The Invisible Mayor - Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, Toledeo Ohio

Yes folks you would not think that a whole city could disappear almost overnight, but at least to me, it seems that the City of Toledo, Ohio has done just that, well at least the mayor's office anyhow. This morning read a blog over at Wizbang. That story is about the Mayor of Toledo telling the U.S. Marines that they were not welcome in Toledo, Ohio to conduct urban warfare training in said city, and telling them to get out of the city. An amazing display of what I think amounts to subversion at the least, and even possibly to sedition or treason.

After reading that, I went to a few news sites and got some more facts on what had happened. I am not casting aspersions at Wizbang, they have a fine site, but sometimes bloggers do tend to exaggerate. So I went to: The Toledo Blade, to FoxNews.com , to CNN (where I did not see anything about this), to the BBC (where I also found zilch), to The Drudge Report where I found this link: http://www.nbc24.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=94192. Okay, there were at least three news stories supporting Wizbang.

Then I figured I would go to the mayors web page and read up on his side of the story. I clicked on this link at Wizbang: http://www.ci.toledo.oh.us/MayorsOffice/tabid/184/Default.aspx. I wanted to see his side of the story, and then maybe send him an email too. The thing is that said link did not work. When I put it into my browser and hit enter, I got a page with a bunch of mumbo jumbo computerese on it, here was the first line: "Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.". Click the link, you may see the same (of course that may change if the link was temporarily overloaded or BLOCKED by the city of Toledo because of them not wanting to have anyone lambaste them). I tried again, this time using Google to search out the link for the mayor's office. I got a somewhat different link: http://www.ci.toledo.oh.us/ but this one had the same results as above.

I then clicked on the email link, also provided on the Wizbang page: it did not work either, but I think that was a fault of how it was loaded. I did send an email to the Mayor of Toledo at: mayor.toledo@toledo.oh.gov. My email was pretty tough on him, in essence telling him I believe him to be a disgrace for what he did to those Marines.

Wondering if the City of Toledo Police department had anything on their web site about this I figured I would search out and go to their site. I found this link: http://www.toledopolice.com/. I visited the link and found nothing on this brouhaha with the Marine Corp. I don’t think they are hiding or trying to be invisible though, they were the ones who apparently okayed the Marine Training in Toledo:

"Toledo police said they knew about the training and had approved the unit’s use of the Madison Building and the Promenade Park area." (NBC24.com)

Has the City of Toledo gone invisible. At least it seems that way for the Mayor's office! Well invisible on the Internet, at least to me. As for him remaining invisible, hiding his head up his own asshole in the sand is not going to accomplish anything. As I wrote in my email to him, he owes the united States Marine Corps an apology, and $10,000.00. That is how much it reportedly cost the Marines to travel to Toledo to set up the training, and yes they reportedly spent that much already - all wasted because of one man's poor decision

If you are wondering why Mayor Carty Finkbeiner made the decision to keep out the Marines, here is what his spokesman reportedly had to say about it:

"The mayor asked them to leave because they frighten people," Brian Schwartz, the mayor's spokesman, told the newspaper. "He did not want them practicing and drilling in a highly visible area." (from FoxNews.com ).

Can you imagine that, the mayor thought they may frighten people. Yet the Toledo Police Department had already done what they had done in the past to prepare for the Marines training in Toledo. Yes the Marines had been there for this training several times before, only this mayor of Toledo has a problem with them. The Police had contacted the media who alerted the public, the Marines would be in Toledo again. Reportedly the public, at the last such training in 2006, appreciated and enjoyed watching the event, but the mayor saw it differently:

"I saw the military with guns drawn emulating warfare, and I observed the expressions of citizens who happened to just be coming down the sidewalk that particular Saturday noon in wonderment, asking, 'What have I found myself in the middle of?... "There was a look of wonderment on some people's faces, and there was a look of fear on other people's faces."
Others did not agree with the mayor's assessment:

"While glancing about a downtown nearly empty of people yesterday afternoon, Douglas Finch, Sr., 55, of West Toledo, said he found the mayor's concerns unbelievable. Mr. Finch recalled witnessing the camouflaged and rifle-bearing Marines in downtown two years ago. He said the sight was attention-grabbing, not scary." (Toledo Blade).

I have to wonder, would it not frighten people more to see terrorists running amok in their streets, and no Marines there to put them down. Is there something wrong with how the mayor sees all of this, or does the mayor just want the publicity ala the mayor of Berkeley, CA who recently told the U.S. Marine recruiters in Berkeley that they were not welcome in said city. Or was it the mayor was pissed off because the Police department had not notified him of this training. Nah, the mayor had already previously said he did not want the marines in Toledo - as I see him in my personal opinion - he is just an asshole anti-American dirtbag, who is fulfilling his agenda to become and ultra leftist idol.

Folks, I look at it this way now - it is too late for an apology. I think the good people of the USA should boycott Toledo if possible. I think the good people of Toledo, OH should demand that the mayor step down. I think that the U.S. Government should withhold all federal funding from Toledo until said mayor has disappeared off of the political scene in Toledo. I think that the government should be investigating whether or not this was sedition or treason. I think that should one American Marine lose his or her life because they had that training denied to them, this guy should be, in my opinion, tried for treason, and if convicted he should be hanged (if legal) or otherwise put in jail for as long as possible!

Now it is time for all of you to do your thing. Write to your elected officials and make as big a stink over this as possible. Write to the mayor himself, and demand that he step down from public office. Boycott Toledo, at least until the people of Toledo wake up and kick this guy out into the cold. Heck, it could have been their own sons and daughters, or your sons and daughters, to whom he was denying the ability to make themselves better and safer marines. That my friends is an intolerable disgrace. What could be worse: If he now says he supports the troops, and my bet is that is exactly what he will say!

All the best,
Glenn B

England no longer is...

...England or ruled by English law. The British as seen here aparentlyalready have lost he war, the Muslims have taken over by at least in some ways ignoring the British legal system and implementing sharia law in defiance of English law. The truly sad thing is that the Brits are letting them do this. The law of the land is for each and every person in the land. There should be no, absolutely no special provision made for someone becaus eof their religion or lack of religion. Hang em high should apply to all if justified, religion should have nothing to do with it, only the law of the land should decide the fate of the criminal. Too bad, I had hoped to visit England in the future. As it is I will not now for fear of becoming subject to sharia law.

All the best,
Glenn B
Citizen of a country ruled by Constitutional Law!

Today In History: "Tokyo Express no longer has terminus on Guadalcanal".

Those words that appear in the title were wired by General Alexander Patch to his superiors upon the securing of Guadalcanal on February 9, 1943. The fighting there had begun on August 7, 1942. It was the first major offensive against Japanese forces by those of the USA and other allies. This battle saw major repated action on land, sea and in the air, and it was a major defeat for the Japanese, and the first land victory by the US against them. (The very first land defeat for the Japanese in the Pacific was dealt to them by the Australians at the Battle of Milne Bay.)

This battle or campaign as it was called back then took 6 months to the day, with the Island being proclaimed secure 2 days after fighting ceased, and Japanese troops were evacuated. The casualties in this one campaign alone are estimated to have been:

28,850 Japanese - The source for this only listed Japanese land forces and US Marine land forces regarding casualties, see: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Guadalcanal/USMC-M-Guadalcanal-A.html The Japanese have been estimated to have lost over 2/3 of their forces at Guadalcanal.

7,100 USA - This source showed this number as the total US forces lost in all aspects of battle for guadalcanal; see: http://www.pbs.org/thewar/detail_5210.htm

Look at those numbers again. In 6 months of fighting there were more casualties for the USA than there have been throughout the whole of the current Iraq war by about double. My guess is that if we compared insurgent and terrorist losses from the current war to thos elost by Japan at Guadalcanal, we would find that the losses to our enemy today far outnumber those from back then. Yet we have Code Pink, the mayor of Berkely, CA, and people like Cindy Sheehan, Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and others who have been, or are still, telling us how we are doing poorly in this war and need to recall the troops. Yes the loss of even one life is tragic; but there are some damned good reasons to go to war - and some good reasons that our soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen are over there fighting. The defeat of terrorism in the world today, and the protection of the United States of America, are just as good reasons as was the defeat of the Axis powers back in WWII.

For mor einfo on Guadalcanal see:

http://www.vectorsite.net/tw2guad_1.html

http://www.guadalcanaljournal.com/index.htm

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

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Guadalcanal/USMC-M-Guadalcanal-A.html

The Clouds Hung Low...

...and followed me, and I got my second moving violation ticket of my life today - for something, and I am none to sure I did wrong. The first ticket I had gotten, was about 26 years ago. I always try to drive safely, courtesy, and within the law. That earlier ticket was dismissed. Hopefully this one will also be dismissed, but time will tell. I still for the life of me cannot figure out how the officer thinks I crossed 5 lanes without signaling when there were only 3 lanes. I was coming around a u-turn lane, had my directional on to enter the roadway to the right, but the darned thing clicked off as I went around the long curve. By the time I came around into the entrance ramp the officer was slamming on his brakes in front of me, and I had to make a move around him. I was not indanger of hittingnhim because I remained at a good distance, but that was one bad move by him. He had no reason to have done that except for wanting me to pass him since there was no traffic in the lanes we were both entering (he was in front of me on the u-turn then the ramp). He puts on his lights just ebfore I pass him, and I thought he was getting a call and immediately gave him wide berth and I moved away from next to him across toward the right lane to play it safe. He immediately lets me pass and then gets right on my rear end and pulls me over. Once stopped he says I crossed 5 traffic lanes without a signal; but it was a three lane road. I thought I was doing the right thing getting out of his way quickly and I guess I was a bit startled by his slam braking move, and his lights coming on, so I forgot to signal that I was changing lanes to move out of his way. I thought I was doing the right thing - getting out of his way immediately - because at first I had no clue he wanted me. Oh well, he found fault even with that. Nice guy. Then when I took pictures of the roadway showing only 3 lanes, another officer who showed up decided to get nasty and started to tell me in wise arse tones "Sir don't you know you can only stop here for an emergency" (in an ultra sarcastic tone) this even though officer one had said it was okay to take the picture, and officer 2 had heard him.

What a day at the beach metal detecting a moment almost at the beach, where I was going to go metal detecting. I say moment almost at the beach because that is all it was. Did I forget to mention, I just went home right after that, my day was ruined.

I have no problem getting a ticket, but boy it sure would be nice to see some professional courtesy from the officers. I mentioned that to the officer. The officer then said I should have requested courtesies! I was getting a bit miffed once he said that, how dare he think I was expecting favors. I did not mean (as the officer thought) that I wanted any special consideration. He thought I had meant that and said where is my badge, and I told him he saw it when I took out my license, and that he could not have missed it the way my credential case holds the license and badge. I quickly added what I had really meant though was that I had expected both officers to have been respectful and courteous, and officer 2 was anything but, and officer number 1 was on the border line of being less than respectful. Just not nice at all, not courteous or respectful of the public, and in such a situation an officer should not be anything but respectful and courteous - that was not officer 2. Both were rather gruff and unpolished too. It made for a bad experience for me, their attitudes that is.

Of course getting a ticket was bad enough, so I did not need the rest. Crap, second ticket in 26 years, and heck I have only been pulled over about 2 or 3 other times in all that time in my personal cars (I try to drive with courtesy, and respect for the law, and likewise for other drivers and pedestrians). Upsetting of an otherwise good day indeed. I'll get over it though; and I'll have my day in court soon enough.

All the best,
Glenn B

Full Auto Gun Video - What a Show

Dennis, a friend of mine, just sent a video link to me; the video shows the annual Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot, which is held at the Knob Creek Gun Range in Westpoint, KY. If you enjoy shooting, or are interested in it at all, take a look at this video. Oh all those evil gun owners, and criminal gun enthusiasts, with all those nasty and evil really neat assault weapons automatic firearms make me wonder why we are not all dead since gun people are so evil, and since guns are so dangerous in the hands of anyone except for the government not there already, and when Brendan and I will be going down to Knob Creek to protest gun ownership and support gun control shoot up a storm. Well if not a storm, at least a little dust devil since $80 for 100 rounds is pretty friggin expensive. I guess though if we start saving, maybe we can make one of these within the next 10-15 years..

Why do I say one of these within the next 10-15 years. Well they said it in the video, they have a 10 to 15 year waiting list to shoot on the front line, and I cannot imagine going to all the way to Knob Creek for their semi-annual machine gun shoot without a chance to have a blast. Can you imagine that, so many bloodthirsty rights starved Americans travel to Knob Creek, KY each year, just to this event, that there is up to a 15 year waiting list to shoot on their main firing line? What is it with these gun toting thugs freedom loving Americans? Hmm - maybe that is just it - they love freedom - and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is the most precious of those rights to many of us (and should be the most preciousto all of us) since it assures the longevity of all the others.

Now in all seriousness folks, if the law moral and good firearms owners of America, with all their weapons, were as evil as the gun-control lobbying freaks ultra leftists would have us believe, don't you think that by now those people shown in the video would have wiped out half of America. The thing is,those gun owners, and firearms enthusiasts, love the USA. They are willing to prtoect their country, themselves and their neighbors from the dirtbags (such as murderers, rapists, robbers, terrorists, tyrants and so forth) who would try to deny us our freedoms. They are for the great majority of them - Good Americans enjoying one of their most basic rights.

As to Brendan and I going down to the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot, oh well - for now I guess it is just look and dream. Hot damn though, I did like that ending, it sure is tempting.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Look At The Candidates - On The Issues

If you want to take a look at those running for office, or should I say take a look at how they think about and vote on the actual issues, well go no further than: On The Issues

For example: I wanted tot ake a look at the candidate for whom I will most likely wind up casting my vote in the Presidential elections (yes I know the primaries are not over yet, but I am a realist), so I went to said site and took a look at what they have on John McCain.

The site is rather impressive, and I can only hope what they report is accurate. I do not like McCain on Gun Control, but what they show is far better I think than what Gun Owners of America has to say about McCain and his voting record on the RKBA issue. I see that in great part, I am in agreement with McCain on the abortion issue. I could think of a couple of other exceptions that would allow abortions, but I am pretty much with him on how he views the issue. I'll have to do some more in depth reading of how he sees the issues, and how he votes on them, and I will comment more on this as I do so.

All the best,
Glenn B

As If An Apology Will make It better

Berkeley, Calif., Mayor Apologizes to Military Members Following Flap Over Council Vote Now they want to apologize! Now they want to say:? "We Support The Troops". The next thing you know, they will revoke the special parking privileges they issued to the extremist left wing group Code Pink. The fact is though, thave already slung the mud, the damage has been done, and their true colors have been shown (not red, white, and blue but the colors of traitors in my opinion). I think that any funding that the U.S. Government gives to Berkley, CA should be suspended indefinitely. I also think that voters should never forget who voted to condemn the U.S. Marine recruiters, and they should vote to oust those council members next time around.

All th e best,
Glenn B

I Have Added A Few New Links To Blogs...

...and you can find them over on the right uner the Grumps, Geeks, and Geniuses - Bloggers All Worth A Read header. They are:

islam - The Religion of Peace

and:

NeoCon Command Center

Enjoy.

All the best,
Glenn B

Well, Romneys out so it just got a lot sadder!

Those are the words from one of my reader's, Rita, in reply to my earlier post Politics Is Sad. Yes, in my opinion, and the following is my opinion, things certainly have taken a sadder, more somber hue to them since this afternoon when Mitt Romney dropped out of the running for the republican nomination to run for the presidency. I truly don't know which of the two remaining Republican candidates (no I am not including Ron Paul - him getting nominated would be preposterous, almost as much as is he running as a Republican).


My bet is that when the smoke clears, and the mirror have all been broken, we will be left with McCain as the nominee for the Republican Party; and therefore my guess too is that in the next few years a serious movement by the conservative base of the Republican Party will move away and regroup as its own new party. For now though, it looks as if George W. Bush may wind up looking like a conservative Republican (and he certainly is not that) when viewed next to the likes of John McCain if he is eventually elected to the presidency.


I will hand McCain one thing though, he is tenacious; he does not surrender easily, or at all. That could be great for the war on terror, but I sort of doubt it when I think of his views on illegal aliens who have entered our country through a criminal act. If he becomes president and remains as lax on immigration as he is now, our future as a nation with its own culture, its own borders and its own identity will have been lost. He has to realize that the great majority of Americans wants a stop to the flow of illegal aliens across our borders, and the removal of most of them who are here illegally. He does not have to give up, or surrender on this issue, he has to realize that as president he needs to bow to the will of the People. If he does not change on this issue, then no matter how hard he fights against terrorism, we will lose the war, because they will flow across our borders like water in a raging river. Yes I know he pledged today to close down and secure the borders. It will do little if he allows to remain within our borders those criminals who have already entered our nation illegally, because they will only lobby, cajole and arm twist until he someday reopens the borders. What a shame this guy now looks like a shoe in. Just like GWB, he claims to be strong in the war on terrorism, yet he wants to allow all the illegal vermin to remain behind, and claims he will close the borders. They were pledged to have been closed already, but the fence is still not up - now is it. Nope folks it is not, and McCain promises to just be another George W. Bush, a version 2.0. In addition he wants to join hips with the likes of feingold and Kennedy, and it looks as if the Republican Party has slapped its conservative core in the face, heck likewise with its moderates too. What a shame indeed, it is truly sad.

All the best,
Glenn B

Remington 241 Takedown Rifle - Partial disassembly and reassembly using takedown feature

BB's Blog reader Fred sent me an email saying he just picked up a model 241 for himself. He is unaware as to how to operate the takedown feature of this rifle and asked that I let him know how it's done. It is a simple operation as follows. Remember to always make sure to follow the rules of firearms safety when you carry out this, or any, disassembly/reassembly of a firearm.

Disassembly: (Note: In the video I say this is one easy step, but as you can see here the takedown can be broken down into several, although still easy, steps).

1) As with virtually any firearm that you are about to disassemble, make sure that it is unloaded.

2) Grasp the rifle, preferably with two hands, one at the rear of the barrel assembly, and the other on the receiver.

3) With a finger of either hand, push or pull the take-down button toward the rear of the receiver. The takedown button is located on the left side toward the front end of the receiver.

4) Holding the button toward the back of the receiver, give a twist to the barrel at the breech end, twisting it as far as it will go in a clockwise direction (when looking from stock toward muzzle).

5) Pull the barrel assembly free of the receiver. Now your model 241 is ready for cleaning, storage, or carry in the taken down mode.

Reassembly:

1) To reassemble the rifle, hold receiver in one hand, barrel assembly in the other hand, and place the breech end of barrel assembly into the receiver in same position as it was when you removed it, and so it is fully seated. Then twist the barrel assembly counter-clockwise (when looking from stock toward muzzle) back into place. When doing so you should hear an audible click indicating that the takedown button has reengaged.

Note that is you have a different version of this rifle than mine, yours may operate differently than the one in the video, and may require different steps for disassembly and/or reassembly.

This may not be Hollywood, or even Bollywood, level video; but I think you get the picture.

All the best,

Glenn B

Politics Is Sad

It is a sad day when Republican voters across America vote for a Republican in the same manner that feel good Democrats & Liberals vote for their candidates. What I mean by that is that most republican voters yesterday in the states won by McCain voted for the guy that made them FEEL better, and probably not for the candidate who would actually do better once in office. I voted but not for McCain.

They who voted for McCain base their votes on lots of things:

1) They believe him a war hero. This translates to they feel bad for him for having been held prisoner by the NV for so many years; and they feel bad about our boys and girls getting killed, hurt, or captured in Iraq and Afghanistan. So they get the weight of their guilt trip off of their shoulders by voting for McCain. Yeah I feel bad about all that too, but sometimes you need to bear the cross to make the right choice.

2) They believed he would, based upon his wartime experience, make the better commander in chief, and this makes them feel good. Maybe and maybe not. In fact, McCain has little if any high level experience in running things. Romney beat him here with his gubernatorial experience, albeit not military command experience.

3) McCain is not a Mormon, neither are the great majority of Americans. Yes this is a feel good issue for Christians, and is probably the only reason that Huckabee remains in the race to try to keep votes from Romney. Huckabee calls himself a good Christian, he should, in my opinion, be ashamed of himself. He will not win, has no chance to win, but he will make every effort to have another Christian (by his definition) win.

4) McCain is seen as more moderate and this makes many people feel all goofy and gushy and good about themselves because they have not voted for a hardliner. Well this is about as far from the truth as could be possible in my understanding. McCain is a liberal Republican. He is about as liberal a Republican as I have ever seen. He is the one who wanted to work out campaign finance reform with FEINGOLD. He is the one who wanted to work out amnesty for illegal aliens with TED KENNEDY! He repeatedly bows down to the far left. If people would only open their eyes and clear out the goofiness they would see him as such, and see that Romney is much more the moderate as compared to a more conservative candidate as was Ronald Reagan. But people hear that Romney is more conservative, and they also hear all this talk of extremists, and they do not want to be too far one way, they want to feel good as being moderate, so they wrongly pick the liberal Republican as the moderate.

5) They feel good voting for McCain because he looks like grandpa, and how could grandpa be wrong.

You get the idea, and there are a bunch of other feel good reasons that people probably voted for McCain. The thing is though, when and if the reality of him becoming President ever strikes, those same feel good folks will awaken one day feeling miserable that they put this RINO into office. Romney is the more moderate candidate. He is also the more conservative candidate. Of course I would liked to have had a choice in my state's primary for someone other than the 4 goofballs (McCain, Romney, Huckabee, and Paul) who remained in the running. Those such as Tancredo, or Thompson (both moderate to strong conservatives, but not extremists), or even Giuliani (a socialy moderate conservative) who would have been better than the remaining candidates (It is a sad day when Republican voters across America vote for a Republican in the same manner that feel good Democrats & Liberals vote for their candidates. What I mean by that is that most republican voters yesterday in the states won by McCain voted for the guy that made them FEEL better, and probably not for the candidate who would actually do better once in office. I voted but not for McCain.

They who voted for McCain base their votes on lots of things:

1) They believe him a war hero. This translates to they feel bad for him for having been held prisoner by the NV for so many years; and they feel bad about our boys and girls getting killed, hurt, or captured in Iraq and Afghanistan. So they get the weight of their guilt trip off of their shoulders by voting for McCain. Yeah I feel bad about all that too, but sometimes you need to bear the cross to make the right choice.

2) They believed he would, based upon his wartime experience, make the better commander in chief, and this makes them feel good. Maybe and maybe not. In fact, McCain has little if any high level experience in running things. Romney beat him here with his gubernatorial experience, albeit not military command experience.

3) McCain is not a Mormon, neither are the great majority of Americans. Yes this is a feel good issue for Christians, and is probably the only reason that Huckabee remains in the race to try to keep votes from Romney. Huckabee calls himself a good Christian, he should, in my opinion, be ashamed of himself. He will not win, has no chance to win, but he will make every effort to have another Christian (by his definition) win.

4) McCain is seen as more moderate and this makes many people feel all goofy and gushy and good about themselves because they have not voted for a hardliner. Well this is about as far from the truth as could be possible in my understanding. McCain is a liberal Republican. He is about as liberal a Republican as I have ever seen. He is the one who wanted to work out campaign finance reform with FEINGOLD. He is the one who wanted to work out amnesty for illegal aliens with TED KENNEDY! He repeatedly bows down to the far left. If people would only open their eyes and clear out the goofiness they would see him as such, and see that Romney is much more the moderate as compared to a more conservative candidate as was Ronald Reagan. But people hear that Romney is more conservative, and they also hear all this talk of extremists, and they do not want to be too far one way, they want to feel good as being moderate, so they wrongly pick the liberal Republican as the moderate.

5) They feel good voting for McCain because he looks like grandpa, and how could grandpa be wrong.

You get the idea, and there are a bunch of other feel good reasons that people probably voted for McCain. The thing is though, when and if the reality of him becoming President ever strikes, those same feel good folks will awaken one day feeling miserable that they put this RINO into office. Mark my words on it, and call me on it in about 3 or 4 years to tell me if I was wrong.

Romney was and remains the better choice to be a good president for America; heck as much as I hate to say it - so does Hilary Clinton (that is how strongly I oppose McCain). I doubt though that I could vote for her. Neither one of them in office would make me feel good, but both probably would do better by the country. Romney would almost certainly do much better than McCain. Well, with what we have left for whom to vote, I shiver at the thought of the next 4 years.

All the best,

Glenn B

Quarterly Qualifications

It was a warm day for one in the beginning of February today, at least by New York City standards, warm and damp, and even sometime wet. The steel gray clouds held low and promised rain, and every now and again they obliged that promise today, and the rains fell. Mostly gentle drizzle, sometimes a bit harder, up to a steady rain, but nothing to severe. Then back to being just damp again. That was okay by me, it had my spirits pretty high because I had to go to the range today for quarterly qualifications and the range is an outdoor one. With great timing, great for us shooters, the skies held back their tears as we left our training in the classroom and headed outside to shoot. So it turned out to be damp and warm, at least for a February qual. Warm meaning about in the low to mid 50s; and you can bet, that was good.

What wasn't so good though was my first score on the pistol course of fire. I have not shot as poorly as that in at least 24 years , and I mean that literally. When my range officer got done scoring it, he looked at it again, and asked me: "Where were you?" Where was I indeed to have scored a 220 out of a possible 250. I don't know, though I can think of some excuses, but excuses don't make one shoot better, or do they. I figured on what to do to improve by examining those excuses and a couple of other possible variables, and I then shot a 241 out of 250 on the second go round. Now that is none to great either. I have been known to shoot my fair share of perfect scores, but not that much in the last couple of years. That drop in score from the mid to high 240s, from scores in the mid to low 240s, which is what I usually shoot lately, is probably due to the eyesight not being what it once was. Oh well, that I can live with. A 220 score though, that is a tough one to live down for me, but I guess we can all have our off moments - better those off moments come at the range than in a gunfight.

As for shotgun, a perfect score. As to the MP-5 Submachine gun, I shot a 243 out of 250, which was good enough to satisfy me. Had I not turned around my pistol score though on that second go round, I would have been heartily disappointed for the rest of the day, maybe the rest of the week. I still cannot believe I shot a low score like a 220, very disappointing indeed. Still though it was uplifting to have brought up my score the second time around; so I guess I left the range a happy camper, qualified for another quarter, and with some extra ammo for practice. I'll be pretty sure to be shooting the practice ammo in the near future, I don’t want another 220 next time. As for the clouds, they remained friendly, the air remained crisp (or warm depending on how you look at it for February), and all in all it made for a great day at the range. Yes you can even shoot poorly and still have a great day at the range. Like fishing, a bad day shooting is better than a great day in the office; and this while not my best of days at the range, was far from a bad one.

All the best,
Glenn B

Voting Is Not All We Can Do - But There Are Restrictions On Political Activities of Government Employees

Well tomorrow (or is it today already, I guess I am up late again) is the so called Super Tuesday, and I wonder is it a coincidence that it so closely follows the Super Bowl. Yeah that’s all it could be I would think, a coincidence. Well anyway, I am a registered Republican, or was at least the last time I registered to vote a few years back (I registered then to change from independent to Republican). I live in New York State, and New York happens to be one of the states holding its primaries tomorrow. That means I guess I'll have to get up a bit early tomorrow today, stretch a bit, shake off the chill, and head to my polling place.

There is no way that I am going to miss my opportunity to help shape this next presidential election, and voting in the primary is the least I can do. That and actually voting in an election are about the most I can do to effect a partisan election without having to wonder if I am jeopardizing my career. That is because I am a federal LEO, and because of how the Hatch Act therefore limits my partisan political activity rights as a citizen. Sure I can do other things, but it gets tricky and every year the government is sure to ram the hatch Act reminders down the throats of federal workers, especially those subject to additional limitations. Most federal law enforcement officers are subject to those additional limitations. Most do not want to get screwed over by violating some act of Congress that they do not fully understand, so most do not get all that involved in politics, and not at all in partisan politics. I mean can you blame them since they could possibly get in trouble for having friends over for dinner and to talk about politics and for whom you think you should all vote (since this could be construed as organizing a partisan political meeting). The minimum penalty for a violation is 30 days of suspension without pay, and the maximum to removal from service. See this site for more info on the rules, and pay attention to the limitations seen on page 7:

http://www.osc.gov/documents/hatchact/ha_fed.pdf.

Imagine that the government told some of you, who are not government workers, that your rights to participate in partisan political activities was limited by an Act of Congress. Bet you would be PO'd for sure. Me, I have come to accept it, and I voice my political opinion loudly and proudly through my blog because that is one of the things I can do legally. I also make some cash contributions to candidates now and then. Other than those things - I vote, and I do so regularly. So tomorrow I will vote in the Republican Party's primary here in New York. Yes I am still a registered Republican despite my disappointment with the lack of conservatism by the party on many issues, and there sticking to some of those conservative values too much on other issues. I recommend that if you are a registered voter in NYS, or elsewhere, you too go and vote in the primary for your party or for one of the parties as allowed by law.

Me I have a good idea of for whom I will vote, and while I cannot urge you to vote for the same person, I can give you my opinion of whether or not he is the best candidate. I am probably going to vote for Mitt Romney. Why? Well because I believe he is a thousand times better than McCain, and at least that much better than Huckabee; and while I realize that is not saying much, I cannot find myself voting for either McCain or Huckabee. McCain, war hero and all, is in my opinion a far left leaning RINO. McCain, heck, he would give up our borders to invaders from the south, and that is enough for me to realize he is out of touch with reality and with the wishes of the American People. Remember he is the one who wanted to team up with Ted Kennedy (supporter of Barrack Obama the most liberal senator in the USA). I guess that Laura Ingraham basically summed it up for me in regard to McCain, when she in essence said, she would rather support Hillary Clinton than McCain because she believes Clinton to be more conservative! If you missed that, look here to this video at FoxNews.com.

As for Hickabee Huckabee, I beleive he is a man of his convictions, but not necessarily of reality. I think he is sort of a Republican Jimmy Carter. As for his partisan convictions, Huckabee is a man who stands too much on his religion, and who does not want to move into the 20th century, let alone the 21st century, regarding his outlook on social issues. Huckabee could have been my guy, he is right on the mark as far as I am concerned on many issues, but he really is way too far right socially, and I mean way to far. My bet is that he truly believes that dionosaurs walked the earth 5,000 years ago along with Adam and Eve. In my opinion he is almost as religiously wound up as would be an Islamo Fascist but of course just under the guise of another religion. While I am not religious to any great extent, I can well tolerate those who have religious convictions, but not those who are so religious as to be intolerant of others. Even the Pope is more moderate than he as I see it.

Romney is the better evil (is that an oxymoron or what) of the three; or let me just say the least of three evils. I sure do not like a lot of what he did in MA, but again, he sure beats the other two hands down as for being the better man of the three. What a shame to have to be left with the least evil of so many evils as a candidate for whom to vote, but that is how I see it.

Well, that is about it. Tomorrow Today - I'll vote; and who knows - maybe I'll have an epiphany before then and see them all in new light with the dawning of a new day. Right now all I can do is lament that Tom Tancredo did not receive more support, and that he did not have better name recognition when he went into the race. He was, as far as I am concerned the best guy that was in the running since Ronald Reagan.

All the best,
Glenn B

THE SUPER BOWL 4:00 minutes left in the game

I DON'T CARE WHO WINS - BUT WHAT A GAME! Gotta love this game, pretty good defense on both sides. A true battle, a better game than any loud mouthed, obnoxious, Patriots fan apparently thought it would have been; and almost as good as any loud mouthed, obnoxious, Giants fan thought it would be. No matter what winds up being the final score, I like it.

Byt the way, this is only the third game I have watched this year. More this year than in the last two combined.

All the best,
GB

Ballseye's Firearms Training and Tactics: A Self Defense Shooting, The Immediate Aftermath - What To Do If You Win

On one of the forums over at The High Road someone asked if we have a "medical obligation" to assist someone is we shoot them in self defense. I left a reply on THR, but also figured I would share my very long answer here on my blog, with some revisions and additions (not many of these though). This is my opinion, based upon my personal experience. It is long, but I think you may learn something from my experience, and from my opinion. Bear in mind, anything I mention below is my opinion; you need to act appropriately in whatever situation you find yourself based upon the totality of the circumstances and on your own ability to think and act under those circumstances. This therefore is meant as a sort of general guideline; but again I stress this is my opinion. Before reading on, and before taking any action based upon what you read here, see my disclaimer to the right on my blog home page.

These are the things I think you need to do in the immediate aftermath of you shooting someone in self defense or defense of an innocent.

After you wound someone in self defense:

You have a moral obligation to render at least first aid, if you know how to do so. You also have a moral obligation to render aid beyond that is you are so qualified. However, you have other obligations first - before rendering aid to someone you wounded in self defense or in defense of another innocent.

You have the obligation to ascertain that the area is clear of dangers to you and other innocents, this includes that the area be free of other dirt bags looking to do you harm, bad guys usually work in teams. YOU DO NOT WANT TO GET BLINDSIDED.

You have the obligation to secure the bad guy's weapon(s).You have the absolute moral and common sense obligation to yourself, and to other innocents, to make sure that the bad guy has been stopped. This includes immobilizing the bad guy with restraints, even if you think he may be dead or mortally wounded. Remember that just a moment before he was a deadly threat, and just because he has stopped for the moment, does not mean he will remain so. If you cannot get the assistance of another person to do this, you will have to secure your weapon, and the bad guy's weapon, and then secure the bad guy yourself.

You have the obligation to make sure you are not wounded, and if you are wounded to make sure you take care of yourself. (I added this since my reply at THR.)

You have the obligation to yourself and others to explain what just happened and to request assistance. Have someone else call 911 - NOT YOU - if at all possible (you calling 911, and saying something stupid in the haste and excitement of the moment could be devastating to you in court later). Tell them to explain to the 911 operator that a BAD GUY HAS JUST BEEN STOPPED IN THE COMMISSION OF A VIOLENT FELONY (word it however applicable).

You have the self saving obligation to make sure that the person calling 911 gives them the description of the GOOD GUY - that would be YOU, and to make sure that 911 got it right.

Tell the person to repeat to 911, that this is the description of the good guy.

Tell the person calling 911 to say that “YOU (meaning yourself) require immediate medical attention from a doctor.

All the above should not have taken much more than a minute or two, maybe as little as 15 seconds.

Now help the badguy.

If you do assist someone who is injured, you should say out loud, as you are doing it, what it is you are doing. It is just like CPR when you are taught to say what you are doing out loud. Checking for pulse, checking for breathing, and in a shooting - trying to stop bleeding, applying pressure to the wound, and so forth. Use a loud, slow, clear voice. This way they will not mistakenly think you are trying to kill the guy, or that you are in the process of going through his pockets to rob him, after just having shot him. Police who arrive on scene may also hear you saying this and thus be less likely to mistake you for a bad guy doing a bad thing. (At this point your weapon had best be put away and secure.)

You have the legal and moral obligation to await the arrival of law enforcement on the scene.

You have the obligation under law, and by way of common sense, to obey the commands of uniformed law enforcement officers - otherwise you may well end up STOPPED. If a uniformed cop yells out: "Police don't move, and you still have your gun out, you had better not move, not even to turn to look at him. Even if you are then unarmed, or armed and the weapon is secure, do not move. Follow their instructions, or you could wind up dead.

If a plain clothes officer is giving commands, ask to see some form of ID.

Remember the police are in control - not you.

Once the police are calm, request immediate medical attention from a doctor.

Upon arrival of the police, you do not have no to speak to the police other than telling them who you are, and such, and you can tell them you defended yourself against a life threatening situation. Let them know you are armed if they do not ask first, then calmly tell them so, but make sure your hands are in plain sight.

Get it, that is all you say about what happened: "I defended myself against a life threatening situation." If they ask, did the guy have a gun, did he have a knife, did he have a brick - what do you say? You say: "Officer I will answer your questions upon advice of legal counsel. As for right now officer, I am requesting immediate medical attention, from a doctor. " You do not need to go into details.

Tell the police you will speak to them more in the presence of a lawyer. You do not need to go beyond that.

Tell them you need the medical attention of a doctor immediately.

You have an absolute obligation to yourself to tell the police officers you want immediate medical attention from a doctor. You will not be well, believe me, even if you think you do feel okay, you will not be okay! Get that, understand that, you need immediate medical attention. Some of the things you may actually feel could be: chest pains, talkative, euphoric, talkative, headache, talkative, strong, talkative, hyped up, talkative, speedy, talkative, dizzy, talkative, faint, talkative, disoriented, talkative, hot, talkative, cold, talkative, weak, talkative, ready to pee your pants, talkative, wet in the pants back and or front, talkative, nervous, talkative, justified, talkative. I can almost assure you without a doubt - your pulse and blood pressure are probably abnormal all while you are feeling talkative.

Why are you feeling talkative? Well because if you are normal you want to have other people understand you did something right, not wrong - that you were the good guy. Be forewarned though, a wrong word here, a sentence you word poorly, can be misinterpreted by police and later by a jury even though you mean it another way. Think about whether or not you want to possibly say something that will result in you going to jail for life if a police officer asks leading questions (and it is part of their job to ask questions, and leading questions are quite alright in law enforcement interrogations and interviews) and you blurt out something wrong. I do not mean something you did wrong, but that you somehow in the eyes of the law say it wrong even though you did it right, and meant to say something one way but just said it in a way that could be misconstrued.

Ask for immediate medical attention from a doctor.

Now of course, if there was another guy, a bad guy, you can and should tell police. If there is another victim requiring aid, do likewise – tell the police. Give a description, tell them if you think he was armed (reserve anything about the guy you just shot having been armed unless you actually have his gun and have secured it). Ask for immediate medical attention.

When EMS arrives, when a paramedic show up, ask them for IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION FROM A DOCTOR.

I was involved in a shooting once where I hit the bad guy. The shooting itself could fill pages, it is a long story, I like to blab. So I'll not go into it here except to say I was fully justified; but I will go into the immediate aftermath because it is pertinent to this type of a situation. I started to blab like an opera singer to the police when they arrived. I was the center point of a semi-circle of several uniformed officers up to an NYPD Lieutenant. There were also at least a few detectives on scene. I answered every question they were asking me, I even answered the proverbial Officer DipShit who said if I actually hit the guy then surely 'I INTENTIONALLY must have shot him in the back based upon what I described because according to me (this is in the eyes of this one officer) I had shot the guy as he retreated, and I had back shot him'. I never described it that way, not in any way shape or form, but officer Joe DipShit thought I had, go figure. A regular officer arriving along with a white shirt (the NYPD Lt.) suddenly burst into the middle of the semicircle, gets in my face, and I mean right in my face, and in an overwhelming loud and commanding voice he says to me: "Sir, do you require medical attention? I think you should seek immediate medical attention." He did that about 3 or 4 times, maybe even 5, and I did not know why. He added things like my blood pressure may be high and so on.

I was having the hint slapped in my face, his face was a few inches from my face. He kept barking this out, and after each question from another one of the officers, he would again ask me (actually almost command me to answer him) if I wanted medical attention. It never made sense to me, not then anyhow, why he was doing this. He was doing this because I was being a blabbermouth. I had nothing to hide, but read again what I wrote above about Officer Joe DipShit and his conclusion after having heard my statements as to what had happened. I was exonerated (by a grand jury) of any wrong in this, but as Ralph Kramden would have said: “I have a Big Mouth!”. That could have screwed me over if more officers than just that one had thought I was saying what he thought I was saying, and in fact had I shot the guy in the back. It wound up good for me I had not in light of how that one guy thought.

Now you may wonder why did that one officer get in my face and tell me to shut up when I as being interviewed/interrogated by the other officers and detectives on the scene - including a lieutenant. That was like stepping on his on willy, and stomping hard at that because NYPD lieutenants are like demi-gods in the ranks of the NYPD. I don't know for sure; but my guess is that he found out I was another law enforcement officer, and he reacted as he would for a coworker. You see, I later learned he was a union representative of some sort with the Policeman's Benevolent Association (the NYPD police union). I asked some cops I knew about this later on. They assured me that anyone involved in a shooting is better off to FIRST ask for IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION FROM A DOCTOR, then ask for a lawyer. Why from a doctor? Well, this is because it likely means they will have to take you to a hospital and get you out of what is potentially a hostile environment as would be your environment had you been being interrogated by an officer Joe DipShit of your own; and even more importantly it assures you will be given prompt medical attention to rule out any life threatening condition that was a result of your having been involved in a traumatic (both physically and mentally) incident. Yes you will have been traumatized in some way if you shoot someone if you are a normal person.

I am in law enforcement myself; and I can tell you without a doubt: If I ever shoot anyone again, I may answer some questions on scene as I pointed out above, and I will remain polite and professional to any responding officers, but I will also make darned sure to request, and demand if need be, immediate medical attention from a medical doctor because now I know that after a shooting such is required to assure my own health and well being. Then I will ask for an attorney. Then, once it has been determined by a doctor that I am capable of being interrogated or interviewed, I'll answer more questions on the advice of my attorney.

Bear in mind, I am not telling you to do anything wrong here. You are not failing to render assistance to a wounded person, you are not impeding an investigation or lying, you are seeking to make sure that you and other innocents are alright before anything else - that's why you took those defensive actions in the first place. And try to remember, you are not weak because you help the badguy after you stop him, you are morally superior if anything; and of course you help assure he will spend a long time in jail with Bubba his big hairy cellmate. Of course, you need not help in most palces, but it is probably what I would choose to do.

All the best,
Glenn B

What Caliber For Groundhog?

Okay, so its Groundhog Day. Yeah I know, I wrote a nice piece about it earlier, but I was just over at The High Road, and someone brought up the fact that no one had psoted a thread asking "Which Caliber For Groundhog" today. I thought that was rather an interesting subject. So which caliber would you choose if hunting the elusive, and oft times hard to kill (see the movie Caddy Shack), groundhog?

As for me, I'd probably use a rifle in .22WMR caliber. Sure it means you have to get prtetty close, but if you can get in with 50-75 yards, you should have a good chance at a kill shot.

Once you decide how to kill it, one other question arises - how to cook it!

Now that I have added the picture of my wife with a scoped Marlin 25MN, let me just add: wouldn't it be wonderful if I could get her to shoot them, clean them and cook them. As it is I only ever got her to the range once; but she is one heck of a great cook.

All the best,
Glenn B

Today In History - The Treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Yes folks, if you are not up on your history, or have not guessed the importance of today’s date (besides it being Groundhog's Day), well today's date, back in 1848 that is - was the one about which all modern day La Raza type Mexicans are so pissed off. The day on which the Mexican-American War came to its final outcome, the day Mexico ceded over 1/2 of its territory to the United States of America after having its ass kicked been defeated by us militarily. The one which was actually the result not of initial American Aggression against Mexico, but of the then Mexican Government's own aggression against her own people, and Mexico's promise to declare war on the USA if the USA annexed Texas. Texas, which by the way, had become a Republic but only after Mexicans who lived within Coahuila-Tejas first broke away from Mexico, taking Tejas (Texas with them and allowing for it to later declare itself a Republic). Confused, let me explain.

You see the hostilities were started by a corrupt and oppresive government, the government of Mexico. Mexicans of the state of Coahuila-Tejas in then northeastern and centraleatsern Mexico revolted against President Antonio López de Santa Anna and his government. You may remember him, he is the one who in charge of Mexico at the time that the Mexican Army attacked the Alamo. It all started in 1835 when people of northern Mexico in Coahuila-Tejas province revolted against Mexico's new oppressive regime (can you imagine that, an oppressive government in power in Mexico). Well the following year, those in Tejas (Texas) declared themselves independent, extended their border down to the Rio Grande, and they soon formed the Republic of Texas. In 1845, the US Government annexed Texas and since Mexico had threatened war with the U.S.A. if such took place, a lot of border battles followed.

Eventually in 1846, the U.S. Congress declared war against Mexico. Our nation then proceeded to whoop their behinds, and I would guess that calls of "Remember The Alamo" may actually have been cried out in some of the ensuing battles. The war went on for about 2 years, that is until U.S. forces under General Winfield Scott invaded Mexico at Vera Cruz, advanced through Pueblo, and then took Mexico City. Mexico City fell in August 1847. A treaty, of the same name as the city in which it was signed, between Mexico and the USA was signed in the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848.

The treaty ceded over one half of Mexican territory to the U.S.A. This was a devastating defeat for Santa Anna and the Mexican people; yet Mexico had been urged by other nations (world powers at the time) such as England and france not to war with the U.S.A. as they too, like the U.S.A. recognized The Republic of Texas as an independent country. This fell on deaf ears in Mexico. As a result the U.S.A. got California, New Mexico, Arizona, and sections of Colorado, Nevada and Utah. Mexico got 15 million dollars in return for war damages. The U.S.A. did not take Texas from Mexico then, since it had already been annexed by the Congress as the Republic of Texas; but it did assure that the Rio Grande was the southern border of Texas. Rest assured this treaty strengthened the fact that Texas was no longer part of Mexico.

One other thing, the U.S. agreed to police its side of the border. This is part of an international treaty, something that the Constitution regards as the law of the land. Isn't it funny though how our politicians have almost assured that our side of the border is not properly policed, and an invasion of U.S. soil from Mexico continues to this day. What a shame. Well, if you did not know already, now you know why members of such extremist groups as La Raza, and some Mexican extremist are pissed off at the U.S.A.. Not much of a country as far as I am concerned, not much of an ability to raise armies, and sore losers at something they started through their own mistreatment of their own people. Now they are mad at us because our country brought it all to a conclusion. Sort of like the Muslim extremists, emotional memories of bygone years that will never be again no matter how hard they try. Why won't they succeed, because of the ultimate resolve of the American people.

I have got to say though, that with the help of our politicians and the like, they have almost succeeded in gaining back those ceded parts of Mexico. Note I said ALMOST. As long as We The People are strong in our resolve to remain Americans, then we will do so. Don't give up the fight.

To see where I got most of my info, and to see more detailed information on tis subject, see:

http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/ghtreaty/ (go figure how they list this under The Hispanic Reading Room - this is American History, something of which Americans should be proud, and which we should hold in a place of honor - this is American History for the American reading room!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Guadalupe-Hidalgo

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=009/llsl009.db&recNum=975 (shows a readable copy of the treaty)

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h142.html

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h142.html

For years I have insisted that February 2 should be a National Holiday. People have looked at me strangely throughout those years because of my insistence about the importance of today's date. Well all of the above is just another reason to have Groundhog's Day named as a National Holiday in the USA! I mean - don't you see the connection betwixt the two -GroundHogs' Day and The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo!

All the best,

Glenn B

All Hail The Mighty Beast...

...who lives half his life hidden away from our eyes shrouded in mystery, he whom the multitude seek out on this winter day, to whom the millions look in anticipation of his predictive powers, all hail the Groundhog!

Today should be a national holiday - heck it should be an international holiday, maybe even a holy day - all because while the groundhog commands our attention in such overwhelming numbers, he does so without demading, or even expecting anything of us, except maybe for our affection on this one day out of the whole year. If so many people around the world can look to this little weatherman for guidance - there has got to be something to it - and I sure don't mean his ability or inability to predict whether or not we get 6 more weeks of winter weather - because folks - whatever he says - mother nature often contradicts. So what power is it that the groundhog holds over us, to hold millions wrapt in anticipation of his predictions. I'll be darned if I know, but it sure is something. By the way, this year, the most famous groundhog of them all Punxsutawney Phil has predicted 6 more weeks of winter and even with such a bleak outlook before us, millions love him.

All the beast,
Glenn B

Gun Show Blues...

...are what I am feeling right now. I had planned on going to a gun show tomorrow at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Middletown, NY. Then my son copped out and went to see his girlfriend at her college. Of course, he took the Ford. Turns out my wife is working tomorrow, so that means she will have the Toyota. Unless I can bicycle the 95 miles or so tp the fairgrounds, I guess am going to be stuck at home. That stinks, especially because I was to meet a good friend up at the show tomorrow. The only hope left is to wake up early and convince my wife to let me drive her to work, then take the car. I'll leave her a note about it, so she sees it when she wakes up; and I'll get up early too, but somehow I doubt she'll go for it since we have not been talking for the last few days. Oh well, life goes on either way, but I hope she goes for it, so I can go to it.

All the best,
Glenn B

As If In Answer To The Question...

...that I posed here, I saw this headline tonight: Pelosi, Boehner say econ bill won't benefit illegal immigrants. Could they be getting the message, or is it just going to be this way because it is an election year, and them arranging tax rebates for illegal aliens would guarantee an ultra leftist demoncrat Democrat not getting into The Whitehouse. Heck, I am no lib on this issue for sure, but I could almost see giving tax rebates to illegal aliens who actually paid taxes before giving rebates to citizens who paid no taxes because they did not earn enough money. But then again, if we did give rebates to illegal aliens, then I think the law should be written that said money immediately must go to pay for their air or bus tickets to facilitate their deportations. Of course,, that is just my personal opinion, and not my government employee opinion; and in no way does my opinion - quite obviously - reflect the opinion of the United States Government, the President, The Vice president, The Head of ICE which is my agency, or any political candiadte likely to win their party'snomination. If only my opinion did reflect theirs though (or should I say that theirs should be reflective of mine), things might be better in this country for her citizens and legal resident aliens.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ballseye The Happy Homemaker...

...or so you might believe after the amazing feat of wax removal I did from my ears basement carpet today. It seems that last week, someone lit a large candle, but had placed it only in a shallow dish, atop our entertainment center in the basement. I thought nothing of it when I later went down into the cellar to watch the tube for a bit. Never gave even a small thought to the dish being too shallow that is, I did know the candle was burning and enjoyed its rose scented aroma.

Well as things would have it, I fell asleep on the couch. When I awoke in the morning, the candle, what was left of it, was still burning. As it turned out, it had a hole melted in its side, and the melted wax had run out of it, into and overflowing the dish, onto the top of the entertainment center, and down over the front of it onto the floor. Lucky me there was no fire. Unlucky me though because now I took the blame for htis mess, and I had not put the candle in that small dish, nor had I lit it. I did not blow it out either, but I often let candles burn all night, ones that I have placed into a proper candle holder for such. Oh well, today, after about a week of procrastination, and waiting to see if my eager as a beaver son Brendan would do anything to clean it up, I got down to business, and that was carpet cleaning 303. Yes this was advanced stuff therefore that 303 designation instead of 101 or 202. Lucky for me I watch those two English birds on the BBC channel. You know them don't you? Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie who do the show - How Clean is Your House. I thought I remembered something about using an iron to clean the wax up, but I'd be darned if I could remember the method. So what to do but to check on the Internet! I found two sets of instructions, both very similar in nature. In essence each said to scrape off as much wax as possible without damaging the carpet. Then to warm up the clothes iron, take a clean cloth, place it over the mess, and iron over the cloth until the wax melted and could be soaked up into the cloth. Repeat as needed until there is no more wax. Okay, I tried it, but I decided that if I would try it to try it with minimal heat first, and then increase the heat, instead of setting the iron on high steam heat right off. At the minimum setting it did little good, so I then set my iron at about the halfway mark for heat. Just under the lowest steam seeting on mine. I ironed over the cloth that was laid above the top of the mess, then took a peek, and as things would have it, most of the wax appeared to be gone. I could see some of it in the cloth, but surely some must have drained further into the carpet. I didn't and don't care, I went at it again. Then a third and final time, and it looked as good as new.

My carpet is nylon. It can melt, and that is why I started at a low heat setting and worked up. The cloth between the carpet and iron probably helps prevent damage to the carpet, but I would think you need to be very carefuul if you try this, not to burn or melt the carpet fibers (or yourself). As for the cloth, I used an old terry cloth cotton towel.

Right now, all candles have been removed from our basement, incense sticks too. I would hate to wake up choking on smoke some night after falling asleep while watching the Twilight Zone.

All the best,
Glenn B

The World Is My Oyster...

... to borrow that phrase. Every now and then I tell you about some far away places from wherein people are viewing my blog. It always surprizes me that folks in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, The Czech Republic, England, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Korea, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Venezuela, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, and many other exotic a location stop by for a read. Of course I also get hits, the largest number of them, from all over the USA. It amazes me when folks who view my site return for a second look, or even third looks, and more. Someone out there must at least like some of what I write, and for me that is a good feeling.

Today I was pleased to see, from my Site Meter account, that I have at least one pearl in each continent today except for Antarctica. In the last 100 hits on my site, there have been people visitng it from: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America (most of you), and South America. I can say without a doubt - that is neat, just a good feeling.



Thanks,
Glenn B

Seafood/Pork/Beef Combo Whatzitcalled...

One nice chunk of pork belly, about 1 pound, cut into small pieces, about a pound of the meat from beef short ribs, also cut into small pieces (about 1/2x1/2"), one pound of baby octopus cleaned and cut into small mouth sized pieces, one pound of squid cleaned and cut like the octopus, one pound of cleaned shrimp (25-30 count per pound), one small can tomato paste, two 8 ounce cans of plain tomato sauce, garlic powder to taste, sea salt to taste, black pepper about 1/2 teaspoon, two large dollops of hot pepper sauce with garlic to taste (some stuff I picked up in Chinatown), a few sprinkles of cinnamon (maybe even a 1/8 teaspoon), a bit or oregano (only a few sprinkles), about 6 green onions diced at least from the bottom to halfway up the greens), about 1/2 pound of very small potatoes (this were about the size of walnuts) cut into halves or quarters.

I browned the pork to crispy on the outside, then the beef in the same pan in just a squirt of olive oil. Then added the octopus and squid to it and let it cook for a while in a deep pan. I did this as I got the other ingredients ready. I added all the other ingredients, except the shrimp, into a large pot, put the browned the beef, pork belly, octopus and squid into the pot with the sauce ingredients, and then brought it to a boil. As soon as brought to a boil, I lowered flame and let it simmer for one hour. Then I added the shrimp for about 5 minutes. All the while, as this was cooking I kept checking to make sure it did not boil over, and I stirred every 15 to 10 minutes for just a bit.

Whatzitcalled - who knows: but boy does it taste good right out of the pot. Tomorrow it will be for my lunch over a bit of white rice. My son thought it was good too, and especially liked the hot flavoring I added. Next time though, only the other spices, no really hot stuff, I want to enjoy the taste of the seafood more than the hot stuff. Next time, I think I'll use fresh tomatoes, maybe some fresh basil leaves, and no to very little sauce or paste.

All the best,
GB

McCain Wins Florida...

...and all I can think is yikes. I cannot tell you for whom I think you should vote (as federal LEO, not permitted by the Hatch Act), but I can tell you for whom I do not want to have to vote. That would be John Amnesty/Anti-Gun/No Business Savvy/Ted Kennedy Buddy McCain. Does that mean it will come down to a choice, for me, between Romney and Huckabee at the Republican primary here in NY? On the one hand I could vote for an anti-gun, tax increasing by way of socialized medicine for all, governor from an ultra far left wing state (the one that keeps voting in Kennedy), or I could vote for a guy who probably believes that if dinosaurs ever lived they walked the earth within the last 5,000 years with Adam and Eve, or I suppose I could vote for McCain if I somehow get hit on the head and wind up at the polling place rather disorientated. What a choice of three knuckleheads, but any of them (well maybe not McCain) have got to be better that Mrs. Senator Rodham-Clinton or Senator B. Obama.

Whatever happened to real men, who could take over the reins as real leaders? I miss President Ronald Wilson Reagan, and I miss him a whole lot at that. He was a good man, a very good leader, and a great American.

All the best,
Glenn B

Taxes Suck...

...and will apparently suck big time for me this year. I have all my necessary tax records except the W2 from one of my wife's two jobs. Since that job is roughly the same amount of hours as her other one, and the pay will work out the same, I am assuming that the same amount of tax was deducted from each job. My wife has them take out too little, not by my advice mind you. I was all ready to take her on a 6 day Caribbean cruise in April for our 22nd year married, but that looks as if it about to sink. From my best estimation, to my worst, we will owe between $2,500 and $3,300 in state and federal taxes. Being that on just my salary alone we would have been owed over $3,000 in refunds you can figure they took way too little out of her pay. She does not make all that much in a year, but when added to my salary, it gets to the point where we lose some very nice deductions (such as the deduction for college loan interest). Subtract from our deductions/credits because Brendan turned 18, so we lost the child credit, we no longer have our daughter listed as a dependent (well we can, but it may be much more advantageous for her to claim herself instead of me claiming her as she can get a great credit for her college tuition, and we cannot claim it even if she is listed as our dependent) and we wind up getting raked over the taxman's coals this year.

I am a little bit, no let me say a whole lot, pissed off that the wife did not put in new withholding forms last year! Hell, I had filed my withholding last year so a set amount of extra cash would be taken from each of my paychecks, and I also claimed 'married, but withhold at the higher single rate', all hoping that would do the trick. It surely did not. Now the money has to come from somewhere. So we probably have to tap the savings account which is not a whole heck of a lot. Our bank account probably has about 2.5 times, or less, of the amount we will owe in taxes. I hate to do that to our savings, but I sure hope the wife learns a lesson from this. Some of the money we have in the bank was marked for a tree removal (they want $2,000 to chop it down and haul it away - a big oak tree), and more for my son's bedroom furniture (his set was literally falling apart) and more for needed electrical work in our house. If we pay off the taxes with the savings, it will leave very little after those other expenses are also subtracted from it, and then up pops the question of the cruise. No cruise for us, not if I am right about how much we will owe in taxes, and how diminished our savings are about to become.

Oh well, life goes on, and is pretty good without the cruise; but it sure would have been a nice boost to the morale of the marriage. As it is now, we have to tighten our belts a bit, and start saving to boost up the funds, not go on the cruise, and keep grating on each others' nerves. Maybe a nice vacation to Hoboken this year (if you ever lived in Brooklyn, you have probably heard that line before)! It, that is the belt tightening, will not be easy with the bills as they are now, but it definitely is something we can and will have to do in the upcoming year if I am really to retire at the end of it. Taxes suck. Maybe I can sell some guns at the gun show this weekend, although I hate to even consider it. Then again, maybe I can avoid that if I strike it rich - ha ha. Still, I have definitely got to get some time out with my metal detector. Really though, the way it looks now, I should not have bought the metal detector even though the money I paid for it all came from Christmas presents. Now I see I should have put that money to better use now that I realize my probable tax liability - 20/20 hindsight. Did I say taxes suck!

All the best,
Glenn B