New Blogger / Google Format

I was more than happy with the old format for Blogger but now Google has come along and changed it. I imagine I will get used to it sooner or later now that it seems I am being forced to use it; I cannot find an icon to click that will allow me to continue to use the old format. Such an icon had been there, if it is still there I cannot find it. I signed on today, after cleaning my browser and such, and was brought to the new format. I have to wonder what the fuck is wrong with leaving something that was not broken just the way it was instead of fixing it. Goddamn liberals always have to be changing things and seemingly can never be satisfied with things the way they are. If they ever found themselves, in their, long sought after, Utopia, they wold not know what to do to enjoy it. Within a decade at most, probably much shorter a time frame, they would be condemning it as conservative and evil and George W. Bush's fault. Sooner or later, people should mature enough to realize that good enough should be left to stand for as long as it lasts.

I Love Bacon But It Sure Ain't The Only Good Eats On A Pig

Ah, the pig, swine, porker, oinker or whatever else you want to call it. It could be the most perfect animal in all of God's creation from a person's point of view who likes good eats with plenty of variety. Why some religions consider it evil or unclean is easy to understand. Perhaps, I should qualify that to say why some religions considered it unclean or evil a thousand years ago made sense. In today’s world, with what we know about germs and parasites and all those other little boogers, that often live inside of pigs and that can get inside us an screw us over health wise, and with all we know about proper hygiene and proper cooking techniques, it should be much less of a concern to us. Yeah, I know, some still truly people believe that the pig is evil or even the devil itself. Good for them, let them enjoy their religious beliefs and good for me because it means more pork in my belly. With all of the knowledge we have now, proper handling of pigs, even those raised without the use of antibiotics, should keep us essentially disease and parasite free from anything that might infest a pig and be passed onto humans. Well, from anything other than evil spirits maybe but I'll take my chances with the possibility of evil spooks and just wash my hands well after handling the raw meat and eat mine well cooked. 

As I said, from the pot of view of someone who likes good food and a variety at that, the pig may be God's perfect creation. The different cuts of the flesh truly have very distinctive flavors, so much so that sometimes you might think you are eating the meat of two different animals if offered both cuts in the same meal. I love everything I have ever eaten that has come from swine. Some of my favorite cuts are pork tenderloin, pig bellies, loin chops, ribs, pigs feet, pigs knuckles (when is the last time you saw lamb or beef knuckles for sale for human consumption) and the snout. Even the fried skin is excellent. I am not much of an organ meat eater but I would probably give it all a try when it comes to porker innards. I figure they probably would be delicious just as has been every other part of the pig that I have eaten so far.

Then there are also prepared meats made from swine. Where would the world be without pepperoni, salami, pork hot dogs, breakfast sausages, Italian sausages, Land Yeager, Krainerwurst, pigs in a blanket, Bratwurst, Steamed Dumplings (the filler is often prepared pork), and so on. Lest you think I have forgotten, allow me to mention here, the king of prepared meats SPAM! The pig is one heck of a versatile animal when it comes to making good food out of it, and yes I like Spam and consider it good food along with everything else I have mentioned.

Of course, besides the different tastes of each cut of meat, there are also all of the wonderful recipes for swine flesh from oh so many countries and cultures around the world. There is bacon, Canadian bacon, salt pork bellies to name just a mere few. Then there are dishes like Yeager schnitzel, Moo Shoo Pork, rib roast, bacon and eggs, stuffed pork cutlets, Virginia Ham for Christmas dinner, schinenspeck, stuffed pork chops, Italian sweet sausage with eggs, potatoes, peppers and onions, Hungarian pork chops, Chorizo and eggs, Peking pork chops, Sweet and Sour Pork, hot dogs and sauerkraut, standing rib roast with red kraut and potato salad, and the list goes on and on. I love beef and I love lamb but I do not think I could eat them anywhere nearly as often as I can eat pork and not get tired of it. The only other meat, actually fowl, that I could probably eat as often as I could eat pork would be chicken. As far as I know, they have not yet made Spam out of chicken and thus Pig Meat Rules. 

If you like bacon, and who in their right mind (except maybe those restricted by religion) does not like bacon, do not sell yourself short by not enjoying the rest of the critter in as many different ways as you can try it. one hint as to how to enjoy it more, use the fattier cuts of meat when you buy pork. In other words, if you buy chops, don't go for the new age extra leans chops. In my opinion, and I base that on a lot of pork that has gone through me, they stand too much of a chance of coming out dry. Even worse, as I taste it, when pork loses the fat it loses its flavor (just like any other meat but more so than most others). I sued to watch Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and have to say that one of the most insightful things he ever said, on that show, was that pork should be fatty to be enjoyed properly. If anyone knows good eats, and how to enjoy it, especially meat, it is him.

Bacon is great, when I eat it I cannot get enough, but the rest of the pig is also excellent eating when it comes to the edible parts. If you only eat bacon though, that is okay, it leaves more of the rest of that filthy beast for me.

 

All the best,

Glenn B (swine eater for life)

 

As The Ribs Crack

Wednesday, I found out I had cracked a couple of ribs during a fall. Yesterday, I found out that they can, start hurting more and more as each day goes by, then suddenly go from hurting pretty friggin bad, to howl inducing, leg crumpling, fall to the floor excruciating pain in the wink of an eye.  

A trip to the emergency room and a new set of pictures revealed that not only were my ribs fractured but that my pleura (a double membrane surrounds the lungs and separates them from the chest wall) had overly filled with fluid by way of Pleural Effusion, or so they told me. Let me just say it was friggin painful. I actually did everything I mentioned above from howling to have my legs crumple, to hitting the floor in pain that went from fairly bad to excruciating in a wink. The excruciating pain and howling lasted a minute or two. Then it was just terrible pain and me being able to get up but remain sort of bent in pain. Then a quick replay of it all. 

All that as my wife watched rather unconcerned by it all. She eventually drove me to the ER and dropped me off. I was home, a few hours later, after having gotten a big shot of something in my rump that apparently helped ease the pain and made it bearable. The symptoms as described by the literature from the hospital are: shortness of breath, rapid breathing, cough or hiccups, sharp chest pain that hurts more with coughing or deep breathing. Well I only had one of the three symptoms and all I can say is thank goodness I did not start coughing or breathing deeply.

Today I heard some gurgling as I breathed. The gurgling subsided after a few minutes and while I heard it the pain did not increase - which was a good thing. I was a bit concerned but since the pain was manageable and steady, I figured I could wait until tomorrow to see my doctor for a follow-up. No more trips to the ER today. ,So far, today, the pain has remained tolerable thanks to the Percocet (oxycodone and acetaminophen) and plain Oxycodone HCL that I have been taking, but that did little to nothing yesterday when my pleura apparently effused. Today though, was another story and I actually had an almost normal day. I was feeling good enough to get out a bit today and to do some things clean-up wise in my basement, to smoke a tenderloin and grill some steaks. What a difference a day (and a big shot full of magic juice in the ER) can make. 

Then there is the coughing. I cough every now and then, like anyone else I suppose, during the course of a day. I have tried to avoid coughing, and phlegm clearing, but it has proven impossible. What a difference a small cough can make, even the smallest cough fills my chest with hammer pounding pain even if only for a moment. Nothing seems to have helped with that, not the Percocet, not the shot at the hospital, not the over the counter muscle relaxant I have also been taking, not the cough medicine I have imbibed, and not all the time that I would think I should have been healing since I cracked my ribs on early Wednesday. I am hopeful the doc can give me more potent drugs tomorrow and that coughing will no longer be a painful by sometime fairly early tomorrow.

All the best,
Glenn B

Whom Should Be Offended?

 

Sometimes words are all you need to send the message. In other instances, a picture is worth more than a thousand words because no matter how many words one could write on a subject, you could not say it better than the picture alone. Then again, sometimes it is  best said by a picture and some words to go along with it. That way the meaning is unmistakable, as it is in this particular masterpiece of cultural satire.

 

Hat tip to Deb H.

 

All the best,

Glenn B

Smoked Pork Tenderloin

Last year, my brother-in-law, the younger, gave me a steel smoker box. Basically a steel box, with holes drilled into it, into which you place wood chips, place the lid on the body of the box and put it into your grill over the flame. I never got around to trying it out until today; the great procrastinator - that's me.  Yesterday, I picked up a nice looking pork tenderloin at Costco. A good layer of fat on the outside and I had hoped it would have a lot of fat inside. I took some Cherry wood chips, that I bought about a week or so ago, threw them into that smoker box, cut the roast in half, put half away, rubbed the other half of the meat down with salt, pepper and garlic powder, put it into the BBQ grill on the top warmer rack, turned the burner on the right side on low, turned the burner on the left side on low, put the smoker box with wet wood chips (I let em soak for about an hour before using them) on the grill over one of the lit burners and went inside. Half an hour later the wood was not even charred so, I moved that little wood chip filled smoker box right onto the burner and left it there.

Over the next 5 hours or so, I  probably had to refill the wood chip box about 6 to 8 times. I also basted the pork with a bottle of Franziskaner Hefe Weiss Bier. As it turned out, it was an excellent decision to baste the meat because it was a terribly lean cut of pork, no fat to be seen inside at all when I later cut it open. I hate dry pork, it needs to be wet to be good (by wet I mean fatty like corned beef or pastrami). When I took it off of the grill, I noted, for the first time, in all the time it was smoking, that it looked to have less juices flowing out of it than it did earlier. Luckily it had not dried too badly. it would have been much better had it been loaded with fat but my wife said it was not too dry. (She likes meat a lot leaner than do I.) In fact, my wife, who does not like most smoked meats, thought it was delicious too. It came out with a mild smoky flavor. I prefer it to have stronger smoked flavor but have to admit, even with a mild smoked flavor, I thought this was pretty good.

I suppose, that for a first attempt, it came out close to excellent even for a picky guy like me. (There is a nice chunk missing off the left end, the wife and I tasted it almost as soon as I brought it inside.) Next time though, I would place the meat closer to the smoker box, maybe right on the grill instead of on the warmer shelf, but still not right over the flames as it has to be in there for hours to absorb the smoke aroma. I will also try to get a fattier cut of meat. Other than that, about the only change I would make is to use hickory wood or mesquite next time, maybe a combination of one of those and cherry. The hickory and mesquite woods throw off a much stronger aroma when charring; heck even when not lit, they have much more of an aroma than does the cherry wood. I am not sure what kind of meat I will use next time. Maybe, I will use a nice chunk of beef or a chicken or even some more pork. I may try two things in the grill at once, it is big enough, that is for sure.

I can see me smoking a lot more things in the future; I always figured it would be a pain in the butt to smoke but it turns out that it really was pretty easy or I just got lucky the first time around. If I get into it enough, I will buy a smoker next year. It also seems like a good way to cook meat on the grill when you don't want to have to constantly watch over it, including during the winter. Sure, you still have to tend to it but certainly not as often as you would if you were grilling something, so you would not be out in the cold too long in the wintertime. Maybe go out once an hour to add more wood chips and to baste the meat and that is about it after you get it initially set up. Then just go out to take it off the grill when done. I think I am going to be cooking a lot more than I have been recently and that cooking is going to be smokin'! And there I was, thinking I had given up smoking just over 24 years ago.

All the best,
Glenn B

Second Best T-Sirt Logo Ever

The T-Shirt logo, pictured here, is in my twisted opinion the second best one I have seen in my lifetime to date. I can say, without a doubt, I have only seen one t-shirt logo that was better and it was much better. I must qualify that by saying that was in my pre-marriage days when I was single. That one was being worn by an extremely hot and beautiful looking young lady. It was the only one I have ever seen with its particular logo of only three words. It was obviously a reply to a T-shirt that was popular with young men at the time that said: Free Mustache Rides. The young lady was wearing one that said:

CHAMPION MUSTACHE RIDER

Yep, the one in the picture in this post only made it to second best; the one the young lady was wearing was the all time best by far.

All the best,
Glenn  B

Hey Kids - What Time Is It

I would answer Howdy Doody Time but somehow I feel the the picture I am about to show, of the fine timepiece Fugazy looking watch I received as a retirement gift, might somehow belittle the memory of that show for far too many folks. The watch, a Selco Geneve, came in a rather subdued and drab gray box, the watch itself resting on a small pillow inside the box. On the face of it can be seen the U.S. Department of Homeland Security seal. On the back of it is noted the fact that the back is made from stainless steel. Nowhere to be found, at least y me, was the country of origin. You maybe would think that a watch given by the U.S. government would proudly display the words "Made in the USA" on it but I could not find that anywhere on my new ticker. My guess as to why those words are not evident is because I think the watch was probably made in China. A check of the Selco Geneve website and their "about" page revealed that the company manufactures watch faces in the US but I saw nothing noting that their watches were actually made here. If I ever discover that this watch was manufactured on foreign soil, I will take appropriate action with it, returning it to the government and telling them where to stick it (you can bet it will be into a place where the sun should never shine).

I also got a plaque and a letter of appreciation. I never expected anything else upon retirement, except maybe that I would have received these things at a retirement party. That would have happened but did not work out due, for the most part, to my health when I retired last November. Cancer sure has a way of screwing up one's plans. It sure would have been nice though to have received these items when the Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations handed out retirement plaques at a BBQ earlier this summer. I got a plaque then too, from the SAC, but nothing compared to the nice one from headquarters (the one I just got).He did not even shake my hand when he gave it to me. Hmm, maybe there was some friction there but since he only spoke about 10 words to me at most in the few years that he was SAC before I retired, I would not know with certainty. As for the plaque and watch and letter, I was told he had both plaques , the letter and the watch with him when he gave me only the less impressive of the two plaques at the BBQ. Oh well, I guess he had a lot on his one way mind, him suing his superiors for sexual harassment, or some something like that.

When it came down to it, I received the watch, the nicer of the two plaques and letter from my former Group Supervisor. Even though not given to me at a retirement event, my GS went out of his way to make the presentation nice, taking each out in turn and showing them to me and starting to read the inscription on the plaque and all and shaking my hand on giving them to me. Nice guy.

So now, I suppose I am officially retired and completely over and done with my career. Not a bad thing at all, every day now being another Saturday in Paradise. As for what I have to show for it, several other plaques and letters of commendation in a box out in my garage (or lost at sea for all I know, I lost track of where were those things when I was ill). I also have a lot of memories. I will cherish those, from the bad through the excellent ones, for what time I have left in life because you can rest assured those memories are in some way, shape or form connected to some of the nicest people whom I have met in my lifetime.

To my brother and sister agents in the U.S. Border patrol, where I spent my first 4 years plus of my career, I salute you. You have one of the toughest and most rewarding jobs within government service. To those with whom I worked in the now defunct U.S. Customs Service Tactical Patrol Division and Office of Investigations (those for about the next 20 years of my career), you can bet those times included some of the most memorable and best days of my career with some of the best work I ever had and some of the best people I have ever met. I have very fond memories of my time in the Currency Group and in the Joint Narcotics Smuggling Unit (JNSU)at JFK Airport and all of the special details I went on from being a volunteer Air Marshal for about 5 months to 90 day stints out in Arizona.

Also especially important to me was the time I spent as a firearms instructor. That was about 14 years, of collateral duties, helping to make sure that every night (or day depending on when you got stuck working) all of our agents would walk in the door at home to hear their spouses or loved ones ask something like: "How was work today" and they would be able to give the answer "Everything was fine, how are the kids just before checking on them in person". Making sure that each and every other one of us got home, during the course of performing our duties of protecting the nation, was one of the most important things we did for one another both as field agents or as firearms and tactics instructors at the range. I did plenty of both and will always those duties dearly. 

As for my final 8 plus years that I spent in the Department of Homeland Security, first under Customs, then under the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, then under Immigration and Customs Enforcement, then finally under Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), what can I say! George W. Bush really made a huge mistake when he dismantled The United States Custom Service and the Immigration & Naturalization Service and combined them under Homeland Security into the new agencies of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Yep, that you can blame squarely on Bush and his administration as opposed to the BS that Obama tries to blame on him.

ICE, including HSI, in my personal opinion, was and remains the most inept government agency ever to have been part of the U.S. government (with the possible exception of the Post Office), possibly the most egregious when it comes to rights violations, among the worst at protecting the nation from terrorism and in general protecting the interests of our country, is totally lost in a haze when it comes to the core mission it is supposed to accomplish (probably because no one in it seems to know that mission), and only has had inept boobs and assholes in charge of it to date. I think the only thing it truly has accomplished to date was the destruction of one of the finest investigative agencies that was ever part of the U.S. government - the United States Customs Service Office of Investigations.

As I have mentioned, a couple to a few times by now, there were some great people in all the agencies for which I worked and in those to which I had temporary assignments (like the Secret Service, Air marshals, Bronx District Attorney's office and so on). I was lucky to have met them and luckier yet to have formed bonds of friendship with some of them over the years. It did not matter if the agencies themselves sucked; that is so long as I knew I could depend on the guy next to me to cover my ass while I covered his should the shit hit the fan. Bonds formed in situations like that, where trust is everything, are some of the strongest you can form and whether or not you stay in touch with one another, you know, should you ever need them, they will be right there standing at your side making sure you get home to tuck the kids in once again.

There - there now. I feel much better, having spit that out, as my new retirement watch sits on my desk and ticks away with the wrong time set on it. The watch may turn out to be a good thing for a sale on Ebay, I doubt it is good for much else except maybe as a target when I am next at the range.

All the best,
Glenn B

Still Cancer Free - Maybe At least In Part Due To The Efforts of Guys Like Jay G

Yesterday, I got some good news from my chemo oncologist; the CT Scan I had to undergo on Monday came back negative. In other words, since my first post treatment PET and CT scans, back in March 2012, I am still cancer free.

Along the lines of people staying cancer free, if you have ever considered donating to cancer research with the hope of kicking cancer's ass, why not consider donating through Jay G of MArooned. He is doing a very good thing this month and has been and will be Kilted To Kick Cancer for the entirety of this month. Yes, that means that Jay G is donning a man-skirt for the whole month, every day, in order to try to persuade folks to donate to kick cancer's ass. It also probbaly  means he may have blue balls for at least some of the month, what with with the recent chill in the air and wearing a kilt meaning he is not wearing anything under it.

As much as I kid him about that, and I do so pretty relentlessly - all kidding side - I have to repect him for his decision to go out and actually try to make a difference in the fight against cancer. If you would like to show that you respect and support him for making the effort, and if you want to help in the war against cancer, you can donate to help kick cancer('s ass) via his website or these two links which are his donation portals through Livestrong and The Prostate Cancer Foundation. I am not sure but I think that the money donated to either goes to fight prostate cancer since September is Prostate Cancer Awareess month or something like that. (And there I was, for oh so many years, thinking that it was just a month with excellent weather) in which one safely could eat oysters.) Even though prostate cancer is far from the variety of cancer that I had last year, it that mattered little to me in my decision to make a couple of donations by way of Jay's donation pages at Livestrong and The Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Be advised, if you donate by way of Jay's kilted to kick cancer efforts, I think that makes you eligible to be entered into the chance to win some nice prizes that were donated by others to Jay's fund raising efforts. See his site for more info. Regardless, the money is going to a good cause, to help kick cancer's ass.

All the best,
Glenn B

Crested Gecko With Pronounced Underbite

I took this picture to email to a friend of mine who is an expert breeder of Crested Geckos to find out if this lizard's under bite is indicative of a deeper problem or just possibly an anomaly about which I need not worry. I have fed it well using Rapashy Crested Gecko Diet, baby food such as peaches, pureed fruit and live insects (such as blaberous roaches). So, I am very doubtful that the condition is related to its diet. There is a chance that the condition was caused by this gecko fighting with one of its cage mates or due to some other type of injury but I kind of doubt it. I suspect it may be genetic in nature.

I am not all that concerned as the gecko seems to be in otherwise excellent health.

Other than the under bite, get a load of that eye ball. Their eyes always amaze me.

All the best,
Glenn B

Is This Supposed To Make It All Better

A guy reportedly holds up a sign apologizing for the murders of 4 of our citizens and now what? Are we supposed to be suckered into believing that such killings are not the way of Islam. It happens over and over and over and over again when Muslims become upset that someone has insulted them, their religion, their prophet or their god. Now they, or at least one of them, has taken the Obama ploy of an apology and he expects what in return, that we will forgive those murderous bastards. If it was up to me a bath in pigs blood would be in order just before the executions of those responsible for the deaths of our State Department personnel in Libya.

I have only absolute loathing for, what I believe to be, a plot to conquer the world that is disguised as a religion of peace and I have little more feelings than loathing for those who keep making excuses for it.

By the way, while that lone Muslim was apologizing, yet another U.S. embassy was stormed by Muslims, this time in Yemen. So tell me again, how is that not the way of Islam!

Source of photo: http://kmsp.images.worldnow.com/images/19530707_BG1.jpg

All the best,
Glenn B

Supposedly The World's Fattest Dachshund

I currently keep several pets. I have kept many varieties of animals from roaches to fish to amphibians to reptiles to birds to small mammals to cats and dogs. Some were pets, others were feeder animals for other animals in my collection (yes, the roaches for animals like lizards), others were food animals for people (as in for me – no not the roaches). While I like keeping and breeding animals, also like eating them. I fish and hunt when I can. I buy ad eat meat regularly. I am not an animal rights advocate and rarely do I write about pet owners whom I believe are absolute assholes. I thin groups like PETA are full of jerks and assholes.

Today though, I saw what I believe to be proof that some people simply should not be allowed to keep a pet. Watch the video and I think you will see what I mean. Make sure to read the note about why vets believe this dog became grossly overweight. I would not have thought anyone quite that fucking stupid as the vets or the owners - I mean did the vets actually have to explain that the dog was overfed for anyone but the owners to have realized that gross overfeeding would lead to gross obesity!

Listen to the woman in the video when she tells the dog that was a lot of work. I get the gut feeling (no pun intended) that she thinks she did the work instead of the dog having done it. I now think it is obvious that at least this particular dog’s owner(s) was/were stupider than stupid could have been imagined and that maybe they should be held liable for the terrible care that must have been given to this dog to allow it to get that damned fat and they should never again be allowed to own and care for an animal.

I do not know if the woman heard in the video is the owner. I am guessing she is though. When you watch the video, there is an additional clue about the suitability of that woman heard, or anyone like her, as a pet owner. She sounds repulsed when she asks the dog are you gonna pee again. Listen to how her voice changes in tone. If it was up to me, the dog would be seized from the owner(s) who allowed it to get that fat and they would be permanently banned from ever again being allowed to have an animal under their care. Add to that making her eat about 100 Twinkies a day for three months and the punishment might fit the transgression. Imagine a dachshund needing to lose 40 pounds. Unfriggin believable.

All the best,
Glenn B

If It Was Legal, Ethical and Moral To Shoot Someone Of Your Choosing...

...based only upon whatever you decided would be selection criteria as to whom it would be, whom would be the top five people on your list? Number one would be the person you would most want to shoot, number 2 the second most and so on? 
 

I am not condoning shooting anyone unless actually legal, ethical and moral, under current laws, regulations and generally acceptable morality and ethics in which case I advocate for self-defense shooting to save a life or prevent serious bodily harm (where and when legal). All I am doing by way of this blog post is posing a philosophical question for your consideration. Think about it, discuss and even politely argue the answer with yourself, with an imaginary character, with a friend over a few beers (no guns around if drinking please), with someone you recently met, with a neighbor, with someone who feels differently on the right to keep and bears arms than do you, with a crime victim, with a thug, with anyone of your choosing and see who you come up with on your list of five. Your answer could possibly tell you a lot about yourself or the person with whom you share this exercise.

Note a few things before you do this. Note that I did not say shoot to kill but my bet would be that most people assumed that. Note I did not say shoot with any particular instrument like a gun, in other words I could have meant with a camera but most people will probably assume I meant with a gun (they would be right on that one). Also note that I did not say that you had to select anyone or even agree that you would ever consider it legal, moral or ethical to shoot someone and on and on and on, you may decide shooting people is not for you.

This little mental exercise, I think, can be a very revealing self-study if you follow it through with a lot of thought. I think it has the potential to also be very revealing about other people, that is if you do it with a friend or loved one, a neighbor, a crime victim, a criminal, a clergyman, a shrink, a teacher, a stranger or even with a large group of people. It may tell you a lot not only about yourself and others who participate in this with you but also may tell you a lot about society in general.

Why not try it? I recommend this for older teens (with parents' permission) and for adults. Don't anyone try this at school or work,  it would likely get you arrested or at least thrown out of school or fired from work. Also don't try to do it in secret or to make it look like a hit list or anything other than a philosophical exercise, doing other than that would be asking for trouble. I think, if done reasonably, it has great potential to educate you regardless of: political leanings, gender, race, ethnicity, citizenship, age, how you feel about guns, how you feel about self-defense, how you feel about retribution, wealth, social standing, or how you feel about people in general among many other things. Besides that, it could make for one hell on an interesting and fun conversation; just make sure to do it calmly and with a level head.

I am not asking you to answer that question here in the comments' section - in fact I will not allow such name dropping comments but I will allow other discussion on the topic if you do care to comment and do it respectfully.

All the best,

Glenn B

Did I Understand Correctly - Asshole's Administration Apologized For Us Again

Did I hear it right. Did that friggin ass wipe of an excuse for a man and American Preident, the Obamessiah of insanity, actually apologize to, or allow someone in his administration to apologize to, the Muslims because someone here, indeed some Muslims here, in the USA decided to take the liberty of exercising their right to free speech. Then the Muslims in Egypt and Lybia went berserk, those in Lybia killing 4 of our personnel stationed there merely because they were offended. FUCK OBAMA all the way to a virginless hell is all I can think if he or his administration has again apologized for the United States of America when instead he seemingly should have made a much different response - maybe like raining bombs and cruise missile down on our enemies, those enemies who have killed our people because our enemies were offended over someone exercising their rights.

Even if I heard wrong, and even if there was no apology, why are the missiles and bombs not falling on Libya right now? Obama made damned sure to put the scum into power in Libya, who are currently in power, by dropping bombs and raining down cruise missiles on Qaddafi. Why isn't he making sure those now in power are ousted just as surely and quickly as he did with Qaddafi now that 4 of our people have been savagely murdered merely because someone was offended. Fuck them all and the goats they rode in on.

Pretty pissed,
GB

Some Anatomy Notes

Did you know that you can hit your ribs on your side, closer to front of body than to back, and break them in your back. I found that out tonight. I have one that is definitely fractured, another one probably to almost certainly fractured and a third possibly fractured - all lined up in a row one after the other from top to bottom in a column. Oh the joys of taking a fall. The when, where and how of the fall are all unimportant, just an accidental slip and fall. Whether or not the pain meds, that the doctor prescribed for me, will work is what is important to me right now.

All the best,
Glenn B

Some .45 ACP Ammo notes

Since I got my Remington 1911 R-1 last spring, I have put about 4 or 5 different brands of ammo through it. The difficult thing, for this post, will be remembering which brands if I don't have any leftovers of a certain brand. Right now I can only think of four (4) of them. Would have sworn there was another brand in there someplace. oh well...

For the most part the Remington 1911 R-1 gobbles up everything, shoots it, then spits out the empty casings. There has been a problem with what I think is due to either one or both Remington manufactured magazines that I have to check on. The last round does not feed properly sometimes. I think it is only due to one of the two Remington mags that came with the pistol, never happens with my after market mags. I keep forgetting to mark one of the mags to figure out if it is one, the other or both.

As for ammo, so far I have fired the following brands/types of ammo through it:

Blazer Brass 230 grain FMJ  This ammo is said to be brass cased and reloadable. It fed, shot, extracted with only one problem is 250 rounds. That was a failure to feed properly on the last round in one of the Remington manufactured mags that came with my Remington 1911 R1. Since the problem has repeated itself with other brands and type of ammo, always with one of the Remington magazines, I figure it is due to one or both of the mags that came with the pistol and not due to the ammo. It has not happened with several aftermarket magazines I have used in the same pistol. Back to the ammo, it shoots relatively clean which I something I like to see because it means less fouling and thus less effort on my part when cleaning. I think it also means less chance of malfunctions caused by fouling. I did not measure group sizes for accuracy among any of the ammo brands listed here but suffice it to say while shooting this I kept it on target from 3 to 25 yards reasonably well for combat type shooting. When I say reasonably well, I do take into consideration that those groups probably would open up some if I was actually involved in combat shooting. Not bad ammo at all, from what I can tell, and at a very affordable price as far a current pricing goes. Again available at $16.69 per box at Cheaper Than Dirt dot com.

Federal Classic Hi-Shok 185 grain JHP This ammo has been a bit of a disappointment. As seen above, for the Blazer Brass ammo, the Blazer Brass failed to feed once out of about 250 rounds and I am attributing the likely cause to be one of the two magazines that came with my Remington 1911 R1 pistol. Well, when firing the Federal Classic Hi-Shok it was a case of multiple failures to feed. I am pretty sure it also only happened when using one or both of the Remington manufactured mags (I will have to remember to mark one of the magazines, then see if it continuously happens with only that one or the other or with both). It did not restrict itself to the last round in the mag though, but with the Federal happened randomly with the 2nd through last round in the mag. My guesstimate is that the failure to feed, with this particular Federal ammo, happened about 10 to 15 times out of 100 rounds or so. A ten to fifteen percent failure to feed percentage is terrible but it again could be due to the mags or maybe the feed ramp. Some additional testing will tell. I do not think it happened when using this ammo with the after market magazines. It shot well, fired every time that it chambered. The accuracy was a good as to be expected and it was suitable for combat situations. This ammo also shot fairly clean.

Prvi Partisan 230 grain FMJ - This ammo was inexpensive, target style round ball. It fired fairly clean, maybe a little dirtier than the Blazer brass but did not cause a lot of fouling. It is supposedly brass cased, reloadable and non-corrosive. It is manufactured in Serbia. Not bad accuracy wise. My son shout about 150 rounds of it at the NE Bloggershoot and had a blast. He never fired a .45 before and has rarely fired a pistol due to restrictive laws in NY State; yet, he did pretty good with it. He shot better than some folks I know who have been shooting pistols for over 20 years. I fired maybe 25 to 50 rounds of it. I thought it was accurate but only fired out to about 10 yards with it so far. I will order more and give a better report on it. There was also a single failure to chamber a round, last round in the mag, Remington magazine again. Currently selling for about $16.75 per bx at CTD.

Remington 185 grain JHP R45AP2 (now that I have seen the rice this stuff goes for I wish I had never shot any of what I had new in box, old stock). I think this ammo also had a single failure to feed but it was not the same as the others. It was caused by a failure to eject the next to last shell casing properly and causing sort of a double feed, the last round slamming into the rear of the spent casing which had not ejected (it did extract). I am sure this was through one of the Remington magazines. Otherwise it was flawless as far as I could tell. It is the most expensive ammo of the bunch, costing almost triple the price of the Blazer Brass at about $45.00 per box. It shot clean, was as accurate as the others and I think is suitable for combat shooting.

I do not own a chronograph so would have to go along with the manufacturers' specs for each of these. I am just not enough of a gun weenie as to buy a chronograph and check the manufacturers' specs against my own results (or am I, since I have been thinking of getting one).

All the best,
Glenn B

Meant To Post This Yesterday

Just my personal post to those who fell or were injured or otherwise suffered on 9/11/2001. You are not forgotten nor is the America in which you were raised.

Would have posted it yesterday but wound up suddenly getting ill and called it quits for the day.

All the best,
GB

Open Verus Concealed Carry Of Handguns In New York State

I am throwing this tidbit of information out there for anyone who may wonder if open carry is legal in New York State. It is not legal at the current time for NYS handgun licensees. The reason this came up was because last Thursday, on The Squirrel Report, a caller, from upstate NY, said it was legal to do so in the state and that the law in NY State did not address the issue. I checked further, with the handgun licensing division of the NYS Police and found out that the law does indeed address the issue and specifically states that a license to carry specifically allows the licensee to carry concealed firearms. Open carry in NY State is illegal for handgun licensees unless maybe it is legal to open carry for a job like an armed security guard. (I am not saying it is or is not legal, just maybe legal in the case of armed guards.)

Here is the meat of reply, from the NYS Police, to my inquiry:

"...NYS Penal Law section 400.00 (2) Types of Licenses speaks to the issue.  In this section it states clearly, in all instances in which a firearm is to be carried (rather than maintained on a premise) that the license is to afford the licensee the ability to "have and carry concealed" a firearm on their person.  There are no provisions for the issuance of a license that affords the holder the ability to open-carry. 

     I hope this proves useful."

I do not know who called in to The Squirrel Report to say it is legal to open carry in some counties in NYS, so I am hopeful he may see this here and thus keep himself out of trouble.

All the best,
Glenn B

Fast And Furry-ous: Did Wylie Buy His Gun Thief's Kit From Acme

You would think so considering all of the plots to get the Roadrunner that went afowl because Wile E. Coyote always bought his gadgets, for his bound to fail plots, from Acme but then I am not writing about Wile E. Coyote. As it tuns out, some guy by the name of Wylie Gene Newton, 65, reportedly was arrested after he took a gun, that he allegedly had stolen, and tried to have it appraised on the reality TV show American Guns. Much as one would expect something really stupid to happen when Wile E. Coyote would try to get the drop on Roadrunner, this guy reportedly did something stupid by bringing a stolen gun to be appraised on a television show.

How stupid? Well, guess what - the reported real owner of the gun was watching television the night the show aired and he immediately called police to report this Wylie, of a different nature, with his gun on the show. If this is all held up as true fact, then all I can say is that it simply goes far beyond over and above (or would it be it falls far lower than merely below and under) the definition of stupidity on the part of this would be gun thief. The alleged thief supposedly was at some time confronted by the gun's owner and Wylie reportedly asked the owner: "Do you think I am stupid enough that I would take a gun I stole on TV?" Well, to answer that, based on the report I just read, I sure think you got your Thief's Kit and Thieving Lesson(s) from none other than Acme, the one and the same as used by Wile E. Coyote!

If he actually stole the gun, then at least he showed good taste for a less than Wile-E gun thief. (As I suppose Wile E. Coyote also showed good taste because, as I recall, his visions of roasted Roadrunner looked deliciously tempting.) The alleged stolen gun was reportedly a Colt Dragoon, in .44 caliber, valued at $40,000.

See:  http://kdvr.com/2012/08/20/colorado-man-tries-to-appraise-stolen-gun-on-tv/

All the best,
Glenn B

The Scum Suckers That Are Lawyers

I worked in Law Enforcement for 32 years. I dealt with lawyers a lot. I could not stand most of them. Some were overzealous prosecutors who would have prosecuted their own mothers for farting in public (although most prosecutors seemed motivated by a true desire to do good) and others were overzealous defenders who would literally do anything to get their clients off the hook regardless of guilt or innocence. One of the worst ever was a professor, whose class I took at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who was also a psychologist. Imagine that combination. She, in fact, told the class, in no uncertain terms, it was her absolute duty to do her best to see her clients freed no matter what. She made it clear as crystal that included even from charges of the most heinous crimes, even when her clients had made a full confession to her of their absolute guilt to her to the charges against them. I asked her a simple question that almost got me thrown out of her class, she went into a tirade in front of everyone in the class in an attempt to answer me but when she realized she was unable to do so with a logical answer and was making herself look the absolute leftist loony fool, she told me to shit down, shut up and not ask any more questions. That question was, in essence, simply: Isn't your job, as a lawyer, to see that justice is done, no matter what side you are on and while at the same time serving your client to the best of your ability while assuring justice runs its course. She would, or could, have none of it. I must admit, she later apologized to me in front of the whole class and commended me for my attitude, inquisitiveness and intelligent arguments but it took her weeks after my above question to reach that point.

Still though, you should get my point, I think most lawyers are scum sucking dwellers of the deep. They may be attracted to blood in the water like sharks and they may enjoy a feeding frenzy when they can but I think it is not the blood that attracts them. I think it is all the bullshit that has been excreted into the murky mess on which they thrive.

I brought all of that up because I am about to devote the rest of this blog post to something said by two lawyers recently. You will be able to see why I can tolerate prosecutors, in general, better than defenders. Mostly though, you will see why I detest lawyers, or at least the mentality they use all too often, because it is like that of my professor lawyer/psychologist to whom winning was just about everything and if even if her client lost the verdict then she would strive to win something for him, like a lighter sentence at any cost. All that no matter how terrible was the crime.

In this case, both the proesector(s) and the defender(s) seem to give justification for their actions based on other than doing justice. One admittedly bases the actions taken in part on how it protects the family of the victim and the other on how it protects - well read on.

According to my source, it was reported that a "mixed-martial artist" (I see nothing artistic about hand to hand combat) beat and killed his sparring partner, then ripped the tongue and heart of that man out of his body. He actually pled guilty saving the state a lot of money and grief in the prosecution of the case. I think that is great, what I do not find great is the attitude of the defense attorney. Here is what the prosecutor and defense attorneys reportedly had to say about the plea deal that was made that reportedly resulted in the defendant getting 50 years to life in prison for murder with mayhem involved:

"The earliest he'll be able to see a parole board is 2062," District Attorney Jon Alexander said. "We saved Taylor's family the agony from reliving the incident at the trial."

Seems all well and good but you can bet that the driving force behind the prosecution accepting a plea deal was not the feelings of the victim's family but that the defendant was going to plead guilty and save the possibility of a loss for the prosecution at trial. That would be my bet anyway.

Now as for what the defender supposedly said and for the supposed attitude of the defendant himself:

"Wyatt's attorney, James Fallman, said his 29-year-old client didn't want to testify at trial and he didn't want his family to testify.

"We looked for an agreement that would at least give him the opportunity to be paroled someday," Fallman said. "As bad as 50 years to life sounds, it's better than life without the possibility of parole."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48953331/

Bear in mind, the guilty plea only came after the defense was going to have their client plead not guilty by reason of insanity but a judge deemed him competent to stand trial.



All the best,
Glenn B

New Blog Added To My Blog Lists

I visited Rattail Bastard's blog, ony to find a link to this blog piece: http://www.velociworld.com/cgi-bin/mt/tb2thevman45.cgi/3974. It does not necessarily match how I feel on the subject but come fairly close. That one line: "Does breathe alone endow a soul?" is the question to be asked in the abortion debate. It is destined to become classic literature all on its own no matter your answer to it. Great stuff.

With that said, and with me having read some of the other blog posts on that site, I have now added Velociworld.com to the blog list under the header: Other Bloggers Of Note.

Hat tip to Doubletrouble at Rattail Bastard.

All the best,
Glenn B

Working For Columbia Asset Management Doesn't Mean You Can Moon Your Boss

It seems that a high ranking employee of Columbia Asset (my boldface and italics) Management, a subsidiary of Bank of America, reportedly was dissatisfied with the way the company fired another employee. In order to show his dissatisfaction, he reportedly barged into a high level meeting, dropped his draws, and mooned his boss, along with saying some seemingly inappropriate thing(s) to at least some of those in the meeting. Surprisingly enough, he was reportedly considered so precious to the company, in a special 1% of employees, that at first he was only given a warning. Reportedly, his boss said, he could be granted 'a one-free-mooning reprieve'. However, when the CEO heard of the employee's pant dropping escapade, the employee was fired.

What to do? What else but sue for his job and pay and benefits package back. He lost. He also has lost an appeal of that first ruling. He seems to be out of a job and back pay and benefis as it now stands. Maybe there is still hope for America after all, especially since the company involved was a subsidiary of Bank of America.

Source:

http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/06/13708974-bank-of-america-exec-loses-millions-after-court-says-you-cant-moon-your-boss?lite

All I can say about it, other than the above, is that this guy seemingly had one heck of a lot of cheekiness about himself!

All the best,
Glenn B

Video Says It All About The Mind Set Of Guys Like Obama and Clinton...

...then again, it was actually the campaign advertisement featuring Clinton in support of Obama that says it all. In essence, it says: It is all about Obama and he knows it! In other words folks, he does not give a damn about a Navy Seal, nor about hunting down Osama Bin Laden, nor about the United States of America. He cares only about himself. I think the message of the video has hit that nail right on the head and hopefully has driven it into Obama's political coffin. If so, remind me, after the election, to thank Clinton!

All the best,
Glenn B

Watch, Listen, Be Scared- Then Make Sure To Vote Against Obama

When President Clinton was in office, I used to loathe most of what the man in the accompanying video would say. His tune has certainly changed since the Clinton Administration, it seems as if he suddenly has grown up to become a level headed adult since then. Have a listen as to what Dick Morris believes will be Obama's tax plan for Americans if he is reelected in November 2012.



All the best,
Glenn B

An Idea For A New Boy Scouts of America Merit Badge

It was with almost total apathy that I read this article: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/09/05/budget-cuts-to-silence-live-performances-taps-at-new-york-military-funerals/.

In brief, it says that in the state of NY, taps, usually played at the funerals of fallen servicemen and veterans, will henceforth never be played by an actual bugler unless the bugler volunteers to do so. Why - federal spending cutbacks. Shit, I have not heard one iota about that bastard in the White House cutting back welfare spending lately. I have heard though that there are more people on it than ever, by far, under his administration. So, once again he just thumbs his nose at our military and veterans while building a new army of citizen welfare slugs.

Well, if the federal and state governments are not going to pay for proper honor guards for our fallen military personnel, then they should at least solicit volunteer organizations who would be happy and willing to do so. That is the way the Catholic Church has done it for years when it came to altar boys and choir singers. It is the way the Salvation Army and Volunteers of America has done it when staffing their Christmas time collection efforts with bell ringing Santas. It is the way of Americans helping Americans, the way we have been doing it since we kicked the arses of the British in the Revolution.

So why can't we do it now. I imagine that at least one group, such as the Boy Scouts of America, probably has a music merit badge. In fact, I know they offer a music merit badge. So OK, they have one already, why not create a new merit bade. Let's call it Honor The Military merit badge or Honor The Ultimate Sacrifice merit badge, or the Honor The Fallen merit badge, or Honor The Families of The Military merit badge, anything that would get the message across that what you would be doing t earn the badge would be to honor those who have passed away yet at sometime in their lives had honored the rest of us by serving us in the military. It would simply require the scout to pay homage to the deceased and his/her remaining loved ones, by performing taps, live, at a set number of funeral services, say 5 within a year, for fallen military personnel or fallen veterans (both who were discharged honorably). Of course a little more could be added to the requirements for the scout such as having to learn the military accomplishments of the deceased, learning about his branch of service and even his unit. Imagine the patriotism that would be instilled in the youth and the history he or she would learn about America and her military. Imagine the honor that would be paid to the family of the fallen and to the fallen him/herself.

If anyone out there, who reads this, is affiliated with the BSA, get on the horn and help me get it done. I could not find any link on their website by which I could send them an email otherwise I would have sent the suggestion to them myself.

All the best,
Glenn B

My Blog Almost Went Completely Global...

...which for me means that I would have had visits, within the last 24 hour time period, from folks on every continent excluding Antarctica . (Why exclude Antarctica - because it is inhabited  by penguins, why else!)

 

As it turns out though, it was only an almost and almost only counts in nuclear attacks and horseshoes. I had visitors from North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. South America was the hold out that kept it from being a full hand. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

All the best,
Glenn B