First let me say that I am entirely responsible for the circumstances that brought about this rant. While Thursday might be my regular day of the week for grocery shopping because of the 5% senior discount provided on that day, my postponing the trip until 3:00PM proved a bad decision.
So that said allow me to proceed. It seems to have become a conditioned response that people who at least by assumption are reasonably alert to their actions and interactions with others as they drive to the store and walk across the parking lot, once they grab a cart and enter the store they become completely oblivious to the existence of other people. To make it worse, the more crowded the store the more oblivious they become. Now I'm not saying that everyone is infected by this particular malady, but in a crowded store the critical percentage that is has an even greater impact. Now throw in the self-centeredness bordering on the just plain rude of the cell phone addict and you have a recipe for a grocery cart road rage.
Now the situation I was going to face was quite apparent even as I entered the parking lot. The availability of parking spaces was driven by factors of shear luck that someone else was just leaving at the right moment and that the individuals on either side of the now open space had respected the common courtesy of staying between the lines. I may have lucked out in this regard but my luck would not hold. So I grabbed a cart from the parking lot corral, correctly anticipating that they would not be available just outside the door.
Entering the store the adventure quickly became a live action version of the old video game "Frogger" where backing up and moving sideways is often the only viable tactic. Considering the situation, even with my relatively short list, plotting a direct, shortest possible course was out of the question. So I took a deep breath, counted to 10 and headed into the fray. Suddenly a flash mob of overweight mothers and children formed around me as I tried to go past the discount baskets filled with marked down Christmas candy. The produce department was in sight but I was already in full retreat. I quickly exploited a suddenly open check out lane and headed for produce if somewhat indirectly. Reaching around an unattended cart blocking my way I grabbed some of the last bananas on the shelf. Seeing another item on my list was close but out of reach I again retreated and grabbed some apples. Further backing out of the apple section I detoured through the organics area and headed back to where I had just been to get some green peppers and fortuitously grabbed some mushrooms as I passed.
Turning around again I grabbed a head of lettuce and aimed for the fresh meat section. Blocked again I was forced into another indirect route. After grabbing what I needed in meats and now being more centrally located, I found and open space and stopped to reassess what remained on my list. Beyond a strategic detour down and back the full length of one aisle the rest of my route was relative to this point pretty uneventful..... until course.... I needed to head to the check out.
The direct way out of frozen foods leads through the beer and wine section which was quite understandably crowded with last minute would be New Year's revelers. At first glance detouring wide and going through the designer foods area appeared the route of least resistance. This proved a mistake as it forced me to approach the check out area from the side where all the self checkout stations were. As crowded as the rest of the store was this area was even worse, packed with people with just a few items and lines extending back between the aisles.
This then is where I encountered the added discourteous oblivion of the 30 something cell phone addicts. Not wanting to again detour, this time one what would have been almost the full length of the store, I approached the phalanx at right angles. All the people I could see in both lines, having completed their selections, could of course not wait to get their cell phone conversation/internet fix. Coming to a complete stop I spoke up, politely saying,"Excuse me." I was no more than five feet from the individual to whom my request was directed but his phone was firmly planted in his ear and his attention was far away. So I spoke up again raising my voice a bit and with a little more emphasis, "Excuse Me!" Again my simple request was greeted with a none response. OK this was enough, time to to fight rudeness with rudeness. so I moved my cart a bit closer, leaned forward over the handle and spoke even louder, "HEY YOU, PHONE BOY! EXCUSE ME!" He then began to look up and around as if my voice were somehow proceeding from the heavens and I think would have gone back to his conversation if the woman behind him who was almost as engrossed in the internet as he was his conversation had not heard me and reached forward and touched him to motion that he needed to move his oblivious self.
Looking over a few minutes later as I waited in my own line I noticed this individual couldn't even be bothered to hang up his phone while he scanned his items to check out. I swear should I ever be forced to venture to the grocery store again on the afternoon of the eve of a holiday I am going to arm myself with a can of mace and or one of those disposable compressed air fog horns!
The URL of this blog comes from a no longer published newspaper from my old home town in Massachusetts. "The Evening Chronicle" was owned and published by an old family friend and long time leader of the Republican Party from the Roosevelt Administration through the Eisenhower Administration, Joseph W. Martin Jr. I hope you all enjoy what you find here.
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Well Now, Let's Just See.....
With the latest revelations that the NSA has been gathering information on members of the House and Senate, we will now have to wait and see just which members have the balls, not just to "investigate", but to proceed with criminal charges and/or impeachment proceedings. Personally I'm not going to hold my breath. All the hearings on the Hildabeast's Libya boondoggle have come to naught. (And in that light, is Congress critter Gowdy of SC endorsing Rubio really a surprise?)
The list of just who was being spyed upon, if it is ever fully revealed, might prove interesting. From what has come out so far it would appear that party affiliation will not provide immunity if the individual is an overt supporter of Israel. I'd bet Chuck U Schumer is livid and having a a hard time not running to the closest available microphone and camera to vent his spleen.
And then there is the now ubiquitous question: How ma y more points will this add to Trump's lead in the polls?
The list of just who was being spyed upon, if it is ever fully revealed, might prove interesting. From what has come out so far it would appear that party affiliation will not provide immunity if the individual is an overt supporter of Israel. I'd bet Chuck U Schumer is livid and having a a hard time not running to the closest available microphone and camera to vent his spleen.
And then there is the now ubiquitous question: How ma y more points will this add to Trump's lead in the polls?
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Impudence And Stupidity All Rolled Into One.
Just this week the Hildabeast stated that Donald Trump has a "sexist" problem. This from a woman who just announced that her husband will be hitting the campaign trail for her. Really Hillary? You're going to play the "women's issues" card AND the B.J. Bill card at the same time?
I mean after all haven't we been told for all these years that Hillary was this woman of her own talents and accomplishments? Is that the case or has her own internal polling numbers become so bad that she feels the need to roll out Bill's pathetically stained coat tails before even the first ballot is cast?
One can't help but think that the tired old hag wishes she had divorced him right after she won the NY Senate race. But it's too late now and like it or not she is stuck with him. B.J. has always been a background factor in her campaign. A double edged sword if ever there was one. Two things are now certain, Hillary will be wearing Depends at the next debate and the stench that arises from her campaign is not just of old urine but desperation.
Small wonder that Trump's only response to the "sexist" remark was "BE CAREFUL". I think maybe Trump has her just where he wants her and she hasn't figured it out yet and he has more than a few "Trump" cards up his sleeve that he has yet to play. I suspect he is holding them back because he sees her as the weakest candidate on the Democrat side in terms of available information to destroy her one the conventions are over.
I think Trump is a master player who is playing in three dimensional space while the rest still struggle on a two dimensional board. By the time this is over Hillary's campaign will have all the inevitability of Bob Dole's.
I mean after all haven't we been told for all these years that Hillary was this woman of her own talents and accomplishments? Is that the case or has her own internal polling numbers become so bad that she feels the need to roll out Bill's pathetically stained coat tails before even the first ballot is cast?
One can't help but think that the tired old hag wishes she had divorced him right after she won the NY Senate race. But it's too late now and like it or not she is stuck with him. B.J. has always been a background factor in her campaign. A double edged sword if ever there was one. Two things are now certain, Hillary will be wearing Depends at the next debate and the stench that arises from her campaign is not just of old urine but desperation.
Small wonder that Trump's only response to the "sexist" remark was "BE CAREFUL". I think maybe Trump has her just where he wants her and she hasn't figured it out yet and he has more than a few "Trump" cards up his sleeve that he has yet to play. I suspect he is holding them back because he sees her as the weakest candidate on the Democrat side in terms of available information to destroy her one the conventions are over.
I think Trump is a master player who is playing in three dimensional space while the rest still struggle on a two dimensional board. By the time this is over Hillary's campaign will have all the inevitability of Bob Dole's.
Friday, December 25, 2015
Merry Christmas 2015!
Wishing a Merry Christmas and the best of luck for the new year! Heaven knows we are all going to need it! Everyone stay safe and warm.
Friday, December 18, 2015
So How Many More Points For Trump?
Today what is alleged to be a Republican controlled Congress betrayed the American voters yet again. Obama and the Democrats got everything they wanted. Full funding for Obamacare, immigration, Planned Parenthood, immigration, the whole nine yards. The votes of the American people to reject the Democrats at the polls were just thrown in the dumpster and the Republicans openly declared that they are willing to tell any lie to win election.
That they seemingly can't figure out why Donald Trump is leading in the polls is just unfathomable. The only questions then is how many more points will this translate into in the next round of polls and how much more damage will be done to the structure of the American Republic before President Trump can take office on January 20th 2017 and can it be saved?
That they seemingly can't figure out why Donald Trump is leading in the polls is just unfathomable. The only questions then is how many more points will this translate into in the next round of polls and how much more damage will be done to the structure of the American Republic before President Trump can take office on January 20th 2017 and can it be saved?
Thursday, December 17, 2015
There Is A Day Of Reckoning Coming.
There is a day of reckoning coming, not just for America but for our political and media elites more specifically. We are rapidly reaching a point where their insistence that we not speak out in the name of defending our nation, our culture and even more fundamentally ourselves as individuals has gone beyond just liberal touchy feely tolerance and multi-culturalism but has crossed the line to where we have to ask ourselves not just a lot of serious questions, but demand the answers be given in the light of public scrutiny.
Is this just stupidity or is there some deliberate malfeasance behind it?
Are these people simply lacking in the intellectual capabilities to draw logical conclusions from a series of openly visible events?
Have they become so become so ideologically hidebound that they would put their political agenda over and above the life and limb of the citizens the portend to serve?
Are they either willing or ready to accept the consequences for the failure of their policy/stupidity/malfeasance?
Before going any further with the questions we need to lay out some facts.
1. There was a recently reported incident of Muslim men making large multiple purchases of untraceable cell phones. The very kind used for clandestine communication and more importantly as munitions detonatores.
2. There were also widely reported incidents of not just Muslim men making bulk purchases of propane tanks but widely reported thefts of these same tanks from grocery outlets where one needs no more than a bolt cutter and a single minute to make off with enough explosives to take down a city block.
3. There is now evidence that the madness in Syria has reached a new level of madness. There are reports that Turkey has turned a blind eye to the smuggling of precursors for sarin gas out of Turkey and into Syria. Couple that with reports that a jihadist cell in Switzerland was recently busted in possession of toxic gas.
4. There exists irrefutable video evidence of Palestinian jihadists converting propane canisters into crude artillery rockets and launching them out of Gaza into southern Israel. All while shouting Allahuh Ackbar of course.
Do these media and political elites of ours honestly expect us to believe that these various groups don't communicate with each other, that they don't share technology? Or maybe they just think all of us are so involved with the latest edition of "The Voice" or "Survivor" or whatever new bread and circuses distraction they cook up or that we can't be bothered to look up from our cell phones long enough to step off the railroad tracks in time before we get run down by the train? Indeed that might be true for a lot of people, especially of the younger generation, but that's not all of us.
Ever since 9-11 we have been subjected to a series of what I would call pin prick attacks. I would contend that these are deliberatly small, not simply to be annoying and to kill Americans but to desensitize us to continued and perpetual violence.
I would further posit that this 5th column in our midst are stockpiling and preparing for a single massive simultaneous attack in multiple locations. Neither would I put it past them to employ a known Palestinian tacktic of setting off one device, waiting for the first responders to gather and then set off a second even larger bomb and effectively decspapitating the capability to respond to even more attacks.
These people may be 7th century barbarians but they are armed with 21st century technology and are not afraid to use it or sacrifice themselves in the process.
I know I am not the only one forecasting such terrible events and I do so not to frighten the public but to warn the media and the politicians that should not but when such horrors come to pass we know who we are going to hold accountable for them and it's not just the barbarians and their 7th century death cult but the elite who have deliberately put them in our midst and our lives in peril.
We know full well that the power of government should be used to protect and defend us from our enemies not be used as a weapon against us for refusing to sit back and meekly accept the destruction of the nation that we built.
Me, I'm going long on pitchforks and torches. The reckoning is and will come.
Is this just stupidity or is there some deliberate malfeasance behind it?
Are these people simply lacking in the intellectual capabilities to draw logical conclusions from a series of openly visible events?
Have they become so become so ideologically hidebound that they would put their political agenda over and above the life and limb of the citizens the portend to serve?
Are they either willing or ready to accept the consequences for the failure of their policy/stupidity/malfeasance?
Before going any further with the questions we need to lay out some facts.
1. There was a recently reported incident of Muslim men making large multiple purchases of untraceable cell phones. The very kind used for clandestine communication and more importantly as munitions detonatores.
2. There were also widely reported incidents of not just Muslim men making bulk purchases of propane tanks but widely reported thefts of these same tanks from grocery outlets where one needs no more than a bolt cutter and a single minute to make off with enough explosives to take down a city block.
3. There is now evidence that the madness in Syria has reached a new level of madness. There are reports that Turkey has turned a blind eye to the smuggling of precursors for sarin gas out of Turkey and into Syria. Couple that with reports that a jihadist cell in Switzerland was recently busted in possession of toxic gas.
4. There exists irrefutable video evidence of Palestinian jihadists converting propane canisters into crude artillery rockets and launching them out of Gaza into southern Israel. All while shouting Allahuh Ackbar of course.
Do these media and political elites of ours honestly expect us to believe that these various groups don't communicate with each other, that they don't share technology? Or maybe they just think all of us are so involved with the latest edition of "The Voice" or "Survivor" or whatever new bread and circuses distraction they cook up or that we can't be bothered to look up from our cell phones long enough to step off the railroad tracks in time before we get run down by the train? Indeed that might be true for a lot of people, especially of the younger generation, but that's not all of us.
Ever since 9-11 we have been subjected to a series of what I would call pin prick attacks. I would contend that these are deliberatly small, not simply to be annoying and to kill Americans but to desensitize us to continued and perpetual violence.
I would further posit that this 5th column in our midst are stockpiling and preparing for a single massive simultaneous attack in multiple locations. Neither would I put it past them to employ a known Palestinian tacktic of setting off one device, waiting for the first responders to gather and then set off a second even larger bomb and effectively decspapitating the capability to respond to even more attacks.
These people may be 7th century barbarians but they are armed with 21st century technology and are not afraid to use it or sacrifice themselves in the process.
I know I am not the only one forecasting such terrible events and I do so not to frighten the public but to warn the media and the politicians that should not but when such horrors come to pass we know who we are going to hold accountable for them and it's not just the barbarians and their 7th century death cult but the elite who have deliberately put them in our midst and our lives in peril.
We know full well that the power of government should be used to protect and defend us from our enemies not be used as a weapon against us for refusing to sit back and meekly accept the destruction of the nation that we built.
Me, I'm going long on pitchforks and torches. The reckoning is and will come.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
My First Reaction To Tuesday Night's Debate
Short and simple, screw CNN and their choice of marginally relevant questions and their post debate commentators. Between Paul Begala whining like a little girl about possible collateral damage if we bomb the snot out of the Syria jihadists and admitted communist Van Jones pontificating whether Cruz or Paul was more successful at beating up on Rubio I didn't know which one was going to make me puke first.
More later....maybe.
More later....maybe.
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Just Another "I'm Fed Up" Rant.
Sorry I'm just not going to buy into all the "Blame America first, last and always" crap that has become the stock and trade around here. Nations have been playing economic and geographic political advantage over one another since the dawn of organized society. We are no different excrpt that we have also had the huge advantage, up until recently, of both a far better educated and free thinking public possessed of entrepreneurial drive that allowed us to push our advantage largely without massive military effort. Our message to the world was not one of military conquest and forced assimilation but of demonstrating the superiority of free enterprise and free citizens and that prosperity grows from individual effort not from government imposition of force.
That made us the envy of the world wher people flocked here to become part of the American dream if not for themselves then for their children and grand children. But now the so-called progressives have turned our educational system into a sewer of egelatarian filth telling any and all that they are entitled to live like kings with out making any effort to actually earn it. They have deprived our youth of any in depth knowledge of history and its proper application to today's issues. Everything must be boiled down to "America is greedy, Americans are racists" and foolish demands for a distorted concept of "equality" that never has, can't and never will exist. They don't teach young people to go out and develop a skill or find a passion and make it work and maybe, just maybe you will make it rich or maybe you will succeed and be able to raise a family in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. There is no emphisis that first and foremost you have to work hard today for tomorrow's rewards. No they teach them that all rewards can be theirs, and theirs now, all they have to do is demand in enough numbers that government give it to them. In their minds their lazyness is simply a manifestation of other peoples greed.
The same dynamic applies to the radical islamists. Kill the Jews because they succeed where we have failed. Kill the Americans because they wont share their wealth with us. Well you know what? Screw the damn whole lot of them, their communist diaelectic and their Islamic 7th century fascist barbarism. I'm no fan of Putin but at least he is openly facing the reality that it may well come down to nukeing the crap out of Islam before they will be stopped.
As for our own lazy degenerate class, give them jobs, put them to work building Trump's wall on the Mexican border. Forcebly teach them the skills needed to build roads and rebuild bridges. Make them learn to appreciate the value of hard work and stop being such a bunch of spoiled petty children. In short make them grow up.
That made us the envy of the world wher people flocked here to become part of the American dream if not for themselves then for their children and grand children. But now the so-called progressives have turned our educational system into a sewer of egelatarian filth telling any and all that they are entitled to live like kings with out making any effort to actually earn it. They have deprived our youth of any in depth knowledge of history and its proper application to today's issues. Everything must be boiled down to "America is greedy, Americans are racists" and foolish demands for a distorted concept of "equality" that never has, can't and never will exist. They don't teach young people to go out and develop a skill or find a passion and make it work and maybe, just maybe you will make it rich or maybe you will succeed and be able to raise a family in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. There is no emphisis that first and foremost you have to work hard today for tomorrow's rewards. No they teach them that all rewards can be theirs, and theirs now, all they have to do is demand in enough numbers that government give it to them. In their minds their lazyness is simply a manifestation of other peoples greed.
The same dynamic applies to the radical islamists. Kill the Jews because they succeed where we have failed. Kill the Americans because they wont share their wealth with us. Well you know what? Screw the damn whole lot of them, their communist diaelectic and their Islamic 7th century fascist barbarism. I'm no fan of Putin but at least he is openly facing the reality that it may well come down to nukeing the crap out of Islam before they will be stopped.
As for our own lazy degenerate class, give them jobs, put them to work building Trump's wall on the Mexican border. Forcebly teach them the skills needed to build roads and rebuild bridges. Make them learn to appreciate the value of hard work and stop being such a bunch of spoiled petty children. In short make them grow up.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
So When Does The Hilarity Ensue?
None of us should hold our breath waiting for the political and media elites to issue any apologies or acknowledge that they have a platerfull of egg on their collective faces regarding their rantings about Trump's call for suspending entry to Muslims.
8 U.S. Code # 182 Inadmissible aliens.
(f) Suspension of entry or imposition of restrictions by President.
Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such a period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he my deem appropriate.
8 U.S. Code # 182 Inadmissible aliens.
(f) Suspension of entry or imposition of restrictions by President.
Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such a period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he my deem appropriate.
Bwaaaahaaa! Suck it you ignorant freaking leftist morons! Go ahead and cry and moan like the little children you are. The law already exists to do exactly what Trump has proposed. So now if Trump and his team were to pursue it they could say that the ball is now in Obama's court and ask if he is going to openly defy something that polls are increasingly showing the public wants.
Yeah Obama will do the right thing. When pigs fly. Wait a minute, where is that kid from the Doritos commercial?
Yeah Obama will do the right thing. When pigs fly. Wait a minute, where is that kid from the Doritos commercial?
To Not Choose Is To Choose And It's The Wrong Choice.
Donald Trump's latest call for a moratorium on entry visas for Muslims has left the establishment political and media elites with their knickers twisted in such a tight knot that their rantings about Trump have gone up by at least a full octave. That his poll numbers are going up with each new policy pronouncement just adds to their frustrations with their apparent impotency when dealing with not just Trump but the growing numbers of voters who are laughing in their faces.
During his Dec. 7th speech aboard thr USS Yorktown memorial he singled out the reporter from NBC News who was covering the event, directly exposed her recent attempts to foist off lies as truth and then said to the crowd while pointing directly at her, "That's a third rate journalist right there!" The crowd went wild.
All thus brings us to the basis of, the bottom line if you will, of understanding the conflicts in the contemporary world. It doesn't matter if that conflict is between the social elites and the rest of us plebeians or between Islamic supremacists and Western culture, be it secular or religious. The dynamic is exactly the same.
Do we want to live in a society where the individual possess the free will to decide what is best for them and their famlies and where we must accept the consequences for our actions both good and bad or do we want to have a society where government and/or self-appointed elites, be they secular or religious, decide what they want and enforce their decisions through psychological manipulation, ie. propaganda and/or at the point of a gun?
In the first case as I pointed out above, the western social elites are seeing their ability to control the formation of public opinion slipping away from them and they are not happy about it. Anyone who thinks that they will just accept defeat and resign themselves from the conflict is naive, stupid or both. If history has one single lesson it is that power once attained is never freely surrendered. We have to be prepared to ask and answer the questions: What will the elites do, what are they prepared to do, to reassert their dominance over the political process and society at large? And, what are we willing to do or are prepared to do to stop them? Clearly up to now the primary direction the elites want us to move in, is to have us incrementally surrender more and more of our God given rights and freedoms in the name of some alleged security provided exclusively by government and its agencies.
At this point I would posit that governments, both national and local are failing miserably. Local police have concentrated on swelling their ranks with military vets whose sole policing experience at dealing with the public has been in conflict zones where they genuinely had to worry about if the next car they stop has a trunk full of explosives. Unfortunately that attitude dors not translate well in dealing with a large peaceable public. In our swstem of justice the adversarial conflict belongs in the courtroom not on the street. But as demonstrated by the police increasinly resorting to a wild west, shoot first and ask questions later attitude, this is not working out for the public in any positive manner.
Yes there is a growing problem, particularly in urban areas, with violence and drugs, but the proper responce is not to choke people to death for selling single cigarettes on the street corner when a block or two away someone is selling crack or meth unmolested. The correct responce is not to serve every drug warrant with SWAT teams and stun grenades like they are storming an insurgent stronghold in Iraq. For the police the adage of "To protect and serve" has devolved into "To patrol and control". Our society is not the better for it.
If the social elites are willing and prepared to condone such actions on a local level what would they resort to at a national level. Do we want, would we accept some sort of martial law? During an interview after his Dec. 7th announcement Trump quite understandably grew frustrated with the likes of Anderson Cooper and pointedly told him "Will you get it through your thick head that we are at war with these people!"
This brings us to the application of the aforementioned question in the second instance. We live in a pluralist society. That means that what the majority of people want and think does and should have legitimate sway of the direction of society in general. How much sway any want or opinion should have is what public debate is all about. We also beleive and our society was built upon the belief in free will.
Unfortunatly in any society in this world where Islam is the dominant force that belief does not exist in any meaningful way. The fact that there might exist a majority within those societies that wish nothing more than to go about their daily lives and live in peace is irrelevant. Increasingly it is the violent extremests who are the moving forces in the Islamic world, and they are more than willing to chop of the heads of any who oppose them, be they fellow Muslims or not.
Again in this instance the government has failed. For all their surveillance and scanning our emails and phone calls did not even put the two San Bernardino shooters on the NSA's radar. Ditto the Chattanooga recruiting center shooter or the Fort Hood shooter. The goverments attitude has become don't you dare arm yourself and shoot back but best you hunker down and wait for the government to come along and count the bodies.
For the West at this point it doesn't matter if you are a hard core atheist, a run of the mill protestant or Catholic or a devout evangelical, the belief in free will is and must be the glue that binds us together as a singular nation. If we abandon that belief we condemn ourselves and our posterity to a repressive regime imposed either internally or externally. It is a choice for the future we must make. It is not a choice we can afford to ignore. We were warned in the midst of the Nazi horror that "To not speak is to speak, to not act is to act." I would add that to not choose is to choose and its the wrong choice.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Who's Poking Who's Hornet's Nest?
So now the media and the political elites have something new coming out of the Trump campaign to get their collective knickers in a twist over. Well isn't that just special of them? Having taken the time to watch the majority of Trump's speech yesterday where he announced the proposal, the audience's reaction was quite predictably just the opposite.
The point I would raise however is not the merits of any such proposal or reaction to it, but rather how Trump characterizes the political elites and their media minions and how the media deliberately ignores it when he calls them out as liars and the political elites dare not address his calling them "stupid people who don't know what they are doing." These charaterizations, true or not, are just what his audience has already concluded for themselves and is simply glad to here a candidate, any candidate, give voice to their frustrations.
Well then here we are, the pundits etc. have a new reason to declare that Trump has at last "gone to far" and predict is imminent demise. More like a reflection of their inability to learn from past mistakes. The more adamant the tortured wailings of the establishment the more certain his supportes become that he speaks for them.
So then going back to the title of this post; just who is is poking what hornet's nest? Is it Trump who is poking tbe nest of the elite's faux indignity or is it the media and political elites that are poking the nest of the voting public's disgust with their repetative lies?
Their was a line the movie "Used Cars" about how "used to be when you bought a politician, he stayed bought". Problem for the elites is that Trump can't be bought and won't be bought. For the establishment it all boils down to that one simple reality. Once was a time when the media considered it their job to challange the politicians and government policy not just to influence it but to guard the public from overreach. Now it seems they reguard their job to be to protect government from the righteous indignation of the voting public.
The point I would raise however is not the merits of any such proposal or reaction to it, but rather how Trump characterizes the political elites and their media minions and how the media deliberately ignores it when he calls them out as liars and the political elites dare not address his calling them "stupid people who don't know what they are doing." These charaterizations, true or not, are just what his audience has already concluded for themselves and is simply glad to here a candidate, any candidate, give voice to their frustrations.
Well then here we are, the pundits etc. have a new reason to declare that Trump has at last "gone to far" and predict is imminent demise. More like a reflection of their inability to learn from past mistakes. The more adamant the tortured wailings of the establishment the more certain his supportes become that he speaks for them.
So then going back to the title of this post; just who is is poking what hornet's nest? Is it Trump who is poking tbe nest of the elite's faux indignity or is it the media and political elites that are poking the nest of the voting public's disgust with their repetative lies?
Their was a line the movie "Used Cars" about how "used to be when you bought a politician, he stayed bought". Problem for the elites is that Trump can't be bought and won't be bought. For the establishment it all boils down to that one simple reality. Once was a time when the media considered it their job to challange the politicians and government policy not just to influence it but to guard the public from overreach. Now it seems they reguard their job to be to protect government from the righteous indignation of the voting public.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
And This Latest Bloodbath Surprises Who?
So now the shooters in the gruesome San Bernardino attack have been revealed as Islamists and that revelation has led to celebrations in the Muslim twitterverse. Neither of these facts come as any surprise to any rational clear thinking individuals.
This of course would not include the likes of Hillary Clinton who stated in the wake of the Paris attacks that Islam didn't have anything to do with terrorism. I don't think anyone should hold their breath waiting for the Democrats and RINOs to try and deflect from the facts by trying to lay off the blame on "American gun culture". (Correction, our sorry excuse for a President is already blaming the deaths on purported lax background checks.)
These same two associated groups will concurrently express endless dismay, as we will no doubt see another up tick in Donald Trump's poll numbers.
Matt Bracken's predictions, as noted in the post below are already coming true. Sadly, it is still going to take more than what at present is only about half of registered Republicans to wake up and smell the cordite, before real forthright actions will be taken against the menace of Islam.
The questions then become: How many more attacks will occur between now and the election? Will our sorry excuse for a President, the Democrats and the RINOs continue to stonewall in the face of reality? Will there be a movement to drive this douchbag from office for his increasingly maleficent neglect of the safety of American public? Will he try and double down on his tyrany and try to impliment a massive firearms seizure program? Or will we have to wait for January 20th of 2016 when President Trump is sworn in before anything can be done?
If I recall there was a bunch of arrogant crap that came out of the leftist blogs after the 2008 election calling for President Bush to resign immediately. One can only wonder what the Obama's supporters reactions are going to be when that gets thrown back in their face.
This of course would not include the likes of Hillary Clinton who stated in the wake of the Paris attacks that Islam didn't have anything to do with terrorism. I don't think anyone should hold their breath waiting for the Democrats and RINOs to try and deflect from the facts by trying to lay off the blame on "American gun culture". (Correction, our sorry excuse for a President is already blaming the deaths on purported lax background checks.)
These same two associated groups will concurrently express endless dismay, as we will no doubt see another up tick in Donald Trump's poll numbers.
Matt Bracken's predictions, as noted in the post below are already coming true. Sadly, it is still going to take more than what at present is only about half of registered Republicans to wake up and smell the cordite, before real forthright actions will be taken against the menace of Islam.
The questions then become: How many more attacks will occur between now and the election? Will our sorry excuse for a President, the Democrats and the RINOs continue to stonewall in the face of reality? Will there be a movement to drive this douchbag from office for his increasingly maleficent neglect of the safety of American public? Will he try and double down on his tyrany and try to impliment a massive firearms seizure program? Or will we have to wait for January 20th of 2016 when President Trump is sworn in before anything can be done?
If I recall there was a bunch of arrogant crap that came out of the leftist blogs after the 2008 election calling for President Bush to resign immediately. One can only wonder what the Obama's supporters reactions are going to be when that gets thrown back in their face.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
The Three Way Civil War
Matt Bracken has penned another excellent piece.
http://gatesofvienna.net/2015/11/tet-take-two-islams-2016-european-offensive/#comment-430425
I would suggest all to read it carefully and pass it on as far and possible.
http://gatesofvienna.net/2015/11/tet-take-two-islams-2016-european-offensive/#comment-430425
I would suggest all to read it carefully and pass it on as far and possible.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Paris, Lies, And Deadly Deflections
It is a sad commentary on both the state of contemporary political affairs and the degradation of history education that there has emerged an all to frequent theme in many an alternative media site, that Israel/Zionism is the modern inheritor of Nazi philosophy and methodology. The hate filled vitriol that this notion is pursued with rivals that of the Nazis themselves. That the irony of this is lost upon these fools makes it all the sadder, tragic and dangerous.
To put it bluntly, it is a crock of historically shortsighted crap. Islam has been at war with any and all who reject their death cult from its very inception. Ask the Jews who founded and built the city of Medina who were slaughtered for refusing to convert. Ask the Christians of North Africa and Syria who were slaughtered for refusing to convert. Ask the Christians of Spain who fought for 700 years to free themselves from the opression and murder of the Moors. Consider the tens of tnousands who were slaughtered or carried off into slavery by Islamic piracy in the Mediterranean for over 1000 years.
Islam has always considered that any land once conquered by Islam, belongs to Islam forever and its peoples have no right to determine their own future. It tactics of conquest by violence and intimidation have not changed one bit in 1500 years. There is not a single other culture on the face of god's green earth that Islam has ever lived in peace with, except the peace of subugation enforced at the point of a scimitar. ISIS is just the latest manifestation of Islamic 7th century barbarism armed with modern weapons.
Whenever anyone dares defy this deceitful propaganda and define Islam for what it is and has always been, namely a collectivist, totalitarian personality cult of death worship, they quickly come under attack by a legion of buffoons who immediately accuse them of being Jews and or agents of Mosad and base their attacks on such unsubstantiated falshoods and a fallacious interpretation of 20th century European history.
They neither know or care in the least of the history or credentials of those who would dare challange their false narrative. (Just as an aside, I'm about as WASP as anyone could possible be. Thanks to the diligent geneological work of my grandmother and my cousin the family has been traced back to the Plantagenet kings of England.) The notion that Zionism, the Jewish peoples desire for a homeland where they can at least hope to be in control of their own fate, is the inheritance of Nazi philosphy and methodology is absurd on its face. These vile 21st century propagandists openly proclaim the very same Nazi and Islamic hate of the 20th century that the very existance of the Jews is a global conspiricy to control the world that reaches back to the time of the Pharaohs.
The very last thing these despicable people want examined in the light of day are the proven historical connections between the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Nazi state. They don't want any examination of the history of escaped Nazis working in and helping to build the post war governments of Syria and Egypt.
Their modern day manifestation of this ancient evil must be confronted with harsh light of truth whenever it can be. Failure to do so and allowing an even greater emergence of Islamic butchery will sink humanity into a murderous barbarity that would make that of the combined horror of the Nazis, the Japanese empire and the Communists pale by comparison.
It is up to governments to confront the physical, political and military manifestations such as ISIS and al Qaida. It is up to the courage of individuals to confront the anti-human propagandists.
Don't take my word for the truth of any of these connections. Both the written and photographic evidence of the collusion between Islam and the Nazis is plentiful and easy to find. It must be used to both confront the lies and to demonstrate the truth to those who have been deliberately kept in the dark so as to make of them a new generation of victims of these ancient lies. Simply consider the words of Yasser Arafat. "I am willing to kill for my cause, what makes you think I woundn't lie for it as well?"
To put it bluntly, it is a crock of historically shortsighted crap. Islam has been at war with any and all who reject their death cult from its very inception. Ask the Jews who founded and built the city of Medina who were slaughtered for refusing to convert. Ask the Christians of North Africa and Syria who were slaughtered for refusing to convert. Ask the Christians of Spain who fought for 700 years to free themselves from the opression and murder of the Moors. Consider the tens of tnousands who were slaughtered or carried off into slavery by Islamic piracy in the Mediterranean for over 1000 years.
Islam has always considered that any land once conquered by Islam, belongs to Islam forever and its peoples have no right to determine their own future. It tactics of conquest by violence and intimidation have not changed one bit in 1500 years. There is not a single other culture on the face of god's green earth that Islam has ever lived in peace with, except the peace of subugation enforced at the point of a scimitar. ISIS is just the latest manifestation of Islamic 7th century barbarism armed with modern weapons.
Whenever anyone dares defy this deceitful propaganda and define Islam for what it is and has always been, namely a collectivist, totalitarian personality cult of death worship, they quickly come under attack by a legion of buffoons who immediately accuse them of being Jews and or agents of Mosad and base their attacks on such unsubstantiated falshoods and a fallacious interpretation of 20th century European history.
They neither know or care in the least of the history or credentials of those who would dare challange their false narrative. (Just as an aside, I'm about as WASP as anyone could possible be. Thanks to the diligent geneological work of my grandmother and my cousin the family has been traced back to the Plantagenet kings of England.) The notion that Zionism, the Jewish peoples desire for a homeland where they can at least hope to be in control of their own fate, is the inheritance of Nazi philosphy and methodology is absurd on its face. These vile 21st century propagandists openly proclaim the very same Nazi and Islamic hate of the 20th century that the very existance of the Jews is a global conspiricy to control the world that reaches back to the time of the Pharaohs.
The very last thing these despicable people want examined in the light of day are the proven historical connections between the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Nazi state. They don't want any examination of the history of escaped Nazis working in and helping to build the post war governments of Syria and Egypt.
Their modern day manifestation of this ancient evil must be confronted with harsh light of truth whenever it can be. Failure to do so and allowing an even greater emergence of Islamic butchery will sink humanity into a murderous barbarity that would make that of the combined horror of the Nazis, the Japanese empire and the Communists pale by comparison.
It is up to governments to confront the physical, political and military manifestations such as ISIS and al Qaida. It is up to the courage of individuals to confront the anti-human propagandists.
Don't take my word for the truth of any of these connections. Both the written and photographic evidence of the collusion between Islam and the Nazis is plentiful and easy to find. It must be used to both confront the lies and to demonstrate the truth to those who have been deliberately kept in the dark so as to make of them a new generation of victims of these ancient lies. Simply consider the words of Yasser Arafat. "I am willing to kill for my cause, what makes you think I woundn't lie for it as well?"
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Understanding The Problem In Five Easy Lessons
Lesson #1 Who has done what.
The Shoe Bomber was a Muslim
The Beltway Snipers were Muslims
The Fort Hood Shooter was a Muslim
The underwear Bomber was a Muslim
The U-S.S. Cole Bombers were Muslims
The Madrid Train Bombers were Muslims
The Bali Nightclub Bombers were Muslims
The London Subway Bombers were Muslims
The Moscow Threat Attackers were Muslims
The Boston Marathon Bombers were Muslims
The Pan-Am flight #93 Bombers were Muslims
The Air France Entebbe Hijackers were Muslims
The Iranian Embassy Takeover, was by Muslims
The Beirut U.S. Embassy bombers were Muslims
The Libyan U.S. Embassy Attack was by Muslims
The Buenos Aires Suicide Bombers were Muslims
The Israeli Olympic Team Attackers were Muslims
The Kenyan U.S, Embassy Bombers were Muslims
The Saudi, Khobar Towers Bombers were Muslims
The Beirut Marine Barracks bombers were Muslims
The Besian Russian School Attackers were Muslims
The first World Trade Center Bombers were Muslims
The Bombay & Mumbai India Attackers were Muslims
The Achille Lauro Cruise Ship Hijackers were Muslims
The September 11th 2001 Airline Hijackers were Muslims
Lesson #2
Who gets along with whom.
Buddhists living with Hindus = No Problem
Hindus living with Christians = No Problem
Hindus living with Jews = No Problem
Christians living with Shintos = No Problem
Shintos living with Confucians = No Problem
Confucians living with Baha'is = No Problem
Baha'is living with Jews = No Problem
Jews living with Atheists = No Problem
Atheists living with Buddhists = No Problem
Buddhists living with Sikhs = No Problem
Sikhs living with Hindus = No Problem
Hindus living with Baha'is = No Problem
Baha'is living with Christians = No Problem
Christians living with Jews = No Problem
Jews living with Buddhists = No Problem
Buddhists living with Shintos = No Problem
Shintos living with Atheists = No Problem
Atheists living with Confucians = No Problem
Confusians living with Hindus = No Problem
Lesson #3 Who does dot get along with others.
Muslims living with Hindus = Problem
Muslims living with Buddhists = Problem
Muslims living with Christians = Problem
Muslims living with Jews = Problem
Muslims living with Sikhs = Problem
Muslims living with Baha'is = Problem
Muslims living with Shintos = Problem
Muslims living with Atheists = Problem
MUSLIMS LIVING WITH MUSLIMS = BIG PROBLEM
Lesson #4a. Who blames who.
They're not happy in Gaza
They're not happy in Egypt
They're not happy in Libya
They're not happy in Morocco
They're not happy in Iran
They're not happy in Iraq
They're not happy in Yemen
They're not happy in Afghanistan
They're not happy in Pakistan
They're not happy in Syria
They're not happy in Lebanon
They're not happy in Nigeria
They're not happy in Kenya
They're not happy in Sudan
Lesson #4b
They're happy in Australia
They're happy in England
They're happy in Belgium
They're happy in France
They're happy in Italy
They're happy in Germany
They're happy in Sweden
They're happy in the USA & Canada
They're happy in Norway & India
They're happy in almost every country that is not Islamic! And who do they blame?
Not Islam... Not their leadership... Not themselves, THEY BLAME THE COUNTRIES THEY ARE HAPPY IN!!
And they want to change the countries they're happy in, to be like the
countries they came from where they were unhappy.
Lesson #5
Islamic Jihad: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
ISIS : AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Al-Qaeda: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Taliban: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Hamas: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Hezbollah: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Boko Haram: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Al-Nusra: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Abu Sayyaf: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Al-Badr: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Muslim Brotherhood: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Lashkar-e-Taiba: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Palestine Liberation Front: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Ansaru: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Jemaah Islamiyah: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Abdullah Azzam Brigades: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
AND A LOT MORE!
In the face of such simple evidence and facts, the Obama administration just can’t figure out who's causing the problems.
The Shoe Bomber was a Muslim
The Beltway Snipers were Muslims
The Fort Hood Shooter was a Muslim
The underwear Bomber was a Muslim
The U-S.S. Cole Bombers were Muslims
The Madrid Train Bombers were Muslims
The Bali Nightclub Bombers were Muslims
The London Subway Bombers were Muslims
The Moscow Threat Attackers were Muslims
The Boston Marathon Bombers were Muslims
The Pan-Am flight #93 Bombers were Muslims
The Air France Entebbe Hijackers were Muslims
The Iranian Embassy Takeover, was by Muslims
The Beirut U.S. Embassy bombers were Muslims
The Libyan U.S. Embassy Attack was by Muslims
The Buenos Aires Suicide Bombers were Muslims
The Israeli Olympic Team Attackers were Muslims
The Kenyan U.S, Embassy Bombers were Muslims
The Saudi, Khobar Towers Bombers were Muslims
The Beirut Marine Barracks bombers were Muslims
The Besian Russian School Attackers were Muslims
The first World Trade Center Bombers were Muslims
The Bombay & Mumbai India Attackers were Muslims
The Achille Lauro Cruise Ship Hijackers were Muslims
The September 11th 2001 Airline Hijackers were Muslims
Lesson #2
Who gets along with whom.
Buddhists living with Hindus = No Problem
Hindus living with Christians = No Problem
Hindus living with Jews = No Problem
Christians living with Shintos = No Problem
Shintos living with Confucians = No Problem
Confucians living with Baha'is = No Problem
Baha'is living with Jews = No Problem
Jews living with Atheists = No Problem
Atheists living with Buddhists = No Problem
Buddhists living with Sikhs = No Problem
Sikhs living with Hindus = No Problem
Hindus living with Baha'is = No Problem
Baha'is living with Christians = No Problem
Christians living with Jews = No Problem
Jews living with Buddhists = No Problem
Buddhists living with Shintos = No Problem
Shintos living with Atheists = No Problem
Atheists living with Confucians = No Problem
Confusians living with Hindus = No Problem
Lesson #3 Who does dot get along with others.
Muslims living with Hindus = Problem
Muslims living with Buddhists = Problem
Muslims living with Christians = Problem
Muslims living with Jews = Problem
Muslims living with Sikhs = Problem
Muslims living with Baha'is = Problem
Muslims living with Shintos = Problem
Muslims living with Atheists = Problem
MUSLIMS LIVING WITH MUSLIMS = BIG PROBLEM
Lesson #4a. Who blames who.
They're not happy in Gaza
They're not happy in Egypt
They're not happy in Libya
They're not happy in Morocco
They're not happy in Iran
They're not happy in Iraq
They're not happy in Yemen
They're not happy in Afghanistan
They're not happy in Pakistan
They're not happy in Syria
They're not happy in Lebanon
They're not happy in Nigeria
They're not happy in Kenya
They're not happy in Sudan
Lesson #4b
They're happy in Australia
They're happy in England
They're happy in Belgium
They're happy in France
They're happy in Italy
They're happy in Germany
They're happy in Sweden
They're happy in the USA & Canada
They're happy in Norway & India
They're happy in almost every country that is not Islamic! And who do they blame?
Not Islam... Not their leadership... Not themselves, THEY BLAME THE COUNTRIES THEY ARE HAPPY IN!!
And they want to change the countries they're happy in, to be like the
countries they came from where they were unhappy.
Lesson #5
Islamic Jihad: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
ISIS : AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Al-Qaeda: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Taliban: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Hamas: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Hezbollah: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Boko Haram: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Al-Nusra: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Abu Sayyaf: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Al-Badr: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Muslim Brotherhood: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Lashkar-e-Taiba: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Palestine Liberation Front: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Ansaru: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Jemaah Islamiyah: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
Abdullah Azzam Brigades: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION
AND A LOT MORE!
In the face of such simple evidence and facts, the Obama administration just can’t figure out who's causing the problems.
Saturday, November 14, 2015
John Kerry Is Still An Asshole.
In his statement on the Paris attacks Kerry spoke for nearly 30 minutes but just could not bring himself to correctly label the attackers as what they are, Islamists. What a bunch of shit heads we have in charge in Washington.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
And Now For Something From The Back Corner Of The Yard. Part Two.
About two years after I retired from full time work my wife bought us a new storage building/work shop. This was a practical matter in that the one we had had constructed some 26 years earlier had reached, if not exceed, its expected life span given the ravages of time and carpenter bees. As in all marriages we have also accumulated more garden tools and assorted junk that neither of us could come to part with. That and the fact that much of my career kept me on the road, it suffered from plain old neglect.
The new building has twice the floor space as the old one and additionally has two lofted platforms for storing all those thing we never use but can't bear to part with. In the ensuing two years more and more of this building has been taken over as a work shop for carpentry and furniture refinishing. More toy space as my wife calls it was needed for new tools etc.
So the next logical step was to consider building another small building strictly for yard tools and equipment.
As with the last project, I had to conceptualize a design first. This time I had to be careful not to get overly ambitious about what I could do just by myself. With that in mind I called up my design software and in about two days I had the design done and in another two the drawings and material cut lists were complete.
After selecting where I was going to put it, I located supporting blocks and started constructing the platform frame.
Two sets of intermediate floor joist were put in and supported at the ends with hanger blocks. These were all mounted with 3" deck screws. |
Once the frame was complete and final leveling was done 11/32 plywood was attached for flooring.
The floor panels were attached with 1-5/8" deck screws. |
First came the back wall. |
Second side wall buifirst.top of first. |
Front wall built on top of back wall. |
Next came the roof trusses.
As before with the wall frames, the first became template for the others. Five in total.
I was now ready to begin erection of the building.
I was now ready to begin erection of the building.
The first side wall. |
The back wall. |
The second side wall. |
The front wall. |
And finally the roof trusses were put in place. |
It was now time to start puting the external wall pickets in place.
First the back wall. |
Then the side walls. |
And the front wall.
Sills angled at 5° were then added to the window openings to keep rain out.
|
On the bottom,
And the top. |
The external pickets were all spaced with 3/4" gaps. Boards in the center were trimmed to maintain uniform spacing.
The trim boards were put up with finish nails. |
The weather forecast then called for several days of heavey rain. It lasted nine days.
Heavy plastic sheet was stapled to the roof. Even this was not enough to stop mildew from starting. Several applications of bleech solved this problem.
It was now time to start painting. Putting up the roof panels was going to wait until my son came for a visit.
The roof panels are 3/8" plywood, attached with 2" deck screws and painted with three coats of textued deck paint. This should get this structure through the winter. Come spring I will put on a couple of layers of roofing paper and a layer of shingles.
Total cost for this project including lumber, hardware, fasteners and the deck paint used on the roof was just under $700.00. The roofing paper and shingles should be around $65.00.
Before spring comes I will be designing and building a ramp for getting the law equipment in and out. I may also run a trench and bury an electrical line so I can have a light and at least one outlet inside.
And Now For Something From The Back Corner Of The Yard. Part One.
I don't spend all my time surfing the net and writing blog posts about politics and economics. Recently I finished a couple of carpentry projects. As I enjoy my retirement, keeping the body active is as important as keeping the mind sharp.
All across the the American suburbs nothing is more ubiquitous than the plastic roll out garbage and recycling cans. Whoever said that a simple, functional design has a beauty all its own wasn't thinking about this particular part of the American landscape. My task then was to find a way to conceal our three cans from view, make them accessable for regular use and for moving to the street on the scheduled day.
The first step of course was to conceptualize a design in my head and then take the concept and turn it into a 3-D design. From this I produced assemby drawings and material cut lists. Having spent a good chunk of my career as a machinery designer this was the easy part.
The basic frame had three sub-assemblies that were put together in my shop. These were then put together at the top of my driveway where the can corral was to be located.
Once the frame was assembled it was lined up an leveled. It was then attached to the fence with 3" and 4" deck screws from both sides of the fence.
Once this step was completed, the forward corners of the end frames were then supported with short sections of pressure treated 2x4. This stabilized the frame structure, took the stress out of the screws attaching the frame to the fence and protects it from rot.
This done, I could then begin attaching the pickets and the doors to the left side.
The doors, like the sub-frames, were pre-assembled in my shop. The next step of course was the remaining end pickets and door.
A forward stabilizing 2x4 was then put in place to prevent the doors from sagging inward from their own weight and to control the final spacing between them.
After the closing latch was put in place all that remained was to apply a coat of stain.
The total cost for the materials to build this, not including the stain that I already had, came to just under $110.00.
All across the the American suburbs nothing is more ubiquitous than the plastic roll out garbage and recycling cans. Whoever said that a simple, functional design has a beauty all its own wasn't thinking about this particular part of the American landscape. My task then was to find a way to conceal our three cans from view, make them accessable for regular use and for moving to the street on the scheduled day.
The first step of course was to conceptualize a design in my head and then take the concept and turn it into a 3-D design. From this I produced assemby drawings and material cut lists. Having spent a good chunk of my career as a machinery designer this was the easy part.
The basic frame had three sub-assemblies that were put together in my shop. These were then put together at the top of my driveway where the can corral was to be located.
The subframes and frame assembly was constructed with 2x4s and 3" deck screws. |
Bricks and concrete blocks were used to keep the frame off the ground. |
Like the frame, the forward stabilizers were attached with 3" deck screws. |
The pickets were attached with 2" ring shank roofing nails. |
Plywood gussets were used to reinforce the corners of the door frames and attached with 2" deck screws. |
After the closing latch was put in place all that remained was to apply a coat of stain.
The total cost for the materials to build this, not including the stain that I already had, came to just under $110.00.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Bernie Sanders an the Big Swedish Lie
Like so many other leftists, Bernie Sanders has embarked on the claim that America should become more European like and institute even more social welfare programs. As they always do, they hold up Sweden as some sort of shining example of how the modern socialist state should work.
The problems is, like with so many other leftist arguments, this one is superficial and shallow in its accounting of the historical realities behind modern Sweden. In short the argument is rife with the lies of omission.
In that period when the American colonists were just begining their long struggle against King George III, Sweden was still under the domination of the usual types of self-entitled nobility and oppressive trade guilds that had been the social model since the middle ages. Most of the population lived in the poverty of a feudal economic system. They were quite simply serfs.
By the begining of the 19th century the same type of enlightened classical liberalism that had inspired the American Revolution began to take root in Sweden. The nation was transformed from an economic system of Royal licences and trade guilds into a model of laze fair economics. The transformation was so complete that in the period between the middle of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th century Sweden's population doubled and personal income grew nearly 1000%. Sweden became the 4th wealthiest nation in the world. Sweden's industry and population became some of the most modern and innovative in the world. This, coupled with sound banking policy allowed them to accumulate massive capital reserves.
There was so much prosperity and wealth that the Swedish left which had been, if not dormant, was unable to make much headway against it. They then changed tactics and began insisting that all those reserves should be spent on providing the usual litany of "free stuff" for the population at large. By the year 2000 many programs were in place from health care to subsidized housing etc. and Sweden still held its place as number 4 in national wealth. But then all those capital reserves built up over a century of hard work and frugality began to run out and Sweden quickly slipped from number 4 to number 14 on the list of national wealth. Additionally, since the social welfare era Sweden's economic growth has stagnated and real job creation has fallen to near zero and corporste innovation has all but disappeared as major corporations survive primarily on government contracts and no longer have to compete.
As Sweden continues to deteriorate economically, it also deterioates socially and they even seems to be unable to defend themselves or their culture from an invading horde of Muslims who have no interest in assimilating into Sweden but rather seek to parasitically destroy it from the inside. Working against this trend, Sweden has begun to cut back on its social welfare system and privatize large sectors of the economy that had become state controlled.
The idea that the US can impliment a Swedish style socialistic system in a nation of nearly 325 million and already nearly $20 trillion in debt, without destroying labor mobility, taxing captial generation and innovation out of existance just when it is needed most, is purely delusional. The Swedes are begining to return to their productive capitalistc roots. We should be doing the same.
The problems is, like with so many other leftist arguments, this one is superficial and shallow in its accounting of the historical realities behind modern Sweden. In short the argument is rife with the lies of omission.
In that period when the American colonists were just begining their long struggle against King George III, Sweden was still under the domination of the usual types of self-entitled nobility and oppressive trade guilds that had been the social model since the middle ages. Most of the population lived in the poverty of a feudal economic system. They were quite simply serfs.
By the begining of the 19th century the same type of enlightened classical liberalism that had inspired the American Revolution began to take root in Sweden. The nation was transformed from an economic system of Royal licences and trade guilds into a model of laze fair economics. The transformation was so complete that in the period between the middle of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th century Sweden's population doubled and personal income grew nearly 1000%. Sweden became the 4th wealthiest nation in the world. Sweden's industry and population became some of the most modern and innovative in the world. This, coupled with sound banking policy allowed them to accumulate massive capital reserves.
There was so much prosperity and wealth that the Swedish left which had been, if not dormant, was unable to make much headway against it. They then changed tactics and began insisting that all those reserves should be spent on providing the usual litany of "free stuff" for the population at large. By the year 2000 many programs were in place from health care to subsidized housing etc. and Sweden still held its place as number 4 in national wealth. But then all those capital reserves built up over a century of hard work and frugality began to run out and Sweden quickly slipped from number 4 to number 14 on the list of national wealth. Additionally, since the social welfare era Sweden's economic growth has stagnated and real job creation has fallen to near zero and corporste innovation has all but disappeared as major corporations survive primarily on government contracts and no longer have to compete.
As Sweden continues to deteriorate economically, it also deterioates socially and they even seems to be unable to defend themselves or their culture from an invading horde of Muslims who have no interest in assimilating into Sweden but rather seek to parasitically destroy it from the inside. Working against this trend, Sweden has begun to cut back on its social welfare system and privatize large sectors of the economy that had become state controlled.
The idea that the US can impliment a Swedish style socialistic system in a nation of nearly 325 million and already nearly $20 trillion in debt, without destroying labor mobility, taxing captial generation and innovation out of existance just when it is needed most, is purely delusional. The Swedes are begining to return to their productive capitalistc roots. We should be doing the same.