DAKOTARANGER

The Christmas Present that keeps giving

2012-01-23T22:33:00.001-06:00

What my Step-dad and mom did for Christmas...made sure that I can do something to ensure one of our freedoms for the future

Materialism

2011-11-26T19:01:00.002-06:00

Growing up I've always heard people say some really, really incredibly silly things. Like money is the root of all evil. It isn't the love of it is how the verse reads. Then there's the concept that things don't bring happiness. REALLY?! I can't tell you how much enjoyment I received over from various Christmas gifts. I still get a smile when I turn the knob on the horse statue that plays the Bonanza theme. The things I value most don't necessarily have true intrinsic value. I know dad's mitt is probably worth only $.50 but I sure wouldn't take ten billion for it.

It isn't wrong to want things either, it isn't wrong to make a profit. It is seriously insulting to see a person holding a sign that reads "People not profits" when it is obvious that they make two or three times what they people that work at the place they are protesting. Another thing shouldn't people profit from their labors? Why should someone profit from NOT laboring? Leaving alone the sign was straight out of das kapital, the thought is incredibly short sighted because people SHOULD be compensated for their labor. Granted, I'm not happy about the landlords in the patch kicking people that have paid their rent for years in favor of raising rent. I don't deny people making as much money as they can, but at the same time there should be some sort of morality in it. In normal circumstances I'm against rent control...that the patch just is not normal circumstances.

I have no problem with people buying what they want or getting what they want, shopping where they want. Personally, I won't do business that support planned parenthood or the brady bunch, not as part as a organized campaign just personally I have X amount of money and I'd rather support businesses where I feel welcome.

There are things I want and dream about having. I know I will never have this unending happiness and there will always be something I want more of. But truth be told there's no measure of enjoyment I have gotten with two things 1) the Bible 2) the thousands of rounds through my .45. And how I spend my money is nobody's business other than the Almighty and myself. If you think that selfish, well that's your prerogative to think so, just remember the person who whined about Christ getting His feet oiled was Judas.

2011-11-24T18:50:00.001-06:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2011-11-24T08:04:00.000-06:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2011-11-23T23:52:00.000-06:00

2011-09-24T21:16:00.001-05:00

A life long bachelor's perspective on love, romance, and marriage

2011-09-20T08:31:00.001-05:00

I'll start off with saying I enjoy my single life. I like not being forced to ask permission to do something, that's not to say I haven't looked the last couple of years, but if I single for the rest of my life so be it. I think the reason this is on the front of my mind is because of the four weddings I've gotten to this Summer (and the one I'm going to miss in TX) and it's come up in a couple discussions lately. The only missing is kids and I have enough 'adopted' nieces and nephews that sort of fill that spot. AND I stick to the idea it's better to have a warm pizza than a cold woman (the Craig Olmsted Paraphrase of the Proverb, "It's better to have stale bread than a quarrelsome woman)

First off, for a Christian guy it's alot easier for us to grasp the concept of love for the very simple reason that love is an action and an oath. I can't honestly say I know anyone that wouldn't put their life on the line for those that they love. Love can easily seen as a matter of duty or honor...something that is written deep on the heart of men. Or do what needs to be done to make someone happy. For guys love is about respect, and when it isn't given the man is robbed from his wife, or he's stealing something incredibly valuable to his wife.

The reason most guys don't get romance is the simple fact it's an emotion. Or we just can't grasp the concept of the power of a single rose. Speaking for myself, after most of the losses in my life I put up walls and defenses against emotions and it has been a battle to tear down. I joke about it being alot less scary dealing with someone wielding a knife, than it is to date because at least with that I came through unscathed. I'm not a poet and I really am not a fan of even the Psalms. If I were to write a poem it would sound like something that my niece Pen would write, but come to think of it, she'd do better. I'm no Lord Byron, nor would I ever want to be.

Watching those dumb jewelry commercials or wedding dresses commercials you'd think the most important day for a woman is her wedding day (mainly because they say it is.) Here's the deal, for Christians the most important day of their life is the day they accept Christ, the second is when the decide that they are going to love someone. A wedding day is just where those two facts intersect and the marriage ensues after that. Out here there are still a few of us that use the term "Getting Hitched." To be honest, I kinda like the visual. When a team is hitched you can adjust it so the stronger one does more of the pulling...being a former PK I can attest to the times when I've seen couples having to take turns on that. The concept of two working together facing life is kinda appealing (and probably as romantic as I actually get. To be perfectly honest, IF I ever do get roped into getting hitched I want someone that can side me, not follow or try to dominate. I tend not to handle domineering women well, they kinda irritate the living daylights out of me.

Ten Years Later

2011-09-10T17:39:00.003-05:00

While I tend to shy away from being a bandwagon person, and I even debated whether I really wanted to write a commemorative statement about what those monsters decided to do on 9/11 just because EVERYONE and the left is doing it.

It came down to the need to remind those around me that there is evil in this world and it must be opposed, no matter how high the cost. And the cost has always been paid by those that have picked up a rifle in defense of this nation and those that stayed behind.

Negotiating with evil will do nothing but give an opening that allows evil into you, doesn't do anything to make the evil righteous.

What was done to this nation wasn't the first terrorist attack, but it was probably the first time we actually stood up and kept going...even when the wusses amongst us has tried to talk us into a quagmire (not that Libya or Egypt is now).

While the destruction of the monsters hasn't been complete we have to keep opposing them, otherwise we are going to end up bowing to them. I generally oppose subjugating myself to anyone, least of all full-blown evil.

I know I could have gone into what I was doing when I heard, but then it's about me. Not about those that died for this country. They are the heroes and need to be remembered.

National Day of the Cowboy

2011-07-23T07:55:00.002-05:00

A few years ago a group decided we needed to remember our Western Heritage and petitioned Congress for a National Day of the Cowboy. Since it has been remember for more than three years it is an Official Holiday.

The cowboy represents what's great about this Nation. only 1 in 3 cowpokes were white, which means that a cattle company was incredibly integrated and a man was measured by what he could do, not the color of his hide.

I was raised that cowboys are always honest, looked out for their fellow man, loved the land, and never took more than was needed. I'll admit I'm old fashioned, but reflecting on honor and duty is something we all should do.

I love my job

2011-05-10T21:37:00.002-05:00

I had to go talk to someone in an office today. There was a lady working with this pistol. It is a Plant's Manufacturing Model 3 in .42. It's date of manufacture is 1863. The ability to handle something that has been there and done that is unbelievable.

Camp shotgun

2011-05-04T21:21:00.000-05:00

Those who are whining about the celebrating and those that are celebrating

2011-05-03T05:10:00.002-05:00

Now that a couple days has passed since the worlds greatest monster has met his end since joe stalin I think that I'll throw my buck fifty out. I'll admit when I got the news I was happy, shoot, I cheered. Not that eliminating him was going to be the end all, but because we have tough men who are willing to die to protect us, and got a job done that needed to be done.

I've seen Christians that have said, things like 'Not that I should cheer that a life has ended.' While on some level that is true, but the thing is true justice in this world needs to be applauded. Contrary to what karl marx and Rob Bell believe man is not perfectable. Man is fallen and the only way that changes is through Christ, not blowing up women and children.

I have friends that have been in the Suck. EVERYTHING that they have put on the line and sacrificed they EVERY right to celebrate. I don't care what some whiney Christian says about we shouldn't rejoice, yes I read the scriptures that say we shouldn't when our enemies fall. So what? It's easy for those who have never risked anything who sit behind a desk to say that shouldn't happen.

Then there are those that were celebrating just to celebrate. I'll about bet half of those that were celebrating were doing so as an excuse to party, didn't have a clue what was going on but wanted to be apart of something, or a week ago wanted to pull out of Afghanistan. Shoot, President barry a couple weeks ago was willing to not pay our guys.

This concept of there will be retaliation because of this is just stupid. ANYONE that pays half a bit of attention will realize that they would attack us if we did nothing...oh wait they have time and again during the clinton administration.

The other bad thing is osama became a boogie man. Now that we got him and he's dead those that would rather watch American idol and be sheep will go back to being sheep. I'm glad we've got sheepdogs like SeaL Team Six. God Bless all of them for what they have to sacrifice for us.

Happy 1911 adoption day

2011-03-29T00:32:00.002-05:00

Today is the 100 anniversery of the adoption of the 1911 by the United States Military and was the standard issue side arm upto the mid 1980s. There are still Police Departments, SWAT teams and various operators that are still using the 1911. SO, those of us that are gun guys celebrate like it's 1911 and strap it on

The reasons I get out of bed

2011-01-07T18:07:00.002-06:00

2010-12-15T11:17:00.000-06:00

A man cruises through a stop sign, and gets pulled over by a local policeman.

The officer asks the man for his information. So the man hands the officer his driver's license, insurance verification, plus his concealed carry permit.

"Okay, Mr. Smith," the cop says, "I see your CCW permit. Are you carrying today?"

"Yes, I am."

"Well then, better tell me what you got."

The man says, "Well, I got a .357 revolver on my hip, there's a 9mm semi-auto in the glove box, and, I've got a .22 magnum derringer in my right boot."

"Okay," the officer says, "anything else?"

"Yeah, back in the trunk, there's an AR15 and a shotgun."

The officer asks, "Mr. Smith, are you on your way to or from a gun range?"

"Nope."

"Well then, what are you afraid of?"

The driver calmly says, "Not a single thing."

Christmas is Coming...And I can't wait.

2010-12-07T00:19:00.003-06:00

For some reason this year I have been ready for Christmas since before Halloween. While honestly Halloween and New Years are the two holidays I generally ignore (inspite of doing Trunk or Treat with my church as a community outreach).

Christmas has always been the most important holiday for our family. I have only had two Christmas's that I can honestly say were horrible. One where I was all by myself and the Christmas after les's felony disappeared. Even the Christmas after Dad was killed has some really warm memories for me because we all clinged to each other because there wasn't anything else we could do. That was the Christmas we started doing things that would be more sentimental than necessarily practical.

While being a bachelor I don't have the stress of worrying whether or not I get my Christmas cards sent out (Being a bachelor I can just claim I'm an insensitive jerk and I don't know any better...people just sort of expect it of me so why not milk it) or worry about Christmas parties or Christmas programs.

I'll be honest I do enjoy Christmas shopping. Trying to figure out what will really touch mom or Brenda's heart is always kinda fun. Dwight is quite abit easier because he is a hunter so I just get what I'd want for him.

After dad was killed we haven't had a normal Christmas. Our Traditional Christmas was dad would do a Christmas eve service whether it was singing all the carols, a family communion, or a communion, then we'd come home eat pizza, dad would read the Christmas story out of Luke and then we'd open Grandma and Grandpa's gifts first so we could call them and thank them and then open the rest of the gifts. I don't know what my favorite gift was growing up (although, I do still have my Daisy BB gun). Last year was kind of fun even though we didn't make it to Brenda's. Getting snowed in Brooking where Dwight's dad is made for a fun vacation and Christmas. It's too bad my step sis and brother-in-law, and brother aren't going to be able to join us but that's life. I'm sure we'll Skype them at some point.

I don't make any bones about getting sentimental this time of year because for whatever reason this is the one time of year Christians seam to be able to be vocal about our faith anymore. I still love watching Frosty, Rudolph, and the Charlie Brown Christmas. It also is the only time adults can feel like kids. If my niece were closer she would be getting a stuffed horse about as big as she is. Well, what are hick uncles for but to spoil them with such things. When mom and Brenda are around I somehow even allow for watching those cheesy love stories on the Hallmark Channel.

The one tradition that we kind of have with our new extended family is we go to the movies. Whether or not we all go I think Brenda and I are going to the "True Grit" remake and I'm going to get to see a buddy I haven't seen since college and meet his girlfriend (weather permitting).

While I know that people say don't have big expectations for Christmas you'll be disappointed, my only real expectation is celebrating what Christ was willing to give up for us. While I hope we don't get snowed in Brookings this year and do make it to my sister's. It already has had some fun moments with the Dickens festival in Garrison and I'm hoping to talk at least one friend into going to look at Christmas lights.

Just when I thought deer season was a bust

2010-12-02T22:21:00.004-06:00

First I got a UnderArmour Sweatshirt because I told Scheels why I love hunting, and now I get a T-shirt from Blackawk for being their fan of the month. I have my 1911 in a Serpia Tactical Holster and a Blackhawk 3-pt sling on my Winchester

Why I love Hunting.

2010-10-29T01:46:00.004-05:00

Since I had won a sweatshirt from Scheels for their "Why I love Hunting contest" I figured I would post what I wrote since the people I included were so prominently featured in the essay.

First off, I love deer hunting just because it offers a good excuse to go home and see people that are included in my extended family. I don't generally have a good excuse to go back since I don't have any blood relations up in Watford City. While my sister and I grew up other places we both kind of consider the Corners home because that was the last place we were together as a family. Don't get me wrong I love Dwight and I have some great memories from Mom's and Dwight's place down in Sturgis, but I don't really have anything tying me to Sturgis once they moved. The ranch I go hunting on, the land owners took us in after dad was killed and we owe them so much, they looked after mom after I moved to Michigan for a year and half. Having worked for most of the people in our church family and knowing the Pastor that took over for Dad for most of my life there will always be a connection. I even do what most hunters would think is nuts just so I can see everyone. I take Sunday and go to church.

Although, the sun coming up over the Badlands is a religious experience in and of itself, seeing my extended family is just that important to me. The hours I spent walking through the badlands last year helped me relax.

I will admit, it is great to get some venison into the freezer. It's just part of the reason I love hunting. There is a freedom to knowing that you can provide your own food...it also tastes so much better knowing that you did it yourself.

Why I quit being a Republican.

2010-10-22T02:23:00.002-05:00

As November 2nd approaches my love of country gets more and more focused on politics. A while ago my mom and Step-sister asked why I ceased to be a Republican. To be totally honest, I have to start with the two biggest reasons: les lemm and the Minnesota Republican Party. Les reportedly is a 'conservative' but has never admitted his culpability and has blamed everyone other than himself...kind of like what liberals do to try to get murderers off. The Minnesota Republican Party couldn't care any less that they were running a killer about ten years ago.

I tried to hold on to my Republican roots through the Bush years, BUT there was one point where trent lott tried to silence dissent when they were trying to push immigration reform. I never really cared for john mccain, he lost ALOT of my respect with his pushing of campaign reform, I mean protect the incumbent act, AKA mccain/feingold. The Republican party the last ten years have tried to tell the rank and file to sit down and shut up we are better than the democrats...that may have been true until the first bail outs that President Bush pushed through. I take my Freedom of Speech as serious as I do practicing my 2nd Amendment rights.

The 'compromises' that were made with the left hasn't protected freedom but eroded it. AGAIN, I DO NOT believe in compromise...it never works.

I have absolutely no respect for politicians like lindsey graham. If you straddle a barbwire fence like he tries to...

The total lack of support the Republican party has shown to Christine O'Donnell, Sarah, and those that have focused more on what the Founders intended rather than what the close-to-the-fort-politicians desire for more power.

I will admit I will be voting for Governor Hoeven for the US Senate, and Rick Berg for the House, and I will be voting for Republicans, but I WILL NOT EVER support Governor Huckabee because he pardoned at least 12 that needed to meet their maker rather than freedom and I WILL NOT vote for any politician that would limit free speech or brag about gun control they pushed, I don't care if I agree with 99.98% they believe. Limiting freedom is a threat to this nation no matter who pushes it.

It sure could have fooled me, because it sure felt like Heaven

2010-09-09T18:03:00.004-05:00

Ever since the movie came out Dad and I talked about going to see the "Field" but we just never did more than talk. After Dad was killed, the last scene took where Ray got to ask his dad for a catch took on something that would be a view of Heaven for me. While I fully understand Theologically speaking there won't be baseball in Heaven...besides you couldn't get any umpires in *snicker.

I know when we get home we will meet the Saints before, but one of the things Dad and I would do to bond was to listen to the Twins and play a game of catch.

My Uncle stood back and watched people just walk into the pick-up game and was amazed that it didn't faze anyone...The only thing I can really say to that is the scene before Karen falls off the bleachers and James Earl Jones's Character tells Ray that they will come and not know why but the memories will be so thick that they will have to brush away the memories. There is a shared consciousness that the movie has brought to people.

While I'm sure my sister could explain the psychological thought that playing on the field it felt like I was having another catch with dad. (I fully realize I know it's more that I WANT to believe Dad knew I was there..it's the same thing that mediums prey on) The trip obviously meant alot to me. I don't know how better to explain it than this and I know the friends that I have that don't have a great relationship with there dad may not fully understand, but the one or two that have lost their dad and they were really close will understand.

The government can track you without a warrant

2010-08-26T02:36:00.002-05:00

Time
Has an article about the 9th Circuit Court saying that the government can sneak onto your property without a warrant and slap a GPS tracker on your vehicle.

Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn't violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway — and no reasonable expectation that the government isn't tracking your movements.

That is the bizarre — and scary — rule that now applies in California and eight other Western states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers this vast jurisdiction, recently decided the government can monitor you in this way virtually anytime it wants — with no need for a search warrant. (See a TIME photoessay on Cannabis Culture.)

It is a dangerous decision — one that, as the dissenting judges warned, could turn America into the sort of totalitarian state imagined by George Orwell. It is particularly offensive because the judges added insult to injury with some shocking class bias: the little personal privacy that still exists, the court suggested, should belong mainly to the rich.

This case began in 2007, when Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents decided to monitor Juan Pineda-Moreno, an Oregon resident who they suspected was growing marijuana. They snuck onto his property in the middle of the night and found his Jeep in his driveway, a few feet from his trailer home. Then they attached a GPS tracking device to the vehicle's underside.

After Pineda-Moreno challenged the DEA's actions, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled in January that it was all perfectly legal. More disturbingly, a larger group of judges on the circuit, who were subsequently asked to reconsider the ruling, decided this month to let it stand. (Pineda-Moreno has pleaded guilty conditionally to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and manufacturing marijuana while appealing the denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained with the help of GPS.)

In fact, the government violated Pineda-Moreno's privacy rights in two different ways. For starters, the invasion of his driveway was wrong. The courts have long held that people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their homes and in the "curtilage," a fancy legal term for the area around the home. The government's intrusion on property just a few feet away was clearly in this zone of privacy.

The judges veered into offensiveness when they explained why Pineda-Moreno's driveway was not private. It was open to strangers, they said, such as delivery people and neighborhood children, who could wander across it uninvited. (See the misadventures of the CIA.)

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, who dissented from this month's decision refusing to reconsider the case, pointed out whose homes are not open to strangers: rich people's. The court's ruling, he said, means that people who protect their homes with electric gates, fences and security booths have a large protected zone of privacy around their homes. People who cannot afford such barriers have to put up with the government sneaking around at night.

Judge Kozinski is a leading conservative, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, but in his dissent he came across as a raging liberal. "There's been much talk about diversity on the bench, but there's one kind of diversity that doesn't exist," he wrote. "No truly poor people are appointed as federal judges, or as state judges for that matter." The judges in the majority, he charged, were guilty of "cultural elitism." (Read about one man's efforts to escape the surveillance state.)

The court went on to make a second terrible decision about privacy: that once a GPS device has been planted, the government is free to use it to track people without getting a warrant. There is a major battle under way in the federal and state courts over this issue, and the stakes are high. After all, if government agents can track people with secretly planted GPS devices virtually anytime they want, without having to go to a court for a warrant, we are one step closer to a classic police state — with technology taking on the role of the KGB or the East German Stasi.

Fortunately, other courts are coming to a different conclusion from the Ninth Circuit's — including the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. That court ruled, also this month, that tracking for an extended period of time with GPS is an invasion of privacy that requires a warrant. The issue is likely to end up in the Supreme Court.

In these highly partisan times, GPS monitoring is a subject that has both conservatives and liberals worried. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's pro-privacy ruling was unanimous — decided by judges appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. (Comment on this story.)

Plenty of liberals have objected to this kind of spying, but it is the conservative Chief Judge Kozinski who has done so most passionately. "1984 may have come a bit later than predicted, but it's here at last," he lamented in his dissent. And invoking Orwell's totalitarian dystopia where privacy is essentially nonexistent, he warned: "Some day, soon, we may wake up and find we're living in Oceania."

Cohen, a lawyer, is a former TIME writer and a former member of the New York Times editorial board.

Kinda takes guntoting, pickup driving hick to a whole new level

2010-08-17T04:47:00.002-05:00

Dodge has this pick-up coming out. I want a red, white and blue one, OR even better a yellow one with a big ole rattlesnake on the tailgate.

The tolerence of the left is just something that should be admired

2010-08-12T02:20:00.002-05:00

There is this New Hampshire Democrat that wishes that Sarah would have been on the plane with Senator Stephens. It's good thing the left is known by their love, oh wait.

Today is the National Day of the Cowboy

2010-07-24T04:56:00.002-05:00

As if I need a reason to break out the Winchester and my Peacemaker, but I'll probably hit the range today with both to honor the cowpokes that has kept this great Nation in beef for more than a century.

I hear modern historians try to claim that our cowboy traditions go back to the Mexican Vaquiro, it seams like a stretch to me. Cowpokes always use what work. Vaquiros used a bolo when working cattle, on this side of the border we never did pick it up, for instance.

Those guys that drove horns post-Civil War were pretty well integrated. Only 1 in 3 were white, which means that the other two were likely either Indian, Mexican, or African-American.
So, by remembering this holiday we are really honoring the best of who we are or can be.

The Little Bighorn 134 years Later

2010-06-23T23:57:00.002-05:00

I wrote about five years ago my perspective on the Battle that took place June 25, 1876. The reason I'm updating this is because I filmed a quick video overlooking the Missouri River and a friend of mine made a suggestion about me being a history teacher. This is my proposal: June 2011 friends and family that would be interested in taking a tour of Ft. Lincoln south of Mandan, ND with me meet me in Bismarck. The weekend of June 25th I'm going to go the Battlefield in Hardin, Montana. It is one of those things that hotels would have to be booked months in advance due to the locale ect.

While there are literally thousands of books that have been written about Custer, Sitting Bull, Gressy Grass, Little Bighorn, the weaponry that was used, and numerous other things that pertain to the battle. This is merely my perspective on what I've gathered over the years. I am not footnoting it because this isn't a strict scholarly work...it isn't something that I'm donating hours upon hours to prepare. It's more to entice my Easterner friends to come out to see me.

As with any human, no one is strictly heroic. Although, General George Armstrong Custer (which would have been the proper way to address him since that was the highest rank he had obtained...he wasn't demoted for cause, it was due to the lack of need, hence he could keep the title.) was incredibly arrogant and brash he was charismatic. Simply put either you loved him or hated him. One the things that I fully respect was that he was willing to put his career on the line by testifying before Congress about the corruption that was tied directly to President Grant's brother. His career was pretty close to being scuttled at this point because the Lakota and Cheyenne were getting Winchester Rifles (capable of holding about 15 rounds. According to the Clinton Era Assault Weapons Ban it would be an 'assault weapon.')

The troopers were saddled with the Springfield Armory Trapdoor carbine. It was a single shot rifle that was converted from the muzzleloaders left over from the Civil War. The first Henry Rifles (later Winchester) were produced during the War along with the Spencer Rifle. The army was afraid that such a weapon would cause a 'spray and pray' affect from the soldier where the soldier would waist ammo. While the trapdoor rifles were incredibly accurate at long range there are several problems with them. First off they were obsolete the second they were developed. They make great buffalo guns...not so much in a fire fight. The quality of brass that was available wasn't the greatest, especially when the barrel was heated from continuous fire. The troopers would have to dig out a spent cartage with a knife, not good in the middle of a firefight where rate of fire will keep you alive. The battlefield was with in 100 yards not out to 1,000 yards.

I've read historians where they swear if Custer would have accepted the three Gatling Guns he would have survived. First off, Custer was in the Civil War. He would have seen what they were and weren't capable of. The Seventh was a Calvary Unit. They were akin to our Special Operations operators today. Quick and light weight. The Gatlings were considered fixed artillery pieces and were ANYTHING but light weight. They would have slowed the column and you would NEED to have trained personnel to operate them. The gravity fed magazines are not like the modern spring-fed mags, the way that the guns would have to have been traversed WOULD have jammed the barrels. Taking any of the advantage that they would provide away.

Then there was General Terry he was to the South East of the Battlefield. I've heard the question why Custer didn't wait for him. Personally, I'm convinced his orders were partially a holding action. He was told not to get greedy, but he was still told to go in. IF he hadn't proceed he could have been courtmartialed for cowardice. There also was an old adage "If you see an Indian, YOU KNOW they saw you three miles ago." NO ONE had ever heard of a village the size of what Custer stumbled into. He should have listened to his scouts but then again NO ONE had ever heard of a village that size.

There has been criticism of him for dividing his forces. Which may be valid because he was worried about any Indians escaping. But he would ONLY truly be worried about this IF he was to fight a holding action. The fact he was concerned about this only strengthens my argument that he was fighting a holding action (or in other words keeping the Lakota there). It was a tactic that worked numerous times for him, there would be no reason he would doubt it either.

Reno was worthless as a commander. He freaked out once the brains of his scout were splattered over his uniform. IF Benteen hadn't shown up his command would have been slaughtered. Reno later in his career was court-martialed because of his unwanted advances on a superior officers daughter. He was real quality person. Benteen may have hated Custer, but he had no choice but stay with Reno's command to save what was left. The packs that Custer had ordered Benteen to bring up didn't arrive until later that afternoon. They ended up not playing any real factor in the battle.

Unlike most modern historians I do believe there was a last stand for Custer's Command. There were some that made a run for it, but we have always known that. Custer 'last stand' was on that hill. He was killed fighting fairly early on what has been dubbed 'last stand hill' but he still died fighting.

The Lakota and Cheyenne both give credit to Sitting Bull for the victory because of his vision he had where the troops 'just stumbled into the village. I've seen Lakota historians mention the second half of the vision where Sitting Bull warned them NOT to take spoils and with regrets they wonder what if. This part of the story as a PK has always intrigued me, because I remember the Israelites were told at one point not to take spoils. It just has always been a major hmm thing for me. Just something I have always pondered. The Lakota, Arapaho, and Cheyenne won the battle but really just weren't going to win the war. It was a war of Attrition that there was no way they could win.

Honestly, I could point fingers to who is to 'blame for the loss' but the truth is the Lakota, Arapaho, and Cheyenne were better armed, in better shape, better trained, and in their terrain. They won. It's too easy to say it's Custer's fault, because of there was also inadequate weaponry, inadequate support, and inferior logistics. It's not something that true fault can be assessed on one set of shoulders, and to really do so is to take away a hard fought victory.

For National Buy a gun Day

2010-04-15T20:51:00.002-05:00

2010-03-30T19:58:00.000-05:00

What happens when I'm in a bad mood

2010-02-22T16:01:00.003-06:00

I normally buy tactical gear when a relationship goes south, but after the weightloss my gunbelt was way too big. So I finally got a new one.

Copenhagen

2009-12-07T05:01:00.002-06:00

Granted I pray for Global Warming every year. There are so many things that aren't answered like: Since there were 10 ice ages, thus 10 periods of global warming, why is one degree in a hundred years worse, because climate has never been static? As far as I'm concerned if evolutionists are right and the Earth is billions of years old the supposed 1 degree increase (even though, supposedly the earth has cooled the last ten year) wouldn't mean anything, if the eight thousand years Creationists claim is correct then there maybe room for concern, the thing is crops grow better in warm climates, flu is spread better in colder temps.

So, who's to say Global Warming is a bad thing, those that profit from it al gore and general electric subsidiaries (msnbc)? The same people that whine about banks a private citizens making money from the stock market, or 'war profiteering' a strangely silent on this...especially the one's that hate it when ANYONE makes money doing ANYTHING else.

So, when I see this story about how may private jets flying in for that conference in Copenhagen, it makes me ask how serious the problem really is if those who are pushing the agenda refuse to take the lead. It points to the desire to control the same way the medieval Catholic Church did.

Since those who are pushing this ludicrous ideas aren't willing to live the way they DEMAND the rest of us to live then they should be ignored.

"new" Deer Rifle

2009-11-29T15:32:00.001-06:00

Let'em eat cake

2009-10-02T02:05:00.003-05:00

I'd really like to know when we will hear her say let them eat cake?

Just in case the Jack booted thugs don't have me on a watch list yet.

2009-08-06T23:55:00.003-05:00

Just so there is no mistake: I FULLY OPPOSE ANY GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE. Since I barely trust the Almighty for my security, safety, and health and since the Almighty is capable of doing EVERYTHING, I sure am not going to trust some close-to-the-fort politician that I could get to milk a BULL.

When I was growing up in South Dakota I went with my Dad to see a friend at Fort Mead VA hospital. I was disgusted at the conditions at the hospital. Then there was an article back in February about health care on Indian Reservations being bad to poor. IF the government can't take care of what we are required to under treaty or moral obligation, we don't want it. Last week the chairmen of the House Committee in charge of this socialist bill said that congressmen wouldn't be forced to take part in the 'public plan.' I have an idea, IF they really want us to become slaves to the state and since VA hospitals are so pitiful, congressional health care should be provided either on the Reservations or at the VA's. This would guarantee that our veterans would be well taken care of, or members of Congress would get what they TRULY deserve. IF members of Congress won't be partaking part of the enslavement of the populace program, we DO NOT want this.

Socialized medicine has failed EVERYWHERE. The reason we have foreigners come here to get treated is because we have the best system, and that is because of the profit motive, socialism kills motive.

Not only do I not want this I am speaking out against this, the fascist technique of asking people to snitch on those opposed to this plan is forcing me to stand up AGAIN for the 1st Amendment. It should have been clear that Comrade President hates the Constitution with his 'bitter' comments, but he keeps proving it over and over again. I remember during the Iraq War we were told that dissent was the highest form of Patriotism...well, millions of Americans are dissenting and we are what? going to be rounded up? Going to GitMo?

Independence Day Weekend

2009-07-04T05:45:00.002-05:00

I started celebrating Independence Day early this year by going to the TEA Party at the Capitol because I'm worried about the freedoms we are loosing due to what Comrade President is pushing. It was great to be around a couple 1000 Americans that love this country.

Friday, my Assistant Pastor, his wife and myself took in "Transformers 2" movie. Every single piece of American Military hardware was featured...enough to remind a person of our might when we put our minds to something. I do want that rail gun that was featured in one scene, but that's another story. Friday night I went to the only true American sport...the 130th Mandan Rodeo.

Today, after I wake up I plan on celebrating like John Adams wrote to Abigael BEFORE the Declaration was signed. So, with much merriment I'm going to head out to the range with a couple .45's and my coyote rifle.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

July 2nd Tea Party

2009-07-02T23:01:00.007-05:00

There were three Gadsen Flags and One US Jack. There was a little kid running around with a sign that read "North Dakotans FOR Global Warming." After last winter being just as bad as what Lewis and Clarck wintered in Fort Mandan I think ALL Dakotans want global warming.

I'm officially a card carrying right-wing extremist

2009-06-26T01:54:00.002-05:00

EVERYONE SHOULD GO SHOOT AT LEAST ONCE

2009-06-16T23:27:00.003-05:00

I am a firm believer since we are a nation that was formed by riflemen to the extent John Adams wrote his beloved wife before Independence that Independence Day be celebrated with music, merriment and guns, that is the patriotic chore that EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN learn how to shoot and know how to handle all kinds of arms to the same extent they should call their Congressional delegation and be informed before they vote.

I have friends that say they hate guns, with NO experience with firearms. While having a hatred for an inanimate object is their right as an American citizen to form this opinion without experience plainly intellectual dishonesty. I have taken dozens of people out shooting, a good chunk that didn't understand why someone would go shoot...until they sent lead down range. Every last one enjoyed themselves and learned a new skill that whether or not they picked up another firearm afterwards.

It wasn't until I became a firearms owner that I realized the folly of the clinton era Assault Weapons Ban (which no assault weapons were actually banned since they fall under the National Firearms Act of 1934). The History Channel used to have a show called the "Tale of the Gun," every episode started with the line: no matter what your opinion is of firearms you cannot deny the impact it had on history, to understand the gun is understand history. And one of the major problems in this country is the total lack of historical perspective.

I believe so much that every American should know how to shoot I would be willing to teach Comrade President, rahm emmanuel, and sarah brady herself. I realize that it would be little more than hope springing eternal that it would change Comrade President from his freedom stealing ways.

When we are dealing with civil rights education is the ONLY way to keep our freedom. IF someone goes shooting and decides they still don't like firearms I can respect that, but not to take an opportunity to learn and still have a negative opinion that person is being unAmerican.

Another aspect of the 2nd Amendment

2009-06-12T00:35:00.001-05:00

The US Custom Service is trying to ban pocket knives. Downrange.tv has the details.

Our Freedoms are slipping away.

Comrade President reaches out to...

2009-06-04T23:26:00.002-05:00

those bitter religious people that cling to their god and their assault weapons (those are real assault rifles by the way).

Since Comrade President has proven once again to hate the Constitution

2009-05-28T16:25:00.004-05:00

This judge being reverse 60% of the time her cases has made the Supreme Court, and having the racist position that race has a place in deciding a case, and is notoriously anti-2nd Amendment. I really never thought I would see an nominee worse than Hariet Myers. And since I just changed the furniture on coyote rifle.So, "Molon Labe."

The Flag

2009-05-23T13:52:00.002-05:00

close-up of his dog-tag, combat medic badge and corresponding ribbon

This Flag was flown over the Indiana State Capitol to honor my Grandpa's service on Okinawa

Interview with my mom and North Dakota drunk drivers

2009-05-22T00:16:00.002-05:00

Dickinson Press has an interview with my mom discussing the wreck that LES LEMM caused and stats on drunk driving in North Dakota since we have become number one in the Nation again.

Shooters feeding the the treasury. Excise Tax up 31% in the Fourth Quarter

2009-05-06T23:45:00.006-05:00

National Shooting Sports Foundation has released a press release referring to the Department of the Treasury report released on May fifth stating that ammunition and firearms makers have paid $98.1 MILLION in the fourth quarter of 2008, that is increase of 31% from the same time last year.

The excise tax on firearms and ammunition is rather ridiculous because it's intent is to "provide" for wildlife habitat. I still am trying to figure out what I can hunt with a 9 mm. If we were honest, the excise tax is little more than a money grab that taxes poor people because it is something the liberals despise, but I digress.

The NSSF Senior Vice-President and General Council says, "These numbers speak to a greater story, American gun owners have serious concerns about the current political make up. Law makers should recognize that they are not merely consumers buying a product, but reacting to a very real threat." Every time Attorney General eric holder opens his mouth about limiting the 2nd Amendment, when the DOD issued a policy of destroying used brass, and Comrade President trying to claim that 90% (it's really 17%, if that) of the weaponry the Mexican druglords are using did nothing but cause people to buy firearms and ammo. For those of you that do not practice your 2nd Amendment right, it is almost impossible to find hand gun ammo. This gave rise to the NSSF naming Comrade President firearms salesmen of the year...I guess Comrade President has stimulated at least one portion of the economy and since THE only real production left in this country is the firearms industry I have to give him credit too. But I do have a question: IF us gunowners are contributing that much tax money to the federal coffers, why does he despise us so?

April 28,1996

2009-04-27T21:22:00.003-05:00

Thirteen years ago tonight LESS LEMM of Baudette, Minnesota decided to sleep off his drunkenness, but got bored with that and decided he could get to his grandma's. Unfortunately he succeeded in only murdering my dad.

I hope he wakes up at 3 this morning screaming and remembers he merciouslessly killed an innocent man and try to kill the rest of us.

So, what does it mean if I bought mine under President Bush?

2009-04-25T00:20:00.001-05:00

Redneck word of the year: Obama

2009-04-23T02:24:00.001-05:00

I bought a case of Mountain Dew and drank it OBAMA self

One of the best Birthday Presents

2009-04-22T23:19:00.003-05:00

About five years ago my Grandpa received a Flag to honor his service as an Army Medic in WWII. He was mainly on Okinawa and I only got him to talk about his experience a couple of times, (I still have to talk to my Uncle to get some more details on the Flag). And my Grandpa passed on to my Uncle and my Uncle sent it and one of Grandpa's ribbons and medals to me for my birthday.

Needless to say I was greatly honored more than words could conceivable express, but at the same time it hit me that Grandpa is going down hill fast...I realized that he might not be with us for very much longer.

There are very few things I would call a treasure, but this Flag is one of them.

END GOVERNMENTAL GREED NOW!!!

2009-04-19T00:33:00.004-05:00

The government is acting like every cent every American makes belongs to the government...never mind the government doesn't produce anything. The Supreme Court has decreed that police don't have to respond (Warren v. District of Columbia) so what are we paying for, why does the government DEMAND we pay for those that aren't producing anything?

I blogged last week about a proposed tax on pop because "it's to unhealthy." It's nothing but a money grab, the same way the exorbitant taxes on cigarettes are, Comrade President has floated the idea of a 500% raise on the tax on ammo (granted this is for his religion of gun control).

We are repeatedly told that the rich MUST pay their fair share, but at what point does the rich begin? And since they are paying the majority of taxes at what point is it their fair share. Granted, there are rich people that aren't paying their taxes and there is a specific label I can assign these people: liberal politicians. The very people that are demanding we pay more conveniently forget to pay their taxes. Not only is this hypocritical, it is the height of arrogance.

Every session we see fees (see taxes: a way of raising taxes without using the word taxes) go up.

While the government 'saved' the private sector (see nationalized, government control). Banks wanting to repay the tarp money is told they are going to have to give some shady loans that if a private citizen would do would fall Federal Money Laundering and RICO statues before the government will allow repayment of the 'loans.' John Gotti would be so proud of this operation.

The bailout, the stimulus packages, public education, and every other government program isn't working. The only real cuts that Comrade President wants to do is the same thing that all left-wing extremist want to gut: the military, which just so happens to be the only real thing that the government is SUPPOSED to do. The government is just going to throw more money at education, while cutting a voucher program that helps poor kids in Washington get a better education for less money because the teachers' union doesn't like competition...so much for anti-trust laws. What programs are going to get cuts...none. And because of this we are becoming more and more subservient to those criminals that work in a swamp on the Potomac River.

A New Gun link

2009-04-17T22:53:00.005-05:00

In effort to continue to protect the freedom this nation was founded with I'm adding a new link to the gun links: Gun laws Don't work I realize it will drive crazy diane sawyers and Sec nepolitano will sic AG holder on me, but Molon Labe!!!

TEA Time

2009-04-16T00:24:00.004-05:00

I've never been to a political demonstration, not even a pro-life rally, before today. If it wasn't clear before the election that Comrade President HATES Americans he sure made it more clear with the release of the DHS report on right-wing extremists. I decided I needed to make my voice heard if my government is afraid of me, someone who has NO INTENTION OF BLOWING ANYTHING UP. How sick is it that Comrade President's political career started in a terrorist's living room and he's scared of people that LOVE this country, rather than HATE the U.S., but I guess that's what we get with a commie as a President. We all teased each other about the report at the Tea party, but something is wrong when the government aims to target it's citizens when we want a stronger country, less governmental control, and not to gamble this nation's future away on a system that HAS NEVER worked ANYWHERE in the world.

There was an obama supporter that circled a few times, and some hippie saying we need to not to pay for war funding...I guess he didn't see the DHS report about how dangerous us right-wingers are. With everyone that was there no one threw anything, no cussing, no arrests. It was good to be among other Americans that are worried about the direction of this great nation.

Read my lips...keep government out of my refridgerator

2009-04-09T03:17:00.003-05:00

Yahoo.com has a video of some close-to-the-fort-politician that thinks they know better than an individual on how to live saying that if we would raise taxes on pop, it could curb the 'obesity crisis.'

First off, we are told that homosexuality is a legitimate lifestyle choice, why is being fat not a legitimate choice then? Abortion advocates say keep the government out of their wombs, so shouldn't we have the right to keep government out of our refrigerators?

Why is it that liberal solution to EVERYTHING including things that aren't real problems include taking freedom, confiscating funds, and telling you that you don't know what your talking about? THERE IS NO REAL REASON why the government deserves more of my money if I decide to purchase a Mountain Dew before I go out to the range, where I already pay more than just taxes for ammunition.

Here's the thing if the government is really desperate for money QUIT SPENDING. I know that Comrade President's only real cuts are aimed at the only true function that constitution requires the government to do. If we are going to cut the military, heck we might as we cut education because we sure as John Browning designed the best firearms not getting our money's worth if Congress is full of the best and brightest. We have foreigners telling to stay away from socialized medicine, but Comrade President wants it more than anything...which is amazing considering he fought twice to make sure doctors could kill already born children.

The breaking point for people should be when Congressmen "fanny mae" frank says that he has the right to determine what we make. The 90% tax that Congress passed on AIG should terrify ALL AMERICANS. Thomas Paine would be rolling over in his grave if he knew we had elected a Congress that would do it. IF Congress could do it once, they sure as Ann Coulter is hot could do it again.

ENOUGH!! If someone doesn't like what I'm doing well, stay out of the Dakota's just LEAVE ME ALONE.

Midcontenet Cable-The US Congress of home entertainment

2009-04-02T23:07:00.004-05:00

Midcontinent Cable's agreement and the local Fox channel end and I'm ticked. The Fox channel is asking for a little more money from Midcontinet for the use of their network. I can understand that, I can understand Midcontinent not wanting to pay more money.

My problem is this, Midcontinent says if they agree to what the local Fox channel is asking that means consumers will have to pay more. Nothing new about passing on business costs, BUT the cable company has raised what they charge EVER YEAR I have had a subscription, and in the last couple years have taken channels from the lower tiers, "necessarily" digitized several channels so you have to rent a box to get those channels in spite of other cable systems in other towns in this state don't have the same "necessity." When I found this out Midcontinent was unresponsive to my complaints...just like the North Dakota delegation to congress.

I called Midcontinent today to enquire how much it would impact me as their customer, the customer service rep couldn't answer my question, in fact NO ONE had the answer. I get that if Midcontinent starts paying more for what we could get with an ariel for one channel they could be enslaved to the other local networks, BUT like Fox's argument they pay ESPN and others what they ask and it cost money to produce and pay the parent company for the shows that they carry.

So, Midcontinent in response to Fox being "unreasonable" purchased a few thousand TV top antenna to give to their customers....probably for more than to actually paying more than if they would just pay Fox what they are demanding.

Midcontinent has run TV comercials with their CEO asking us consumers to call Fox to be 'reasonable.' Something that is disgusting to me, because Midcontinent has been ANYTHING but reasonable with how customers are treated. I would have an easier time buying Midcontinet's contention IF they didn't raise their prices EVERY YEAR and didn't take channels away and could answer how this would impact me as a customer...just like Congressmen frank and Senator dodd.

Who needs exercise when...

2009-03-31T04:05:00.002-05:00

Sixteen Inches March 30. Where's that dang global warming

Maybe Mexico should build a wall on their Guatemalan border

2009-03-25T22:49:00.005-05:00

I realize I've written versions of this post before, but after the President's press conference Tuesday I'm compelled to write this again. March 15th The Los Angeles Times had an article about the weaponry that the drugthugs are using in Mexico. The article mentions not only the standard AK-47, which not EVEN THE SEMI-AUTO versions are made in the United States. They were a Warsaw Pact weapon, meaning COMMUNIST. Since Central America had several marxist rebellions during the 1980's the full-auto AK-47's would be in huge supply. They also mentioned the AR-15's, While Gene Stoner designed the AR-15 as a select fire (full-auto/three-round burst/semi-auto) and when adopted by the military became the M-16, the civilian version of the AR-15 is NOT CAPABLE of full-aut0. For civilians in this country to get a select fire M-16 it will run TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS, sign away their Forth Amendment Rights, and go through a background check that makes the NSA phone captures look like getting carded at a bar.
The article mentioned Barrett .50 Cals. Here's the thing the US government either gave or sold the Mexican Government Barretts and M-16's.

There are somethings about the AK-47's that make them an attractive weapon, including they don't jam and they will cost about $500 where as the semi-auto AR-15 will be anywhere between $800-$4000. I have a hard time believing that a druglord would be willing to pay some American $12 grand and I have a hard time believing someone that goes through the long process to get a class three weapon would sell, especially since the batf can check 24-7-365 if the aforementioned weapon is where it is supposed to be. Get a Superior weapon, of higher caliber for $500 or $1000 for a semi-auto rifle...I know what I would do.

Further in the article it talks about how the druglords have gotten their hands on grenades, rocket propelled grenades, and heavy machine guns. EVEN with a Class Three licence an American citizen CANNOT possess an RPG. So, where are these weapons coming from? Again, they are coming from south of Mexico. The President is trying to re-instate the Assault Weapons Ban, but no Assault Rifles were banned last time because they fell under the National Firearms Act of 1934, the only ones that were 'banned' were those that looked like their military cousins. An assault rifle by definition is a select fire rifle with an intermediate round. The first assault rifle was the Sturmgavier 44.

Those of us that complained about what was occurring with ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION and the drug war in Mexico were called racists or nativists, so why isn't the President being called a racist now?
I don't know what bugs me more, the fact that this President is willing to subvert our sovereignty (which President Bush did when he didn't do anything when we were worried about the drug war down their three years ago.) or that he is totally misrepresenting the truth or that the media is letting the commie get away with it. Sorry for the rant, but I'm worried about our freedoms and this close-to-the-fort-politician doesn't give a warm bucket of spit about American and demands we give up our freedom.

Keeping our constent companions fed

2009-03-19T22:50:00.002-05:00

Michael Bane linked to an ammo finder that gives a link to the cheapest ammo. I have added http://www.ammoengine.com/ to my gun list also.

The Democrat Senators from Montana

2009-03-18T01:05:00.003-05:00

I have to give a hat tip to the Democrat Senators from Montana for protecting the taxpayer and ammo reloaders. The Outdoor Wire has this:

At about five-thirty yesterday evening, the lengthy feature that was to
have gone in today's editions of both the Outdoor and Shooting Wires was
rendered unnecessary. Normally, that's not a reason for celebration. But this
was no ordinary occurrence. After having spoken with Larry Haynie of Georgia
Arms regarding the Department of Defense decision to require all once-fired
military brass be shredded rather than sold for repurposing to consumers and
domestic agencies, it seemed the set-piece battle over gun ownership was
underway. This morning, there is no discomfort whatsoever to report that the
Department of Defense has been introduced to the idea that unilateral decisions
of this magnitude don't come without consequences. The voice of reason came from
the United States Senators from Montana. More accurately, the voices of reason
came from the Democratic senators from Montana.

Known for pushing ethics
reform, Senator Jon Tester apparently isn't afraid to push for gun owners, too.
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) a hand on the purse strings gets everyone's
attention - even at the DODAt approximately 4:15 p.m. Eastern yesterday
afternoon, Senators Tester and Baucus of Montana faxed a cosigned letter to the
Department of Defense asking DOD to reverse their new policy requiring
"mutilation" of fired military cartridge brass. At approximately 5:30 p.m.
Eastern our sources tell us, Senator Tester's office received a fax back from
the Defense Department saying the brass destruction policy IS reversed. Already,
websites that coordinate the sale of DOD surplus are beginning to remove the
"Mutilation" requirement from their listings. This only hours after they began
adding the mutilation stipulation. In short, it seems a fax from the Chairman of
the Senate Finance Committee and another Senator had considerable powers of
persuasion. That translates to a win for the law-abiding gun owners of the
United States. It is only appropriate that we recognize the party affiliation of
both these men, because their willingness to go to bat for the ammunition
industry demonstrates that, despite all the indications to the contrary,
Washington is not irrevocably divided down party lines. When it comes to
firearms and Second Amendment rights, it seems party affiliations can still be
disregarded. That is reassuring. Today, firearms owners owe these two gentlemen
a vote of thanks. They didn't wait for an opinion poll, they acted. Still, this
is still no time to relax when it comes to firearms. DOD has seen the light, but
Attorney General Holder and the Justice Department seem determined to try and
convince America the problems with Mexican drug smuggling and the related
violence is due to the ease with which American arms are being purchased here
and smuggled into Mexico. Fortunately, not everyone is sitting still for that
argument. Last week, Chris Cox, executive director of the National Rifle
Association's Institute for Legislative Action warned a House subcommittee not
to make American gun owners "scapegoats" for the Mexican crisis. "According to
some," Cox said in a prepared statement, "the violence in Mexico is not the
fault of the Mexican drug cartels or their American customers, nor is it the
fault of decades of Mexican government corruption. In their views, the fault
lies with American gun owners." That, Cox continued, "is an outrageous
assertion." But that assertion continues. And last week, three Democratic
lawmakers were quick to notify Attorney General Holder of their "vigorous
opposition" to any new gun restrictions the Obama administration might be
considering. The three lawmakers were Alaska Senator Mark Begich and - you
guessed it - Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester. Despite some ugly times
that will likely lie ahead, it seems it's not too-late to hope for some
non-partisan common sense to be injected into Congress. OK, maybe that's
optimistic, but we'll take this win - and all the support we can muster. Thank
you, Senators Tester and Baucus, for your unhesitating support. Oh yeah - the
following note is up on the Georgia Arms website: "Dear Loyal Customers, Thanks
to your voice, DOD has rescinded the order to mutilate all spent cases as of
4:30 pm on 3/17/09. We appreciate the time and effort that you expended,
together we all made a difference. We will be posting the email we received from
DOD as well as any additional information within the next 12-16 hours. Thanks so
much and lets get to work!!!"
--Jim Shepherd

More evidence obama hates Americans

2009-03-18T00:09:00.002-05:00

The AP is reporting:

Contact: Craig Roberts of The American Legion, +1-202-263-2982 Office,
+1-202-406-0887 Cell
WASHINGTON, March 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The
leader of the nation's largest veterans organization says he is "deeply
disappointed and concerned" after a meeting with President Obama today to
discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment
of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and
injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private
insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such
cases.
"It became apparent during our discussion today that the President
intends to move forward with this unreasonable plan," said Commander David K.
Rehbein of The American Legion. "He says he is looking to generate $540-million
by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and
government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it."
The
Commander, clearly angered as he emerged from the session said, "This
reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate ' to care for him who
shall have borne the battle' given that the United States government sent
members of the armed forces into harm's way, and not private insurance
companies. I say again that The American Legion does not and will not support
any plan that seeks to bill a veteran for treatment of a service connected
disability at the very agency that was created to treat the unique need of
America's veterans!"
Commander Rehbein was among a group of senior officials
from veterans service organizations joining the President, White House Chief of
Staff Rahm Emmanuel, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and Steven
Kosiak, the overseer of defense spending at the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB). The group's early afternoon conversation at The White House was
precipitated by a letter of protest presented to the President earlier this
month. The letter, co-signed by Commander Rehbein and the heads of ten colleague
organizations, read, in part, " There is simply no logical explanation for
billing a veteran's personal insurance for care that the VA has a responsibility
to provide. While we understand the fiscal difficulties this country faces right
now, placing the burden of those fiscal problems on the men and women who have
already sacrificed a great deal for this country is unconscionable."
Commander Rehbein reiterated points made last week in testimony to both
House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees. It was stated then that The
American Legion believes that the reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with
the mandate that VA treat service-connected injuries and disabilities given that
the United States government sends members of the armed forces into harm's way,
and not private insurance companies. The proposed requirement for these
companies to reimburse the VA would not only be unfair, says the Legion, but
would have an adverse impact on service-connected disabled veterans and their
families. The Legion argues that, depending on the severity of the medical
conditions involved, maximum insurance coverage limits could be reached through
treatment of the veteran's condition alone. That would leave the rest of the
family without health care benefits. The Legion also points out that many health
insurance companies require deductibles to be paid before any benefits are
covered. Additionally, the Legion is concerned that private insurance premiums
would be elevated to cover service-connected disabled veterans and their
families, especially if the veterans are self-employed or employed in small
businesses unable to negotiate more favorable across-the-board insurance policy
pricing. The American Legion also believes that some employers, especially small
businesses, would be reluctant to hire veterans with service-connected
disabilities due to the negative impact their employment might have on obtaining
and financing company health care benefits.
"I got the distinct impression
that the only hope of this plan not being enacted," said Commander Rehbein, "is
for an alternative plan to be developed that would generate the desired
$540-million in revenue. The American Legion has long advocated for Medicare
reimbursement to VA for the treatment of veterans. This, we believe, would more
easily meet the President's financial goal. We will present that idea in an
anticipated conference call with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel in the
near future.
"I only hope the administration will really listen to us then.
This matter has far more serious ramifications than the President is imagining,"
concluded the Commander.
SOURCE The American Legion

What I wear that's green for ST Patty's Day

2009-03-17T05:50:00.004-05:00

Will health care access shrink under Pres obama

2009-03-07T23:10:00.003-06:00

The Freedom of choice act would cause health care workers to violate their moral conscious. The St. Louis Today has an article announcing that Catholic Bishops are threatening closing Catholic hospital rather than allow abortions to be done. The article mentions the 11 hospitals in the St. Louis area the Catholic Church might close because of the act.

The President keeps saying health care is a priority, but his voting record shows he would rather see dead children than healthy people.

What's new about that?

2009-03-04T00:57:00.002-06:00

As I was waiting in the doctor's office to find out I lost 90 lbs, (sorry I'm just thrilled) the Today show had a story about how people are foregoing day care and having the grandparents watch their kids....While the Today Show isn't a true news show, not that the New York Times is really a newspaper either, it is nothing new. Grandparents have watched the Grand kids since Seth had Adam and Eve watch them when he went out hunting.

The story was geared to see how bad the economy is, Grandma and Grandpa have to watch the rug rats. Look, I grew up with kids that even during good economic times Grandma watched the kids.

I realize the economy is bad, but I'm sick of stupid stories that really aren't news that point to the only conclusion: the tax payer has to pick up the bill for someone else's brat.

The Star Spangled Banner like you never heard it

2009-02-28T23:34:00.002-06:00

I found this on Vidder.com. It is THE greatest retelling of the events that Francis Scott Key witnessed at Ft. McHenry. If you are a Patriot that loves this country, loves freedom, and are concerned about the full-blown assault on freedom you cannot help but be moved to tears with this presentation

I have to admit, every so often Senator Dorgan is right

2009-02-24T23:26:00.002-06:00

I have had several issues with Senator Dorgan, but as a matter of principle I have to give credit to him when I find out he does a good thing. While the article is over ten years old now, it also makes my beloved sister a part of Congressional history. During debate on lowering the Blood Alcohol Content in 1998 the Senator read part of a letter my sister sent him about the wreck that LES LEMM caused in 1996.

So, thank you Senator Dorgan.

2009-02-19T05:07:00.000-06:00

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."

--Cesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishment, quoted by Thomas Jefferson in Commonplace Book, 1774-1776

Government Provided health care

2009-02-06T02:37:00.003-06:00

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ SENATOR BYRON
DORGAN IS CHAIRING A HEARING TODAY IN WASHINGTON ON THE INDIAN HEALTH CARE
SYSTEM.

DORGAN SAYS STANDING ROCK SIOUX CHAIRMAN RON HIS
HORSE IS THUNDER IS SCHEDULED TO BE AMONG THOSE TESTIFYING.

DORGAN SAYS ESTIMATES SHOW THE FEDERAL INDIAN
HEALTH SERVICE IS FUNDED AT ABOUT 52 PERCENT OF WHAT'S NEEDED. HE SAYS INDIANS

HAVE SHORTER LIFE EXPECTANCIES THAN THE REST OF THE U.S.
POPULATION.

If this is how bad government provided health care is now, what happens under socialized health care?

I've been convinced I'm wrong...I'm going to become a Democrat

2009-02-03T23:07:00.004-06:00

There are some Democrats that have done somethings that convince even the most ardent conservative to start to vote for them There leadership has shaken my very base of belief and after much soulsearching I have decided I have no choice but become a Democrat.

First Charlie Rangle didn't report $75,000, then Secutary Gutnier forgot to pay taxes for several years, and now Tom Dashel $120,000 including fail to report a borrowed chauffer. The most surprising thing is after Vice President Biden saying that it is patriotic to pay taxes doesn't seam fazed by their financial treason.

So, since I don't like all the social spending and it seams if you are a Democrat you don't have to pay taxes, I am here now declaring I AM A DEMOCRAT.

If you make public policy you should know what you are talking about

2009-01-31T03:26:00.003-06:00

If I don't know something I'll talk to people who know what they are talking about, open a book, and I have nothing to do with public policy. I just can't believe people that are involved with public policy, who can take away civil rights, make no effort to do this, or at very least have reasonable reasons for their positions.

The NRA has an article that tells about total misstatement about semi-auto rifles firing 700 rounds a minute. A full-auto is capable, presuming that it is belt-fed. A collapsible stock doesn't make something more concealable, and just because a rifle has a pistol grip doesn't mean it is hip fired.

The boom in AR platform (the AR stands for Armalite, not assault rifle) has led to development into hunting calibers from .243 (deer) to .50 Beowolf (Wildboar). Semi-auto rifles and shotguns have been used in hunting since the begin of the 20th Century. Again we are dealing with over a 100 year old Technology.

There is nothing more disgusting than a politician that is willingly being dishonest and willingly being ignorant.

The next best thing to hunting

2009-01-30T00:19:00.003-06:00

My Mom's Husband's daughter posted a Twitter about about a WildBoar Cam. Obviously, it's in Europe but is fasinating watching the animals rooting around for food. Shoot, I miss the Anderson farm.

The Birthday of the single most important person that provided for this country safe

2009-01-23T00:15:00.004-06:00

John Moses Browning was the most famous and competent gunmaker the world has
ever known. He was the son of Jonathan Browning, himself a highly competent
gunsmith, and Elizabeth Clark.
John Moses was born January 23, 1855 in
Ogden, Utah, U.S.A., where his father settled after the Mormon Exodus of 1847.
It was in his father's shop that John Moses first learned the art and secrets of
gunsmithing.
John Moses, however, was much more than a gunsmith in the sense
that he was much more interested in designing and building new, innovative,
firearms than repairing broken ones. His first creation was a single shot rifle
he built at the age of 14 for his brother, Matt.
1879 was an eventful year
for the Browings. Jonathan Browning died on June 21 and, soon thereafter, John
Moses and his brothers started their own shop. There they first used steam
powered tools, tools that were originally foot-powered but were converted by
John Moses to get power from a steam engine. That year also saw John Moses marry Rachel Teresa Child, and his receipt of
his first gun patent (No. 220.271) for the Breech-Loading Single Shot Rifle.
John
and his brothers began producing this rifle in their Ogden shop but customer
demand soon exceeded their shop's production capacity. They were unable to
expand the "Browning Gun Factory," as their shop was called, because they lacked
the capital required for expansion and didn't have a well established
distribution channel to market their products. One has to note here that
although John Moses Browning was very satisfied with the sales of his guns he
was also very unhappy that the production chores and the daily work prohibited
him from working on his new ideas.
A salesman for the Winchester Repeating
Arms Company named Andrew McAusland happened to see one of John's Single Shot
rifles in 1883. McAusland immediately bought one and sent it to Winchester's
headquarters. The gun drew Winchester's interest and T. G. Bennet, Winchester's
vice president and general manager, went to Ogden to buy the rights to
Browning's gun. When Bennet arrived in Ogden, it didn't take long for the men to
agree on the sale and Winchester paid John Moses $8,000 for the rights to
produce the gun. The agreement was beneficial to both parties. Winchester was
happy because they turned competitor into a benefactor, plus they added an
excellent rifle to their product line. John Moses was equally happy because the
money from the sale and the ensuing relationship with Winchester allowed him to
concentrate on inventing things instead of manufacturing them.
From 1883
until 1902, John Moses Browning designed several firearms for Winchester. Some
of them reached production status while others were never produced. They all,
however, were ingenious and innovative designs. In addition to that first Single
Shot Rifle, other guns that John Moses designed and which became best sellers
were: Winchester Model 1886 Lever Action Repeating Rifle, Model 1887 Lever
Action Repeating Shotgun, Model 1897 Pump Action Shotgun, Model 1894 Lever
Action Repeating Rifle, Model 1895 Lever Action Repeating Rifle, etc.
At the
same time, John Moses was also working on another of his ingenious ideas. He
wanted to invent an automatic shotgun that would use the expanding gases of a
fired shell to recock the gun and make it ready for the next shot. John got this
idea while watching a friend of his, Will Wright, shoot his Browning-made rifle.
A clump of weeds just in front of the firing line bent with the muzzle blast.
This gave John the idea of using the gases for something productive like cocking
the gun. He designed a testing gun with
which he tested his ideas.
When the testing validated his theory, John
applied the principle on three different guns: two machine-guns and a repeating shotgun. His machine-guns, the
first fully automatic guns which used expanding gases for cycling, were later
sold to Colt and the U.S. Government and served the U.S. Armed Forces through
three wars. One was Colt Model 1895
Peacemaker machine-gun, while the other was the famous Browning Automatic Rifle, affectionately
called BAR by GI's. Browning's machine-guns are still used by US and other
armies around the world.
The repeating shotgun that John invented was the
primary reason for the break between Browning and Winchester. When Winchester
denied production of this gun, John Moses, packed a sample of his shotgun into
his luggage, crossed the Atlantic, and negotiated an agreement for Fabrique
National de Belgique (FN) to produce his gun. FN was then a young company in
dire need of products to produce. Browning's automatic shotgun revolutionized
the hunting market. This same shotgun was later produced in U.S.A. by Remington,
as their Model 11. Still later, variants of this shotgun were produced by almost
all of the large shotgun manufacturers, including Savage, Franchi, and Breda.
John M. Browning was usually working on more than one project at one time.
He started working on automatic pistols before 1900. He was the first to invent
the slide which encloses the barrel and the firing mechanism of a pistol.
Pistols of his invention were produced by both FN and Colt and they range from baby .25 caliber pistols to the .45
Government Model. The first automatic pistol designed by Browning was produced
by FN as FN's .32 caliber Model 1900. The most famous pistols of John's design,
however, were Colt's .45 ACP M1911 Government Model and FN's Browning High-Power
Model P-35 in 9mm Parabellum. A highly decorated sample of P-35, is shown at
left, while a contemporary version customized by Wayne Novak can be found here.
John Moses Browning passed away in
Liege, Belgium, the day after Thanksgiving, 1926. He died of heart failure while
in his son Val's office at the FN factory. It was the last day on earth for this
ingenious person who invented more firearms than any other gunmaker in the
history of the world.
This medallion was produced by FN to honor the great
gunmaker.

Another note: Our troops are still using the M-2 .50 that entered production in 1932. The venerable M1911, developed in 1905-adopted in, well, 1911. Our Special Forces, some Sheriffs Departments, and private citizens are still carrying this pistol.

An inventor like this deserves his own holiday

President obama

2009-01-21T00:45:00.002-06:00

The liberals said after President Bush was elected that he wasn't their President. I won't take that position. President obama is my President, even though I am diametrically opposed to 99% of what he espouses. I am an anti-socialist of every variation from the national socialist to communists. I DO NOT believe more government is better. The more taxes there are only subjugates...it doesn't free citizens. In spite of liking President Bush and supporting him in spite of some issues I opposed him on, the greatest disappointment I had in him was the last year where government nationalized businesses...leaving this country open to become a socialist country.

The benefit of doubt I gave President obama died the day he made it clear he loathes the constitution with his bitter comments about those of us that look to the Almighty and take our own safety in our own hands. If you go back into the blog you can see a clear shift.

The only support I can give President obama is prayer for him to have wisdom.

I can name six things off the top of my head I hope he fails in attaining:

Socialized medicine.
The Fairness Doctrine-nothing but silencing dissent. When the left opposed the Iraq War we heard dissent was the greatest form of Patriotism, but now the left wants to silence the right.
Gun control/and or ammunition control.
Talking to hamas, iran, and those that would strap on bombs to kill women and children.
Destroying the coal industry. Electricity has to be produced somehow if not coal then we need more hydro-electric plants.
Anything to fight global warming. The last two years point to global cooling.

I hope I'm wrong about the President, but with the choice of eric holder as his Attorney General it only underscores his bitter comments even more...and scares the living daylights out of me.

So why can't we critizise again?

2009-01-14T23:01:00.005-06:00

I have a buddy that doesn't like conservatives because 'we don't have any new ideas.' I guess I can understand that if conservatives trusted government to efficiently wipe everyone's noses, but we don't. Truth be told I don't trust The Almighty for my safety totally, so being intellectually honest there is no way I can conceivably trust some close-to-the-fort-politician with my freedoms, security, or money.

So, when I see the charlie rangle democrat New York hadn't paid taxes on property he has had for years, all the while sitting on the committee that is responsible to confiscate my hard earned money...anger is an understatement.

And now Senator barry has nominated a guy that is supposed to be a financial genius who somehow forgot to pay taxes FOR YEARS. I get that he has made amends, but us normal people would be in prison for tax evasion. I just have to ask: Do democrats really have a hard time paying taxes? They expect everyone else to do it, but it is the height of arrogance to NOT pay taxes and demand others pay more.

This guys nomination should be yanked. Screw change...arrest the criminals.

Violating my beliefs

2009-01-02T01:14:00.003-06:00

The week before Christmas I had a gastric surgery. I had tried to figure out how to get out of it more ways than I can think of, but I did it violating most of my beliefs in the process. I have friends that were sure I was going to chicken out at the last minute...the truth be told I did. Just not the way they think. I keep hearing people saying that this is such a great thing, but let's think about it for a second.

Back in the 1950's lobotomies were performed on the mentally ill. Now days we say how inhuman it was to brutalize them just because they don't fit the 'social norm.' The surgery I had took 85% of my stomach. I have a 'friend' that ceased wanting to be around me because I let myself get fat (my fault I got fat, don't blame anyone but me) he was the loudest proponent because I didn't fit the 'social norm.' The dietitian asked if I was happy I had the surgery. I didn't know how to explain to her I think I made a mistake, but it doesn't help I think she's an idiot.

This is the first time I succumbed to peer pressure and I guess I did it in a huge way to allow my stomach to be butchered. I realize that I needed to do something about my weight, but I'm sickened about how I sold out my beliefs, just because I couldn't figure out how to get out of the path I was heading down.

I'll grant that in the three short weeks I've lost weight and am more active, but at what cost?

I love Christmas

2008-12-19T23:25:00.003-06:00

This hasn't been an easy year for our family, and unfortunately my sister won't be home this year. It won't be a typical family Christmas for a whole hosts of reasons. Christmas gifts are going to be in short supply because of everyone has had some major expenses, but the important thing is being together (mom and Dwight are headed to Brenda's after Christmas).

I love being able to watch all the Charlie Brown Christmas and all the sappy Christmas love stories. In all honesty, Christmas is probably the only time it is the only time I allow myself to believe in true love. I guess that is due to the fact that Christmas is nothing more than Christ sacrificing His rightful place to be born in a barn.

Having a tough trip down to the family's mountain bunker, mom playing Christmas Carols over the car stereo made it an easier trip and helped put me in Christmas mood.

So

TO ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS

While this ticks me off, I just can't quit laughing...guess it keeps me from acting like a wuss

2008-12-10T23:37:00.004-06:00

Back in college we used to play the Kevin Bacon six degree game. While it was pointless it may have made a little bit of sense if the media would have connected the dots between tony rezco and Senator barry and there is a one degree separation between rezco, the governor, and Senator obama.

I'll be honest I don't believe Senator obama when he said he didn't consult with Gov. rod blagojevich. Partly because I know he's lying about some of his constitutional beliefs and if that didn't clinch that he had discussed the tape where the Governor basically said Senator obama has an Oedipus Complex confirms this belief.

There are enough people that have been around the Senator that should have raised questions. The people that he has nominated for the cabinet only reinforces my fear of a repeat of Waco, Ruby Ridge, or Elian Gonzalas. We have gotten the government we deserve.

I loathe any criminal activity, and this flat out disgusts me. I don't care what side of the isle is this should be immediate dismissal from office. I guess the reason I can't quit laughing about this is I suspected something like this to be coming and I just don't want start griping about how aggravating this is...I'm already ticked off enough that President bush has set down the road to socialism as much as he has so I have no choice but to laugh otherwise I'll stroke out.

I really don't know how far the governor's corruption extends, but to be real honest I am willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to Jesse Jackson, Jr. While I don't agree with his politics, I have never heard anything negative against the guy and I refuse to project his father's corruption on him. Listening to his press conference I think he's being honest. I'm sure that somewhere there is a whistle blower to what the governor was doing, but I wonder two things. 1) why if a whistle blower did exist doesn't he come forward? 2) why did Fitzgerald, who two 2 years after he knew richard armitage was the person who released valerie plame's name kept going after scooter libby for two years on a purgery charge cut the investigation short?

Enivromentalists report beavers for illegally logging.

2008-12-10T00:55:00.003-06:00

Ananova is reporting:

Green campaigners called in police after discovering an illegal logging site in
a nature reserve - only to find it was the work of beavers.
Environmentalists
found 20 neatly stacked tree trunks and others marked for felling with notches
at the beauty-spot at Subkowy in northern Poland.
But police followed a trail
left where one tree had been dragged away - and found a beaver dam right in the
middle of the river.
A police spokesman said: "The campaigners are feeling
pretty stupid. There's nothing more natural than a beaver."

I was hoping for pictures of beavers in handcuffs but I guess the authorities believed the beavers held the proper logging permits.

A great Idea for our benevolent lawmakers.

2008-12-06T01:32:00.002-06:00

Fox News's Special Report with Bret Hume had a story about a proposition to make sure legislators in New South Wales, Australia stay sober after an instance where one lawmaker shoved a colleague and a couple of other legislators.

After some of the stupid things congress and it's members have done the last couple of years it would be a good idea to run a dry organization for a few years. I realize ALL kennedy relatives in government would have to quit, but I'm willing to make the sacrifice.

My new policy when talking to Pro-choice women about gun control

2008-12-03T23:23:00.006-06:00

I was channel surfing during a commerical break for Shooting USA. I happened on an ABC show with what was a bunch of doctors where it was discovered one of the partners was performing abortions. The head doctor, which was apparently a liberal woman told those that don't have overies to get out of the room.

I realize being a man I will never have an abortion, but if I were stupid enough to get a women pregnant I have the right to say whether or not I want the responsibility due to the 14th Amendments guarentees equal protection under the law, thus I have a right to my opinion and if it does come up in conversation I'm not going to hold back on my opinion, but if the anti-free speech tactic used by liberal women that I have no right to speak about it this is my new policy:

Since you don't own, want to own,

or want to shoot...You don't have a

right to your opinion and who let

you out of the kitchen anyway.

The Gift of Life

2008-12-03T23:02:00.000-06:00

Per Request of Texas Fred

This is posted at the request of Concerned Citizen at Judging Truth, please
read this and if you can help, I am certain it would be appreciated! Donations
can be made at Carter Blood Care and their information can be found at this
link: http://www.carterbloodcare.org/
The Gift of LifeAs we
approach the Christmas season, our thoughts turn to giving. Traditionally we
look for meaningful presents to give our loved ones that help us celebrate the
gift of life that Christ gave us by his suffering and death. I am posting this
request to ask that you give the gift of life itself to a complete stranger this
Christmas.
His name is Tyler Seedig and he is a young Marine who was bound
for his first duty station in just three weeks. He was home with his family this
Thanksgiving weekend and went deer hunting with his older brother on Sunday. On
the way back home they were involved in a car accident that claimed the life of
the older brother and left Tyler severely burned. He was transported to the
Parkland Burn Unit where he remains in a critical care unit with severe burns
over 65% of his body. He will not be reporting to his unit in Afghanistan, nor
will he be home for Christmas, New Years or possibly even Easter. Tyler will
most likely spend the next six months in Parkland Hospital trying to survive the
initial trauma, fight off the coming infections and allow his body to slowly
rebuild.
Tyler needs blood. Plasma in particular, so the type is unimportant.
I am asking any capable person who can to give the most precious gift possible
this year and donate a pint of blood to Carter Blood Center in the name of Tyler
Seedig, Parkland Burn Unit, Dallas, TX. It costs us nothing except time and
minor discomfort to give, but it can save the life of Tyler or someone else in
need.
Through out this season we always talk of helping those in need, of
giving to those less fortunate and of remembering those who serve. Here is the
perfect chance to do all of those things with a simple pint of blood. Help this
young Marine who was embarking on a journey of service and self-sacrifice in
order to defend your freedoms and serve this nation where ever the call might
have taken him. Think of what a precious chance it is to be able to give life to
another.
Please keep this family in your prayers as well. They have lost a
son and must plan a funeral during a season which should bring joy to us all,
while they stand by the bedside of another son who clings to life by a thread.
Remember them this season as you celebrate the love of your own families and
cherish those around you for you never know when the call home may come.Judging Truth: The Gift of Life

If New York City is asking for a bailout from the Federal government, how could they do something so stupid?

2008-11-22T23:20:00.005-06:00

WCBSTV.com is reporting:

NEW YORK (CBS) ― City officials have ordered 22 New York churches to stop
providing beds to homeless people. With temperatures well below freezing
early Saturday, the churches must obey a city rule requiring faith-based
shelters to be open at least five days a week -- or not at all. Arnold
Cohen, president of the Partnership for the Homeless, a nonprofit that serves as
a link with the city, said he had to tell the churches they no longer qualify.He
said hundreds of people now won't have a place to sleep.The Department of
Homeless Services said the city offers other shelters with the capacity to
accept all those who have been sleeping in the churches. The city had 8,000 beds
waiting. Last year, four unsheltered homeless people died in the city
during cold weather, so three dozen emergency outreach teams were prepped to
respond to reports of homeless people outdoors or in the subways. "We really
don't want people sleeping on the streets, on grates, on church steps. We want
people sleeping in beds," said Homeless Commissioner Robert Hess.The homeless
can be coaxed indoors but not forced unless their life is in danger.

I have a dumb question: if a church only can help the homeless one or two nights a week and the city is in such dire straits as to beg for money, why would the city government tell churches not to help? It is almost as ignorant as taking private jets to a Congressional hearing to beg for money. But what do I know, I'm not a close-to-the-fort-politician

To those that are whining about the economy: STOP, you are making things worse

2008-11-21T22:49:00.003-06:00

I know we are in tough times. I know people are hurting. BUT to a certain extent we have done this to ourselves. Whether we allowed politicians to think they know best and create smothering regulations and taxes or we have over-extended ourselves with credit that we have no way of paying back this is where we are at.

I had CNN and Fox News on today, every other story was about what to do in this economy including a no brainer about whether or not people should forgo giving gifts this year. I AM SO FED UP with garbage like this. My parents would tell us every year that my sister and I didn't get everything we wanted for Christmas. There were years we couldn't afford to do anything for vacation, including one year where a person at my folks' bank embezzled money from our family account. If you can't afford gifts, so what. Whether the economy was good or bad this year none of our family was going to do much about gifts. A couple of years ago I had less money than I have now. I gave mom a wall hanging telling her how much I love her. I just can't imagine it is such a hard thought for people to accept they don't have the money, but what do I know I've never had much money.

I know that I gripe about things, but there comes a point where we need to just accept this is where we are at and to be honest I'm a little worried about the future considering how much of the economy government is trying to take over, the threat against the 1st Amendment called the 'fairness doctrine', and a group of people that aren't willing to stand against evil are running this country. This is where we are, quit whining about it is only making things worse and it is horribly annoying.

Primer for 2nd Amendment rights for those that don't care.

2008-11-11T23:13:00.004-06:00

After three years of writing this blog, several posts dealing with firearms, dealing with most of the factors the left is going to use to suppress law abiding citizen's civil rights when it comes to the Second Amendment I would think I wouldn't have to do this, but hearing the misinformation one of my best friends has about semi-auto rifles I guess I have to do this again.

First off there is a huge difference between full automatic and semi-automatic. This video explains the difference. I hear you don't hunt with automatic weapons, well not full-auto. I have yet to meet a person that would take $12,000 rifle into the field, but I know guys that use the semi-auto version for coyotes, prairie dogs, and other varmints. The .223/5.56 round is a good varmint round. When we talk about full-auto weapons we are talking about a 113 year old technology. With Semi-auto we are talking the 1920's with a popular Browning rifle that was used for deer hunting with a 25 round magazine. The real shame is WWII the venerable Garand rifle our troops used in WWII had a 8 round clip that couldn't be topped off. History doesn't match the concept that the founders would have never conceived of such weaponry

Frequently, our military arms have lagged behind the civilian market there were repeating arms that were used, but the government was afraid troopers would waste Ammo so they stuck with the antiquated musket and after the war developed a single shot rifle referred to as the Springfield Armory trapdoor. One of the factors that caused Custer's defeat.

Now, I do believe in gun control, but the government has no place in the process because the FBI has to great of an ability to loose firearms and computers yearly. We all have seen the video of the batf agent that doesn't pay any attention to the four rules for gun safety. I'll admit I don't want felons or crazy people to have firearms. There should have been a connection between the hospital and the NCIC with the Virgina Tech shooter, I don't have an answer how it slipped through the cracks. The thing is with 28,000 gun laws on the books how is one more going to make criminals all the sudden decide that 28,001 the are going to be good guys.

Gun control only affects the law abiding citizens. Trans world news had an article from 2007 about the positive aspects of gun ownership on the non-gun owner.

Things I would love to have liberals explain to me.

2008-11-08T23:04:00.004-06:00

I realize that this post may sound sarcastic, which is understandable considering I have a tendency to let my frustration out with my writing. But there are things I hear liberals say coming from my set-in-stone conservative perspective doesn't make any sense. Maybe it's a lack of explaining the position or maybe I just lack the nuance to understand. And no there is no sarcastic intent.

I would love to have someone explain why liberals are for abortion, but against the death penalty. Shoot, I have yet to hear a valid reason why we shouldn't from Christians that doesn't involve the answer 'they may become Christians some day.'

I would also like to know why those that push gun control, including waiting periods up to ten days, but if a 24 hour cooling off period before an abortion is merely suggested the end of Roe is upon us. I sort of understand the argument behind not allowing parental notification, BUT not allowing it supplants the state's wisdom for parental wisdom (which I worry about the lack of both).

The modern liberals have tried to get us non-liberals to switch to the label progressive. The natural state of power is to lord it over people. The progressive movement goes back to the Magna Carte in 1623 through the English Bill of Rights to the Founding of this country. So, the question is, "If the government is to take over the economy, health care, and other industries in trouble giving the government more control over the body politic, how is that progressive? It seams more regressive to me.

Seeing how this country was founded by tax protesters how is patriotic to pay more taxes? And why is right to demand people do more for their fellow man when the populous donates more money to charity than our politicians do?

When the 25% of wage earners already pay 86% of the taxes and the bottom 30% doesn't pay any income tax. At what point does the rich pay the proverbial fair share?

If politicians (both sides of the isle) want us to pay more taxes, why don't they start with themselves?

If there is no market (ie no one listens) liberal talk shows, why should the 'fairness doctrine' be reintroduced?

With 28,000 gunlaws on the books and criminals ignoring those why is it assumed that the next law will make criminals behave?

I'm sure that there are some inconsistencies I have that I miss in myself. I realize I'm not perfect, but we have a new political reality. Some of these things should have been explained in the campaigns, but were woefully either missing or incomplete. I guess I did this to evaluate my beliefs and fall under clearly the standard I expect others to keep.

So, what now?

2008-11-05T23:49:00.005-06:00

I know I shouldn't have been surprised that Senator barry won, but I had a hard time imagining the American people voting for someone that HATES this country. I have yet to hear ANYTHING Senator barry does appreciates about this country. (Being elected doesn't count)

To be real honest, I am terrified what will become of the 1st Amendment since Senator barry attacked 3 of the 5 clauses of the Amendment, including silencing media outlets and seeing a private citizen's life being dug through just because he dared ask a simple question.

I am worried about what happens if there is a religious group that decides to close itself off. The clinton Administration had no problem killing two hundred Americans, what happens with a President that has more problems with Americans than he does with a terrorist state of Iran?
I already told my pastor that if my place gets raided he has to quote Charlton Heston at my funeral...I don't know if he thinks I'm joking or not. (Even though, we all hope there isn't a confiscation bill, that really doesn't match Senator barry's history with the joyce foundation).

I have a buddy that thinks the election is a sign that the Republican party has to go more liberal, maybe it's a sign that the Republicans should stand on principle more instead of being a bunch of pansies trying to buy votes like they did when they voted for the $850 billion socialism bill. The thing is no matter how much honor Senator McCain has he-has a history of subverting the 1st Amendment, he was no where near a real conservative and I realize he was pandering to the conservative base with Sarah, but it did make it enough for me to vote for him. The truth be told, the GOP this year had the weakest candidates ever. The fear of being called a racist kept Senator McCain from going after some of the strongest drawbacks of Senator barry...never mind he was going to be called a racist no matter what.

So, what now? I guess I'm just going to have to write even more letters and make more phone calls than what I was planning with what some of Senator McCain's stupid ideas. I'm sure I'll get an FeeBee file, but I'm not willing to concede my country to a marxist without standing my ground...even if it won't make a bit of difference.

2008-11-05T23:26:00.000-06:00

2008-11-01T00:40:00.000-05:00

Last Lakota Code Speaker honored

2008-10-31T01:45:00.002-05:00

The Rapid City Journal is reporting:

HOT SPRINGS -- Officials at the Michael J. Fitzmaurice State Veterans
Home in Hot Springs paid tribute Thursday to the lone surviving Lakota Code Talker,
Clarence Wolfguts.

Wolfguts, 84, was recognized in the Code Talkers
Recognition Act signed by President Bush earlier this month. The bill authorized
the production of a congressional medal for all Native American code talkers.The
aging veteran did not speak at the program attended by 70 fellow veterans home
residents, staff members, family members and dignitaries. Wolfguts, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe,
served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
He and other Native American soldiers from different tribes were assigned to
exchange coded radio messages about troop movements and other sensitive
information. That befuddled enemy soldiers, who could not decipher their
languages, thus providing for secure communications.The 2002 South Dakota
Legislature honored Wolfguts and 10 other Native code talkers for their
work, saying it saved the lives of countless American and allied
forces.According to the Congressional Record, Wolfguts was one of a team of Lakota code talkers during
the war who exchanged information over the radio under heavy combat action.Wolfguts and the code
talkers were so successful that military commanders credit them as key to the
success of many battles, the record said.

The left wing success story that is hugo chavez

2008-10-23T23:18:00.002-05:00

Reuters is reporting:

SAN FELIX, Venezuela (Reuters) – Despite having some of the
world's largest energy reserves, Venezuela is increasingly struggling to
maintain basic electrical service, a growing challenge for leftist President
Hugo Chavez.
The OPEC nation has suffered three nationwide blackouts this
year, and chronic power shortages have sparked protests from the western Andean
highlands to San Felix, a city of mostly poor industrial workers in the
sweltering south.
Shoddy electrical service is now one of Venezuelans' top
concerns, according to a recent poll, and may be a factor in elections next
month for governors and mayors in which Chavez allies are expected to lose key
posts, in part on complaints of poor services.
The problem suggests that
Chavez, with his ambitious international alliances and promises to end
capitalism, risks alienating supporters by failing to focus on basic issues like
electricity, trash collection and law enforcement.
"With so much energy in
Venezuela, how can we be without power?" asked Fernando Aponte, 49, whose slum
neighborhood of Las Delicias in San Felix spent 15 days without electricity --
leading him to block a nearby avenue with burning tires in protest.
Just next
door, Carmen Fernandez, 82, who is blind and has a pacemaker, says she has
trouble sleeping through sultry nights without even a fan to cool
her.
Experts say Venezuela for years has skimped billions of dollars in
electrical investments, leaving generation 20 percent below the level necessary
for a stable power grid and increasing the risk of national outages. Officially
Venezuela has a capacity of 22,500 megawatts for a population of 28 million
people, but a sizeable proportion is not working, analysts say.
And while
Chavez has won praise for investing in health and education, his government has
done little to repair local distribution systems that deliver electricity to end
users, from barrio residents to business and industries.
'GOD HEARD
ME'
Pastora Medina, a legislator representing San Felix and nearby cities
suffering chronic power problems, this month tried to bring the issue up in the
national Congress in Caracas, but the legislature's leadership refused to let
her speak.
Several hours later, as the legislature discussed a South American
integration plan created by Chavez, Congress itself lost power for around 10
minutes.
"Congress wouldn't listen to me, but God must have," Medina said
with a chuckle as she recounted the incident later at her office in San
Felix.
Though it is a key oil exporter, most of Venezuela's power comes from
hydroelectricity generated in dams in the southeast, near Brazil, and sent to
the rest of the country. The remainder comes mainly from aging oil-fired
plants.
The transimission system is also suffering from underinvestment,
which makes it vulnerable to the failures that caused this year's
blackouts.
The government has responded by building dozens of tiny local
plants that generate a fraction of a percent of national consumption, a model
known as "distributed generation" used in Cuba, where a U.S. embargo impedes
electrical development.
But to keep up with demand, Venezuela needed to add
1,000 megawatts of new generation capacity every year for at least the last five
years, but instead it has installed only about 350 MW a year.
"We have to
reach the most remote villages with the system of distributed generation,"
Chavez said in recent speech, inaugurating a generator in a town with deficient
power.
His government has also promised to accelerate new generation and
boost transmission grid investment.
BARRIO IMPACT
But critics say these
small power plants are political quick fixes that avoid tackling the thorny
problems of boosting generation and fixing decrepit distribution systems.
"We need a clear energy policy, because the policy we have is not
sustainable," Andres Matas, a former planning chief for a state power company.
"This is a problem for the entire country."
He said this will require
investment in local distribution systems, speeding up generation projects
stalled for years by bureaucracy and lifting state-imposed price controls that
keep tariffs at about 20 percent of what U.S. residents pay.
It will also
require collecting fees from millions of barrio residents who illegally link
their homes to the power grid with improvised and dangerous lines -- a move not
likely to be popular with a government that depends on barrio votes.
Even as
he enjoys strong support for his oil-financed social development campaign, polls
show Chavez sympathizers are losing patience with the national and local
politicians' inability to tackle bread-and-butter issues.
Chavez last year
fired up his supporters with a wave of state takeovers including the
nationalization of electricity operations, among them Electricidad de Caracas,
which was majority owned by U.S.-based AES Corp.
But his supporters now seem
more concerned about deteriorating service than the state ownership.
Chronic
power problems take the strongest toll in barrios like those of San Felix --
still bastions of Chavez support -- where power surges routinely burn out home
appliances.
"Our refrigerators have burned out so we can't shop for the
week, we can only shop for one day at a time," said Nestor Pacheco, 39. "The
situation is serious."
(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Eddie
Evans)

About four years ago hugo nationalized the energy industry. Nationalizing private businesses NEVER works. We are going to be in mess with the efforts of the 'bailout' of the banks. What happens if we nationalize health care...well we know, but we are going to try it anyway.

The Shack- A Dakotaranger book review

2008-10-22T02:01:00.003-05:00

About a week ago my pastor "loaned" me a book called The Shack. Evidently, the ministerial society in town has been in a little bit of an uproar about the book because the Theology of the book 'isn't completely right.' Truth be told I saw some Theological issues with the book, BUT this book may be the one time that the Theology should take a backseat to the message of the book.

The Shack is an allegory in the characteristic of who God really is and deals with a man's grief at the brutal loss of his daughter.

The author did an amazing job of tapping into the emotions of someone that has lost someone in a brutal way. And really challenged the protagonist's perception of who God was. The book showed a logical step-by-step process on how God works on someone to bring them to the point where they can forgive their worst enemy and heals past hurts.

There were a few minor issues I've had with the book, but there are times where the minor issues need to be ignored and God needs to be allowed to work. There are few scars I have yet to work out, and it still will be a while before I could enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner with les, but I think it did a change in my heart.

2008-10-19T02:58:00.001-05:00

Obama supporter steals from 'bitter American'

2008-10-16T23:44:00.006-05:00

I don't advocate this action, but for the 'defenders of the 1st Amendment' really seams strange to think it is ok for them to silence others 1st Amendment rights.

Mixing the 1st Amendment with the Second

2008-10-10T03:53:00.002-05:00

So connecting a white terrorist to a politician is racist, who knew

2008-10-09T01:26:00.005-05:00

Since the daily kos guys say alot of strange things I wonder would would happen if some would say, "If you hear bill ayers think ayrian nation." It would be a fun experiment to see what would happen, I just don't care enough to try it.

I guess I don't get how it is racist to draw a direct line from a white domestic terrorist to Senator barry. I don't get how it is racist to draw a direct line to jerimah wright to Senator barry. I hear it's racist to draw a connection between franklin rains, former Fanny Mae CEO that obsconded with TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, who is advising Senator barry. Then Congressman barney 'madame' frank says it's racist to blame the fair housing act that forced banks to loan to people that couldn't afford it (there's alot of blame to go around, but Congressman frank and Senator dodd should explain what in world they were doing).

Why is it every time a liberal is busted doing something wrong they claim racism? Where were the cries of racism when Senator biden called Senator barry 'a clean articulate black guy?' Why isn't the left upset about james carville threatening riots if Senator barry doesn't win? Seams to me like he is saying that African-Americans don't have any self control, but what do I know I'm just a hick and he's a high priced political advisor...I guess that must mean he knows more than me. Shoot, Todd Palin could have called nbc's Saturday night live racist with their incest jokes by this standard.

If these guys are really as intelligent why can't they either provide an honest argument why they did what they did wasn't wrong or at the very least admit they were wrong (I know the latter is a little pollyanish of me...that White Republican from Minnesota still has never apologized for trying to pass blame to my sister for him killing our Dad, but that's another story all it's own, I'll forego mentioning ted stevens from Alaska for right now.)

SO, AGAIN how is it racist to tie a white terrorist to Senator obama? I guess I need a fancy Eastern education because even the daily kos couldn't explain that very well

"An American Carol"-a Dakotaranger movie review.

2008-10-09T01:06:00.005-05:00

While I doubt anyone that isn't a conservative will actually go see An American Carol my take on the film is that it is worth every cent I spent to see it in the theater. There are so many movies out that I have gone to I regretted paying even matinee or rental fee to see, again this isn't one of them.

I was expecting the movie to be a little funnier, but the one major problem with that thought is some of the jokes were to close to reality for me to laugh at. It was great to laugh at those that are willing to get their virgins by strapping on a bomb, and it definitely was great to see a character that hates this Great Nation get slapped over and over again.

There of course was a message to this movie, which I'm sure those that are predisposed to believe the worst of us as a people will argue against, but that's their choice.

The movie did chronicle a little about how neville chamberline talked to the national socialist party without conditions...I wish the movie would have shown the consequence for that capitulation (or the Blitz).

There was quite a bit of cussing, but it is a Zucker film so it shouldn't have been a shock. I'll toss those that don't like us hicks to much a bone: there are some jokes about both kinds of music Country and Western, so even Senator barry would get a chuckle out of this film.

When it comes out on disc I plan to purchase. Something I don't do a lot because it cuts in to my 'bitter American budget.' So three .45 rounds out of five.

You may be a Dakotan if you...

2008-10-03T03:06:00.002-05:00

Kyfrtv.com:

About three dozen cars full of people showed up to greet Mrs. Bush at the church in Sims.

They were the only ones allowed inside, but one resident was determined to get a glimpse of the motorcade, and maybe the First Lady, from his property, which borders the church.

Darrel Jacobson spent a few hours riding around his land on horseback, waiting for Laura Bush to arrive.

He says there has been a lot of excitement in the area lately, and he says he wanted to see what was happening.

"I thought it was pretty neat," says Jacobson. "You have a story to tell, just one of those things that, if you don`t show up, you missed a good opportunity. Things like that don`t happen everyday."

He says his parents were married in the church.

Don't really have anything to add or real reason to post other than it was kind of nice to have the First Lady visit and it was just a cool story.

Darius Rucker "Don't Think about It"

2008-10-03T02:56:00.001-05:00

If it is an emergency then why does X occur

2008-10-01T02:05:00.005-05:00

I realize I'm just a dumb hick, but when there is problem that was warned about four years ago it can't be a surprise. BUT for some reason those that treat us hicks like 'we don't know nothin' are telling us that we MUST do this thing or Chicken Little will run past us in a big hurry.

IF this is as big of an emergency that we are told it is and is the right thing to do, why didn't the majority party 'do the right thing?' Why should conservatives that reject to ANY version of socialism sacrifice their principles, giving government control of our economy? IF this is such a big emergency why take of Tuesday and Wednesday? IF this is as big of a deal why did the stock market rebound instead of tank farther?

As I listened off and on today to economists I'm convinced that the worst thing to do is to throw $700 Billion at this problem.

If it were up to me the bill would look something like this:

1. If a company fails, the company is obliged (or make it easier for the companies to retrieve) to go after any board members, CEO, CFO and various VP's bonuses. I don't like the idea of government telling companies what they can pay or what bonuses, BUT if a company goes into Chapter 11 the bonuses aren't warranted.

2. ALL political contributions MUST be returned.

3. Companies are forbidden from contributing to politicians that have committee oversight of their industry.

4. Eliminate the capital gains tax. It is an immoral tax that does nothing than punish success, people that sell property and move into a rental property due to health issues, and does nothing to make the great down troddens' lives better. It just gives more money to an irresponsible body of people that couldn't find their way out of a paper sack.

5. Senator dodd must leave in handcuffs. Senator conrad would just be a bonus.

Knowing we have had five or six economic depressions and the last one occurred because we made businesses the enemy and let government intervene in the market making the depression last twice as long as it should have maybe the best thing we could do is get out of the way of capitalism. Remove some of the stupid regulation that the clinton Administration implemented and cut taxes would do more to keep people honest, rather than create strange loopholes, and force businesses to violate any wise business choices.

What should be part of the discussion of the $700 Billion

2008-09-24T01:16:00.003-05:00

While I'm not an economist, I do play one on the Internet. -Sorry This whole thing torques me off, and does worry me a little because government intervention in the markets is what brought on the Great Depression and joking about this is keeping me from talking like Senator biden acting like a redneck in Virginia.

The more the politicians have messed with the economy, the worse it has gotten. The bad housing loans can be traced back to janet reno telling lending institutions to end red lining. Now if red lining as defined as because of color of hide occurred that should have been forced to end, BUT if it took away wisdom of giving loans to people that had no means to repay the loan no matter on the color of hide...we get the mortgage meltdown.

I'll be honest I don't know if we really need to bail out these banks, but let's be honest the US doesn't have the money to actually cover ANY of the bailout. One of the many, many downsides to these bailouts is it just reinforces the idea that companies don't have any responsibility for their actions and the government will just continue to be irresponsible.

Ron at The Cluttered Eclectic Mind has listed those that received donations from the government organizations Fanny May and Freddie Mac. To which I have a question. if they receive money from the government then are giving money to political campaigns how this doesn't violate money laundering laws is beyond me.

Through the last couple of weeks it has become well-known that President Bush tried 12 times to fix the problem, but failed (see democrat stonewalling) as reported by Mrs. bill clinton.

Senator chris dodd and Congressman frank should be forced to resign, receive NONE of their pension. If the politicians say the failed CEO shouldn't receive their golden parachute, neither should the politicians. The bribe...I mean contribution that Senator dodd received should be more than enough to be removed. ALL the politicians that received money from companies that are going to be bailed out should return every last cent they have received from Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae along with the money received from the businesses that are being bailed out. If silver colored bracelets are required for 535 people in the Capitol Building so be it.

The companies that are going to be bailed out, the CEO's that received major bonuses should return them to the companies before ANY government money is doled out. I'm not really for limiting a CEO's income, BUT stockholders should have the right to demand the money back from incompetent company heads.

There should be fraud charges brought against the former Fannie Mae CEO that somehow walked out the door with Tens of millions of dollars.

You know you are a cityslicker if...

2008-09-17T05:44:00.003-05:00

you need a teleprompter at the rodeo.

I get he may not be the best speaker without the teleprompter but you go to a rodeo do you really need it, I mean the only people that go to rodeos are 'dumb bitter hicks.' With as intelligent as Senator biden claims Senator obama is I just can't imagine ...oh duh what am I saying he need a dictionary to talk down to the proletariat.

I can't wait until January

2008-09-14T04:34:00.001-05:00

The Ultimate Campaign poster

2008-09-13T03:57:00.002-05:00

Remembering those that faced evil for the security of this Nation

2008-09-11T00:03:00.004-05:00

I doubt there are many people that can't say what they were doing on that day seven years ago. But since this day has been named Patriot's Day the best thing I can think of doing is what I do for Veterans Day and Memorial Day:

THANK ALL OF YOU THAT HAVE PICKED UP A RIFLE, STRAPPED ON A PISTOL, HAVE GONE INTO A BURNING BUILDING, OR TREAT THOSE IN NEED. All those that serve there fellow American by rushing into danger deserve more honor than what we can honestly repay.

Senator barry's 'pig comment.'

2008-09-10T22:56:00.003-05:00

I think the pig soundbite maybe a little overblown, BUT I believe he meant it. The lipstick on a pig sounds like a line a cityslicker would write for a sitcom set in either the South or out here. It isn't an idiom that a cityslicker that has NO connection with hicks would use, and with his history this campaign of showing his disdain for us hicks and his first attack against Sarah slamming the fact she was a mayor of a small town. I'm forced to come to the conclusion HE MEANT IT! even if he didn't think it through. Sort of the whole out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks that Apostle Paul wrote about.