I did my part

Amnesty for illegal immigrants is a stench in the nostrils of anyone who has stood in line and come to the U.S. of A legally. I let my Representative know my views today.

Have you?

Here's the text of my e-mail:

I'm writing to express my concern over the recent passage of the Senate immigration bill. I was pleased that you voted in favor of HR 4437 - The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. If I understand correctly, the Senate version of the bill includes provisions allowing illegal aliens to become American citizens. As a voting constituent, I want to let you know that I'm utterly opposed to amnesty for illegal immigrants in any form whatsoever. Amnesty is an insult to anyone who has immigrated to our country legally. As the House and Senate bills are reconciled, I hope you will continue to oppose amnesty in any form, and that you will encourage your fellow House members to do the same. I will continue to pay close attention to your votes on immigration issues.

I would appreciate a written response with your views on this
matter.

You can contact your House Congresscritter via the house Web site:

http://www.house.gov/

Just plug in your zip code.

You're welcome.

Reminder

Since I'm still recovering from the cold I picked up over the weekend (is this my reward for cleaning up my father-in-law's garage?!?!?), I've been on the couch this morning trying to motivate my self to study for my state Nurse Aide Certification exam on Friday. Actually, getting up to shower would be a good start...

Anyhoo, I made the mistake of stopping my medicated-channel-flipping on CNN's "American Morning" -- just in time to see the screaming headline, "Harvard Gun Study".

You may not believe this, but my first thought was, "OK, it's Soledad O'Brien - you know this story is just gonna make you mad. You're sick. You need a shower, and you need to study. Turn the channel. Do it now."

Since I usually try to ignore the voices in my head, I didn't listen.

Dang.

I couldn't find the article on CNN.com. I tried to find the study on-line, but I could only come up with an archived article about it from the Boston Herald. Here's all I could get without paying for the full article:

Harvard: Kids know about guns; [All Editions]
JESSICA FARGEN.
Boston Herald. Boston, Mass.: May 7, 2006. pg. 013
Section:
NEWS
ISSN/ISBN:
07385854
Text Word Count
298
Document URL:

Abstract (Document Summary)
"(Gun) tragedies occur every two to three days among our nation's children and they are preventable," said Matthew Miller, health policy professor and associate director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center. "Our study suggests parents should take every effort
and never assume counseling children about gun safety is the only precaution to keep them safe."

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/1033189181.html?did=1033189181&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&date=May+7%2C+2006&author=JESSICA+FARGEN&pub=Boston+Herald&desc=Harvard%3A+Kids+know+about+guns

I'm not sure if it was Mr. Miller that Soledad was all enamored with, but naturally she cooed and fawned over this revelation about how we could keep our children safe. Like so many Harvard-white-tower-dwelling-Communists, the guy said something to the effect of getting rid of guns in the home was the best way to prevent a gun accident involving your kids (duh) -- otherwise, the guns should stay locked in a safe.

Besides, it's your government, police and elected officials who will protect you, right? (Ray Nagin, call your office...)

Well, let me back up. In essence, the report said that something like 75% of kids knew were the guns were kept in their homes, and somewhere around 35% had handled the guns before, though kids tend to lie about it when asked. It claimed that merely talking to or educating your kids about gun safety didn't sway the kids from handling the guns behind the parents' backs.

They could have just burned Edddie Eagle in effigy, and their point would have been made much more cheaply.

Frankly, though, I'll grant 'em that one. If you keep unsecured guns in your home, the kids will mess with them. How do I know?

Because my dad kept unsecured (and loaded!!!) guns in our house. And I messed with 'em.

Now, I don't know if that counts in the context of the study, because when it came to things that could get me killed (like guns or sex or our Corvette), my parents seemed to think that the best policy was to act like those things didn't exist, and God willing I'd survive to adulthood.

See no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil -- and there will be no evil, right?

Surprise! Cancer can't even kill me -- much less sex, guns and fast cars. I guess I'm too surly to die -- Darwin be damned.

But I digress.

One thing the interviewee said was something to the effect that the study showed that many parents keep guns in the home under the premise of protecting their kids, but that the guns are actually a bigger risk to the kids' safety. He suggested that "education" could not mitigate that risk.

I wonder if they've done a similar study on AIDS and sex "education" ....

My question is: How can they make that assertion, since there's hardly any way to measure the degree to which a gun keeps kids safe? Do statistics even exist on crimes prevented by a gun-weilding homeowner? What about crimes that never happended because the perp knew the homeowner had a gun? God knows the MSM never reports those non-events. Since it doesn't bleed, it doesn't lead...

Look, I know I've made this point before, and I also know society as a whole isn't listening. Guns are dangerous. So are cars. And climbing trees. And swimming in the ocean. And mountaineering. LIBERTY IS NOT SAFE. But so what? We should just lock ourselves in closets so we can stay safe and die from boredom? To what degree are we willing to castrate ourselves in the interest of public-safety-activists-on-crack?

Tam makes a similar point today about how kids are safe from blowing off their hands, now that they can't play with chemistry sets anymore: http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2006/05/politics-safely-stupid.html

I doubt our Founding Fathers spent much time wringing their hands about their kids playing with their guns. But that's probably because their 12-year-olds were out with the guns hunting rabbits for dinner.

Guns have been around for hundreds of years -- and I dare say that the idea of having a gun safe in the home is a more recent idea. Could it be that maybe - just maybe - kids no longer have a good grasp on exactly what a gun does? If kids spent more time having their shoulders beaten to hamburger by a Remington 870 while shooting skeet with Mom or having their little wrists sprained by shooting Dad's XD-40 while plinking at paper targets (instead of getting their ideas about guns from the lastest Tarantino flick) would we be having this problem?

News flash: Taking a kid shooting has a tendency to diminish curiosity which could lead to messing with the gun. Don't just tell the kid about it. Take 'em shooting. Wanna make sure they get it? Tape your own picture to a watermelon and make the kid blast it. (Hey, the kid may end up in therapy, but you'll get the message across ... and therapy's in vogue nowadays, anyway...)

Folks, we don't have a gun problem. We have much, much deeper problems with our society and how we've come to live our lives.

Yeah, the guns are dangerous. So grow a spine. As Americans, we're willing to run quite a bit of risk in order to enjoy our liberties. Take a kid shooting, and you may very well diminish the risk of the kid messing with the gun behind your back. But you'll never eliminate that risk. Tragedies happen. Let's not surrender our guns, butcher knives, sharp sticks and chemistry sets for the illusion of a safer society.

Anyway -- I guess I shouldn't have watched that steaming pile-of-excrement-excuse-for-reporting. Until this morning, I hadn't watched "American Morning" in a long, long time. Now I remember why.

Perspective

I enjoy few things more than beating the "I carry a gun, and here's why" dead-horse discussion, but sometimes a different perspective is more insightful than mine. (Well, I'm not sure I can lay claim to much insight at all, frankly...)

HODAR and I recently had a discussion about the woman in his life recently choosing to carry. I came across this, and it hit home.

Here's one for the (few) ladies who chance to read this sorry excuse for a blog:

http://anarchangel.blogspot.com/2006/05/why-chris-carries-gun-and-so-do-i.html

(Oh, and FYI Miss Fluffy: the author carries a Ruger SP-101.)

H/T to Kim: www.theothersideofkim.com

I need a nap.

I'm beat.

Today was my second day (of three) of clinicals at the local nursing home. Around 10:00 AM, after 2 bed baths, one bed change, one bedpan emptying (*gag*) and one scrubbing of a set of dentures, I just wanted to crawl under a rock and take a nap. At least tomorrow will be it for clinicals, then the last day of class on Wednesday. The state test for my Nurse Aid Certification will be next Friday, June 2.

I'm probably more tired from yesterday than from clinicals today. I spent the day trimming bushes, filling driveway holes (it doesn't take much gravel-shovelling to make a day's work) -- and only half an hour or so of shooting (entry drills with 3 targets and 2 barricades, using the AR-15 with the .22 conversion). Oh, the .22 conversion -- a po' student's best friend! Oh, and I did laundry. And cleaned the rifle.

I'm in the process of trying to find part-time nurse aide work (hopefully with the local hospital, since certification isn't required) ... but not until after Memorial Day!

The prospect of once again working while in school doesn't exactly thrill me, but it's got to be done (if I want to be able to afford ammo for my IDPA matches, that is!)

It's official!

New Orleans is a city of dumbshits. Any previous doubt about that fact has now been wiped away (or ... dare I say ... washed away?!?!?)

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/21/nola.mayor/index.html

Goes to show you that blaming the Federal Government can get you into office, no matter how inept you are.

As much as I rant & spew about my hope of Kalifornia sliding off the continent in my lifetime, I'd say New Orleans will beat 'em to it. Wanna know why? Check out New Orlean's Emergency Preparedness (sic) Plan:

http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26

I could turn this into a new college drinking game: get everybody together in a room. Everybody open a beer. Somebody reads the N.O. Preparedness (sic) Plan. Every time you hear a part of the plan that Nagin didn't follow -- everybody drink. Every time you hear a reference to a "bus" -- chug. You'll be stewed in under 10 minutes, guaranteed.

Not that I've ever played a drinking game.

But I digress.

I actually volunteered with the Red Cross to go to the Gulf Coast after Katrina hit. I won't do it again. New Orleans has made it's bed. It can lie in it.

H/T to LawDog: http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2006/05/dont-come-crying-to-me-when-history.html

Am I running out of material...

... when I start blogging about .....















pants?

Look, I'm 6'5". When I find pants that fit, I consider it a miracle. But pants that do a tad more than just fit ... well, that's just gotta make the blog....

Before I quit my job, my last purchase was a pair of 5.11 Tactical Nylon pants. (Hey -- they're "tactical" -- how could I not buy 'em?!?!?)

If you've ever been to an IDPA match, you've most likely noticed that 5.11 is kinda' the "uniform" for shooters. I usually scoff that that kind of thing, but when it comes to these pants, there's something to it.

For starters, these are nylon. Translation: they don't shrink, and they dry faster than cotton. I hate clothes that fit for only the first wearing. And since I sweat like nobody's business, quick-drying is a good thing.

Aside from that, they've got the requisite side-pockets and wide belt-loops (perfect for my Wilderness rigger belt -- the best gun belt I've tried yet) and a cell-phone/flashlight/mag/knife pocket on the left thigh. The elastic waist is nice when you're wearing an IWB holster.

Probably the most unique thing about 'em is that they have pockets inside the double-knees, into which you can slide 5.11's proprietary kneepads (though, technically, kneepads aren't legal for IDPA matches).

My only complaint is the back pockets -- they have this angled opening, and they go halfway down your thigh. There's probably some reason for designing them that way, but I don't know what that reason might be. Personally, I find the pocket depth irritating.

Anyway, I wore these in my last match, and even with all the movement in the match (and there was plenty) and one string requiring me to hit the dirt & shoot from the prone position, I don't recall having to pull these pants up every time I moved around.

Check 'em out for yourself:

http://www.511tactical.com/index.asp?dlrID=511&dept=8&number=74158

So ... can I get paid for this endorsement? I could use the cash....

I won!!

Well, I won my sub-class at this past weekend's IDPA match.

This was my first match as Marksman CDP (Custom Defensive Pistol - or .45 ACP 1911s). I beat out the 2 other shooters in that category.

Of course, the only guy shooting Master CDP had just over half my time. Yep -- I've got a ways to go...

Regardless of how I shot, it was a beautiful day, and it got my nose out of the book for a while.

Nearly done...

... with Step One.

Today was my last of 3 exams in my Certified Nurse Aid class. My 3 test scores, with 5 extra points for doing the (busy)work book, gives me a 100.3.

I'd be jumpin' for joy, but that A doesn't mean much -- I have to pass the state exam (which includes a written and "skills" portion) in order to get my certification. I have to have my certification in order to be admitted into the LPN program this fall (and into RN after that...)

Frankly, I'm just glad to be done with homework and exams for the time being. This has been the roughest 2 weeks in recent memory.

Check that .... I'm not quite done. I have "clinicals" for the next 3 days, in which my class goes to the town nursing home and gives baths and wipes bums. It doesn't require homework, but it'll doubtless be a new world of stress.

If anybody ever tells you that it's no big deal to change careers ...... punch that individual square in the mouth.

Back again...

... just in time to direct y'all over to LawDog. Poor guy is having trouble with NCIS.

I'd feel bad for him, but I'm too busy howling with laughter at his prose.

Check out this post:

http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/2006/05/instant-check-my-sweet-aunt-fanny.html

That rant at the end is an instant super-classic.

Quick one

Is it just Tuesday? Good Lord -- I've done nothing but read and do workbook/busy-work since Sunday afternoon. This Nurse Aide class is gonna be the death of me.

We've covered 8 chapters of a 700+ page text in 2 days. We'll cover 4 more chapters tomorrow, then the first exam on Thursday. You read that right -- an exam after 3 days of class -- which will cover 12 chapters of material.

But I don't miss my job. Well, except for that income thing...

Blogging will be light for a while.

What a difference...

... a day makes.

Today was my next-to-last day of work. I spent the day -- the entire day -- packing everything up.

Wow -- I never seemed to be that busy when I was ...... working.

Anyway. Behold: my office at 7:30am:



And at 7:30pm:



Tomorrow I ship off all 33 boxes of it -- my entire working career thus far -- back to the company....

... and Monday will be the first day of a whole new ballgame.

Wrapping it up

Tomorrow is my last day of work before starting back to school Monday morning. It's probably a good thing that I'm so busy packing things up that I don't have time to develop a stress-induced bleeding ulcer.

I also don't have time to be too sentimental about leaving. That's right - the gun-toting, running-off-at-the-mouth Alpineman can be a tad weepy sometimes. In many ways, I'm sorry to be leaving. If it hits me at all, it'll be sometime over the weekend, when I have a few moments to marvel at my office - which will be empty and stark.

While cleaning out & boxing up, I came across something I scribbled down a couple of years ago. I remember sitting on the end of a hotel room bed, out of town for an in-service, watching the last episode of Frasier (one of my favorite shows, and probably the last sitcom I ever watched). On a pad of Holiday Inn Express paper, I scrawled the last line of the episode. Seems fitting now:

In the end, what we regret most is the chances we never took.

Orwell

Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory
beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of
them.
-George Orwell

The socio-political policies of "progressives" illustrate that quotation perfectly: Government regulation will make you free.

News flash: government regulation cannot bestow liberty. Freedom is not slavery.

If you've never read 1984, go thou and do so post haste. You'll never trust a "progressive" Democrat (or a phone-tapping George W. Bush) again.

Oh -- and you'll understand why I foam at the mouth when I see surveillance cameras...

I'm late to the party...

... when it comes to picking up on the significance of May 1 as an alleged "immigrant rights" day.

May 1 is a socialist/communist holiday.

Check it out for yourself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day

Die, commie scum. And drag your scum-sucking illegal border-crashers down with you.

"Workers rights" my ass.

I'm green...

... with envy.

My friend HODAR recently had a treasure trove of long guns fall into his lap.

Top to bottom:

1. Remington 870 Wingmaster 12 ga. Shotgun
2. Browning Auto-5 16 ga. Shotgun
3. Winchester Model 1890 (chambered in .22 long... not long rifle) pump action"Gallery Gun" (It is a Model 3 and was produced in 1914) see: http://twoponies.home.mindspring.com/model_differences.htm
4. Colt "Colteer 1-22" bolt action single shot (chambered in .22 LR)
5. Winchester Model 37 20 ga. Shotgun

Those things look like they're in absolutely pristine condition. Dang. If I weren't so enthralled, I'd cuss him for his luck. Last time I checked, nobody was handing me down five pristine long-guns, steeped in steel-and-polished-wood-history. Bah.

Truth be told, I've got a .30-.30 from my Dad, a .22 High Standard revolver and a .22 lever-action Marlin rifle (on loan) from my in-laws which I value greatly (that Marlin is one of my favorite guns to shoot, actually).

Hopefully I'll be able to work in a trip down to see him to check these beauties out in person.

It's refreshing to see that there are still men who find sentimental value in their fathers' old guns. What better symbols of art-meets-tool and American independence have we? They are, indeed, family treasures.

Change

I have worked for the same company since I got out of college. I believe the "company man" is dead, but I honestly could have seen myself working for this same company for my entire career. In general, I like the company. I have faith in my upper management (a rarity in these times). I have faith in the company's strategic plan. I could see a future for myself there.

Or not.

I'm probably giving too much away by saying this, but until Friday, May 5, I will have worked for one of the largest Medicare contractors in the country. I worked as sort of an educational consultant. I had a "field office". I worked with almost total autonomy. I had the opportunity to put my "people skills" to use. I was well paid. As is the case when one works from home, I set my own hours. My state (yes, my territory was the entire state of KY) was low-key. I had plenty of spare time for mid-morning blogging.

And I'm turning my back on all of it.

That's not to slight the company for which I worked in the least. I'm not being sarcastic -- I worked for a good company. One with a solid government-contractor compliance program. You weren't going to see my company's name in the papers anytime soon -- and that's just what you want as a gubmint contractor.

Not to mention that my co-workers - my counterparts in other states - are absolutely outstanding people with whom to work. And my boss put up with all my neurotic behavior without so much as a complaint. There's no dollar value you can put on that.

Nevertheless, I'm walking away from it all.

The so-called "Medicare Modernization Act" mandated some changes -- one of which would have forced me to move from my adopted Old Kentucky Home to (most likely) central Virginia.

Look, I'm from Virginia. But I've been to Richmond.

And I don't want to go back.

Actually, it's more that I don't want to leave Kentucky. I like it here. I live on a big farm. I don't miss the city. At all.

The fact that I would have been forced to move in order to keep my job was really just the kick-in-the-pants that I needed to make a change. I've been kicking around the idea of furthering my education for some time now - be it to get my MBA, or maybe even law school.

But the pieces have all fallen into place to take me in a different direction:

Nursing school.

That's right -- I'm getting my RN.

Enter your favorite Gaylord Focker joke here:_____________________________.

First and foremost, nursing is a hot career right now. Nurses are in demand. Job security is a good thing -- the "baby boomers" will see to that. When it comes to job security, government programs aren't exactly your best bet.

Beyond that, nursing will allow me to stay more or less where I am -- away from the distractions of the "big city", and closer to family. In a sense, it's a way of putting my money where my mouth is -- if I really believe in close-knit families and avoiding the social(ist) ills of big-city living and the dependence that goes along with it, then this is "where it's at".

Besides -- how long can I go on railing against government interference in our lives .... while working for a government contractor?

Enough. Time to step up.

Financially, I can't let this opportunity go. Miss Fluffy works at the college I'll be attending, so about half of my class load will be free. We don't pay rent or a mortgate to live on the farm. It doesn't get any more favorable than that.

That doesn't mean it's easy to let my job go, though. I'm well paid. I work from home (i.e. no wardrobe budget, no nagging co-workers and no - I repeat - no commute.) That's not something that comes along every day.

I pray I'm making the right decision (rather than jewelled-crown-royally-screwing-up-my-future).

Change isn't easy. But if I really believe all the spew that comes out of my mouth (and through this keyboard), then this is the right thing to do.

As my brother the Greyhound says, "Let's do the damn thing."

Call it cliche, but:

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

The Road Not Taken


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really bout the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Is this true?

Via Tapscott's Copy Desk (http://tapscottscopydesk.blogspot.com/2006/04/mccain-says-clean-government-more.html)

He [Michael Graham] also mentioned my abridgement of First Amendment rights, i.e. talking about campaign finance reform....I know that money corrupts....I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I'd rather have the clean government."

-John McCain, on the Imus Show (my emphasis)

Uh ... I went to a McCain rally once. Now I feel like I need a shower.

Miss Fluffy is a big McCain fan. Until now, I generally liked him -- Republican rogue, war hero, straight-talker -- what's not to like?

A sickening disrespect for the Bill of Rights, that's what.

Bugger off, McCain. You may get my wife's vote, but all you'll get from me is the social finger.

[h/t to the Geek: http://geekwitha45.blogspot.com/2006_04_23_geekwitha45_archive.html#114633296369107997]

I'll let Kim say it...

... because, as usual, he says it best.

Kim's thoughts on the new movie United 93:

http://www.theothersideofkim.com/index.php/tos/single/9298/

I want us to be reminded of the events and feelings of 9/11/2001. I don’t want us ever to forget how we felt that day, and I want the rage and resentment we felt against Islamic terrorism to grow, if anything, hotter and greater as time goes on.

I’m sick of us being so damn “civilized” towards our opponents, who want to crush us and turn our constitutional republic into a caliphate; I’m sick of us being afraid of “insulting” those who wish us harm, both here and abroad; and I’m really sick of our American memories being so short, that that little twerp Kos can announce that he’s “over” 9/11.

Well, I’m not “over” it, and I don’t want anyone in America to be “over” it either.

And, of course, quite possibly my favorite Kim closing:

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the range.

'Nuff said.