Heroes

Watching the Glenn Beck "Heroes and Stories" special on Fox. Great program so far and I highly recommend it. If you miss it, I am sure you can catch it on the Fox News site tomorrow.

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Washington State Ban on Semi-Auto Firearms

I have been wondering when the yahoos would start using the actions of a few criminals to punish the rest of us.

The legislation, called the Aaron Sullivan Public Safety and Police Protection Bill, would prohibit the sale of such weapons to private citizens and require current owners to pass background checks.

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More...The ban would cover semiautomatics designed for military use that are capable of rapid-fire and can hold more than 10 rounds. Semiautomatics designed for sporting or hunting purposes wouldn't be banned.

Rapid fire...more than 10 rounds.....

To be introduced in the legislative session starting in January. Like they don't have anything else to think about....

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2 Years

Two years ago today I was heading to the hospital to have my right kidney removed using the laparoscopic surgery procedure. Earlier in the fall I was told I had Renal Cell Carcinoma – kidney cancer – and that it had to come out.

My surgical doctor had performed over 700 kidney transplants so I was very comfortable with his skill level. Plus, he had small hands as opposed to my urologist who has hands the size of baseball mitts! Of course, no hands were inside me – just some little Swiss Army micro tools!

Recovery was surprisingly easy – surgery was on a Friday and I was home on Sunday. My guy felt like I had been kicked by a ticked-off Clydesdale, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. My friends and family were there for me with lots of love, food and support and I will forever be grateful.

So, it has been two years and lots of scans and poking and prodding has taken place between then and now. There was a little scare a year or so ago with something that showed up on a scan of my brain, but it ended up being a glitch. We will continue monitoring my kidney performance and getting a scan of one kind or the other every 6 months for a couple more years but I feel extremely fortunate.

I am a bona fide believer in antioxidants, Mangosteen juice, positive thinking and prayer.

It is easy for me to get bogged down in the mundane day-to-day crap and forget how lucky I am. I sometimes forget that if it wasn’t for providence, some luck and some good doctors, I may not be here.

I try to enjoy every second of every day and sometimes I reckon folks might question why I don’t get upset or worked up about one thing or the other. The fact of the matter is that I spent a few weeks back in 2007 thinking I had Lymphoma and that my ticket was going to get punched at any moment – I spent lots of time thinking about how I was going to box up my stuff and who was going to get what – it kind of put things in perspective as you can imagine! The doctors were unsure as to what was going on with me until additional blood tests and a scan indicated the kidney cancer.

2010 is going to be a great year for me and I hope it is for you too. Life is short and it is important to me that no matter how long I am around, that I leave some kind of legacy for my loved ones and that I do something important – not front cover Time magazine important, but things that are important to my mom and dad, my brother and grandfather, to my girlfriend Brigid and her daughter Louisa.

This two year anniversary has provided me with another kick in the ass and another reminder that I am one of the luckiest SOB’s you will ever meet and that I need to quit wasting time and get busy. It is easy to forget the blessings in your life and to take things for granted.

Enough rambling from me, time to send this off and get busy.

Take care

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Vernon J. Baker - American Bad Ass

Tomorrow is Vernon J. Baker Day in Idaho in honor of the last living African American Medal of Honor awardee. Mr. Baker celebrates his 90^th birthday on Thursday and we should all give thanks to him for what he did for his country. Another amazing story of honor, dedication and selflessness. Mr. Baker is also the last living member of the Buffalo Soldiers – the first all-black unit to see combat in WW II.

Here is his MOH Citation via Wikipedia:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty in action on 5 and 6 April 1945, Lieutenant Baker advanced at the head of his weapons platoon, along with Company C’s three rifle platoons, toward their objective; Castle Aghinolfi—a German mountain strong point on the high ground just east of the coastal highway and about two miles from the 370th Infantry Regiment’s line of departure.

Moving more rapidly than the rest of the company, Lieutenant Baker and about 25 men reached the south side of a draw some 250 yards from the castle within two hours. In reconnoitering for a suitable position to set up a machine gun, Lieutenant Baker observed two cylindrical objects pointing out of a slit in a mount at the edge of a hill. Crawling up and under the opening, he stuck his M-1 into the slit and emptied the clip, killing the observation post’s two occupants. Moving to another position in the same area, Lieutenant Baker stumbled upon a well-camouflaged machine gun nest, the crew of which was eating breakfast. He shot and killed both enemy soldiers.

After Captain John F. Runyon, Company C’s Commander, joined the group, a German soldier appeared from the draw and hurled a grenade which failed to explode. Lieutenant Baker shot the enemy soldier twice as he tried to flee. Lieutenant Baker then went down into the draw alone. There he blasted open the concealed entrance to another dugout with a hand grenade, shot one German soldier who emerged after the explosion, tossed another grenade into the dugout and entered firing his submachine gun, killing two more Germans. As Lieutenant Baker climbed back out of the draw, enemy machine gun and mortar fire began to inflict heavy casualties among the group of 25 soldiers, killing or wounding about two-thirds of them.

When expected reinforcements did not arrive, Capt. Runyon ordered a withdrawal in two groups. Lieutenant Baker volunteered to cover the withdrawal of the first group, which consisted of mostly walking wounded, and to remain to assist in the evacuation of the more seriously wounded. During the second group’s withdrawal, Lieutenant Baker, supported by covering fire from one of his platoon members, destroyed two machine gun positions (previously bypassed during the assault) with hand grenades. In all, Lieutenant Baker accounted for nine dead enemy soldiers, elimination of three machine gun positions, an observation post, and a dugout. On the following night, Lieutenant Baker voluntarily led a battalion advance through enemy mine fields and heavy fire toward the division objective. Lieutenant Baker’s fighting spirit and daring leadership were an inspiration to his men and exemplify the highest traditions of the military service.

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Arguing

Great article on PC World today on The Web’s Most Illogical Arguments.  The article focuses on tech arguments - rational thought versus “bogus blather” and the logic that separates the two.

 

This is good information to keep in mind when you are discussing firearms, politics, sports, cars, trucks, etc. etc. etc.  Lots of great examples from the tech world covering the ten most common logical fallacies such as Ad Hominem attacks, the Genetic Fallacy, Hasty Generalization, etc.

 

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Update

Dang, lots of stuff going on and I have let the blog sit idle for too long.

 

First off, I had my regular 6 month CT Scan a couple of weeks ago and everything came back fine.   The week or two leading up to it is always stressful but once it is done and the results come in from the radiologist, it is always a huge relief.

 

Thanksgiving was great – we had a great dinner with all the usual stuff but this year we tried mashed sweet potatoes and they were fantastic.  We made too much food but the extra turkey will be used for chili, soup, sandwiches etc.

 

We did the Seattle Jingle Bell Run/Walk yesterday morning.  Had to get up at 5 to be on the road at 6 and we made it there with plenty of time to enjoy a good coffee and soak up some of the Christmas spirit from the 12,000 or so other folks there for the event.  It is a fundraiser for the Arthritis Foundation and downtown Seattle is pretty much closed off for the event.  We spent some time at Pike’s Place Market afterwards and did a little Christmas shopping before heading home.

 

Ok, that is a quick update for now.  I hope you and yours are safe and warm out there!

 

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Thanksgiving

I have a lot to be thankful for this year and I wouldn't even know where to start!

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving out there with friends, family and loved ones.

My thoughts are with the men and women who fight to keep us safe. Thank you.


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Visit

Just wrapped up a visit from my mom. She came out and spent a few days with my bro and me and we had a great time, but unlike all the previous visits, she experienced real Washington weather this time! Cold, rain, wind - it's gonna be like this for another 4 or 5 months now!

We all keep in touch via email and the phone but it was good to have her out here in person to spend some time with us. As a bonus, it was her birthday and we worked up a big crockpot of pork chops and the gals whipped up some awesome birthday cupcakes.

Back to work for me tomorrow - I am dreading the giant pile of tasks and things to do when I get there. Ugh.

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Happy Birthday Marines!

Ooorah!


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Geek Dream

Via SciFi Wire via Diary of a Mad IT Manager comes a geek's dream...

Carrie Fisher and her stunt double (Princess Leia x 2) catching some rays during the shooting of Return of the Jedi...



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2010

Who is going to run against Murray in 2010?

Need to start setting aside some $ to donate to any potential contender.

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Fort Hood

What she said - Tam: Safe at Home

And what he said - Lyle, not Joe Huffman @ The View From North Central Idaho (Sorry about that Lyle).


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V

I watched the new "V" last night on ABC and enjoyed it. Couple of actors from "Firefly" and an actor from "Lost" - they were aiming directly at my demographic - it was well made and not as cheesy as the original.

Big news about the show was the 'universal health care' provided by the Visitors and the Visitor worship - seemed to aim directly at Obama and his minions.

Well, today comes news that the producer has been replaced and one of the writers has left - do you think they hit a little too close to home and someone from the WH made a phone call? Lots of folks thinking along the same lines in the comments of the linked article.

Interesting times we live in....

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Life IS Good!

Yup, I had a birthday on Monday. Turned 44, or as I like to think of it, 44 MAGNUM!

Had a great day the gals made me dinner and surprised me with home-made sugar-free mint cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I am a lucky man!


Got to open a few gifts after dinner and cupcakes and I wanted to show off a couple of them. New sweatshirt from Mom with the great 'Life is Good' logo and resting on top of that is my new Simply Rugged holster and pouch full of two of my favorite hog legs. One holster, two 1911's - decisions, decisions... guess I will have to rotate the hardware every now and then or better yet, just get another Simply Rugged rig!


Yes, life is really good!

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Soup

Made a HUGE batch of turkey vegetable soup last night and I am looking forward to having another bowl for lunch here in a few minutes! It was great with some sweet potato bread with pecans...MMMMM!

Typical fall day out here - cool, rainy and the year is covered in leaves. Reckon I will put on my slicker later and go out and do a little raking.

BIG weekend for the little gal - she starts her first YMCA swimming lesson tomorrow AM. I remember very clearly going through their program - starting off as a polliwog and working your way up the hierarchy. Lots of good memories from the Y behind my grandma's place.

Ok, time for some soup! Hope everyone is healthy and happy out there!

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Stimulating, like a Cold Shower

Washingtonians can sleep easy tonight. The $2.117,954,423.00 in stimulus money handed out to recipients in Washington state has “created or saved” 2909.25 jobs which works out to over $728,000 per job. Awesome!

Source: Recovery.gov site

I am guessing that their data is incorrect or maybe, and even worse, it is correct and if so, we are totally screwed. For example, a company called Pacific Mobile Structures, Inc., south of Chehalis got $1,221,918 government bucks and “created or saved” 0 (zero) jobs. A bunch called Earthcorps just west of Ashford out in the sticks got $37,000 and indicate that they “created or saved” 20 jobs – that is more like it.

Even better yet, it appears that $6,449,786,887 bucks have been handed out according to the Agency Reported doo-dad – what happened to the other $4.2 billion?

As someone more famous than me says “We are in the very best of hands”

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Great post on cleaning historic firearms ...

...over at the Cheaper Than Dirt blog.

I used to rub linseed oil into the stocks of my guns.....yikes.

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Like this surprised anyone...

(This is supposed to be a picture of Olympia Snowe looking all serious and concerned and important..)

Wow, she broke with the party….

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Victor David Hanson is a smart man

Reading Instapundit this morning, I followed a link to a great VDH post over at Pajamas Media on Obama and the Olympics but more importantly, he finishes the post with a random list of 10 things we need to really think about and consider during the next election cycle that focus on "fundamental matters of finance, investment, and defense."

For my reference, I am going to post the whole list of 10 here and I encourage you to go read the whole thing:

We Should Vote for Anyone . . .

Who offers a coherent systematic agenda of reform. What do most want? Not necessarily a Republican or Democrat, or at this 11^th hour to be mired in messy issues like gay marriage (I’m opposed to it), but rather fundamental matters of finance, investment, and defense. Here are ten random suggestions; dozens more could be adduced.

1) Fiscal sanity that leads to federal spending freezes and a balanced budget that in turn soon allows a paying down of the debt.

2) An oil/nuclear/coal/natural gas rapid development effort (again, to exploit especially new fields in Alaska, California, the Gulf, and North Dakota) to tide us over until alternate energy and new conservation lessen dependence. The alternative is to dream on about “green jobs” while we go broke trying to pay for scarcer imported oil, and lose our autonomy in the next price hike or Mideast crisis, even as we suffer amoral rants from oil-rich unhinged thugs like Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Gaddafi, and Putin.

3) A new national consensus on security to decide that when and if we go to war, to see the effort through, on the principle that whatever the mistakes we commit in battle are far outweighed by the cost of defeat.

4) A bad/worse choice gut check reform on entitlements, especially concerning those unsustainable like Social Security and Medicare, that calibrates payouts in terms of incoming capital—whether by raising age eligibilities or curbing automatic cost of living hikes.

5) Clear, demarcated, and enforced national borders, and an end to illegal immigration through greater enforcement, employer sanction, border fortification, and a change in national attitudes about unlawful entry.

6) Zero tolerance on government corruption. There is no reason why someone like a Charles Rangel is still the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

7) Tort reform, including limits on personal injury settlements and loser-pays law suit reform.

8) A renewed commitment to national and regional missile defense, on the expectation that the next two decades are going to be terribly dangerous, as lunatic regimes may well threaten to hold an American city or ally as nuclear hostage.

9) Federal investment in hard infrastructure projects, not redistributive entitlements or Murtha-like earmarks, such as freeways, dams, water projects, electrical grids, ports, rail, etc., with regional needs adjudicated by national bipartisan boards.

10) A move to lower taxes, preferably by alternatives to the present income tax system, whether by a consumption tax or flat taxes, calibrated to commensurate spending cuts.

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AK

Good info on buying your first AK from the Cheaper Than Dirt blog.

VIA The Survivalist Blog

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Suppressed Scouts

Wow, what an awesome opportunity for these Boy Scouts!!

Vis SayUncle: Boy Scouts shooting suppressed weapons with AAC

HUGE kudos to Advanced Armament Corp - wish I could throw some business your way! I will have to settle for buying some hats and shirts.


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Devil Dog Brew

Looks like Christmas shopping for my dad has been taken care of!

Hank Salmans has always loved coffee. He loves it so much, in fact, that as a Marine stationed far from Lawrence, he strained grounds through a sock to get his fix.

Though he’s retired the sock-filter method, he’s kept his love of coffee and combined it with his love of the Marine Corps to create the Lawrence-based Devil Dog Brew.

via Instapundit

Here is the Devil Dog Brew website.

It's Always Something...

Had a cataract removed from my left eye yesterday - the surgery was quick and easy, no problems. Worse part of the whole deal was getting the anesthesia shot and waiting for the surgery.

Vision out of the left eye was kind of milky and hazy but today it is nice and clear. Still a little fuzzy but hopefully that will straighten out soon too.

Dad is coming in to town tonight to spend a long weekend with my brother in Centralia for a couple of nights and then up here in Oly with Brigid and I. We are all looking forward to having him out here and spending some time with him. I think Dan and I will take Dad out shooting on Sunday and we can wring out my Les Baer Thunder Ranch 1911.

Ok, I better get back to my chores and take a shower before the appointment - take care everyone.

Just testing....

…to see if my twitterfeed doo-hicky is working…

 

 

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We are in the Best of Hands...

Via the Evergreen Freedom Foundation blog, I discovered that WA Reps McDermott and Larsen voted for underage prostitution.

Nice. I expected nothing less.

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