Josiah Is Three

Today is Josiah's third birthday. We don't have near as many pictures of him as we do William, the original camera hog. Josiah is somewhat shy but still a good sturdy boy. This pic is from January at his brother William's party. There is some odd reason of scheduling all the adults that means his party won't be for a couple of weeks. I'll show a ton of pictures shortly after that.

This boy and his cousins Micheal and Alexandra are the ones living closest and we still only see them for birthdays and Christmas. Not really the way we expected grandparenting to be. It's our own fault, I guess, moving out to the country.

Who Knew She Was Russian?

I was having a fairly heavy supper because the local supermarket had those giant sirloin steaks on sale. The kind a a guy in his twenties can eat all at once, everyone else cuts in half to eat, with plenty left for the dogs to get a little taste.

So I needed a light lunch to keep me from looking too much like the Goodyear Blimp. Speaking of the Goodyear Blimp, those things were developed by the US Navy for antisubmarine work, pre WW2. They made several dirigibles where the "balloon" part had a metal frame, but they were unhappy with them. Especially the ones full of hydrogen that blew up and killed everyone, that seemed to make it difficult to find crewmembers for some reason. Seems that when they switched to helium the metal frameworks were too heavy, helium not having as much lifting power. So they tried to work without the metal frameworks. The first try was called the A-Limp. For reasons I either never knew or have forgotten, this wasn't completely satisfactory so they tried again. This one was called the B-Limp. It worked. So well that no matter how many times they were modified, they're still called Blimps. But I digress. Since I'm digressing, though, the Navy's airfield in, I believe, New Jersey, had a hanger big enough for a couple of them at once, the building was (is?) so big that it actually could rain inside if the weather was right. I'm not speaking of leaks, I'm speaking of rain. Impress your friends with that bit of useless knowledge! And then tell me why I know that but can't remember my own phone number.

Anyway, the light lunch. The other week I bought a 32 ounce bottle of Manischewitz Borscht and potato pancake mix in honor of my Russian relatives. Since Linda Lou refuses to eat anything her Mama didn't cook back in Kansas, I had a little less than half that bottle left and some Club Crackers for my lunch. So I had Borscht with a big spoon of sour cream. Hot because although the Russians sometimes eat it cold I'm not that Russian.

Now we already know that Ming the merciless is a Muslim dog because of the way she bullies me every time I have peas but I've never really heard of a dog that likes beets. People don't even like beets. I think that's one of the things that is forbidden as torture, to give Muslim prisoners beets.

Anyhow Ming, Peas be upon her, was right there when the bowl was just wet on the bottom and so I put it down there, expecting her to sniff and then give me a dirty look. Not likely. If there'd been a couple of inches of Borscht left in that bowl she might have drowned while licking. So, it seems I have a half Muslim, half Russian Chinese Pug. Who would've thunk it?

Teddy Kennedy, Good Riddance To Bad Rubbish

He stared out cheating in college. He then went to prove that binge drinking is not just a problem for young students. Ah but then he built up. On July 18, 1969 he killed Mary Jo Kopechne. Drunk, as usual, he drove off the bridge, then panicking, he ran off with her in the backseat. Instead of calling for help, he called his lawyers and campaign staff.

Mary Jo died in an ever diminishing air pocket. Kennedy, proving that liberals don't care about equal justice, went on to be Senator For Life, living forty years in unearned wealth and luxery.

Teddy Kennedy, one of the graves I hope to live long enough to pee on. I hope he is screaming, burning in Hell forever. I know this is not being a perfect human being, fine, I'll answer for this sin. Unlike Kennedy, though, I won't try to weasle out of it.

I'm 24 Today, Thanks To To Whom It May Concern!

Today marks my 24th AA Birthday, 24 years without any drink of alcohol. After the first 23 years it was easy!Actually, it was the first three or four years but let's not quibble over details.

When I first got sober I had very confused religious beliefs. I liked to say that I was an atheist on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, an agnostic on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and I took Sundays off and didn't think about it.

So I sobered up, with a lot of help. One of the first things they told me was that, to stay sober, I had to pray. That was great news to a man who did not believe. This prayer business is one of the main things that prevents alcoholics and addicts get sober or "clean" as the addicts say, through the 12 Step Programs.

It is not just the help we get through prayer that is important, perhaps more important is admitting that we do need the help of that higher power, that we are not, as individuals, strong enough to defeat alcoholism.

So, back when I was still fighting that struggle as a newcomer, not being able to keep that knee from shaking, I couldn't pray. So I asked about it. Someone, I can't remember his name but I later went to his funeral when the disease defeated him*, told me two things that saved my life. The first was that I did not have to understand God. God understood me, that's what really counted. and the second was that I could have a temporary higher power until I got my religious beliefs more or less in order.

So I started praying. At first it was short and simple. "To whom it may concern, please help me stay sober today" in the morning. At night it was: To whom it may concern, thank you for helping me stay sober today".

That simple prayer helped and and my religious beliefs strengthened, I've never forgotten the power of prayer. This does not mean that prayer is the end all and be all of the whole thing. There is a very common prayer that includes the phrase "give us this day our daily bread". This does not mean that I can kneel down and say those words, then lean my head back and open my mouth and wait for a sandwich to fall from the sky. He does not work that way, although He could.

I can only assume that "give us this day our daily strength so we can go out and scuffle up our own damned bread" was too long for the sermon. At any rate I no longer consider To Whom It May Concern as my higher power. It's very comforting to know, though, that He answered to that when I really needed Him. I am convinced to this day that it doesn't matter much what you call Him if you are sincere when calling Him. I do not know the time limit on using To Whom It May Concern as His name. I just know it worked for me until I got those beliefs in order.

I am pretty sure that To Whom It May Concern will answer to others, not just alcoholics. So, if you, or anyone you know is having troubles too heavy for one person to carry but is unsure about religion, try the temporary higher power.

*It's a sure sign you're getting old when you can remember the funerals but not the names.

Why Don't I Call My Doctor For Legal Advice?

Here is something I don't really get. Politicians, unfortunately, are mostly lawyers. In Congress, lawyer is the single most common profession. Except, of course, politician. My one Senator is a lawyer, as near as I can figure he started as a government prosecutor, went to being a judge, then state attorney general, then elected to the Senate. My other Senator was a college cheerleader, then worked in a TV station newsroom, then went into politics. Someone please explain to me why these two have any right whatever to make rules coming between me and my doctors. Use small words, please.

I see one or another of my doctors at least every other month or so. I have never asked my doctors any legal questions, nor how to be a cheerleader or TV news personality. I do not ask my doctors about law, except this particular thing dreamed up by, not doctors, but politicians. So, it turns out that people with no experience in medicine, love government health care. and by experience, I also include as a patient. Seems that a lot of young, types love the idea. Figures, the young, like politicians, are experts in things they know nothing about. There are young people with experience with government health care, our military. Remember the problems at Walter Reed? Let me get this straight, if a soldier is shot or blown up, if he or she gets to the field hospital with a pulse, those docs will move heaven and earth to save them. But catch the flu or something and it's miserable. Go head and pull some back muscles and see how it works.

The government is proving that they cannot even give money away, the cash for clunkers program is a debacle. Less than seven percent of the vouchers have been paid, some car dealerships are about to go under because they haven't been paid.

There is some good news on this family's front, though. My niece, Toni and her family went to watch their daughter, Cassie, be sworn in to the United States Naval Reserve where she will be a Midshipman in the NROTC at the University of Arizona. If all goes well she will become an Ensign or, a more remote possibility, a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps. I say it's the more remote possibility because her dad was a career white hat in the Navy, having to take early retirement in one of the RIFs.

Rumor has it that her dad had a tear or two. So does her uncle Peter. Don't mistake them, though. those are the tears of pride.

Reprieve For Rifqa

Just a quick note, young Miss Rifqa whad her first hearing in Florida and the judge kept the case rather than hand her over to Ohio and her parents. Her next hearing is September the third. Prayers still needed. And, the way that the religion of pieces acts, maybe more hiding places for her.

Good Luck Rifqa

So a beautiful young woman named Rifqa Bary has converted from Islam to Christianity and is on the run from her family. Seems she is afraid of "honor killing". Oddly, we only hear of this story from her strict Muslim family's point of view. We only hear that there is something oddly wrong about the Christian preacher and his family that took her in. We don't hear from young Rifqa or her friends. Somehow the Press, which prides itself for speaking Truth To Power and has been one of the major foci's of feminism since the 1970s is not at all interested in this seventeen year old woman.

If only Rifqa wanted an abortion! If only she were pregnant and worried that her family of conservative Christians would do her harm, like the Palins did to poor Bristol! What? The Palins still love Bristol and that baby, despite wishing Bristol had waited a few years and got that wedding ring first? How can that be? Anyhow we all know that conservative Christians are the problem. We all know that moderate Muslims do not believe in honor killings, they keep telling us that. We, of course, never hear of these moderate Muslims telling their conservative Muslim brethren to stop with the honor killings. Funny thing, that. I'm old enough to remember segregation. At the height of the struggle there were a lot of southern whites who said "this is wrong". They were called Republicans.

Today there a lot of people who don't seem to mind honor killings. Feminists, news reporters, black liberation theology types, in other words, Democrats. Oh, sure if an honor killing happens here and the perp doesn't make it back to Scumbagistan, they'll prosecute. But you can bet the farm they won't do anything so gauche as to threaten to stop all foreign aid to Scumbagistan unless the perp is returned to face justice. These people are called Democrats.

Speaking of Democrats, everyone knows of the MSNCC idiot newsreader wailing about white people bringing guns near where the President was going to speak and it turns out that the picture they showed was a black guy carrying an AR-15 clone of some kind, carefully edited, of course, to hide the man's skin color. Meanwhile saying it was bad for race relations or something. Note: please understand that Democrats don't like black people any better now than in 1962. It's just that, for now, black folks are useful to them. If the constant racebaiting of the Democrats and media (but I repeat myself) actually brings on a race war the Donks will grab power while the media grabs ratings.

What too many still so not understand is that the left, while claiming to love humanity, does not like people. This is why they never stand up for life, really. Well, except that they don't like it when we off the odd murderer. So it's free Mumia but make sure to abort that fetus. I guess they figure if we let Mumia live he just might kill again. Meanwhile, once you kill an unborn baby, that's it. So, kill the babies, let murderers live, anything to knock the population down. Meanwhile the left thinks there are way too may people. One lefty site was claiming that there should only be five hundred million people in the whole world. The odd thing is it's never them volunteering to go first. Kind of like Algore saying WE are using too much energy.

Rocky Gibbs And His Cartridges

Mannolis Aamoen Gibbs was a Texas boy who moved from dust bowl Texas to California, not being one of the "Okies" who showed up broke and starving, though. Funny how during those days anyone broke showing up in California was an Okie, even those from the Dakotas and Iowa. At any rate he didn't go by busted down Model T but by train, in the passenger cars no less. Young Mr. Gibbs wanted to become famous and thought his moniker was a handicap. Going through a rather tall mountain range he asked what they were called. The Rockies. He became, on the spot, a moving spot since he was still on the train, Rocky E. Gibbs.

This is a sort of a review of the "book" on disc I got for subscribing to Handloader Magazine. I put book in quotes because it's more of a booklet on disc. I had visions of being offline for days while I waded through a several hundred page tome, this whole thing had 64 "pages" plus a short preface. Still, it was an interesting and informative look at a slice of American firearms history.



Settling in Richmond, California he became a hunter and, from there, a shooter. Most nonshooters do not realize how many hunters are not much in the way of shooters. A powerful lot of hunters can make a twenty round box of cartridges last years.

Rocky, because a case of Typhoid Fever robbed him of the sight in his right eye, had to learn to shoot as a southpaw. Wanting to be a good hunter he decided to become a good shooter and joined the Richmond Rod and Gun Club, long gone due to excessive urbanisation. This club had a type of target shooting contest I've never heard of before and I've heard of a lot of different shooting contests. there rifle matches were slip into two halves. The first being a series of smallest groups at one, two, three and four hundred yards, and the second smallest groups at one hundred yards and then smallest group and least drop with that hundred yard zero at four hundred yards. The book didn't quite tell me how that was laid out, what percent of the score was for each group and what for least drop but it had to be some significant part for the least drop.

Rocky started out with a .270 Winchester in that old Remington 721, then having it rechambered to .270 Ackley Improved. He then ran into the same problem that plagues the Remington 700 with high pressure loadings to this day, an itty-bitty little extractor that sometimes tears out of the case rim, leaving the rifle tied up until a cleaning rod is fetched and the case poked out from the muzzle.

So he got a Winchester Model 70 and that solved that problem. Rocky didn't really love the Ackley Improved line of cartridges, though. He thought they were close but no cigar. The Ackley Improved was developed by Parker Ackley during the 'tween the war period. A cartridge like the .30-06 or .270 has a gently sloping shoulder and quite a bit of body taper. Ackley (and several other gunsmiths) discovered that if one took and made a new chamber reamer they could make a much sharper shoulder and eliminate most of the body taper. Then just by firing a factory cartridge in the new chamber you could make a "new" cartridge with a significant increase in powder capacity. Like a car engine, the more capacity, the more power. Plus, the straigher taper does allow loading to higher pressure without increasing the bolt thrust or the pounding that those bolt locking lugs take. Just trust me on this, the reasons are too long and complicated to go into here.

Anyhow, every bottlenecked rifle cartridge in America went through some form of improvement. Parker Ackley, had his, A feller named Mashburn up in Oklahoma City had his, someone named Durham, the ICL line and Roy Weatherby all made them. Many were made by just blowing the cases out, others were necked down to smaller caliber or up to larger caliber.

The thing to remember, though, is an Improved cartridge will also shoot standard factory ammo. You would lose a slight amount of velocity because some of the powder gas that would normally push the bullet would, instead, blow the case walls out to the new shape.

When Rocky decided to make his own line of cartridges, they were not regular improved cartridges, he didn't just blow the walls straighter and make a sharper shoulder, he also moved the shoulder forward. His cartridges are famous, some say infamous, for their short case necks. There is the same complaint about short necks with the .300 Winchester Mag. Nobody is sure persactly why these short necks are such a problem but some folks just don't like them. I guess those short necks won't hold the bullets straight if you carried some ca'tridges loose in your pants pocket and rolled down a mountain or something although I suspect if I were rolling down a mountain the straightness of bullets would not be high on my list of worries. But, that's just me.

At any rate, instead of being able to shoot factory ammo, one has to go through some from of hooraw to form cases for a Gibbs cartridge. The simplest way is to pull the bullet and then reseat the bullet far enough out to engage the rifling. This will hold the base of the cartridge back against the bolt face long enough to blow the shoulder forward. We can save the cost of a bullet by necking the case up a bit and then necking just the tip of the neck down again, enough that that casehead is held firmly against the boltface. Then we fire it with a dose of faster burning pistol powder, the case filled with grits or cream of wheat and stopped with toilet paper or wax. I knew an old guy who used to shoot rats in his barn with wax out of his fireforming rounds.

Rocky had another method of making his cases, though. It was the first product of the Gibbs rifle company, in 1953. He used a sizing die for his cartridge, with the neck expander and decapping pin removed and then a tight fitting plug to go in the case neck. He would then put an inert primer into the empty case, fill the case with light oil, insert the plug and whack it with a hammer. this would, after a couple of whacks, blow the case out, then he'd pour the oil out and go to the next case. Now I haven't ever done this, just from reading of it, I wouldn't want to do this while wearing a nice white suit. Or do this in the house.

In addition to his line of wildcat cartridges Rocky experimented with front ignition with his cartridges. He wasn't alone in that, either. The most famous of those fooling with front ignition were Charles O'Neil, Elmer Keith and Don Hopkins. Every gunny knows of Elmer Keith.

This was called duplex loading. In addition to a tube threaded into the primer flash hole to carry the flame up near the front of the powder charge this method of loading also used a smaller charge of faster burning powder at the casehead. I never fooled with these and, now that I'm very near the end of my shooting career, I will not. It is very interesting, though. In our world of fast food and microwave meals I seriously doubt that very many will bother with this technique today. It is easier just to get a gigantic case and use gobs of extremely slow burning powder.

Still, the idea of front ignition duplex loads is intriguing. The claim for these loads is higher velocity, longer barrel life and reduced recoil.

The higher velocity claim is true, the things against this are fairly simple. One, these loads look like a pain in the patootie. First we must go through the hassel of threading these little tubes and the cases, then inserting the tubes. We must then modify our sizing dies for handloading these cartridges. Then we have to find the right sized drill rod and temper it for decapping the fired cases. Then we have to figure out a way to keep that fast burning powder from getting into that flash tube.

But wait! There's more! After doing all that we must then use a powder for the main charge that will be sightly compressed when we seat the bullet. If the powder charges are not solidly compressed so they can't shake around we can get a KABOOM! and be picking little pieces of rifle out of our hides, if we're able to pick.

Still, it's interesting. The idea that barrel life is longer comes from the lack of "sandblast effect" of the unburned and burning powder granules hitting the barrel. Lighting the fire from the top means the burning powder gasses force the rest of the powder to stay down, at the same time forcing the bullet to go up. This is only logical, just as the conventional priming would have the gasses start at the bottom and force everything up.

This is where that faster powder comes in. The slow powder has already been burning, the gasses have already been pushing the bullet a bit down the bore. This, in effect, makes for a great big "case". Like the od black powder cases used with modern powders, that big combustion chamber means we need a fast powder to make lots of powder gasses, quick. So, in duplex loading we have this fast powder to give another boost in gasses just as the pressure is going down.

This means, when it works right, a longer peak pressure curve. So we get higher velocities. The lower recoil for the same velocity is also simple, in conventional cartridges the way to increase velocity is to make the case larger and use larger amounts of slower powder. Since heavier weights of powder increase recoil (for every action there is an equal and opposite action) the front ignition duplex loads really work.

Trouble is, this is a mid-Twentieth Century idea in the 21st Century. Even then few were interested in the idea. Conventional handloading of ammunition is actually pretty simple. Recipes for loads abound. Anyone willing to follow directions can load safe effective ammunition. There are few such recipes for the front ignition duplex loads.

Rocky's business never really recovered from the fire that destroyed his Idaho house. Then his health started downhill. Then his sons decided they were not interested in staying in the business after they grew up. Rocky died in 1973 and that was near the end of that kind of experimentation. What a shame.

Woodstock, So What?

So the big deal these days is that it's the forty year anniversary of Woodstock. Oooh! Oooh! Woodstock! As near as I can figure Woodstock was a farm someplace that rented out a cow pasture so a bunch of not very good bands could play for a whole mess of Yankee kids. There was no real music involved, no Buck Owens, no Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn was not invited.

I am bemused by the things the media makes out to be the symbols of the day. On the weekend those few kids frolicked in the mud (how many rapes happened there?) there were about half a million others, about the same age, over in a place called Viet Nam. Something I've never understood. All during that time in history there were just as many people listening to country and western music. There were far more young men in uniform that ever went to all the antiwar parades put together.

So, how come THEY symbolize the era?

Nothing Much To Say.

I don't have a whole lot to say right now. Nothing much wrong just tired of the constant assault. I think this is a big part of the left's plan. We of the right have trouble being perpetually angry, a major talent of the left. Seriously, do we ever really see a leftist happy? Oh, a leftist might smile at some calamity for a minute, there were lots of smiles when Dick Cheney had heart trouble but, then, he lived and the constant frowns came back.

Happy people make poor activists. Oh, Obama says that we should shut up and let Democrats fix what Democrats broke in the first place, trying to tell us that the Doctors are just cutting parts out of or off us us, willy nilly. He tries to tell us that insurance companies, which act under a load of rules that would crush steel, rules written, mostly, by Democrats, are the problem. Then we get angry and fume for a while, then we go back to our families, jobs and pets.

While we are doing things like watching grandchildren grow or scritching a dog's ears they, noticing we're busy, add another trillion to the National Debt. If anyone notices they screech about Bush. Meanwhile this Administration makes the Bush Administration look like penny pinchers.

Anyhow, I'm sick of fighting with them, I know I can't give up the battle but I hope I can take a few days off. I have a new book on a disc and I'd like to step offline for a day or so to read it, it's the story of Rocky Gibbs and his wildcat cartridges. And his method of lighting the powder off from the front of the cartridge instead of the rear. This involved threading the primer flash hole and running a tube up to just below the bullet. I'll know far more once I read the book, I reckon but the general consensus seems to be that front ignition is better, just not enough better to be worth the trouble. It seems to be okay on a one guy loading a few rounds, not okay for a factory or, worse, a government arsenal loading millions of rounds.

So, I'll be out of pocket a bit but there is nothing wrong. And, I'll be back with a book report.

Dear Washington, Again.

Dear Washington:

I am somewhat surprised at your antics the last week or so, it seems as if you have forgotten something important. You see, there are a few things you are not supposed to do.

The President is not allowed to tell American citizens to shut up. As a matter of fact you, Mr. Obama, should shut up a while and listen to the American people. I have told you before that there is more to the job you have than standing around with your chin tilted just so. You seem to have trouble believing that. I might remind you, sir, of what happened to the last guy who tried that system of governance. His name was Benito Mussolini. As I recall, things did not end so well for him.

The Speaker of the House is not allowed to call ordinary Americans Nazis. And if an ordinary American shows up at a rally with the word no written over a swastika then that American is probably not advocating marching back into the Rhineland nor starting the Panzers rolling into the Soviet Union. Instead that American Citizen is worried about you, Madame Pelosi, overstepping the constraints of your office.

The Senate Majority Leader is supposed to represent all of the citizens of Nevada, not just the ones invited to participate in "telephone town halls". Mr. Reid, in your idea, you get to choose who should speak and who may request answers. I know it's tough, sir but that's not the way our system works.

Representative Carnahan, do you really think it is a good idea to have union thugs beating and kicking an unemployed citizen for selling "don't tread on me" flags? Especially if that citizen happens to be black? That citizen may well be a staunch Democrat who just saw a way to make a few bucks. I don't know that, you don't know and those SEIU goons don't know. What I can tell you, sir, is that if he was a Democrat, he isn't one now. Representative Carnahan, having your goons beat and kick American citizens is not the way we win friends and influence people. I suggest you start talking to those lobbying firms, I doubt you will have an office in the government building in DC after January, 2011. We forgive a lot, we Americans, beating our citizenry is going too far.

The rest of you Democrats that are bleating about the folks who are happy with their present health care being astroturfed and paid by the insurance companies, I invite you to look at that video that is going around where that AARP got all snippy with, and then stormed out of that meeting in Dallas. AARP is an insurance company, dear Congress. Those folks didn't seem to have been paid enough, did they?

Or me, for instance. I am quite happy with the way my private insurance pays for what my Medicare does not. What, dear Congress, will happen to my private insurance once you make those huge cuts in Medicare to pay for the rest of your scheme? Why they will raise my premiums sky high, won't they? And then, being beggared by the Federal Government, they'll go out of business.

Congress, if you, and your little brothers in the state governments, would only do something about those tort lawyers stalking about looking for the latest jackpot, medical insurance would drop immediately. And then, if you and your state legislative jackals would simply allow patients some choices in what insurance coverage they need, medical insurance prices would drop again. My wife and I do not need coverage for birth control and pregnancy. We are old. And our kids, who need such coverage, do not need coverage for the conditions caused by the ravages of age. You legislators do not need to, nor are you supposed to, tell us what coverage we must have.

Years ago Linda Lou and I had the perfect coverage. We paid like five dollars a doctor visit and two dollars per prescription, after we hit this fairly low deductible. The next thing we knew a bunch of shyster lawyers descending on them like hyenas on a wounded wildebeest. The next thing we knew, that company had to leave Texas because they started to lose money with every patient. It's been most of twenty years since then, we haven't been as happy as we were with our Kaiser Permenente. Thanks, shysters. Thanks legislators.

We know, Congress, what is costing so much that medical care is so unaffordable. Some large percentage of medical costs is the tests for every possible thing to protect the doctor from a lawsuit. Too bad we can't sue John Edwards. So, so many more mothers are getting cut open instead of delivering naturally and there isn't even a tiny change in the number of autistic children. It isn't possible that this lawyer and legislator lied, is it? Why yes, yes it is.

The President wants those who borked the system to shut up. Actually, that's a good idea. All legislators, lawyers and such should sit down and shut up. Then they should listen to their constituents. Don't shout, don't call names. If you want to make sure that the constituent isn't an astroturfed type, demand identification.

Next, while you are shutting up, sit down with real doctors from your districts. If you are concerned with astroturfing, fine. have a staffer make a list of all the doctors in the district, cut the list up and pick names out at random for a series of dinners. You clowns waste so much of our money we'll be glad to pay for maybe ten of these dinners each. Let each Doc talk for a few minutes and present his or her recommendations. After those dinners, do some more with someone else who might know something about medical insurance. Not lawyers, insurance people. You might not like to believe this, Washington, but far more Americans trust their insurance companies more than we do you.

The President had some good advice. Trouble is, he was telling the wrong people. He, and the rest of Washington should listen. Washington, the medical insurance companies have a 72% approval rating. Congress has a 24% approval rating. Washington, it may not be a great idea to demonize a bunch of outfits three times more popular than you. Just sayin'.

Love, Peter

PS, You are also blathering, Washington, about us disrupting your meetings and that is why we, your constituents, actually your bosses, aren't welcome in your meetings. Here is a strange idea: if you will shut up long enough to listen, perhaps we would not have to shout. Understand, Washington, we will be heard, whether you like it or not. The more you refuse to listen, the more painful it will be when we are heard. Listen now. You might save your cushy jobs. Listen in November '10, on your way to find a new line of work. Or, keep cheating on these elections and face the angry mobs.

Hovel Repair Day

So, yesterday I got up after a whopping four hours sleep because my bud Steve was coming out to fix the shower that Linda Lou broke when she fell a few months back.

The meds I take make it difficult when I don't get enough sleep. There was a day when four hours sleep was plenty. It's my own fault, I had forgot to bring CAP into the house until my normal bedtime. Well we can't let her roam the house once we are asleep so I had to stay up another two-three hours so she could eat and drink. Someone once accused me of being real bright. He was a liar.

So we drove up to Lowes Home Improvement after a new shower manifold and the rest of everything we needed. So we fixed the shower, the leaky toiler that I'd cut the water off of and even fixed the faucet that was getting wonky in the kitchen sink.

As it turned out, what I thought was wrong with that toilet wasn't it so I even have a few spare parts left. So, there are still things to fix here in our retirement hovel but and least my stinky ol' Linda Lou* has her shower back.

So the hardest thing was keeping myself awake until my normal bedtime. If I go to sleep too early then I get up while Linda Lou is still doing her thing on the Intertoobs. Then she thinks, for some strange reason, that I'm trying to rush her so I can get on. I don't know where she'd get that idea. It couldn't possibly be true, though, just because I keep saying hurry up, hurry up. I mean who ever heard of a wife wife hurrying just because of a husband telling her to?

So I went to bed at my normal (for me) time of about three to four AM and slept for over nine hours. I awoke with both Pugs in bed with me and Linda Lou gone, the note said to the flea market (with three dogs why should she want to go buy fleas?) and the supermarkets. So, Linda Lou came home with milk and donuts and a few other things but no fleas. I suspect she visited her other boyfriend.

In other news, I am joining another movement, the I am Kenneth Gladney movement. I am Kenneth Gladney. When you attack him, you attack me. There is one difference. He's gone to a lawyer. I will not. Knock me down and kick me I shall come back. I will have something in my hands. It may not be flowers and cotton candy.

* Note: Linda Lou is not really stinky, she just hates my little shower stall.

Astroturfed Blog Entry

So I'm doing my usual routine of tiptoeing through the tulips of the Blogosphere while singing loudly and off key when I see more about our side being all fake and astroturfed. Then I see this blurb from the Miami Herald. I really hope this lame attempt at linking works, check down toward the bottom. anyhow, if it doesn't work, as usual, here is this one line:"Democrats worked phone banks in Miami Beach and Plantation on Wednesday and plan to rally in front". Now it doesn't matter exactly where this happened, it's just the usual thing with these clowns. Any big lefty deal, and most of the medium sized ones, you see the rented busses pulled up, you see the professionally printed signs, the matching T-shirt. So, conservatives and libertarians show up, what do you see? A whole lot of cars, hand drawn signs, anyone dressed alike it's either two women staring daggers at each other or some family thinking it's neat to all dress up in flag shirts or something. Note: Please don't kill me, I'm of the age where those old cliches are amusing. So, who is and has been astroturfing all this time.

I'm not really sure those Donks really know what they're getting into, sending their union goons out to pick fights with these health care protesters. So it was four to one on that fellow in, where, St.Louis? It's like this, sooner or later those punks are going to pick on a retired bluesuit or a civilian with a CCW. When that happens, unarmed, one to a CCW, can't shoot except under very rare conditions. Four goons to one CCW? Try, "I was in fear of my life". I'm pretty sure the only way to get indicted on a deal like that is if you shot one in the back of the head when he was down. At any rate, those SIEU goons seem to have committed felony assault. If you are the praying type, please put up a word for Kenneth Gladney. Attacked for passing out "Don't tread on me" flags. Or, perhaps, for being black and daring to step off the Democrat's plantation.

Over at Michelle Malkin's site I saw where the Secret Service took, temporarily, every one's cell phones at some fancy burger joint in Washington because Queen Michelle of Chicago was eating with the two daughters for fear someone would take a picture. I'm curious. Under what legal authority do they do such a thing? I realize that taking a picture of Her Royal Horseybutt at close range might well cause the little camera to shatter but still, what legal authority? I seem to remember that preJanuary 21 law enforcement agencies need a warrant to confiscate private property, even temporarily. And the warrant can't say "any cell phone at fancypants diner, either. Yanno, the White House has a full scale kitchen with professional chefs that can cook just about anything. Just sayin'.

Everyone already knows about the big hoohaa in Dallas with the spokesperson being so rude and condescending to the customers of AARP. There is a reason I've been throwing their junk mail, and I do mean junk, away since I turned fifty. And I turned fifty more years ago than I like to think about. I was warned about this outfit by my friends at the NRA.

I love living in the country but there is one unfortunate thing about it. My Congressman is, at least this session, Sam Johnson. Seeing as how I'm right on the edge of several districts they seem to change me from one to the other, without redistricting. Not quite sure how that works but nobody asked me. At least I go from Republican to Republican. But, that's not really the unfortunate thing. Old Sam is not for the cap and tax and he's not for the medical boondoggle. So, I don't even have to bother going to any of these meetings and get paid by the medical insurance people or the Republicans or the Bildenberg Conspiracy or whoever is behind the astroturfing. So all I can do is blog and they're awfully late with my bribe. Maybe I should go wait by the mailbox, the mail will be here in about six hours.

I hope someone can explain to me how The Won can tell Governors and Senators, Congressmen and citizens to shut up. He is not fixing anything anyone else broke. As a matter of fact he seems to have the reverse Midas touch. Everything he touches turns to horses, um, fertilizer. And yet he dares to stand there and tell us, his bosses, to shut up while he fixes things. Mr. Obama! You noted constitutional scholar, will you please shut up and do your job! You, sir, have no power to "fix" the health care system. If you wanted to do that, sir, you should have stayed in the Senate, where you had the chance to advance a bill. You are now in the executive branch. As a matter of fact, sir, you are in charge of the executive branch. So, sir, how about you tend to your knitting? You know, of course, that the war in Afghanistan is heating up again and our guys and gals over there don't have near enough helicopters. I don't know if it slipped your mind while you were making striking poses with your chin tilted just so, but getting the troops what they need is your job. You, sir, are the commander in chief, not the doctor in chief. How about you pretend to do your job?

I seem to remember something about a constant drumbeat of announcements every time we lost a serviceman or servicewoman a while back.
someone help me out here, what political party was constantly complaining about the "lack of armor" and suchlike? Well, not that you'd notice from the Democrats or their lapdogs in the press but we're losing an awful lot more of our Soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan these days. So are the Brits losing troops. To bombs. Now our infantry are wearing so much armor they can hardly move. The roads are getting to where they are undrivable, what few roads there are so that means everything has to go by helo. And there aren't enough.

I seem to remember someone talking about how the "real war" was in Afghanistan during the campaign and how that, and finding trashbin Laden were going on the front burner. Who was that? Must've been Ron Paul. Maybe Sarah Palin. It couldn't have been The Won.

Oh well, it's about bedtime. I'll babble some more later. I hope this link I tried came out okay, I never know until I post so...

Update: Holy crows! My link worked! I hereby declare three days of feasting and celebration! Bring out the girls with low morals! Oh, wait, I'm not allowed those anymore. Oh well, maybe an extra cup of coffee tomorrow then?

So, Who Won?

I was listening to Rush today, getting my orders for tomorrow, when he said something that really jarred me. Seems that the Washington Times was claiming that the White House had passed some kind of directive that no one can use the term "War On Terror" or the term "Jihadi" or "Jihadists". This must mean that the war is over. I sure hope somebody told all those wild eyed bearded types about it. Last I looked, we still had troops in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting, plus all those Sneaky Pete troops from the Army and Navy, plus some of the hardest of the hard corps Marines wandering around in the Philippines and a whole bunch of other places I don't know about, and don't want to know. I'd tell Linda Lou, she'd tell her sister, her sister would tell somebody else and the next thing it would be on the front page of the New York Times saying look what Bush did!

So, if the war is over, who won? The Taliban is still fighting, we are still this close to Pakistan being taken over by those wild eyed clowns we aren't allowed to call Jihadis anymore, the Mad Mullahs still run Iran.

Here is something I wish I were smart enough to understand. Our troops beat the stuffing out of anyone who tries to fight. Nothing new, that's what they do. There is a reason the Jiha, um persons of explosion, yeah, that will work. There is a reason the persons of explosion set bombs. They don't have what it takes to actually fight. Please note that I am not saying that the Ji, um, persons of explosion lack courage. They just don't have the training, the communications, the artillery and air support. For that matter, they don't have the strength of our guys and gals to carry the loads we do. This, again, is no slur on their courage. They just haven't been raised on good American food. This is something we've all seen, by the way. How many times have we seen the now grown children of immigrants tower over their grandparents. Even those that have never intermarried. We see this with Mexicans and Japanese, we see this with Italians and Iranians. It's just amazing what good food and clean water will do. But, I digress again.

Anyhow, who won this war? I don't reckon we did, I think I would have seen it in the headlines. I don't reckon the Jih, um, persons of explosion did. Again, every time they try to fight they die. Every time they gather, one of our UAVs puts a Hellfire Missile right into the middle of the Rice Pilaf. So, who won?

Folks, this looks like what happened the last time the Donks took over during a long war. Remember? Nixon got thrown out for far less that the Kennedy-Johnson Administrations did. So, Watergate was so horrid but Bobby Kennedy wiretapping MLK was just fine. Anyhow, Nixon was hounded out of office and good ol' Jerry Ford was installed. And the North Vietnamese violated the peace treaty hammered out in Paris. The treaty that obligated us to supply ammunition, air support, some artillery support, I believe and naval fire support.

Understand people, we were obligated to do this, we had a treaty. With other nations. Yet the Democrat Congress refused to honor that treaty. Yes, the Democrats unilaterally refused to honor a treaty. Jerry Ford did everything but get on his knees and beg but a whole congressional career based on "reaching across the aisle" did nothing.

Maybe you don't know the real history of the end of that fight. The NVA, flush with weapons and ammo from the Soviets and Chinese poured down the Ho Chi Mihn Trail and across the DMZ. The Arvins set up roadblocks and at each strongpoint, fought the NVA to a standstill, until they ran out of ammo. Ammo that was promised, by the sworn word of the United States of America. When the Ammo was about gone, the Arvins retreated if their families had gotten away. If not, they fought to the death.

It is popular today, to call the Arvins cowards.Some were. Others just flat didn't care much, after all, in many units the big brass stole the pay and half the rations. There were cases of some officers selling the heavy weapons, other cases of privates and corporals selling their rifles for food. But the units that had honest commanders fought. And they fought well. But in 1975 they could only fight until, hopefully, their families got clear.

Oh, just imagine those Arvins! Knowing that they had a treaty with the long noses who could bring B-52s loaded with 500 pound bombs that would flatten a regiment. Knowing that America had shiploads of ammunition and medical supplies, rations and spare parts. Helicopters to take their families to safety. All of which were promised. They waited. They fought. They ran out of ammunition and died. They died trying to protect Hue. then Da Nang and Chu Lai. They died outside of Pleiku where once the helos of the First Cav filled the air. Then, finally, they died outside Saigon. And the solemn word of the United States of America became known as worthless.

It wasn't just the fecklessness of Jimmy Carter that led to the Mad Mullahs taking over Iran and the Soviets invading Afghanistan. It started earlier, when those desperate men fighting for their families outside Da Nang and Hue ran out of ammo.

Are we doing this again? That's what it looks like from here. No one knows how many died because the Democrats did not keep their word. And yes, it was their word, too. This treaty may have been signed by Republicans but it was approved by the Senate. No one will ever know how many were slaughtered in the killing fields of Cambodia. No one will ever know how many wounded Viets died, or how many Arvin officers, noncoms and village chiefs, as well as other government functionaries, died in the "re-education camps". Nor will we know how many died in those leaky boats, killed by pirates and starvation or sharks.

This time it will be worse. Imadinnerjacket will get his nukes. Israel will be hit hard. Israel will act as they have promised, with the second half of "never again". That one to two hundred Israeli nukes will be sprinkled about her enemies for the second half of Never Again is:if again, not us alone.

Meanwhile the Ji, um, persons of explosion will take over Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. So, here goes India into the fight. And what about China? Seems there may be a whole lot of fighting and feuding on her border. Not to mention Mother Russia.

So, the Democrats are not interested in war. That is pretty plain. I only wish these allegedly highly educated people could only figure out that war is still interested in us.

There are those, even in this country, who wish for the end of American Power. This power, that we have not always wielded perfectly, has done much for the world. With the Armed Forces of America standing guard, Europe has prospered, without major wars coming up on 65 years.(This may be a record) South Korea and Japan have prospered, as has Indonesia, the worlds largest Muslim nation.

So, some want an end to American Power. This does not mean that no one will exert power, it is a given that someone will. Who? Those benevolent rulers of China? That sweetheart Putin? Imadinnerjacket? If we stop exerting American Power, who will exert power. And will it all be unicorns and butterflies and cute little bunnies? Or will the Jih, persons of explosion start up again, recharged and more powerful?

Please note. I picked up "person of explosion somewhere, I believe from Blogfather Harvey. I don't claim to be smart, I just have a halfway decent memory and a love for words.

Obama Just Does Not Understand Americans

President Obama just does not understand Americans. He thinks of us as Europeans, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, etc. We are not, we are the descendants of those people. That means something different.

Imagine, if you will, your ancestors that came over here. Most were poor, a few were, say, the second or third son of the wealthy, who would not inherit the big house and title, if any. They were given a sum of money and sent here to make their own way. Actually, they weren't sent, they could have stayed, made their way in business or just living off their father's wealth.

Whatever, your grandfathers and grandmothers were safely ensconced somewhere when the local Duke decided he needed soldiers for the latest pointless war, or the local Earl wanted to raise taxes, or the Bishop decided your religion wasn't right or the crops failed. Maybe the cossacks rode through the village one too many times, making the mud streets red with blood. Maybe some weird disease killed all the potatoes and the English landlords just let folks starve, maybe whatever it was that got the Scandahoovians on the move happened to your grandparents, whatever it was, people started moving towards the seaports and they got on some rattletrap, overcrowded boat.

Everyone didn't come. The cowards never started, the weak died along the way. It was the daring and the gamblers that came. Imagine your ancestors. Maybe they were in Poland, maybe Norway or China. Things aren't going well but if you knuckle your forehead to "your betters" you will probably survive. Or you can walk to the seaport, sometimes for hundreds of miles, taking only what you can carry or maybe you are lucky enough to have a wheelbarrow or even a horse and cart. Chances are, you won't have much at all.

You don't exactly know where you are going, only to "Golden America". That's what they called it in Poland and the rest of eastern Europe. Golden America! You don't speak the language, know anyone but a cousin who is a tailor in New York City or went to Kansas and was given land. Land! For generations your family has farmed the same plot of land and the Duke has taken the lion's share of your crops while your hut still has a dirt floor. Land! Of your own! No landlord, no Duke to drag you into his regiment. Land, of your own. Or a chance to start your own business, without the Earl taking everything. A chance to watch your sons and daughters grow up free and proud!

And they came. They came by the thousands and the millions, to both coasts. The Swensons, the O'Haras, the Afanasiefs, the Handas and Hagans and Chriss and Changs, the Poles with unpronounceable names. The Italians and the Swiss, all of those people leaving everything they owned to come to Golden America. Thousands died getting here. Thousands more died staying here. I'm told that there are at least three now unmarked graves per mile on the old Oregon Trail, but still they came. They filled the eastern cities, they filled Kansas and Nebraska, the Dakotas. They filled Kentucky and Tennessee with riflemen. And still they came. They built the railroads, they mined the mountains. They cleared the farms that still feed the world.

Meanwhile their brothers and sisters stayed, stayed to die in Europe's pointless wars, ending in WW1 and WW2. During all those wars the cream of Europe's youth died. We ask ourselves "why do the French seem so cowardly when it comes to world affairs?" Simple enough, the bravest of the French died in Napoleon's Army, they died in the trenches of WW1, hundreds of thousands more died in WW2. So, who was left to breed? Not the adventurous, they came to Canada and America. Not the brave, they died in the wars.

Even the other colonies, Canada and Australia were bled white during the two world Wars. Far worse than we were, we Americans learned our lessons in the Civil War. We use a barrage of artillery instead of a company of troops whenever we can. Other counties send a platoon of Infantry, we send a platoon of Armored Cavalry, any chance we get. That's just the way we roll. It's one of the reasons we can still fight, we've taken better care of our fighting men.

But, I digress. Obama doesn't know Americans. He spent his formative years in Indonesia. Then he was sent to live with his communist grandparents and spent so much time with that black communist child molester, Frank something. Funny, though, when Obama got out of college he moved to immerse himself in the only group that didn't come to America by their own free will. Someone better educated than I, or at least more interested, might someday study that. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that black America stays so far behind. We can see that some black Americans have cut loose from the old like our ancestors did, the Sears, roebuck Company proves that, as well as many others, but the majority stays mired in their comfortable old swamps of cities. Like Chicago.

Obama just doesn't understand what will happen when his new slavery hits America. Can you imagine what will happen when the grandsons of the feuding McCoys or Hatfields have to let their parents or daughter die because some low level clerk in the Ministry of Health says their treatment will cost too much? Do the Obamas and the Reids and Pelosis really think the sons and daughters of Americans will take their ire out on those low level clerks? Or will Americans come after the people who caused this?

No, Madame Pelosi, the insurance companies are not the problem. You are. No, Mr. Obama, the Republican Party is not paying us TEA Party types. Your ridicule won't stop us. We are not afraid of Ron Emanuel, nor are we afraid of The Outfit of Chicago. What you see, Mr. Obama, is the America of December the eighth, 1941. We are shaking ourselves awake and the more we waken, the angrier we get. You have your choice, Mr. Obama. You can lead America into the greatness we have built or you can be Hamburg or Berlin, 1945. It's up to yopu, Mr. Obama. You asked for the job. You got the job. Now, how about, for the first time in your life, doing the job?

This is still Golden America. My several times great grandparents are screaming from their graves over what you are doing to the country they helped build. All over the country, all of our ancestors are screaming. Listen to them, Mr. Obama, listen before it is too late.

Update: Just so you know, the line about "the cowards never started, the weak died along the way" is not original. I don't remember where I read it, probably in a Louis L'Amour novel, he had a way with words. It might have been someone else, it was not me. Whoever wrote it where I remember it probably was not the first. All of the big trails are littered with now unmarked graves. The graves of emigrants, the graves of cowboys, the graves of merchants and the outlaws that preyed on them, the graves of the Indians who tried to save their lands. And the graves of those Mormons who crossed a third of the country with everything they could take with them in a handcart.

A Fishy Blog

So the Obama Administration (the most open and ethical administration evah!) is now asking people to report anything fishy in the way of communications about Obamacare. Well, I suppose I could try to figure out how to send them the whole Senate Bill, that looks pretty fishy from here.

Or maybe I could send them that thing in the House Bill about end of life counseling. Seems that is the only way they're admitting that might control costs. Funny, though, anyone who really wants to die now knows how. So, what is the point of this "counseling"?

I really thought it would take longer for this crowd to get to where they were asking Americans to inform on each other. Imagine, it was only a year ago that dissent was the highest form of patriotism. I wonder, did they ask the Secretary of State? It wasn't very long ago that she was screeching about "we are Americans and we have a right to disagree with any administration". Remember those wonderful days? Where no one in the Bush Administration ever questioned anybody's patriotism and the Democrats kept accusing them of it? So then the Bush Administration let Dems have another few billion dollars of earmarks without a veto. And then Dems screeched about the deficit? Great days, great days.

Well, this crowd is getting more and more Stalinist every day. I don't know much that is fishier than this crowd, the open administration we were promised hasn't got here yet. So, now the administration says we need another couple of billion for the "cash for clunkers" program where they deliberately burn up the engines of perfectly usable cars. They can't actually give us any information about where, exactly, the first billion went. they'll tell us after we give them the next two billion. Open and honest.

So, what do these clowns do about folks wanting to know what their government is doing. Why we're all a bunch of paid shills. Dear RNC and insurance companies, your checks are way late. We're all a bunch of damnfool birthers. Of course we might not care about the long form birth certificate if Obama wasn't spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, and rising (where did he get those dollars?) to keep from showing a twenty dollar certificate. But, I'm the nutjob for being curious. Most presidential candidates show their complete health records, not Obama. I saw George Bush's college transcripts, as well as Gores and the great war hee-row Kerry's. Obama paid to have his sealed. Open administration.

It was just a year ago the the media was constantly bleating about "the secretive Bush Administration". Funny, the Bush Administration was a lot more open than this one. Heck, the Nixon Administration was more open than this one.

Well, y'all can report me to the Obambi-ites, there is still a First Amendment that allows me to say anything I want except "Fire!" in a crowded theater and libel. Most of the libel is coming from the left.

Big Town Gun Show

My cowboy action club, the Texas Tenhorns, bought a table at the Big Town Gun Show. I volunteered to help work the table at the show, trying to drum up a little interest in Cowboy Action Shooting.

When I first moved to the Dallas area in the '70s Big Town Mall was still a big deal, built in 1959 it was the first air conditioned inside mall in the southwest, in what was then a small town outside of Dallas. Today the mall is gone, the only thing left is a huge parking lot and the exhibition hall.

The cities have grown so that all the small towns that were well outside of Dallas are now surrounded by the city. All of the fields where folks used to hunt quail and dove are paved over. This has much to do with city folks not liking hunting, there was a time when hunters could dive twenty miles from the city's center and find a place to hunt, and it was inexpensive.

Today a free place to hunt means owning land far from the pavement. Hunting is fighting a battle we may not win as it becomes so much more expensive.

I wasn't there for hunting, though, we were just telling folks about the joys of CAS. We talked to a few folks, most everyone else was after one, or more, of those "scary guns". There were lots and lots of the SKS, the civilian versions of the AR15 and AK47, rows of cut down shotguns. Tons of handguns. Prices are insane. The SKS that sold for $99.00 before the scary gun ban during the Clinton Administration (that helped bring on the '94 election where Gingrich took over the House for the first time in forty years. Anyhow, those guns are up to over $400.00.

Primers were up to $45.00 per thousand. Ammo prices are insane. The revolvers that police departments traded off for those newfangled self stuffers have tripled, or more, in price. An old Colt Official Police was $450.00. Since I wasn't interested in another .38 Special I did not ask if it was a storekeepers gun or had been reblued, there was no holster wear on the finish.

I did get to look at a few genuine, engraved Colt Single Action Army revolvers as well as a Bisley Model. I got to actually handle a few of those fine old revolvers. The table was across from ours and I managed to watch it while the owner went to the john. So when he came back I got to handle a real Colt Bisley model, a second generation nickel plated, engraved Single Action Army, another engraved SAA, this one blued. Those last two revolvers were $8,000.00 and $7500.00. Don't forget I have a birthday coming up!

There was also a Colt 1911 model, the serial number said that this gun was a WW1 veteran. This wasn't exactly a pristine shooter, it had holster wear, worn checkering on the grips, dings and nicks. A gun with character.

Before I work another gun show for the club I must buy some boots with a walking heel. Those mule ear boots are good if I found myself on the hurricane deck of a half broke bronc, not so good for walking around on concrete. Especially wearing two Colt clones.

Since hardly anyone was even slowing down at our table I filled one of my vest pockets with the club's business cards and went around handing them to anyone carrying a single action or lever rifle.

I only bought a shotgun cleaning rod, even those are up in prices!

The plus side? There was only one table with assorted Nazi crap. That's a big plus. There was a VFW table, collecting money for the disabled vets and their families, and the families of those who came home in an aluminum box. Even with all the hate and discontent stirred up by the left the vets of this war are being treated a lot better than the vets of my war.

The Dallas TEA Party table was, thank the Lord, on the opposite side of the building from the Nazi crap table.

So, I'm home after another visit with my neurologist today, I'm way behind on my blog reading. Oh, the Doc doubled my dose of Neurontin. Linda Lou is wondering if this dose will make me comatose. Well, if it does, that will save money.

So, that was my weekend, how was yours?

Note: I don't yet have SASS or the Texas Tenhorns on my blogroll. If you care, Google them. Eventually I'll get around to putting them up, until them, use your favorite search engine.