...of Venezuela, by the USA, and coming in the near future would not surprise me in the least; but of course if there is one it will have been staged - at least this is my hypothesis.
If you have not yet realized it, the president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez is, at least in the opinion of some sane people, an ultra leftist kook. His recent speeches, at the United Nations and at the church in Harlem, NY, revealed a side of him to the world that he probably would have been better off suppressing in front of the cameras. Yet I am happy he made those speeches as they probably rob him of virtually all credibility in the eyes of normal people. This man, the same one who allegedly has sent large numbers of his political opponents to die before firing squads, who allegedly squashes democracy in his own country on a daily basis through fear and violent retribution, who allegedly has virtually destroyed the economy of Venezuela by eliminating the middle class and now having only two classes rich and very poor, had the temerity to call the president of the United States of America el Diablo (among other things). This man, who is an ally of Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria, would try to have people believe he is a seeker of freedom! It is outrageous to say the least.
Well, while he allies himself with our enemies, while he may be an ultra leftist kook, while he slams our president - it does not mean he cannot form plots to control others, and to keep himself in control while attempting to garner support for his twisted idea of him being a good leader. His speeches, I think, were just one of these attempts. In the speeches I see the possibility of another such plot being formed or even starting to be carried out toward the end of garnering Chavez more support from ultra leftist USA hating whackos. Do you see it too. While it may not actually happen, it would not surprise me if we were made to think that someone has tried it.
What I am speaking to are Chavez's claims that since he made those speeches in which he called President Bush the devil, he has repeatedly said that his 'friends' have warned him that President Bush may try to have him killed. He said it here in the USA, now he repeated it today in Venezuela:
"Some worried friends over there have called me (to say) that because I called him the devil they have condemned me to death," Chavez said without elaborating further on his sources.
"But they won't kill me. I have faith in life," he said. "I know how to take care of myself and the Lord will protect me and you all will protect me," he told a cheering crowd in eastern Venezuela where he was visiting a group of state-funded agricultural cooperatives. (from FoxNews.com @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,215368,00.html
Can't you see it already. This is what I imagine is coming: Sometime in the near future, we are going to turn on the news to learn about an alleged but failed assassination attempt against Hugo Chavez. All the evidence that will be gathered will point in only one direction - to the Whitehouse and president GWB. The thing is though, this will all have been fabricated by Chavez and his cronies.
Of course this is all hypothetical on my part, but I believe there is a chance of this happening from how Chavez seemingly has been setting the stage. If he can pull it off, then much of the rest of the world will further condemn the USA and president Bush, much of the rest of the world will see Chavez as the next Fidel Castro, much of the rest of the world will have fallen further into a pit of lunacy. Of course, he will not even have to pull it off convincingly if he really tries this. He would just have to make us wonder, was there really an assassination attempt - and this can be accomplished by staged minor injury to him, that appears to have been the result of an assassination attempt. The media circus to follow will do the rest.
If I am right in my hypothesis, my guess is also that this will happen in the not too distant future. I would say shortly before the general election day in the USA. So it would probably come in October sometime, or maybe very early November. It would be my guess Chavez would hope this to have the effect of causing the left and center to vote against the right in massive numbers. I think it would have another effect, just showing that the man is more nutty than even I had suspected before he visited the UN; and quite possibly causing a landslide victory for the right.
Time will tell if any of this comes to be, or if it was just a poor gues on my part. Probably just a poor guess on my part as I am not much of a conspiracy theorist; but then again, I sort of see it as a possibility nonetheless...
All the best,
Glenn B
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Something else to do on a Saturday...
It is always a good thing to have something which can keep you busy, to occupy your time, to distract your mind from places that it should not wander, to keep you from doing things you should not do, to help keep you focused, to help you lead an interesting life (I prefer an interesting life despite it being a curse at times), to keep your mind active, to keep your soul at peace, and to show your children that there really is something besides just hanging out with friends, sending instant messages to friends on the Internet, and MTV.
What I am talking about are chores, hobbies and other such pursuits. getting your kids interested in doing chores (not an easy task), and getting them interested in hobbies (sometimes an easier task), and getting them interested in other pursuits, say like sports is a good thing. I am not big into athletic sports, especially not spectator athletic sports; and I am not really talking about them at all. When I say sports I mean things in which you or your kids participate. I got both of my children into athletic sports at an early age. My daughter, now 21, roller blades for exercise and for stress relief. That is a good thing. I wish she did some more, but it is okay. My son is into roller hockey. Only seasonal but that is okay too.
I also got my kids involved in shooting. This is a sport, though not necessarily athletic. Please do not confuse athletic sports versus sports in general. While athletic sports include the obvious sports like swimming, baseball, soccer, football, hockey, running, weight training, judo and so forth; non-athletic sports include such things as poker playing, horse racing (non-athletic for us as opposed to the horses), falconry, hunting, fishing (though these last two can be quite the test of your athletic endurance) and shooting, among others. There are plenty of things you can do to occupy your time and the time of your children. It helps keep folks active, and out of trouble when taught correctly by parents, and even more so when the parent regularly participates with the children.
Other things that are great time fillers are hobbies. Things like stamp collecting, coin collecting, treasure hunting with a metal detector, hiking, camping, photography, gardening, model building, writing, reading, wood carving, collecting in general, pet keeping, and so forth. Many of these are things that can be done alone, or by more than one person at once. The ones that can be done on a solo basis are great for parents, their kids, or other adults when they need some down time to relax but don't want to be just lazy. I recommend highly that each and everyone of you go out and get yourselves something to fill your down time.
I have been giving more of my down time to things like this lately. They have made me relax better, made me be uptight less, and have been an overall enjoyment to me. For example, yesterday and today I worked out in the garden. It was kind of dull work, but basic work, and was enjoyable just to keep busy and to do it alone. Later today I did some work on my pets. I keep reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals. My son is somewhat into this too, though not as much as me, though my guess is that when he is an adult he will delve into it much more. Even though I worked at cleaning all the tanks yesterday, today I decided to do more. I took an old terrarium, one which I had neglected for awhile (only plants in it), and decided to spruce it up. I tore out old dying plants, turned the soil, added composted soil from my compost pile, added some red worms and earthworms, replanted some of the old plants into it, and also put some new ones into it. Total cost of this was zero as I used only things on hand, including plants from my backyard. Then I enjoyed another hobby; I wrote about it here. I tend to combine my hobbies, and am not really a master at many of them, but I sort of enjoy being a jack of all trades or should I say hobbies.
I feel good about having done these things today. They may not be much in the scope of things, but they kept me busy throughout my morning and early afternoon. Now I can laze about at the computer, blogging, and enjoying a glass of wine. I feel even better when I see one of my kids doing something that interests them. Another day in Paradise; yes it most definitely is just that.
What I am talking about are chores, hobbies and other such pursuits. getting your kids interested in doing chores (not an easy task), and getting them interested in hobbies (sometimes an easier task), and getting them interested in other pursuits, say like sports is a good thing. I am not big into athletic sports, especially not spectator athletic sports; and I am not really talking about them at all. When I say sports I mean things in which you or your kids participate. I got both of my children into athletic sports at an early age. My daughter, now 21, roller blades for exercise and for stress relief. That is a good thing. I wish she did some more, but it is okay. My son is into roller hockey. Only seasonal but that is okay too.
I also got my kids involved in shooting. This is a sport, though not necessarily athletic. Please do not confuse athletic sports versus sports in general. While athletic sports include the obvious sports like swimming, baseball, soccer, football, hockey, running, weight training, judo and so forth; non-athletic sports include such things as poker playing, horse racing (non-athletic for us as opposed to the horses), falconry, hunting, fishing (though these last two can be quite the test of your athletic endurance) and shooting, among others. There are plenty of things you can do to occupy your time and the time of your children. It helps keep folks active, and out of trouble when taught correctly by parents, and even more so when the parent regularly participates with the children.
Other things that are great time fillers are hobbies. Things like stamp collecting, coin collecting, treasure hunting with a metal detector, hiking, camping, photography, gardening, model building, writing, reading, wood carving, collecting in general, pet keeping, and so forth. Many of these are things that can be done alone, or by more than one person at once. The ones that can be done on a solo basis are great for parents, their kids, or other adults when they need some down time to relax but don't want to be just lazy. I recommend highly that each and everyone of you go out and get yourselves something to fill your down time.
I have been giving more of my down time to things like this lately. They have made me relax better, made me be uptight less, and have been an overall enjoyment to me. For example, yesterday and today I worked out in the garden. It was kind of dull work, but basic work, and was enjoyable just to keep busy and to do it alone. Later today I did some work on my pets. I keep reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals. My son is somewhat into this too, though not as much as me, though my guess is that when he is an adult he will delve into it much more. Even though I worked at cleaning all the tanks yesterday, today I decided to do more. I took an old terrarium, one which I had neglected for awhile (only plants in it), and decided to spruce it up. I tore out old dying plants, turned the soil, added composted soil from my compost pile, added some red worms and earthworms, replanted some of the old plants into it, and also put some new ones into it. Total cost of this was zero as I used only things on hand, including plants from my backyard. Then I enjoyed another hobby; I wrote about it here. I tend to combine my hobbies, and am not really a master at many of them, but I sort of enjoy being a jack of all trades or should I say hobbies.
I feel good about having done these things today. They may not be much in the scope of things, but they kept me busy throughout my morning and early afternoon. Now I can laze about at the computer, blogging, and enjoying a glass of wine. I feel even better when I see one of my kids doing something that interests them. Another day in Paradise; yes it most definitely is just that.
Ballseye's Boomers: Mossberg M44
This is my first and only CMP rifle. For those of you not familiar with the CMP, it is the Civilian Marksmanship program. It is run by the United States government, and it sells things like rifles, surplus rifle parts and accessories to the public. Isn't that sweet. I think it is, because you get these things at a pretty good price.Folks I have to tell you, the cost of this rifle to me was a great bargain. My only regret about the rifle was that I did not by two or more of them, I think the limit was three. If I live long enough - I may learn something from my mistakes. I will admit when I first bought it, I was a little leery; I kind of wondered about how good a deal I could get on a used rifle from the U.S. government for only $75.00. Yes folks, you read that correctly - only $75.00. Of course there were a few added expenses but that was okay. There was shipping which raised the price to $94.96 total from CMP. Then there was the issue of needing to buy magazines for it as it did not come with a magazine. That was okay by me, even though the magazines went for about $30 each if I recall correctly. So with one magazine, the complete package was less than $130.00, and that is a great deal on a rifle in so good a shape especially considering the cost of them now, much higher than just a few years ago.
When I say so good a shape, I mean pretty much excellent. While not an unused rifle, it at some time or another had to have been arsenal reworked, it was in excellent shape. The bore is excellent, very distinct lans and grooves. The bolt is in excellent condition and operates smoothly and flawlessly. The rifle feeds, fires, extracts, and ejects every time; but what would expect from a quality bolt action rifle. The rear sight is a peep sight, the front sight is a post. Not the best combination, I really should find the correct front sight which would likely be a globe front sight of some type. The finish is Parkerized, and is laid on thick. As it is my only Parkerized firearm, I don't know if this is right or not, my guess is that is how they come when this finish is added. It is seemingly a durable finish. The wood is also very nice, oil finished from the look and feel of it. The trigger guard is the only non-metal part (besides the stock) that I can find, it is plastic. There were concerns that this would have turned brittle and cracked, but this is not the case with mine - it maybe a replacement put on at the arsenal. The magazines though after market production are great (again I got these after I bought the rifle, and not from the CMP). The rifle will fire .22 short, long and long rifle, and the magazines I purchased have an adapter allowing each of those rounds to be used. As for accuracy, this is a tack driver, its inherent accuracy is much better than my ability and I am no slouch, not by a long shot.
Just in case any of you are wondering why a U.S. arsenal would have rifles in .22LR caliber, they were for training purposes. Those rifles no longer being needed are then sold to the public. Sometimes you get a clunker, other times you get a really nice one. Their descriptions of the available rifles seem to be pretty much right on from what I have seen, and from what I have heard from others. The CMP also offers other rifles such as Garands in larger calibers. The CMP is invloved with national matches, gun clubs and so on. You can check out the CMP and what it has to offer at:
http://www.odcmp.com/
By the way, I just checked my paperwork on this one. I bought it in February 2001. The serial number is 101911. I never realized the last three of the serial number before, that makes it a little more special to me.
All the best,
Glenn B
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