That Just Bites

Click on picture to enlarge.

I got this via e-mail.

I'm surprised the place hasn't been burned down.

Yes Mr. President IT-IS-A-WAR ! ! !

Painful to Let Go

When I got home from work today I felt exhausted. Even the Boss noticed how tired I was. After dinner, before doing my nightly kitchen clean-up we sat and watched a rerun of a hospital show. Now I've traded being tired for very sad memories and a bit of loneliness.

In the show a family had to make the decision to let the father pass. It was a very hard decision to allow a loved one to go, despite the heavy loss to the survivors. It's very difficult to over rule your own personal pain and selfishness, and think of the other.

I've been part of the same decision on 2 occasions concerning my mother and father. The Boss has been party to the same just once, her mother. It's excruciatingly painful to make that decision even when in your heart it's the right decision.

In the show, one son said that he doesn't know how to live in a world without his dad. I know exactly how he feels. My dad left a hole that can't be filled. On occasions I still talk to my dad, and I'd like to think he's still out there somewhere listening.

I strive to be half the husband, father and man that he was in this world.

We're Screwed

Yesterdays local rag had an article stating that we've now reached the point where Social Security spends more than it collects. For decades the Fed has included SS taxes in the general tax fund, and created IOUs for the SS accounts. Contrary to what older folks like my father-in-law thinks, there hasn't been a SS fund for decades. The Fed has stolen our money (taxes), and then stolen it again.

Not only will the ever larger government and the new entitlement program (health care) cost us more money, now we add expanding SS expenditures with a shrinking workforce. Something has to give on this folks. And you can bet it won't be the Fed. We're screwed and so are our children.

If only we actually had a free market society.

Got a New Tool

at work that is. They bought a new Lenovo (IBM??) with 8Gb of ram and outfitted with 2 wide screen monitors. Damn it's nice. I can have a solid model on the left screen and drawings, e-mail, etc on the right screen. I can even have 2 solid models, one on each screen. I feel spoiled.

The boss, not to be confused with the Boss, asked today if I have the FEA (finite element analysis) software yet. When I answered negative, he said he'll take care of it. I can see stress analysis, modal analysis (natural frequency) and forced response analysis in my future. In the interim I've been taking care of issues that only require experience based knowledge.

Worth The Risk

I just received an alert from The NRA, ILA about the introduction of the federal senate bill S. 2820. They claim that this bill would effectively create a national gun registry. Doesn't it seem like those opposed to the Constitution never rest? There's so many that don't like this country. Why don't they move to a country that they like, a country they wish this was?

As for gun registry, if you've ever bought a gun from a dealer, then you're just an inspection away from being on the gun owners list. If you have a CCW, you're on a list. If you're a member of an organization like the NRA, GOA or USCCA, you're just a step away from being on the governments list. I'd bet that just about every gun owner in the country is now on a government list or just a few hours from being put on a list. If it ever comes down to the SHTF, we're all identified as enemies of Big Gov with almost no exceptions.

As for me I don't care if I'm on a list. If I did, I wouldn't be a member of the NRA and the USCCA. I wouldn't have gotten my 2 concealed carry licenses, and I'd never have bought a gun from a dealer. If the time should ever come, I don't care if they know who I am.

I will never register my guns. I will never register myself, like a prised cow, as a gun owner as they now do in Illinois. And I will not get a national ID card as another bill would require. (Mark of the beast?) My drivers license and passport are enough of an identification. If they demand any of the above, they can damn well stuff it up their collective asses.

My father-in-law once asked me about gun confiscation (primarily battle rifles). "Is an ideal worth the risk of going to jail or dying?" Other than the protection of my family, there's nothing more worthy of the risk.

A Whole Bunch of Iron

Data released by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) reported 1,243,211 checks in February 2010, ranking the month the second highest February (eighth highest month overall) for most NICS checks.

Yep

Via e-mail

"Frankly, I don't know what it is about California, but we seem to have a strange urge to elect really obnoxious women to high office. I'm not bragging, you understand, but no other state, including Maine, even comes close. When it comes to sending left-wing dingbats to Washington, we're number one. There's no getting around the fact that the last time anyone saw the likes of Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, and Nancy Pelosi, they were stirring a cauldron when the curtain went up on 'Macbeth'. The three of them are like jackasses who happen to possess the gift of blab. You don't know if you should condemn them for their stupidity or simply marvel at their ability to form words."
--columnist Burt Prelutsky , LA Times

Could it be that the three witches actually represent the masses in Ca?