Pernicious Critters

SONY customer service: PERNICIOUS CRITTERS!!

2011-01-15T10:49:00.000-08:00

Oh my God, what a hassle. I had heard and seen rumors of how bad the Sony Customer Service was, but this really happened:

I bought the new 40" HD LED TV on November 20, 2010. By December 17, the damn thing wouldn't turn on. I had registered the TV so I could activate the warranty. I went online and went through the troubleshooting steps. No good. I got an online agent, went through the online steps again with him, again no good. He gave me a number to a repair service to call and said that Sony would cover the expense since the TV was under warranty.

I called the service and they asked me for the event number. The damn Sony agent didn't give me an event number. She asked for my phone number, so I gave it to her, she said there was no corresponding event attached to that phone number. Not her fault, so I thanked for her time and turned around and called the Sony number. Of course, they're only open Monday through Friday 8am to 8pm eastern standard time, so I have to call the after hours support number. I go through the troubleshooting steps for a third time and get an event number. Halle-flippin-lujah! I call the service back, get the same agent and give her the event number. No record of it in their system. She says that sometimes it takes up to 4 hours for those to transmit. I realize this isn't getting scheduled tonight so I thank her again and hang up the phone for the last time that night.

Fast forward three weeks. Due to mandatory overtime at work and then my sleeve surgery, I haven't had time to get the TV taken care of. I pick up the phone and call the service company. Still no match on the event number or my phone number. AAARGH!!!! Again, not her fault, it's Sony's. I thank her for the last time and I call Sony AGAIN.

I get a very pleasant woman who bent over backward to help me when I told her what was going on. She found the record of my previous call so she doesn't make me go through the troubleshooting again. She gets a good event number and tells me that if I fax the receipt over with the event number, they will send me a replacement unit in 5 to 7 days. Unfortunately, the only receipt I have is a return receipt I was able to print out from the Walmart website showing that I bought it from Walmart Ship to Store. I tell her exactly what it has and she says that will be fine, to fax it with the event number on the top center. I get it faxed over and I think it's all over. How wrong I was...

The next day I get a call from Sony, a different agent this time, who informs me that the receipt I faxed over is not acceptable for warranty work. I could actually hear the blood pounding in my ears and my pulse started skyrocketing. I was able to argue with this guy for about two minutes before my body started sending urgent signals to stop. I said, "Your agent told me yesterday that what I sent would be fine. I work in a customer care situation and in my company, if an agent says something that is against the company's policy, the company still holds up what the agent said and then deal with the agent later to satisfy the customer's needs. I have told you I don't have what you want and your agent told me yesterday that what I sent would be fine." He refused to budge. I finally hung up because I seriously felt like I was going to collapse.

Dad and I went to Walmart yesterday and they said to bring in the TV with the paperwork and the remote and they would be glad to refund my money. We took everything in today and got my money refunded in about 10 minutes.

I'm going back later next week to buy a Vizio 42" HD LED TV. It costs a little less than the Sony.

I've had my eyes opened after that. Won't buy another Sony product after that unless I have no choice, and I'm going to make sure that my friends and anybody else that wants to listen hears about their horrible customer service. Of course, its only my opinion, but on my blog, I am GOD!

SONY customer service: DEFINITELY PERNICIOUS CRITTERS!

The Journey of a thousand miles part 17: The end of the journey

2011-01-09T12:13:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not going to stop my blog about my weight loss journey. I'm going to give it it's own home.

Head over to http://joa1000m.blogspot.com/ for the new start of the Journey. First post will be 1/10/11, the day of my surgery.

The Journey of a thousand miles part 16: Current weight and surgery around the corner

2011-01-06T05:40:00.000-08:00

Wow. I went in for my preop class/consultation today and I'm currently at 393 lbs. 2 months ago I was at 412 lbs. That's amazing to me. Some people tell me, "you don't look like you weigh that much" or my other favorite, "Why are you doing this surgery? Can't you just diet and exercise?"

A little perspective: Over the last 20 years I've tried diet, exercise, pills, shots. You name it, I've tried it. This surgery is a tool to be used in conjunction with a change in diet, exercise and mindset. The mindset is the biggest facet to deal with. I've heard stories of people getting the surgery but not changing their mindset/habits and they short circuit the surgery. I know one of my supervisors at work had the lap band done more then a year ago and he only lost 10 lbs because he didn't change his ways. I refuse to let that happen. In addition to wanting to lose the weight, I know people are going to be looking to me to see how I do on this and that will influence their decisions. While I'm doing this for primarily selfish reasons, I know that others are being impacted by what I'm doing and I don't want to go to them later and say, "It didn't work because I didn't change."

So everything is scheduled, I'm registered at the hospital for the surgery, and I go in Monday morning for the event. I'm excited and a little nervous. But it's all right. My surgeon is one the top men in the country and the weight loss center I'm using is one of the best.

So my next posting will probably be giving you my impressions immediately after the surgery. And it's probably going to be along the lines of "owowowowow! hurt! bad! no good! owowowowow!" Provided I'm coherent enough to get those thoughts together.

Asta!

Chris de Burgh - The Head And The Heart ~With lyrics~

2011-01-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

Chris de Burgh - Where peaceful waters flow

2011-01-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

The Angel

2010-12-30T19:49:00.000-08:00

I remember seeing her pictures for the first time

An angel in a cowboy hat

A babe in a bikers vest

Her blue eyes dancing as she smiled.

I wanted her then

Her beauty and sexuality enthralled me

But something wasn't ready

I wasn't ready

I saw her again some time later

I saw her in another place, another time

I asked her to talk to me.

She did.

We talked several times

I found myself liking her

I knew I was attracted to her

I knew I wanted to meet her

I asked her out

I remember waiting for the the date to begin

I remember my heart pounding as I waited for the door to open

My angel was waiting on the other side

She asked me to tell her a story

She was shy and nervous

She wanted me to talk so she could listen to me

She wanted to hear my voice

I talked more and she listened as we waited for dinner

She talked some more and I listened

We joked and had fun

We went to our next place

We drank and joked

I sang a song for her and I asked her to dance

I took her home and walked inside with her

We kissed

The passion was firey, explosive

We could have done so much more that night

But we didn't

We waited

We saw each other 5 more times

Over the next few days

We saw something in each other

We wanted in our lives

We saw each other when I returned from my hometown

We were together then

We wanted to be with each other

We fell in love

I said it first

I knew it would take a long time for her to say it

But she did

And I felt my heart racing as she said it

We brought our families together

And started to build a life

I asked her to marry me, in a most unlikely place

She said yes

But we would have to wait

Things had to slow down

We lived together

I was willing to wait

But I made mistakes

I let That One back into my life when I should have known better

I saw That One with out telling my Angel

The first most awful mistake - the lie

Nothing happened, but I violated her trust

She was heartbroken and I lost her trust

That was the first loss

But not the last

She gave me another chance

and I sent That One away forever

Never to darken my life again

And I wanted to start over with my Angel

I made a second mistake

I helped a friend

Not that it was a bad thing

But I didn't tell her about it

She felt that I put someone else's needs ahead of hers

I should have just told her about it

But I thought that it didn't matter

But it showed that I didn't share everything with her

Again she was hurt

Again I apologized but I should have known better

Again she gave me another chance

Again I wanted to rebuild

My final, fatal mistake

Was not listening to her

I knew she wanted us to share this particular event

If I had been thinking as a best friend...

But I didn't

I put my childish games ahead of her

I didn't go with her

I should have gone...

Someone else went

He showed her the attention I should have

She felt a spark

I lost my Angel...

Now I'm alone

Relegated to "a friend"

And all I want

is my Angel back.

I know now that I love her

Deeper than I ever realized

If I ever get another chance

I won't waste it.

But I will be there

whenever she needs me

and if she says "Come home", she needs to know

My heart never left...

Missing my second chance tonight...

2010-12-25T21:49:00.000-08:00

God, I can't believe how much I miss her tonight. I call her my second chance, or 2C, from the movie "Nights in Rodanthe". It's one of the movies we shared together. We were both crying at the end of the whole thing. Richard Gere told Diane Lane that she was his "Second chance at love." That's always the way I felt about her after we saw that movie. She was my second chance at love, my dream come true, my true love. And now she's gone.

I'd give up almost anything to have her back. I'm hurting tonight and the only thing that can relieve the pain I'm feeling is her. Her touch, her laughter, the blue of her eyes, her sweet scent.

But all I can do tonight is climb into bed, roll over and go to sleep and try to not think about it. But that's like asking water to not be so wet.

Asta...

The Journey of a thousand miles part 15: Surgery scheduled!

2010-12-23T21:28:00.000-08:00

Wow. After 2 years of trying to lose weight and 6 months of actively pursuing the surgery, we're at the pole position. I go in for the preop on January 5th and the surgery will be January 10th. I'm excited and nervous. This is going to be major league life changing for me. I've been a heavyweight most of my life and now I'm wanting to be a normal sized person.

No more big and tall man shops. Going on amusement park rides with my daughter. Sleep apnea hopefully gone. High cholesterol meds hopefully gone. Really hoping sex will improve when I lose my weight. Not that it's necessarily bad right now, but it will hopefully be better. Maybe when I lose my weight other things will change for the better as well.

We'll see.

Asta!

The Journey of a thousand miles part 14: The mine field of the mind.

2010-12-17T12:51:00.000-08:00

So I completed my psych eval for the surgery on Wednesday and I am now cleared to meet with the surgeon on the 23rd of this month. Not that it would be that difficult to fake your way through a psych eval if you have half a brain. Of course, if you feel like you need to fake your way through a psych eval, then you're not doing anybody any good, particularly yourself. Lying to the psychologist/psychiatrist/counselor doesn't help at all since they can't address any underlying issues if you do that. If you're having emotional issues to begin with, those emotional issues can directly impact your surgical readiness. If you're feeling like things would be easier if you just died, you probably don't have the will to live through surgery. That's why it's so important to tell the evaluator the truth.

One more step towards surgery.

Asta!

Goodbye, Grandma...

2010-12-03T23:59:00.000-08:00

So I got the call from my dad at about 730 tonight. My grandma passed away. At least now she's in a better place.

My prayer was answered.

Thank you, Lord.

Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to curl up under a blanket and cry for a while.

The journey will continue later.

Asta.

The Journey of a thousand miles part 13: Still waiting for the good...

2010-12-02T06:19:00.000-08:00

So I guess God's answer to my request was "Not yet". Thanksgiving was good, but the following Saturday we were supposed to go out to see the Christmas light display out at the local wildlife habitat, but it started raining and then my dad got a call from the home that my grandma is in, and she fell down and hit her head and they were sending her to the hospital. He told them to wait until he got there and we set off immediately to the home. We got there in about 15 minutes and they had already sent her despite Dad's instructions. So we headed to the hospital, and they would only let one family member at a time in to see her. So Dad went in and my aunt and I waited for himto come back. He came back in about 15 minutes and the two of them spent the next hour discussing what was going to happen.

A touch of background before I go further. My grandma used to be a caregiver, taking care of people. First at a kids shelter, then at a home. When she got too old to do that and they took it away from her, she started losing herself. Dementia set in and has now taken over my grandma. She doesn't recognize anyone except my mom and dad now. It's very hard to see my grandma in that condition. She wouldn't want to live like that. What she's doing isn't living, the doctors in the home are just keeping her body alive. I know my grandma wouldn't put another person through that. Medical Science worries so much about keeping a person alive without asking, "Should we keep them alive?" That made the decision Dad and my aunt made easier to take.

They decided to file the DNR paperwork with the hospital, take my grandma off of all her medications and put her in hospice care and let nature take it's course. It hurt to hear them make that decision, but it hurts more seeing the dementia erase my grandma little by little.

So now it's in God's hands. So now I'm asking for something else.

Lord, call your child back home and spare her any further pain and loss.

Please?

The Journey of a thousand miles part 12:Good days and Bad days

2010-11-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

Wow. I'm sure that once I have the surgery, I'll have good days and bad days. This breakup I'm going through right now is the same way. Some days I get up and I'm ready to kick ass and take names and nothing can stop me. Other days, it feels like everything reminds me of her and what we had together and it's all I can do to keep myself together. I was driving to work this morning and something ran through my mind and I broke down crying. Not a lot of time to get myself together before I had to start work. Then while I was at work, she sent me an email with a hint for a Christmas gift for her.

Not helping!

Then when I get home, she mentions that I'm acting a little ill. I didn't say anything right then, but when we were alone, I told her what had happened today and she started feeling bad.

Didn't want that either, now I feel bad for making her feel bad.

I don't know what's going to happen to us in the future, but I know that right now, we need to be apart. Maybe if we can learn to be friends, we can learn to live together again. I also know that if we stay together right now, we'll start hating each other. That's no good either.

Ok, God. I need something really spectacularly good to happen and get my mind off everything for a few days. Keep my parents' need to know in check and let my sister help me keep my parents off my back while I'm visiting them. Most of all, carry me through these trying times until I can find the strength to walk again. Thank you.

On the subject of my surgery, my Doctor has fully released me for the surgery and now I just need to get my psych eval, meet with the nutritionist, and meet with the surgeon and I'll be ready to go.

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Asta.

The Journey of a thousand miles part 11: WTF?

2010-11-21T18:44:00.001-08:00

So this is a continuation of the events on Friday. After work I ran down to the local big and tall man's store to pick up a couple of new belts. I also picked up a new pair of jeans and a couple of black undershirts. I went home and changed into the new stuff and added a black screen printed thermal and my boots and went out to a country western bar where they were doing dance lessons. I thought it was line dancing, but Fridays is apparently reserved for two-step. I said what the hell and joined in. I danced with every woman at the class (a couple of them twice) and had a lot of fun.

Right now, you're probably wondering why the WTF in the title. Allow me to explain, gentle readers. The WTF came from the number of ladies that hit on me that night. Some were cougars, some were kittens. All of them were attractive. All of them also had the same reaction: They thought I was in my 20's. One of the cougars even went so far as to call me cougar bait. That kind of thing really boosted my ego, but I've been out of the dating scene for so long I really didn't know how to respond. I just said thanks, but I'm not looking for anything right now, but maybe in the future. Maybe I screwed the pooch on that one, but I know that anything I did that night would have been purely physical and nothing more than a rebound at best. That's not fair to anyone.

I suppose that my conscience might also be working over time to keep me on the level since I know I still love my Lady. That conscience and heart of mine both need to let go so I can work on moving forward. My mind and body are ready, but the heart and soul less so.

Asta.

The Journey of a thousand miles part 10: A change for the better

2010-11-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

So last night I was in the bathroom looking at myself in the mirror and all I could see was the significant amount of white hair in my goatee. Significant in that it is outnumbering the dark hair. Someone at work had mentioned that it was making me look older than it needed to. I was going to keep the goatee, but I had grown it out for my GF (ex-GF now) and something in the back of my mind just kept saying "Get rid of it". One part of my mind said, "But she likes it" The other part said, "So what? She broke up with you. Shave that shit off and start the weekend clean."

That part of my mind won. I got out my trimmers and buzzed the goatee off and then took a regular razor and cleaned everything else off.

I got to work today feeling good, feeling alive again for the first time in several weeks. My co-workers all made comment of how young and vital I looked without the goatee. It really made me feel good to hear that.

Bariatric surgery coming up in the near future and now I feel like I can handle anything that comes at me. I may not have a significant other right now, but I have my family and friends in my corner.

That'll do for now.

Asta!

The Journey of a thousand miles part 9: The new place

2010-11-16T20:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, I signed the lease on my new place today. It's a nice little condo in a quiet development and just a few minutes from the mountains. I think I'm gonna need the quiet for a while. To my friends and co-workers, I seem to be happy about everything that's going on. The reality is that I would give up everything if she would take me back.

Pardon my tears...

Anyway, the condo is 3 bedroom, 2 bath, second floor and sunset view at night. Pool facilities too.

The best I can hope for is that she changes her mind and decides to get back with me later on. In the meantime, I'm going to focus on my health and surgery. I'm going in next week to reactivate my memberships so I can work out again.

The Journey of a thousand miles part 8: A new path

2010-11-11T15:16:00.000-08:00

So if you read part 7, you know my personal life took a header into the ground over the last couple of weeks. I woke up today and looked in the mirror and realized I did everything I could do to save the relationship and I'm starting the healing process. It hurts a little bit less today than yesterday and I've found a new apartment that's not too far away from my office. Too far for walking or riding a bike, but closer than it was. I'm going to look at it tomorrow with my daughter and I'll pay the deposits on everything ASAP. I already have the utilities set up for installation and I will be hiring a moving company to do the heavy work. Not up to that shit anymore. I can afford a mover, so I'm using them. I guess my Christmas present to myself will be a new life.

We'll see.

Asta.

The Journey of a thousand miles part 7: A fork in the road

2010-11-10T04:39:00.001-08:00

As if this whole weight loss surgery wasn't going to be stressful enough, my girlfriend came home last night and told me she wants me to move out. A three year relationship gone in less than a minute. We've been having issues over the last few months but it all came to a head a couple of weeks back when she said she was confused about what she wanted. So we talked then, and she agreed that we would try. Two weeks later and it's done. So now I have to find a new place to live, move all my stuff and start over. And last night after she told me, we went into full on relationship apocalypse. I said and did things that I shouldn't have because I was hurting and I pretty much killed any chance of a later reconciliation.

You can't unring the bell, I suppose. So now I take another step forward, just without her by my side.

On the positive side, I have my class this week and my chest xray, then I get my psych eval and we should be good to go to start the procedures for my surgery. I'm going to spend the next year getting my head and new body in order and learn to be myself again. It's all I have left to do.

The Journey of a thousand miles part 6: unasked questions

2010-11-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

An interesting question from my girlfriend came up last night and it applies to us both since we're both getting the surgery. In all my researches on the surgery, it's one that I've never seen addressed. Any time there is a major change in your physicality, all sorts of tastes change. Food, drink, exercise...but what about sexually? I've always been attracted to BBWs, even when I wasn't big myself. She's a BBW, but won't be after the surgery. I've seen pictures of her when she was younger and slender, and she was hot. I would have asked her out in a heart beat.

And I've had all sorts of women in my life, when I was young and single. I've had the girl next door type, the penthouse pet (a real penthouse pet BTW), and probably everything in between. Not all of them were BBWs, but I was still attracted to them.

My girlfriend did some research of her own and found out that there is a high percentage of people who underwent the surgery that have divorced from their partner or otherwise broken up. That's scary to me. Will things change that much?

I can honestly say that I have seen dramatic changes in physicality change a person's overall attitude and personality. One of my best friends got the Lasik surgery and he no longer had to wear glasses and he felt handsome and therefore, confident in himself. He ended up divorcing his wife eventually, and I can't say that the change didn't come into play in that problem.

I love my girlfriend with all my heart and I hope nothing like this happens. I hope that the surgery, since it's going to be a shared experience, will bring us closer together.

Guess it's up to me and God to decide what to do if the time comes. Here's hoping.

Asta.

The Journey of a thousand miles part 5: Changing course

2010-10-28T11:07:00.001-07:00

So after a few days of researching and watching videos and reading testimonials about the different Bariatric Surgeries, I have decided instead of the lap band, I am going to get the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. This surgery reduces the size of the stomach by 85 percent. The expected average weight loss in a six month period is 100 lbs. I've seen before and after pics of people that lost almost 150 lbs in a year. The change is phenomenal. Not just a weight loss, but in some cases it looks like they took years off. One woman in her twenties looked like a teenager.

It was amazing.

I have to say, after seeing all of this, I've decided to go with the sleeve surgery. Once you heal up from the surgery, the follow up to the doctor is far less than the lap band. Also, the lap band has issues like the body might reject the band, it can slip, it needs lots of follow up maintenance. Of course, the sleeve is completely irreversible. Once it's done, that's it, no do overs or resets. Its also harder to cheat on the diet with the sleeving.

I have two things left to do, a chest xray and my primary care doctor has to give me a referral to the surgeon. Chest xray should be done shortly and the referral is no problem.

To quote the Pointer Sisters, "I feel excited..."!

Asta

The Journey of a thousand miles part 4: The sleep machine

2010-10-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the doctor got my results back from the sleep study, and I have severe sleep apnea. For the uninformed, Sleep Apnea means you actually stop breathing for a short time during the night. For the average person without SA, you might stop breathing anywhere from 1-5 times during the night. Minor sleep apnea means you stop breathing more than five but no more than ten times during the night. My apnea numbers are into the 30's. That means I stop breathing 30 or more times during the night. Scary. Apparently, that level of Sleep Apnea also means that weight gain is not only expected, it really can't be avoided. When your sleep gets interrupted that often, you can't ever get to deep REM sleep where the brain actually shuts down and gets good rest. This also means that since the brain is always active to some degree, it causes your metabolism to store everything you eat as fat. Studies show severe sleep apnea can come with a weight gain of 30 plus pounds. Not pleasant.

So now I'm using a CPAP machine. Basically, it supplies a constant air pressure and forces me to keep breathing. This is supposed to make my sleep better and in theory, allow my brain to get the rest it needs so I can actually start losing weight. I'm hoping that with the combination of the upcoming surgery and the CPAP machine, my weight loss will become astronomical. Time will tell.

Asta.

Overtime and illness

2010-10-08T06:23:00.000-07:00

Mother Nature and Old Man Murphy, being the bedmates that they are, came up with a jab/right hook combo of cold rain and massive telecom outages across California this week. Whenever this happens, we get overtired and everybody gets sick at the end of the week. Coughing, sneezing, sniffling, you name it. I feel like crap today, but if I call in, I lose my OT status. I'll get paid for the hours, but the overtime bonus won't be there.

Sometimes I hate working in Korporate Amerika...

The way my job feels today...

2010-09-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

"Can you get promoted out of the ****?"

"You can't get PAROLED out of the ****."

Also, "You can't fire me. Slaves have to be sold."

Fine, let's play!

2010-09-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

20 questions from here

Do you believe that criminals and domestic abusers should be able to buy guns without background checks? Criminals (including Abusers) don't care about the laws concerning the guns, they're usually not buying them anyway.
What is your proposal for keeping guns away from criminals, domestic abusers, terrorists and dangerously mentally ill people? Lock up the criminals, keep the terrorists out of our country, and if they are dangerously mentally ill, they should be locked away anyway. Don't keep the guns away from them, keep them away from the guns!
Do you believe that a background check infringes on your constitutional right to "keep and bear arms"? Damn right it does.
Do you believe that I and people with whom I work intend to ban your guns? No. I KNOW you not only intend to ban the guns, you would use force to take them away if you could.
If yes to #4, how do you think that could happen ( I mean the physical action)? Why don't you ask a Holocaust survivor how it could happen. It wouldn't take much, honestly.
What do you think are the "second amendment remedies" that the tea party GOP candidate for Senate in Nevada( Sharron Angle) has proposed? The same ones that the 3percenters are ready to use, you yutz: We will not disarm.You cannot convince us.You cannot intimidate us. You can try to kill us, if you think you can. But remember, we’ll shoot back. We are not going away. We are not backing up another inch.And there are THREE MILLION OF US.
Do you believe in the notion that if you don't like what someone is doing or saying, second amendment remedies should be applied? Considering I fought for this country and believe in the right of freedom of speech, I would think not. However, I do think we need to reinstate the Code Duello to control the "freedom of stupidity" some people tend to confuse with Freedom of Speech.
Do you believe it is O.K. to call people with whom you disagree liars and demeaning names? You mean the people who call me a dangerous right wing gun nut or the ones who think I'm a traitorous psycho because I don't like our president?
If yes to #8, would you do it in a public place to the person's face? Pretty much. I know they would do it to me.
Do you believe that any gun law will take away your constitutional rights? Yep.
Do you believe in current gun laws? Do you think they are being enforced? If not, explain. The BATFE is the closest thing this country has to the Gestapo. They are being enforced, it just doesn't stop the criminals, terrorists or psychos from getting the guns.
Do you believe that all law-abiding citizens are careful with their guns and would never shoot anybody? If someone tries to make me a victim of their criminal intent, You can damn well bet I'll shoot them.
Do you believe that people who commit suicide with a gun should be included in the gun statistics? Remember what I said earlier about locking up the dangerously mentally ill?
Do you believe that accidental gun deaths should "count" in the total numbers? No. That's why it's called an accident, you yutz.
Do you believe that sometimes guns, in careless use or an accident, can shoot a bullet without the owner or holder of the gun pulling the trigger? No. Guns are tools, not sentient items. If the holder is foolish enough to put their finger on the trigger before they are ready to commit to firing the weapon, then that's their fault, not the weapon's.
Do you believe that 30,000 gun deaths a year is too many? Depends on how many of those deaths were criminals that intended harm on another person.
How will you help to prevent more shootings in this country? How about shooting the criminals first? If I kill them before they kill 5 more people, then I've just prevented 5 deaths. Sounds like a good idea to me.
Do you believe the articles that I have posted about actual shootings or do you think I am making them up or that human interest stories about events that have happened should not count when I blog about gun injuries and deaths? As another blogger said, the plural of anecdote is not data.
There has been some discussion of the role of the ATF here. Do you believe the ATF wants your guns and wants to harass you personally? If so, provide examples ( some have written a few that need to be further examined). See my Gestapo comment above.
Will you continue a reasonable discussion towards an end that might lead somewhere or is this an exercise in futility? We have different definitions of futility and reasonable. I believe that I am being completely reasonable in wanting to keep my guns and you trying to convince me not to is an exercise in futility.

The Erik Scott Shooting

2010-09-23T19:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, this story has been getting some serious media attention over here in Sin City. Too many questions, too many contradictory stories, too much everything.

Here's the sitch in a nutshell:

The victim/criminal (depending on your POV) was at Costco and got some idiot clerk's attention by doing something the clerk didn't like (story is still fuzzy on this point).

Said clerk sees the individual is carrying a gun at the small of his back.

Said clerk then calls the police.

Store starts evacuating, including said individual.

As said individual steps out of the store, the clerk points him out to the police officers.

Police officers (again, story gets fuzzy...well, let's say static has engulfed the signal completely) order said individual to drop his weapon/put his hands up/get on the ground. Again, the story isn't clear on this point.

Said individual was either disarming or pulling his gun (more static). Either way, the police opened fire and killed him.

From here, it's too much media, too much grieving family, coroner's inquest, lost hard drive data on the DVR hard drives from the store(I don't believe in coincidence).

I don't believe this shooting is justifiable or excusable. I do believe it was preventable. If Mr. Scott had simply put his hands up and gotten down on the ground the police would have disarmed him, probably cuffed and contained him and confirmed that Mr. Scott was a licensed gun owner who possessed a valid CCW permit. They are saying that he had high levels of pain killers in his system and was out of his mind. The man broke his back while serving in the military. I'd say he needed to pain killers just to be able to operate normally.

A quick aside - I have had back injuries in the past that required a morphine based pain killer to control the pain. All it did was stop the pain. Didn't make me fuzzy or scramble my senses or twist my perceptions. Just makes the pain go away.

If LV Metro and the DA wants to convince any thinking individual, they need to release all of the videos and get the stories straight.

I feel bad for Erik Scott's family, but as I said, it could have been avoided. If you want to know who I think is really to blame, look at Costco. The clerk could have, should have treated Mr. Scott as any other customer unless he was truly causing a problem in the store. All of these companies that have moved into Nevada should inform their employees that Nevada is a Right to Carry state and what that means as far as our rights are concerned.

The Journey of a thousand miles part 3

2010-09-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

So I started my sleep study last night. They sent me this box full of a computer unit and a bunch of flipping connectors that I have to wear all night. I don't see how you are not going to have uninterrupted sleep with all this crap. Breath monitor in your nose and covering your mouth, a chest monitor wrapped around your torso, A finger monitor (more on this in a minute) on your finger, and a "patient monitor" on my wrist that connects all of the other monitors to the computer unit.

The finger monitor: I don't know who engineered the connections for this thing, but they need to be taken out and beaten with a rolled up newspaper until they bleed. In this day of usb connectors and wireless options, and this damn finger monitor uses a serial port connection that doesn't screw in to place and pulls loose with little effort. Then the computer unit starts saying "adjust finger monitor" every 2 minutes until you fix it.

I'm not pleased and my girlfriend is pissed off. Neither one of us slept well because of the sleep monitor.

The Journey of a thousand miles part 2

2010-09-02T22:33:00.000-07:00

So I got a call from the surgical center today. They checked out my insurance and the insurance will cover pretty much 100 percent of the costs. I'm responsible for the following costs:

20.00 copay

250.00 "administrative fee" (Bullshit to me, but ok)

150.00 psych eval fee ( required by the insurance company)

That's it. A 21000.00 surgery and it's going to cost me 420.00 out of pocket. I would be a damn fool to pass that up.

More to follow.

Fragging Hotmail has been compromised!!!

2010-09-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

So my girlfriend asked me if I sent her a link to an online drugstore. I looked at it and saw that it came from my msn/hotmail account and it had been sent to all of my contacts. Oyyy. I logged in to my account and saw about 30 "delivery failure" Emails. Not cool.

I started to go in to change my password and immediately realized that page was compromised as well. For my secret question, it was asking for my credit card information. I would never use my credit card info for a secret question. It also wouldn't show me my alternate email address to send a reset request. I had to root around a bit, but I did find an alternate route to the reset page and set my password strong enough so no one will crack it easily.

Gorram spammers...

The Journey of a thousand miles...

2010-08-31T12:44:00.000-07:00

...starts with a single step. The same can be said for weight loss. If you have read this blog at all, you've seen my observation/rant about being a big man. I'm 41 years old and I'm over 400 lbs. I've just found out that my insurance will cover Bariatric Surgery and my out of pocket expense is only 250.00. I can't pass that up. All the diets and exercising I've been doing just isn't enough. My health is ok, but I've been bucking the odds for too long and it's going to catch up to me eventually.

I attended a seminar about the surgery and spoken to my primary care doctor. He's all for me doing the surgery. If this works, so many issues that I have had will just go away. Back aches, snoring, odd pains with no explanations. Even some personal issues that I won't discuss on this blog will be improved by my losing the excess weight.

I'll be updating this blog with my results and thoughts about it as I go along

So here's my current checklist:
Attend seminar: check
Talk to insurance about benefits: check
Talk to primary care physician: check
EKG: check

OATHBREAKER AND PERNICIOUS CRITTER

2010-04-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

I'm disgusted. This congresscritter needs to be strung up and/or keelhauled.

http://parrotheadjeff.com/blog/archives/11297/honesty-from-a-congressman-he-doesnt-care-about-the-constitution/

Kudos for the Patriot Guard!

2010-03-31T18:45:00.000-07:00

If you don't know who the Patriot Guard are, they are a national organization of bikers and vets who provide funeral procession services at military funerals. They ride along with the procession and proudly display US flags in honor of the fallen. They set up in the cemetary proudly displaying the flag as the procession drives past in honor of the fallen soldier. They have also, in the past, acted as a buffer between the family and the idiots of the Westboro Baptist Church. (If you're interested in these whackadoos, google them yourself. I will not provide a link to them). The current unpleasantness between Mr. Snyder and the WBC has had a few of the Guard members step up to Mr. Snyder's defense and the following email found its way into my box (being an inactive member of the PG):

[The 4th Circuits reversal of the Trial Court case has been appealed to and accepted by the Supreme Court.

Since the Supreme Court has accepted hearing the appeal, it seems extremely
likely that the payment of the Atty Fees will be put on hold until
after that case is decided, although nothing has happened to this point.

There is a news report that Mr. Snyder has indicated that he will not pay
anything until the Supreme Court decides on the appeal, so there is probably
no need for fund raising at this time.

I believe that there was an inquiry on the national site, that may have
indicated a place to donate to Mr. Snyder, but that issue is under review by
the Moderators and probably the BOD.

If it gets to the point that Mr. Snyder truly needs outside financial
assistance, it seems likely that we would help publicise that fact when we
know it, although it may be through emails, rather than a campaign on the
national site.

Personally, I think there is a fairly good chance of Mr Snyder winning at
the Supreme Court, as they normally dont take cases for review, except in a
couple of cases, either there is a difference in rulings in different
Appeals Circuit Courts, or the case seems to have a high likelyhood of being
overturned....just my non-legal trained opinion.]

All I have to say is Kudos, fellas.

You're sh11t!ng me...

2010-03-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

I'm beyond flabbergasted. If the Code Duello were still in place, I'd be challenging Fred Phelps to pistols for two, coffee for one. Or beating him to within an inch of his life. I don't know which is more disgusting: Phelps, the Lawyers that went to court for him, or the court that somehow saw fit to make this ruling.

via Neptunus Lex by lex on 3/30/10

The father of a Marine slain in Iraq has been ordered to pay the court costs of the odious Phelps clan:

Lawyers for the father of a Marine who died in Iraq and whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters say a court has ordered him to pay the protesters’ appeal costs.

On Friday, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered that Albert Snyder of York, Pa., pay costs associated with Fred Phelps’ appeal. Phelps is the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, which conducted protests at the funeral of Snyder’s son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, in Westminster in 2006.

Lawyers for Snyder say the Court of Appeals has ordered him to pay $16,510.80 to Phelps for costs relating to the appeal, despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the Court of Appeals’ decision.

I guess he hadn’t given enough.]

My christmas list

2009-11-13T20:22:00.000-08:00

Some bloggers might go on and on about they don't want anything for Christmas, that they have enough or they have everything they could possibly want.

Bollocks.

I'm feeling like a kid again and I'm going to make my list for Santa Claus. GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!

http://www.incursiongame.com/products/package-1
What I really want from this site is the package deal that includes the boardgame and all of the miniatures that go with it. At the least I want just the boardgane, which is a limited run of 1000 copies.

http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/catalog/secrets_of_the_third_reich.php
So many things I want from this site. Any of the starter packs would be nice, as would the mecha vehicles. Some things I would pass on would be Liberty, Dr. Lazarus, and Blackjack as I already have those models.

http://www.brigadegames.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT
Two words: GIFT CERTIFICATE

http://www.artizandesigns.com/
Here's what I want from Artizan:
http://www.artizandesigns.com/prod.php?prod=1671
This is the Airborne Platoon army builder deal. Schweet!

Any of these items would make me happy. For a stocking stuffer, I would like a copy of the new Star Trek movie in either bluray or DVD formats.

Again, as I said, GIMME GIMME GIMME!

Happy holidays, all.

Asta.

This is how my job as a tech feels sometimes...

2009-11-13T11:18:00.000-08:00

It’s not my job to drive the train,

The whistle I can’t blow.

It’s not my job to say how far

The train’s allowed to go.

It’s not my job to blow the horn,

Nor even clang the bell.

But let the damn thing jump the track

And see who catches hell.

What is wrong with our world?

2009-11-05T22:32:00.001-08:00

Wow, 5 weeks without a blog...The entire month of October went by without a note from me.

Ah well.

The whole Fort Hood thing hits me in a personal history kind of thing. When I separated from the service, my final duty station was Fort Hood. I was in the 2nd Armor Division, "Hell on Wheels".

The doctors are saying there's no "Imminent Death" for the wounded shooter.

I wouldn't lay odds on that statement.

My tears and prayers go out for those at Fort Hood.

For the shooter, I have nothing but contempt. The men and women you hurt and killed will haunt you for the rest of your damned life. You violated your oath as a soldier and as a doctor.

For thy actions, I damn thee as an Oathbreaker. May thy soul be forsaken and imprisoned in ice up to thy rotten nose for thine traitorous actions.

Let the snarkiness begin!

2009-09-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

My lady and I had a little night out tonight. She works at the MGM Grand and got free tickets to the CSI experience and the Liza Minelli concert.

The good: The CSI experience was interesting, but overpriced in comparison. This exhibit allows you to pick from one of three crime scenes to examine. You also get to examine the various forensic evidence and at the end of it you pick out the most likely suspect based on your findings. You can get a free diploma emailed to you or you can get a really nice one printed out at the CSI store at the end of the exhibit. I say it's overpriced because this normally costs $30.00 per person and you get to do one crime scene. No thanks. Also, it's not that hard to figure out what happened because the evidence is spoon fed to you. This was pretty clearly designed for a person with average intelligence. If you're anything above average, this exhibit is little more than a pleasant diversion.

The bad: The concert. Oh my god, was this bad. I'm not and never have been a Liza fan. Just not my thing, but this was beyond bad. When Liza came out, there was a huge outpouring of applause. I suppose the fact that she can walk out under her own power is reason to applaud. I guess. Then she started to sing. The first thing I and my lady noticed was that the microphone was set much louder than the musicians. She was also dressed in a super glittery top and plain black slacks. My lady said, "She's awfully loud." That triggered my snark reflex and I quipped back, "Yeah, so's her singing." My lady grinned at that one. The next song started and Liza was offkey and just bad. Halfway through the song I started looking around. One of the other ladies at the table asked me what I was looking for and the snark replied, "The hidden cameras and Howie Mandel, this can't be real." My lady snickered at that one, but also said "You are so bad" which is her code for "You should stop before you offend someone." My snark response was, "Is this a bad karaoke bit or what? This is truly awful." When the third song started, Liza walked back to the piano, but dropped the microphone. That was the end of the concert for us, which is just as well, because anymore and I probably would have started channeling Simon Cowell (a judge on American Idol for those who may have been hiding under a rock or living in a monastery or convent for the last few years). We walked out at that point and headed for home.

The good and the bad added up to a night out with my lady and that made it all worth it. Any time we get to spend some quality time together is worth it to me. No matter how bad the entertainment may be, I have her by my side and that's more than enough for me.

Hobbit 419

2009-09-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Nodwick.com, I found this little bit about "what if The Hobbit had been a Nigerian Scam?":

Dear MR BAGGINS, Fellow Conspirator,

I am Thorin Oakenshield, descendant of Thrain the Old and grandson of Thror who was King under the Mountain. I am writing you to discuss our plans, our ways, means, policy and devices for rescuing our treasure from the dragon Smaug.

During the reign of Thror our kingdom was a prosperous one. Kings used to send for our smiths, and reward even the least skillful most richly. Fathers would beg us to take their sons as apprentices, and pay us handsomely, especially in food-supplies, which we never bothered to grow or find for ourselves. Altogether those were good days for us, and the poorest of us had money to spend and to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things just for the fun of it, not to speak of the most marvellous and magical toys, the like of which is not to be found in the world now-a-days.

Undoubtedly that was what brought the dragon. Dragons steal gold and jewels from men and elves and dwarves, wherever they can find them; and they guard their plunder as long as they live (which is practically for ever, unless they are killed), and never enjoy a brass ring of it. There was a most specially greedy, strong and wicked worm called Smaug. One day he flew up into the air and came south. The dragon settled on our mountain in a spout of flame and routed out all the halls, and lanes, and tunnels, alleys, cellars, mansions and passages. After there were no dwarves left alive inside the mountain he took all their wealth for himself.

In view of this, I received your contact through a friend and counselor, an ingenious wizard, who noted you as a Burglar who wants a good job, plenty of Excitement and reasonable Reward. And I and my twelve companions have agreed to give you 10% of the total gold and jewels that the dragon Smaug now rests upon if you can join us on our long journey. When you have agreed please tell us the place where you dwell and send one hundred pence so that we might travel to you.

Please hold what I have told you in strict confidence and I look forward to your earliest response.

THORIN OAKENSHIELD

You can see the original over at http://granades.com/2009/09/24/hobbit-419/

Enigma -Modern Crusaders Lyrics

2009-09-24T08:02:00.001-07:00

This is my first post in a while and I've been doing well getting my internal balance restored. I heard this song this morning and I find myself thinking that Enigma was almost Prophetic when they wrote this...

Dont look back
The time has come
All the pain turns into love

Were not submissive, were not aggressive
But they think we cant defend

Stand up, join us, modern crusaders alive
We have the power to face the future
Cause we are the fighters
Just fighting for our rights

Theyre accusing, like always without knowing
What is just fiction or what is the truth
They have no mission, they have no passion
But they dare to tell us whats bad and whats good!

Stand up, join us, modern crusaders alive
We have the power wholl face the future
Cause we are the fighters
Just fighting for our fights

Est affectus
Et defectus
Semper in angaria.

Quod per sortem
Sternit fortem,
Mecum omnes plangite!

Nunc obdurat
Et tunc curat
Ludo mentis aciem,
Egestatem,
Potestatem
(translation:
Drive on
And weighted down,
Always enslaved.

Since fate
Strikes down the strong man,
Everyone weep with me!

First oppresses
And then soothes
As fancy takes it;
Poverty,
Power )

Stand up, join us, modern crusaders alive
We have the power wholl face the future
Cause we are the fighters
Just fighting for our fights

Stepping away from the real

2009-09-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend made a comment last night that I had an unpleasant dark side rearing it's ugly head of late. I asked her to expand on her observation and she could only say that something had changed recently and my attitudes and ideas were very dark of late. In honesty, this was prompted when the News was talking about the "National Day of Service" fo r9/11 and I commented that we need to keep it a National Day of Mourning and that our symbol should not be the twin towers, but the images of people jumping to their deaths so we would not forget what happened. Admittedly, that imagery is very dark and dismal.

On further reflection, I have decided that as much as I am enjoying the real, I need to step away from the political examinations in the real for now as that is what is triggering this dark side of me. I'm going to retreat into the unreal for a while and let my nature balance back to the light.

I'm going to drop my political examinations and blogs for the nonce and find my way back to the light side that doesn't deal with the dark so much.

Asta

Jed is dead (WOLVERINES!)

2009-09-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

RIP, Patrick. You will be missed.

More

At least he had no illusions about his survivability and he kept on going.

My sympathies to his family, particularly his wife.

In pace requiescat

Take the red pill!

2009-09-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the real world.

A few months back, I started hanging out with my buddy, Jeff. Up until this time, I was a pretty heavy RPGer and MMORPGer (role playing gamer and massive multiplayer online role playing gamer). Basically, a lot of my free time was spent in the non-reality of these games. Well, this weekend I spent Saturday morning at a Tea Party rally, Saturday afternoon was at Bass Pro shops with a pistol on my hip, Saturday evening I took my lady to a nice dinner and Saturday night I was with Jeff at a dive bar called the double down saloon watching one of our favorite bands, Hogjaw. We got to meet the band, take some pictures with them and generally had a good time. we also saw some cute real girls, a cat fight, a bicycle gang and a few other things that you could only see in the real world. We saw some nice cars and motorcycles and had a good time in the real.

Games just can't measure up to the Real.

Asta!

I'm displeased...

2009-09-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

...with the response I got from one of my Senators, the Honorable (?) Harry Reid. I sent him the Animal Farm letter that I posted in an earlier post. I honestly wasn't expecting any sort of response, and I think that I would have preferred no response to this:

Dear Mr.*********:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate hearing from you, although I regret to learn of your disappointment with my work in the Senate.

As Nevada's senior senator and the Senate Majority Leader, it is my job to do what is in the best interest of our state and work on behalf of the people of Nevada. Please be assured that I take these responsibilities very seriously, and I will continue to do everything I can to make Nevada an even better place to live and raise a family.

I never forget where I came from or the people I serve. In my office, I keep a picture of the home in Searchlight where I grew up. Not a day passes without me reflecting on the values I learned there - integrity, dedication, and service. These Nevada values have shaped my work on behalf of our state throughout my career in public service. There are many pressing issues facing the Congress, and as my colleagues and I work in a bipartisan fashion to stabilize the housing and financial markets, stimulate the economy, and ensure our energy independence, I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind.

Nevada's working families deserve the implementation of policies that reward their hard work and provide opportunities for a more secure future. I remain committed to using my Senate leadership position to achieve these aims. Again, thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with me, and I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

My best wishes to you.

Sincerely,

HARRY REID

United States Senator

Nevada

I called the man to task for not doing his job as specified in the Constitution, and he sends a damn form letter that says how he's doing the things that I called him to task on!

When did the village idiots get control of the government?

OH. MY. GOD!

2009-09-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

I just read a bit in the archive over at OathKeepers that scared the living hell out of me. I'm not going to post a link to it or even post the name of the article for two reasons. One, it's locked for good reason. Two, the poster clearly doesn't get the concept behind the group. He was calling for the immediate public execution of every member of the current administration for Treason and Fraud against America.

The groups I belong to (OathKeepers and the 3 percenters) do not advocate violence to accomplish our aims. In the case of the 3 percenters, we would prefer a non-violent solution, but we will not give up our weapons without a fight. That is not actively advocating a violent solution, we are just acknowledging the fact that violent actions may ensue, and we are prepared to meet violence with violence. We hope and pray that we will not have to take hostile actions, particularly against those who by all rights should stand next to us.

If you advocate any actions of this nature, please don't comment on my blog or try to get involved with the OathKeepers or 3 percenters. Your beliefs do not coincide with ours and your radical ideas could actually damage our efforts. All it would take is for one news story linking you to these organizations for us to be viewed as dangerous radical groups.

I just found a new band! HOGJAW!!!

2009-09-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

The song is "Gitsum" and this is how I feel about our rights any more-Come on and get you some!

I just found a new toy!

2009-09-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

Beretta CX4 Storm 9MM Carbine

I want one of these bad boys. I think I'll have to start saving my pennies to get one.

Watch yerself, you flapjacks!

2009-09-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

I'll tell you the truth, after the Gladney incident, the old man getting his finger bitten off, and the other things the other side have been perpetrating, I can tell you that when I attend one of these protests the other side had better keep a good distance from me. Come after me with violent attitude and I will assume you intend harm to my person. Throw a punch and prepare to be taught a lesson in brutal close combat. Try to bite me and I guarantee you will be around when the cops show up because I will have either:

A) knocked your ass down and held you there by standing on your chest or back, or
B) crippled you and kept you from running, or
C) wounded you to the point where you will need surgery and blood to keep living.

I'll tell you right now, I have no qualms in using every nasty trick in my repertoire of close combat if the fight is outside of a ring and there is no referee in sight. I will use throat strikes, eye gouges, kidney punches, jointlocks and bone breaker strikes to protect myself.

Be advised, some of us are exceptionally well versed in the arts of hand to hand mayhem. Winning a fight ultimately comes down to one simple rule: who ever wants to hurt the other guy more usually wins. You might want to take that into account before you close the distance with us.

What the ....??? (WARNING: CLASS 2 BEVERAGE ALERT IN EFFECT)

2009-09-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

This one came from the HR director in my company, and I'm just going to post it as is, only edited to remove names.

Here's my "What the ....???" for the day:

We just got 2 complaints that there was a beer in the refrigerator here in the ** office...now aside from the fact that it's not my preferred brand of beer (truth be known, I don't like the stuff)...this is a reminder that...

ALCOHOL AND/OR ILLEGAL DRUGS ARE NOT PERMITTED ON *********** PREMISES!

Furthermore, it is also against company policy for employees to be intoxicated/inebriated while on company premises and/or while conducting business on behalf of ************.

The full policy, available on the intranet, is below. That being said, the "offender" was smart enough not to put his/her name on the bottle...SO...

To Whom It May Concern:

I have your beer. If you would like it back, and think I'll give it to you, come by my office.

****** * ********* | Director, Human Resources

I have to give props to the HR director, she posted this with a degree of humor that is often unseen in upper management types.

If you get an email titled, "Your friend raped me"...

2009-09-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

. . . it is a virus and a nasty one too. It can even appear to come from your own e-mail address -- mine did. Delete it immediately.

I think that the virus and spambot authors need to be dealt with the same way:
We unleash the hounds of hell
Chase them down whereever they live
Force them to their knees
Put a shotgun in their mouth like a big black cock of death and stroke the trigger.

Problem solved.

http://animal-farm.us/

2009-08-31T21:13:00.000-07:00

Animal Farm

If you have had enough of our senators and representatives disregard for the Constitution, I highly recommend you surf over to Animal Farm and start reading.

I'm doing my part to make this message viral. One of us can't do it alone, but together we can make an impact. Fax, email, and snail mail them. 3 faxes, 3 emails, 3 snail mails. That's all it takes. Make your voice heard.

Here's the letter to send to your representatives and senators to let them know that you have had enough and you are ready to stand against the corruption:

Dear [Senator or Representative] [your Senators or Representatives name],

“We the People” are tired of what is going on in Washington D.C. “We the People” would like to see you do your real job in Congress, and not make up jobs to keep yourselves busy and waste our tax money, not to mention making unconstitutional law.

Your job in Congress is established in the Constitution under Article 1, Section 8. There are only 18 items listed. Just in case you didn’t know, or have forgotten they will be listed at the end of this letter.

Where is it in the Constitution that Health Care, and Cap and Trade are mentioned? For that matter, where is Social Security, global-warming research, welfare, mass transit, food stamps, minimum wage, Medicaid, Medicare, and unemployment insurance?

You can point to “general welfare” in Article 1, Section 8, to account for your unlimited power you think you possess, but if you knew your history of the United States and the Constitution, you would know that “general welfare” did not mean the welfare of the people. Here is the 1828 edition of Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language, and how the word “welfare” was defined 40 years after it was written in the Constitution:

WEL´FARE, n. [well and fare, a good going; G. wohlfahrt; D. welvaard; Sw. valfart; Dan. velfærd.]
1. Exemption from misfortune, sickness, calamity or evil; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; prosperity; happiness; applied to persons.
2. Exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary blessings of society and civil government; applies to states.

Welfare did not have the meaning then as it does today. In the Constitution the word “welfare” is used in the context of states. The “welfare of the United States” does not mean the welfare of individuals, people, or citizens.

Here are a few words from our founding fathers on “general welfare” to set you straight:

“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one….” — James Madison

“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.” –Thomas Jefferson

“Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” — James Madison

“I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit.” — President Grover Cleveland

“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” — James Madison

It is important that you know your history as well as the Constitution.

Please abide by these rules set forth by our Constitution of these United States of America or face removal from office next election.

Your Constituent,
[Your name]

P. S.
Here is your list of powers authorized to you by the Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, and some more words from our founding fathers.

1. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

3. To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

4. To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

5. To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

6. To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

7. To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

8. To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

9. To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

10. To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

11. To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

12. To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

13. To provide and maintain a Navy;

14. To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

15. To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

16. To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

17. To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

18. To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Under the Tenth Amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

More words from our founding fathers:

“We still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping at the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised to furnish new pretenses for revenue and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without a tribute.” — Thomas Paine

“Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” — Ben Franklin

“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.” — James Madison

“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that ‘all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.’ To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power not longer susceptible of any definition. — Thomas Jefferson

“The greatest [calamity] which could befall [us would be] submission to a government of unlimited powers.” — Thomas Jefferson

“The powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction.” — James Madison

I have a problem with Fascists with badges

2009-08-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

I don't care what color you are, this is fascism. Officer Wesley Cheeks needs to be severely discplined for these actions and forced to study the Constitution. A protestor is not allowed to carry his sign because it has a picture on it? I'm not a farmboy, but I know bullshit when it so blatently displays itself. Officer Cheeks is more than likely an Obama supporter, so he is trying to use his badge to scare the protestor into putting the sign down.

My thanks to Jeff for posting this on his blog so I could see it. I'm fairly certain he knew I would rant on this subject. I went to war for this country to promote the ideals of freedom and democracy. I buried a couple of good friends who died promoting those ideals. I may not agree with what a protestor has to say, but I will defend their right to say it. The exception to that is military funerals. A protestor may have the right to say what they want, but not at a military funeral.

I'm going to be sending complaints to Officer Cheeks' superior officers. Here's a copy of Jeff's letter in case you would like to modify it for your use:

[After watching the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIKPKjl0-pg I felt compelled to complain about Officer Cheeks’ actions. Telling someone that this isn’t America anymore and that “I can charge you with whatever I want” is bad enough. Violating their civil rights by discriminating against their speech based on the content (this sign had a picture while others did not) is several orders of magnitude worse. My father served with the California Highway Patrol for over 30 years and he is also disgusted by Officer Cheeks’ conduct.

If I’m correct here, that would be deprivation of civil rights under color of law.

I would hope that you would take action to ensure that this never happens again.

Further, I would hope that you would issue a public apology or at least issue a statement that this is not official policy.

Thank you for your time and your attention.]

UPDATE FROM OATHKEEPERS:

If you would like to file a complaint, go here:

He is a security officer employed by the Fairfax County Public Schools.

You may go to
http://www.fcps.edu to contact the School’s Department of Communication and Community Outreach concerning this matter. They may also be reached by phone at 571-423-1200.

The head of the security department at Fairfax County Public Schools is Fred Ellis. His email is fred.ellis@fcps.edu and his phone number is 703-658-3763”

SECURITY OFFICER CHEEKS, YOU HAVE EARNED THE TITLE OF PERNICIOUS CRITTER!

Oh, HELL no!

2009-08-28T15:52:00.000-07:00

SENATE'S CYBERSECURITY PLAN

I read this and immediately thought, "Uh-uh, no way."

This cannot happen. The second we allow this to even come close to occurring, we might as well give up all of our rights.

I'll keep my guns, money, and freedom.

Obama, you can keep your "change".

If you read through this and think "this is a good thing" you might as well just give up your money, guns, and every other freedom. If Dubya had proposed something like this, everyone would have a hissy fit. I think I need to call my congresscritters and senatecritters and let them know that I expect them to vote AGAINST this proposal.

We have slowly allowed the idiots in office to gradually vote away our rights. I think it maybe time for the second american revolution to take place.

Treasonous thoughts? Maybe, but this country was founded by traitors. We have sacrificed far too many American lives for the ideals of freedom and democracy to let these lying, two-faced, fork-tongued scumfucks take anything else away from us.

ANY POLITICIAN WHO AGREED TO THIS, this officially earns you the label of "PERNICIOUS CRITTER".

Asta.

2009-08-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

I don't want to steal anyone's thunder, so I'm just going to post a link to Jeff's blog so ya'll can read up on our shooting trip from saturday:

http://parrotheadjeff.com/blog/archives/6076/pictures-a-day-22-august-2009/

Meditations on punishment and the death panalty

2009-08-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

After reading some of my posts, the average reader might come to the conclusion that I am a right-wing conservative republican.

You would be wrong. At best, I'm apolitical. I vote my conscience. Basically, who I think will do the least amount of damage to the country. I served in the Army for 3 years and I can still hit my targets center mass after 20 years. On an exceptionally good day I can head shot with the best of them.

I believe that people have the right to defend themselves against unwanted acts of aggression. I'm a huge believer in the "Blood out, air in" method of criminal control. Saves us the time and trouble of trying and convicting the critter.

I not only support the death penalty, I think it should be escalated. No waiting on death row for fourteen years while your lawyer keeps appealing. You get one appeal and that's it. If the appeal fails, the guard walks in to your cell and says, "Sorry, your appeal was denied." and then draws his gun and pulls the trigger. One shot between the eyes. Quick and done with, clean up and move on. No doctors, chemicals, or straps to hold them down. One shot and done.

Isn't life in prison supposed to mean LIFE in prison?

2009-08-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

I saw the news stories about the Pan Am 103 flight bomber being let out of a Scottish prison to return to Libya because he's dying of cancer. My reaction was akin to a dog being shown a card trick. The whole purpose of life in prison is that you stay in prison until you die. There's no getting out because you have been diagnosed with some dreadful illness.

I'm sure that some PC liberalcritter thought something along the lines of, "He's dying anyway, let's let him return to Libya and die with his family." More "feelgood" BS from the PC/Feelgood camps of the last 20 years.

I say he lost any rights to sympathy when he denied his victims to have the chance to say goodbye to their families and loved ones. If I had the opportunity, I would center punch his shrivelled heart through his golmonging spine. As it is, I hope this cancer metastasizes rapidly and he dies in horrible lingering pain as his various organs fail

I have one thing to say to the liberalcritters who set him free: How dare you? To paraphrase the late Bill Hicks, you are suckers of satan's cock, you are whores at the liberal gangbang. Not one of you lost a family member to this critter's bomb, or you NEVER would have let him free.

I hope he dies quickly so he can meet his maker and pick up his one way ticket to Hell.

You could hear a pin drop...

2009-08-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

This has been around but I don't care - I still love it

from GunRights4US by GunRights4US

NO APOLOGIES ACCEPTED

At a time when our president and other politicians tend to apologize for our country`s prior actions, here`s a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative comments about our country.

These are good

JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when DeGaule decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaule said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible.

Rusk responded "does that include those who are buried here?

DeGuale did not respond.

You could have heard a pin drop

When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush.>

Heanswered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?

You could have heard a pin drop.

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied, 'Maybe it's because the Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.

You could have heard a pin drop.

AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.

"You have been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked
sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.
"Then you should know enough to have your passport ready."

The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it." "Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France !"

The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, Son, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to."

You could have heard a pin drop.

Robin Williams - Secretary of State

2009-08-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

I love Robin Williams......Even if he is nuts! This is the best idea anyone has come up with yet. Robin Williams for Secretary of State!

Robin Williams' plan...
(Hard to argue with this logic!)

'I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan.'

1) 'The US will apologize to the world for our 'interference' in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those 'good 'ole' boys', we will never 'interfere' again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany , South Korea , the Middle East, and the Philippines . They don't want us there.. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!! France will welcome them.

4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5) No foreign 'students' over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a 'D' and it's back home baby.

6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while...

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not 'interfere.' They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us 'Ugly Americans' any longer.

11) The Language we speak is ENGLISH learn it...or LEAVE...

Now, isn't that a winner of a plan?

'The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.'She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling,'you want a piece of me?'

I want Ted Nugent as President and Robin Williams as Secretary of State...

Warning: facepalm provoking story

2009-08-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

You have got to be kidding me! Read the following story, but be advised, you might feel the need for a facepalm: WOMEN police officers are being issued with head scarves – to improve relations with Muslim communities.

The whole of Western Society has got to stop this "Politically Correct" garbage we seem to worship now. I'm sick of being told "You can't do this, it might offend someone." "Watch what you're saying, you might offend someone."

What the hell happened to our balls? I'm tired of the liberalistic "we have to protect everyone's feelings." BS that has become so rampant in Western Society. I remember growing up and always being picked last for sports teams in school. No one stepped up and said, "You have to be careful, you might hurt his feelings by picking him last." Hell, I had a substitute teacher in the 5th grade tell me to get my fat ass down when we were doing push ups. Of course, my parents had a field day with the prinicpal when they found out about that one.

I play games with my daughter, but I've taught her that if she wants to win, she has to fight for it and earn that win. I'm not going to give it to her. And I also make her do her homework. I won't do it for her. When she does well on a test or completes her homework without help, she has earned that accomplishment instead of it being given to her. Let's drop the liberalistic feel-good crap and PC BS and make our kids work for success, instead of letting them think it is something that is owed to them.

Let's drop being Politically Correct and instead lets be Polite and Courteous. Let's teach our kids to be polite and courteous and maybe we can get our society back to where it should be. Don't pass a kid on if they can't do the work. Let's hold them back. It worked when I was in school, there's no reason it won't work now.

Urgh - back aches

2009-08-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

I have a bit of an issue with back problems. My dad and I both have issues if we stand or walk on concrete floors for too long, but I also have a constant ongoing issue from my injury in Desert Storm. Without going into a long, drawn-out story, let's just say that I'm lucky to be able to walk. Now for the most part, I don't have any issues. If I sleep wrong, I can be guaranteed at least a day of misery. Well, Monday night I must have slept wrong because I woke up Tuesday morning with aches right at the small of my back. Not pleasant. My lady and I got up and went for a walk. I was hoping that a little exercise would work out the kinks in my back, but no dice. I got home and took a hot shower, hoping that would relax the muscles in my back. Still nothing. Finally at 7 AM I bit the bullet and called in to to the manager on duty to notify them that I would not be in to work. I took a pain killer and a muscle relaxer and zoned for the rest of the day.

Got up this morning and my back was still hurting. Went for my walk and everything else. Still in pain. I got myself dressed and went to work. I figured that the pain will go away when it's good and ready to do so. Maybe a swim after work will help.

Urgh.

Asta!

Ted Nugent - Preacher for my kind of thinking

2009-08-04T07:17:00.001-07:00

Tell it brother Ted!

Ted Nugent for President!

Parrothead Jeff and Apocalyptic ideas

2009-08-03T21:42:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned Jeff in my previous blog, but I think I should expand on him a bit. Jeff is an avowed weapons aficionado, a top line technician, and a good man. We don't always see eye to eye, but it's ok for friends to disagree on topics. It makes conversations more interesting when you get more than one viewpoint on a subject. Now honestly, anytime he starts a conversation with "I've been thinking again...", I immediately start thinking "Now what's going through that fuzzy brain of his?". Early on, every idea got qualified as "Apocalyptic". That's my code to Jeff to say, "You should not be allowed to do this at any time, any place, for any reason." Lately, I've noticed that fewer of his ideas qualify as "Apocalyptic". I'm not sure if that's because the ideas are any less apocalyptic or I'm just more used to the ideas he has come up with. I suppose I should be relieved that I'm never the proposed target for any of these ideas...that's usually reserved for our boss. Not that I believe he would ever actually do these things. For him, these ideas are just a way of letting off steam and having someone to share them with gets it out of his system. He's also a good photographer, and the pictures on his blog are proof of that.

I also know that when the Zombie Apocalypse hits, I want him on my team. If you want to know more about the Zombie Apocalypse, read the Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z, both by Max Brooks.

Here's a link to his Blog: http://parrotheadjeff.com/blog/

Asta!

Gravity Storms?

2009-08-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

I overheard my co-worker Jeff make a reference to "Gravity Storms" when he was talking to a customer today. To say the least I was intrigued. He saw the look on my face and started laughing. Apparently my "intrigued" look looks like "WTF?" to Jeff. He went on to explain how on nights when he had been drinking too much, a street lamp helped protect him from the random gravity storms that would hit unexpectedly and pull him down to the ground until the storm passed. My "intrigued" look was replaced by my "Ah" look as understanding took over.

It occurred to me that Gravity Storms can strike anytime and anywhere. And it is not limited to just pulling you down to the ground (although that is the most common type of gravity storm). Some Gravity Storms have been known to focus on buildings or trees, and the storm is so strong that it pulls otherwise normal people right into the point of focus. Oddly enough, the storms rarely strike when one is sober and alert. Typically, the storms only occur when the individual is extremely tired or less than sober. And the GS is so strong that it can even override the power of a motor vehicle.

Gravity Storms...be afraid....

Asta!

Meditations on 611

2009-07-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, everybody knows about 411 and 911. Those are information and emergency services, respectively. 611 is for repair services. Now back in the days of Ma Bell, you could call this number from anywhere to report a problem anywhere. After the breakup of ma bell and the advent of competing carriers, this is no longer the case. If your office line is provided by the same company as your home line, you can dial 611 to report it. If it isn't, however, you just wasted a call. Always call the support number provided by your carrier that is shown on your bill, then you can't go wrong. Also make sure you have the following information for the technician:

Your name
Account number
The phone number you are calling about
The address where the phone number is located

The more accurate information you can provide the technician, the faster they will be able to help you and the sooner the problem will be resolved.

Also, please don't waste time calling 611 from a payphone. Most of the time, the service provider this will connect you to is not the owner of the phone and it's like trying to teach a pig to sing: It frustrates you and annoys the pig.

Asta!

There are times when duelling should not only be allowed, but mandatory.

2009-07-30T15:57:00.000-07:00

This is not my writing, but I can't let this particular story drift into the night...

Thanks to LAWDOG for the original blog.

"In May of 2008, during floor debate in the Massachusetts on a bill to set mandatory minimum sentences for various offenses against children, Massachusetts State Representative James Fagan had what some might call an interesting take on the subject.

Representative Fagan is not only a member of the Democratic Party, but he is also a defence lawyer by trade. As such, it would seem that he apparently gets to defend those who prey upon children. So, one would tend to believe that Mr. Fagan would tend to not relish the passage of such a law.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Fagan is a critter. He has earned this appellation, not merely because he is a politician, nor because he is a Democrat. Not even the fact that he is a defence attorney merits this title.

No, what earned that sumbitch the title of critter were his remarks made during debate on this bill.

Allow me to quote from the linked video:

"I'm gonna rip them apart. I'm going to make sure that the rest of their life is ruined, that when they’re 8 years old, they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep; when they’re 19 years old, they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody.”

Lest anyone be in doubt, allow me to assure you that the people that Fagan is talking about are -- and he specifically says this -- six year old victims of abuse.

Not the molesters. Not the abusers. He means the victims. He means the children.

I understand the Constitutional right to a fair trial, and I understand the Constitutional right to legal representation -- however I fail to see a Constitutional mandate for the deliberate, intentional, knowing and vicious destruction of a victim.

If a defence attorney cannot adequately defend an accused party without -- and I quote: "Making sure the rest of [the victim's] life is ruined" unquote -- then I put it before you that that defence attorney is incompetent.

Defending is one thing. "I'm gonna make sure that the rest of their life is ruined" is something completely different.

"Making sure" that an innocent life "is ruined" is not justice. "Making sure" that a victim throws up years later isn't justice. It is the action of a critter.

Contact information for Congresscritter James Fagan.

Do note, for further amusement, that this critter apparently chairs the Massachusetts House Committee on Ethics.

How about it, Massachusetts? Intentionally and knowingly ripping apart the six-year-old victim of molestation sound ethical to you?

Intentionally and knowingly ruining the rest of that six-year-old victim's life sound ethical to you?

Intentionally and knowingly making sure that that six-year-old victim never has a relationship with anybody sound ethical to you?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Oh, and wee Jimmy Fagan? Horsewhipping around the courthouse square is too good for you."

By my standards, I'd like to re-enact the scene in the recent Bond flick "Casino Royale" where he's tied naked to a chair with his wedding tackle hanging down, only instead of using the knotted rope, I'd want to use a sjambok. I'd turn Jimmy's wedding tackle into a fine paste. To quote Shakespeare: "[Thou art] a most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality."

-Taken from: All's Well That Ends Well

Jimmy, you have earned the title of "Pernicious Critter"

What is a "Honyock"?

2009-07-29T09:29:00.001-07:00

My lady asked me this, and it occurred to me that I don't really know what it means. I've heard my dad use the phrase, and Lawdog uses it, but I don't know what it really means. I did a search for the word and found this in wikipedia (gotta love the wiki):

Etymology

The word first appeared in print in the late 19th century, often applied to people who were unwelcome among their family, friends and/or community. A common theory of the origin of this word is the merger of the first syllable of the word Hungarian and the last syllable of the ethnic slur Polack. However, a more likely origin is the Hungarian adjective hanyag, which has a variety of negative meanings including careless, sloppy, slothful, and slow.

[edit] Alternative spellings

hunyack

[edit] Noun

Singular
honyock

Plural
honyocks

honyock (plural honyocks)

(US, slang, derogatory) An immigrant to the United States from east-central Europe.
(US, slang, derogatory) A rube or simpleton.
(US, slang) A hardscrabble farm (this usage known in parts of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alberta and Saskatchewan)

Careless, sloppy, slothful, and slow...sounds like the caller I dealt with in my previous post, so my use of the descriptive was correct.

Given that my brain is wired for language, I find information like this very interesting. It's fascinating to find out where certain words and phrases originated. I suspect Lawdog's brain is wired in much the same way.

More to love - new show

2009-07-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

I normally don't care for the "dating" shows, but I like the premise of this show. Plus sized man and plus sized women, He's looking for the one woman that will give him the spark of passion, the women are all looking for the one guy that will love them for them, and their size shouldn't matter.

My lady and I are both plus sized people, so we can really sympathize with this show. I really hate the fact that if you are plus sized, you can't get a lot of fashionable clothes without dropping a small fortune on your wardrobe. Worse, as big as we are, I get the feeling that people choose to ignore us and hence, just don't see us. I can't tell you how many times people have walked into me or nearly walked into me because they DIDN'T SEE ME! At least, that's what they always say, "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

How the hell did you not see me? I'm six feet tall and weigh nearly 400 lbs. Are you blind or stupid? I see the people around me so I don't hurt someone by walking into or over them.

Or, I've had fights in the past where I knew it was because some skinny little critter decided he needed to boost his macho by taking down someone bigger than he was. Dosen't work with me, flapjack. You might be faster, but once I get my hands on you, the fight is over. And what's more, I can take a hell of a beating before I drop. One good hit with my hammer punch or my stomp kick and I guarantee you won't be wanting to fight any more. God help you if I'm really pissed off, because then I'll be going for eye and throat strikes. Again, this takes the piss out of most machos when they realize their sight and/or life are on the line.

I've digressed from the basis of this topic, but that's ok. I view the blogs as a very stream-of-consciousness art form, and it will flow with that idea.

I hope that this show will wake America up to realize that judging someone by their size is just as narrow minded as judging by skin color or religion.

Are you [BLEEP]ing kidding me???

2009-07-28T13:56:00.001-07:00

Sometimes, being a customer support technician really sucks. Occasionally, the customer is polite, courteous, and helpful. Sometimes they are just off the wall nucking futs. And sometimes, they are actively hostile and abusive. Those are usually the worst. Today, however, I had a blast of what I call "unholy glee" when dealing with one of these individuals. Here's how the discussion went:

TS: "Thank you for calling Tech Support, how can I help you?"

IC(INCOMING CALL): "We're having problems with our email and you need to fix it right now!"

[I gather contact info and account info to open the ticket and then continue]

TS: "What problem are you having sir?"

IC: "We aren't receiving emails at all. I have forwards to my att account in place and I haven't seen any emails in days. You people have to fix this right now, you're costing me thousands of dollars every minute!"

[Aside: Why do they always say that this is costing them THOUSANDS of dollars a minute? Do they think it makes us work any faster?]

TS: "Can you confirm the email server settings you are using?"

IC (sighs): We're using the same servers we've been using for the last 3 years, since we switched over to you people! God, don't you people know anything? I should switch over to ATT..."

TS (facepalms): "Sir, I need you to confirm the settings."

IC: "I'm using pop.********.net and smtp.********.net!"

TS: "Sir, those servers were decommissioned back in october. The forwards for those servers are gone now. You need to be using pop.********.net and smtp.********.net."

IC: "Why didn't anybody tell us this was going to happen?"

TS: "EMails and letters were sent from August to October of last year notifying of the change, sir. What is your domain name for email?"

[Gentle readers, please note that I don't take anything he has said personally, I just suck it up and move on]

IC: "********.com! Now fix my email before I hang up and call back to talk to your supervisor!"

[I run the domain name through the domain dossier tool at centralops.net. only to find that this domain expired 12 days ago. An evil grin spreads across my face]

TS: "Sir, this domain expired 12 days ago. You won't get any email until the domain is restored."

IC: "So restore it already! God, what am I paying you idiots for?"

TS: "We don't handle any domain registration, sir. You have to contact your registrar, who is ******, and discuss getting the registration renewed."

[long pause]

TS: "Sir, is there anything ELSE I can assist you with today?"

IC (sounding like he's just been embarassed all to aitch-e-double toothpicks) : "uh, no, thank you very much."

[CLICK]

I'm now in full-on unholy glee mode. I know I won't quit smiling for at least an hour now. I finish noting the ticket and save it so I have proof that the customer's problem is not our issue.

What a honyock.

Professor Gates is a Pernicious Critter

2009-07-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

I've been debating starting a blog for different things for a while now, and between Lawdog and the current news, I felt compelled to start mine. I pulled the phrase Pernicious off of Vermicious from Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, where they refer to a certain type of monster (the Vermicious Knids (pronounced K-nid, the K is not silent), and Critter, for one of my favorite Bloggers, Lawdog. When Lawdog refers to a critter, this is a reference to an individual who has been, shall we say, less than abiding when it comes to the law. I looked up the definition of pernicious, and found the following:

Main Entry:: per·ni·cious
Pronunciation:: \pər-ˈni-shəs\
Function:: adjective
Etymology:: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin perniciosus, from pernicies destruction, from per- + nec-, nex violent death — more at noxious
Date:: 15th century

1: highly injurious or destructive : deadly
2 archaic : wicked

After listening to Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley's stories, I've come to the conclusion that the professor is a Pernicious Critter. He may have been breaking into his own house, but if he had simply cooperated with Sgt. Crowley, he probably would not have been arrested. Sgt. Crowley did what he was expected to do in this situation. Professor Gates then having the gall to play the race card is simply wicked and thus, pernicious.

I applaud Sergeant Crowley for doing his duty and his department for rallying behind him.

President Obama should be ashamed for his comments. It doesn't qualify him as a Pernicious Critter as yet, but it's very close to perniciousness. Shame on you, Mr. President. You need to retract that comment and apologize profusely to Sgt. Crowley, the Cambridge Police Department, and the American Publc.

[EDIT: President Obama has since retracted his statement and personally apologized to the officer. He also invited both men to the White House to have a beer and talk things out like civilized men. Kudos to President Obama for being man enough to admit to being wrong. I'm of the opinion that we might actually have a President who deserves to be President.]