Really, they're nothing more than snapshots grabbed during leisurely hikes. And back then the medium was film, of course. They preserve some good memories, though, and I've judged a few worth sharing.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Images: Film rewind II
While doing a bit of housekeeping on my computer yesterday, I came across a handful of frames from a springtime trip to Acadia National Park more than a dozen years ago.
Really, they're nothing more than snapshots grabbed during leisurely hikes. And back then the medium was film, of course. They preserve some good memories, though, and I've judged a few worth sharing.
Really, they're nothing more than snapshots grabbed during leisurely hikes. And back then the medium was film, of course. They preserve some good memories, though, and I've judged a few worth sharing.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Quote of the week
"If it’s between Obama and Romney, there isn’t all that much difference except for the crowd that they bring with them."
(Left-wingnut George Soros, in an interview Wednesday with Chrystia Freeland of Reuters)
(Left-wingnut George Soros, in an interview Wednesday with Chrystia Freeland of Reuters)
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Zachariah's Red-Eye Reunion XII
A week has passed since the 2012 edition of Zachariah's Red-Eye Reunion. Again I had the privilege of photographing the event, and despite having a rash of camera problems toward the end of the show, the Reunion remains a musical and photographic highlight.
This may have been the best one yet. Enjoy the images.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
Sharps: Elemental truth
"When a man picks up a knife, there's an old memory from the collective unconscious that surfaces. A knife is an atavistic experience. It was man's first tool and weapon. Man was chipping flint into cutting edges before he invented the wheel. No matter how sophisticated we become, a knife takes us back to the cave."(Legendary knifemaker Bob Loveless, as quoted in "On the Cutting Edge," published in the July 14, 1980 issue of Sports Illustrated. Also worth reading: "His Knives Pioneered Handmade Movement," a remembrance published in The Wall Street Journal on September 10, 2010.)
Monday, January 2, 2012
There's snow in the air
It's about damned time. We'll likely get little more than a dusting today, a far cry from the way last winter began here in central Ohio. Still, it'll amount to the most we've seen so far this season.
Snow or no snow, though, this is a red-letter day in the KintlaLake household -- today marks one year since Scout came home with us. She is, in my opinion, the most perfect dog ever to walk this earth, a great addition to our family.
This afternoon we'll take down our Christmas tree and other holiday decor, probably while keeping tabs on Ohio State and Florida in the Gator Bowl. Win or lose it'll be a bittersweet end to a tumultuous year for my Buckeyes and, thanks to NCAA sanctions, the last time we'll go bowling 'til after the 2013 season.
Bring on the Urban Meyer era -- please.
Tomorrow it's back to work for the missus and me. That simple assertion -- back to work -- brings me more satisfaction than I can put into words. The job continues to be rewarding, too, due in large part to my wife's commitment to making her shop the best in the biz.
She's smart, confident and open to improving the way we do things. Hell, she even takes suggestions from a short-time shipper like me.
The third of January also will feature something else I'm watching closely -- Iowa Republicans will meet in 1,800 precinct caucuses to register their preferences for the party's presidential nominee. I'm no fan of partisan circuses, but I don't envy anyone who must choose a favorite from this year's GOP field.
Our nation desperately needs change, revolutionary change, and this is the best Republicans can offer? It's pathetic.
As for what 2012 holds for KintlaLake Blog, that's not too hard to predict. Commentary on the presidential campaign? Sure. More posts about urban resources, simple tools and sharps? Naturally.
In fact, my impressions of two new folding knives -- a Spyderco Para-Military2 and a Zero Tolerance 0350 -- should appear here in the coming weeks. Stay tuned, and Happy New Year!
Snow or no snow, though, this is a red-letter day in the KintlaLake household -- today marks one year since Scout came home with us. She is, in my opinion, the most perfect dog ever to walk this earth, a great addition to our family.
This afternoon we'll take down our Christmas tree and other holiday decor, probably while keeping tabs on Ohio State and Florida in the Gator Bowl. Win or lose it'll be a bittersweet end to a tumultuous year for my Buckeyes and, thanks to NCAA sanctions, the last time we'll go bowling 'til after the 2013 season.
Bring on the Urban Meyer era -- please.
Tomorrow it's back to work for the missus and me. That simple assertion -- back to work -- brings me more satisfaction than I can put into words. The job continues to be rewarding, too, due in large part to my wife's commitment to making her shop the best in the biz.
She's smart, confident and open to improving the way we do things. Hell, she even takes suggestions from a short-time shipper like me.
The third of January also will feature something else I'm watching closely -- Iowa Republicans will meet in 1,800 precinct caucuses to register their preferences for the party's presidential nominee. I'm no fan of partisan circuses, but I don't envy anyone who must choose a favorite from this year's GOP field.
Our nation desperately needs change, revolutionary change, and this is the best Republicans can offer? It's pathetic.
As for what 2012 holds for KintlaLake Blog, that's not too hard to predict. Commentary on the presidential campaign? Sure. More posts about urban resources, simple tools and sharps? Naturally.
In fact, my impressions of two new folding knives -- a Spyderco Para-Military2 and a Zero Tolerance 0350 -- should appear here in the coming weeks. Stay tuned, and Happy New Year!
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Common roots
The way I see it, American sports fans can be divided into two groups: those who think that Bob Knight is a jerk and those who hold him in high regard.
Count me among the latter.
Maybe I like Bob Knight for the same reason that I like Woody Hayes -- that is, I'm practiced at looking past irascible demeanor and forgiving childish outbursts. Or perhaps it's because Knight and I both were born in Massillon, albeit 17 years apart, and we grew up surrounded by the same Heartland culture.
The story of his formative years is familiar to me, as mine would be to him. Less than nine miles of Ohio countryside separates the brick ranch-style house of his childhood and the brick cape where I spent my own. I know well the crackerbox high-school gym where he was a star -- years later I played there, too, once or twice each season.
This morning's edition of The Columbus Dispatch features an article about the coaching icon's loyalty to his hometown of Orrville. Dispatch scribe Todd Jones writes of this rural company town as the source of Knight's unshakable pride and old-school values. It's a great piece, no doubt introducing many readers to another side of the man.
Not me -- Bob Knight and I share the same Heartland roots.
Count me among the latter.Maybe I like Bob Knight for the same reason that I like Woody Hayes -- that is, I'm practiced at looking past irascible demeanor and forgiving childish outbursts. Or perhaps it's because Knight and I both were born in Massillon, albeit 17 years apart, and we grew up surrounded by the same Heartland culture.
The story of his formative years is familiar to me, as mine would be to him. Less than nine miles of Ohio countryside separates the brick ranch-style house of his childhood and the brick cape where I spent my own. I know well the crackerbox high-school gym where he was a star -- years later I played there, too, once or twice each season.
This morning's edition of The Columbus Dispatch features an article about the coaching icon's loyalty to his hometown of Orrville. Dispatch scribe Todd Jones writes of this rural company town as the source of Knight's unshakable pride and old-school values. It's a great piece, no doubt introducing many readers to another side of the man.
Not me -- Bob Knight and I share the same Heartland roots.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Know this
[The Huffington Post's left-leaning editorial content seldom interests me. Jim Garrison's piece, "Obama's Most Fateful Decision," posted this morning, was a pleasant surprise. Give attention, please, to his message -- our situation is as perilous as he says it is, the picture he paints justifiably stark. Liberty-loving citizens must not ignore it.]
Obama's Most Fateful Decision
by Jim Garrison
The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, if signed into law, will signal the death knell of our constitutional republic and the formal inception of a legalized police state in the United States. Passed by the House on May 26, 2011 (HR 1540), the Senate version (S. 1867) was passed on Dec. 1, 2011. Now only one man -- Barack Obama, a scholar of constitutional law -- will make the decision as to whether the Bill of Rights he went to Harvard to study will be superseded by a law that abrogates it.
First, let's be clear what is at stake. Most critical are Sections 1031 and 1032 of the Act, which authorize detaining U.S. citizens indefinitely without charge or trial if deemed necessary by the president. The bill would allow federal officials to take these steps based on suspicions only, without having to demonstrate to any judicial official that there is solid evidence to justify their actions. No reasonable proof will any longer be required for the government to suspend an American citizen's constitutional rights. Detentions can follow mere membership, past or present, in "suspect organizations." Government agents would have unchecked authority to arrest, interrogate, and indefinitely detain law-abiding citizens if accused of potentially posing a threat to "national security." Further, military personnel anywhere in the world would be authorized to seize U.S. citizens without due process. As Senator Lindsay Graham put it, under this Act the U.S. homeland is considered a "battlefield."
What is at stake is more than the Constitution itself, as central as that document has been to the American experiment in democracy. What is a stake is nothing short of the basic fundamentals of western jurisprudence. Central to civilized law is the notion that a person cannot be held without a charge and cannot be detained indefinitely without a trial. These principles date back to Greco-Roman times, were developed by English common law beginning in 1215 with the Magna Carta, and were universalized by the Enlightenment in the century before the American Constitution and Bill of Rights were fought for and adopted as the supreme law of the land.
For more than two centuries of constitutional development since then, the United States has been heralded as the light to the world precisely because of the liberties it enshrined in its Declaration of Independence and Constitution as inalienable. It now seems as if the events of 9/11 have been determined to be of such a threatening magnitude that our national leaders feel justified to abrogate in their entirety the very inalienable principles upon which our Republic was founded.
At the heart of this Act is the most fundamental question we must ask ourselves as a free people: is 9/11 worth the Republic? The question screaming at us through this bill is whether the war on terror is a better model around which to shape our destiny than our constitutional liberties. It compels the question of whether we remain an ongoing experiment in democracy, pioneering new frontiers in the name of liberty and justice for all, or have we become a national security state, having financially corrupted and militarized our democracy to such an extent that we define ourselves, as Sparta did, only through the exigencies of war?
Within a week of 9/11, the Use of Military Force Act was approved which authorized the full application of U.S. military power against "terrorism." A month later, on Oct. 26, 2001, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Patriot Act that began the legislative assault on the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment right to freedom of association was gutted as federal officials were authorized to prosecute citizens for alleged association with "undesirable groups." The Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure was compromised by permitting indefinite detentions of those suspected of "terrorism." The Fourteenth Amendment right to privacy was obliterated as unchecked surveillance was authorized to access personal records, financial dealings, and medical records of any citizen at any time without any judicial oversight or permission. Evidence obtained extra-judicially could be withheld from defense attorneys.
The Patriot Act also criminalized "domestic terrorism." It stated that civil conduct can be considered "domestic terrorism" if such actions aim to "influence by intimidation or coercion" or "intimidate or coerce a civilian population." Put in plain language, this means that actions such as Occupy Wall Street can be designated as "domestic terrorism" by Federal authorities without judicial oversight and dealt with outside the due process of constitutional protections.
Two weeks after passage of the Patriot Act, on Nov. 13, President Bush issued Military Order No. 1 authorizing the executive branch and the military to capture, kidnap, or otherwise arrest non-citizens anywhere in the world if suspected of engaging in terrorist activities. Proof was not required. It stipulated that trials, if held, would be military tribunals, not civil courts, and that evidence obtained by torture was permissible. No right of appeal was afforded to those convicted. Numerous executive orders, findings, and National and Homeland Security Presidential Directives followed, further consolidating the militarization of due process under the law and enabling the executive branch to act without legal constraint after it has defined a person or group as potentially engaging in "terrorist" activity.
A year later, on Nov. 25, 2002, the Homeland Security Act was passed that for the first time integrated all U.S. intelligence agencies, both domestic and foreign, into a single interactive network under the president. The Act gave these intelligence agencies complete freedom to collect any and all data on anyone anywhere in the United States and, working with allies abroad, to access complete information on anyone anywhere in the world, working closely with local police, intelligence agencies, and the corporate sector. This dissolved the distinctions between domestic and foreign spying and made more ambiguous the distinction between domestic and foreign "terrorism."
The next major step took place on Oct. 17, 2006, when Congress passed the Military Commissions Act that effectively abrogated habeas corpus for domestic and foreign enemies alike, stating, "Any person is punishable who aides, abets, counsels, commands, or procures" material support for alleged terrorist groups. One of the most basic principles of both our democracy and our civilization, that a person cannot be held without being charged, was surrendered, and done so by substantial majorities in both houses. On the same day, the 2007 NDAA was passed, which amended the 1807 Insurrection Act and 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, prohibiting U.S. military personnel from acting upon U.S. citizens within U.S. borders. Not only was anything allowable in the pursuit of "terrorists," but the military was authorized to conduct operations inside the homeland in their pursuit.
Now comes the 2012 NDAA, which completes the process and thus serves as the coup de grace for a democratically voted metamorphosis from republic to national security state. It puts the final nail in the coffin of the Constitution by designating the entire United States as essentially the same "battlefield" in the war on terror as Iraq or Afghanistan, and authorizes the executive branch and the military to take whatever actions they consider legitimate against any human being anywhere on planet earth, civilian or enemy combatant, and to do so without any judicial oversight or constitutional constraint. If this Act is passed, the Bill of Rights will no longer protect American citizens from their government. The Constitution will no longer be the ultimate law of the land.
The House and Senate versions of the Act must now be reconciled and the Act sent to the president to either sign or veto. With his decision, he will determine the fate of those very liberties which, up to this point, have been integral to and indeed have defined America.
Obama's Most Fateful Decision
by Jim Garrison
The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, if signed into law, will signal the death knell of our constitutional republic and the formal inception of a legalized police state in the United States. Passed by the House on May 26, 2011 (HR 1540), the Senate version (S. 1867) was passed on Dec. 1, 2011. Now only one man -- Barack Obama, a scholar of constitutional law -- will make the decision as to whether the Bill of Rights he went to Harvard to study will be superseded by a law that abrogates it.
First, let's be clear what is at stake. Most critical are Sections 1031 and 1032 of the Act, which authorize detaining U.S. citizens indefinitely without charge or trial if deemed necessary by the president. The bill would allow federal officials to take these steps based on suspicions only, without having to demonstrate to any judicial official that there is solid evidence to justify their actions. No reasonable proof will any longer be required for the government to suspend an American citizen's constitutional rights. Detentions can follow mere membership, past or present, in "suspect organizations." Government agents would have unchecked authority to arrest, interrogate, and indefinitely detain law-abiding citizens if accused of potentially posing a threat to "national security." Further, military personnel anywhere in the world would be authorized to seize U.S. citizens without due process. As Senator Lindsay Graham put it, under this Act the U.S. homeland is considered a "battlefield."
What is at stake is more than the Constitution itself, as central as that document has been to the American experiment in democracy. What is a stake is nothing short of the basic fundamentals of western jurisprudence. Central to civilized law is the notion that a person cannot be held without a charge and cannot be detained indefinitely without a trial. These principles date back to Greco-Roman times, were developed by English common law beginning in 1215 with the Magna Carta, and were universalized by the Enlightenment in the century before the American Constitution and Bill of Rights were fought for and adopted as the supreme law of the land.
For more than two centuries of constitutional development since then, the United States has been heralded as the light to the world precisely because of the liberties it enshrined in its Declaration of Independence and Constitution as inalienable. It now seems as if the events of 9/11 have been determined to be of such a threatening magnitude that our national leaders feel justified to abrogate in their entirety the very inalienable principles upon which our Republic was founded.
At the heart of this Act is the most fundamental question we must ask ourselves as a free people: is 9/11 worth the Republic? The question screaming at us through this bill is whether the war on terror is a better model around which to shape our destiny than our constitutional liberties. It compels the question of whether we remain an ongoing experiment in democracy, pioneering new frontiers in the name of liberty and justice for all, or have we become a national security state, having financially corrupted and militarized our democracy to such an extent that we define ourselves, as Sparta did, only through the exigencies of war?
Within a week of 9/11, the Use of Military Force Act was approved which authorized the full application of U.S. military power against "terrorism." A month later, on Oct. 26, 2001, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Patriot Act that began the legislative assault on the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment right to freedom of association was gutted as federal officials were authorized to prosecute citizens for alleged association with "undesirable groups." The Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure was compromised by permitting indefinite detentions of those suspected of "terrorism." The Fourteenth Amendment right to privacy was obliterated as unchecked surveillance was authorized to access personal records, financial dealings, and medical records of any citizen at any time without any judicial oversight or permission. Evidence obtained extra-judicially could be withheld from defense attorneys.
The Patriot Act also criminalized "domestic terrorism." It stated that civil conduct can be considered "domestic terrorism" if such actions aim to "influence by intimidation or coercion" or "intimidate or coerce a civilian population." Put in plain language, this means that actions such as Occupy Wall Street can be designated as "domestic terrorism" by Federal authorities without judicial oversight and dealt with outside the due process of constitutional protections.
Two weeks after passage of the Patriot Act, on Nov. 13, President Bush issued Military Order No. 1 authorizing the executive branch and the military to capture, kidnap, or otherwise arrest non-citizens anywhere in the world if suspected of engaging in terrorist activities. Proof was not required. It stipulated that trials, if held, would be military tribunals, not civil courts, and that evidence obtained by torture was permissible. No right of appeal was afforded to those convicted. Numerous executive orders, findings, and National and Homeland Security Presidential Directives followed, further consolidating the militarization of due process under the law and enabling the executive branch to act without legal constraint after it has defined a person or group as potentially engaging in "terrorist" activity.
A year later, on Nov. 25, 2002, the Homeland Security Act was passed that for the first time integrated all U.S. intelligence agencies, both domestic and foreign, into a single interactive network under the president. The Act gave these intelligence agencies complete freedom to collect any and all data on anyone anywhere in the United States and, working with allies abroad, to access complete information on anyone anywhere in the world, working closely with local police, intelligence agencies, and the corporate sector. This dissolved the distinctions between domestic and foreign spying and made more ambiguous the distinction between domestic and foreign "terrorism."
The next major step took place on Oct. 17, 2006, when Congress passed the Military Commissions Act that effectively abrogated habeas corpus for domestic and foreign enemies alike, stating, "Any person is punishable who aides, abets, counsels, commands, or procures" material support for alleged terrorist groups. One of the most basic principles of both our democracy and our civilization, that a person cannot be held without being charged, was surrendered, and done so by substantial majorities in both houses. On the same day, the 2007 NDAA was passed, which amended the 1807 Insurrection Act and 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, prohibiting U.S. military personnel from acting upon U.S. citizens within U.S. borders. Not only was anything allowable in the pursuit of "terrorists," but the military was authorized to conduct operations inside the homeland in their pursuit.
Now comes the 2012 NDAA, which completes the process and thus serves as the coup de grace for a democratically voted metamorphosis from republic to national security state. It puts the final nail in the coffin of the Constitution by designating the entire United States as essentially the same "battlefield" in the war on terror as Iraq or Afghanistan, and authorizes the executive branch and the military to take whatever actions they consider legitimate against any human being anywhere on planet earth, civilian or enemy combatant, and to do so without any judicial oversight or constitutional constraint. If this Act is passed, the Bill of Rights will no longer protect American citizens from their government. The Constitution will no longer be the ultimate law of the land.
The House and Senate versions of the Act must now be reconciled and the Act sent to the president to either sign or veto. With his decision, he will determine the fate of those very liberties which, up to this point, have been integral to and indeed have defined America.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Listening post: 'Red Solo Cup'
Toby Keith's playful tribute to quintessential partyware gets me giggling. If you ask me, this should be the official anthem of anyone who's ever survived a kegger...
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Bob Conners retired today
"The Morning Monarch" turned in his headphones today, ending a 33-year morning-drive shift on 610WTVN.
We'll not see his like again -- he was the best, period.
Thanks for all the good mornings, BC, and safe travels.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Look who's talking
My indictment of talk radio for its lack of independent critical thought is a recurring theme here on KintlaLake Blog. Each and every day, crackling AM frequencies serve up a toxic brew of fear mongering and disinformation to support positions that don't require that kind of nonsense, credible conservative positions that stand on their own.
It annoys the hell out of me.
Then, every once in a while, I hear something that annoys me even more. That happened on Friday when "Adam," a high-schooler from Illinois, called Rush Limbaugh asking for advice. I've edited the transcript a bit here for brevity's sake, but I believe I've preserved its essence. Here's how the exchange began:
Limbaugh is pompous, self-absorbed and (arguably) megalomaniacal, ideologically hamstrung and shamefully dismissive of facts. He cranks out bogeys faster than Hershey churns out chocolate bars.
And yet, in this case, he's absolutely correct. So what's my problem?
If caller "Adam" takes Limbaugh's counsel -- and again, on its own it's excellent advice -- he'll learn to think critically about everything he encounters. Naturally, that'd include what he hears on conservative talk radio, which probably isn't what the host had in mind.
Case-in-point, the "Four Corners of Deceit." Limbaugh warns his listeners that government, academia, the media and science are in the business of lying to the People, hopelessly co-opted by liberal ideology. Anything attributed to these sources should be presumed false (at best) or sinister (at worst) until proven otherwise.
That's reactionary cynicism, not critical thought. It's anchored in political ideology, an approach which makes independent critical thought quite impossible.
If Rush Limbaugh truly subscribed to independent critical thought, Dittohead Nation would cease to exist. He'd never again utter the words, "Don't doubt me!"
So what makes me cranky, ultimately, is that he encouraged "Adam" to "think critically and challenge things that don't make sense" -- that is, as long as it's not applied to him.
It annoys the hell out of me.
Then, every once in a while, I hear something that annoys me even more. That happened on Friday when "Adam," a high-schooler from Illinois, called Rush Limbaugh asking for advice. I've edited the transcript a bit here for brevity's sake, but I believe I've preserved its essence. Here's how the exchange began:
ADAM: "I have an economics teacher, Mr. McCoy. He's a screaming liberal, and I challenge him in his class, so he plans his lesson around me, and he tries to set little traps for me. Is there anything you can help me say just to shut him up and put him in his place?"If you're even the least bit familiar with Limbaugh's modus operandi, you think you know what's coming next -- but read on:
"He says, 'Like Adam, all conservatives hate public good. They want the lower class to suffer because they don't have enough money.'"
"He actually is a really good teacher and I do learn things from him, but his classes --"
LIMBAUGH: "Okay, wait a minute, now, why is he a good teacher, then?"
ADAM: "I've learned things in his class."
LIMBAUGH: "You know, it sounds to me like you're doing pretty well in this class, because what's happening here -- I know you've called me and asked for assistance, and I know millions would like to get that from me, but you're out there, you're thinking that whatever this guy is doing, whatever he's teaching he's still inspiring you to think critically and that's the most important thing.Excuse me?
LIMBAUGH: "I don't care what else you get out of school with, whatever grades you get in classes and so forth, but if you get out of there with the ability to think critically and challenge things that don't make sense to you off the top, that's good. Critical thinking is what is not taught anymore."Ok, now that just pisses me off.
Limbaugh is pompous, self-absorbed and (arguably) megalomaniacal, ideologically hamstrung and shamefully dismissive of facts. He cranks out bogeys faster than Hershey churns out chocolate bars.
And yet, in this case, he's absolutely correct. So what's my problem?
If caller "Adam" takes Limbaugh's counsel -- and again, on its own it's excellent advice -- he'll learn to think critically about everything he encounters. Naturally, that'd include what he hears on conservative talk radio, which probably isn't what the host had in mind.
Case-in-point, the "Four Corners of Deceit." Limbaugh warns his listeners that government, academia, the media and science are in the business of lying to the People, hopelessly co-opted by liberal ideology. Anything attributed to these sources should be presumed false (at best) or sinister (at worst) until proven otherwise.That's reactionary cynicism, not critical thought. It's anchored in political ideology, an approach which makes independent critical thought quite impossible.
If Rush Limbaugh truly subscribed to independent critical thought, Dittohead Nation would cease to exist. He'd never again utter the words, "Don't doubt me!"
So what makes me cranky, ultimately, is that he encouraged "Adam" to "think critically and challenge things that don't make sense" -- that is, as long as it's not applied to him.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
First Amendment moment-of-the-week
The opening of last night's Country Music Awards show was, by any measure, priceless. I hope you enjoy this clip as much as I did.
(If you don't know the story behind Hank Williams Jr.'s cameo at the CMAs, click here. The awards show was broadcast on ABC which, like ESPN, is owned by The Walt Disney Company.)
(If you don't know the story behind Hank Williams Jr.'s cameo at the CMAs, click here. The awards show was broadcast on ABC which, like ESPN, is owned by The Walt Disney Company.)
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
NRA: 'Fire Holder'
My family and I saw this commercial for the first time during dinner last night. Give it a look and, if you agree with us, click here to sign the National Rifle Association's petition demanding that Pres. Barack Obama fire Attorney General Eric Holder.
Election Day 2011
The hottest measure on Ohio's ballot today -- Issue 2, which asks citizens to decide whether or not the state may limit certain collective-bargaining rights for public employees -- has drawn national attention, and for good reason.
The tone of the campaign has been dishonest, often downright ugly. The outcome, I suspect, will be more of the same.
In point of fact, FDR's position wasn't anti-union -- it was pro-People. Every bit of ugliness surrounding the Issue 2 debate -- and neither side may claim the high ground -- can be traced to confusing the two.
The tone of the campaign has been dishonest, often downright ugly. The outcome, I suspect, will be more of the same. "All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters."Those are the words of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, penned in a 1937 letter to the National Federation of Federal Employees. Supporters of Ohio Issue 2 have quoted the passage often in recent weeks, noting the irony of a liberal icon explicitly opposing collective bargaining for government employees.
In point of fact, FDR's position wasn't anti-union -- it was pro-People. Every bit of ugliness surrounding the Issue 2 debate -- and neither side may claim the high ground -- can be traced to confusing the two.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Gallup: Appetite for gun control at all-time low
According to a Gallup poll conducted early last month, support for Second Amendment rights continues to grow among The People.
Public opinion is in our side, 73% to 26%, in opposing a handgun ban. Likewise on banning so-called "assault weapons," 53% to 43%.
Even more important, in my opinion, a record-low 43% favor stricter laws governing the sale of firearms, with 60% preferring that authorities enforce current gun laws rather than passing new ones.
In an analysis of its findings, Gallup notes that Americans may be "moving toward more libertarian views." I hope that's true, but it doesn't relieve us of our duty to remain vigilant.
Public opinion is in our side, 73% to 26%, in opposing a handgun ban. Likewise on banning so-called "assault weapons," 53% to 43%.Even more important, in my opinion, a record-low 43% favor stricter laws governing the sale of firearms, with 60% preferring that authorities enforce current gun laws rather than passing new ones.
In an analysis of its findings, Gallup notes that Americans may be "moving toward more libertarian views." I hope that's true, but it doesn't relieve us of our duty to remain vigilant.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Well done, Sheriff
(Admittedly "aggravated" Sheriff Chuck Wright of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, making an articulate case Monday for being an armed citizen.)
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
On channeling Glenn
Back in the warehouse at work, I keep my desktop radio tuned to a local all-talk station. I'm no one's disciple, mind you, nor have I changed my opinion that conservative talk radio is an intellectual desert. Still, since I'm armed with independent critical thought, what I hear often serves as a useful starting point.
Glenn Beck -- still crazy after all these years -- fills the 9am-to-noon slot each day. And while he's more apocalyptic and decidedly Goddier than I am, the truth is that we share many of the same views.
The difference, simply put, is that I get there without melodrama, precious metals, right-wing social ideology or reliance on prophecy.
One morning last month, Beck devoted an hour of his radio show to personal and family preparedness, recapping a webcast he'd done the night before. I present his stream-of consciousness notes here, unabridged -- I'll come back with my observations on the other side.
Flip back through KintlaLake Blog, especially my posts on urban resources and preparedness, gardening and canning, frugality and keepers and more. Notice the striking similarity between Beck's mindset and my own.
I'll admit that appearing to channel a talk-radio klaxon bugs me a bit. The point, though, is that Glenn Beck and I are, at least in this regard, on the same preparedness page -- and that's a good thing.
Glenn Beck -- still crazy after all these years -- fills the 9am-to-noon slot each day. And while he's more apocalyptic and decidedly Goddier than I am, the truth is that we share many of the same views.
The difference, simply put, is that I get there without melodrama, precious metals, right-wing social ideology or reliance on prophecy.
One morning last month, Beck devoted an hour of his radio show to personal and family preparedness, recapping a webcast he'd done the night before. I present his stream-of consciousness notes here, unabridged -- I'll come back with my observations on the other side.
BUY FARMLANDDoes any of that (minus the obvious) sound the least bit familiar?
Grow your own food.
Live near people & Begin to make alliances-of-skill. (barter)
Live near farmland.
ELECTRONICS-FREE
Paper copies of important documents.
Know where your deeds are. Take them in an emergency.
Russian gangs in trouble.
COLLEGE/SCHOOL
Apprenticeships are the future.
Discuss the value of school for what you can earn.
Do not look for labels -- they will become meaningless. (Yale)
Find other forms of school. (online)
Teach young children now that college is not a given.
Demand merit for school & student or pull your time/$.
Educate yourself at all times. Always read.
Have a hardcopy of all important books/documents.
Learn old and/or lost practices.
Mending/canning/farming.
Learn to fix an engine.
Re-learn reading a map.
Know the news. Life can change quickly.
Be able to defend your positions by knowing the other side.
TRADITIONS
Preserve what is important. Shed all others.
Conserve & preserve. Reclaim & restore.
MONEY
Gold, food, cigarettes, liquor, sugar, ammunition, guns, seeds, skills. (barter)
Knowledge.
Have 30 days' cash-on-hand.
Buy a house.
Stop all excess spending. Buy quality only. Forget fashion-only.
Measure twice, cut once. Do not waste.
Consider a fuel-efficient SUV/truck.
Consider something prior to 1979. Fix yourself.
LOCATION
Live near like-minded people. Texas, mountains or where God still plays a role in real life.
If you cannot move (no place will be untouched), create network.
BUSINESS/WORK
Be the best you can be. Be the one employee no one can fire.
Small biz -- be the product or service no one can cancel.
Conserve & preserve.
Learn from the Depression.
Advertise when no one else is: Chevrolet.
Stay in business, but downsize & preserve. (arch)
Honesty, integrity & charity.
BE GEORGE BAILEY
Spit yourself out of the system. Turn upside-down now.
Put your money where your heart is.
Do business in symbiotic ways -- we need each other.
Do not try to put others out of business -- let them do it.
Gimbles & Macy's.
Never be the smartest man in the room.
Take care of your employees the best you can.
Take less & give more.
Read Franklin & Washington.
LIFE
Do not plan your life & then move. Plan, listen & obey.
Practice at least Franklin's American religion.
Serve.
Honor all of your obligations.
Preserve -- food, time, money, energy.
Teach your children the basics. Values/principles.
Do with less now. Less of a shock if it comes later.
Serve/share.
Join a 9.12 group. Link online. Phone & locations.
Have a meeting place established for family.
Read the Bible.
Have a gun & know how to shoot it.
Resolve those issues that are holding you back.
Stop all behavior that does not expand you or others into good.
Make amends for what you have done.
Find peace & get to work.
Teach children work ethic.
Tolerate nothing that you feel is wrong by remaining silent.
Let your children see you stand.
Be honorable in all of your dealings.
Understand that anger is a part of life but never feed it.
The first look is not a problem. It is the second look.
Never be the best man/woman in the room.
Be happy & optimistic. Life will go on. Make plans for the future. Get married. Have children.
Flip back through KintlaLake Blog, especially my posts on urban resources and preparedness, gardening and canning, frugality and keepers and more. Notice the striking similarity between Beck's mindset and my own.
I'll admit that appearing to channel a talk-radio klaxon bugs me a bit. The point, though, is that Glenn Beck and I are, at least in this regard, on the same preparedness page -- and that's a good thing.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sharps: Benchmade 755 MPR
Sharps-wise, my interests tend to wander around. For a while there I had my attention on fixed blades -- mostly Bark River but also RAT (now ESEE), Fiddleback Forge and others -- and various slipjoints.
Now, for some reason, I'm drawn to folders, and a couple of weeks ago I picked up one dandy of a folder -- a Benchmade 755 MPR.
The 755 essentially is a production version of custom maker Shane Sibert's "Mini Pocket Rocket." The Benchmade's weighty price tag (MSRP $235, street $200) and the materials used in its construction (titanium for the frame, G-10 for the scales and Böhler-Uddeholm M390 "super steel" for the blade) have some comparing it to high-end offerings from the likes of Chris Reeve and Mick Strider.
Honestly, that sort of apples-oranges exercise isn't terribly useful. Having handled and used Sebenzas and Striders, however, I'll say this: The Benchmade 755 MPR deserves the compliment.
It's well-designed and extraordinarily well-built. The action is smooth and precise, the blade scary-sharp and the construction so solid as to qualify for the "bomb-proof" label.
I won't attempt a full review here -- Woods Monkey (for example) did a credible job with that -- but after carrying the overbuilt Benchmade for a week I've formed a few impressions.
The 755 is both a small knife and a big knife, compact enough to skirt statutes that frown upon blades longer than three inches and yet large enough to be a hand-filler that begs for tough duty. It's surprisingly lightweight but by no means is it a slight "gentleman's knife" -- clipped to a blue-jeans pocket, the beefy folder's thick profile always reminds me that it's there.
I found the lanyard tube disappointingly small, for what it's worth, and I would've preferred tip-up carry, but those are nits -- this is one helluva knife.
As for the price, yes, it's considerably higher than I'm inclined to pay for a folder, no matter how good it is. But when I saw a KnifeWorks coupon code (still active as I post this) that knocked 25% off the street price I mentioned above, I couldn't resist pulling the trigger.
Think about it -- for the going rate of a Small Sebenza you could buy two Benchmade 755 MPRs and feed a family of four at Golden Corral.
Now that's what I call value.
Now, for some reason, I'm drawn to folders, and a couple of weeks ago I picked up one dandy of a folder -- a Benchmade 755 MPR.The 755 essentially is a production version of custom maker Shane Sibert's "Mini Pocket Rocket." The Benchmade's weighty price tag (MSRP $235, street $200) and the materials used in its construction (titanium for the frame, G-10 for the scales and Böhler-Uddeholm M390 "super steel" for the blade) have some comparing it to high-end offerings from the likes of Chris Reeve and Mick Strider.
Honestly, that sort of apples-oranges exercise isn't terribly useful. Having handled and used Sebenzas and Striders, however, I'll say this: The Benchmade 755 MPR deserves the compliment.It's well-designed and extraordinarily well-built. The action is smooth and precise, the blade scary-sharp and the construction so solid as to qualify for the "bomb-proof" label.
I won't attempt a full review here -- Woods Monkey (for example) did a credible job with that -- but after carrying the overbuilt Benchmade for a week I've formed a few impressions.
The 755 is both a small knife and a big knife, compact enough to skirt statutes that frown upon blades longer than three inches and yet large enough to be a hand-filler that begs for tough duty. It's surprisingly lightweight but by no means is it a slight "gentleman's knife" -- clipped to a blue-jeans pocket, the beefy folder's thick profile always reminds me that it's there.
I found the lanyard tube disappointingly small, for what it's worth, and I would've preferred tip-up carry, but those are nits -- this is one helluva knife.
As for the price, yes, it's considerably higher than I'm inclined to pay for a folder, no matter how good it is. But when I saw a KnifeWorks coupon code (still active as I post this) that knocked 25% off the street price I mentioned above, I couldn't resist pulling the trigger.
Think about it -- for the going rate of a Small Sebenza you could buy two Benchmade 755 MPRs and feed a family of four at Golden Corral.
Now that's what I call value.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Tragic necessity
By now you've heard the story: On Tuesday evening, the owner of a private exotic-animal farm in Zanesville, Ohio, liberated his menagerie before taking his own life. A total of 56 animals -- including 18 Bengal tigers, 17 lions, nine bears, four primates, three leopards and two gray wolves -- disappeared into the rainy twilight.
Deputies from the Muskingum County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the scene where, with no realistic alternatives, they shot to kill. Wielding the tools they had -- patrol rifles and handguns -- they took down 49 animals.
Six of the escapees were captured and hauled off to the Columbus Zoo. A missing monkey is presumed to have fallen to one of the big cats.
The bizarre incident unfolded 35 miles east of the KintlaLake household. Since it happened it's been the hot topic at diners and dinner tables, water coolers and cash registers. Local news outlets have covered it thoroughly and well.
There's been an outpouring of public sorrow over the deaths of more than four dozen exotic animals, many of them endangered species. Predictably, Sheriff Matt Lutz is being criticized for issuing shoot-to-kill orders, by people who believe that authorities should've handled the situation with tranquilizer darts instead of live rounds.
That's just plain ignorant. I speak from some experience here, by the way -- my father was a veterinarian for more than four decades, and I witnessed him administer anesthesia, tranquilizers and euthanasia preparations to hundreds of animals. It's an unpredictable exercise, to put it mildly, but please don't take my word for that.
"It's not as simple as seeing the animal and taking a shot and it's going to go to sleep," said Gwen Myers, a veterinarian with the Columbus Zoo. Dr. Myers worked with deputies Tuesday night.
So did Barbara Wolfe, chief veterinarian for The Wilds, an animal preserve southeast of Zanesville. She told of shooting a tranquilizer dart into the neck of a 300-pound Bengal tiger -- bullseye. What followed, though, wasn't exactly made-for-Animal Planet fare.
"He sort of exploded," said Dr. Wolfe. "He roared, he got up, and he came straight for me."
Deputies were forced to open fire, killing the tiger.
Neighbors and friends of the farm's owner now are reminding us what a great guy he was, telling us how much he loved his exotic "babies," asking us to understand that he was yet another troubled veteran of the Vietnam War. And while all that may be true, the man's final act was to sentence 49 creatures entrusted to his care to certain death.
The deputies who responded to Kopchak Road in pouring rain and deepening darkness Tuesday night had no real training for what they faced and no choice but to do exactly what they did. They had neither the means nor the time to track, contain, subdue and capture.
Their duty, as we define it, is public safety, and human life trumps animal life. I doubt that any of these law-enforcement officers, many of whom probably are hunters, relished what they had to do.
They'd agree that the animals were innocent, the outcome tragic. The actions they took, however, were indisputably necessary.
Deputies from the Muskingum County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the scene where, with no realistic alternatives, they shot to kill. Wielding the tools they had -- patrol rifles and handguns -- they took down 49 animals.Six of the escapees were captured and hauled off to the Columbus Zoo. A missing monkey is presumed to have fallen to one of the big cats.
The bizarre incident unfolded 35 miles east of the KintlaLake household. Since it happened it's been the hot topic at diners and dinner tables, water coolers and cash registers. Local news outlets have covered it thoroughly and well.
There's been an outpouring of public sorrow over the deaths of more than four dozen exotic animals, many of them endangered species. Predictably, Sheriff Matt Lutz is being criticized for issuing shoot-to-kill orders, by people who believe that authorities should've handled the situation with tranquilizer darts instead of live rounds.
That's just plain ignorant. I speak from some experience here, by the way -- my father was a veterinarian for more than four decades, and I witnessed him administer anesthesia, tranquilizers and euthanasia preparations to hundreds of animals. It's an unpredictable exercise, to put it mildly, but please don't take my word for that.
"It's not as simple as seeing the animal and taking a shot and it's going to go to sleep," said Gwen Myers, a veterinarian with the Columbus Zoo. Dr. Myers worked with deputies Tuesday night.
So did Barbara Wolfe, chief veterinarian for The Wilds, an animal preserve southeast of Zanesville. She told of shooting a tranquilizer dart into the neck of a 300-pound Bengal tiger -- bullseye. What followed, though, wasn't exactly made-for-Animal Planet fare.
"He sort of exploded," said Dr. Wolfe. "He roared, he got up, and he came straight for me."
Deputies were forced to open fire, killing the tiger.
Neighbors and friends of the farm's owner now are reminding us what a great guy he was, telling us how much he loved his exotic "babies," asking us to understand that he was yet another troubled veteran of the Vietnam War. And while all that may be true, the man's final act was to sentence 49 creatures entrusted to his care to certain death.
The deputies who responded to Kopchak Road in pouring rain and deepening darkness Tuesday night had no real training for what they faced and no choice but to do exactly what they did. They had neither the means nor the time to track, contain, subdue and capture.
Their duty, as we define it, is public safety, and human life trumps animal life. I doubt that any of these law-enforcement officers, many of whom probably are hunters, relished what they had to do.
They'd agree that the animals were innocent, the outcome tragic. The actions they took, however, were indisputably necessary.
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