Questions

I'm over on The Puppyblender's site, as usual, and the first thing up is Patterico E-interviewing some young lady (?) about a twitter post to Andrew Brietbart "please die". To save some time I'll merely note that this woman would not know Brietbart if he walked up to her and offered her a job.

I wonder if this person would be so cavalier on wishing death to strangers if he had any idea of what death is. I'm willing to bet that she has never witnessed a death.

Speaking of death, how about our beloved SecState's comment about Gadaffi? We came, we saw, he died. How witty. I hold no brief for Qaddafi, the man of a million spellings but it was my impression that we were not at war with Libya. I could be wrong there, our Nobel Peace Prize Winner in Chief sure has got us in a lot of fights.

Seems that he's sending a batch of our special ops types into Uganda. Wasn't Senator Obama against sending our troops anywhere where there was not a direct American interest? Didn't he also demand Congressional approval for such adventures?

Seems as if we're pulling our troops out of Iraq, leaving some very expensive bases behind. Our crack diplomats were unable to arrange the proper status for our troops and so we're going away leaving something like a Corporal's Guard behind to train troops whom we have no particular reason to trust. Meanwhile the Kurds of Iraq are left with a Democrat politician's promise for protection.

This gives me a warm feeling. Meanwhile, on the other side of Iran, Karzi, in Afghanistan is siding with Pakistan over the USA in a beef between the two. I'm curious. Is this the smart diplomacy I read we'd have now that the cowboy Bush was gone?

 Speaking of cowboys, or as they were then known, cow-boys, today, October 26th is the anniversary of the gunfight in the vacant lot outside Fly's Photography Studio and boardinghouse, also known as the Gunfight at the OK Corral. It was 1881.


the gunfight involved ill feelings as well as politics. The Earp faction were Republican and the Clanton faction, Democrats. The law in the city of Tombstone was Republican, the county was Democrat. Wyatt was trying to unseat the Sheriff and stood a pretty fair chance. That thirty seconds of gunplay started events into motion that ended the Earp's chance at major power in the southeast corner of Arizona.

 A hundred and thirty years later there is more unrest, with threats of political violence getting louder and louder.

This Is Really Strange

 I find it very odd. One of the Occupy Whatever Street groups has issued a pamphlet about "What to do if you're raped." I find it very strange that if one build a movement out of demanding money that one has not earned, from those who have earned it, that you do not get the pillars of society. One would think that only high minded dogooders would form in these camps.

 I do not recall any of the TEA Party events having to put out such pamphlets. Could it be that there is a fundamental difference in the mindset? On the one hand we have the "Give me theirs!" On the other hand the "Leave me alone!" Could there possibly be a difference in the type of people who show up?

 Seems that theft is rampant, too. How could this be?

Dear Mitt

 Dear Mitt:

 You are not going to be President. It's not your religion. It's your policies and your track record. I know that you are an establishment Republican and that you and the rest of the establishment Republicans believe it's your turn. Trouble is, Mitt, the voters do not believe in the "your turn" system.In 1976 the establishment Republicans thought it was Jerry Ford's turn. We got Carter. In '80 that upstart Reagan turn over your applecart and spoiled George H. W. Bush's turn, although he slipped in over a very weak Donk, Dukakis. Dukakis did, however, prevent a possible President Biden. Still, GHWB is the only Republican President of my lifetime to win a term because it was "his turn. In 1960 Nixon lost. His political future was declared dead after losing the governor's race in California in '62.

 Mitt, you will probably win the nomination. You have a long time staff and tons of money. This counts in the early primaries. Also the Donks have no viable opposition to Obama getting the nomination so they will be voting for you in our primaries because they know they will beat you in the general election.

 Here is why they know they will beat you, Mitt. The ordinary Republican voter doesn't like you. We don't like Romneycare, we don't like the fact that your aides went to Washington to confer with the developers of Obamacare. We don't like the way your positions change with the audience.

 Mitt, the ordinary Republican voter will vote for you in the General, once you win the nomination. The ordinary Republican voter will not man phone banks for you. We will not go knock on doors. There won't be as many yard signs. Few of us will be driving voters to the polls.

 Mitt, you are the only reason Obama can win another term. You have the MSM on your side now while they slander the other candidates. You think they are your friends. So did McCain, the last Republican whose turn it was. Mitt, you only think you are seeing vitriol against your opposition in the primary season. It's nothing like you will see in the general. Go home, Mitt. The base simply will not put out the work we will need to unseat this disaster of a President. Maybe it's not fair, Mitt. Unfortunately "your turn" won't work.

Half Fast And Furious

I'm still trying to get my mind around the Obama Administration letting, and sometimes even paying for, a whole slew of firearms to go out the doors of gun shops in the hands of straw purchasers.  Worse, it seems that some even left in the hands of at least one feller with a criminal record. I have a lot of questions about this thing but let's start with the simple fact that it is illegal for a gun to leave the store in the hands of a criminal. I The only way a gun leaves the store without the storekeeper calling the FBI hotline for an instant background check is if the buyer shows a valid CCW.  Now, if the shopkeeper calls the hotline he's got to tell the Feebs all about the buyer and the purchase.

 This raises further questions in my poor bald head. For instance, why would the Feebs okay a cash purchase of dozens (or more) of the same kind of shootin' iron without asking for a lot more information. I've never had the money to buy a dozen guns at once, I've never been in the business of buying or selling guns. I have know several folks who have been in that business, though.They all used checks or plastic to buy their stock. Heck, I'm not even in the business and the only times I've ever bought guns with cash have been when buying from individuals, as when I bought a couple from fellow Single Action Shooting Society members.

 Anyhow, this is all the proof I need to show that this operation went beyond one agency. I know it's not enough for a court of law but then I'm not a lawyer. I do have some standards.

 I also wonder why the cartel(s?) wanted to buy these guns. Seems that most of them were semi-auto versions of the AK-47. Due to the mountain of restrictions in this country the old Kalashnikov is more expensive in a US shop that a fully auto version still in the crate in, say Venezuela. I know the cartels have bathtubs full of cash but, still, why would one pay more money for a less capable weapon? It isn't like the cartels are the US government.

 I confess, I've not run a detailed study of the cartels. I do a little reading, though, and I check out Bob Owens at Confederate Yankee, as well as the Sipsey Street Irregulars so I do know a little bit about this operation. So here are just a few things I know. There are slews of Mexican soldiers deserting to the cartels. They bring their US supplied M-16s. A certain amount of garrison commanders have brought their whole arsenals with them when they came over. When that happens the US simple writes another check more more guns to the Mexicans, lather, rinse, repeat.

 Truth to tell, though, the cartels really prefer the AKs. The Kalashnikov is much more friendly to a gunman who is not much on maintenance. The M16 must be kept really clean, the Ak will shoot with all kinds of crud in and on it. The '16 is a lot more accurate, in the hands of a marksman but the cartels do not have a lot of marksmen.

 Another think I can't figure out is how this bunch of numbskulls thought they could get a slew of federal law enforcement officers to keep quiet while this whole thing played out. The majority of Feds are cops, not politicians. And real cops aren't going to stand for the killing of hundreds of civilians, a few Feds and, it now seems, the arming of Chicago area gangs fro Indiana gun shops.

 I have a lot more questions but this is a start. The only thing I can think of to explain this is if the whole Obama Administration, from the President down to the janitor are all a bunch of affirmative action retards.

Dear Pastor Jeffries:

 There are a lot of folks who seem to have trouble believing that Mormons are really part of the human race. Well, it's also fashionable to rag on J. Edgar Hoover, now that he's safely dead. Hoover took special care to fill the FBI with Irish Catholics and Mormons, because each of those groups had a tendency to hate Nazis and Communists.

 There is this Pastor in Dallas who says that Mormons are a cult. Of course there are still a few pastors who call Catholicism The Church of Rome, too. It would be nice if bigots like Jefferies would keep their mouths shut. Of course there are a lot of folks who call Mormonism a cult.

 I have my differences with Romney and will not vote for him in the Primary. If, however, he gets the nomination I shall hold my nose, hard, and vote for him. Anyone short of the ghost of Stalin would be an improvement over the Bozo/Biden outfit.

 I cheerfully admit that I don't know a whole lot about the Mormon's religious doctrine, not being a Mormon I don't figure I need to. I figure that if a Mormon is a good human being it's enough for me. And if he's a revolving SOB as a Mormon he's probably be one if he were a Babatist.  As a matter of fact Pastor Jefferies, you might do better worrying about the SOBs in your own congregation, I'm sure you can find some. And, please, Rick Perry is having enough trouble in this race, he doesn't need your "help".

Up On The Clear Fork

Just before the great war called the Civil War today, once known down here as the War of Northern Aggression, the first white settlers tried to settle the land where Rick Perry was born. Those people were either killed by Indians, both Kickapoo and Comanche. The land was quiet again until well after the war. After the Comanche were finally subdued and the rest of the tribes sent up to the Indian Territory, later stolen from them and renamed Oklahoma, northwest Texas was finally settled by white folks. And they were white folks, there were very few freed slaves or what were then known as Mexicans.

 The land was mostly arid plains with just a few creeks flowing into the forks of the Brazos. Cattle was king back then, the small farms were impractical, the water wasn't there. And that's the way it stayed until they dammed the river. This brought practical irrigation in with cotton replacing cattle in places. There was also some oil discovered not long after the turn of the Twentieth Century.

 Somehow places were named with no regard to Twenty-first Century ideals, the nerve of those oldtimers! A pasture of a cattle ranch was named "Niggerhead, after a particular rock. Later the rock had that name painted on it. Years, decades after that a northwest Texas farmer and Democrat politician leased that pasture for hunting. That Democrat was Rick Perry's dad. Eventually Dad Perry painted over the offending name. Please bear in mind that Dad Perry did not own the rock and may have well gotten in trouble over  painting over the name, had the rancher who did own that rock so chosen. The rancher did not, although the lawsuit would have been interesting. Still, had the rancher complained, loudly, that still would not have satisfied the pearl clutchers at the Washington Post.

 Later Dad Perry even turned the rock with the offending overpainted name over, further hiding the offending name. Still, the Grandees of the Washington Post are flipping their aprons in front of their faces in horror. If only Rick Perry had not got in that time machine and rode it back to the Nineteenth Century and forced those ol' boys to name that rock so offensively! Or something. I
m really having a problem figuring out why this is a news story. We already knew folks in the past did things and used words that we do not do or use anymore. Well, mostly. Slavery does not exist here anymore although it is still extant in some Muslim areas. We do not use the term "Nigger" much anymore although it is still in use in the black neighborhoods. Funny that.

 I would probably do better ignoring this, like I would probably do better never noticing anything that comes from the Washington Post.

Fed Up!

 I'm getting pretty fed up with the beating Governor Perry is taking over Texas' in school tuition for children of illegals. I'll start this by baldy stating that Governor Perry could do a much better job explaining the position. Granted, Perry isn't particularly glib. I do wonder how he would do if the debates were held during working hours. The man was a farm kid, early to bed, early to rise and all that. Some of us are just naturally morning people, I wonder if growing up on a farm reinforced that.

 Anyhow, this is why I'm fed up with this whole affair. A governor, any governor, cannot deport anyone. The Federal government can but won't. This leaves the governors left to deal with the illegals in their states the best way they and the legislatures can. Meanwhile, the feds require that we in the states give medical care, education K-12, equal protection in law enforcement and the courts, etc.

 Now, by my count there are forty-six states that do not border Mexico.  I believe Obama counts fifty-four although the one state of the fifty-eight he hadn't visited might also border Mexico. Still, we can all agree that the great mass of the votes in Congress come from states that are not on that border but do count in setting border enforcement and deporting illegals. Heck, by my count we have NO states bordering Kenya but we can't seem to deport Obama's illegal immigrant aunts, uncles and whoever we don't yet know about.

 I'm pretty sure that if all fifty-seven, excuse me for the Obama math, fifty states put their feet down hard, we could get a handle on the illegals here. Instead, people want to blame the folks living in the border states.

 Now I was last in a K-12 classroom in 1964. So please do not put me down as an expert on education. Still, I have my memory. Well, most of it, since the stroke. Anyway, as I recall, there were two kinds of kids disrupting the classes, making it hard on everyone else. the first kind was the kids who would now be in special education, which was in it's infancy back then. There were special ed classes in the big cities, us smaller towns, well, not yet. There was another kind of disruptive kid, though. the bright kids who were bored. I confess to being in that class. I had learned to read, write and cipher by the time I had finished Junior High. Had there been an exam for a high school diploma at the end of eighth grade I would have passed it, hands down. Unfortunately, that is not, and was not the way the system worked. A kid who left school at 16 had almost no chance for a decent job, couldn't enlist in the Service, much less a smartassed fourteen year old. anyway it was not legal for me to drop out at fourteen, I was really stuck. I was also a huge pain in the ass to all concerned.

 After eighth grade the only reason I was in school was because I HAD to be. Ring any bells? I knew I wasn't going to college, there was no money for that in those days. So, like most of the children of today's illegals, I was bored, uninterested and uncaring. I had maybe three teachers all through high school that could, or would, keep me interested enough to not be too big a pain.The rest of the time, no dice. There were actually a couple of classes where other students helped to keep me in line. Some teachers were smart enough to let me read a book or try to write short stories, others faced the full on rebellion of a bright, bored kid. I spent a lot of time in the Vice Principal's office. The vice principal used to turn an interesting shade of purple when I told him about what I didn't give.

 Now, I'll admit, I'm a mess. And it took a smart judge, a military recruiting office with a quota and The Southeast Asian War Games to straighten me out, even after that it was touch and go. I got my GED in the service. I believe there were five subjects, graded on the percentile system where a 99% was the high score. I scored two of those, and a 98%, and my low score subject, Math, was an 83%. It would have saved the educational system, and me, a lot of grief had I been able to take that test earlier and then do something, anything, but sit in those open-window prisons classrooms. Still, fifty years later than I should have been able to take that test, I guess I'm okay. I hope the vice principal got over it and I hope I didn't damage too many of my classmates too badly.

 What's that got to do with today and the beating my governor is taking? Well, today there are probably no K-12 public schools in Texas without children of illegal immigrants. Some of the children were brought in, others are birthright citizens themselves. Sill others are mixed, children who were brought in with sibling who are birthright citizens.

 Meanwhile our schools cannot ask, much less demand, that children prove they are here legally. Heck, it's hard enough to get them to prove they've had their shots.  (Why we keep having Measles and other outbreaks). In many schools these kids are the majority. Can the children who are actually interested in getting an education help keep other kids in line? Well, there were times in my life it worked.

 Now, I'll say it again, I'm no educrat. I do know what one kid, bored and stuck in a classroom with no hope of doing anything with an education after learning to read, write and cipher, can do to the atmosphere in a classroom. So, the Texas Legislature, not really as liberal a body as, say, California, passed a law, trying to give these kids that they cannot, and the feds will no, deport, a reason to stay in those classrooms. The Texas Governor, who cannot, and the feds will not, deport these kids, signed that law. I do not know whether Gov. Perry really likes that law or if he just saw how overwhelming the margin was and knew that a veto would be overridden.

 I do know that the reason we ware stuck with all these kids, and their parents, and Obama's scofflaw relations, plus God only knows who else, is not because of anything Perry, or Brewer of Arizona, or even Gov. Moonbeam of California is doing. Nor Governor Martinez of New Mexico. Funny, as different as California and Texas are, the answer to those kids in the schools is much the same. Well, except that the kids in Texas do not fly the Mexican flag over Old Glory.

 Immigration is a federal issue. There are, by my count, fifty Senators and four hundred and thirty-five reps. Only eight Senators are from states that border Mexico. I submit that if the rest of the residents of the United States are sick of illegals they would force the feds to do something effective about making them stop coming and the ones here to go home. 

 Dear rest of the country. Since you will not, or can not, force your congressional reps to make the United States first control the borders and next, deport the illegals, stop jabbing the state governments who do the best they can with a problem they did not cause and have no way to cure.

 Dear rest of the Republican candidates. Please stop beating up the only man in the pack who is having to deal with a problem he did not cause and has no way to cure. Maybe the Legislature of the State of Texas is wrong. maybe Perry should have vetoed the bill and lost whatever political capital it would have cost having that veto overridden. I don't know, and we will never know. What we do know is that the entire nation has let the political class in Washington ignore it's responsibility And we're stuck with it. Nobody more than us on the border.

 Instead of beating up on Perry, hold your own congresscritter's feet to the fire. Demand meaningful border enforcement. And not a wall, Perry is right. A thirty foot wall would mean a lot of thirty-five foot ladders. Some places would need good stout fences, other places boots on the ground, still others, the desert is all we need with some eyes in the sky and some helo born BP Agents. Demand that the electronic verification of social security numbers actually work. make it really possible for an employer to check if a job applicant is really allowed to work here and then make a meaningful punishment for employers who break the law. Do something intelligent about anchor babies. For that matter, do something intelligent about anchor nephew Presidents! Oh, heck, demand Congress do something, anything intelligent about anything.

 In other countries, is a child of an illegal entrant a citizen of the country the parents are from or of the country they are in illegally? I ask this, I do not know. I do know that Mexico's laws about citizenship and illegal entry are draconian. Yet they demand that ours are ignored. I do not know why we are so eager to embrace other country's laws on anything but this.

 Please don't think this is an endorsement of Perry for President. While I will say he's head and shoulders above Obama, he is not my very first choice. My favorite is Palin, although she's been demonized so badly her chances are few. I really like Cain although government is a skill and Obama is proving that it's a skill one learns by doing. (Actually I'm not sure Obama is capable of learning at this point.) Although I also remember living through the Carter presidency where he proved that being a governor does not always mean one has the skill to govern. I would have to hold my nose awfully hard to vote for Romney. Gingrich is a really smart guy who ought to be in a think tank, thinking, when he's not playing with his harem.Ron Paul? Well, he's RON PAUL!  I still don't like him much.I like a lot of his supporters less. Bachmann? Oh, please. The rest of the crowd? Welcome to Munchkin Land.

 Actually we have a very strong bench, Rubio and West, both need executive experience, Rubio more than West, at least West has commanded. West's soldiers and a lot of veterans would charge Hell with a leaky canteen cup of warm water with West in the lead.Those guys and Lousisiana's Jindal, that feller up in Wisconsin giving the government worker unions fits, yes, a very deep bench for 2016-2020. Thing is, we've got 2012 to win and win it we must if we are going to save the country withot a war. Of the crowd that has declared, Perry is still my favorite, if only because he's done a pretty good, though not perfect job here.

 We have two problems, the Washington Republicans and the Democrats/ national media. The Washington, or establishment Republicans don't much like Perry, they're committed to Romney like they were committed to McCain. We saw how well that worked. The establishment Republicans also have this dream: someday, if they just promote the Republican that the media says they like in the primaries, the media will treat him nice in the general. We saw how well that worked in '08. Couple this with a national media that will say anything to make a Dem look good and a Republican look bad. And it works. nearly half of the country believes that Palin actually said "I can see Russia from my house ." This makes for an uphill battle. Our advantage is that, as much as they try, Obama can't run too far from his own record.

 All I know for sure is that we have to end the circular firing squad of these early debates. Oh, and when, oh when, are we actually going to have debates for the Republican nomination with questions and moderation by Republicans?

  Not, Politics, family: Robin, our number two boy out east in NASCAR country, living near the Charelotte Motor Speedway called last night. They're pregnant again. The baby is due in late March, early April. They're just about old enough to where increasing age might be a concern. Those kids are the ones who, although they graduated from a Church of Christ school, Harding University in Searcy Arkansas, converted to the Catholic Church. Kind of simple why, Robin's wife Meleah is blind. Of the various parents involved in the education programs they were in for their boys, only the Catholic parents were of any help, the way Christians are supposed to act with their brethren and sisteren. So, Meleah converted. Robin got the last word in, he said, yes dear. Now Meleah is more Catholic than the Pope. Anyhow,we're praying this one doesn't end up a miscarriage like the last one. Although, really, four boys is enough. Although we wouldn't complain if a girl comes along. Anyhow, please, Lord, a healthy baby, if that be your will. (Lord, with Meleah bein' blind with four boys, one autistic, they do have enough troubles. So, a little luck here, please.)

 Speaking of a little luck, Stephanie called, one to the twins that just had their birthday. Anyhow, she (or her hubby who plays with things) found what might be a lump in her breast. She has an appointment tomorrow. Of course after breast feeding three boys (and probably one husband some) there are things in breasts that kind of feel like the lumps that give trouble. Anyhow, Lord, if we haven't already used up all our good fortune so far...Thanks.

Rain!

 We're finally getting a little rain, don't know that it's going to be enough to calm the fires down but I'll take whatever we can get. I'm sure it won't be enough to drop the burn ban but there is supposed to be a little more later in the week. Thank you, Lord.

 In other news there seems to be a flare up over some vile talk by Mike Tyson, a vile person. There seems to be two camps. One camp wants to spread the vileness because it is about Sarah Palin, the other wants it stopped because it is vile. And, yes, if Tyson had said what he did about any other woman i strongly suspect it would have been shunned. Had he said such things about Hilary Clinton, what would the reaction be?

 I have made at least one reader somewhat uncomfortable in my near constant refrain suggesting revolvers over autoloading pistols for defense. This reader had a revolver and now owns one of the better autoloaders but is somewhat nervous and kind of misses her revolver. Well, I miss every firearm I've ever traded or sold, except for that one Charter Arms Target Bulldog .44 Special that went BANG! sometimes and click other times.

 Make no mistake, one of the better of the bazillion self stuffers out there is fine for anyone who takes the trouble to learn their gun and practice with it until every control is ingrained. And THERE is the advantage to the double action revolver, there is only one control. Whereas each autoloader has several different control mechanisms. Every law enforcement agency I ever heard of had a huge uptick in negligent discharges when they switched to autos. And the odd  phenomenon of forty-fifty or even more rounds fired at one suspect, often with no hits or only one or two is a direct result of those autoloading pistols. These half trained jokers might not know what those funny shaped  widgets on the top of the gun are for but they durned well know what that little curved disgus at the bottom of the gun is for. Just a note to civilians: do not empty a fifteen round mag into one bad guy, or the empty space around him. The city and county fathers would rather spend any money for training on new offices for themselves so they have their lawyers defend what those same lawyers will try very hard to put you in jail for. (Boy, that's a long sentence, oh well, it's almost bedtime.

 Arr! Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day! I'm not sure of the exact etiquette of this momentous day but it ought to include something fun.

 Oh, and more importantly: Happy Birthday Michael and Stephanie!!!! Yes, our twins turned 35 today! So, now that you two are old enough and we can prove you are natural born citizens, which one of you will run for President? Here's my plan: I'll be your campaign manager. We'll collect a humongous campaign chest and then run...for the border. Except we'd never get away with it, both those kids are so honest and upright that they sleep standin' up.

 Oh well, happy birthday, kids we love you.

 Anyhow, we got a little rain.

Scattershooting While Wondering Whatever Happened To Ed McGivern

 So Bachmann is running against vaccinations now, or at least the ones ordered by Rick Perry. Funny how that works. The folks over at Redstate mentioned how she never raised a peep over her own state's coercive vaccine program.

Here is what I know, and remember I'm not a doctor, my scientific education, such as it is, is from the University of the Public Library and Used Book Store. Gardisil protects the patient from a particularly nasty cancer, IF it is administered before that patient becomes sexually active. Please remember that phrase "before the patient becomes sexually active." This vaccine is somewhat expensive, I read where it costs some $360.00 for the series. The common health insurance does not pay for this vaccine although it would if it were mandatory, therefore the ill fated executive order. This executive order carried an opt out clause where parents who believe that their daughters would forgo sex until they turn thirty could say no.

 This somehow became a big effin' deal as the Vice President is wont to say, no one is exactly sure why. There are no reported incidents of horrible outcomes from this vaccine.  And, since very few of our innocent little daughters did forgo sex until they turned thirty, including mine (thanks for the grandsons, Steph) it would be nice if the foes of this overturned executive order would debate it on the medical merits.  Now I could be way off. It is possible that there are hidden dangers to this vaccine, young women growing a third leg or, perhaps, a trunk-like appendage down there. I haven't studied this as much as I might have if Gardasil had come along when our little girl was of the age the vaccine must be given.

 All I know for sure is that the percentage of girls who sit down with their parents and discuss becoming sexually active just before they do is kind of small these days. Perhaps it has always been small.  I went through high school just before the sexual revolution (darn it!) and even back then there few of us who graduated virgin. Of course that was pre-Pill days and I gotta say, even fewer of us who wanted to graduate virgin.

 Anyhow, say what you will about that executive order, Gov Perry is the best of the lot of declared candidates. I really like Cain but his chances are slim and fat and Slim caught the 4:32 Greyhound outta town. Perry has been Governor for ten years, ever since GWB resigned to take the big job. Although some folks in the big cities like to fear the theocracy we haven't had organised gay bashes down here. No one has been forced into any churches where they are forced to handle snakes. The biggest danger anyone faces from our Texas churches is a car wash or, if you get sick and we hear about it, a couple of covered dishes and some prayers. And some of those covered dishes? Heck it's worth gettin' sick.

 Few people, today, remember Ed McGivern.   Born in 1874, he died in 1957. During his lifetime he became the king of the pistol. A sign painter by trade he graduated from a university back when no one majored in politically correct angry studies. Perhaps it was because he lived in Lewiston, Montana he became interested in shooting.  A somewhat younger Elmer Keith had the same interest. Elmer was a cowboy and hunter, with far less education but between those two old westerners, they stood the world of handgun shooting upside down.

 Ed was not much of a hunter with handguns, his main interest was the use of the handgun for police and for armed self defense. McGivern taught himself to be so fast with handguns that he often broke the timing devices of the day. One of his records that still stands today is five shots in 45/100s of a second, the shots could be covered by a silver half dollar. He did this, twice.

 When Ed's shooting career started to gain some notoriety a Philadelphia businessman name Walter Groff became Ed's patron. Ed, between making a living as a sign painter and his constant shooting, had no time to handload his ammunition. Groff sent him caseloads of the stuff.

 His fame spread so fast and wide during the '20s and '30s that when a bad guy came to Lewiston to rob the bank the police showed up. The bank robber took hostages inside the bank The Chief of Police sent for Ed. Ed buckled on his Smith and Wessons in his buscadero rig and ambled on down to the bank. The Police Chief shouted over his bullhorn that Ed McGivern was on the scene and, if the robber didn't surrender he was comin' in after him. The robber surrendered. No one was hurt. A perfect example of the proper use of the gun. It's always best to be so good with the gun that one does not have to fire. Kind of like Ronald Reagan and the nukes.

 Ed was one of the first to tout the .357 Magnum revolver as a police round. A short time after the .357 was out he had studied it's use for long range shooting. A short time later Ed proved that a man standing six hundred yards away would be in range.  No, Ed couldn't hit him every shot but the guy would be huntin' cover.

 Ed was just the opposite of the movie cowboy. Standing only five feet, five inches Ed was kind of portly his whole life. Shortly after his five shots in 45/100s of a second arthritis forced and end to his shooting career. Ed was fifty-eight when he set that record.

 Ed's book, Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting is still in print and still packed full of useful lore for the student of the gun. And, if ever you get a chance to see one of those grainy old black and white movies of Ed's exploits, well, they're just as amazing now as they were sixty+ years ago. One wonders what he could do with, say, a fifteen shot Glock. Although back then Ed, or Mac to his friends, could shoot a revolver faster than the self loading semi auto could cycle. 'Course, that was a six shot revolver. "Course only hits count. From the reading I've done lately most police departments would be better suited if they went back to issuing those old, obsolete revolvers and spend the saved money on ammunition and training. Too many of today's police think they can miss fast enough and often enough to win a gunfight. Sigh.

 Ed had much to do with a couple of handgun stock design that are still in use today. And much to do with handgun sights.

Ten Years And Nothing Much To Say.

 I was sitting at my desk, as usual on the computer. I had not known of blogs yet, I read Drudge and otherwise I was mostly on various shooting bulletin boards. I was a co-moderator on one, of the handloading section. Linda Lou was sleeping still. Tuesdays were my day at the range so I was trying to do my little stint when someone posted something about an airplane hitting one of the Twin Towers. I wondered about it, thinking it was something like a small plane, after all, jetliners have too many systems to make sure they couldn't hit a big building.

 I turned on the teevee with the sound down so it wouldn't wake Linda Lou and continued my BB duties while keeping one eye on the teevee. The talking heads were yammering when, behind them on the monitors, the second plane went in.  That's when I knew. We were at war. Actually we'd been at war ever since the "students" took over our embassy and captured the people in Iran. That gelding Carter did nothing, of course. And when the bombings in Beirut killed our Marines (and those French soldiers), we still did nothing. There might have  been a reason for that, Reagen was busy pulling down the Soviets. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, though, there was no excuse for ignoring the fact that a fairly large percentage of the world's billion and a half Muslims want us dead.

 Here is the tragedy of this war, a far greater tragedy than the three thousand dead on 9/11/01, we still do not know how large a percentage. Someone in our laughably named "intelligence community" might know, for sure if they do know, they are bound not to tell us. Why? I dunno. Maybe it might upset someone. Who knows, it might scare us. After all, we are a bunch of hothouse flowers in the 21st Century. My father was allowed to know of the Rape of Nanking, where Japan let her soldiers run wild. Today we can't even see the footage of the men and women jumping from the floors above the fires on the Twin Towers.

 Our soldiers are frustrated, America does not seem to know we are at war with an implacable enemy.  Perhaps it's because we aren't reminded. When was the last time anyone saw the Arabs dancing in the streets in "Palestine"? They danced when the Towers fell. They dance when Arabs kill women and children in Israel. Yet our media doesn't show this. Why?

 Ten years ago I watched the Towers fall. I watched New Yorkers run, terrified. Today those same New Yorkers side against our ally, Israel. Even the Jews vote, overwhelmingly for Obama, the most anti-Israeli President since the gelding Carter. As a matter of fact he might beat the gelding Carter.

 I watched the Towers come down and then, as the teevee kept repeating the same things, over and over, I packed my stuff and went to the shooting range. And regretted that I was way too old to go back into uniform.

More Pictures

 Oh boy! Here I am at Linda Lou's comfuser where all the pictures are. Let's see if I can post a few before she wakes up and chases me off. Well, I got this far.

 In other news, why are the Republicans of the House putting up with that petulant punk coming into their hose to insult and belittle them? Last I checked Congress was a separate and co-equal Branch of the government. Why is Boehner simply not telling Obama that as a married man he doesn't have to go to the House of Representatives to be insulted, he can go home? I'd never make it in politics.

Dear Sarah

 Okay, Sarah Palin had her big speech. She  wowed the crowd. Her supporters are all over the Intertoobz with how rousing the speech was. Undecided conservatives, not so much. Trouble with the speech is that there was nothing, again, about her plans for the 2012 election cycle and it's getting past time she decides and declares.

 I am a Sarah Palin fan, I think she did a fine job up in Alaska and if not for that strange quirk in Alaskan political law where anyone could file an ethics complaint and the Governor had to fight it on her own dime, with no help from a legal defense fund and no penalty for filing a frivolous complaint.. In any other state she would have been able to finish a term. I really love the way a bitter minority of lefty Dems came close to bankrupting her family and then got to sneer "quitter" at her.

 Having said I'm a Palin fan, more important, I'm an American and, I'd like to think I'm a patriot. We have an administration that through incompetence  or malice is destroying the country. Or perhaps I should say incompetence AND malice, seein' as how they can't even manage to promote a gun smuggling scam.without getting caught, The Democrats keep waving Nixon and Watergate at us, um, how many Mexicans and how many Border Patrolmen were killed during Watergate? Too bad we don't have a free press in this country.

 Anyhow, Sarah, the leader of this bunch of yahoos claims to already have ONE BILLION DOLLARS so that he can keep using Air Force One for his vacations. I do not think we'll be able to match that money.For all the talk about rich Republicans the big money people sure tend Democrat. Democrats love poor people, that's why their policies make so many. I digress, again. Anyhow, if we cannot match the Donks dollar for dollar we must do it with people.. And that's where you come in, Sarah. You've tens of thousands of loyal, articulate and committed supporters. I do believe that the Obamanauts will be tepid in their efforts, everything Obama promised to end, hasn't. Everything he's promised to fix has gotten worse. I am also convinced that the Arab Spring will blow up on him by the election.

 Sarah, we need those supporters of yours working in campaigns, now. If not in your campaign, in Perry's or Cain or SOMEBODY! Decide, Sarah. Either run or endorse. Or beg your supporters to sign on to congressional, Senate and state races for now and give us a date for a presidential decision.

 Sarah, you did a lot of good in a short time in Alaska. Until you were tapped by McCain for the Veep spot you were popular with everyone up there for redoing that big pipeline deal. You went after crooked Republicans as well as Donks, it's like you never were a part of the old boy network. Of course I figured that part out as soon as I first saw your picture. (I'm old, I ain't dead) While I'd love to see a Palin presidency and a Palin Justice Department going after all of those hogs that were first piglets when they got up to the public trough, I can understand if you don't wish to go through the wringer.And I won't blame you for wanting to spare your family.

 You, Sarah, I'm not afraid of. I believe that if you got into the race and found you were too far behind to win the nomination, you'd send your supporters toward the most conservative and patriotic Republican.. I further believe you would lead the mighty Palin Legion toward the 2012 election with the same spirit and joy you've shown since you burst on the national scene.  Sarah, we need that legion working now. If McCain hadn't bellyflopped in the late stages of the campaign you'd be ready to run for the Presidency from a nice Veep spot.. And I think you'd tie those jug ears in a knot if you had to debate him in '12.

 Please. Sarah, run or endorse.

What Happened To My Blogroll?

 The dog ate my blogroll, Well, that's one excuse. If I were a Donk I could blame George W. Bush or the Koch brothers. It's Dick Cheney! He's got my blogroll tied to a chair and is torturing it! Oh NOES!!!!111!!!

 I dunno, really, my last post was dark blue lettering on a dark brown background for some really odd reason. So I thought I was following the directions and ended up with my blog with no left sidebar and the blogroll gone. So, I followed more directions (I thought) and now I have two sidebars but no blogroll.  I really blame a combination of my lack of computer savvy and this new function of Blogger that I must use to post anything.

 In other news I have a couple more pics  here of the birthday boy and a small fraction of the 827,462 children that were in that little room with us. I have more pictures but it takes a while to move them from there to here and then download and upload.

Water Does Not Flow Uphill

 Rick Perry is not pro-illegal immigration even if he's not in favor of a Great Wall of the Southern USA. He has no problem with fences along the border but we need to understand that we ain't gonna get a big wall. For one thing, a big wall would kill agriculture in south Texas and ranching in southwest Texas.

 You see the border with Mexico in Texas is along the Rio Grande. That, dear readers, is a river. You can't build a big wall along a river where everyone down there has their livestock drinking. Nor do irrigation ditches do real well going over walls. I think I remember something about water not flowing uphill real well. I do believe they used to teach that in schools.

 So, Perry wants to try something besides the big humongus wall that we flat ain't gonna get. Sure, we can build fences, even walls in places like San Diego, California and in the city limits of El Paso, Texas, places like that. Other places, well, how about we let the Border Patrol do their jobs? How about INS actually deport people? How about we fire immigration judges that forget who they work for? How about we fire the Homeland Security Director who does not know who she works for? How come I had to show a valid social security card in order to work when there are a bazillion illegals happily working? It's pretty easy to check legality these days, everything is computerised.

 Rick Perry want the federal government to lock up illegals until they're deported. He wants illegals to know that they actually can face prison time for, among other things, repeat border jumping. Perry is in some amount of trouble for saying out loud what we already know in our hearts. He says that if we did build a thirty foot high wall along the whole southern border it would just cause a big run on thirty foot ladders. He knows that there isn't a week that goes by without news of a border crossing tunnel bringing in drugs, illegals and other fun things.

 Nobody on our side is in favor of illegal immigration. The first thing to do is to get a government that obeys the law.

In more important news, here is a picture of Josiah and his Momma at his fifth birthday party.This party was held about a four day wagon trip if the creeks aren't over the fords. We forget how spoiled we are with the automobile and the paved roads. Anyhow the trip was only about an hour and a half and might have even been shorter if no for having to wander around a big mall looking for the place. This was some Pizza, game and noise palace I assume it is something like a Chuck E Cheese but I can't really say having never been in one of those. Thank you, Lord. Anyhow the first thing we did was to go up into the adults only room. This was not like the rooms in some of the seedier bookstores of, say, the 1980s but simply a room walled off from the bactieria gardens where the grownups could wait for the little party rooms to become available. Now these little party rooms are not the ones in those bookstores of old but simply rooms where twenty to, I dunno, maybe fifty kids and adults could sit and eat, open presents and have other, juvenile fun. So, anyhow, we waited for our room, then went down and ate some bad pizza and watched about twelve thousand kids in a small room. Then we drove home.

 Update, 1:45 AM, 9/5/11

This picture is Karson and Stephanie. I knew that. It goes to show that I should not ever touch a keyboard.

Hooray, I Can Post!

 I have been stuck in Blogger Limbo, able to write posts and then, whenever I'd hit "POST" the thing would just kind of sit there like a Democrat with a Civil Service job. You didn't really miss too much, my grandson Josiah had his fifth birthday party, I had my 26th AA "birthday" and I requested that the eastern coast types send us some of that rain. Naturally they didn't, the ingrates.

 Anyhow, now that I have the use of this blog again I'll have a little something to say. Not in the next couple of days but after I get done with this bunch of doctor visits. Had one in North Dallas for Linda Lou with the guy that did the surgery fixing her ankle and tomorrow I have my heart doctor in the same hospital complex, Medical City, Dallas.  First class place and first class docs, they sure are a long ways off, though.

 Thanks to Pamibe for showing me how to (sort of) get this blog off the sideline. I wonder if anybody much cares as seldom as I've been posting.

 More over the weekend, unless I spend all my time on www.nakedchubbygirls.org or something. Hmm, wonder if'n that's a real url?

Test

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Will We See London. USA?

I strongly suspect we will see a form of London, USA. The flash mob robberies and beatings will continue and sooner or later some intended victim will be armed. Emptying his or her gun into these idiots will cause more unrest.

Then we will see things like we saw in the LA Rodney King riots, Korean shop owners forting up to keep the idiots at bay.

I, of course, don't hardly have to worry about it, it ain't like the denizens of Lake Tawakoni are going to riot, we're all armed. Plus my neighbors don't have any more than I do, what would be the point?

Actually, most folks will not have to worry much about any unrest. If the "youths" in Chicago start getting too out of hand, most folks will stay out of Chicago. Eventually, the responsible folks will have all moved away and those feral "youths" will get mighty hungry. Meanwhile the suburbs will be forted up. This, of course, will be called raaaaacism. No one in government or the media will notice the middle class minority people helping to man the "barricades".

A lot of folks are buying guns. A lot of folks are going to some of those shooting schools. And a lot of folks are wondering which of the twelve gazillion shooting schools to attend. Meanwhile the new people buying shootin' irons are often buying the wrong kind of weapon. Everyone and their mother with machine shop capabilities are making clones of the AR15. Folks, if you want something to defend your home, this is the wrong gun. The geniuses in the Defense Dept. (notice we have not really won a war since we got rid of the War Dept.?) decided that it's far better to wound an enemy than to kill him. Something about the hospitalization taking more resources. Well, wounding a bad guy is fine, as long as the wound completely paralyzes him. Otherwise he can still kill you.

Oddly, most areas where ordinary folks are most vulnerable to unreast, it's hardest to get and keep arms. So, like in California, you cannot buy an AR15 clone anyway, without a ten round maximum capacity, etc, etc. So a lot of folks tout pump shotguns for home defense. Sorry, wrong again. The pump shotgun is too big to handle in the house. I know we tell civilians to fort up the whole family in one room, defend that room and wait for the local police. That is a great idea except we hear a noise? Is it the dog? Is it one of the kids going to pee? Is it your daughter's no good boyfriend sneaking over, again? Sure, call 911 every time you hear a noise. Umm, no. What works is to grab your good bright flashlight, tuck your handgun just behind your back, in your strong hand, and check it out.

You do not want a rifle or shotgun then, how do you handle a two handed gun and light switches, kids and dogs all at once? So, the first thing you need is a good flashlight and then a handgun. If you don't get a good flashlight, don't bother with a gun.

What gun? I will go against common wisdom here. Unless you shoot for sport I say choose a revolver. Autoloaders have advantages for police and military. Revolvers have other advantages. Put a loaded revolver in your bedside table and thirty years later it will still fire those corroded-green shells. An auto? Probably not. Naturally I'd like you to practice a lot but most folks won't. Truth is, skill doesn't matter all that much. If a citizen gets into a gunfight it's going to be really close. What really counts is willingness. Gunfights happen within the width of a car or the length of a car. The width of a room, the length of a room. Once a citizen learns to hit a target at the range of the biggest room in her house, she's good enough.

Now for a house gun I say there are only a few choices left, the S&W Military and Police K frame and other revolvers of that size are the most common. They come in .38 Special and .357 Mag. Either one is fine. Load it with Winchester Plus P lead semiwadcutter hollow points or that new Speer Gold Dot 135 grain load. Don't bother with flashlights or lasers on the gun, your handheld flashlight will do. Don't waste money on stuff like that, instead invest in practice ammo. When you can hit one of those cheap paper plates every shot at the length of your biggest room, well you're good enough.

Forget all that horsecrap about running around, crawling through pipes, kickin' in doors that some of these schools teach. Half of them give drills that would get you killed if you wore Kevlar to work, all of them teach stuff you and I will never do. I'm too old and fat to be takin' down crack houses or busting MS13 clubhouses. My gun is to protect my family, my life and my home.

There are a couple of other choices in house guns. Those with small hands might well decide to choose one of the little five shooters like the S&W Chief's Special, the Ruger SP101 or one of the Brazilian copies of that S&W. These are also the best guns for carrying. There are lots of autoloaders but, really, those are for soldiers and cops. The simple reality is that if a civilian needs more than five shots he's so outnumbered that all he's doing is taking an escort to Hell with him.

There is another cartridge out, that new Federal .327 Magnum. That little pocket rocket loads six rounds in the same Ruger SP101 that I carry, mine only holds five .357s. It's six to one, half dozen of the other for carry. Ain't nobody gonna laugh if either cartridge hits center mass.

Those are the house guns, or store guns, for that matter. Now there is one more kind of gun I'd like to talk about. The long gun, a rifle or shotgunfor the urban dweller who fears what we saw in England, or for that matter, Detroit in '67. During the Rodney King riots we saw a lot of buildings and businesses burned. We also saw rioters turning away from those Korean-owned stores where the men and women were standing by with rifles and shotguns. Any kind of repeating shotgun will keep bad guys out of Molotov Cocktail range, so will just about any repeating rifle.

I would not bother with an AR 15 clone. The 5.56 will kill, and it will wound. Thing is, if the bullet does not hit something immediate like the heart, spine or brain the bad guy can still do a lot of damage before he finally bleeds out. The average mule deer is about the same size and weight as a full grown man and there is almost no one who says "let's hunt mule deer with our .223s!"

The 12 guage shotgun has a lot going for it at close range. Even better is a little pistol caliber carbine. A .357 or .44 Mag, a .45 Colt lever action holds at least nine rounds and they are all deadly. out to ranges where if I shot anyone I'd go to prison. Put some men and women up on the roof with those and the bad guys would never live to throw a Molotov Cocktail at your business or home.

I could be wrong. When the Democrats run out of other people's money the "youths" might just buckle down and get jobs and I could be John Holmes long lost identical twin. Everyone is buying commodities to weather the recession. Some bought gold. I bought lead.

First We Pray

So we lost some thirty-one of our best trained, best equipped warriors at once when their bird went down. Some twenty members of SEAL Team Six, other US troops, the aircrew and some Afghani Special Ops troops. We do not know why the helo went down, we may never know. That's a lot of wives and children, parents, bothers and sisters with a new hole in their lives.

After we mourn our best and grieve with their families, we need to find out how and why they died. Was it merely the golden beebee that the aviators of my war feared, just that lucky shot from the millions that the bad guys were always pegging toward our birds?

The most important question is a simple one, why do we know what unit took down Osama? Why wasn't it simply NATO Forces? I remember we had about ten minutes of secrecy, that that wetbrain Biden opened his piehole. Did that put the bad guys to work building the Taliban equivalent of a Flak Trap?

If we are pulling our troops out, why are we sending special ops guys in? Are we doing that old partial fight again? During the Bush Admin it was our Armed Forces at war, America at the mall. Today it seems as if some of our Armed Forces at war, America can't afford to go to the mall.

Look, I'm just an ex enlisted guy, still I know enough to figure we either fight or don't fight. This business of agonising over a troop buildup, then sending some of the troops our Generals on the spot ask for, then loudly announcing the withdrawal of said troops, all the time leaving the enemy neighboring countries to rest, recruit and resupply is madness. It's exactly what happened during LBJ's war. We finally won that fight when Nixon took over, this angered Democrats so much they cut off all aid to the RVN when the north invaded again. Now it seems we're doing the same thing again.

I'm pretty sure the Democrats will try hard to blame this on the TEA Party.

So, Now I'm A Terrorist? Oookay. What Happens Next?

So, according to the establishment left we are now terrorists, hostage takers and are holding guns to America's head. We gathered, first in tens and hundreds, then in thousands and tens of thousands, finally in that huge rally in Washington, DC. Funny, each time there was something first noticed by the right, at that "Dan's Bake Sale", where Rush Limbaugh and some 65,000 fans showed up in Fort Collins, Colorado. The crowd left the grounds cleaner than they found them.

This is the right. When we go somewhere we drop our trash in the barrels. If we see something loose we pick it up and throw it away. Funny thing, you can tell, with perhaps eighty percent efficiency , conservative people from lefties at a highway rest stop. The conservatives will be the ones emptying a trash container into the barrels. But, I digress.

Does anyone remember Nancy Pelosi leading that bunch of lefty Congresscritters right through the crowd of thousands pleading that our health care system, the best in the world, to not me smashed into bureaucrat's fiefdoms? Sure, we remember. The left screeching about how we were yelling NI**ER at the congresscritters, some of whom were holding video cameras and then state of the art cell phone cameras up. Think hard, Breitbart has offered a pretty fair sum of money to anyone with video proof, so far no takers.

That, of course, was merely business as usual in Washington. More business as usual is that jug eared, empty headed narrow-assed clown in the White House whining that all the nation's economic problems are because of George W. Bush. Too bad we don't have a news media. I would love someone asking this bunch of fools to tell us the exact unemployment rate in November, 2006. Funny how in the last period of Republican "rule" unemployment was 4.6 percent and wages up 3.9 percent. We're coming up on six years of Democrat rule, now, although we have wrested one half of Congress away from the Pelosi-Reid gang of thieves. So, now we have the Vice President of the United States of America, agreeing with a United States Congressman that we acted like terrorists.

A deal which does not stop the ship of state from taking on water but merely slows the leak a tiny bit is not a tragedy for the government. The tragedy for the government is that you idiot professional politicians simply find yourselves unable to stop spending money you do not have and cannot get. Representative Cleaver, the debt deal IS a "Satan Sandwich". It is such because it , along with other of your programs, keeps your people mired in poverty.

National wealth has plummeted since the Pelosi-Reid Congress and the Obama Presidency. Funny, though, the wealth of minority America has plummeted even more. And yet, you call us racist? Mr. Vice President, Representative Cleaver, Mr. President, I have to ask you all, why is it, if WE the conservatives hate the poor so much and are so racist, why is it that the worst sections of the entire country are all Democrat strongholds? Well, up until you took over, now entire sections of the country are dying. Thanks a lot.

How long, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Congressmen Doyle and Cleaver (and a whole host of others) before you figure out that it is your policies that are killing the last, best hope of mankind. Or do you realize that you are killing the country. If so, why? Who gains?

I'm just a small town boy grown old. I know the world has changed and will continue to change. What I cannot understand is why you continue to insult and denigrate the ever decreasing number of people who pay your salaries. There are still hundreds of ways for poor people to become if not rich, at least middle class. Yet your bunch goes out and closes children's lemonade stands when you don't want to put whole states like Texas in the dark. Who gains and who loses, then, Mr. President? The middle class who will tighten their belts a little more to pay the higher power bills or the poor, who you claim to care so much about?

Se, my question remains. Are you wrecking the country, and the futures of those you claim to care so much about, by accident? If so, how long before you notice that everything you do makes things worse? Or are you wrecking the country on purpose> If so, do you really expect us to let you do so? Really? You ain't seen terrorists yet.

The Time Machine:1958

The year was 1958. Few remember how long it took to recover from the Great Depression. Ten years after the war my parents were finally making decent money. They bought the first new car of their lives.

In those days it was the norm to have folks take their pictures with their cars. Somehow, perhaps because cars all look the same, I don't see people posing with their rides. Or, perhaps, it's that there is no more novelty in cars. My mother came out of Dust Bowl Kansas. She never, ever told of the trauma she endured. All I ever heard of prewar California was how they had to back over the steep hills and mountains in the old Model T Fords. The Model T had no fuel pump. The gas tank was actually under the windshield and the gas flowed to the carb simply by gravity. This has much to do with why cars caught on fire after wrecks and why they seldom do anymore.
Anyhow it was only after 1955 that we really started traveling.

Of course much of the travel was thanks to Ike and his Interstate Highway program. Those who grew up in the post 1962 world have no real idea of how long it took to get somewhere. There were just as many small towns as ever. Actually more, over the last fifty years hundreds of small towns have been swallowed up by big cities. Every one of those small towns had traffic, complete with stop signs . I was ten years old and it still took four hours to drive a hundred miles.

The picture on the top is Main Street, Las Vegas, Nevada. Click to embiggen, the next three down are my mother, the one with the big Merc is the same trip to Las Vegas. The next one down was Death Valley. Next, I just don't know where that was..

Down another notch was my old man and a right handsome kid with Donner Lake in the high Sierras. You might remember that area, the Donner Party waited just a little too late to try to go over the hill with their wagon train.

That next pic down is my Mom at the California State Capitol in California. The next two are my stepfather, James, the guy that raised me. The picture with the car was at a motel at Lake Tahoe, the other was at that Arboretum in San Francisco. We were a railroad family, the Southern Pacific. The Southern Pacific Hospital was, perhaps still is, just across the panhandle of Golden Gate Park from the infamous Haight Ashberry where the Summer of Love fizzled in a sea of heroin and speed.

If you take a look at my old man's hair you might notice that the idea that everybody in the '50s wore short hair is a myth. I have to remember to tell you how, ten years after those pictures were taken how the new longhairs thought that they found a kindred spirit in my stepfather. They were wrong.