I could take a breath, we were gone. Whoa! I wasn’t prepared for such fast acceleration. Our combined weight would cause us to accelerate to 170mph if Mike did not release the small drogue parachute immediately after we left the aircraft. The drogue is designed to keep the speed down to a maximum of 120mph. As we fell to earth in the classic horizontal, arms and legs extended position, two other Golden Knights jumpers swooped down and linked hands with me. For a few precious seconds I was part of one of the finest display teams in the world. I was literally jolted back to reality as Mike deployed the parachute. The sudden deceleration gave me the impression we were shooting upwards, rather than down. And then we were floating silently, gliding in a series of lazy figure eights as Mike steered us to land on the airport grass, scant feet from where we had taken off. What a rush. Forget my fear of heights. I’d do this again in a heartbeat.

Another Murder at Virginia Tech

2009-06-14T11:23:00.013-06:00

I'm sure we all remember the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in which a student from China went on a rampage. Remember the big debate about whether or not students who have a state-issued permit to carry a concealed handgun should be allowed by the university to do so on campus?

Of course, like many universities, Virginia Tech does not allow students to be responsible for their own security, preferring to rely on campus security to keep the peace. Well here's a story that I don't think made many ripples in the national media. At the end of May, another student from China, Haiyan Zhu attacked a female chinese student, Xin Yang in the cafeteria and cut off her head.

How can this possibly happen on a campus that has already dealt with violent crime, and, presumably either improved it's security, or was already confident that the security was adequate? Well, to be fair to the university, no amount of security guards can respond instantly to every incident on campus.

The news report indicates that the couple were not alone in the cafeteria. There were other people present at the time of the attack. One onlooker said, "...he had just returned from a break at his job at Au Bon Pan in Tech's Graduate Life Center on Jan. 21 when he heard growling and screaming. He looked up to see Haiyan Zhu attacking Xin Yang."

The onlooker went on to say that,"...he dove behind the counter and called 911 while customers and his manager ran from the coffee shop. "

Why did these people run away? How can you witness a savage attack and do nothing? These are not bad people, they are not stupid people. I think the reason is that they have not been conditioned to belive that they can act against violence and prevail. They have likely been conditioned by the nanny state to give in to violence--"if I don't fight back, he won't hurt me".

How many times have you heard the victim of a mugging say, "there was nothing I could do."

The fact is that we don't know what we can do until we try. Self defense is not primarily about how big we are, how strong we are, or how well armed we are. Self defense is about having the correct mindset. It is about having that fighting spirit that says, "You will not do that to me! Even if I get hurt, or die, I will fight you until you stop being a threat to me."

Our society is teaching each generation that all violence is bad. Tell that to the bad guys because it seems they didn't get the message. We need to teach every generation that there are times when it's morally acceptable to physically hurt a person who is committing a criminal act of violence.

Surely the right to self-defense is the most basic right of all living things.

Do You Want to Know What the Economy is Really Like?

2009-06-10T12:06:00.009-06:00

I'm not an economist, and, frankly, I struggle to understand some of the financial and economic information that is presented on the nightly news. But lately, I've been reading John Williams' website, Shadow Government Statistics: http://www.shadowstats.com/

I haven't explored all of it yet, but it's packed with information that not only explains how the government (often incorrectly) analyzes and presents economic information, but comments on the pitfalls of long term financial policies. His essay on the hyperinflation that he predicts is going to hit the U.S. economy in the near future is not only educational, but chilling, to say the least.

I've also added it to my blog list so that you can check it from time to time.

The Pakistan Hotel Bombing - Who's Next?

2009-06-10T08:15:00.019-06:00

Yesterday's terrorist bombing of the Peshawar Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar, Pakistan is not something that we in the West should ignore.

According to a Fox News report from the site of the explosion, the homicide bomber attack breached the hardened checkpoint at the entrance to the hotel, and then the vehicle containing about a half ton of explosives was driven to a pre-arranged position in the hotel where the driver detonated the bomb. So far, eighteen people are reported dead. Damage to the hotel is pretty heavy. The bomb left a crater about six feet deep and about twelve feet wide, according to a Fox News reporter who was standing in it.

It sort of reminds you of the Oklahoma City bombing doesn't it? An explosive-laden vehicle causes massive damage to a large, concrete building. This was not a small explosion. The motive behind the Peshawar bombing is obvious: retaliation for the Pakistani government's military campaign against Al Quaeda in the Swat Valley. But what is also interesting, is that the hotel was under consideration by the United States government as a possible location for a U.S. Consulate. Either way, the bombing demonstrates that Al Quaeda is capable of attacking soft targets in response to military or diplomatic actions that it perceives as a threat.

As Al Quaeda seems to be regrouping and becoming bolder, I think it is certainly possible they could again stage similar attacks in western countries. Terrorist organizations need two things to flourish: money and active supporters. The way for Al Quaeda to continue its campaign of murder and terror is to appear to its supporters to be proactive and successful. And that is accomplished by attacks like the one in Peshawar. At some point, the terrorists will once again turn their attention to western Europe. Illegal immigrants from Afghanistan have already proved that once they gain access to one of the European Union member states, they can travel freely throughout the continent, and even into the UK. It isn't hard to imagine that terrorists can do the same.

Al Quada must surely be loooking to pull off another high profile bombing such as the ones in England in July, 2005, and in Spain in March, 2004. Free and open societies are vulnerable to these attacks. The question is, who's next?

We have to be vigilant. Terrorist attacks against civilian targets are not always prevented by the authorities. As individuals, we have to take care of our own personal security. And that begins with being constantly aware of our surroundings. If you are not already living in Condition Yellow, I suggest you read my essay, "What is Condition Yellow and Why Should We Care?" on this blog site.

Where's Al Gore?

2009-06-09T08:37:00.005-06:00

Let me see if I've got this right: Two journalists who work for Al Gore's Current TV channel were arrested by North Korean guards near the Chinese border. They have been tried and convicted of "grave crimes" and sentenced to 12 years in a North Korean labor camp.

People over here are speaking out. Hillary Clinton in her role as Secretary of State, has spoken against the trial. The U.S. Government has expressed concern. There has even been talk of former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson negotiating a release, which he has done before with the North Koreans.

But Al Gore has remained silent. Newsmax reports that, "Gore had no comment."

I don't expect Mr. Global Warming to just drop what he's doing and go sailing off to north Korea to negotiate the release of two people who work for him. The Nobel Peace Prize winner is far too busy saving the planet. Right? But how long would it take for him to issue a simple statement like, "Hey, Kim Jomg Il! Let my people go, or we will take your carbon credits away."

But seriously, am I the only one who thinks that even a simple public statement from Mr. Pulitzer, condemning the trial, would at least be the decent thing to do for people who work for him?

Hmmm. Okay, maybe Bill Richardson would be more effective.

D Day + 1

2009-06-07T09:50:00.013-06:00

photo: GIs train for the invasion at Slapton Sands, south coast of England, 1944. [photo courtesy U.S. Army Center of Military History]

While we're on the subject of the invasion of Normandy, it's appropriate to remember that the invasion didn't just happen. The planning and preparations literally took years. One of the biggest feats was to assemble the necessary manpower and equipment, and train the troops, to be able to pull off the largest invasion in history. And they would likely only get one chance to do it.

The British Army lost most of its equipment when it evacuated from the French beaches at Dunkirk in 1940 as Hitler's armies advanced across France. Starting around 1942, massive amounts of arms, munitions and other equipment were shipped to Britain from America. Without these supplies, the Brits would not have been able to continue the war. In addition, thousands of American and Canadian troops also arrived--a total of 1.5 million ground troops, and an additional 500,000 airmen and sailors. Thousands of men and women who had escaped from Nazi-occupied Europe also managed to reach Britain with the intention of fighting to free their homelands: French, Poles, Czechs, Dutch, Belgians, and Norwegians all gravitated to Britain to fight the war.

Huge bases were set up in England to house and train the invasion troops. Farm land was acquired to build airfields for British and American bomber and fighter aircraft, so that they could conduct raids into occupied Europe and Germany. A lot of the civilian population in England were required to give up their houses, farms and villages to make way for the bases. American forces were assigned to the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset on the southwest peninsula of England where there was space for them to train.

Sure, there was some friction between the locals and the tourists, but overall, it was an incredible example of people pulling together and making sacrifices for the common good. I came across this message that was posted on a church in south Devon, where the local population had to leave in order to make way for the U.S. Army:

"TO OUR ALLIES OF THE USA: This church has stood here for several hundred years. Around it has grown a community, which has lived in these houses and tilled these fields ever since there was a church. This church, this churchyard in which their loved ones lie at rest, these homes, these fields are as dear to those who have left them as are the homes and graves and fields which you, our Allies, have left behind you. They hope to return one day, as you hope to return to yours, to find them waiting to welcome them home. They entrust them to your care meanwhile, and pray that God's blessing may rest upon us all." signed, Charles, Bishop of Exeter.

[extract from "The Normandy Landings" by Derek Blizard 1993, Reed International Books, ISBN 0-600-57905-0]

D-Day in Europe

2009-06-06T08:32:00.001-06:00

photo: The first view that many soldiers had of France was from the deck of a landing craft like this one. In many cases, incoming fire from German machine guns also made it the last view they had.

Today is the sixty-fifth anniversary of the allied landings in Normandy, France; the largest one-day invasion in history. The invasion force consisted primarily of American, British, and Canadian troops, but also included soldiers from most commonwealth countries and european soldiers who had escaped from their own occupied countries to fight on the side of the allies (sorry if I left anybody out).

A successful allied invasion of Europe was essential to support the previous invasion in the Mediterranian sea by allied forces landing in Italy. Without it, the war with Nazi Germany could have dragged on for years, and the way that the world looks today would have been vastly different. The Americans who took part in World war Two, young service people from every state in America, people who worked in factories building tanks, aircraft, and ships, have been appropriately named "The greatest generation." Without them, and their counterparts in allied countries, it's conceivable that the entire world may be living today under the rule of German fascism.

The landings by sea were conducted across five Normandy beaches; Two for the American forces, codenamed "Utah" and "Omaha", and two for the British forces: "Gold" and "Sword", and one beach, "Juno" for the Canadians. In addition, American and Commonwealth airborne troops landed by parachute and glider.

The logistics and preparations involved in mounting such an operation took years. I remember my mother, who was driver in the British Army at the time, telling me how she and the other female drivers in her unit spent months in the lead up to the invasion hauling naval shells from the factory to the south coast of England.

The surviving veterans are now all in their eighties, or older. They are dying at a rate of about 300,000 each year.

So if you know one, today may be a good time to ask them if they would like to talk a little bit about their experiences sixty-five years ago. Many of them don't want to remember, but at the very least, you might take the time to say thanks. The world war two generation made history and shaped the future.

The U.S. cemetery in Cambridge, England, contains the remains of 3,812 of American war dead from World War II.

A New Aspect of Domestic Terrorism

2009-06-03T21:21:00.020-06:00

The Muslim convert who shot two U.S. Army soldiers in Little Rock, Arkansas on June 1st may herald the beginning of a type of terrorism that is relatively new to the United States, but is very familiar to Israelis, Iraqis, the Irish, and other nationalities.

We in the USA have seen criminal attacks by lone gunmen before: Charles Whitman, who killed 14 people at the University of Texas, mostly from atop a tower, in 1966; Patrick Purdy - the Stockton, California school shootings in 1989, for example. But in other parts of the world, similar attacks have been carried out for political reasons: U.S. Army Colonel Nick Rowe was assigned to provide counter-insurgency training to the Armed Forces of the Phillipines. In 1989, on his way to work one morning, Colonel Rowe's vehicle was ambushed and he was shot dead by two Filipinos.

So, what has been happening around the world for decades has come to America; the deliberate assassination of individuals for political or religious motives. The shooting of the two soldiers, and the subsequent discovery on the assassin's computer of other targets indicates the possibility that this was more than just one lunatic's plan to get even with the world. At best, he alone intended to target other individuals. At worst he is part of a conspiracy--a terrorist group--to attack americans on our own soil. If the history of other nations is anything to go by, sooner or later, politically motivated assassinations of targeted individuals will occur here. We may very well have already seen the first. The big advantage an attacker has is that he blends in with the locals right up to the point where he begins his attack. Mao said that a terrorist is a fish in a sea of humanity, and he was right.

The question is, how do we handle such attacks? As a nation, we can no longer expect our military to be the first and only line of defense as we have done up to now with wars overseas such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Likewise, we cannot expect our police, from the FBI at the federal level to individual state, county, and city departments, to prevent attacks or stop them once they are under way. The cops cannot be everywhere, and it's likely that they would be unable to respond to such an attack in time.

The answer lies with us, as civilians. Fortunately, we live in a country where some form of concealed or open carry of a firearm is allowed in about 48 of the fifty states. Somewhere there is a statistic that says that armed, law-abiding civilians shoot (in self-defense) about the same number of violent criminals each year as the police do. That means that there is at least a chance in many parts of the country that if a terrorist attack similar to the one in Little Rock happens, an armed citizen or two might be on hand to deal with it.

We have only to look at what types of attacks occur in other countries to see what we might be up against here; shootings and bombings. The Israelis have lots of experience in dealing with both. When a terrorist has shot up a restaurant or some other public place, Israeli civilians have defended themselves and those around them, and in many cases they have prevailed. Defense against a terrorist wearing an explosive vest--a homicide bomber--is tougher because these people have no intention of living through the attack. But nonetheless, a well placed round or two in the brain box may prevent an explosion, or at least stop the attacker before he enters a building.

There are no easy solutions to the problem of people who look like the rest of us right up until the point where they launch their attack on civilians. The goal of people in this country should be to ensure that we are not helpless or hapless civilians. Concealed carry is an essential tool, but so is constant vigilance, which we strive for by living in Condition Yellow--being constantly aware of our surroundings. We can learn the easy way from the lessons of other countries now, or we can learn the hard way from attacks here later.

Free NRA Membership

2009-06-03T15:24:00.007-06:00

The NRA is offering a free, one-year trial membership. Now, even in these tough economic times, there is really no excuse for any gunowner, or anyone who values the freedoms bestowed upon us in the Bill of Rights to not join the gun lobby's nine-hundred pound gorilla.

Just go to: https://www.nrahq.org/nrabonus/accept-membership.asp

If ever there was a time since the Clinton administration for gunowners to unite to defend the Second Amendment, this is it! The assault weapons ban is hanging around out there, and so is Congressman Bobby Rush's bill H.R.45 that would put severe restrictions on handgun ownership.

But Ben Franklin said it best: "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."

Why Socialists Don't See Illegal Immigration as a Threat to National Security and Sovereignty

2009-06-01T19:50:00.021-06:00

This evening I had one of those rare (for me) forehead-slapping why-didn't-I-think-of-this-before? moments.

The TV news channel, World Focus aired a report from Greece about the number of immigrants from Afghanistan (mostly young men) that are illegally entering the country as a way to get into Europe, and then ultimately to Britain.

This is nothing new for the Brits. For a decade or more, the British government, first under Prime Minister Tony Blair, and now under Gordon Brown, has ignored the flood of illegals from north Africa, middle eastern countries, and elsewhere and simply labeled them as asylum seekers.

Watching this similar situation in Greece, it occurred to me that socialists like Blair, Brown and most of the ruling Labour party that has been in power in Britain since 1997, have an agenda to make their socialist policies global. And if that's the case, why would they care where anyone of any nationality lives?

As a legal immigrant myself, I sympathize with individuals who do whatever they have to in order to live in a country other than the one in which they were born. But sympathizing with an individual's plight doesn't make their actions right or lawful. I believe in the rule of law, and the importance of each nation's individual sovereignty.

In Blair, Brown, and other socialist politician's vision, there would only be two classes: The socialist ruling class, and the rest of us. No national governments or national borders and boundaries. So what would it matter to them where a person was born and where they decided to live?

Forget Guns. What About Mexico's "Assault Jet Skis?"

2009-05-30T22:55:00.008-06:00

It appears that Mexican drug traffickers are using jet skis to smuggle drugs into the United States.

There is a simple solution to this: Instead of the Mexican government exaggerating the number of guns that are smuggled across the border from America to Mexico, and demanding that we ignore our Bill of Rights and ban so-called assault weapons, let us demand that the Mexican Government ban ownership of jet skis.

Of course, in the real world, that isn't going to happen. But why should law-abiding Americans allow one of our rights to be infringed upon because of some fabricated story from a foreign government? And even if it was possible for the Mexican government to enact jet ski legislation, the argument from south of the border would undoubtedly be that law-abiding Mexicans have a right to own a jet ski, and that if jet skis are banned, only criminals will have them.

Exactly.

Colorado Governor Ritter Vetoes Background Check bill

2009-05-27T08:15:00.013-06:00

On Friday, May 15, Governor Bill Ritter (D) vetoed Colorado house Bill 1180.

The bill, passed by both houses, would have exempted Colorado concealed handgun permit holders from the background check requirement for the purchase of a firearm. That may be scary to some people, but the truth is that people who are granted concealed carry permits have to undergo a stringent background check as part of their application.

The current National Instant Check System (NICS) that performs a criminal background check on potential gun buyers at the point of sale is overloaded to the point that there is nothing instant about it. Frequently, buyers have to wait at the gun store for hours while the gun dealer hangs on the phone, waiting for the system to perform the check. Quite often shoppers must return to the store the following day to purchase and pick up their new firearm.

HB1180 would have relieved some of the load on the system by allowing people who have a concealed weapons permit to purchase a firearm (remember, most likely they already own at least one) without having to endure the background check. It should have been a simple administrative change to the system, but the Governor saw fit to not streamline an overloaded procedure.

This wasn't really a gun bill because it didn't change anything except a bureacratic procedure that costs taxpayers money. Feel free to contact the governor at (303) 866-2471.

Memorial Day in Boulder

2009-05-26T10:19:00.033-06:00

Boulder, Colorado has something of a reputation as a town run by goofy people. Certainly if you look at the decisions of the city council, (passing resolutions against the Iraq war, declaring that pet owners are now animal guardians) not to mention the antics of Ward Churchill, it may not be a surprise to know that those of us who live outside Boulder city limits refer to the town as "seventeen square miles surrounded by Reality".

But one thing that we can all be proud of Boulder for is its hosting every Memorial Day for the past 31 years of the Bolder Boulder 10K run. This is one of the most popular and well-attended 10k street races in the country. Professional runners from countries like Ethiopia compete here. Tens of thousands of amateur runners and walkers run the ten kilometers (about 6.2 miles) every Memorial Day for fun.

And the race is linked directly to remembrance of our veterans with a flyover by military aircraft and participation in the run by many of our local servicemen and women.

Every year, people show up along the route to show their support for the runners. You will find guys with a guitar and an amp standing at the side of the road, playing to the crowd. There are at least two groups of belly dancers, Blues Brothers impersonators, and some pretty good local bands.

This year, my wife and I hung out on Pearl Street with our friends from King For a Day (KFAD), a local rock band. Above Right photo: left to right, Vicar (lead guitar), Simon (acoustic guitar and vocals), Goose (bass guitar)and Johnny (drums).

But the Bolder Boulder isn't just about running and music, it's definitely a chance for some self-expression:

Below, KFAD's Vic(left) and Goose rockin' out with the runners.

But you know the really great thing about Memorial Day in Bolder?

Nobody gets left out...

Ronald Regan on Memorial Day

2009-05-25T00:01:00.001-06:00

Today is Memorial Day. It is the day that Americans pause for a moment to remember, honor, and give thanks to all the people in our five service branches, the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard, who have sacrificed themselves for our country. The rest of us owe these people for everything that we have. Spanning four centuries, every war fought by Americans from the Revolutionary War to the two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, and the current Global War on Terror, has influenced who we are as a nation, and what we have accomplished.

I wanted to write something profound to mark this important day. But in the course of my research I came across the speech that President Ronald Reagan gave at Arlington cemetary on Memorial Day, 1982. He said it so much better than I ever could, so here is a particularly relevant excerpt from one of this country's greatest presidents. God bless our service people, our veterans, and our country:

"The willingness of some to give their lives so that others might live never fails to evoke in us a sense of wonder and mystery. One gets that feeling here on this hallowed ground, and I have known that same poignant feeling as I looked out across the rows of white crosses and Stars of David in Europe, in the Philippines, and the military cemeteries here in our own land. Each one marks the resting place of an American hero and, in my lifetime, the heroes of World War I, the Doughboys, the GI's of World War II or Korea or Vietnam. They span several generations of young Americans, all different and yet all alike, like the markers above their resting places, all alike in a truly meaningful way.

"Winston Churchill said of those he knew in World War II they seemed to be the only young men who could laugh and fight at the same time. A great general in that war called them our secret weapon, ``just the best darn kids in the world.'' Each died for a cause he considered more important than his own life. Well, they didn't volunteer to die; they volunteered to defend values for which men have always been willing to die if need be, the values which make up what we call civilization. And how they must have wished, in all the ugliness that war brings, that no other generation of young men to follow would have to undergo that same experience.

"As we honor their memory today, let us pledge that their lives, their sacrifices, their valor shall be justified and remembered for as long as God gives life to this nation. And let us also pledge to do our utmost to carry out what must have been their wish: that no other generation of young men will ever have to share their experiences and repeat their sacrifice.

"Earlier today, with the music that we have heard and that of our National Anthem -- I can't claim to know the words of all the national anthems in the world, but I don't know of any other that ends with a question and a challenge as ours does: Does that flag still wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? That is what we must all ask."

President Ronald Reagan, Memorial Day, 1982.

The Taurus Judge revolver

2009-05-24T13:34:00.001-06:00

I recently had a chance to evaluate the "Judge" revolver, made by Taurus. This is a five-shot revolver with a short barrel, chambered for both .45 Long Colt and .410 shotgun ammunition. At first glance, I was sceptical. With its three-inch barrel, it is a rather large snubnose revolver to carry only five rounds of .45 ammo. I'm sure the sub-compact .45 caliber semi-auto pistols are slimmer, with a slightly higher capacity. So what's the big deal with the Judge?

The big deal is that you have the firepower of a .410 pump action shotgun in something the size of a pistol. When we loaded it up with .410 buckshot rounds, we found that it put a pattern of buckshout about 3-4 inches wide on paper at about twelve yards. I shot it on eight-inch diameter falling steel plate targets at about the same distance, and had one of the fastest runs on steel I can remember! The large red fiber optic front sight was very quick to pick up and place over the target.

This gun is touted by Taurus as being a good choice for close quarters self-defense, particularly in a bedroom in case of home invasion, or in a car, in case of a car jacking. I'd also add that I think it would very good for people who sail small boats where piracy is a threat.

Al I can say is, I want one!

The Best Defense: Survival

2009-05-21T12:19:00.006-06:00

I was fortunate to be invited by Michael Bane to put in some work on his upcoming "The Best Defense" series that airs on the Outdoor Channel. Along with highly accomplished Sci-fi author and US serviceman Michael Z. Williamson, the three of us have just finished a couple of days filming some material on survival. This includes discussions of how to bug out or escape from a life-threatening situation, and also some pointers on surviving hard times if the economy continues to follow Plan B, while the government follows Plan A.

If you haven't seen Michael Bane's blog, it's full of good firearms, shooting, and Second Amendment related news.

Don't be Too Harsh on Pelosi

2009-05-15T10:46:00.008-06:00

Poor Nancy Pelosi. Every time she says something about what she was told, what she knew, what she understood about what she was told, who lied to her about waterboarding and torture methods, it all just seems to get twisted by the evil CIA, the Republicans, and the media.

Some people are even beginning to question how long she can remain as the Speaker of the House. The audacity of those right-wingers who hope to bring her down!

I say, don't be too harsh on Speaker Pelosi. If she is forced to step down from her position as Speaker, we may get some replacement who is competent enough to do some real legislative damage.

I for one hope that she's around until 2010. By then, we may have a functioning Republican party and an electorate that is tired of the Democrats trial and error approach to some of those annoying things that keep them up at night, singing Kumbaya around the hot tub. You know, stuff like the on-again, off-again ideas of a catch-and-release program for terrorists (oops, can we still use that word?). By 2010, into our twentieth stimulus program, with the Dow Jones at 3,000 points, civil rights advocates in California clamoring for english to be taught in schools, and Chrysler and GM reduced to selling ride-on lawnmowers, we may just be able to install a Republican as Speaker of the House.

You go, Nancy Girl, but not just yet.

HB1180 -- A Pro-Gun Bill in Colorado

2009-05-12T08:33:00.006-06:00

When a statewide instant background check system was first implemented back in the late nineties, anyone who had a concealed weapons permit could buy a gun without having to submit to the background check. Later, the regulations were changed and anybody, including CCW permit holders had to undergo the instant check (which the gun dealer conducted by phone) when purchasing any firearm from an FFL dealer.

The problem was that with the increasing number of sales of firearms over the past year or two, the phone call background check is no longer instant. It can take several hours sometimes for dealers to get through to the government database and verify that it's OK to sell the gun to the customer.

Well in Colorado, both houses of the legislature have passed House Bill 1180, that grants FFL dealers the right to waive the instant check for CCW permit holders. The bill is on its way to Governor Bill Ritter's (D) desk for signing.

No word yet if the Governor will sign it, but considering it's harder to get a CCW permit than it is to pass the instant check, logically, signing the bill should be a formality. We'll see if logic prevails. Stay tuned.

Today is Victory in Europe Day. What have We Learned?

2009-05-08T08:00:00.001-06:00

Sixty Four years ago today, the part of the Second World War that was fought in Europe was officially brought to an end when the president of Germany, Admiral Donitz (Hitler's successor) surrendered to the Allies. The war in the Pacific against Japan would continue a while longer. But for the people of Europe, the war that had begun in September of 1939 was finally over on May 8th 1945.

In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with Adolf Hitler in an attempt to avoid a war between Britain and Germany.

The following is the wording of the statement that Neville Chamberlain waved when he stepped off the plane after the conference in Berlin had ended on 30 September, 1938.

"We, the German Führer and Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for two countries and for Europe.

"We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.

"We are ... determined to continue our efforts to ... contribute to assure the peace of Europe."

Chamberlain read this statement to a cheering crowd in front of 10 Downing St. and said;

"My good friends this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace in our time."

On September 3rd, 1939, Britain and France went to war with Germany, after Germany invaded Poland.

What can we learn from the lessons of history?

1) Aggressor nations cannot be appeased by simple negotiation. We must always negotiate from a position of strength if we want to win and survive against dictators and aggressive ideologies.

2) Maintaining a strong military is the final solution to aggression after all other political and diplomatic methods have been exhausted.

3) It is naive and dangerous to assume that we can change the minds of heads of state or people of other countries, civilizations, or religeons simply by talking to them and assuming that while we don't understand their reasons and point of view, they will easily see ours and come over to our way of thinking.

Today, we face threats to our nation's security, and the security of our allies on many fronts: Nuclear proliferation, the spread of nuclear weapons to rogue nations is upon us. Radical islamic terorrism is here and growing. We cannot secure our borders. We cannot afford to fight another large war.

But we absolutely cannot afford to appease dictators and rogue nations. History is clear about what happens when we try.

Are We Ready for PAKIS-TALIBAN?

2009-05-07T08:12:00.006-06:00

The Taliban is back. They have managed to take over a province in northern Pakistan, and the Pakistani government has made the mistake of trying to appease the Taliban by allowing them to impose Sharia law in that region.

No doubt, the Pakistani government hoped that if they gave in to the Taliban and threw them a bone, the radical religious group would be satisfied. But no. The Taliban is on the march to secure a much larger area. I'm sure it's obvious to a lot of people that the ultimate goal of this group is to take control of the entire country.

Currently, the Pakistani military is fighting the Taliban in the Swat Valley, with the nation's capital of Islamabad only about sixty miles away.

If Pakistan's nuclear arsenal falls into Taliban hands, it changes the whole balance of power in the region, and in the world. India would have a rogue state armed with nukes on its border.

My question is, where is the UN? Where is the organization that wants to impose a worldwide ban on private ownership of firearms, but doesn't seem to be worried about the potential for terrorists holding nuclear weapons?
Where is the UN, the organization that intends to tell parents how they can discipline their children, but ignores the abuse that muslim women have to endure under Sharia Law?

I'm not sure which organization is the bigger threat to western civilization--the Taliban, or the United Nations.

Do You Feel Safer?

2009-04-30T16:50:00.006-06:00

A new political ad by the Republican party begins by asking, "What are Democrats Doing to Keep America Safe?"

The ad goes on to chronicle events such as the closing of Gitmo, the debate over torture, the President's recent meetings with Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, and the infamous bowing incident with the Saudi king.

Sure, it's politics, and that is what politicians do. But to answer the question, I'd have to say that, no, I don't feel any safer than I have done for the past eight years, knowing that our borders are not secure and that south american gangs, drug runners, weapons smugglers, illegal aliens, and terrorists have infiltrated our country.

I don't feel safer knowing that the 9/11 hijackers were able to learn to fly an aircraft, but not bother to learn how to land it, and nobody in our intelligence and security services was curious enough to ask why--despite the fact that reports were submitted.

I don't feel safer knowing that HR45, Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009, and the Clinton Assault Weapons Ban renewal bill are both waiting in the wings for the right time for Congress to pass them.

I don't feel safer knowing that the President, in his first one hundred days press conference said about the Taliban's efforts to expand their power base in Pakistan, "I feel confident that the nuclear arsenal will remain out of militant hands." I wish I felt that confident. The Taliban has a base only sixty miles away from the Pakistani capital.

Do I feel safer? No, but there's plenty of blame to go around. I haven't felt safer since Ronald Reagan was president.

Somali Pirate Joke

2009-04-29T09:28:00.005-06:00

A guy walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Would you like to try our new drink?"

They guy says, "sure, what’s it called?"

The bartender says, "The Somali Pirate."

The guy says, "What's in it?"

The bartender says... "Three shots and a splash."

Arlen Specter jumps ship

2009-04-28T23:00:00.009-06:00

Senator Arlen Specter has announced that he will defect--I mean switch--to the Democratic party. This isn't the first time that a senator has changed parties in mid-term. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Colorado) did the same thing back in the nineties when he switched from being a Democrat to being a Republican. of course, we all cheered that one, but the truth is that regardless which way a senator decides so swing, it really is a slap in the face to those people who elected him.

I'd like to see a law passed that prevents politicians jumping across the aisle in mid-term. If they want to change, fine. But do it at election time by running as a candidate for the opposing party. They should not betray the trust of those who elected them. I'm not enthused about passing yet another law. It's been said that you can't legislate morality, but when our politicians don't behave honorably and put the will of the people before their own political gain, what else an we do?

At a time when the Democrats are about one senate seat away from the coveted sixty-vote super majority, it is highly irresponsible of Senator Specter to decide to switch. I believe that we have elections so that the final decision on how much power each party wields is left in the hands of the people, not one senator.

Swine Flu - Just Another (missing) Brick in the Wall

2009-04-26T08:40:00.013-06:00

Yesterday, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) posted the following on their website:
"In San Luis Potosi, located in central Mexico, 24 cases of influenza-like-illness, with three deaths, have been reported. And from Mexicali, near the border with the United States, four cases of influenza-like-illness, with no deaths, have been reported.

The majority of these cases have occurred in otherwise healthy young adults. Seasonal influenza normally affects the very young and the very old, but these age groups have not been heavily affected in Mexico based on the information above.

CDC has confirmed that seven of 14 respiratory specimens sent to the CDC by the Mexican National Influenza Center are positive for swine influenza virus and are similar to the swine influenza viruses recently identified in the US among residents of California and Texas.

CDC and state public and animal health authorities are currently investigating 8 cases of swine flu in humans in California and Texas that may be related to cases in Mexico."

In Pakistan, we are seeing the Taliban gradually advance on the capital city of Islamabad. If the Taliban is able to take over the capital, they will eventually be able to control Pakistan, which is a nuclear power.

The Times of London reported last Friday that North Korea is now a fully fledged nuclear power, capable of attacking cities in Japan and South Korea. I think this means that North Korea is also capable of exporting nuclear warheads to the highest bidder--including Al Quaeda.

Mexican drug gangs have no trouble crossing the border into Arizona to operate in Phoenix, which they have turned into the number two kidnapping capital of the world.

Am I paranoid, or does it seem like this is the time to build the wall and actually take control of our borders?

We've already seen the memory loss that some Washington politicians have suffered recently, trying to remember if they we briefed on torture techniques. Imagine how little they will remember about their opposition to beefed-up border security if terrorists smuggle a nuke across the border, and an american city disappears in a mushroom cloud.

Will We See Homicide Bombers in America?

2009-04-23T11:40:00.009-06:00

Years ago, when I lived in England, it used to be said that what started in America would eventually happen in England. There's some truth to that, of course, but it works the other way too.

A few days before the Easter holiday, British police in Manchester, England nabbed twelve men, eleven of whom are Pakistani nationals who police believed were plotting a series of homicide bombings in Manchester over the upcoming holiday. (As reported by the London Daily Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/5133934/Police-to-continue-questioning-terror-suspects-over-Easter-spectacular-bomb-plot.html )

As we've seen for years in the middle east, homicide (previously referred to as suicide) bombers have been very effective at murdering and maiming innocent people, and promoting their political agenda and terrorist goals through the indiscriminate use of explosives.

But until recently, this particular form of terrorism has been generally regarded as something that only happens "over there" in the middle east. Now, as many of us have expected, it looks like these tactics are going to appear in Europe, and, by extension, may soon be coming to the U.S.A. Of course, the Brits have experienced bombing of innocent civilians before. The Irish Republican Army launched a campaign of blowing up public places both in Northern Ireland and the British mainland back in the 1970s. But leaving a car bomb outside Harrod's department store in London is one thing; walking into a crowded shopping center wearing a vest of high explosive and triggering it at the most opportune moment is much more like launching a guided missile--literally a smart bomb.

Much has been written about the best way to detect a homicide bomber a few moments before they trigger their attack, and the Israelis have developed some good methods to take them down by shooting them. But the Brits don't have as much chance to defend themselves like this because their government doesn't permit them to carry personal firearms; that is verboten. So instead they must rely on the slim chance that an armed police officer will be there, and able to thwart the attack.

God forbid that our terrorist enemies will ever launch homicide bombers on american soil, but with 48 out of the 50 states allowing some form of concealed carry of a handgun for its citizens, the chances are a bit better over here that such a despicable attack might be foiled.

Columbine - Ten Years and a Day Later...

2009-04-21T11:36:00.009-06:00

As previous generations can recall where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated, many of us, particularly in Colorado recall where we were on the morning that two sick, murderous teenagers carried out their plan to attack their classmates at Columbine High School. I was a computer consultant, at work in an office in downtown Denver. News began to trickle over the internet as I, and my colleagues tried at first to focus on our work. But as more details of the attack emerged, it became harder to concentrate on anything else. I knew enough people in the area to wonder if anybody I had worked with in the past was, at that moment, rushing to CHS, desperate to know if their child was safe--or not.

It seems with the tenth anniversary that our society has reached a watershed. Some of the survivors, now in their twenties, have declared that the attack will not continue to define them. They will remember the events of ten years ago, but will also put it behind them, and move on with their lives. That may be easier for the classmates of the dead to do rather then the parents. But the fact remains that there is a fine line between remembering, and allowing what happened to define the rest of their lives.

Other people have used Columbine, and other criminal acts like it to advance their agenda of disarming Americans. They have called for everything from a ban on handguns, to a renewal of Clinton's expired [sic.] Assault Weapons ban (the city of Denver still has it's own AW ban in place).

On the other hand, more progressive views have prevailed. We now have laws in 48 of the 50 states that enable law abiding citizens to carry a handgun concealed (CCW) for their self-defense. Has blood flowed in the streets since CCW laws were enacted? No, with the exception of some criminals who were shot when they tried to attack an honest, citizen. In fact, statistics show that those people who are approved for issue of a concealed weapons permit are among the top tiers of law-abiding citizens.

Another important development has been the changes that Law enforcement has made in the way that they deal with school shootings. The most significant changes are improvements in communications between various emergency responders, and changes to the tactics employed against active shooters by the first police officers to arrive at the scene. Prior to Columbine, most cops were trained to secure the perimiter of a Columbine-type incident and wait for the SWAT team to show up. Nowadays, it's typical for departments to train their oficers that as soon as four officers are present, they form up as a team and enter the building. I've personally witnessed one of our local departments training for this scenario, and Rapid Entry Deployment works.

It's easy to take a tragedy like Columbine and simply call for everybody to be disarmed. But that is not a logical, or a suitable strategy. The founding fathers gave us the Second Amendment for some very good reasons that had nothing to do with hunting or target shooting. If we take the disarmament, gun banning argument and apply it to car accidents, for example, nobody would be able to travel long distances quickly. If we applied the same argument to injuries from power tools, construction would take three times as long. Life is full of trade-offs. But trading guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens for perceived safety is a mistake. Ben Franklin talked about that.

I wonder if Columbine would have turned out any differently if a few people with concealed carry permits and handguns had been on-scene when the attack began?

A Follow-Up on Captain Philips and the Pirates

2009-04-16T09:40:00.004-06:00

I'm glad to admit that I was wrong. I said that, "sadly, my prediction is that eventually the situation will be negotiated and that large sums of money will pass from the insurance companies to the pirates. And the next day, the pirates will be out on the water hijacking more merchant ships for their cargo or ransom."

I'm so glad that a Navy SEAL team proved me wrong, and that their snipers were able solve the problem with three precisely aimed shots. It's a cheaper alternative than paying a ransom, and it rids the world of three parasites.

Go Navy!

DHS Backpedals on "Rightwing Extremists"

2009-04-16T08:20:00.006-06:00

I'm sure that nobody at the Department of Homeland Security could have foreseen the firestorm of protests that a short report on possible threats of domestic terrorism by rightwing extremists has stirred up.

The report implied that military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan might stage attacks in this country: "The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks"

Today, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized for offending veterans.

It's good that she did that, and the report has been removed from the DHS website, but my question is this: What action has been taken against the person or department that created the report in the first place? Has anyone taken them behind the woodshed for a little discussion about how our veterans have served their country with honor and distinction, and how they are probably the last people who would ever give up their beliefs and love of country to stage any sort of attack?

What exactly is this mindset at DHS, and how pervasive is it?

Economics and Morality

2009-04-11T11:04:00.007-06:00

It seems everybody these days has an opinion on how the economy should be fixed. One thing that I haven't heard anybody really discuss is one underlying cause of the mess in which we now find ourselves. It isn't a Republican or Democrat issue, it isn't a capitalist or socialist trait either.

It's been said that when the founding fathers created the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, they made the assumption that the people of this country were basically moral people; that there were certain basic values of human decency that would prevail in most people's behavior, most of the time.

I'm talking about ideals like Trust, Honesty, Honor, and giving some consideration to the other guy.

If Bernie Madoff had thought for a moment before the first time he ever swindled money out of an investor who trusted him, if Madoff had just said to himself, "I can't steal these people's investments. They trust me to look after their money. They are going to need that money for their retirement." How different might things be? Perhaps that ninety-year old Madoff investor (featured on TV recently) would not have been forced to go back to work bagging groceries so that he can afford to eat.

In 1994, Illinois Congressman Dan Rostenkowski was indicted and imprisoned on charges of trading in officially purchased stamps for cash at the House of Representatives post office and keeping non-existent employees on his payroll. Imagine the how different the situation might have been if the congressman had said to himself, "the people who elected me expect me to behave with honesty, honor, and dignity, and that is what I shall do." But instead, brought shame and mis-trust to the office of congressman.

I could go on, but I'm sure you get the point. Whatever financial hocus pocus our governments--both state and federal--try to conjure up to get the economy back on track, none of it is going to work unless the people in charge at all levels are honorable people who put the good of their country before their own self-interest.

The Founding Fathers understood that. Our politicians, public servants, financiers, and everyone who makes decisions that affect the lives of others need to understand it too.

The Pirate Hostage Situation Off the Horn of Africa

2009-04-10T09:12:00.006-06:00

A day or two ago, we had a nasty little hostage situation 350 miles off the coast of Somalia, where four pirates were holding a ship's captain--Capt. Richard Phillips--in a lifeboat that was out of fuel. Thankfully, the ship, Maersk Alabama, was retaken by the crew, and has sailed on to its destination. The Navy destroyer USS Bainbridge is standing watch over the captain.

But here's where the situation begins to unravel: Captain Philips attempted to escape by jumping off the lifeboat and swimming away! Go Captain Philips! That is a brave and ballsy thing to do. Surely we could expect that the security forces monitoring this situation would be ready to assist in such an endeavor? Well, apparently not. The captain was recaptured and brought back on board the lifeboat by the pirates.

As if that isn't bad enough, we now hear that other pirates are converging on the lifeboat, bringing with them dozens of hostages taken from other ship hijackings; sort of a pirate's convention. Now, the Navy and the FBI negotiators will have to deal with additional factors that make this incident much more complicated. The old saying that "He who hesitates is lost" is apparently not one that our hostage negotiators are familiar with. They should follow Captain Philip's example of decisive leadership.

Sadly, my prediction is that eventually the situation will be negotiated and that large sums of money will pass from the insurance companies to the pirates. And the next day, the pirates will be out on the water hijacking more merchant ships for their cargo or ransom.

Diplomats and corporations can discuss and debate all they want. The only real diplomatic policy is the one that the Marines used two hundred years ago. You have to kill enough pirates that the rest give up.

Another Pirate Attack on the High Seas

2009-04-09T16:36:00.006-06:00

As I write this, the standoff is still going on between pirates who boarded the merchant vessel Maersk Alabama about 350 miles off the coast of Somalia, and the US Navy destroyer, Bainbridge. The captain of the Maersk Alabama is also the former skipper of the USS Cole. He put himself in the position of becoming the only hostage for the pirates so that his crew could take back their ship and sail on to their destination. So now we have a standoff between a handful of pirates in a small boat, who are holding the captain, and the USS Bainbridge with remote support from the hostage negotiators of the FBI.

So I wonder, how long is the Bainbridge expected to to remain on station, waiting for the FBI to negotiate with a handful of third-world criminals for the safe return of the Maersk Alabama's captain, who has already proved himself to be an officer and a gentleman? Who makes that decision? The FBI? The ship's insurance company? Or the pirates? Putting aside any tactical considerations, such as snipers being able to make precision shots on the pirates from the rolling deck of a ship, why are we waiting? Where is the downside in shooting dead all the pirates clustered around the captain? This situation needs to be brought to an end very quickly. The longer it lasts the less control our people will have over it.

Funny how history repeats itself

2009-04-05T10:22:00.001-06:00

"It's the economy, Stupid."

That's the phrase that accompanied Bill Clinton's entry into the White House for his first term as President. The democrat Clinton was president after a republican, George Bush the elder. The U.S. economy was in decline. Now we have another democrat president succeeding a republican president, George Bush junior. Coincidence? Of course. But what shouldn't be coincidence is the dismal state of the economy. Have we learned nothing since then?

Think back to the 1980s for a moment. This was the era of "The Me generation," Remember the movie, "Wall Street," where one of the characters states that Greed is good? Well, the people who were in college then, or starting off in their careers must have taken those sentiments to heart, because a generation later, they are the people running the economy. We have people like Bernie Madoff, who apparently thinks that it's acceptable to defraud people of their retirement savings. But that isn't the entire story. Madoff promised greater returns on investment than other companies. So, many people simply followed their greed for more money and signed over their cash to him. Perhaps if those investors had stopped to wonder why Madoff could offer higher percentages than other institutions, they may have been more cautious about investing with him, or they may have diversified their savings. But no, most of these investors dumped huge sums into Madoff's hands because they allowed greed, not fiscal responsibility, to guide them.

And now we hear that two cabinet nominees have failed to pay all their taxes. I give both these people the benefit of the doubt that they are honorable men who did not deliberately try to avoid paying their taxes. But it begs the question: If you cannot manage your own financial affairs properly, how can We the People expect you to manage your government responsibilities?

But this is all water under the bridge at this point. The real issue now is whether We the People have confidence in the politicians in Washington D.C. to understand the underlying problems in the economy that got all of us into this mess, and then do the right things to fix the problem. This will likely require many of these politicians to make some hard decisions about whether they put their own interests before those of the nation , or not.

Illegal Immigration

2008-04-11T22:53:00.000-06:00

I’m an immigrant. When I came to this country, I already had a job lined up. I did everything the legal way: I got a work permit and a temporary residence permit. From the day I got off the plane, I paid local, state, and Federal taxes (including social security). Eventually, I received a Green Card (permanent residency as an alien and permanent work permit). During Ronald Regan’s second term, the

U.S.

government declared an amnesty on illegal aliens who had been in this country since before 1982. The immigration service assured me that they had one group of bureaucrats processing the Illegal’s applications, while another group of bureaucrats was processing the applications of legal immigrants like me. Like many people in my position, my green card application was held up for over a year while the Illegals were processed ahead of me.

Let’s get a few things straight: First, these people are not undocumented workers; that description doesn’t cover the thousands of MS13 and other gang bangers here who never worked a day in their lives. Someone who comes here legally or illegally from somewhere else is an Alien. An Alien who breaks the law to get into this country and does not have a visa or other residency and work permit is an Illegal Alien. I sympathize with people who want to come here to live, work, and better themselves. Half the rest of the world wants to live in America. I know that I did, and I’m more grateful to this country for accepting me than I can ever say. I don’t blame people for sneaking across our borders. I don’t blame them for working any job they can get—without a work permit—to provide for their families. I don’t blame the previous generations of Americans, who accepted waves of immigrants to this country because it followed one of the basic tenets that this great nation was founded upon: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. I do blame the drug runners who have taken advantage of our porous borders to introduce cocaine and heroine to our citizens. I blame the gang bangers, rapists, child molesters and other scum who come here because they think America provides easy pickings (which, apparently, it does).

But most of all I blame generations of American politicians who turned a blind eye to the growing problem of Illegal Immigration because they either thought that waves of Latino voters would vote Democrat, or because cheap lettuce would allow farmers to pour money into Republican coffers. And all the while, American citizens who live along the southern border have to tolerate hundreds of Illegals trespassing on their property every night, leaving tons of trash, stealing, killing their animals, as they make the trek northwards to murder, rape, steal, or—if we’re lucky—simply work without paying income tax.

Here’s something else to ponder: In order for an immigrant to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, they have to demonstrate to an immigration officer that they can read, write, and speak English before they are granted U.S. citizenship. Only American citizens are allowed to vote. So why did my local polling station have signs written in both English and Spanish? Do you still think this isn’t a problem caused and tolerated by politicians?

So what is it going to take to fix this problem? First, we have to address an equally important threat. Eventually, a terrorist with a WMD will sneak across the border along with the Illegals, and attack an American city. It isn’t a question of “if”, more like “when”. The only way to prevent a threat like this is to seal the borders. Build a concrete wall fifty feet high and twenty feet thick along the entire border. Put one door in it and place the First Armored Division on the northern side (do the same on the Canadian border, but put the First Infantry Division there).

Deport every Illegal Immigrant. Suspend the American Citizenship of every child born here of Illegal Immigrants in the past twenty years. Oh yes, and hold every politician, every bureaucrat, accountable. That is phase one. We’ll address phase two some other time.

Churchill was right; Democracy IS the worst form of government

2008-04-10T21:30:00.000-06:00

If you've voted in a few presidential elections, you might be starting to feel that strange sense of foreboding that grows steadily as we get closer to the big day this November. There's that feeling that regardless of who wins, we are going, in some way or another, to get screwed by our elected politicians.

In a two party system, unless you flat out agree with everything one candidate stands for (assuming that candidates actually STAND for anything anymore) you end up voting for the lesser of two evils. If, like me, you are cynical about politics, you can make the case that in a two-horse race, if you own both horses, you don't care which one wins. And that, I think, becomes the problem when you get big corporations and other entities with fat checkbooks who contribute to both parties campaigns. For the rest of us, we are stuck with voting for the lesser of two bought and paid for evils--or is that the lesser of two weevils?--A Weevil being a small beetle that is destructive to nuts, grain, fruit, etc. Yeah, that sounds about right.

So maybe we should go with a three or four party system like some of the European countries have? Certainly there is more chance of finding a candidate or party with much more similar political views to yours, but the chances are that in an election, the winning party will not have a clear majority to govern, and will end up cutting deals and forming alliances with one or two of the other minority parties and compromising their political position in order to get anything done. That brings us right back to where we started.

Perhaps by the time the general election comes around, it's already too late for us as voters to be truly effective; like waiting for the Superbowl before you root for a team. it seems to me that the time to really influence politics is during the Primaries. It's the only chance you get to weed out the undesirables and settle on a candidate who may actually share your values. Then, you just have ti watch that candidate like a hawk to make sure that big money doesn't corrupt him and turn him to the Dark Side of the Force.

So there you go; Sucks doesn't it?

Oh, but I didn't finish Sir Winston Churchill's quote: "Democracy is the worst form of government. except for all the others."