Radom chit pt 2

It's happy dance time! Kim du Toit is back on the air! (With help from his lovely wife Connie.) Big ol' hat tip to Xavier for the notice.

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Is it wrong for me to wish for an EMP that'll wipe out all the electronic masturbation toys (i.e. cell phones, Ipods, Blackberrys, etc.) of these fools who keep walking directly in front of our car?

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Anybody want a kitten or two? We've got 4 two-month-olds ready to go, out the door, and two of our other cats both had litters a week ago! One had 10 kittens (only 6 survived) and the other had 4 (3 survived). Here's a pic of one new mamma with all of the kits.

We realized there was no way all 14 of the kits could've come from one mamma (who I caught in the middle of giving birth to #2), and since one of the cats went from "mostly pregnant" to "not pregnant anymore," and we found the 4 all-black ones in the litter box (eww!), we deduced that the not-as-huge-pregnancy cat had hers in the litter box, and the hugely-pregnant cat was having hers wherever she could find (I ran in after hearing one of the babies crying, getting dragged around by her momma still attached by the umbilical cord! She really didn't have good instincts for this.)

I always feel like, sombody's watching me...

No, not the Geico commercial, I'm laughing at the fact that my Sitemeter tells me that the Bobbies came looking at my blog, after I commented on Phillip Luty! The next day, Britain's SkyTV came calling too! Looks like the Brits are getting their knickers in a twist over someone who remembers what it once meant to be a Brit, owning a gun, ready to stand up to defend self, country and King!

Jeeze, I'm getting folks from all over (not just on that subject, tho): British Telecom, someone in Croatia, Portugal,Sweden, Finland, some folks apparently getting me passed around in their email, even someone serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom! Wow, thanks for visiting!

PS I wanted to say thanks to Firehand at Irons in the Fire, a lot of the folks coming here were following links from his blog, where he got fired up about the injustice done to Phillip Luty, so he posted about it too.

Random chit

If you happen to see Mark Chesnutt while you're running errands today, don't forget to wish him a Happy Birthday. It's #46 for him.
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I don't feel like commenting more on the current BS outta DC, I've already put in my 2 cents in other blogs, so I'm probably up to about $.50.
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In a sad commentary on events, the British Scouting Association has banned carrying any knives. Despite British law still allowing non-locking pocketknives with blades no-more-than 3 inches, the officials claim it is because of concerns over a "growing (British) knife culture." I'm calling BS, it's over a lack of arresting-and-punishing-the-guilty-yobs culture! I can't imagine being in Scouts and not being encouraged to have a pocketknife on your person. In fact, I recall a meeting after a campout (that I missed), where one of the advisors was disappointed that several of the Scouts on that trip didn't have a basic pocketknife, so he was presenting them all with an Opinel, and the reminder to "Be Prepared," you know, that "Scout motto" thing. Now? {sigh} I'm pretty sure that Sir Baden-Powell is spinning in his grave.

Funny thing about it all, from what opinions I've gathered online, is that England is the only one with this "problem," across the English Channel in France (and the rest of Europe), a pocketknife is perfectly normal to have with you, you know, as long as you're not up to no good. As examples, if you're in the park and using your Opinel or Swiss Army knife for slicing up some cheese and summer sausage for lunch, the Gendarmes will probably wish you bon appetit; whilst if you're out drinking and fighting in the alley behind the bar and the cops find you with a big ol' RamboNinjatronicDeathMaker2000, well, kiss your ass good night, you're going to jail! Hell, I was reading another Texan's blog, where he chronicled his adventures in nanny-state-ism, after using his pocketknife in a restaurant to cut up his food ('cause frankly, restaurant knives ain't good for cutting soft cheese, much less a steak). One of the employees called the cops on him, and they stopped him three times along his way home! They all chatted with him for a minute and let him go, but it still added up to wasting 45 minutes of his time, plus the expense to the taxpayers to investigate this "crime." Oh yeah, he's more than a little pissed about it, as would I. (Oh, by the way, welcome to my blogroll!)

Update on Homemade Firearm author

A while back I expounded on a citizen's right and duty to be ready for defending themselves against criminals and tyrants, with a link to the website of Philip Luty, tinker-extraordinaire, who authored Homemade Expedient Firearms, in which he shows plans for a working submachinegun made from common household materials. Working because he actually made it, in spite of the UK's laws against the peasants having guns of pretty much any type, and for his troubles the gubmint there locked him up for 5 years; it would've been only 4, but they buggered up his parole because he was fairly unrepentant about the whole thing. Being incarcerated only served to piss him off, so he decided to branch out, from a book of his plans to the whole freakin' Internet, documenting his developing hobby of amateur gunsmith, tho without the ability of testing his creations anymore, because of constant gubmint scrutiny. They even resorted to arresting his father and brother on the trumped up charges of "conspiracy" in '05, despite the evidence of Luty's own tesimony of planning and working alone. I had noted, with some concern, that his website had become "forced dormant" in recent months, and today I find that it is because Mr Luty has been jailed once again, for "aiding and abetting" some alleged "terrorists" who were found in possession of his book. The UK gubmint refuses to disclose where he is being held, they barely admit that they do have him in custody, and they further refuse to describe in any detail what the charges are and who the other suspects and the details of their case. In an attempt to win some favor in his case, his family has taken down the body of the website, thus the "you are here" post on it, but without any other explanation.

Ya know, this makes me glad the US told them what to do with themselves 230-sumthin' years ago, and with the current trends, I hope that Texas will do the same to the US soon! Then maybe we can offer him political asylum if he wants to leave there (once he's released from prison again), since as a convicted felon he's otherwise having tremendous difficulty in getting a Visa, and he is suffering from cancer, which means he probably isn't going to get preferential treatment under their oh-so-wonderful national socialized health care, and can't leave the country to seek treatment elsewhere.

A-Ha! AlGore's invention ain't so bad, it remembers for you! You can still read his site here.

Current events

Apparently That One has appointed too many Czars to oversee every little mote of gubmint interference in our lives, because there is now a office of Stasi and Okhrana to check up on folks who resent the new Gubmint Health Care Reform Plan. Those "shovel-ready" jobs He promised must be in building the new offices for all the files they're going to keep on nearly every citizen!

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As my Ex has already posted, we had to put our old Sheltie to sleep this last Friday. Emmett was 16 1/2 years old, and the runt of his litter, tho he lived a lot longer than either of his brothers. It was a little strange, his death bringing back together for the day, my parents and me and my Ex (we're ALL divorced!). Tears were shed, prayers were said, and he left this world surrounded by those who loved him in life; I guess we should all hope for that as our ending.

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Tonight I was driving around, and encountered our local bicycle group going on their monthly "moonlight ride." Except I think they're still supposed to follow all the same traffic laws as a motor vehicle; this group was taking up both lanes on one side of the road, making it impossible to pass them. For all that some bicycle enthusiasts scream and fuss about having equal rights to use the road, this group (and most kids riding crazy) leaves the impression that they aren't really about "sharing the road," they want special rights for being out there and "being green" (NOT like Kermit the Frog). Plus, there's the hypocrisy of them driving their cars to the bicycle shoppe where they started from, then they'll drive back home once the ride is done. They don't ride their bikes as necessary transportation like some folks do, this is leisure for them, and self-righteous at that, given the smugness of the environmental movement today. (People's Exhibit A: mercury is bad in fish, but good in new, gubmint-required light bulbs. People's Exhibit B: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is good unless it's your old car, then it's not even good as spare parts anymore once the gubmint gets ahold of it! Then it sits waiting for the smelter, and pollutes the groundwater with caustics.)

Requiescat in pace, Capt. Speicher

I found out Sunday that the remains of Navy Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher were recovered and identified, after almost 20 years of him being listed as MIA/KIA from the first Gulf War. Apparently, he died during the crash of his F/A-18 hornet, and his remains were found by Bedouin tribesmen, and according to their traditions, buried before sundown the end of the next day. An Iraqi citizen remembered this, and brought Marine Corps teams out last month to investigate, bringing to a close the mystery of Speicher's disappearance and death, and bringing some closure to his family.

H/T to TexasFred.net.

Local Victory Garden in the "news"

I put "news" like that because it's the University Press, the Lamar U. student newspaper (which, frankly, barely qualifies as a university-level student newspaper, IMO). The article in question is on the front page (which I can't read in .pdf, no matter how many times I download & install Adobe, it just hates my computer and vice versa; thankfully I have the paper itself in front of me). The gist of the story is that the McFadden-Ward House is planting a Victory Garden, as a community gardening project called Green Thumbs, which is apparently a hands-on children's education project. From the story by Rei'sha Hector, UP staff writer:

"It's surprising that a lot of kids, these days, don't have a clue where vegetables come from, so it's important to teach them an interest in nature, conservation, and gardening," Carol Cuccio, McFadden-Ward House education assistant, said.

The education department at the McFadden-Ward House thought the same and created in January Beaumont's first community garden, now named the Victory Garden. A variety of seed have already been planted, such as carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, squash, green beans, zucchini, and tons more. The garden also contains a small herbal garden.

I think it's great that they're trying to get the next generation interested and involved in gardening, maybe the children can glean some wisdom from Beaumont's old timers, who had Victory Gardens for real, the last time around, before that knowledge is lost. I find it a little bothersome, tho, that the article made no mention of the historical nature of the Victory Gardens, or their current revival, especially in light of the occasions and holidays that the McFadden-Ward House is decorated as it was during the World Wars.

More about Gov. Perry and secession

In our local newspaper today ,they had a little "pro/con" editorial about Gov. Perry's comment at the Tea Parties about Texas seceding. Now, I think it's kinda funny that the "our position" view (of the Enterprise's editorial board) was that him bringing up secession also has the baggage of the Confederacy and slavery, when it's only the opponents of secession that EVER bring up slavery, to emotionally charge the argument and to bias any neutral bystanders against any rational reasons FOR secession. At least the two commentors on their page had the common sense to see thru the straw man claim. (Plus, they support my idea that those opposed to secession aren't from Texas to begin with. From what I've seen, true Texans love Texas and don't think it's a bad thing if Texas was an independent nation again!)

One thing I've started wondering about, is that if Gov Perry does declare Texas independent again, does he automatically become the President of the new Republic of Texas, and where does that leave the Texas Nationalist Movement? (Leaving aside for the moment whether we'd instantly become a Republic, or would there be a vote for some other name.) Last I checked, their President was also the last President of the interim govt of the Republic of Texas group. (There's also the thing about Chuck Norris saying he'd run for the job!) Hell, where would Kinky Friedman sit in all of it? Would he run for President instead of Governor? Same for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson; would she run for President too? She certainly wouldn't have her old job anymore, no need to represent a state that's not in the Union anymore, unless she was made first Ambassador to the US.

Speaking of ambassadors, I've figured out what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be Texas' first Ambassador to France, appointed by President Chuck Norris! (Hopefully!) I already like their bread, and their toast (strange fact: French bread put into the toaster doesn't come out as French toast), and some of their knives (Opinel, cool old school!), and their Foreign Legion makes the US Marines look sane in comparison! Plus, if they give me any shit about being from "that little upstart country," I can point out a couple of things: (1) We're bigger than them; (2) (A) Mexico beat them; (B) We beat Mexico; (C) Therefore, I'm sure our embassy staff and me can kick more that a few of their asses! Also, it might be fun to have the Dissident Frogman over for drinks and swapping gun stories, and I could offer him sanctuary if his country goes in the crapper more.

(I had previously wanted to be Texas to be independent again so I could visit England, and I could wear a big honkin' Bowie knife on my belt, and be protected under their crazy-assed "cultural exemptions" to their highly strict knife laws! Now, I'd want to add a pistol and claim diplomatic immunity for capping some yobs and hooligans.)

Gov Perry in hot water after Tea Parties

I heard on the news a little bit ago that some Democrats and other whiny types are upset over Gov. Perry's mention of Texas secession at the tax protest Tea Parties yesterday. While he may have only meant it in passing, for some of us it is a very real topic. I encourage Gov. Perry to not back down from these fools, and I encourage all my loyal readers (yes, both of you!) to also write to the Governor to do the same. The last thing he needs to do is show lack of courage before these damnedyankees, scalawags, and carpetbaggers.

While there is not a direct email address for the Governor, there is a comment form on his website. Please use it (or call) to leave your encouragement.