Tuesday, March 29, 2016

How not to be labeled a "Terrorist"

Yet another deplorable attack has happened, with only fortune dictating one casualty, the shooter has happened and the nation momentarily held its breath in anticipation of the Radical Islamic fundamentalist which was stopped. They would be told shortly it was simply a man with mental problems, all is ok, despite the man having a history of "Calling himself a Prophet of god"

This is not a even a little bit surprising to me, all be it very disappointing but it seems to be the norm, and why not?

Nearly weekly the Pope is cast on TV As the "Religious Leader of the world" his words placed on the TV and everyone from the common person, celebrity to political figure proclaim his greatness. The result? an extremely biased and bigoted system based on the classic ideology of familiarity so excuses are made.

Anyone, who has a belief in god seems to be incapable of a terrorist attack, Andrea Yates who killed her kids for god "Mental problem" woman who killed baby in Russia "Jihadist terrorist" be afraid, it is only a matter of time.

Shoot up a school, military complex or otherwise go ballistic, if you are a christian you were "misunderstood and now removed for the safety of America' Anyone else, including an atheist is quickly decried as horrible and their kind must be stopped, again a threat to the sanctity of the world.


Look this has to stop, had this been another "Muslim" we would all be facing the inventible calls for "Turning the Mideast to glass" never mind a good amount of Muslims do not even live in the Mideast, that like most facts regarding our "War" ON terrorism seem to be irrelevant.

I am ok with religion, be it the Spaghetti Monster, Christianity, Muslim or Comet loving, but when you start pushing your own "Culture" which is the history of the dominant religion of the world, I call foul.

It is time to stop, I hvae come to the realization that the west is indeed carrying on a holy war, it is nonsense and absolutely has to stop.






Saturday, March 19, 2016

The Movie the Revenent, an insult to those who pioneered the west.

I was stoked to see this, I have known the premise of this story for some time and as someone who grew up in the west as an outdoorsman I have been fascinated by the incredible life of Pioneers/ Trappers of the west.
Then I watched the movie.
To say it did these amazing men a disservice is a understatement. It Underscored the importance of Jim Bridger who would be a influence in the settling of the west, especially Montana, making he and other trappers look like bumbling scared morons, they were not. Most were Bi Lingual at least, as they had to negotiate with multiple tribes. Bridger like many trappers would go on to marry a Squaw, very common and helped with negotiating as well as even surviving in what could be a very hostile place. Jim was very influential in the history of the west, he was first credited with finding the Great Salt lake, and of course Founded Fort Bridger his Pioneering provided a future for others to follow.
It took the story of Glass himself, which little is actually known, blew it into something completely different and IMO destroyed it all following the classic "White men are Evil" hyperbole, then picking the usual bad guy our hero had to hunt down, and using the classic stick to support a corpse while the good guy waited in ambush. The actual story was mainly about not just being left to die, but having his rifle, which was sacred to Mountain Men, taken from him, Hugh wanted it back. Upon walking into a fort where Jim Bridger was, he was called "The Revenent" which in french implies back from the dead.
The nature and survival scenes were just as stomach churning for anyone who knows much of the wild. Gutting of the horse was absolutely ridiculously stupid, you do not gut an animal like that, the guts alone can way half the weight of an animal, crawling inside? Why, pine bows make a wonderful bed and cover. Not to mention if you had crawled inside an animal to survive and left your clothes outside, they would have been stiff with ice.
Leo learned to shoot a musket in this film, I guess this is a big deal, not exactly rocket science, however somewhere along the way nobody told those making the movie, nor the crowd watching it, they were single shot weapons, and incapable of the classic double shot leo managed time and time again to pull off.
Further the story itself happened in October, there were Maggots in his back so we know it was not anywhere near freezing, at least during the day for this to happen. Lets not forget it was not in the Rockies, but rather in the plains of South Dakota. I could live with these being wrong, the rest I could not.
I could go on, however I would encourage you to read up on the Amazing exploits of the old west pioneers.
As always, Hollywood seems detached from our history, and heritage.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/James_Bridger.aspx

http://www.britannica.com/biography/Hugh-Glass

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Death Valley Super Bloom, cross one more off the bucket list.

Death Valley, the hottest place in North America is a unforgiving environment which has earned its name for good reason, it has not only the lowest point in North America at 284 below sea level, and holds the highest reliable recorded temperature ever recorded anywhere in the world at a rubber melting 134F!

I have been fascinated by this National Park for some time now. The myth of the sliding rocks of course always fascinated me, however the naturalist within me was beyond attracted to what is known as the "Super Bloom". I First heard of the Super Bloom over a decade ago during its last event. Scientists and visitors all over the world scramble to the valley to see this colorful event, when a normal dry unforgiving climate yields to the rains and up from the terra comes flowers where they simply do not belong. Given it is likely a once in a lifetime event for a person, I would have to go.

Two years ago I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of days riding my motorcycle through this incredible valley and I had a magnificent time.
This time around I would be lucky enough to be visiting the Vegas area during the superbloom, nothing could keep me from seeing this magnificent event.

Recently I loaded up the familia for our quick trip through the valley. I would not be spending a lengthy stay, it would simply be a quick visceral for the senses to see something which we would have maybe a half dozen chances at best in our adult lifetime.

As we enter the park we are greeted by a mixture of yellow, green, purple and orange mostly along the side of the road.

Unfortunately I did not stop initially as I was hoping for even a greater explosion of colors as I entered the park.

There were waves of yellow, mixtures of orange within with a hint of purple here and there. Honestly had I not seen the park when absolutely no green, except that at the spring in Furnace Springs, I would probably not have thought much of it. However since I had seen it when seemingly nothing existed, I knew the splender I was indeed seeing.

We Traveled to Dantes Peak and saw hints of life here and there, but little as we climbed, with one exception, there was green, green should not exist in this environment, with the exception of the cacti that seems to thrive in often incredibly harsh places.
As always the View from the top was absolutely magnificent, and I may be mistaken, but it seemed as if the salt flats in BadWater basin were brighter than normal, perhaps not.
We would be told by an older gentleman that a trip to Beatty, would yield rows of flowers we so craved.

We would take his advice and follow the winding road down, stopping here and there to grab a quick picture.

We took the turn to Beatty, and wow were we greeted with splendor. As promised fields of yellow abounded, being past the peak of the bloom, I could only Imagine the grandeur of days already past.

From this point on, I stopped what seemed like every few feet to snap some photos, like a small child I ran here and there trying to catch the perfect photo. The bright sunlight made it hard to see the viewfinder, but I was confident I had grabbed photos to last a lifetime. I would discover as I came home the disappointment which too often came in the flim days, my pictures were less than fabulous, but would still be a reminder in years to come, of yet another chance of a lifetime grabbed.



Friday, March 4, 2016

Addressing the attacks on firearms protection and possession.

There has been a Leftist saying for awhile, that if you live someplace where you need a firearm, you should move.
Well first off, this is an acknowledgement that some people will indeed need a firearm.
It fails to notice the main point of possessing a firearm for defense, that is if indeed you need it, you need it RIGHT NOW!
IF you have a bad guy break into your house, or try to shake you down in a parking lot, its not like you can say "You know what, I have had it, we are out of here' At that moment, you are committed.
The bulk of crime in the US happens in poverty areas, those who live there probably do not want to be stuck in the hellish environment they are stuck in. It is not as if a poor person can simply move, to where? Jobs are in short supply in America, and it is not as if someone living on their own making just over minimum wage can save enough money to go anywhere.
Regardless, those people are stuck there, and deserve the right to defend themselves, if all good people leave, then what is left?
Here are a couple of examples of people who had to defend themselves while living in only what I would consider hell.
My heart truly goes out to this woman, who has already survived far to much at such a young age. Embedding is disabled for this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vby4CgLOR44

Detroit



Argument "A firearm is meant to kill" Well not necessarily, I am fairly certain the first club was probably used to bash in another cavemans skull, however it would end up being used for many other things. Just as that first club was used in death, it would also be used to beat weeds, bring in food and defense.
I have many firearms, some I purchased for defense, but most I ended up buying for punching holes in paper, just as the vast, vast majority of firearms owners do. Competitive shooting is becoming extremely popular in the US, people who purchase those firearms, are not generally purchasing them simply to kill.


The next thing they like to do, is degrade the firearms owner. Hunters are Elmer Fudds, target shooters Wyatte Earp, self defense people paranoid low IQ trailer trash morons, no Compassion for the poor, and last we have the collector, who are nothing more than paranoid nutjobs waiting for the end of the world.
All are annoying to be honest and again, rarely ever true, let us put this all into perspective

Remember, there are around 90 million firearms owners in the US, however just under 14 million will go hunting each year who are over the age of 16. That means without a doubt the US hunters alone are the worlds largest Army! Absolutely amazing to be honest. So if we put this into perspective we realize the other 76 million are either just collectors, Target shooters or own for self defense, in reality probably a combination of all things, proving the Firearm is only a tool, I mean lets think about it, if 90 million firearms owners were as irresponsible and evil as the left would have you believe, they would have easily taken over the country and killed every living thing including each other by now.

There are some bad apples of course, however I have yet to see any regulation which would address this problem which is actually fairly simple to solve in all reality, my thoughts on how to stop mass shootings here.

http://thoughtsoftheages.blogspot.com/2015/10/stopping-mass-shooters-is-easier-than.html

Argument, "High capacity Magazines would reduce casualties" Well lets think about this here, the goal of this is not even to stop mass shootings, but to mitigate them, again not true in the slightest. Charles Whitman killed 12 people and wounded 32 people using a bolt action hunting rifle while perched atop a clock tower in 1966.

The Beltway Snipers quit literally terrorized the east coast for months, killing 17, while they used an Ar-15, that weapon could have been a single shot rifle. Remember, intent is the scariest thing of all this.
There have been several school shootings where non semi auto firearms were used, I would like to see mass shootings stop altogether, and I think we can stop them as I noted above.
Very good video addressing high capacity magazines.



Argument, women cannot defend themselves or will only have the gun used against them. Now this one really, really is disturbing, talk about misogyny. Women are very capable of defending themselves, not only has it happened in real world defensive situations, women have served very honorably with women now even being accepted into the Elite US Army Rangers.
Women are also the fastest growing segment into the competitive shooting sector, and are doing amazingly well.


Argument, firearms should not be allowed where alcohol is consumed. You know what, if you want to say you should not be allowed to be intoxicated while carrying a firearm, that would be fine, however again, the left attempts to hyperbole this and make it seem like all people in an establishment which has alcohol are there to get plowed, not at all. It is ridiculous that I should hvae to take off and leave my firearm which I am legally licensed to carry in my vehicle when I stop someplace to eat. Further what if something happens? Well let me present someone who lived through such a travesty in this exact situation.


Argument, "why do you need a firearm to defend yourself, are you not tough enough?" Absurd, so everyone should have to be a master in Martial Arts? As someone who is now in my fourties and having had my fair share of scraps, I have zero desire to go fisticuffs with some ass stain who broke into my house or threatened my or families well being in public. Street confrontations can be a dice roll, and while I encourage people to learn self defense, the reality is a firearm is a far, more realistic alternative, especially considering not all people are physically fit or physically able to defend themselves.

Argument" The Second Amendment was never meant for assault rifles" This is actually correct. The Second Amendment was never written for assault rifles, it was written with the term "Arms" which infers all manner of weapons. The founding fathers were actually very suspicious of a standing army and preferred the Idea of a small regular army with a Militia for back up, the greatest example of the use of private arms for defense of the country would be in the war of 1812, where big guns were used from those of private citizens, I mean cannon and even armed merchant ships.
Now primarily the Second Amendment as stated in modern times generally refers to the common citizen, so should they indeed have an assault rifle? Sure beyond what I stated above, the Musket at the time of the Revolutionary war was a cutting edge weapon of amazing devastation at the time, the assault rifle is without a doubt the modern equivalent of the brown bess musket capable of the then terrifying 4 rounds per minute.


Argument "Teenagers are not mentally capable of handling a firearm" Again, the left would have us believe that the typical teen around a firearm is a disaster waiting to happen, absolute nonsense. Probably for myself growing up in an area where pretty much every single "Kid" I knew had access to a firearm, it is easier for me to understand the nonsense of this argument. Teens do better when giving more responsibility, not less.
I would also argue that competitive shooting for kids get them an outlet, which also teaches them respect, firearms safety and a good demonstration of what a firearm is truly capable of. I would also like to point out that if a kid was focused on shooting competitively, they would have less time for trouble, and less money to spend on booze, alcohol drugs or other forms which could get them into trouble.


Can they defend themselves? Of course, but let us hope they will not have to, this is why they should be prepped and allowed access to where firearms are stored.


Argument "Firearms do not belong in schools" I would say that firearms safety should be taught in schools. In the event someone comes across a firearm they should know safe handling. Kids who are not exposed to firearms outside of schools will not have a understanding of what to do.
It also is to note that at one time, target shooting was allowed in schools. Someone who has ill intent will not give a crap, nor have they
thus far if a school is "firearms free" they target schools because they know it is easy pickings as those people are cowards.

Argument "Anyone can purchase a firearm" This is a Blatant lie, most of the checks the Democrats have been pushing for are already in place. In order for anyone to purchase a new firearm they must pass a Federal Background check. Anyone having a history of mental illness, felony, or convicted of drug use may not possess a firearm. https://www.atf.gov/file/61446/download

Private sales are different, however some states require one to register the used purchase of a firearm or to have a background check when doing so, I am for this, however I realize that it will do nothing to stop illegal purchases. Keep in mind that firearms are for the most part forbidden in France yet last year we saw a tragic shooting take place from radical fundamentalists, nothing I repeat no amount of control measures against the common man will prevent this.
It also is nonsense that there is a firearms loophole, that is completely incorrect, anyone again selling new firearms at a gun show must pass a background check. Again private sales are a bit different and varies state by state. Will a bad guy go to a firearms show to purchase a gun without a check? Possible but unlikely, prices at gun shows are usually bloated, those people are looking for cheap firearms with no recognition which they would get off the street where the weapons are usually stolen.

Argument "The NRA is a radical group" Absolute nonsense, while I do not agree with all the NRA does, or has done in the past it is the foremostorganization for teaching firearms safety for adults. It also is the primary organization for providing competitive shooting, which is what it originally was founded for, and later was dragged into the defending firearms rights decades ago. The NRA is far from perfect, but then again so is the ACLU which I also support.


Argument "Firearms Manufacturers should be held liable" Really? So should automobile manufacturers be held liable when their car is used to run someone down, or used as a getaway vehicle? What about knife manufacturers? Come on people, this is ridiculous. This however is an attempt to bankrupt the firearms industry, disgusting.


In the end it is important to remember that shortsightedness gets one no where. While the left certainly wants to restrict firearms ownership and in the end, completely eliminate it, they suffer from their own delusions as in another voice, they are concerned with a current Fascist Presidential candidate who may be in office soon. History shows us what could happen in such a situation, and I am willing to bet that those same people would be clamoring to defend themselves in the event the worst nightmare became a reality.
I seriously doubt we will have this problem with a Fascist Candidate as America has enough checks and balances, however it has happened in the past. Here is one many people do not think about.
http://thoughtsoftheages.blogspot.com/2012/12/rwanda-genocide.html
In reality there should, and are limitations to how and what weapons we own, and who should have access, I am all for responsible firearms ownership, training, storage and back ground checks.

Balance people, why does it not exist?